Just off the Seaside 9/15/18 (long review)

Well I just wrote this really long review of the Seaside(9/15/18) but my cat jumped on my lap and the whole thing disappeared off my screen. That pretty much sums up what my week has been like.

Embarkation: a cluster. The parking garage is actually quite a walk from Terminal F. We were in at 12:20 and they were not boarding yet – we were given boarding station 23 (and no map or information or daily planner. Nothing. Oh, and the pictures that we uploaded in advance – we had to have them re-taken because MSC doesn’tr eally use them). Just one example of the communication breakdown apparent everywhere.

At this point I realized that DH had not grabbed the bag of my shoes that I had left next to the luggage (so as to not crush them). The ones that were on the “before we leave the house list” … so I was left with my black tennis shoes that I was wearing and nothing else. Not a good way (understatement) to start a cruise. There was no concierge or help within the terminal (other than YC) to see if there was a crew shuttle or something over to shopping. We wound up taking a taxi to Bayside (because if we moved the car out which had been parked there for an hour at this point we would have had to pay $22 to get it out, then more to park at Bayside). Pickings were slim and I got some flip flops and a pair of dress shoes. Ok, that issue solved.

When we got back at 2:00 the ship was boarding – what a gerbil trail to enter the ship! Up and down and through mazes. I felt sorry for anyone who was mobility impaired. There was NO assistance and the elevators in the terminal were reserved.

At this point we were hungry and thirsty and rattled and went for our first (one of the last) adventures in the free-for-all known as the Deck 8 buffet. It was every man and woman for themselves. (To note, lunch ends around 3 or 3:30 and the only food before dinner service is pizza which we found to be more often than not very doughy and ‘rushed’, not fully cooked.) I tried a couple of times again in the buffet but the layout was poor, there was NO bar or drink service tableside and the guests were, well, in it for themselves. (Favorite ‘you got to be kidding me’ moment of the week was when a group went to the cheese/meat display at breakfast and took ALL of the displays.. I mean the whole platters… back to their table. They then started assembling sandwiches which grandma was packing in her Tupperware (as it was a port of call day)). This was pretty much how the week went.

We had multiple issues in the main dining room for breakfast/lunch. The hours of operation were really short(8-9:30 for breakfast) which led to too many people trying to squeeze in all at once. I always say that breakfast is the hardest meal of the day to prepare. Everyone likes their coffee just so (hot milk, cold milk, no milk, etc)and they have their own idea of what an “over easy” egg is like. You get the picture. So one day we were there at 8:10 and seated at our own table (again, a joke, as the two-tops are pulled 1 inch away from another two top, so you really better make friends with those around you.) We chatted with this sweet couple for 45 minutes and never got our order. People around us were getting up and leaving as they were done and we never got any food. The worst part was that we couldn’t get the maître d’ to admit that our order was lost/never placed. She kept saying that the ‘kitchen was backed up.’ (To note, stop blaming the kitchen for service errors, than you). We left not having eaten. This was pretty much a theme.

Specialty dining: ok,this is where it gets even more fun. Soon the first day when DH was checking our dinner table assignment a Maitre D from the Divina recognized him (we tip handsomely for service). Oh, welcome back, blah blah blah. He offered to make the reservations for our Black Card dinner so we arranged for dinner at the Pan Am restaurant for a few days out. Fast forward. We check in, wait at bar, half hour later hostess says “oh, we couldn’t find you” (huh? What? We are standing here), and ok, if you want your Teppanayki table has been waiting on you. That’s not what was reserved, that wasn’t covered on our black card (which we were reminded OFTEN that we were ‘status matched and not real black card’). There were no tables at the Pan Am at this time…. So we went to Butcher’s Cut. Another fail.

I asked if I could have two apps (salad and app) in lieu of dessert as part of my 3 choices. NO. Ok, I could get soup instead. Fine, if those are your rules. DH orders wine that would be included in our package. The“Sommelier” brings us a higher end bottle of wine. Ok, fine. A bit later the somm comes over and starts pouring what is literally a$10 bottle of low end Cabernet into my husband’s glass of wine (which still has about 2 ounces of wine) until I stop him and say “NO,that’s not what he was drinking!” Somm removes glass and himself and just leaves in embarrassment. (Needless to say we never saw him again and he didn’t offer to do anything about the wine he just ruined and removed. ) (Can’t make this stuff up.)

