MikeyA53

MSC felt busy at time,  I found both Princess and Celebrity were similar, with Celebrity having a slight edge on how it was quiet.

I would like to finish off this part of the review with some interesting photos and comments.

Royal Princess:

All lit up at night

I believe they have a balloon drop every cruise

Posing at the stairs 

If you are celebrating an anniversary, birthday, etc. Princess will decorate your door. 

Walkway overlooking the water 

Isolated spot on deck 19 

MSC Seaside:

Captain and his officer. The captain welcomed the guest in 5-6 languages

 Walkway at the back of the ship

 Overlooking the South Beach Pool on deck 7 from deck 16

Aft elevators 

Celebrity Equinox:

　I waited until the last cruise to get my bottles of liquor. I brought a bottle back from San Juan and one from Punta Cana. Each time security did not seize it. There was no desk set up to pick up the liquor. Interesting! 

Unique directory  

Nice spot to hang out

 Enclosed pool 

The bar is covered with ice

 Disco room? 

The library and card room is conveniently situated amongst the cabins on deck 9, 10 and 11 

2 hours ago, micheleata said:

Still following this great comparison report!   A snow room?  Never heard of that. 

1 hour ago, clskinsfan said:

Great comparison review. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you.😄

I would like to finish off this part of the review with some interesting photos and comments.

Royal Princess:

All lit up at night

I believe they have a balloon drop every cruise

Posing at the stairs 

If you are celebrating an anniversary, birthday, etc. Princess will decorate your door. 

Walkway overlooking the water 

Isolated spot on deck 19 

MSC Seaside:

Captain and his officer. The captain welcomed the guest in 5-6 languages

 Walkway at the back of the ship

 Overlooking the South Beach Pool on deck 7 from deck 16

Aft elevators 

Celebrity Equinox:

　I waited until the last cruise to get my bottles of liquor. I brought a bottle back from San Juan and one from Punta Cana. Each time security did not seize it. There was no desk set up to pick up the liquor. Interesting! 

Unique directory  

Nice spot to hang out

 Enclosed pool 

The bar is covered with ice

 Disco room? 

The library and card room is conveniently situated amongst the cabins on deck 9, 10 and 11 

I would like to finish off this part of the review with some interesting photos and comments.

Royal Princess:

All lit up at night

I believe they have a balloon drop every cruise 

Posing at the stairs 

If you are celebrating an anniversary, birthday, etc. Princess will decorate your door. 

Walkway overlooking the water 

Isolated spot on deck 19 

MSC Seaside:

Captain and his officer. The captain welcomed the guest in 5-6 languages

 Walkway at the back of the ship

 Overlooking the South Beach Pool on deck 7 from deck 16

Aft elevators 

Celebrity Equinox:

　I waited until the last cruise to get my bottles of liquor. I brought a bottle back from San Juan and one from Punta Cana. Each time security did not seize it. There was no desk set up to pick up the liquor. Interesting! 

Unique directory  

Nice spot to hang out

 Enclosed pool 

The bar is covered with ice

 Disco room? 

The library and card room is conveniently situated amongst the cabins on deck 9, 10 and 11 

22 minutes ago, frank808 said:

Bowling starts so late because the lanes are above a dining room. I believe diners were complaining so MSC adjusted the hours.

You are right, this is what we were told. MSC should have foreseen that this would be a problem when they designed the ship.

Thanks

3 hours ago, Captain-John said:

Those weekly spa pass prices are pretty good compared to NCL's spa pricing. I think I was charged $69 each or thereabouts for a day's entry!! It was a nice spa, and I think they know it. That said, Seaside's spa looks equally as nice, and for the price, so much the better.

In my opinion MSC excels in their entertainment and their spa. We did Norwegian Escape last year and I agree with you they have a nice spa, I can't remember how much we paid for the weekly pass but it was more than MSC

6 hours ago, bvm49 said:

Thanks for going to all this trouble with a great detailed comparison and wonderful photos - made even better by the beautiful Tracy.

We've done Royal Princess and Celebrity Silhouette/Solstice but only Poesia and the very old Sinfonia with MSC.

Your review brings back wonderful memories. Although I generally agree with your comments; we enjoy Celebrity's production shows the most especially with the addition of the aerial performers.

