Average Seaside Cruise--Review/Opinion

Hopefully no one will mind if I piggyback off this review. My wife and I were also on this sailing. Many of my comments will mirror the OP, so I will add were I feel there were differences. I also followed Nikkiw60's live review while on the ship.

 

 

 

Stateroom - We were in an inside Fantastica cabin, 13202. Plenty of room, but storage at a premium. We used a door organizer over the inside of the bathroom door. It was a big help. Our cabin steward was exceptional. We asked for ice to be stocked regularly and it was. Two issues. Lost power to the bathroom only one day. It was fixed within hours. Toilets also stopped flushing for short periods. Again this was fixed within a few hours.

 

 

 

Customer Service - First two days Guest Services were swamped. Average line wait time was 30 minutes. During this time impossible to even reach anyone by phone. You would leave a message and hope someone would return the call the same day. Reception staff informed us that there's only 3 operators on duty at a time manning switchboard and they're receive dozens of calls a minute. This problem pretty much resolved itself by day 3. You can also dial x115 for a medical emergency, but didn't recall seeing this posted anywhere.

 

 

 

Food - My wife and enjoyed the food in the MDR everynight. Maybe a few less options than other mainstream cruiselines we've sailed (NCL, Carnival & RC), but we thought the quality was as good if not slightly better. We had a terrific wait staff (Gerald and Ryan in deck 6 dining room). My mother wanted a tray of olives on the table, and they made sure we had one every night. Everyone probably knows about the 2 buffet situation by now. Market Place buffet (deck 8) only open for breakfast and lunch. Biscayne buffet open all day pretty much until 2 AM. Overall we found the buffet food to be better quality than other cruise lines we've sailed. I agree with OP, there seems to be less variety and the options change very little from day to day. Pizza is good, not the best I've ever had, but then again, I'm from Chicago. The burgers were also pretty good, especially their signature burger, but so far nothing at sea beats Guy's burgers on Carnival.

 

 

 

Entertainment - I have a slightly different opinion on the Production Shows than the OP. Truly the best I've seen at sea. Performers are exceptional, and they work their butts off. Theater at capacity every night including the opera nights. If you want to go the shows reserve your showtimes in advance on the interactive screens throughout the ship or using the MSC for Me app. I am not an opera fan, but the shows are definitely worth seeing...probably because they are short. I might not have felt the same if they were much longer. (Many Americans didn't agree an walked out in the middle of these shows). Lots of acrobatics every show. Timeless a must as well as Peter Punk'd.

 

 

 

Spa - We bought the spa Relaxation Package in advance of the cruise since it included the Thermal Area Pass for the lenght of the cruise. Basically you get a 30 minute Bali Massage for the extra $9 per person ($90 vs $99). Get the spa staff to explain the wristbands for the Thermal Area.

 

 

 

This was our first MSC cruise. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience. The ship is absolutely beautiful. I agree with the OP on it's design. It's somewhat different from anything we've sailed on in the past, and somethings are quite odd. There are issues one being the 'smell'. We did smell the foul odor at times especially around the kids water park. Some folks had it in their cabins particularly on decks 5 and 11. We never did. There were also some issue with elevator wait times. We did not experience any of the customer service issues that seem to plague so many other Seaside cruisers, but I will qualify this concerning the bar/wait staff.

 

 

 

We talked to many of the bar staff because we were very concerned about tipping them. We had the Fantastica vouchers, and they worked fine. (And in many situations the bar staff let us get premium brands that we should not have been able to get). But having cruised other lines we normally would add something extra when signing our receipts. This was not an option on the Seaside regardless of whether we used the voucher or just charged something to the room. If you wanted to give the staff something extra you had to carry cash. We asked some of the bar/wait staff about this. I will not single anyone out, but they pretty much stated that they hated this ship compared to other MSC ships. Some even said that they couldn't wait for their contracts to end so they could leave. One bartender told us that many staff had already quit, and the ship was understaffed in the bars by about 50 people.

 

 

 

Overall we would definitely cruise MSC and this ship again. I pretty much agree on the OPs recommendations, but I do feel the ship is worth giving a try even if the price point goes up. I should also state that my wife and I have a second cruise booked on the Seaside for next December in a Whirlpool Balcony Suite. Honestly, we will probably cancel this cruise, but not because we didn't like the ship. We both feel that we've already experienced the Seaside. We just don't feel the Whirlpool Suite will add to the experience enough to warrant another sailing. That, and we've already seen all the entertainment.

 

 

 

As to the earlier pool pic, we heard the pool sprung a leak. Apparently some upper cabins had to be evacuated, and others said there was a waterfall down some elevator shafts. We only heard this on the final night of the cruises. We also heard that some of the evacuated passengers were given Engineers' cabins. Again, this is all heresay without any proof to back it up.

Thank you- I figured it must be something pretty serious to have the main pool closed on what looks like a gorgeous sea day.