Oh, and the wine. For some reason the staff has been trained to FREEZE all champagne and white wineglasses. The Somm (still can’t help but giggle on this) says that Americans like their white wines very cold and their red wines warm so that’s why they do this so as to avoid guests asking for ice cubes to put in their wines. Honest to goodness I can’t make this up. So I had to REQUEST a non-chilled glass each and every time I wanted a glass of Prosecco/champagne/white wine. (BTW – the white wines are kept in beer coolers and are ridiculously cold.)

Food: when we could get it (kidding, not kidding) was perfectly fine. I found it odd that only on two nights on the MDR men was there a sort of “always available” menu (shrimp cocktail, Caesar,chicken, salmon.) There wasn’t a callout the other nights so I actually can’t say if it was available or not. The quality was perfectly fine and we even arranged for a delightful curry one night as there was an Indian vegetarian table of six near us who had the most glorious meals prepared for them. We pre-arranged to “have what they are having”and it was delicious.

Room Service: we upgraded to the Deluxe package. I asked twice at Customer Service if room service was included as we had the Deluxe package but Bella service level. Was told NO twice so I didn’t push it. The Room service menu was not the one that has been posted recently but more of the limited European one with a few sandwiches. I basically lived off the Pringles and peanuts in the mini bar. Speaking of included mini bar, you could not request Diet Coke or Coke Zero in it. Nope.Denied. Was told to go to a bar if I wanted one.

Shows: they were good and I enjoyed the fact that they were 30 minutes. You did have to pre-arrange for the later ones but not the 6:45 as that was poorly attended. The aerialists and acrobats were stunning;the singers a bit over the top. Hubby wouldn’t let me go up to do Master Chef (we didn’t turn in our quizzes even though we got all the questions correct…) but that was fun to watch.

Pools: apparently there are no “adult only” pool areas. This did not even occur to me to look into in advance as I would have assumed (you know what they say) that there were child free zones. Nope. Deck 7 aft pool is reserved for 16+ (as it should be because it is 6ft deep), but the loungers in that area allow kids. (What?) On day 2 I went out to Deck 7 aft (not knowing this yet and thinking it might be a respite) at 8:30am and every chair was already hogged with lonely towels and magazines. (You know the drill). I asked the pool attendant if there was a “30minute” policy and he said no. MSC would never remove a towel. I (admittedly snippily) asked if I should get there at 6am to get a lounger and his response was “make it 5.” Thank goodness I had a balcony (despite being directly above the smoking area).

Deluxe package: definitely worth it and I’m sure that the night accountant lost his or her mind looking at our charges. For a ‘very strong’ cappuccino they’d ring in a Cappuccino and an Espresso (unlike at Starbucks where can add a shot) so our two breakfast drinks were about $7.50 each… The coffee in the MDR and buffet was undrinkable and there was no drip coffee offered at the bars. I did get fresh OJ a few times (Miami pool bar, deck 7 aft) which was delicious. Had Venchi twice, but never got to try the crepes.

(more to come..)

Thanks for the in depth review.

How did they know you were a status match?

What's the Pan Am restaurant?

What's the Pan Am restaurant?

My guess it’s the Pan Asian Restaurant, Asian Market Kitchen by Roy Yamaguchi.

Link to Seaside Restaurant overview: https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Discover-MSC/Cruise-Ships/MSC-Seaside/Restaurants.aspx

We just got back from the Seaside on Saturday the 22nd. Balcony cabin on the 11th deck with the "Deluxe" beverage package upgrade. No Diet Coke in mini-bar was an issue for us also and made no sense. Plenty of Spring Water and Corona lessened that inconvenience. Frederick was our cabin steward and he was one of the best we have ever had.

