sigmachibri

Hi! Thanks for posting about your Bella experience, gives me a better picture of what to expect next May (first cruise for both me and my husband). I had a question about something you mentioned. You said that you had both buffet and sit down breakfast in your cruise. Does this mean that a sit down breakfast is always a possibility? What about lunch? And where do you go for it?

Thank you for your help, we are newbies!

I cant recall the specifics but I believe sit down breakfast was very early on port days and only open for 1.5 hours prior to docking on those days. I dont believe sit down lunch is available on port days. On sea days both sit down was definitely open at scheduled times. I think sit down is great and fun but it does take a bit of time to complete and theres so much fun to be had that I miss by sitting waiting. Its nice to have the options to do both.

The where is the seaside restaurant on the 5th deck

Very informative indeed - could you be patient enough to say what difference there is between the two buffets ?l Also do they still have the Elegant Nights and if passengers do dress up (suits for men) ? Many thanks

The buffet on 16 was very small but it did have soft serve ice cream. The buffet on 8 did not have soft serve ice cream but was significantly larger with many more options. We at in the dining room as often as we could but found both buffets to be fairly standard cruise food I actually thought their burgers were very tasty and rather large. The pizza as I mentioned earlier is outstanding. People mentioned variety being an issue but I would not agree. There were some staples and some rotating items. I was not disappointed.

Are there any restrictions to deck spaces for Bella balcony pax? Any corkage fee for wine brought on?

Someone else may be able to clarify but I didnt find any restrictions however I know certain portions of the ship at yc only. The first day we were trying to get to the kids club and took the forward elevators all the way up. When we go there it was the yc area...I believe for dining and whatever other amazing things they have. We couldn't go to the back of the ship from there and and to go all the way back down then back up once we went to the next set of elevators. I had a bunch of small kids so there easnt a lot of time exploring the ship the way we did before kids I bet someone else can comment but I have read on here before about areas for certain types of passengers only. One other time is brought to mind, when i believe we were on deck 16 walking around we found a set of glass dividers that I believe said aura passengers only beyond this point. I could be wrong about all of this but this is what I recall.

You forgot to mention that we had incredible weather that week also. [emoji847]

 

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The weather was outstanding. We couldn't have been luckier I was gone 11 days total for my trip and it rained for 10 minutes the day we were getting on the boat and then poured on the way to the airport. Other than that it was sun shine and warm temps

Thanks for this review!

Was your 4yo happy with the younger clubs? I will have a 6yo, 7yo and 10yo and I am worried that my 6yo will be unhappy being separated from his brothers, plus he will be one of the oldest in the younger age group.

They did a lot of combined activities in the main room. I think the separation between the age groups sounds bad but is actually a good thing. They were all very happy with the kids club.

It is often stated as a fear by many bella passengers who post on this forum. Let's be honest, bella doesn't have any of the perks of the other levels (dining time, drinks, access to certain areas of the ship, priority elevators, included room key wrist bands...the list can go on for some time).

Funny side note- the kids club authorization even had a note saying that a certain activity was an extra $5 for bella passengers only.

My husband uses a CPAP machine to sleep -Did you happen to notice what is the electrical situation. Usually, he has to bring an extension cord to reach from the desk area to the nightstand.

2 outlets and USB on the desk area and 1 outlet in the bathroom. You will need an extension cord.

Thank you so much for the review. Hubby and I will be sailling Seaside this October fantastica inside cabin. I also found a lot more yaucht club reviews then bella or Fantastica. I do have a question, did you ever go to any of the outside movies. I noticed on the dallies that Ive seen that almost every night they have two showings of a movie out there. I was hopeing they were now setting chairs up for people instead of expecting them to sit on the backless helepad steps.

We went to two of them - they offered wonder woman, spiderman homecoming, and another I cant recall. They put out about 30 lounge chairs right in front of the screen. The chairs go from a full seated position to laying all the way back. No I between but the chairs were very nice. I didnt find it overly crowded but one night people were sitting on the steps behind because all of the seats were taken. The movies were a nice touch and the kids enjoyed

Thank you for your review of the Bella class. I am considering being brave and making a reservation - and only seem to find Yacht club comments. I have been so nervous that the line will not match up to my experience of NCL and RCL simply because the prices are so much lower. You have made me think that I may well find it better than I am imagining.