Brian

Thank you and my beautiful wife thanks you. I'm glad you mentioned that you love Celebrity's production shows, I don't want my opinion to influence someone else, we all have different taste and we should all form our own opinions.

14 hours ago, FLCruise7 said:

Enjoying your comparison review.  I keep looking at all of your pictures from the Royal to see if we're in them - enjoyed that same 8-day cruise with you!!

Thank you

14 hours ago, Palmetto Pilot said:

I'm really digging the review. I need to to review Holland now! 

7 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

 

Yeah, I'm courteous what you thought of Nieuw Amsterdam in general.  We were on in June right after dry dock, and were pleasantly surprised with the food, service, and cabins.  A few years ago, with their smoking policy, and extremely outdated avocado greens and golds, I'm not sure it would have been the right choice for us.

Last year we did MSC Divina, Norwegian Escape and Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam,  of the three Tracy loved Nieuw Amsterdam the best. She liked how quiet and relaxed the cruise was compared to the other two. I found the food on Nieuw Amsterdam  to be excellent, so was the service and we had a very nice aft cabin but like Celebrity Equinox the entertainment and activities were lacking, I need something to keep me occupied. Personally I preferred Norwegian Escape, good entertainment with lots of thing to do, in addition they also had a nice variety of specialty restaurants and the food was good.

Celebrity Equinox

The spa wasn’t anything special, they had a steam room, a sauna, heated stone loungers and no thalassotherapy pool. The cost was $99 per person for a one week pass; we did not get it because we did not think it was worth it.

The gym was nice, lots of equipment and space and it never got busy. 

Celebrity Equinox

The spa wasn’t anything special, they had a steam room, a sauna, heated stone loungers and no thalassotherapy pool. The cost was $99 per person for a one week pass; we did not get it because we did not think it was worth it.

The gym was nice, lots of equipment and space and it never got busy. 

Celebrity Equinox

The spa wasn’t anything special, they had a steam room, a sauna, heated stone loungers and no thalassotherapy pool. The cost was $99 per person for a one week pass; we did not get it because we did not think it was worth it.

The gym was nice, lots of equipment and space and it never got busy. 

54 minutes ago, MaryBethV said:

I am looking forward to the walking track on the Regal! 

Curious - did any of the ships have a nice promenade deck you could walk around? I know the one on the Regal is limited, but we really enjoyed the amazing promenade deck on NCL's newer ships and I'm wondering if any other lines have something similar?

 

MSC Seaside does have a promenade that goes 3/4 around the ship. Carnival's newer ships also have promenades that go all around the ship.

Jezz Louise Captain, I'm didn't realized you were that old, I guess they didn't have "gyms' in your youth.

5 hours ago, myjillian said:

Great reviews...reminds me of the time we did b2b2b Our first ship was a Costa 12 day with an inside cabin then a7 day Holland Anerican with a balcony and then a 7 day Princess. with an outside cabin.  We walked off of the ship each time went to our car and picked up a new piece of luggage leaving the used one behind.  Luckily they were all docketed in F.L .

This is what we learned...after the 3 cruises my husband couldn't remember on which ship we had an inside cabin in( up until this time he refused to even try an inside) which ship had a balcony and which ship was an outside..... and we will never do b2b2b again🤗

Since then we some times  book inside cabins especially on TA's.  With almost 70 cruises behind us we know where to book in certain ships considering the sailing destination. Our first MSC cruise was back when it first sailed in the Caribbean....nobody even heard of MSC and I would tell them..." you know the big trucks with MSC on them....? well they also have ships" LOL

Looking forward to going back to Venice next Fall for a b2b on the Opera.

Thank you, we love doing multiple cruises, one week is never enough, we have done one B2B2B2B, and two B2B2B and one B2B. Next year we have a B2B2B booked. 

MSC Seaside

Seaside had a very nice spa and since we pre-purchased a one week pass, the cost was only $90 per person. It’s substantially more if you wait until you board. The spa had two steam rooms, two saunas, a dry hot salt room, a snow room, a thalassotherapy pool, heated stone loungers, several different shower experiences and an indoor and outdoor relaxation area. We used the outside area when we wanted to get some sun. The best part was that it was never busy, all week there were never more than 4 to 10 people using the spa.

