seaweeyin

I also received an upsell on my 2/19 sailing. An inside to Havana aft-facing, which I would have taken in a heartbeat...had I not been sailing with my 8 year old son. 🙄

Not sure what the point of that offer was. To make me feel bad, lol? 😆

When we went on the Seaside over the holidays, they did not have boxes of cereal. You served yourself cereal out of a dispenser. There were containers of yogurt some mornings; other mornings the yogurt was in a bowl so it seemed to depend on supplier for that. Other than what was in the minibar (mini sized Pringles and cans of nuts) I can't recall anything that was packaged as an individual snack.

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Thank you for your review. Is it possible to send private messages through these boards? I really enjoyed your "voice" while reading your review and welp, cruise coming up, need new reading material....

You can if you add me as a friend through your profile. A warning, though: my currently released books are young adult fiction, and my nearest upcoming releases are middle grade fiction. Adult is on the horizon....

Thank you for your review! (and also to the person that did a quick review of their YC experience) I booked a solo Deluxe Suite in the YC for November 2019. (a bunch of other solos grabbed it too) I am so excited to see this beautiful ship. I'm reading every review. I'm much like the OP, I can have a good time no matter what and go with the flow.

 

Question - if you know: I don't like fancy coffees, I like good ol' brewed coffee. (granted I like GOOD brewed coffee...) Americano coffee is nothing but espresso diluted with water. Was there any real brewed American coffee onboard? I thought I saw mention of it on one of the lounge menus.

Hm, good question. I love my espresso (including Americano!) so always ordered that. Give the Seaview Lounge or the Atrium Bar a look-see. That's where I'd think fresh brewed coffee would most likely be, if they have it.

Great review -- quick question, did you ask for 3 connecting since you had 7 in your party? I might be having 6 and I really don't want to ave a 3 and 3 arrangement, rather a 2-2-2.

Well, we didn't ask for three connecting, we specifically booked the SuperFamily Plus cabin category which simply *is* three connecting. I would say just try a mock booking for the dates you're interested in and see what happens.

Super family plus specific question... how big are the tables?? Do they have ten tops? Will my family have a chance to eat together if we’re a party of nine??? I know OP had an issue originally.... if I have an assignment issue as OP had, when will I find out? Will I find out when we first check in, does it show our dining time, and table number, on our cruise cards? Or, will I not know till we get to the cabin? If so, who do we talk to? Is there one Maitre D for the whole ship or one for each restaurant? Where will he/she be located?? Im just trying to preplan so my parents don’t get stressed!!! Thanks!!!

 

 

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Our table was an 8 top; I don't recall seeing larger, but it's possible larger tables were in other areas? Our dining time and location was on our cruise card. The Maitre D is for the whole ship and was at the Seashore restaurant on Deck 5 BUT not at the main doors. Just around the corner to the right, as you're facing the main doors. He was available for requests I believe beginning around noon on check in day, but you'll want to ask for current hours when you board.

What a great review. I really enjoyed all the pictures and advice.

I have friends going on this ship in July, so I can tell them it's great.

I do have a question about the dinner menu........... I noticed that most of your pictures didn't show many vegetables with the main course??? I love my veggies, so do you have to order them separately?

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When dining on the trio do you have a time and day that is assigned to you or can you make reservations on the ship?

 

 

 

 

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I guess we can only multi-quote two posts at a time, but thank you to the other poster who also confirmed Terminal F. I plan ahead like a freak, have all my info in one place and then vacation is easy.

 

 

Great, thanks!

 

 

 

I've got a bubble bum in my Amazon cart right now, was waiting to see if it ever goes on sale, but we'll either get that or just bring a small one we already own. I was hoping they had some at the taxi stands, etc. which I wouldn't do with a 5-point seat, but boosters are different. Did you end up using the bubble bum at any of the ports? I'm thinking most of our stuff with be tours will be in buses.

 

Thanks for the recommendation for Paradise Beach! That makes up our mind on that one. We also have reservations for Stingray City and for Maya Chan all-inclusive at Costa Maya. Thinking we'll take the Peat Taylor Tours shuttle to Dunn's River Falls.

 

I've read through your thread so many times, because I can only pay attention to so much at a time. Now I'm going to go back through at look at the schedules and menus you posted. If you could pick one entree from the main dining room to eat again right now, what would it be?