I had thr same concerns and thought it may be a much lesser experience than we had on any other boat based on the price and European standards vs american. I kind of left this out of my review unintentionally but I personally felt that there was zero difference between this cruise line and one of my favorites NCL. I felt the food was comparable. The quality was comparable. The level of service was comparable. The amount of nickel and diming was comparable I've been on disney, NFL, holland america and celebrity but have never done royal. From what I understand, royal is always top notch and slightly above the rest in amenities and service. This could be opinion or fact - I dont know but their price point is typically higher than many others and I've never heard anything but glowing reviews. I would consider this exactly inline with NCL and right now may be a great time to jump on this ship before they raise the prices. It's an unknown brand to many Americans on a ship that had terrible reviews out of the gate for quite a few growing pains which all appear to be resolved at this point. This is the absolute best time to take the plunge for a small amount of risk. The cruise I booked was less than half the cost for a far nicer room than a royal cruise I originally booked.

Another 2 side notes I forgot to mention. There was so much chatter about the announcements in 5 different languages all day constantly. Yes they were in multiple languages but I barely heard any all trip. They seem to keep those in certain areas only and it did not impact my life at all.

The other side note is the massive amount of Europeans on the boat. I would say 50 percent of all passengers were European which was surprising to me there is sometimes a language barrier and differences in etiquette but overall it was a non issue.

Regarding the comparability of the cruise to other lines I even asked my wife and parents multiple times and they all agreed that they saw no difference between this cruise and others. They also agreed that this may have been there favorite. It is a really nice boat.

One more item came to mind- I've read a bit about the public restrooms being inadequate and sparse. I have 4 young kids who seem to have to go at every meal and I can say that msc should have more restrooms in public spaces than what they do have but we adapted and found other areas that were better or just went back to the room. For example. The 8th floor buffet has 1 mens restroom for hundreds of people and that 1 restroom has 1 toilet and 2 urinals. I could have missed other restrooms that were available but this was right outside the exit. This was not adequate. However other areas were fine

1 other tip for bella class traveling with kids. Mid ship rooms and utilizing mid ship elevators was ideal. This was the location of the kids club on 18, the buffet on 8, and the main dining on 6 or 7. We have a passenger with mobility issues and the mid ship location was perfect for almost everything we did.

We were on the MSC Seaside from August 18-25 and I wanted toshare some information that I found hard to find on this board recently and myexperience on the cruise.

Much of the information you find on here is related to YachtClub passengers and in my opinion there are just so many other types ofpassengers on the boat that have a different experience and would like hearthose answers/opinions.

Room –

We were bella category with a balcony room. I’ve read quite a bit about how bella couldbe made to feel like a second class passenger but that was not my experience atall. We did not have a drink package butthat’s not something we’re really interested in since we have 4 young childrenand other than that we did not see much of a difference. I believe we were restricted to only ourdining experience at our allotted time or you could choose a specialtyrestaurant or the buffet. The bellacategory cabin was great. I didn’t findit particularly small as others have said and have cruised 6 other times on 5different lines. I’ve read complaints onhere about closet space and the position of the toilet in relation to thevanity. Both of those are true. Closet space is somewhat limited but we wereable to make it work with 4 people in the room by utilizing the night stands aswell for smaller items. if my childrenwere older it would likely be more difficult however I believe I significantlyoverpacked and so did my wife. We tendto bring too many day time clothes outfits when the reality is that we end upin bathing suits for most of the day. Recycling the barely used shorts and t-shirts often happens. Did I find either of those to be a hugenegative – absolutely not. The showerwas also small and definitely could not fit a second person. I found the room to be decorated quite niceand to be excellent. I really enjoyedthe stay in the room. The airconditioning does take a while to get to temp, especially with the constantopening and closing of the balcony door. The balcony was fairly standard size for a small balcony and was reallygreat. It adds to the square footage andreally gives you that little extra that you really appreciate during down timesor at port.

Pools –

I really enjoyed the pools and so did my children. We typically cruise on the smaller boats with2000 passengers so I was concerned about having 5000 passengers on board withthe amount of available activities and pools. I never once felt more crowded on this boat than I did on any otherboat. The pool on 16 was really nice andhad a decent size beach area around it that was flooded by about 2 to 3inches. This left quite a bit of extrapool area for the kids to play in and was a really nice touch. The pools were 6’3” to the beach area but Irecalling my experience on others boats I don’t believe I’ve ever seen ashallow end in a cruise ship pool. Ibelieve others on here have quoted this as a negative but I saw it as apositive. The reason it was a positiveis that often this kept the small kids out or clinging to the sides orbeach. It also kept the middle forswimming and playing with the kids. Ifound the pool size for all of them was rather generous and larger than Irecall on other boats. My kids liked thewaterfall feather on the pool on 16. Itwould have been nice to have been able to see the large screen tv outside frominside the pool but this is blocked by the raised area in the middle. The jungle pool was also very nice and had alarger beach area. The kids pool in theaqua park was amazing. It was about 2’deep and had lots of water shooting devices. My kids really enjoyed it and this was quite an active space. The south beach pool we unfortunately neverhad the opportunity to use since we often had children with us. It lookedbeautiful and rarely were people swimming. It would have been amazing especially givenit’s location on the back of the boat deck 7.

The Jungle pool stayed open the latest till 9 or 10. Main pool on 16 I believe was 8 and aqua parkwas 6. I don’t recall the time of thesouth beach pool

The slides – the dual blue slides were rather adisappointment for me. the one on theleft was very slow and both me and my children got stuck in the middle and hadto push our way out. The right slightwas pretty good but also fairly slow. Atleast that one you would make it to the end. The large single blue slide that was supposed to be used with the boardwas used with inflatable tubes instead (single or double). They said that the slide board was broken andwould be fixed in a few weeks. I thoughtit was great with the tubes and it has a really nice drop at the end. The kids definitely enjoyed. The brown tall slide was very nice and reallycatered to the smaller kids even though it was probably better than the dualblue slides. It was likely faster and justa better ride overall. There is also asmall side by side next to the 2’ pool in the aqua park. The slides really were a nice touch and keptthe kids entertained. There was noadditional cost for any of the slides and wait times were not terrible. The longest wait time was the one for thetube where at most I waited 20 minutes and I would say on average 5. The other slides were very quick lines and afew minute wait at most

Dining – we dined at the seashore restaurant every night at530pm. This worked out perfect with theport days since we were back by those times and it also worked out with theshows. We were able to make the 645 showjust about every night. Let your waiterknow in advance because I could see this as an issue if they had a lot oftables in their section or if they didn’t prioritize you. One thing I had a hard time finding on theboards here was what was offered for drinks and when for those who were in thebella category. Table water was alwaysavailable and plentiful. The kids werealso able to get milk every night if they liked. Other than that you would have to pay fordrinks or have a drink package. We hadpurchased the 7 wines for 160 package and it was outstanding. We had the robert mondavi premium carbernetand it was great. On board it was 33plus gratuity which came to about 39. Through the package it was less than 23 with no gratuity charged. In my opinion, this was a no brainer and anexceptional value. The food quality wasfairly standard for cruises and reminded me a lot of NCL. No lobster or filet (even though one nightfilet was on the menu) unless you paid extra. Many of the dishes were delicious and you were able to order multipleitems if you’d like. The portion size issmall so be prepared. Honestly, thesmall portion was great because I was so full from breakfast and lunch. For breakfast we did both sit down andbuffet. Both were great but there issomething special about sit down. Lunchwas always the buffet and I read on here many times about how good the pizzawas. I’m from ny and I believe it rivalsany pizza here. The dough was reallythin and well cooked. Was classic pizzadough and not premade stamped. Thetoppings were excellent. They reallyknow how to make a pizza and it was always plentiful – even pizza at thebreakfast buffet. I found that thecruise had ample choices for food even though on here I have read numeroustimes that it’s the same food over and over again. I didn’t experience that and felt there wastons of variety. The buffet on deck 8 isconsiderably larger than that on deck 16 however deck 16 is the only one withsoft serve ice cream. Juices and waterwere always available in the buffet which is a nice touch. It’s a shame so many people were filling upwater bottles directly from the machines despite the signs. It was probably the worst I’ve seen on acruise ship.

