sweetsand

We were on the Zuiderdam in July, on the 20 day Viking crossing. We purchased the whole cruise pass on the very first day and were a bit disappointed at the end. We love thermal suits in general, I specifically love sauna/s. It was ok on Zuiderdam overall for us but I guess it really depends on what you like. Thermal suite is broken down into 2 areas: one with heated loungers, 5-6 of them, 1 sauna, 1 steam room + few showers (regular and fancy, like tropical) and the other area - hydra pool area, which has no natural light and for me it was a bit of a waste as I found that area too dark for my liking. As I mentioned earlier - I love saunas. Zuiderdam has a free one which I didn’t see mentioned in the reviews or maybe I didn’t notice. It’s right next to the indoor/outdoor pool and I did much prefer it to the one in the thermal suite. Reason was that TS sauna was either too hot or too cold with no option to regulate the heat, no stones to pour water over. View from the TS sauna was amazing but that’s about it. Showers in the 1st area of TS flooded the floor constantly, staff had to put towels all the time on it to keep water under control, I think there is a problem with floor level. And there is 0 music in the TS, zero. For me TS experience always has a nice relaxing music on the background. I asked at reception about it and apparently wiring went wrong at the last dry dock so no music. At the end of the day, the amenities Zuiderdam has for you for free are really great - free fab sauna, both pools, hot tubs, changing areas outside of the gym that both TS users and gym goers can use, and there is a lovely relaxation area just outside of the gym that not a lot of people seem to know about. Depending on your itinerary you might have a different experience. I loved the aft outdoor pool a lot, no matter the weather 🙂

That’s a good question. I did not see any option to pay for extra hours. I know for sure you can do it on NCL. And I did see those adults only shows on daily programs but did not attend so not sure how good they are. 

Funny enough, one evening we were having dinner at YC restaurant and I can’t even remember what was our conversation about with our waiter, but it was something about late night activities. And he just said, oh, after you put kids to bed you can do this and that. I didn’t say anything but there is no way we would leave kids by themselves, definitely not at 6 and 8. I guess ones they are older that can be an option but I ll have to get my head around it :)))

2 hours ago, teacher/bartender said:

 I'm so glad we had the laid back YC vibe, and enjoyed exploring the rest of the ship in small doses.  I'm also sorry you missed the champagne bar - the blueberry sparkler (made for me "not so sweet") was amazing.  I may have over did it though.  One of the nights the bartender started making them for me in large wine glasses.  LOL.

 

 

Agh, that is a pity we missed champagne bar. I think it was due to it's opening hours as we only ventured to that part of the ship to go to the show in the evening. Every time we passed it during the day - it was closed. I think it opened at 5pm. Might be different on sea day. Definitely next time though 😉

I would strongly recommend to go to main slide exit on deck 18 to sign a waiver and get another wrist band to allow everyone in your party to ride slides/do zip line on embarkation day as well. We did it straight after registering our girls around 2.30pm and there was only 4 people in front of us. Slides won't be open on embarkation day either but 10am next day and the line to sign the waiver was huge 😞 You will feel the crowds on day 1 so try to do as much as you can on embarkation day. We found kids club to be very quiet on port days. Our 1st stop was Ocho Rios and we weren't getting out, so did slides, lunch together with girls and brought them to kids club. Our 8y.o. was brought wth 5 other to XD Cinema and they watched 2 movies, totally free. So they tailored activities depending on the amount of kids at the club.

Sorry, don't know much about older kids clubs 😞 I think opening hours were definitely shorter for them.

3 hours ago, chadjackson said:

Can you tell me more about the kids club? What time does it open? How late is it open? Do the kids need to be signed in and out by parents? How do you sign up for them to take your kids to lunch or dinner? Is it just on port days? Were there any special days? Any parades? I read you can have your butler take them and drop them off, did you use them? We have been on NCL with kids and they loved the kids club, but there isn’t as much information about MSC clubs. Thanks for any responses. 