Your port plans sound fantastic! Getting into ocho rios properly just gives me one more reason to have to go back.

Ooooo, which entree. Come swinging with the hard questions! Honestly there are a lot of good choices, but from the main restaurant, I'm going to say the cioppino. Mr. Seaweeyin's pick is the filet and lobster. He says the steaks were all good from the filet to the new yorks.

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One of my very first favorite cocktails - the Singapore Sling. Never have quite seen it made super well over the years. One of the classic cocktails that has been forgotten.

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Was this because of incorrect signage, or is the Seaside supposed to be at Terminal D? How would you have known if you hadn't recognized your ship? Was it listed (either correctly or incorrectly) on any of your cruise documents?

 

Since some of you came in Lyft and some in Taxi, which do you recommend? DH and I are currently discussing the car booster seat for my youngest and will probably end up bringing our cheapest, lightest backless one along for the ride between MIA and POM. Any input on that from your experience with toddler?

We had an otherwise great experience using lyft. I purchased the bubble bum for toddler (just do a Google/ Amazon search) and it worked a charm! Very convenient for travel.

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Also, theme nights- you mentioned 70s night and Italian night. I've heard there is a flappers night, but there are indications it was just for Aurea and above. Did you see it? Is 70s night for adults only or families?

 

Were Bingo and the other activities in the Haven lounge free? Did they ever offer family karaoke?

I recall seeing family karaoke in the kids club schedule though we didn't attend.

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Also, theme nights- you mentioned 70s night and Italian night. I've heard there is a flappers night, but there are indications it was just for Aurea and above. Did you see it? Is 70s night for adults only or families?

 

Were Bingo and the other activities in the Haven lounge free? Did they ever offer family karaoke?

I thought the parties were family friendly. Not lots of kids there because the parties are late, but a handful were there and no one had issue with it.

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When you posed for each picture, did they scan your cabin card, or how does it work? If we consistently hand the same cabin card to the photographers whenever we get any of our pictures taken, will that prevent the problem? I've seen mention of a photo pass, is that a separate card that you get?

 

 

 

So good to know, thank you! What did your teen like to do at night? My DS13 would still want to do some of the things it sounds like Tween will get to do, and this will be the first vacation when the two of them will be in different age groups.

 

We also have booked Stingray City (Captain Marvin) and want to go to Paradise Beach. Do you have anything more to say about Paradise Beach? Did you buy the Fun Pass there? What did you do on your Ocho Rios day?

 

I had mult-quoted a bunch of your posts to ask questions about, and now only two of them are showing up in my reply, so you get fewer questions than I had planned. But I could be back with more... Thank you again!

The younger groups often did activities together, but the Teen group did its own thing. Teen primarily used the club to first meet people, then as a meet up spot to kick off other adventures, which might have been going to pools or hot tubs or grabbing gelato, watching the outdoor movie, dancing, etc. But I think other teens spent more time staying in the Teen club space itself and doing activities there.

We LOVED paradise beach!! The grounds are well kept -- think raw sugar sand -- and the pool is beautiful and big. The hammocks were fun and the nachos delicious. Some of our party bought the fun pass and they had a blast on the water toys. Stayed in for a long time playing. Smaller humans might need help climbing up on the toys. Tween did on some of them. Wasn't crowded, was beautiful. Would do again.

Ocho Rios was new year's day and even though I would have liked going into the forest for waterfall and/or blue hole, we didn't know what everyone's state would be on new years day, haha, so we didn't make big plans. Turns out we were all good and I even got an early morning run in and tackled the zip line. We just went to margaritaville to use their little beach, then went shopping for jerk seasoning and blue mountain coffee beans. I would definitely make other plans next time because what we did was...meh.

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Great, detailed review! One question regarding the wines on tap in the buffets, do you have to have a drink package or do they charge your account per serving. I am having a hard time getting an answer, because most people buy the drink packages; but, only one of us drinks and both are required to buy a package, so it makes it impractical. We called MSC and customer service said there was no such thing. Thanks!

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For the drinks that are not covered on the plan, do you know if they allow you to pay the difference in price of what is covered or if you just need to purchase the drink at full price?

