3StarfishKids

We had an Aurea Whirlpool Suite on the Seashore for our family of 5 and it was amazing. We used it every single day, multiple times per day. The room itself is pretty big and I liked that there was a walk-in closet for some privacy when changing given that there were 5 of us. We loved it so much that we booked the same cabin again on the Seascape for summer 2024.

Sorry for the delayed response- all the adults were able to communicate through the MSC for me app chat function. It did not work for our children- we went to customer service and found out that it was not available for anyone until 18. We all have iPhones though and we were able to use iMessage on the ships WiFi for no additional charge. We also found that we could send and receive iMessages to people off the ship as well for no additional charge. We kept our phones in airplane mode, connected to the ships WiFi and it worked. Not sure if androids can do anything similar or not. Also you could send iMessages but not images. We also got all sorts of notifications through the ships WiFi (ring cameras, Snapchat, FaceTime calls, etc) but could not view or answer any of them on the ships WiFi without paying an additional fee. My kids said all the notifications were just taunting them lol

There were usually 3 kinds of eggs Benedict- one with spinach, one with ham, and one with another type of meat (maybe corned beef hash?). I tried it the first day and didn’t care for the hollandaise sauce- it was different than I expected somehow. I had the hollandaise sauce on asparagus in the dining room for dinner one night and liked it, so maybe it was just me not feeling it that morning. We never ate at the dinner buffet, but had lunch there daily plus sometimes afternoon snacks and/or late night snacks. They always had 3 kinds of pizza- usually margarita, some kind of white pizza, and pepperoni. The pizza is so good!! Definitely have at least one slice of pizza even if you aren’t a big fan- my husband had pizza every single day, usually more than once… They always had hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries. They also always had several different types of sandwiches already made up, plus cold cuts, cheese and bread. Whatever they had on the focaccia bread was my favorite! Every day there was a carving station, and pasta with different sauces as well. They also had some kind of grilled fish daily, which was surprisingly good for being on a buffet. There was always a salad bar with different types of veggies. One thing I thought was different was the blanched cold vegetables on the salad bar- things like cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and green beans. They also had different types of pasta and grain salads- sometimes with meat or seafood in them. Usually there was also fixings for nachos or rice bowls. So many options and honestly nothing we tried was bad! lots of dessert options too! I love the tiny desserts because then I don’t feel badly getting so many 😂😂 One day they had all chocolate desserts at lunch- the photo is my selection. The ones in the cups, they would have different flavors daily.

That’s good to know! The ones we received offers for didn’t look like they had them. I think it was the deluxe suite and the deluxe grand suite that they offered us.

Ooh that sounds like it worked out in your favor!! 🙌🏻 Lovely family photo!

First sea day- We slept in a little and then ate at the buffet. They probably had half the buffet closed and still it never felt crowded- there were always plenty of tables available and servers hovering about to take drink orders. We ate breakfast at the buffet every day except our last day. We like to go to one of the restaurants on the disembarkation day because it’s usually closer to the deck you leave from and, in my mind, less carrying your hand luggage. The breakfast buffet had all the typical American breakfast items you might expect, plus a variety of items that seem more typical in other countries. Every day there were: eggs (boiled, scrambled, over easy, poached), omelettes, bacon, sausage, some kind of breakfast casserole, fresh fruit (bananas, kiwi, apples, melon, plums, pineapple), grits, hot oatmeal, all kinds of toast and pastries, doughnuts, pancakes, waffles (plus all kinds of toppings), home fries, hash browns, biscuits and sausage gravy. There was always some kind of carved meat-like ham, as well as smoked salmon. There were also things I’m not accustomed to eating like hot tomato halves, beans (like baked beans), and pickled herring. There was also yogurt and toppings, as well as cereal daily. My kids were excited about Froot Loops one day- so maybe they didn’t have them daily. That’s about all I can think of- as far as what they had for the breakfast buffet, but if there is something specific you want to know if they had, let me know and maybe it’ll spark a memory. We spent most of the first sea day in chairs relaxing close to the water slides as our kids were all about those. At that point, we hadn’t figured out that the Aurea package gave you access to the Top 19 Solarium (where it was much quieter and had its own bar, but also still close to the water slides). The kids checked out the kids and teen clubs and my husband & I enjoyed the thermal spa. I think dinner the first night was prime rib and I can’t recall what the second nights dinner was, but I took pictures of the fantastic salmon appetizers we had. The kids are adventurous eaters so they enjoyed as well. I finally was able to get photos to upload so here’s some of the room/balcony and the salmon appetizer.