Snow room 

Dry hot salt room 

Heated stone lounger 

Thalassotherapy pool 

Indoor/outdoor relaxation area for pass holders only. We used the outside loungers to sunbathe 

The gym was high tech, some weight machines had small screens that tracked your movement and kept count of your set and reps but the gym did not have enough equipment and it got busy at times.

MSC Seaside

Seaside had a very nice spa and since we pre-purchased a one week pass, the cost was only $90 per person. It’s substantially more if you wait until you board. The spa had two steam rooms, two saunas, a dry hot salt room, a snow room, a thalassotherapy pool, heated stone loungers, several different shower experiences and an indoor and outdoor relaxation area. We used the outside area when we wanted to get some sun. The best part was that it was never busy, all week there were never more than 4 to 10 people using the spa.

Snow room 

Dry hot salt room 

Heated stone lounger 

Thalassotherapy pool 

Indoor/outdoor relaxation area for pass holders only. We used the outside loungers to sunbathe 

The gym was high tech, some weight machines had small screens that tracked your movement and kept count of your set and reps but the gym did not have enough equipment and it got busy at times.

6 minutes ago, MikeyA53 said:

MSC Seaside

 

 

 

Seaside had a very nice spa and since we pre-purchased a one week pass, the cost was only $90 per person. It’s substantially more if you wait until you board. The spa had two steam rooms, two saunas, a dry hot salt room, a snow room, a thalassotherapy pool, heated stone loungers, several different shower experiences and an indoor and outdoor relaxation area. We used the outside area when we wanted to get some sun. The best part was that it was never busy, all week there were never more than 4 to 10 people using the spa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snow room 

 

 

 

Dry hot salt room 

 

 

 

Heated stone lounger 

 

 

 

Thalassotherapy pool 

 

 

 

 

Indoor/outdoor relaxation area for pass holders only. We used the outside loungers to sunbathe 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gym was high tech, some weight machines had small screens that tracked your movement and kept count of your set and reps but the gym did not have enough equipment and it got busy at times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MSC Seaside

Seaside had a very nice spa and since we pre-purchased a one week pass, the cost was only $90 per person. It’s substantially more if you wait until you board. The spa had two steam rooms, two saunas, a dry hot salt room, a snow room, a thalassotherapy pool, heated stone loungers, several different shower experiences and an indoor and outdoor relaxation area. We used the outside area when we wanted to get some sun. The best part was that it was never busy, all week there were never more than 4 to 10 people using the spa.

Snow room 

Dry hot salt room 

Heated stone lounger 

Thalassotherapy pool 

Indoor/outdoor relaxation area for pass holders only. We used the outside loungers to sunbathe 

The gym was high tech, some weight machines had small screens that tracked your movement and kept count of your set and reps but the gym did not have enough equipment and it got busy at times.

Spa & Gym

Royal Princess

We did not use the spa because it was on deck 5 and the gym was on deck 17. For us the two go together, we work out and immediately use the spa then shower. We did not want to transfer all our clothes from deck 5 to deck 17. The gym wasn’t busy most of the time and they had good equipment.

We like to complement our workouts with the walking/running track and as mentioned before they had a really nice one. The track was isolated and you didn’t have non walkers crossing your path all the time like the set up they have on some ships. 

Spa & Gym

Royal Princess

We did not use the spa because it was on deck 5 and the gym was on deck 17. For us the two go together, we work out and immediately use the spa then shower. We did not want to transfer all our clothes from deck 5 to deck 17. The gym wasn’t busy most of the time and they had good equipment.

We like to complement our workouts with the walking/running track and as mentioned before they had a really nice one. The track was isolated and you didn’t have non walkers crossing your path all the time like the set up they have on some ships

Spa & Gym

Royal Princess

We did not use the spa because it was on deck 5 and the gym was on deck 17. For us the two go together, we work out and immediately use the spa then shower. We did not want to transfer all our clothes from deck 5 to deck 17. The gym wasn’t busy most of the time and they had good equipment.

We like to complement our workouts with the walking/running track and as mentioned before they had a really nice one. The track was isolated and you didn’t have non walkers crossing your path all the time like the set up they have on some ships.

21 hours ago, pbxtech said:

Really enjoying Reviews

 

Happy you enjoying it.