Service at the Sports Bar was terrible and it's too bad they charge for bar food, I guess we were spoiled by NCL's Sports Bar offering complementary items 24 hours.

Enjoying your take on the cruise and looking forward to reading the rest.

Thank you for the review!

Following

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Enjoying your review...sounds similar to ours the first of September! Except we couldn't get our drinks on us till the third day!

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Was on seaside week of 8-25-18 and did butchers block for black card dinner. Started off with a bump regarding wine also. We were told only red or white wine couldn't order any other wine even though we had the classic drink package. Server couldn't explain why and so I stated package states can be used in all specialty restaurants...his response was yes for cocktails they go out to the bar which is located in foyer of the specialty restaurants but not wine. I finally said that I would go get it myself...he came back a few minutes later and said he would get it....one difference than your experience our server did state that we could get 2 apps if we forego the dessert

Well I just wrote this really long review of the Seaside(9/15/18) but my cat jumped on my lap and the whole thing disappeared off my screen. That pretty much sums up what my week has been like.

 

Embarkation: a cluster. The parking garage is actually quite a walk from Terminal F. We were in at 12:20 and they were not boarding yet – we were given boarding station 23 (and no map or information or daily planner. Nothing. Oh, and the pictures that we uploaded in advance – we had to have them re-taken because MSC doesn’tr eally use them). Just one example of the communication breakdown apparent everywhere.

 

At this point I realized that DH had not grabbed the bag of my shoes that I had left next to the luggage (so as to not crush them). The ones that were on the “before we leave the house list” … so I was left with my black tennis shoes that I was wearing and nothing else. Not a good way (understatement) to start a cruise. There was no concierge or help within the terminal (other than YC) to see if there was a crew shuttle or something over to shopping. We wound up taking a taxi to Bayside (because if we moved the car out which had been parked there for an hour at this point we would have had to pay $22 to get it out, then more to park at Bayside). Pickings were slim and I got some flip flops and a pair of dress shoes. Ok, that issue solved.

 

When we got back at 2:00 the ship was boarding – what a gerbil trail to enter the ship! Up and down and through mazes. I felt sorry for anyone who was mobility impaired. There was NO assistance and the elevators in the terminal were reserved.

At this point we were hungry and thirsty and rattled and went for our first (one of the last) adventures in the free-for-all known as the Deck 8 buffet. It was every man and woman for themselves. (To note, lunch ends around 3 or 3:30 and the only food before dinner service is pizza which we found to be more often than not very doughy and ‘rushed’, not fully cooked.) I tried a couple of times again in the buffet but the layout was poor, there was NO bar or drink service tableside and the guests were, well, in it for themselves. (Favorite ‘you got to be kidding me’ moment of the week was when a group went to the cheese/meat display at breakfast and took ALL of the displays.. I mean the whole platters… back to their table. They then started assembling sandwiches which grandma was packing in her Tupperware (as it was a port of call day)). This was pretty much how the week went.

 

We had multiple issues in the main dining room for breakfast/lunch. The hours of operation were really short(8-9:30 for breakfast) which led to too many people trying to squeeze in all at once. I always say that breakfast is the hardest meal of the day to prepare. Everyone likes their coffee just so (hot milk, cold milk, no milk, etc)and they have their own idea of what an “over easy” egg is like. You get the picture. So one day we were there at 8:10 and seated at our own table (again, a joke, as the two-tops are pulled 1 inch away from another two top, so you really better make friends with those around you.) We chatted with this sweet couple for 45 minutes and never got our order. People around us were getting up and leaving as they were done and we never got any food. The worst part was that we couldn’t get the maître d’ to admit that our order was lost/never placed. She kept saying that the ‘kitchen was backed up.’ (To note, stop blaming the kitchen for service errors, than you). We left not having eaten. This was pretty much a theme.