No gelato was included with the packages- just soft serve. Anyone could get soft serve in the buffet at certain times in the afternoon, but it wasn’t a long time- maybe only from 4-5pm? The kids could get soft serve from the Jungle Pool Bar for a longer duration, but it was only kids! I didn’t realize they were charging adults for soft serve there! The bartender said it was $4 for my cone and I was like are you kidding me?!?! The lack of soft serve was probably one of my few complaints. With so many other options, it does feel a bit ridiculous to complain about soft serve ice cream, but having cruised other lines where it’s available practically 24/7, I just don’t understand why MSC doesn’t do that!!

We initially booked this cruise in January of 2020 for March of 2021 on the Merevaligla (sp?) in one of their family rooms- I think it was an oceanview and a connected interior room with a fantastic price- I think $3500 for 5 of us. Of course that one was canceled and I rebooked this one in March or April of 2021 for June 2022. So when we rebooked, we got $400 in stateroom credit and the Easy package included as well as the non-alcoholic package for the kids. The thermal spa, a massage for each adult, and a free photo were also included. We paid to upgrade to the Easy Plus package and I think it was around $140 total for my husband and I for the week. Totally worth it. I think with the upgrade on the drinks package, it was around $5k. I’m not sure if we will see those kind of incentives again, but I always look for the added perks! and I think you are right- the days of 5 in one cabin are coming to an end. The twins are still on the smaller side so they fit in bunk beds just fine, but I’m sure they’re going to hit a growth spurt soon.

Lol I bet! With the price for YC, I feel like an extra bathroom is in order. We received quite a few upgrade offers for YC but elected to pass because none of them had a hot tub on the balcony and that we were all looking forward to that! I think we stopped for food twice on the way down- 3 boys are always hungry!! I tried to upload photos from my phone and kept getting error messages, but I’ll try again another way. Not sure why I couldn’t get it to work. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Last week we were on the MSC Seashore with a stop in Ocho Rios. I always look for a local tour and found Mark’s Tours either here or on trip advisor. Anyhow, I found him on FB and contacted him via FB messenger at first and he asked me to email him. Mark picks you up at the port and takes you wherever you want to go. We initially wanted to go to Dunn’s River Falls, and I said we wanted to see a little of the area, try some local food and get souvenirs. He suggested a few places to check out and to let him know. One of the places he suggested was the Blue Hole and after watching videos he sent, we were sold. Mark took us (air conditioned minibus) and another family to the Blue Hole and set us up with guides. The other family elected to be dropped off at the beach after the Blue Hole, so then Mark took us to a restaurant that served jerk chicken (excellent!) and to a shopping center for cheesy souvenirs and Jamaican rum. He even brought some fresh mangoes from his tree for us. He’s very personable and accommodating and we would definitely use Mark again for a tour or recommend him to anyone going to Ocho Rios. The Blue Hole was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced! The kids (ages 11, 11, 13) had a blast jumping off the high jump, and dropping from the swings into the water. There’s lots of climbing involved and some swimming. It’s really so gorgeous. They have life jackets available and even if you’re a decent swimmer, I’d probably take one just because the currents can be pretty swift and it’s deep in a lot of places. I didn’t take one and I wished I had because by the end I was pretty tired- it would have been nice to float to the side vs having to work for it. Everyone needs water shoes for sure and I’d definitely bring a waterproof phone case. Our guide took photos and video with my phone and got some of the most amazing shots, all while directing us where to go, making sure we stayed safe, and had a great time. For just transportation with Marks Tours, it was $25 per adult and $20 per child. The Blue Hole was an additional $20/pp and we also tipped our guides at the Blue Hole and Mark bc they were amazing.

