Good enough at best.

MSC Seaside Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

gkingfdm

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5

Verified Review

11 Night Western Caribbean & Bahamas (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 01, 2023

Ship: MSC Seaside

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11208

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

If you can roll with the problems cause by untrained crew members and a company that refuses to say I am sorry then this cruise line is good enough. 10 years ago I would have been so upset by the behavior it would have messed up my whole vacation. Instead I just lost 5 to 7 hours standing in line to fix their mistakes. I would only cruise MSC again if they were they only choice. This was our 8th or 9th cruise and our 5th different cruise line. They were by far the worse but not so bad we could not enjoy ourselves. If you are reading this and have booked already, don’t panic you can still have a good time. Just know that things will not be as good as other cruise lines but are still ok if you can let go and not harp on their shortcomings.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Started out good but once on the boat getting waist bands and other things set up is a joke and hours in lines. Employees will walk you to the line they say you need to be in and after wait 45 minutes in that “only 10 minute line” the person tells you you’re in the wrong line. Then they go on to tell you why it is your fault and not their fault you are in the wrong line.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Edible at best. No question they have the worse food of the 5 brands I have cruised on.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Some things were as good as others but the music they played by the pools and in the private areas was horrible. Music that no one’s listens to.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

Service in the restaurants was around ok just good enough. Customer service was not good enough. Everyday something went wrong that required me to stand in line at guest services. They blamed me or my wife for every issue. 1. The phone and my room was completely dead so I could not call to report that I watched the safety video. I told they person at my check in area and they told me it was ok once I checked in there I was done. Well that ended up not being true and I had to stand in line an hour and a half.I was told it was my fault because I told the wrong person. I waited to get off the boat for at port 30 minutes. When I got to the end of the line to get off my wife’s key would not work. We were told she must have gotten sunscreen on it and it was her fault. Well I could go on there or 5 or 6 more of these stories but they all ended the same “it was our fault”.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

This was the best part on the expansion. We got an upgrade and had a big room with a great balcony with a whirlpool tub on it. The only issue was the towels and soap. I am convinced the bath gel was hair conditioner. It was greasy, had no smell, and did not lather up at all. The pool towels are guarded like the gold at Fort Knox. You are issued two and are supposed to bring them back to your room to be exchanged for new ones. Well three different times our cabin attendant took them and did not bring new ones. So we had to wait to go to the pool for him to bring us towels. One day it was over an hour. If was our fault somehow.