Review of MSC Seaside 12/23/17-1/6/18, SuperfamilyPlus, Menu, Dailies, Food Pr0n,Etc.

[Thecat3902]

ocean cay:

 

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When dining on the trio do you have a time and day that is assigned to you or can you make reservations on the ship?

 

 

 

 

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[seaweeyin]

When dining on the trio do you have a time and day that is assigned to you or can you make reservations on the ship?

 

 

 

 

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I made reservations on the ship.

 

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[seaweeyin]

What a great review. I really enjoyed all the pictures and advice.

I have friends going on this ship in July, so I can tell them it's great.

I do have a question about the dinner menu........... I noticed that most of your pictures didn't show many vegetables with the main course??? I love my veggies, so do you have to order them separately?

I love veggies, too! Often, the protein would be "on a bed" of veggies. Sometimes there was indeed a small amount on the side. There was always a vegetarian appetizer and main dish option, so you could order an extra dish or two to get more veg.

 

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[peekyman]

MSC Seaside December 30,2017

 

I’m going to break this review down in chronological order from our experience.

 

We (my wife & I) were on the second cruise out of Miami on the Seaside. Prior to our cruise, we were able to read in real-time, some of the reviews being generated from the ship. As could be expected, some were in the negative category along with the positive. We tend to weed out a percentage of the negative due to the ship being new with a new crew as it was. (Not to mention some people would find something to complain about on a free cruise)

 

Yes, we are veteran cruisers with a number of cruise lines under our belt. We tried MSC 1n 2012 and never looked back. We have indeed had questionable occasions while aboard MSC that makes you want to say Huh! We’ve experienced similar on other lines as well.

 

We were in the YC. The YC embarkation tent is located almost all the way at the end of their new terminal. From the drop off area, the tent is in the shape of an "L". The actual YC processing tent was up next to the building. We arrived around 11:15 and there was no one in line. We dropped our luggage off, (they put nice tags on the bags) a quick processing and we were escorted through a private line to screening and into a large new lounge where champagne and snacks awaited us. Within minutes we were issued our keycards and soon taken aboard the ship to the concierge area. There is a credit card processing machine located by the concierge desk for your onboard charges. It was simple and convenient.

 

We found our deluxe suite, and our luggage arrived within three hours. The room was larger than that of the Divina by far. However, about the same amount of storage space. The bathroom was quite large and the balcony was more than adequate with two chairs and a small table. On the right as you walk into your suite, you must insert your keycard in order to activate the lights in the cabin. (Someone suggested bring an old keycard and use it instead of your current card which is very good idea. That way you won’t have to continuously repeat every time you leave the room)

 

The Top Sail lounge was spacious with a two tier, twenty foot long, any brand a person might enjoy, bar. The lounge officially opened for business at 6:30 each morning. I was there around 6:00 and it only took one day for the bartender and waitress to remember how I liked my coffee and my bourbon. The snack area was available twenty hours a day and replenished every two hours. There was a spot of tea every afternoon at 4:00 and a variety of nightly entertainment before, during, and after dinner. Outside the lounge was outdoor seating with a dedicated smoking area.

 

The dining room overlooked the lounge with stairs leading up from the lounge. The steps, (same as in the atrium) were embedded with Swarovski crystals. Each step contains approximately $30,000.00 worth of crystals. FYI, there is an elevator in front of the concierge desk that leads to the dining room deck & the Top Sail pool deck. While I’m on the subject of elevators, you may have heard, you can use your YC keycard on the forward elevators to bypass all decks except for the one you have selected. But be forewarned, be ready for some sneering glances from fellow passengers when it doesn’t stop on their selected floor. Just another fun perk.

 

We have never enjoyed a better dining experience on any ship we have ever sailed on. The food, I’d say, a solid four stars plus, the wait staff, on a scale of one to ten, an eleven! By far the most attentive and personable group to date. I can only speak regarding our staff. The attire ranged from resort casual to casual most evenings. On "elegant" nights, (there are 2 on a seven day cruise) we saw the women in lovely gowns and the men in tuxes or suit & tie. Wine or champagne was always offered at dinner at no extra charge.

　　

The One Pool deck & bar was roomy with plenty of well padded lounge chairs. They opened every day at 11:00 with a fantastic buffet and bar service. There was a dedicated smoking area and a covered seating area for dining. Again, we saw the captain there for lunch and it’s a great place to buttonhole him for a selfie. There are about ten cabanas available for a daily fee that range from $99 to $149 per use. We did not employ one, but I imagine the higher end comes with a personal butler. There are a couple of nice pools and they were never crowded. At least one whirlpool maybe two available that saw more use than the pools. We never saw any type of entertainment at the pool area except for New Years Eve.

