APDMOM

Since we had a delayed arrival at port, we enjoyed a relaxing morning on the ship. A Caramel Latte from the Seaview Lounge was on the menu for me:

Good morning, June!

My View: Day 5 - Costa Maya

TIP: Don’t trust or only rely on the app. DH pointed out something we missed for the first 5 days 🙈 There is a snack time in the Marketplace every day at 4. Today, they had scoop ice cream (not soft serve) with lots of delicious toppings, bread pudding, merengues, cookies, etc. Better than any desserts we had this week. Any fellow dulce de leche addicts here? Yes, they had that as a topping! It is a good thing we have 6 more days on the ship 😁

Dailies: Day 4 - At Sea

Shows are all included on this ship. 🙂

I will post the dailies tomorrow. Have not taken pictures of them yet. Thanks for all the likes and for reading along! I really enjoy sharing our experience. Thanks to @bruce85 and @Fissues for your contributions! 🙂

My View: End of Day 4 - At Sea

The Show: Moonwalker Once again, the singers were excellent. This show featured the male singers most of the time, as it is a tribute to Michael Bublé. Before the show, the Captain and some of the senior officers were introduced: A few views of the show:

Dinner Menu: Elegant Night - Day 4 All our meals were good, except for the Fillet mignon. I don't know what it is about MSC, but the red meat is usually over-cooked and dry. We were not able to custom order how we wanted it cooked.

Elegant Night: I don't personally pay attention to what people wear to 'formal night'. If something stands out as beautiful, I do. Otherwise, I just make sure my son's hair is combed and my husband remembers to wear his 'formal/elegant' shirt. So, I can't guide much on what people wore to elegant night. I did not see any tuxedo's though. Here is the official wording for 'elegant night' on MSC Seaside: I used to enjoy dressing up, but now we just dress up a 'little bit'. My Mom at the beautiful Swarovski stairs: Family time:

The Most Beautiful, Calm Sea Day: The Sea was like glass at one point. Look at those lovely clouds too...

Soft Serve: We decided to go to Biscayne as soon as it opened for the sea day lunch to get soft serve ice cream first. When we got there, we were about number 8 and 9 in line. The line moved very quickly. By the time we sat down at a table to enjoy our ice cream, there were about 30 people in line. Still, they do a good job of keeping the line moving. You can have a cone or a cup. On this day, they had vanilla, chocolate, and swirl options.

TIP: For the Thermal Area, they are now asking you to book slots to use the area. I am sure this helps decrease the crowded feeling. So far, I have been able to use it at any time I asked, including 9 AM, 10:30 AM, and 2 PM. I find it does not help to ask 'when is it the least crowded?" because that is a common question and that time then becomes quite crowded. I have the best success just calling before I want to go and ask 'How crowded is it right now? Can I come now?"

Thermal Area Spa Pass: My mom and I have the thermal area spa pass for the 11 days. It was so much cheaper 4 years ago. The area was also much less used - most of the time, I was one of 3 to 5 people in the thermal area. Now, the area is very busy. It has not yet been too crowded to enjoy, and we are meeting lovely fellow cruisers through the experience. It is just not as easy to get a preferred spot. For a full spa tour, refer to my review of Seaside in 2019: Starting at Post number 222 on page 9:

Sea days are usually balcony days for us. We try to stay away from the crowded areas and just enjoy the ocean from the comfort of our balcony. As noted before, we took a detour for a medical emergency. Coast Guard coming to meet the ship:

My View: Day 4 - At Sea

Fun! You will be boarding right when we get off! There are several bars that also serve specialty coffee. Our favorite spot for this purpose is the Seaview Lounge. I will look at all the other venues and let you know which other ones serve coffee/latte, etc. As for wine by the glass, I will need to look into that one for you - not sure since we don't have the package and only drink an occasional glass of wine. 🙂

@nicolen1101 See above - looks like you can order Dr. Pepper 🙂

Daily Program, Day 3 - Ocean Cay:

My View: End of days 2 and 3, Ocean Cay: (A favorite memory)

TIP: Balcony Cabin Selection on MSC Seaside... We thought we chose very wisely by selecting cabins above the Infinity Bridge on the port side. Since there is no seating on the bridge, we thought it would be nice and quiet at night, with no chance of people congregating below the balcony. We were right about that, but wrong about the 'nice and quiet'. The Atrium has LOUD music until midnight every night. We can hear it in our cabins on deck 9. Even when I 'turn my deaf ear (literally deaf on the right side)' and sleep on my hearing ear, I can hear the music through the pillow. So, from our experience on MSC Seaside, choose a balcony on deck 14 if you don't do the late night party. I recommend closer to the forward part of the hump to be further away from the atrium parties. If you don't like smelling smoke, choose port side. On Seaside, as starboard is the smoking side (Though I am sure deck 14 will be high enough from the smoking area on deck 8 to not smell smoke). I will post pictures of our balconies later this week. 🙂

Party in the Atrium: Due to inclement weather (rain, thunder, lightning Caribbean style), the party was moved to the atrium. It was LOUD (more about that and cabin selection coming up), energetic, and very well attended:

Trivia in Haven Lounge: This is 'the happening place' on the ship. Almost every time I come here, it is packed. This evening, they had an Elvis trivia. One of the activities staff members even dressed up like Elvis - such fun!

Theater Show -They finally found the singing talent again! On our last 3 cruises since Nov 2022, we found that the singers in the theater just did not measure up to pre-Covid years. Most were yelling, rather than good voice talent. We finally found good voice talent on Seaside! Hope this rings true for all the shows this week. Rock It! The show itself was not my cup of tea. I did enjoy listening to the talent of the singers - just not the songs so much. Here are a few views of the show: