korpo024

You really could not know, maybe they will pay for you chemotherapy , life is very unpredictable you don't have to smoke to get cancer .:* :rolleyes:

Hahahaha...Good one....On every cigarette package it is stated that SMOKING KILLS and SMOKING GETS YOU LUNGCANCER....So...Sorry for you as a smoker....Now it is true that I could get cancer too...As I inhaled a lot of smoke through the years....But the chance is a lot smaller than for a smoker!

Greetings from the Seaview

Hi, is tap water available for free in the buffet and dining rooms?

 

Sent from my SM-G960F using Forums mobile app

Yes

I like to bring my own dvd player on cruises and plug into the TV. We are seniors and like to go to sleep with my nice boring Science channel episodes playing. The ability to do this varies a lot by Cruise Line and even by ship. eg, On Celebrity I was able to easily plug in on Gem, but not on our recent Summig. NCL lets me do this often. So, does anyone know if Aurea rooms on Seaside have DVD players in the room, or if the TV is accessible for media plug in. Hope someone knows.

I have brought my media box and first the source did not work...It was hotel mode...Now I do have the remote codes on Samsung TVs mute-9-1-1-enter but that only gave the popup for a password....So they made it impossible for me to plug my HDMI media box in the tv so I thought...

But after plugging it in and set the tv on standby and on again...It saw my media box and we could see our own favorite tv shows and films that we on it...!

So just plug your dvd player in and start the tv up again....It will work I guess...(currently on the Seaview)

Oh, pullleeeeeeease .... get over it, already. :rolleyes:

Well, in Europe we pay a lot on health insurance unlike in the US. So no, I won't get over it...I pay for their chemotherapy....And I dislike these disgusting, stinking people....They don't smell it themselves...But they really stink....

:')

Think you might need more than an extinguisher.

EXTERMINATE!

(Daleks..Lol)

They are not slaves and they have breaks from work. In any work place people allowed to go outside for break and smoke or have a coffee . As long as they smoke in proper area they don't do anything wrong crew member or not.

Well they smoke anywhere....So no this is not good publicity for MSC...

But most of the crew is indonesian and Italian....And they smoke a lot....:mad:

Last time a checked smoking is legal so why would you wonder that crew member is smoking?

Smoking during work time legal? Well it is disgusting...

Thanks for that hint! We have booked a starboard-balcony cabin on deck 10 mid ship (below us there is the "infinity bridge") do you think this problem is on deck 10 also? Is it really the whole starboard side? I made several MSC cruises and as on all classes (Musica, Fantasia and Meraviglia) the smoking areas were very rare and small in space...

Above the infinity bridge there will be almost no problem, accept for walking smokers....And here in Europe we still have a lot of smokers.....

But on 10 there is no problem I guess.

We even see a lot of crew members and officers on deck with a cigarette in their mouth....It is the one thing MSC has a very big problem...

For the rest....The ship is beautiful....And though very crowded (mid summer) it is kept clean.

Do not expect HAL or Celebrity luxury, but this ship is better than Costa, Norwegian or Carnaval.....It is more like RCCL without lots of Americans but with a various very diverse mix of people...We even see muslims in the casino every night....gambling like there is no tomorrow!☺️

We are currently on deck 9 on the Seaview. The balconies are great BUT under the balconies there is a promenade, which is a smoking area....The whole starboard side is a smoking area.! This is disgusting! In this day and age MSC makes ships where you can smoke on 40% on deck 8 and also on deck 16 and 18....This is bizarre in these days off course.

So don't book a room on deck 9 on starboard (even numbers) if you hate smoke

I read a few reviews on Seaside, and I just watched a video review on YouTube from the Seaview, and it looked like people were smoking all over deck 8 starboard...Our balcony cabin is on 9, so we don't want to smell the smoke of the people below...It looked like people were smoking from the infinity bridge through the Seaside lounge bar (outside) all the way up.

Can someone who is already been on the Seaview tell me about it?😢

Finally got round to writing my review - pics on my blog page https://timthorpetravel.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/honeymoon-honeymoon/

 

So, as you’ll know from my previous posts you’ll know that our recent cruise on the MSC Seaview was our honeymoon. We got married on May 26th and went back to work for a couple of weeks before joining the inaugural voyage of the ship.

I don’t want to repeat my previous posts with the first impressions of the ship – you can read that here: First thoughts

The itinerary for this cruise was Genoa, Naples, Messina, Valletta, Sea Day, Barcelona. A very familiar Western-Meditteranean itinerary, but what a perfect way to celebrate the launch of a new ship and our marriage. We’d visited all of these ports before, so we knew that for us the ship would be the destination, with the addition of an excursion to the beautiful island of Capri.