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I jump in on that one. The menus can be checked on the electronic boards all around the ship. And - much easier - via the MSC App from the bed in your cabin.

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Without a doubt the best review of Seaside to date-- thanks so much for all the detailed information and helpful answers to questions.

 

Here's a few more for you--

 

-- Do they follow the custom of other cruise lines of having the dinner menus posted outside the dining room in the afternoon? I like to swing by early and see what's on the menu so I can start whetting my appetite!

 

-- I like mudslides and other blended drinks. I assume all the poolside bars have those blenders available-- do you happen to recall if any other bars do?

 

-- We have already upgraded to a premium package. If we order a soda, will they give us cans or just the fountain soda?

 

-- We are booked in Aurea so I know we'll have anytime dining. Any idea if they seat you with other people or by yourselves? Or are you given the option?

 

-- Do the waterslides have pretty long lines or do they move pretty quickly? Just an adult child here who likes his waterslides. ;)

Dinner menus were not posted outside. At one point I asked the maitre'd to look at menus for the next couple of days and he grabbed them for me, so maybe do that and take photos to review on the day of.

Definitely the poolside bars, also the seaside bar in the atrium, and hm. Not sure if there were others.

We got cans with our deluxe package.

I don't know about this one. The aurea seating is on the seashore restaurant, which is the one we were assigned, but on the opposite side as our table so I couldn't see if there were any/many 2 tops or 4 tops.

The lines moved quickly! I'm a person who doesn't want to spend my vacation standing in line and I thought they moved right along. On port days, of course, we practically had them to ourselves. Great fun!

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And we are so fortunate that you chose to take the time to do such an in-depth review. Thank you!

 

I do have one question for you... From your Dailies I saw that the sommelier on board had many wine tastings. Did you happen to notice of they also offered a wine-blending class/activity? We did this on the Divina two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed and were looking forward to doing it again on the Seaside.

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When were your Family Plus cabins assigned? We too have Family Plus cabins and are still awaiting cabin assignments (I know they say cabins will be assigned 14 days or more before cruise). We are quite near now to our sailing date and still no cabin assignment.

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We are alson in a Super Family Plus cabin, 4 adults, 3 kids on the 11th floor. Maybe the same ones! Anyways, currently 2/3 kids are in their own designated cabin. I asked 2 times if that was ok and it was never resolved. Any thoughts on how that will work for signing in and out of kids club?? Are we destined for problems?

I hope it's a problem they have worked out by the time you go but if the system is still wonky, I can say that the kids club staff were the absolute friendliest and the most flexible of any staff on board so they will have a work around that will work for your family. Even if they simply revert to the old style wrist bands like they did for a couple days on our cruise. Especially if they'll have seen the problem a few times before your cruise time.

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Speaking of....

 

Have your seen B&B available anywhere?

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We will be on the seaside beginning of Feb (first ever cruise...) with our 2 kids in an aft suite.

 

We are tremendous fans of Singapore Sling. I didn't see it on one of the menus, so can I conclude that I will not be able to order thic cocktail?

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Did you mention that you were on a 14 night cruise and that there were issues beyond the Thermal Spa situation?

Could you fill us in that, please?

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HI, I realize this thread is about the Seaside but since we've wandered off into Alaska territory, let me add a couple things.

First, I live in Alaska and have for 20 years. You can sail from Vancouver to Alaska on NCL, Princess, Celebrity, Disney and, I think, RCCL too. We recently sailed from Alaska to Vancouver on Princess and then returned a few days later on NCL. Cost was about the same for each and ports were identical. But I'd definitely recommend Princess over NCL for Alaska. Princess IS Alaska cruising. I tell people that NCL provided a cruise to Alaska but Princess provided an Alaskan cruise. They had a naturalist onboard, Alaska-themed meals, ship decorated in Alaskan-theme, brought sled dog puppies onboard in one port for passengers to cuddle with, Cruise staff dressed in Alaska-themed attire and the list goes on.

 

Make sure you book a trip that visits Glacier Bay! Somebody mentioned they didn't realize how big we were... well, if you cut Alaska in half and formed two equal-sized new states, Texas would suddenly be the third largest state in the union. ;p

 

~Brian

 

PS, here's a closeup from a t-shirt that I find hilarious:

 

Now to pick my dates and pull the trigger!!

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