Shows – we did the 645 show every night because reservationswere not really necessary or checked. There was always seats available. I believe they check at other times and you have to reserve inadvance. I felt the shows were verygood. Only 1 opera the whole week –butterflies. The rest were broadwaystyle shows centered around talent – singers, ring twirlers, strong men, aerialists,roller skaters, etc. the them of theshow changed every night but the act remained fairly standard. In other words if you’ve seen 1 or 2 showsyou’ve essentially seen them all with the exception of butterflies that wasquite unique and well done. We went toall shows but 1 and despite how it may sound, I was entertained at eachone. However, I’ve been on a Disneycruise once before and it’s a hard bar to measure up to.

Gym –

We went to the gym many times. They have a decent amount of equipment andplenty of non-standard equipment like ropes, balls, and other items I don’teven know the name of. I wish they had asecond set of all the machine exercise because they often were taken andcrowded. They were quite advancedmachines with a computer screen that tracks your reps and tries to keep you inthe correct form.

Notes –

Elevators - yes they were annoying and probably more annoying than other boats. I had a disabled child with me in a wheelchair most of the time so I definitely needed the elevator. the aft elevator is empty often. the middle elevator is busy at peak times but not terrible and the forward elevator with the priority service for yacht club passengers is obnoxious. I avoided that bank of elevators at all costs.

Bringing wine on board - we had some leftover wine that wepurchased from when we were staying in Florida prior to the cruise that we didn’tfinish. I put it in my suitcase becauseI really didn’t have a choice and was hoping for the best. My checked bags made it to my cabin withoutissue. Don’t judge me but this was blockbox wine (the small 500ml variety). Itwas easy to carry back from the store and it’s not terrible. When we were in port we also brought back abottle of limoncello and had zero issue bringing it back through security. Turns out when you watch the monitor almosteveryone is smuggling a bottle of some sort of alcohol back on the boat.

Embarkation and disembarkation – reading on here peoplefound them smooth. I found them to bevery long journeys. Long hallways withlots of steps. I also got right to the frontof the line with a handicapped child and still felt like it was long. I can’t imagine staying in those lines ofsecurity in Miami. We arrived at 1pm andthe lines were very long. I think theywere boarding passengers late that day.

Smoothness of the boat – this was probably the smoothestride we’ve ever had. I almost never feltthe boat moving. This could be due tothe amazing weather we had or the speed the ship was going (I felt that it wasoften going rather slow comparatively – maybe they’re not overreaching on theports they can get to in the allotted time)

Kids club – this is the first kids club that my kids reallyenjoyed (8, 8, 7, 4). The legosavailable was great as well as the gaming systems. This kids club seemed more likely to offerfree play and not so many structured activities. My kids really enjoyed that because on otherships the kids club only did structured activities which often left my kidswaiting for their turn to do something. To me it sounds like freeplay with that many kids is asking for troublebut it didn’t present. They managed theamount of kids great and it was never an issue. The last boat I was on was over capacity 1 time and couldn’t take mykids that night. i couldn’t be happierwith the kids club on the boat.

Customer service – we didn’t have an issue with any languagebarriers. I felt like it was standardcruise staff

Water package – we bought the 14 waters for 37$ and itworked out really well for sea days. Wegrabbed them before we left the boat and the 1L bottles were ideal for theday.

This was probably my favorite cruise of all that we’ve takenand it was likely due to the pools. We didn’tuse any chairs and as with any other boat they are always taken but the poolsthemselves were plentiful and outstanding.

I hope this helps some folks out there –