With that in mind, we found that we didn’t leave the ship in any of the other ports, particularly as our cruise over the Christmas period covers all of these ports with the exception of Malta.

To best cover the experience on this ship I’ll cover it in a few areas….

 

Cabin

We stayed in a Fantastic grade balcony cabin, 13236. We found the cabin plenty big enough with a shower room. The shower had a nice glass enclosure (no curtain- yay!) Clothes storage was perhaps at a premium compared to some of the other ships with a lack of drawer space, however as this is ‘The ship that follows the sun” it stands to reason that most cruises will be a week or two at most, therefore there is ample space for that amount of time.

 

Dining

As mentioned in my preliminary thoughts, our first table on our first night in the Silver Dolphin restaurant wasn’t too great – the restaurant opened late and the food had by that time dried out and wasn’t appetising – far removed from the MSC we know. the service was slow and wasn’t the most friendly we’ve ever experienced.

After the following morning’s breakfast we were assigned to the MyChoice dining section in the Golden Sands restaurant after meeting with Camilla who had been our maitre d’ on the MSC Meraviglia in November.

That evening the experience was incredibly different – waiters who really knew their stuff, slick and efficient, friendly service from our waiter Alan from Honduras – again someone we’ve met on previous cruises.

The tables in both restaurants were, as is common on large mass-market ships pretty close together but far enough apart to keep conversation to ourselves as a couple.

MSC Seaview has a number of dining options, the complimentary options for guests in the main ship – ie not Yacht Club are the Golden Sands formal restaurant from breakfast and lunch, on an open-seating basis, your assigned restaurant for dinner and the two buffets – the main buffet being on deck 8 aft with terraces on both sides of the ship and a smaller buffet on deck 16.

Extra-charge speciality restaurants are the L’Atelier Bistrot on Deck 8, surrounding the atrium, and on Deck 16 the Chef’s Court concept with the Asian Fusion restaurant by Roy Yamaguchi offering sushi and teppan yaki, Ocean Cay seafood restaurant by Two Michelin Star chef Ramon Freixa and the Butchers Cut steakhouse. In the middle of this area is a stunning wine and cocktail bar.

As black card holders we were able to savour a complimentary meal in one of the speciality restaurants and chose Ocean Cay on the basis the food would be something different to usual – we dined twice in the Teppan Yaki on MSC Meraviglia so were excited to experience something new.

We were not disappointed! The taster selection menu available as a loyalty perk offered a choice of three course meal. We opted for oysters, fish and chips and a melon soup. Ramon himself was onboard ensuring the dishes were up to his exacting standards and I have to say this was probably the best food we have eaten whilst at sea.

 

 

 

 

 

One thing to note about this area is that it can only be accessed from the forward lifts. Not a problem, but don’t go to Deck 16 Aft with the expectation of walking forward to the restaurants!

Food and drink highlights

So, a key part of any cruise holiday is the food and drink. As seasoned MSC cruisers we are perhaps becoming too familiar with the menus, however this gives us the ability to understand how the food on a particular ship is compared to the other ships in the fleet we have been on.

The Elegant Night menus on MSC ships are curated by the two celebrity chefs who work in partnership with MSC – Italian Carlo Cracco – host of MasterChef and Spanish Ramon Freixa. The menus on both of these nights offer, in my opinion, an excellent choice of dishes. Not to be missed are the ‘Chef’s specials’ on the left hand side of the menu under their picture is the details of their dish designed for MSC.

Cracco’s braised blade of beef with pomegranate and Freixa’s duck royale (duck with foie gras) were both excellently thought out and well put together dishes, with a balance of flavour and beautiful presentation. We’d not tried either of these before as we’d not properly read that side of the menu!

Carlo Cracco’s Elegant menu:

 

Beverage wise the choice available on the all inclusive drinks packages is extremely varied, with something to suit every taste. We took the All Inclusive Restaurants and Bars Deluxe package and were able to enjoy all of our drinks without the worry of a large bill at the end of the cruise.

The Champagne bar on deck 7 serves Laurent Perrier Brut Champagne which is included in the deluxe package – great digestif to enjoy. A selection of oysters and other seafood is also available from this bar – we enjoyed three oysters here on our first evening at a cost of €9 together with a couple of glasses of champagne. Daniel, Anna Maria and Anastasia here work incredibly well as a team – as it’s not too busy they have time for a bit of a chat. It was wonderful to see them again after previously meeting them on other ships.