I ll try to attach the pictures of all kids club information I have. I was worried first about girls being in different age groups as I find age groups are much better on NCL. So our 6 year old was in mini club, which is 3-6y.o and 8 y.o. was in junior club which is 7-11 y.o.. I thought 6 y.o. will be bored with 3 y.os, as on NCL groups go 3-5, 6-9 and etc. I didn't have to worry at all. As I mentioned earlier a lot of the times they were put together for different activities. As soon as you enter the ship, if you have a child under 12y.o you ll be directed to the table where your child will be given a wrist band for identification purposes. This is not kids club registration though! I strongly recommend you register your child on embarkation day, it will happen in kids club on deck 18 from 2-4pm or from 6-8pm. The kids club is not open as such on embarkation day, just for registration and open house. If your child is older than 7 y.o. you can sign a waiver for them to sign themselves in and out without parent. We did that for our 8 y.o. but she never used it as such but it did make it much easier to drop/collect her from the kids club. Next day kids club will be open at 10 o'clock. I think we arrived around 10.30 and it was mayhem as the entrance space is rather small and they only have 2 computers, there was a lot of parents trying to register their kids and we had to try to get to the front of the line as our girls were registered already. Parents were getting frustrated and angry 😞 So, register your child on embarkation day! I didn't know about the option for butler to bring kids to the kids club so we always did it ourselves. If you have kids, deck 18 is probably slightly better than deck 16, as you are right on the same deck. Lunch and dinner: as soon as you come to drop your child they ll ask you if you want your child to join them to lunch and dinner, I do believe you have to confirm it by 12 o'clock. You probably can just call them if you don't intend to come before 12 but still want your child to go for dinner with them. From what I learned from my girls: they bring them to the buffet and staff serves them food/drink themselves, which I think is good as you can warn them about allergies/preferences and etc. I do believe you could only do it on port days but I can be wrong on that.

On the pictures I ll download as soon as I can you ll see 3 highlighted events:

- Day 1- family disco, at 9.15pm, deck 7. We missed that, so can't comment.

- Day 3 - Kelly & Kloe casting, kids club at 5pm. Ok, so again I didn't know about it, but our girls were at the kids club at the same time. I came to pick them up for dinner before 6pm and didn't realize beautiful portrait pictures were taken and sold at kids club afterwards. I think they were charging $20 for picture but they added an MSC puzzle with it. Pictures looked really beautiful and I really wished I knew about that.

- Day 6 - Doremi Live Talent Show, Metropolitan Theatre, 12pm, deck 6-7. Ok, knew about that one as girls really wanted to do it. You have to register your child at kids club before 10.30 that day. I thought it was great and very sweet.

Throughout the week there was parade, disco at the atrium and etc, so make sure you check the program every day. What I really liked MSC gave loads of opportunities for kids to win prizes, it really motivated my girls. Although they didn't win anything, I did at parents dance off :))) so they were chuffed.

8 hours ago, dexddd said:

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

:))) I thought someone might have a nice picture 🙂

Oh, and just in case someone who was on this cruise is reading and might have pictures/video of an elegant English gentlemen and a blonde lady (me) having a fabulous dance together 💃 at the buffet night by the pool in YC - I would love to see it. My husband never thought of taking pics/video 😞 thank you!

Few random pictures 🙂 

That’s what I mean about light on carbs...

Another few notes coming back to me:

- I did try Rose French 75 and St.Germain from menu I posted earlier. They didn’t use Domaine Chandon as I don’t think they have it but champagne instead. Both of those cocktails were fabulous.

- at dinner time I noticed most of the dishes were very light on carbs. Unless you had pasta (risotto, ravioli and etc), protein was mostly served on bed of greens or some kind of veg/salad, even when it said potatoes (there was so little of them) - suited me perfectly.