 

There was a captain’s cocktail party in the Top Sail lounge on the first sea day that took place around 11:00 where the captain welcomes you as he meanders from table to table. It’s a wonderful time for a photo op as well. Champagne & other cocktails along with hors d’oeuvres were served. The attire was mainly resort casual. Again, this is only if you are in the YC. ( For all others, the captain will hold a meet & greet with a photo op in the atrium. Check you daily program for info). Every evening we found photographers in a number of locations throughout the ship. Moreso near the atrium, which made for a gorgeous backdrop.

 

Our YC party had merely began, when the Captain suddenly turned and ran (yes ran) out of the lounge. An announcement from the bridge alerted us to the fact that we were responding to a capsized vessel. The ship literally made a 90+ degree turn and everyone gathered on the starboard side for a look-see. However, within thirty minutes, another announcement saying we were returning to our scheduled course because another vessel had arrived prior to us and the situation was well in hand. Needless to say, the Captain did not return to the party.

 

We walked about the ship, took in some shopping, entertainment, & bars. Our favorite place was in the atrium. By far the "Creme Dela Creme" if you will, of the ship with it’s four tiers of Swarovski crystals on either side. There are three stages behind the bar and occasionally entertainers on all three stages simultaneously. We took in only one show while on the ship and as before on other MSC ships, entertained far beyond the imagination. A note: everyone (including the YC) has to make a reservation for any of the shows onboard. Seating is on a first come first serve bases for all.

 

We can’t address any of the other dining venues, although we did walk through for a look-see. We had a drink or two, but I can’t tell you how much they were, simply because if you were in the YC, your drinks were all-inclusive throughout the ship.

 

There are so many things to see and do on this beautiful floating palace. We can’t wait to get back in Dec. We hope you will find all the fun and enjoyment that we did, and as George Carlin once said, "If it doesn’t meet you expectations, lower your expectations."

 

Peekyman

　

[mafig]

Loved reading your review. Thank you.:*

[korpo024]

Actually, each step on the Swarovski staircase, is about $3000, otherwise, this ship would never make any money....The total amount of steps (around 100) would mean, $300.000, which is also a lot, for a staircase offcourse.... Swarovksi stones, are available approximately $1 per stone.

But for the rest I enjoyed your long read!

[windlicht]

Loved your review! Thank you!

I especially appreciated the check in experience since this will be my first time in the YC.

~ "European-American" M.

[DCGuy64]

Thank you, Peekman, great review, so detailed, glad you enjoyed it so much.

 

 

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[Mycykfamilytime]

Super family plus specific question... how big are the tables?? Do they have ten tops? Will my family have a chance to eat together if we’re a party of nine??? I know OP had an issue originally.... if I have an assignment issue as OP had, when will I find out? Will I find out when we first check in, does it show our dining time, and table number, on our cruise cards? Or, will I not know till we get to the cabin? If so, who do we talk to? Is there one Maitre D for the whole ship or one for each restaurant? Where will he/she be located?? Im just trying to preplan so my parents don’t get stressed!!! Thanks!!!

 

 

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[xcell]

Great review -- quick question, did you ask for 3 connecting since you had 7 in your party? I might be having 6 and I really don't want to ave a 3 and 3 arrangement, rather a 2-2-2.

[mom2tcdx2]

Actually, each step on the Swarovski staircase, is about $3000, otherwise, this ship would never make any money....The total amount of steps (around 100) would mean, $300.000, which is also a lot, for a staircase offcourse.... Swarovksi stones, are available approximately $1 per stone.

But for the rest I enjoyed your long read!

 

ON BOARD THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL SHIP

 

The world's most beautiful cruise ship? The reception area of the MSC Splendida is a showcase of Swarovski crystal - each of the 72 steps glitters with $40,000 worth of crystals ($2.8million in total).

This is posted in an article about MSC and talking about the costs of the staircases. Now one would assume they are also including the labor involved to manufacture

 

I work for a company that manufactures jewelry and our cost of a pear shaped 15x10 stone is $8.90 each. While that is on the smaller side for jewelery, now imagine the sizes provided of their stones within the staircase.

[thephantomsgirl]

Thank you for your review! (and also to the person that did a quick review of their YC experience) I booked a solo Deluxe Suite in the YC for November 2019. (a bunch of other solos grabbed it too) I am so excited to see this beautiful ship. I'm reading every review. I'm much like the OP, I can have a good time no matter what and go with the flow.

 

Question - if you know: I don't like fancy coffees, I like good ol' brewed coffee. (granted I like GOOD brewed coffee...) Americano coffee is nothing but espresso diluted with water. Was there any real brewed American coffee onboard? I thought I saw mention of it on one of the lounge menus.