 

Bars

Over our years of cruising we have noticed that when getting onboard a new ship most passengers will find a venue they gravitate to. On MSC Seaview for us it was the Seaside Lounge on Deck 8, with the excellent service of Tayla, Gusti and Pun creating a great atmosphere. This bar offers a wide selection of cocktails and wines, as well as the usual beverages. The entertainment in here in the evening was a jazz singer whose voice was second to none, with almost as much depth as Nina Simone.

Over the way from the Seaside Lounge is the Sports Bar, with a number of screens showing various different sports. We were absolutely delighted to see Francisco from MSC Fantasia and MSC Meraviglia in this bar, and he seemed genuinely pleased to see us too. The Sports Bar has a wide selection of beers both on draught and by the bottle, as well as various cocktails and mixed drinks.

Both theSports Bar and the Seaside Lounge have access to the outside promenade, with seating readily available.

Seaview has a multitude of other bars – we made it our mission to get round them all, and I think we succeeded! It’d take too long to write something about all of them, however I will just mention the area in the Piazza around the Chocolate Factory where the evening’s entertainment is a party band with some great tracks and the Panorama Bar on Deck 16 offering your usual pool-side favourites as well as those ever-so tempting creamy cocktails – Molten Lava anyone??

 

 

Overall experience

MSC Seaview offered something entirely different from any ship we have ever been on, and what an experience it was. Unlike MSC Meraviglia which was inward focussed on the extravagant central promenade, Seaview is all about connecting you with the outside and the sea.

Each bar had plenty of seating, and with the design of the ship the added bonus is that the bar areas all have a different atmosphere and feeling. This ship never felt crowded, even on our day at sea – probably because of the high number of balcony cabins, the promenade and the deck space.

There is an abundance of activities, from ten pin bowling, the longest zip-line at sea, an aqua park, rope bridges, the casino (I had an excellent stroke of luck on our final night!) a beautiful theatre, gym, spa, three swimming pools available for the general ship’s population, arcade games, live music… It would be impossible to become bored on this ship.

 

So, I’ve often written of my love affair with the line’s previous flagship MSC Fantasia for its timeless beauty and elegance (hard to believe she is now ten years old!) So, how does MSC Seaview compare?

Well, she’s obviously much bigger and newer. Strip that away and what you have is a ship with the undoubted feel of an MSC Ship, public areas that flow from one to another and of course those sparkly stairs. I had previously said that it would be hard to improve on Fantasia, but, with Seaside and Seaview I think MSC have done it!

This holiday, despite the small niggles on the first night which should be expected with any new restaurant / hotel / cruise ship, was a great success. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to the wonderful crew for making our honeymoon so special, and I hope we will all meet again soon!

 

 

Thanks for the review. In July we are going to be on Seaview, April 2019 on Fantasia and August on Meraviglia...

Hi all,

 

thank you all for your replies. This will be our 4th MSC ship and have mainly had a good time on all of them ,but reading so many negative reviews put me on a bit of a downer. korpo024 can you tell me about the entertainment please.

 

cheers

We found the entertainment...Entertaining...:D

:Dit is just the same crew doing different venues...We are not musical/Broadway minded people, but is was entertaining...Our little girl of 5 years old loved it!

Some bars had live music at night, but because our little girl had to go to bed...We didn't see much of the late entertainment...I walked through it some times around 0.00 and it looked like fun.

The entertainment in the big theatre was the better than HAL and also Celebrity....But the bar entertainment was a bit less fun as on HAL and Celebrity....There were non pub quizzes which I like a lot....This is because of all the languages being spoken.. there are simply not enough english speaking people on the ship to organise such events I think...

got off. I am due to pay my balance within the next couple of weeks, and not reading too many good reviews of the ship on the review page of this site.

 

Would appreciate if anyone currently on this ship could give me information if they are enjoying the ship-----or not:(.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

ssn

We weer there at the end of April and we did have a fabulous time.

MSC is NOT like Celebrity or HAL. But the prices are great.

The service is okay, not perfect. The food is good and the ship is still beautiful.

For the price we did pay this cruise was just perfect.

All the while the top brass rake in MILLIONS and MILLIONS of $$$$. Trickle down economics does not seem to work well with cruiselines' employee remuneration (especially those lower down the food chain). Here is what some of the top guns at some major cruiselines have earned in recent years. Data is from required financial filings. Here is the source of this info: http://crew-center.com/cruise-lines-top-paid-ceos-salaries-2015

 

 

According to Bloomberg the biggest compensation for 2015 was paid to the Norwegian cruise line CEO Frank J. Del Rio of a staggering $31.9 million. This is quite enormous sum of money considering that in 2014 his compensation was only $2.1 million.

Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean CEO holds the second place, finishing the year with $9.4 million in compensation, bonuses and stock awards. His compensation paycheck for 2014 was $12 million.

Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc Chief Executive Officer and President, Arnold W. Donald, cashed $9,373,908 in total compensations in 2015.

Holland America Line Inc. Stein Kruse has been HAL Chief Executive Officer since December 1, 2013. Mr. Kruse total compensation in salaries and bonuses for 2015 was $4,001,725.

Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises CEO, Jason Montague, paycheck for 2015 was $3.4milion.

Costa Crociere S.P.A. Chief Executive Officer Mr. Michael Olaf Thamm finished the fiscal year 2015 with total compensation of $3,393,80. He has been with Carnival Corporation as Chief Executive Officer of The Costa Group at Carnival plc since July 2012.

Comparison with the crew member salary

So let’s compare NCL CEO paycheck of $31.9 million with a cruise ship waiter average monthly salary of $3000. It will take 10.633 months or 886 years to reach a $31.9 million yearly compensation of his CEO or by the end of the year 2902.

 

Royal Caribbean CEO yearly compensation of $12 million compared with utility cleaner monthly salary of $650. It will take 19.846 months or 1653 years to reach the $12 million yearly compensation of his CEO or by the year 3669.

...And they expect me to tip?! Hahahaha

Not sure if it will expand to the Seaside, but the Divina has started something new. You have to get the form to reduce or remove gratuities from your room steward. That way you can look them in the eye to say you are sorry you are taking money away from them. :o

 

Bret

Not the case on Divina now May 2.

This is just an observation and my opinion. The ship was at least 70% European and South American and tipping must not be something that is done to my dismay. I took $200 in singles and tipped a dollar for every drink, and even cash tipped for Venchi and gelatos. The staff/bartenders was so happy when doing so. I never saw one other dollar given by anyone else. I thought the bar service was fast and excellent ...... waiters/waitresses on deck walking around taking orders and even orders in the buffet with the call buttons. They tried very hard to please and were always pleasant. I thought they deserved a tip as their service was better than on most other ships I've sailed. If you want to make some workers happy on the ship, throw them a few bucks. God knows nobody else did ..... Just saying.

If someone pays the service charge that means he has been tipping every day. On MSC they do not want you to tip cash, but pay your service charge...If you have had good service of course....

And also tipping is not normal in Europe...We pay waiting staff good wages...Tipping is only considered by excellent service...

I am still able to book my cruise through a US travel agency. After making the deposit, you can buy all extra's through the msc.usa website. No problem.

through US TA = 30-40% cheaper!

In Europe pools are for swimming, not for standing. In the Netherlands 95% op all people (from 7 years old) can swim. In most countries in Europe the majority can swim...so it is logical, that you have deep pools.

TA in the US:

Due to MSC Cruises' foreign credit card restrictions, if you choose to make payment with a credit card that is from one of the following countries, 4% of all charges made towards this reservation will be non-refundable:

Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom

The 4% non-refundable aspect is in addition to the cruise line's regular cancellation policy. Please contact us prior to making a reservation if you have any questions, or if you would like to make a reservation over the phone using a different payment method.

They will not cancel your paid booking off course.

Lot of people from Europe take this detour to make reservations on cruising. Not only with MSC.

So no worries.

And on US travel agents you can set their website on International costumers....

;)

We are from the Netherlands, and booked our cruises through an american travel agency (better prices than MSC USA). They give you your reservation number, which you have to use to go to the MSC USA website, where our booking was. After that we can purchase all extra's, like Drink Package, spa treatments, etc. on our MSC USA account (IN DOLLARS!).

I do not know whether it is possible to book directly at msccruises.com (USA) but you can book through serveral good travel agencies in the US.

For us the prices are 40% cheaper than in the Netherlands, or even other European MSC websites...

I have tried to book on the English MSC website, and that is not a problem, although the prices are very high...just as high as in The Netherlands.

In Holland, cruising is very expensive. It is not very popular...Yet.

The Dutch like camping more (cheap)😊

So prices on Dutch website are 30-40 % higher on cruises. So for us booking at an American TA is better...

I’ll make an assumption here that you’re not from the UK and from another European country. The call centre had a list of countries that they wouldn’t accept cards from and the UK was one of them.

We are from Holland. No problems here whatsoever.

With the low dollar, and cheap prices in the US it is for us much better to book in the US.

I have just booked online a spa treatment with a non-US credit card and it all went okay. Nothing to worry about. Using a European creditcard (Mastercard) is still possible on the MSC USA website!

Are there any cruisers that will board the MSC Divina on 27th April 2018? I want to plan Meet and Mingel Party, but people do not respond.

I also have 36 spare drink vouchers! We have the Fantastica Experience (with the vouchers) but also the Drink Package (because for us 36 drinks/ice/gelato, is not enough....;p)