MSC Seaside Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This was my 3rd cruise, my hubby's 2nd and my kiddos(ages 11 & 9) first. We all had a wonderful time. We enjoyed the food, shows, water park area and staff.

Basically no complains about the cruise. We had a nice time and relaxed. Yes..... We had better cruises and well.... more worse ones too

Staff was unless and unfriendly! The house keeping was a real joke! The bathrooms were disgusting and dirty all the time. The food was the most disgusting food I have ever had on any cruise ship! Very disappointed ☹️

was and excellent cruise, beautiful and different.

Loved all the ports we went to. The Seaside is a gorgeous ship

Itinerary changed to include Amber Cove Dominican republic. The 5 star all inclusive excursion was a rip off as it was a poor 2 star hotel with a fly filled buffet. MSC seemed to be more interested in selling trinkets on ship and pushing the excursions than asking for customer feedback. Other cruisers that had used MSC several times prior said they go because of price knowing that food will be very average and don't go to the shows that have been the same for many cruises.

The MSC Seaside ship was beautiful. That I the only thing I can say that is positive. The pool was terrible. You could not stand in the pool (no shallow end) and there were no tables to put your drinks. Most chairs were occupied by 9am with towels, which people came at noon to 4pm to claim. The chairs were so crammed in that we couldn’t get to sit down. The bar always had a 10-12 person line and there were people that just walked up and got served. Bad customer service skills. The buffet was totally DISCUSTING! The food was all cooked hours if not days before and dried out, overcooked, and tasteless. We could not eat it after 2 days. I have been on many cruises were the food is delightful and I gained weight. NOT THE CASE with MSC. I actually lost 6 pounds. This is one reason why I would never come back or recommend them. The restaurants were not any better! I ordered a steak medium or medium rare and it always came out well-done, dry, and over cooked. It really did not matter what you ordered, it was well over done. I asked another passenger if the upgraded restaurants were any better and was told absolutely not. This really turned us off on MSC. The new years eve show (or any show), WOW, want a disappointment! Totally a Miami club theme. Problem is there were no chairs, tables, or anywhere to sit. Also, no slow dance after new years! We just went to bed after midnight. Pretty much the same show every night. Bam Bam Bam. We were on the 15th floor (balcony). Paid for an upgrade, which was a waste of money. The whole time we hear scraping of chairs, running, pounding of the pool deck above us. They removed the chairs for the parties and put them back at 5am. Bam Bam Bam. The elevators were so SLOW as well. Everytime we finally got on one, people would shove themselves on at every floor going up or down. The theater shows were good; however, we came 20 minutes before (and had a reservation), and were told all seats were given away. How does that happen? Unbelievable! Now for the absolutely worst part of our trip: WE WERE CHARGED $83.75 PER PERSON (BOTH MY WIFE AND I) HALF WAY THROUGH THE TRIP! They stated it was for service charges. I went down to the service desk, waited 45 minutes, and was told it was for gratuities. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I went back to my cabin and got my contract, which stated that taxes & gratuities were included in the price of the cruise. I went back and went off on the guest services (after waiting another 50 minutes) and they did take it off my bill. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN, EVER! Customer Service obviously is not their strong spot! We are so sorry we spent our money and time on this cruise! We should have done the NCL cruise! We thought we would try something else and made a huge mistake. I would recommend that anyone – STAY AWAY FROM MSC! I REPEAT, STAY AWAY FROM MSC!

I will never sail MSC again!!! All the negative reviews I previously read were true!

Great ship, very nice, beautiful and clean. Staff is amazing. Would prefer to visit Puerto Rico during the day.

I had read the reviews about the MSC Seaside before I booked this cruise so I was well aware of the service/food issues. They were correct. I agree. But also the ship is gorgeous and had great entertainment and we had a blast. So that is one has to decide. I don’t think I will go on another MSC cruise as I missed the service and the food more than the shows.

Could've done better. MSC could've done better. Especially with the food. And they did NOTHING for our Anniversary except give us a bunch of papers with coupons to spend more money.

We loved our room, however I would not do the MSC upgrade program again. It is only the room not the experience which would have been nice to know before upgrading. It just isn't worth the extra money otherwise

Excellent food excellent service excellent all around

Second time on msc seaside we done a week in Miami and the keys then the cruise I think the 1st experience was better this time had hassle with wife surprise bday gift which msc cocked up with wrong day and then didn’t turn up till her bday night , still lovely ship great staff fantastic weather as now back in Blighty 10 degrees .