- disembarkation - our flight wasn’t until  3.50pm so we were in no rush to leave. Left cabin by 7.30, had breakfast and stayed in the lounge until around 10am. We weren’t the last ones to leave. Straight to concierge desk, Alessandra (our butler) was called and escorted us straight to the very end. It was very fast as we bypassed every line. What amazed me - there was no immigration! Last cruise we took from NY to Bahamas - there was a long queue at the end to pass through immigration officers. Here they used some kinda facial recognition, with occasionally people been pulled aside but the whole process seemed very fast and efficient. 

Prosecco and Oreo milkshake from Venchi

Another starter

My husband’s whiskey sour, he loved it

Dinner menu (1side) YC vs same night main reastaurant...

Evening treats 👍🏻

leaving Miami

first dinner

Cocktails & Wine menu

Some random thoughts:

• I was amazed at the amount of families around the ship;

• I would say there was 60% europeans and 40% americans on this sailing;

• Outside of YC it did feel a bit busy especially by the pools;

• Attended cruisecritic M&M, it was very well organized, plenty of drink/food and got a lovely group picture with the captain. Great attendance as well.

• Attended meeting captain in Top Sail lounge on the 1st sea day, got lovely family picture with him.

• Loved using YC wrist band, super convenient. Apparently kids under 12 are not suppose to have them but we asked for 2 for our girls as they only wanted them for opening our cabin while with us and got them no problem from the concierge;

• Yes, lift override didn't work most of the times for us but really never had a long wait for one;

• Sewage smell - I did smell it one morning on deck 16 hallway not far from our cabin, I think it was on day 3. It was gone in few hours and my husband never even noticed it, I think if I wasn’t reading cruisecritic - I wouldn’t have noticed it either 🙂

• Service and attention we received in YC was unbelievable. We felt so spoiled for the whole week. It will be very hard to go on the cruise without YC;

• Met a lot of very nice people from all over the world throughout the week;

We did have the BEST cruise ever!

Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Nadia

F&B: we had breakfast and lunch in YC restaurant or by the pool on deck 19, always found something to eat and service was always very fast and efficient, food was always hot as well. We had dinner in YC restaurant every night bar 1, when we did Teppanyaki. We never had to wait for the table and really enjoyed different food offerings every night. Menu is not expansive but it changes daily and everything we tried was delicious. Portions are not huge but you can order as many as you wish, we never felt need for it. Men are required to wear long pants at YC restaurant. One night there was a buffet by the pool set up for dinner from 9-10.30pm with live music, it was great fun and food was really good. Drinks - the current price limit is $12 per drink and unless you are looking for top shelf - it’s hard to find something not included. I didn’t ask for champagne as I really enjoyed prosecco they had on Seaside so I had few of them. I did try Chocolate Martini in Venchi on our 1st night - it is amazing, very sweet for me (probably 2000 calories per 1) but so worth trying at least ones. Our girls had numerous gelatos including ones on the stick from Venchi by Miami pool on deck 7. I didn’t ask for crepes but I would imagine they are included as well as they are priced around $6. As mentioned earlier - if you want something different, just outside of YC on deck 16 Cocktails and Wine bar is the one to be in. It has a completely different menu to all the rest of the ship and has a really fun atmosphere. Keila who works there is brilliant! They do get busy so you might have to wait for your drink but not for long. One funny thing I found around the ship is lack of menus at different bar locations except YC. I am not sure is it because they are changing their prices or for whatever reason but it was hard to get them. On the first night I asked for the menu in Venchi and was given one, on the 3rd night I was told they have none. All you see around is the different drink packages description but not menus, weird. We found menus to be very similar in most of the bars. Never made it to Champagne one though. Sport bar really lacked the atmosphere for me. I was excited to have a drink there with my husband but found it very impersonal and I am pretty sure that’s where tonic was served out of the soda dispenser rather than can.