[WinterWimp]

I love veggies, too! Often, the protein would be "on a bed" of veggies. Sometimes there was indeed a small amount on the side. There was always a vegetarian appetizer and main dish option, so you could order an extra dish or two to get more veg.

 

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`

Thank you for your review. Is it possible to send private messages through these boards? I really enjoyed your "voice" while reading your review and welp, cruise coming up, need new reading material....

[Vicki'sMom]

Thank you for your review! (and also to the person that did a quick review of their YC experience) I booked a solo Deluxe Suite in the YC for November 2019. (a bunch of other solos grabbed it too) I am so excited to see this beautiful ship. I'm reading every review. I'm much like the OP, I can have a good time no matter what and go with the flow.

 

Question - if you know: I don't like fancy coffees, I like good ol' brewed coffee. (granted I like GOOD brewed coffee...) Americano coffee is nothing but espresso diluted with water. Was there any real brewed American coffee onboard? I thought I saw mention of it on one of the lounge menus.

 

We were on the 4/28-5/5 Seaside. In the Yacht Club dining room it took us almost the entire week, but we finally got it figured out! If you ask for Americano you will get the strong, frothy coffee from the machine. Ask for "thermos coffee" (what the servers come around with in the stainless steel decanters) and you should get the "brewed" coffee!! ;) The coffee in the buffet is okay -- that's where I would go around 6am when I needed that first cup of brewed coffee each day!!

[seaweeyin]

Super family plus specific question... how big are the tables?? Do they have ten tops? Will my family have a chance to eat together if we’re a party of nine??? I know OP had an issue originally.... if I have an assignment issue as OP had, when will I find out? Will I find out when we first check in, does it show our dining time, and table number, on our cruise cards? Or, will I not know till we get to the cabin? If so, who do we talk to? Is there one Maitre D for the whole ship or one for each restaurant? Where will he/she be located?? Im just trying to preplan so my parents don’t get stressed!!! Thanks!!!

 

 

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Our table was an 8 top; I don't recall seeing larger, but it's possible larger tables were in other areas? Our dining time and location was on our cruise card. The Maitre D is for the whole ship and was at the Seashore restaurant on Deck 5 BUT not at the main doors. Just around the corner to the right, as you're facing the main doors. He was available for requests I believe beginning around noon on check in day, but you'll want to ask for current hours when you board.

[seaweeyin]

Great review -- quick question, did you ask for 3 connecting since you had 7 in your party? I might be having 6 and I really don't want to ave a 3 and 3 arrangement, rather a 2-2-2.

 

Well, we didn't ask for three connecting, we specifically booked the SuperFamily Plus cabin category which simply *is* three connecting. I would say just try a mock booking for the dates you're interested in and see what happens.

[seaweeyin]

Thank you for your review! (and also to the person that did a quick review of their YC experience) I booked a solo Deluxe Suite in the YC for November 2019. (a bunch of other solos grabbed it too) I am so excited to see this beautiful ship. I'm reading every review. I'm much like the OP, I can have a good time no matter what and go with the flow.

 

Question - if you know: I don't like fancy coffees, I like good ol' brewed coffee. (granted I like GOOD brewed coffee...) Americano coffee is nothing but espresso diluted with water. Was there any real brewed American coffee onboard? I thought I saw mention of it on one of the lounge menus.

 

Hm, good question. I love my espresso (including Americano!) so always ordered that. Give the Seaview Lounge or the Atrium Bar a look-see. That's where I'd think fresh brewed coffee would most likely be, if they have it.

[seaweeyin]

`

Thank you for your review. Is it possible to send private messages through these boards? I really enjoyed your "voice" while reading your review and welp, cruise coming up, need new reading material....

 

You can if you add me as a friend through your profile. A warning, though: my currently released books are young adult fiction, and my nearest upcoming releases are middle grade fiction. Adult is on the horizon....

[riclop]

Great review, thanks.

[perakcruiser]

Question - if you know: I don't like fancy coffees, I like good ol' brewed coffee. (granted I like GOOD brewed coffee...) Americano coffee is nothing but espresso diluted with water. Was there any real brewed American coffee onboard? I thought I saw mention of it on one of the lounge menus.

 

I don´t understand the question as Americano is exactly a Espresso diluted with water, so what you mean with "real brewed American coffee"?

 

To make it simple, this are the two options.

 

The coffee you have to pay comes out of a classical espresso machine you see in every coffee bar.

 

The free coffee from the buffet area comes out of a fully automated coffee machine that grind the beans for every serving.

[sayeter]

Hello,

We planed a caraibean cruise on MSC Seaside this jully.

As you laready enjoyed this cruise end of 2017.

I have a question for you.

 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ut10tbv6dqwz32h/cozumel.JPG?dl=0

 

When it is written 10:00 arrival time, is it boat time or Cozumel local time ?

 

In my case from Belgium GMT- 6 (Boat Time) or GMt - 7 (Cozumel Time)

 

Best regards

 

Eric

[SNJCruisers]

 

When it is written 10:00 arrival time, is it boat time or Cozumel local time ?

 

Always ship time.

[TITACATS]

The loungers on deck 8 tended to fill up more slowly, especially earlier in the week before most people knew they were there. Same with the loungers on deck 19. The different pool and water play areas spaced people out pretty well, I thought.

 

No staff was reclaiming chairs or removing belongings that I could see.

 

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Were there any outside areas with lounge chairs that were not in direct sun?

[cruiseintoheaven]

Great review! We are booked for first time MSC, first time YC, first time Mediterranean next fall on the Seaview so I’m doing a lot of reading. I have to say, if there is any one thing that will cause me to revisit our choice it will be the bewildering number of posts and threads about poor and frustrating experiences with Customer Service and the website, which is horrible from my own experience. My fear is that the learning curve on a cumulative level will just be too much and I’ll pick something that’s more reliable, even if less desirable. I really hope MSC gets it together over the coming months - really want to sail with them!

 

 

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[bike50]

After the difficulties with the kids' club bracelets and just generally everyone wanting a key card that opens their actual cabin, we headed down to guest services to see if we could get the room assignments changed.

 

Aaaaahahahahaaahhahhaaaa! For two days straight that line wound around the corner and I don't know about you, but I don't go on holiday to stand in line for hours! What to do instead? Grab some drinks, get some lunch, sit back, and go with the flow. I thought the lunch buffet was excellent. The pizza is outstanding and there is always margherita and pepperoni, plus one other rotating flavor. I loved the Mediterranean corner with the meats and cheeses, of which there were 3-4 kinds of each, plus olives, sundried tomatoes, dried figs, nuts, etc. to make a nice cheese plate. There's a Grill station with two different kinds of burgers, fries, hot dogs, and sometimes seasoned curly fries and/or sweet potato fries. A salad bar section that, IMO, has too few offerings, a cut and whole fruit area, Rotisserie area with chicken seasoned different each day plus sides like potatoes, rice, cooked veg, etc. to go with, a variety of sandwiches and wraps, two soups per day, and several pastas--usually at least one baked dish, plus a few more with sauces. A small variety of other hot dishes rotated in and out--things like fish. At the back, something was always being carved during regular lunch hours. I noticed a whole turkey, ham, and Chicago beef. There are self-serve taps for Heineken and Heineken light in the back of the buffet, as well as for house red and white wine, and sodas. Also available were various watered down juice drinks, water and ice, coffee, tea, lemonade, and milk. The buffet on 8 has a bar with a limited selection of items and bar service can be hit or miss with its speed. When the buffet is full to bursting, well, that's a lot of orders to try to get.

 

The lunch buffet on 16 is smaller, but with most of the same things. This one does have a dedicated kid's section with chicken nuggets, fish fingers, potato croquettes, mac and cheese, quesadillas, hamburger patties and hot dogs, on rotation of 4-5 dishes at a time. This is also where you'll find the soft serve ice cream. There isn't a dedicated bar here, but the pool bar is just around the corner.

 

Anyway, we did manage to get the cabins switched on day three, which cleared up the kids' club situation.

 

One situation that I DID stand in line for (for 45 minutes) was to chat with the maitre'd about our dining time. Here's another one of those ridiculous things we couldn't sort out before the cruise with admin: between the three cabins within our one SuperFamilyPlus reservation, we had two different dining times. Two cabins were late, and one early. We'd requested early, and our reservation showed early until the actual cabin assignment. When my MIL called about the discrepancy, the MSC rep said she changed us all to early, no worries. When we got on board? All assigned late.

 

I know there have been lots of questions about Bella and the buffet restaurant in the evenings. I don't know too much about what was happening there. We were assigned the Seashore restaurant and had Fantastica experience. I can say, however, that one of the reasons the line to address the dining issue was so long was because a woman was truly belligerent about being assigned Marketplace for her dinner. She and the Maitre'd went back and forth on it for some time. At one point, a security personnel came up to stand behind the Maitre'd. I don't know that the situation was ever resolved, so to speak, but she did move on. I am entirely neutral about her behavior, btw. Different things matter differently to different people and such is humanity. When it came to be my turn, the best he could offer me was to write down my name and cabin number and say he'd let me know by the next day if there was anything he could do for me. "And if I don't hear from you?" I asked. He shrugged.

 

Needless to say, I didn't hear from him. I did catch up with him midweek and change our second week to early dining. Which brings us to....

 

I was wondering about the beer and wine you mentioned. Are they free?