We are back from a wonderful trip last week on the Seashore. This is our 2nd cruise with MSC (Seaside in summer 2019) and our 6th cruise overall. We’ve previously sailed Disney, Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Carnival. We’ve always had our 3 kids with us, and we tend to look for the best deal vs always wanting a certain level or type of room. We’ve done all of us in one oceanview room (great when the kids were little), all of us in one balcony (not so bad but stressful with adventurous little ones), and split up into two oceanview rooms next door to each other (good amount of space and 2 bathrooms was nice!). We did a “super family” balcony room on the Seaside (essentially 2 smaller adjoining balcony rooms), but it seems like there aren’t many of those available. So this cruise, the five of us were in a spa suite (room 12068) with the Aurea experience. It was my husband, myself, and our 3 boys (twins age 11, and an almost 14 yr old)- the first time we had done a suite. We were a little concerned about it being enough space for the 5 of us, but it turned out to be plenty of room. The cabin had a walk-in closet with shelves and hanging space. It was large enough for 2-3 people to stand in. The bathroom was a decent size and had a shower/bathtub. The best part of the cabin was the balcony! We had our own hot tub on the balcony, plus room for two chairs. The five of us fit on the balcony with plenty of room to spare. The three boys could all fit in the hot tub laying down- my husband and I probably could have also fit, but ehh no need for that. The only thing that could have made our cabin better was a 2nd bathroom. Our boarding/check-in time was 10:30am, and we were on the ship by probably 11-11:15. We had driven down from the Orlando area that morning so we were hungry and went straight to the buffet. It said it wasn’t opening yet, but we went straight in and everything was ready. By 1230, we had eaten and were enjoying drinks at the Jungle Pool. It was raining so that was perfect for letting the kids get rid of some energy. We were in our room by 130 and our luggage arrived shortly afterwards. It was really nice to be on the ship that early- we felt like we got a full day out of it vs other cruises where we’ve boarded later on in the day. We talked to someone in the buffet who said many passengers had canceled for our week because of the tropical storm, so there were only around 1800 passengers aboard. The kids checked out the kids/teen clubs, and my husband and I checked out the spa- we were excited that the Aurea experience came with access to the thermal spa all week and a massage for each of us. 🙌🏻 We also had “my choice” dining so we weren’t confined to a set dining time. We’ve done that on other cruises and really like having the flexibility to eat dinner when we want to. I’ll can write more later, but I wanted share some highlights. I’m also happy to answer any questions I can. Highlights: *the Aurea experience definitely added a lot of nice perks. I know I said we are usually looking for the best deals, but I’m not sure we can go back lol *upgrading to the Easy Plus package- definitely a good call on that one because the Easy Plus included all the frozen drinks and pretty much anything we wanted. My kids LOVED all the mocktails and tried every single one. *hot tub on the balcony of our room- super nice to have a quiet soak while watching the sea go *the twins loved the kids club and our teenager loved the “young” club even though he said there were not many kids there or kids who spoke English. *the food was excellent- lots of variety and things we don’t make at home like lamb shank, prime rib, scallop ceviche, braised spareribs *service was great- we never wanted for anything or had to wait a long time *shows were great! We especially enjoyed Gravity, the magician, and A Very Very Starry Night. *Ocean Cay was awesome and we would love to go back- I feel like a day wasn’t long enough to really explore and enjoy the island.

We sailed on the seashore leaving 6/4 and were told there were around 1800 passengers, and that it was supposed to be more but people had canceled because of the tropical storm. It was a lovely week and nothing was ever very crowded.