MSC Seaside SANITARY CONDITIONS

[The Admiral]

I do have one other concern about the Seaside which I missedmentioning in my original review but which I feel is very fixable and important enough that its worthy ofit own thread:

That of Sanitary concerns on the Seaside.

As I said before the ship is beautiful and elegant (ModernItalian Decor at its best) and shows are comparable to others. But there are a few issuesI noticed in the sanitary conditions of the Seaside give me enough concern thatI would like to share them here and will with MSC if they send me the survey because they could cause health issues but are very easilyfixable:

1) ELEVATORS: Elevator buttons were very crusty and dirty withwhatever (food, other fun stuff IDK what, bottom line they were frequently grimmywith who knows what stuff). Need I say more? I have noticed on other ships thatstaff is almost non-stop wiping all elevator buttons with sanitizer (thestronger the better lol). I did not notice that much on Seaside other than onceseeing the mirror inside the elevator being cleaned during my stay.

2) SANITIZING STATIONS: There were not many sanitizer stationscompared to other ships I've been on, adding a few more in heavily traffickednon dinning public areas wouldn't hurt. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I DID NOT SEE STAFF ENFORCING PRE EATING SANITAZION which on NCL and RCI theydo.

I routinely saw folks just walking in past the sanitizer and sinks in thebuffet and dinning room and staff just looked at them said hello, and bothsides moved on. This was perhaps my biggest sanitary issue, on other ships I'vebeen on staff will kindly remind you to sanitize or wash yourhands, on the Harmony they had a staff member with a bottle and theyproactively said hello as they're looking to actively spray a squirt of sanitizerin your hand and if you were not near staff they would make eye contact and ask you to please wash /sanitize your hands which was required before proceeding to eat.

I'm not saying if a passenger says to bug off the staff shouldchase them down but there wasn't proactivity to enforce sanitary standards before proceeding to eat, based on my observations. All it takes is one passenger, anyone (including me, I'm not perfect :)) to forgetto wash and be sick and then contaminate the whole ship because they handled elevator button that were not frequently cleaned or used shared servingutensils with no sanitation before hand.

Oh and buy the cereal dispensers if you will not buy the individual cereal packets, serving cereal from a large bowl with a regular dinner spoon like I saw all week - not a good idea!:(

Just think MSC, how much is it going to cost you in bad reviews,lost revenue and sick ship passenger credits??? vs. spending a little more timetraining and having staff enforce basic sanitation in this closed environmentwhere we all share our germs and diseases for a week with each other.

3) FOOD TEMPERATURE: Food sometimes lukewarm both at dinner and buffet, I don'tneed to say this could cause health/sanitary issues so double check temperaturewhile food is in the buffet or assembly line to ensure food isn't sittingaround to long before being served. On my cruise only two nights was myrestaurant dinner warm enough that it wasn't boiling hot but clearly notlukewarm.

I understand this is a new ship but in the past I read poststhat other cruisers in other ships had some similar observations so I hope MSCwill take this seriously and re-train the staff and ensure that sanitaryprocedures are enforced.

As I have said, I really like MSC's vision and want them tosucceed..they just need to act quickly on passenger suggestions and they willbe well on their way. MSC ship and corporate leadership need to redouble efforts to helpall management/supervisory levels bring up the areas where there are speedbumps up to their standards.

 

Nothing I have cited inany of my MSC Seaside reviews this week is very expensive to fix and will go along way to positioning MSC in a class all it sown. Godspeed Seaside and MSC!

[The Admiral]

I do have one other concern about the Seaside which I missed mentioning in my original review but which I feel is very fixable and important enough that its worthy of its own thread:

 

That of Sanitary concerns on the Seaside.

 

As I said before the ship is beautiful and elegant (ModernItalian Decor at its best) and shows are comparable to others. But there are a few issues I noticed in the sanitary conditions of the Seaside give me enough concern that I would like to share them here and will with MSC if they send me the survey because they could cause health issues but are very easily fixable:

 

1) ELEVATORS: Elevator buttons were very crusty and dirty with whatever (food, other fun stuff IDK what, bottom line they were frequently very visibly grimy with who knows what stuff). Need I say more? I have noticed on other ships that staff is almost non-stop wiping all elevator buttons with sanitizer (the stronger the better lol). I did not notice that much on Seaside other than once seeing the mirror inside the elevator being cleaned during my stay.

 

2) SANITIZING STATIONS: There were not many sanitizer stations compared to other ships I've been on, adding a few more in heavily trafficked non-dinning public areas wouldn't hurt. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I DID NOT SEE; STAFF ENFORCING PRE EATING SANITAZION which on NCL and RCI they do.

I routinely saw folks just walking in past the sanitizer and sinks in the buffet and dinning room and staff just looked at them said hello, and both sides moved on. This was perhaps my biggest sanitary issue, on other ships I've been on staff will kindly remind you to sanitize or wash your hands, on the Harmony they had a staff member with a bottle and they proactively said hello as they're looking to actively spray a squirt of sanitizer in your hand and if you were not near staff they would make eye contact and ask you to please wash /sanitize your hands which was required before proceeding to eat.

 

I'm not saying if a passenger says to bug off the staff should chase them down but there wasn't proactivity to enforce sanitary standards before proceeding to eat, based on my observations. All it takes is one passenger, anyone (including me, I'm not perfect ) to forget to wash and be sick and then contaminate the whole ship because they handled elevator button that were not frequently cleaned or used shared serving utensils with no sanitation before hand.

 

Oh and buy the cereal dispensers if you will not buy the individual cereal packets, serving cereal from a large bowl with a regular dinner spoon like I saw all week - not a good idea!

 

Just think MSC, how much is it going to cost you in bad reviews, lost revenue and sick ship passenger credits??? vs. spending a little more time training and having staff enforce basic sanitation in this closed environment where we all share our germs and diseases for a week with each other.

 

3) FOOD TEMPERATURE: Food sometimes lukewarm both at dinner and buffet, I don'tneed to say this could cause health/sanitary issues so double check temperaturewhile food is in the buffet or assembly line to ensure food isn't sitting around to long before being served. On my cruise only two nights was my restaurant dinner warm enough that it wasn't boiling hot but clearly notlukewarm.

 

I understand this is a new ship (and staff was visibly overwhelmed - I felt sorry for them, they seemed to be overrun with passengers) but in the past I read posts that other cruisers in other ships had some similar observations so I hope MSC will take this seriously and re-train the staff and ensure that sanitary procedures are enforced.

 

As I have said, I really like MSC's vision and want them to succeed..they just need to act quickly on passenger suggestions and they will be well on their way. MSC ship and corporate leadership need to redouble efforts to help all management/supervisory levels bring up the areas where there are speed bumps up to their standards.

 

Nothing I have cited in any of my MSC Seaside reviews this week is very expensive to fix and will go along way to positioning MSC in a class all its own. Godspeed Seaside and MSC!

[ginger123snaps]

I agree with you! I have not sailed yet but I have read numerous posts regarding sanitary issues. Every cruise we have sailed on has a person at the eating areas entrance squirting sanitizer.

 

I can overlook all the little things but the sanitary issues is a big one for me. I hope they get their act together before we sail on Feb2

[bug18]

Sanitary issues are a big concern for me also but unfortunately I have seen these problems on other lines as well. When I was on a RC cruise I complained one day for people filling up water bottles when there was a sign right there asking them not to do it and staff stood by, said nothing, and watched them do it. On the NCL Breakaway I saw numerous issues on the buffet and felt that staff turned the other way. I hope MSC takes care of the issues you mention as it doesn't seem very hard to do.

[sandpiper35]

Like that lovable character from Laugh in, “the German soldier”, used to say: “Very interesting but ...........”

 

Cheers.

 

 

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