Kids club: our girls really enjoyed it. So much that one night we had to go back 3 times to try to get them out :))) I really like that they offer to bring your kids to lunch/dinner when ship is docked. Our girls did 2 dinners and 2 lunches, and were very happy. Although our girls were in different age groups it seemed that there was always a time when they were put together for show, disco and etc. Huge thank you to all the kids club staff for such an amazing job!

Slides/entertainment:  We did slides on port days so no lines and we all had a lot of fun. Little aquapark is great as well. With YC we ended up mostly using YC swimming pool, only went to roof covered one ones as it was super windy.  We pre purchased the fun pass before our cruise, you do get exactly the same value while a board. I knew about limited time for bowling and zip line so wa prepared for it. We were planning to do zip line but since our youngest wasn’t tall enough, we decided to just do bowling and xd cinema. Watched all 4 movies in xd cinema and girls loved them all. Bowling was fun as well. Shows - we did all bar opera one. Girls loved sitting right in front of the stage and follow all the beautiful dancing, singing, acrobatics. I thought it was great that shows were short, so no one was getting bored.

SPA: we went 3 or 4 times, it was very busy on the 1st sea day, much quieter on the 2nd sea day. It was a little too dark for me. I loved SPAs on 2 Norwegian ships as they were very bright and located right at the front of the ship. I can’t complain really, as Top Sail and YC pool gave me exactly the same look forward.

Hello everyone,

I am sorry to start another thread about Seaside Yacht club 23-30th March, 2019 cruise but I didn't want to hijack other threads and really want to share my thoughts while they are still fresh in my head and all my emotions are still raw. It was the best cruise we ever had and we truly enjoyed every minute of it  🙂

About us: we did 2 MSC cruises in Europe 4 years ago and then 2 with Norwegian in the last 2 years (1 from LA and 1 from NY). My husband really wanted to go on Norwegian again but I liked the idea of MSC Seaside and after showing my husband one of the wonderful reviews I found on cruisecritic - he was happy to give it a try. Especially since Norwegian increased their prices a lot, we booked at the very beginning of January 2019, a balcony cabin in Yacht Club for the same price as Norwegian would have costed us for the regular balcony - so happy days. As we booked after all drink package change saga I wasn't very worried about it but still spent a lot of time reading every review/thread possible and watched all the vlogs 🙂 We have 2 daughters, 6 and 8 years old so kids club/entertainment are very important to us. We have booked 1 night in Miami prior to the cruise, I got a great price for a very nice hotel through hotwire and it was an amazing start for our vacation.

Embarkation: we were planning to leave hotel early, around 10.30am, but swimming pool on the roof top was so nice that we ended up checking out around 12 o'clock and after a short Uber ride we were at the port. We saw the famous white tent straight away and headed straight to it. Dropped the bags right there and after quick paperwork check we were brought in straight to the YC check in lounge. Really nice and relaxed atmosphere there with loads of drinks and food to enjoy. There was another couple and another family checking in at the same time as us so the whole process didn't take longer than 20 minutes after which we were escorted by butler to the Top Sail Lounge, drinks offered again and quick chat about YC amenities and how everyone was there to fulfill our every wish 🙂 We were brought in to our cabin 16027 before 2 o'clock and bags arrived by 5.

Cabin: We had a balcony cabin #16027. At the time of booking there was only 2 cabins left in YC, 16027 and one on deck 18, cant remember the number. I was very happy with location of our cabin, very close to Top Sail lounge and on the other hand to stairs to get up to deck 19 swimming pool, and right outside of the entrance to YC on deck 16 there is the best bar we enjoyed the most - Cocktails and Wine. Our cabin slept 5 so I was very interested about the layout. The couch unfolded into double bed and another bed dropped from the ceiling. 

We asked our assistant butler Glenda (she is great)  to unfold both each night so girls can use one each and swap every second night. Turn down service is great, we were asked what time approximately will we be gone for dinner every night and our cabin was always ready for us after we came back. Little chocolates and other surprises like macaroons and strawberries covered in chocolate were greatly appreciated by us.