MSC is a very luxurious and professional CruiseLine that offers a lot of diversity in its food options as well as activities, music, etc for all guests. I think it’s by far the best CruiseLine because of this. There is always something fun to do, watch, and/or enjoy for everyone at all times.

Beautiful ship really no different than any other Cruise you have your goods and your bad

Awesome. Well worth the cost. We love MSC. Love it.

We liked there rewards match program. Allowed us to skip the line at the tender stop. Good not as good as we expected. Easy drink program was very good.

Itinerary changed to include Amber Cove Dominican republic. The 5 star all inclusive excursion was a rip off as it was a poor 2 star hotel with a fly filled buffet. MSC seemed to be more interested in selling trinkets on ship and pushing the excursions than asking for customer feedback. Other cruisers that had used MSC several times prior said they go because of price knowing that food will be very average and don't go to the shows that have been the same for many cruises.

I wish I could rate it with 4 or even 4.5 stars because we really liked the ship itself and most people who work here. But as you know the first impressions are the most lasting. Our first impressions were the worst. My family faced very rudely and aggressive behavior from one of the security officers during embarkation (Her name is Ms. Plummer Katyana). My wife (who is not good in English) and my little daughter, were waiting for me near the inspection area in terminal F during check-in time then Ms. Plummer Katyana asked my wife to go do a check-in or to leave terminal F for some reason. My wife tried to say what she can't do check-in because her passport was with me and I'll arrive in 10-15 minutes. Also, she tried to explain Ms. Plummer Katyana what she can't wait outside because she had a lot of luggage with her and also it was very hot outside (more than 80 degrees) and it's bad for the baby and for her personally because she is taking a heart medication course but Ms. Katyana didn't want to listen my wife and my wife asked Ms. Katyana to call the police. But Ms.Katyana didn’t call the police and kicked out my wife and my daughter outside of building in a very rude and aggressive manner. My wife didn't understand Ms. Katyana's speech, but she thinks Ms. Katyana used some words like "Russian dog" or "Russian doll" and these words were said very rude. I don't want to believe that Ms. Katyana is a racist, but it was some other people other nationalities there, but Ms. Katyana said nothing to other people, she kicked out only my wife and my baby. So, the first impression of the cruise was irrevocably corrupted. I tell this story to the ship's crew members on the reception counter and they asked me to contact MSC support about this case, so I send a complaint letter and never received an answer. The next 5 days were really wonderful! The ship equipped very well - pools, bars, shops, restaurants! Our daughter especially liked the kids' pool area - I guess she wished to stay here forever)). Also, I was surprised but there was toddler care on the ship for kids under 3. Marina, who works here is a charmer person, she really loves kids and kids love her (and she can speak any language very well!!). Btw, all other crew members were VERY kind to all kids. Several shows we watched here were amazing! I even didn't expect such quality. This theater looks like a branch of some Broadway theaters. The itinerary is very good for first-time cruisers. Islands, we 've been are close to each other but they are so different - Distinctive Jamaica, businesslike Caymans, beautiful Cozumel ... Unfortunately, we didn't visit Ocean Cay because of the weather, but we visited Nassau instead and it worth to visit too. The day before the last day was not so good again. My wife and daughter had poisoned in the Seashore restaurant. Of course, crew members said it couldn't be because they had to control food quality on each stage and it was no more customers who also poisoned, but I'm pretty sure they were poisoned by ravioli from the kids' menu. Why do I think so? So, first, the day before poisoning was a "day at sea" - so we couldn't eat somewhere else. Second, the waiters here don't offer a kids menu by default - you should ask for it everytime. We even didn't know kids' menu is exists first 3 days. Third - there were 6-8 positions in kids' menu including mac & cheese, pizza and other stuff kids like. I don't think ravioli was popular, so, we were probably only the ones who order it that day. My wife and daughter had vomiting and stomachache all night long after that dinner and we forced to even visit the ship's doctor, who charged us more than $300 for an I.V. As I said before, the crew members on the reception counter said it couldn't be that my family was poisoned by the restaurant's food and I even didn't hear a sorry from them. So, if we exclude the two worst cases I described here, it could be 4.5 stars for that cruise. Minus 0.5 for the case with the security officer, minus 0.5 for the case with food and minus 0.5 for now answer from the support team. So, the honest total is 3 stars.