 

Specialty dining: ok,this is where it gets even more fun. Soon the first day when DH was checking our dinner table assignment a Maitre D from the Divina recognized him (we tip handsomely for service). Oh, welcome back, blah blah blah. He offered to make the reservations for our Black Card dinner so we arranged for dinner at the Pan Am restaurant for a few days out. Fast forward. We check in, wait at bar, half hour later hostess says “oh, we couldn’t find you” (huh? What? We are standing here), and ok, if you want your Teppanayki table has been waiting on you. That’s not what was reserved, that wasn’t covered on our black card (which we were reminded OFTEN that we were ‘status matched and not real black card’). There were no tables at the Pan Am at this time…. So we went to Butcher’s Cut. Another fail.

 

I asked if I could have two apps (salad and app) in lieu of dessert as part of my 3 choices. NO. Ok, I could get soup instead. Fine, if those are your rules. DH orders wine that would be included in our package. The“Sommelier” brings us a higher end bottle of wine. Ok, fine. A bit later the somm comes over and starts pouring what is literally a$10 bottle of low end Cabernet into my husband’s glass of wine (which still has about 2 ounces of wine) until I stop him and say “NO,that’s not what he was drinking!” Somm removes glass and himself and just leaves in embarrassment. (Needless to say we never saw him again and he didn’t offer to do anything about the wine he just ruined and removed. ) (Can’t make this stuff up.)

 

Oh, and the wine. For some reason the staff has been trained to FREEZE all champagne and white wineglasses. The Somm (still can’t help but giggle on this) says that Americans like their white wines very cold and their red wines warm so that’s why they do this so as to avoid guests asking for ice cubes to put in their wines. Honest to goodness I can’t make this up. So I had to REQUEST a non-chilled glass each and every time I wanted a glass of Prosecco/champagne/white wine. (BTW – the white wines are kept in beer coolers and are ridiculously cold.)

 

Food: when we could get it (kidding, not kidding) was perfectly fine. I found it odd that only on two nights on the MDR men was there a sort of “always available” menu (shrimp cocktail, Caesar,chicken, salmon.) There wasn’t a callout the other nights so I actually can’t say if it was available or not. The quality was perfectly fine and we even arranged for a delightful curry one night as there was an Indian vegetarian table of six near us who had the most glorious meals prepared for them. We pre-arranged to “have what they are having”and it was delicious.

 

Room Service: we upgraded to the Deluxe package. I asked twice at Customer Service if room service was included as we had the Deluxe package but Bella service level. Was told NO twice so I didn’t push it. The Room service menu was not the one that has been posted recently but more of the limited European one with a few sandwiches. I basically lived off the Pringles and peanuts in the mini bar. Speaking of included mini bar, you could not request Diet Coke or Coke Zero in it. Nope.Denied. Was told to go to a bar if I wanted one.

 

Shows: they were good and I enjoyed the fact that they were 30 minutes. You did have to pre-arrange for the later ones but not the 6:45 as that was poorly attended. The aerialists and acrobats were stunning;the singers a bit over the top. Hubby wouldn’t let me go up to do Master Chef (we didn’t turn in our quizzes even though we got all the questions correct…) but that was fun to watch.

 

Pools: apparently there are no “adult only” pool areas. This did not even occur to me to look into in advance as I would have assumed (you know what they say) that there were child free zones. Nope. Deck 7 aft pool is reserved for 16+ (as it should be because it is 6ft deep), but the loungers in that area allow kids. (What?) On day 2 I went out to Deck 7 aft (not knowing this yet and thinking it might be a respite) at 8:30am and every chair was already hogged with lonely towels and magazines. (You know the drill). I asked the pool attendant if there was a “30minute” policy and he said no. MSC would never remove a towel. I (admittedly snippily) asked if I should get there at 6am to get a lounger and his response was “make it 5.” Thank goodness I had a balcony (despite being directly above the smoking area).

 

Deluxe package: definitely worth it and I’m sure that the night accountant lost his or her mind looking at our charges. For a ‘very strong’ cappuccino they’d ring in a Cappuccino and an Espresso (unlike at Starbucks where can add a shot) so our two breakfast drinks were about $7.50 each… The coffee in the MDR and buffet was undrinkable and there was no drip coffee offered at the bars. I did get fresh OJ a few times (Miami pool bar, deck 7 aft) which was delicious. Had Venchi twice, but never got to try the crepes.