If there really was a leak with a waterfall down the elevator shaft it will probably show up on some social media site quickly.

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Very fair question. I've been reading CC for a while now, but I have honestly never had the inclination to join and comment/review until just before this cruise. I have always just enjoyed sitting back and reading without adding my "two cents" if you will. If I enjoy the experience of posting my opinion, I will continue to do so for future cruises.

You are not by yourself in doing a review for the first time after taking many cruises. I also just did my first one after sailing on Seaside 12/30/17. There were so many unknowns and miss information coming from MSC that I felt I had to share my thoughts.

So thank you for sharing your review and your view of how you saw things and felt. Great review.

We were also on this cruise with 8 adults, 2 babies and 2 14 year old girls. We were in 3 Grand Suites on deck 11 at the front of the ship. There was lots of space and storage in all 3 rooms. The center suite was the only one that would reasonably sleep 4 adults. You definitely felt the motion in these rooms but the views from 11001 were great.

 

Guest Services for us was fine. We went immediately after boarding to get an issue corrected and the person was efficient and corrected the problem quickly.

 

Everyone loved using the wrist bands and had no problem with them.

 

I can agree with much of what others on this cruise experienced on this sailing but I think we would give the cruise an above average rating and look forward to a future cruise on MSC. Stateroom attendant was the best we've had on our many cruises. Some of the bar tenders were great, but overworked. Others were average or a bit below, especially in the jungle pool bar. They tried but often mixed up orders. We enjoyed the food in the buffets for breakfast and some lunches, and while we could have used more variety we were fine. There were things people had never tried. I especially loved the danish bread that was available every day. Everyone in our group loved the pizza. It was annoying when they ran out of coffee mugs however.

 

Room service was good but limited as on many cruises we've taken. There is no service charge for Aurea guests. If you order coffee and want cream or milk make sure to ask for it or you will just get sugar.

 

We ate at Butcher's Cut and Teppenyaki and really liked both a lot. The shrimp cocktail at Butcher's Cut could be an entire meal for me.

 

We loved the spa and the thermal area and wished we had more time there. The massages were great.

 

As for entertainment, we found the shows great and enjoyed a lot of the music. We almost never saw the 2 teenagers. They spent all of their time in the teen club and begged us to stay until midnight. The Baby Time (time with parents in the baby facility for kids under 3) was wonderful. The facility was the best I've seen on a ship and the staff was great. The only issue we had was know the times it was available. The provided pack-n-play in the cabin was high end with a very comfortable mattress.

 

We were really glad for the change in itinerary to Grand Turk. It was beautiful and worked better for enjoying the week.

 

I'll try to post a more detailed review in the review section.

 

As for the closed pool, 2 people in our group say that it had been drained so there was some kind of problem with it.

eanselm - Welcome back from your cruise. Sounds like you guys had a great cruise with all three GS cabins on deck 11. I also hope the info I shared for GS 11003 was beneficial and you had no issues.

On Seaside there were production shows every night. The shows were 30 - 40 minutes, and excellent. Most other cruise lines have production show two or three nights and comedy-jugglers or solo simgers on other nights.

I found MDR food and service to be excellent. Buffet was OK, not much variety day-to-day.

The main difference between MSC and US cruise lines is the large number of international passengers.

What is that blue area in the center? What about the black pipe looking things coming out the center of it?

 

 

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That was the Miami Beach pool on the Friday. They emptied and lifted the entire pool and men were under it working on some issue.

Hopefully no one will mind if I piggyback off this review. My wife and I were also on this sailing. Many of my comments will mirror the OP, so I will add were I feel there were differences. I also followed Nikkiw60's live review while on the ship.

 

Stateroom - We were in an inside Fantastica cabin, 13202. Plenty of room, but storage at a premium. We used a door organizer over the inside of the bathroom door. It was a big help. Our cabin steward was exceptional. We asked for ice to be stocked regularly and it was. Two issues. Lost power to the bathroom only one day. It was fixed within hours. Toilets also stopped flushing for short periods. Again this was fixed within a few hours.

 

Customer Service - First two days Guest Services were swamped. Average line wait time was 30 minutes. During this time impossible to even reach anyone by phone. You would leave a message and hope someone would return the call the same day. Reception staff informed us that there's only 3 operators on duty at a time manning switchboard and they're receive dozens of calls a minute. This problem pretty much resolved itself by day 3. You can also dial x115 for a medical emergency, but didn't recall seeing this posted anywhere.

 

Food - My wife and enjoyed the food in the MDR everynight. Maybe a few less options than other mainstream cruiselines we've sailed (NCL, Carnival & RC), but we thought the quality was as good if not slightly better. We had a terrific wait staff (Gerald and Ryan in deck 6 dining room). My mother wanted a tray of olives on the table, and they made sure we had one every night. Everyone probably knows about the 2 buffet situation by now. Market Place buffet (deck 8) only open for breakfast and lunch. Biscayne buffet open all day pretty much until 2 AM. Overall we found the buffet food to be better quality than other cruise lines we've sailed. I agree with OP, there seems to be less variety and the options change very little from day to day. Pizza is good, not the best I've ever had, but then again, I'm from Chicago. The burgers were also pretty good, especially their signature burger, but so far nothing at sea beats Guy's burgers on Carnival.

 

Entertainment - I have a slightly different opinion on the Production Shows than the OP. Truly the best I've seen at sea. Performers are exceptional, and they work their butts off. Theater at capacity every night including the opera nights. If you want to go the shows reserve your showtimes in advance on the interactive screens throughout the ship or using the MSC for Me app. I am not an opera fan, but the shows are definitely worth seeing...probably because they are short. I might not have felt the same if they were much longer. (Many Americans didn't agree an walked out in the middle of these shows). Lots of acrobatics every show. Timeless a must as well as Peter Punk'd.

 

Spa - We bought the spa Relaxation Package in advance of the cruise since it included the Thermal Area Pass for the lenght of the cruise. Basically you get a 30 minute Bali Massage for the extra $9 per person ($90 vs $99). Get the spa staff to explain the wristbands for the Thermal Area.

 

This was our first MSC cruise. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience. The ship is absolutely beautiful. I agree with the OP on it's design. It's somewhat different from anything we've sailed on in the past, and somethings are quite odd. There are issues one being the 'smell'. We did smell the foul odor at times especially around the kids water park. Some folks had it in their cabins particularly on decks 5 and 11. We never did. There were also some issue with elevator wait times. We did not experience any of the customer service issues that seem to plague so many other Seaside cruisers, but I will qualify this concerning the bar/wait staff.

 

We talked to many of the bar staff because we were very concerned about tipping them. We had the Fantastica vouchers, and they worked fine. (And in many situations the bar staff let us get premium brands that we should not have been able to get). But having cruised other lines we normally would add something extra when signing our receipts. This was not an option on the Seaside regardless of whether we used the voucher or just charged something to the room. If you wanted to give the staff something extra you had to carry cash. We asked some of the bar/wait staff about this. I will not single anyone out, but they pretty much stated that they hated this ship compared to other MSC ships. Some even said that they couldn't wait for their contracts to end so they could leave. One bartender told us that many staff had already quit, and the ship was understaffed in the bars by about 50 people.

 

Overall we would definitely cruise MSC and this ship again. I pretty much agree on the OPs recommendations, but I do feel the ship is worth giving a try even if the price point goes up. I should also state that my wife and I have a second cruise booked on the Seaside for next December in a Whirlpool Balcony Suite. Honestly, we will probably cancel this cruise, but not because we didn't like the ship. We both feel that we've already experienced the Seaside. We just don't feel the Whirlpool Suite will add to the experience enough to warrant another sailing. That, and we've already seen all the entertainment.

 

As to the earlier pool pic, we heard the pool sprung a leak. Apparently some upper cabins had to be evacuated, and others said there was a waterfall down some elevator shafts. We only heard this on the final night of the cruises. We also heard that some of the evacuated passengers were given Engineers' cabins. Again, this is all heresay without any proof to back it up.

Please open your own review it will be lost here.

Thank you- I figured it must be something pretty serious to have the main pool closed on what looks like a gorgeous sea day.

 

If there really was a leak with a waterfall down the elevator shaft it will probably show up on some social media site quickly.

 

 

 

 

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Did you book your cruise on Seaside ? You are so interested in every little detail about this ship.

Did you book your cruise on Seaside ? You are so interested in every little detail about this ship.

Passed on her for the March trip due to the fecal small. Killed me because the seaside is MORE THAN 50% cheaper than the nearest option., Still thinking about Seaside for a girls trip in June. Thanks for being so interested, I'm flattered. :)

Passed on her for the March trip due to the fecal small. Killed me because the seaside is MORE THAN 50% cheaper than the nearest option., Still thinking about Seaside for a girls trip in June. Thanks for being so interested, I'm flattered. :)

During the 2/17 cruise I did smell something foul, but to me it wasn't fecal. For me it was more like rotting garbage, almost like what you smell passing a landfill. The only place that I found it somewhat overwhelming was at the kids pools area on deck 18. I really didn't notice it anywhere else on the ship, at least not like it was in the kids pool area.

Thank you all for your mini reviews. Enjoyed them.

During the 2/17 cruise I did smell something foul, but to me it wasn't fecal. For me it was more like rotting garbage, almost like what you smell passing a landfill. The only place that I found it somewhat overwhelming was at the kids pools area on deck 18. I really didn't notice it anywhere else on the ship, at least not like it was in the kids pool area.

I agree....kind of a "dump" smell and really awful by the Jungle Pool. We also smelled it pretty regularly on deck 10 midship and near the elevators midship on 10. A bit of a whiff here and there elsewhere too.