(more to come..)

Waterbabyfish, Why couldn t you get your drink on us drinks earlyer....

My experiences on Divana last year, are about the same. I am booked Inside YC, instead of a normal suite, because I learned last year, that if your not YC, MSC does not care at all about you. Black Card means nothing, as does dining packages, or on-board spend. It is YC or nothing, as this is even shown in the terminal, when checking in!

Thanks for the report .

My experiences on Divana last year, are about the same. I am booked Inside YC, instead of a normal suite, because I learned last year, that if your not YC, MSC does not care at all about you. Black Card means nothing, as does dining packages, or on-board spend. It is YC or nothing, as this is even shown in the terminal, when checking in!

I know many people who have enjoyed MSC not in YC. But if you have discriminating tastes and super high expectations then the YC is the way to go. (And I include myself in that list LOL.)

Of course the check-in is elevated as this is a perk paid for.

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My experiences on Divana last year, are about the same. I am booked Inside YC, instead of a normal suite, because I learned last year, that if your not YC, MSC does not care at all about you. Black Card means nothing, as does dining packages, or on-board spend. It is YC or nothing, as this is even shown in the terminal, when checking in!

I'm taking my first MSC cruise next year. Booked Yacht Club as many posts seem to echo your position. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that YC is a good as people say.

I was on divina twice last year. We were fantastica balconies and had a great time. Leaving on seaside in 6 days, cant wait! Our last cruise was on Royal and i was disappointed after cruising with MSC.

I really feel sorry for OP. (we were on Seaside last week, Bella experience).

To Op...you were "OFTEN reminded that you were status matched"...REALLY? I should have just stopped reading after that comment, but I felt obligated to read whole post.

We had great cruise, ate EVERY meal (except our free black status meal in Butchers Cut) in the Buffet. It was busy, but food was good and varied. And they HAD bar service if you wanted to use it.

I was going to type more, but am just going to say, I hope you find better cruising.

To others, don't let some of these negative reviews turn you off (It literally took 15 seconds to get our pictures taken at check in...and I mean LITERALLY!...15 seconds...to post about that as a complaint just shows...

I really feel sorry for OP. (we were on Seaside last week, Bella experience).

 

To Op...you were "OFTEN reminded that you were status matched"...REALLY? I should have just stopped reading after that comment, but I felt obligated to read whole post.

 

We had great cruise, ate EVERY meal (except our free black status meal in Butchers Cut) in the Buffet. It was busy, but food was good and varied. And they HAD bar service if you wanted to use it.

 

I was going to type more, but am just going to say, I hope you find better cruising.

 

To others, don't let some of these negative reviews turn you off (It literally took 15 seconds to get our pictures taken at check in...and I mean LITERALLY!...15 seconds...to post about that as a complaint just shows...

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Waterbabyfish, Why couldn t you get your drink on us drinks earlyer....

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Continuing, and thanks for the comments, even the negative ones... Yes, for some reason we found employees saying "oh, you must be status matched" which shouldn't make a bit of difference, IMO. No, we didn't get the room "gift" (did get the chocolate ship, though), or the photo taken at the Cruise Critic meet up (which we did on the Divina). Like I said, it just seemed as if there were too many people to take care of well.

To the poster who commented on discriminating tastes then, yes, I guess I have them if I like my wines to be served at the proper serving temperature. I'll even give you a plus on minus. But putting something in a frozen glass is just silly. We bought the Deluxe package because the La Terra wines (on the Drinks are Us) are not to our taste and the Deluxe package afforded a much larger selection of wines by the glass than the Classic. We did not order any mixed drinks except for a mojito DH tried.

Anyhoo, I disagree on any service level at all in the buffet. It was a zoo. And I did state that the food was ok, though I did chuckle every time I saw the big bowl of fruit loops cereal in the "wellness area" ... Oh, in case anyone is curious there was readily available Soy Milk, Almond Milk and Rice Milk in the buffet and at Venchi if desired.

To the poster who asked if I was fun at a party... dude, I'm totally fun. But this is a holiday for which I dropped a certain amount of hard earned money. If I go to a party and there is no food, oh, well, we can go get a burger later. However, If I go to an MDR for breakfast and we get no food because the server forgot to put in the order, then that's another story.

Moving on.....

The SPA: different than our last experience in that we received the 1 hour Thermal Spa pass which was stated to be used while in St. Maarten. (Before it was just a pass that could be used during the week.) So it seems as if they were wanting to squeeze in the free visits on port days. Makes sense. I did use it and the Spa was nice enough - particularly enjoyed the Salt Room.

Ports of Call: I haven't been to St Maarten since last year's hurricane and while Phillipsburg is trying hard to recover Marigot was still devastated which is a shame. Ditto on San Juan - old town was in good shape with lots of re-construction going on, but folks who ventured further out indicated it was still pretty bad. Nassau is, well, Nassau though it seemed slightly more frenetic than usual in the way you are cattle herded out of the port through the hawkers. BTW - there is a lovely Starbucks just across from the Hard Rock a few streets down with free wi-fi.

Disembarkation: we opted to walk off and DH was the 2nd in line at 6am. Fortunately I checked my folio and there was a $2.00 balance on it. Ok, whatever, they will close it to my credit card ... well it's a good thing that I asked because they had changed my folio to a "cash" one (vs credit card payment because I had thrown cash on it before..) So they were going to deny us getting off the ship and send us to Cust Svc for $2.00 even though I had the credit card on file and the $250 hold as per the MSC pre-authorization.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

I was on the Seaside last week, and my experience with the two of your item was exactly the opposite. When I was at the adult pool on deck 7, I saw the lifeguard run off two different families who brought their kids - pronto. As soon as they showed up.

Also, embarkation was literally the fastest and easiest I've ever done. We arrived about 2:00PM, stood in line for about 10 minutes, worked with an agent for about two minutes and was on the ship within 10 minutes of that.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to negate your review. I just want other readers of this thread to know your experience may not be typical.

MM ... A little puzzled here as to how the crew would know that you were status matched ? the only way they would know is if there was some sort of code added to your cards, as far as I know your black card would be the same as mine or anyone elses who had earned it by sailing with MSC.

I was on the Seaside last week, and my experience with the two of your item was exactly the opposite. When I was at the adult pool on deck 7, I saw the lifeguard run off two different families who brought their kids - pronto. As soon as they showed up.

 

Also, embarkation was literally the fastest and easiest I've ever done. We arrived about 2:00PM, stood in line for about 10 minutes, worked with an agent for about two minutes and was on the ship within 10 minutes of that.

 

Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to negate your review. I just want other readers of this thread to know your experience may not be typical.

True on the adult POOL. Kids were not allowed into the physical pool but were welcome in the loungers all around it.

MM ... A little puzzled here as to how the crew would know that you were status matched ? the only way they would know is if there was some sort of code added to your cards, as far as I know your black card would be the same as mine or anyone elses who had earned it by sailing with MSC.

No clue on how they knew! I should have kept the card to take a pic :o

I really feel sorry for OP. (we were on Seaside last week, Bella experience).

 

To Op...you were "OFTEN reminded that you were status matched"...REALLY? I should have just stopped reading after that comment, but I felt obligated to read whole post.

 

We had great cruise, ate EVERY meal (except our free black status meal in Butchers Cut) in the Buffet. It was busy, but food was good and varied. And they HAD bar service if you wanted to use it.

 

I was going to type more, but am just going to say, I hope you find better cruising.

 

To others, don't let some of these negative reviews turn you off (It literally took 15 seconds to get our pictures taken at check in...and I mean LITERALLY!...15 seconds...to post about that as a complaint just shows...

before I opened review I knew how its gonna be. I wonder too how would they now about "matching status" :confused:

before I opened review I knew how its gonna be. I wonder too how would they now about "matching status" :confused:

As I said on another thread, GB, they have absolutely no way of knowing - unless the passenger mentions that it's their first time on MSC. It's not like it's a lighter shade of Black than for those of us who "earned" our status. :rolleyes: