MSC Seaside Review 1/13/2018

[buffalogal16623]

Here is my review of the MSC Seaside. I apologize for it’s length but I wanted to be detailed as those are the types of reviews that help me the most. My husband and I cruised on the Seaside January 13-21. This was our 8th cruise and our first with MSC. We’ve cruised once on Carnival, once on Crystal and five times on Royal Caribbean.

First, thanks to all who have provided reviews and information, both good and bad on their experiences. It helped us better plan and enjoy our cruise experience!

Second, here is some background. We purchased the Aurea Whirlpool Balcony Suite. Our cabin was on Deck 9. In addition to the Aurea package, pre-cruise we added the following: upgrade from the classic to the deluxe drink package, the Trio Specialty dining experience and the digital VIP unlimited photo package.

Below is some detail of our experience. I will not keep you in suspense and say up front that we enjoyed this cruise very much and would sail the Seaside again. Our measure of a vacation is....are we sad when it ends....and we were very very very sad. We loved our time on this ship. That being said, not everything was perfect. As of yet, we have never been on a perfect cruise. All cruises are tradeoffs, but the Seaside makes our list of vacations we would book again.

The Entertainment - Loved It!!!

I thought I would start with our favorite part of the cruise. We rate the entertainment on Seaside as the best we’ve ever experienced on a cruise. We are in our mid-50s and we love dancing, live music, theme parties, people watching, bingo, trivia, cocktails, basking in the sun by a pool and shows. The Seaside had it all and had some of the most talented musicians we’ve ever seen on a cruise. In addition, the fun, zany, young, full of life entertainment staff had us laughing and joining in every event we attended while we were on board. The production shows were amazing with talented singers, dancers and acrobats. The beautiful Atrium area always had a lot of energy and set the vibe for the entire ship. If you’re looking for enrichment type activities., i.e. lectures, art classes, computer classes, etc., like you might see on Crystal Cruises, this is probably not your cruise.

We did not get to enjoy the slides, simulator or zip line as the weather was cool, cloudy and even rainy most of our trip....but next time! They looked like fun!

As I side note, we saw a lot of groups/families hanging out in the Atrium (3 different levels) at all hours, enjoying music and cocktail service while playing dominos, card games and board games that they had obviously brought with them from home. I thought....what a great idea and a perfect setting.

All the bars and lounges were well staffed and it was fairly easy to get drinks no matter where we went. I heard that was a problem on earlier cruises, but I think they’ve ironed that out.

TIP: - If you enjoy a quiet, comfortable place to read a book, the Seaview Lounge is the place. There are daily newspapers of all languages every day, a book swap area, comfortable seating, and a great bar menu including wonderful coffees (the Moccachino is better here than at the Venchi bar) and even pastries in the morning. The views are beautiful. We spent a lot of time there and this lounge also hosts trivia and has live smooth jazz music in this lounge each night. We spent time there each day.

The Cabin

Pros:

We enjoyed our cabin very much. The most important criteria.....the room steward, the comfort of the bed and the quietness of the room, were all excellent. Our room steward was responsive, friendly and helpful. One of the benefits of the upgrade to the deluxe drink is unlimited access to the mini bar which was perfect because we always had easy access to a quick bottle of water, beer or our new favorite snack....chocolate covered peanuts! Those were addictive! Our toilet always worked, we had no sewer smells in our room ever, the bed was firm but comfortable and the cabin was quiet. We did hear the buffet when we were on our balcony but it was not loud or annoying. I was surprised. This suite has a walk in closet that provided more than enough storage space for the two of us, which I have heard in other reviews was an issue.

Cons:

The TV is in front of the couch, not the bed and didn’t swivel so watching TV from the bed was not ideal. The storage in the bathroom was less than we’ve seen on any other ship. It worked for the two of us, but was not what we are used to. Sadly, the couch, which makes into a bunk bed and carpet showed a lot of wear despite this only being the 4th sailing.....there were several large snags in the couch and a couple of stains in the carpet. The whirlpool on the balcony, which we enjoyed several times very much....and does fit two people....although it’s cosy or “romantic” as we liked to say, takes up a lot of space on the balcony and so we didn’t enjoy lounging out there looking over the water as much as we normally do. As such, I doubt I would book this cabin style on Seaside again and would probably choose a more standard Aurea balcony room even if I lost closet space.

The Food:

Pros:

We did the trio experience....and the specialty dining was excellent - both in the quality of food, ambiance and service! We go to the specialty dining on every cruise we go on as we find it’s always superior to the main dining room - so we believe this to be true no matter who you sail with. The trio was a great value and we always found something on the trio menu, which is different than the a la carte menu in each restaurant, that we enjoyed.

We had wonderful service and good food in the MDR as well, and I think this is where buying the Aurea experience really pays off. Aurea guests have anytime dining and it is truly anytime dining. Aurea guests have a separate reserved dining area and separate entrance in the Seashore restaurant. You come when you want and choose where you want to sit if there are many open tables. We generally ate early, i.e. before 7:00 pm and were always seated right away with no wait. Since all Aurea guests have drink packages, large water bottles are placed directly on the table and wine refills are offered regularly. Our orders were taken promptly, food delivered quickly and it was always hot. We enjoyed our food and service in the MRD.

With respect to the buffets, let me just say, we ate a lot of pizza...and not out of lack of other choices, but because it was that tasty. The pizza, the rotisserie chicken, the bread and the deserts were the highlights of the lunch buffet in my opinion. We hit the fresh omelette station at the Marketplace on Deck 8 for breakfasts. The quality of these items were good...the hot food hot. You could get soft serve ice cream at the Deck 16 buffet, but it wasn’t self serve. So, I stood in line with all the families and little ones to get my cone! Who doesn’t like soft serve ice cream! One of the big pluses of the Seaside buffets is all the outdoor seating. There were always tables available outdoors and it was much more peaceful and enjoyable, with beautiful views.....away from the traditional noisiness of the buffet. I loved that feature!

Gelato, milkshakes and other yummy ice cream type treats were available at the Miami Beach Pool Bar or the Venchi chocolate bar.

Cons:

MDR: I was disappointed that the “Classic” or “Favorites” menu that included Caesar salad, steak, roast chicken and shrimp cocktail (other stuff too) wasn’t offered every night., i.e. on Italian or Elegant night. Sometimes I wasn’t thrilled with the choices and like having those simple options every night as typical on other cruises. Second, I was disappointed with the Elegant night menu - and as a result, we ended up paying a la carte prices and treating ourselves....I ordered the lobster and my husband ordered the rib eye off the MDR menu. While we paid extra for these options, they were cooked fresh and beautifully - great quality and we loved our meal that night!! The portion of lobster was very, very generous for $20. When we are on vacation, we don’t let anything get in our way of a good time.....spending an extra $40 so we enjoy a special Elegant night meal is worth it to us, but that being said, it was the least Elegant menu we’ve ever seen on an Elegant night on any cruise we’ve been on. If I cruise on the Seaside again, I would schedule my visit to the Butchers Cut speciality restaurant on Elegant night. That was a more fitting menu and experience.

Buffet: We don’t have very high expectations of any buffet, but I will say that, in comparison to other cruises we’ve been on, the Seaside lacked variety....even the salad bars lacked variety in toppings and the cut up fresh fruit choices were small. FYI....the best salad and fruit stations are at the separate front section of the Marketplace Buffet on Deck 8, not at the center where all other food stations are. They have smaller salad and fruit stations mixed in there, but the selection is not as good. However we always found something we like and ate too much every time we visited the buffet, so it was all good.

The buffet was the area where I felt I saw the biggest staffing, training and volume struggles and some poor design/traffic issues. They need more staffing and better monitoring of when items need restocking....everything from food, coffee, plates and cups. As in all buffets, it can be quite chaotic, but I felt it more so on the Seaside.

Finally, I loved the specialty restaurants, but I really did not like the fact that the staff from the specialty restaurants were constantly running around the pool and the buffets trying to drum up reservations for the restaurants. I must have been approached at least 7 or 8 times asking if I was interested in booking a specialty restaurant. We had the same experience sitting in the buffets. I do not want to be approached during my vacation while I’m relaxing with solicitations on a cruise. We were kind....it’s not the staffs fault....its a management decision and one that I communicated in the survey I was sent at the end of the cruise. I hope they stop that.

Embarkation, Debarkation, Guest Services and Miscellaneous stuff

Pros:

Fastest Embarkation and Debarkation we have ever experienced on a ship. We had Aurea so we had priority boarding, but as it turns out, we were also the third group off the ship, after Express Walk Off and Yacht Club. We were on in 20 minutes and off in 15. It was unreal.

Cons:

Perhaps embarkation is too fast. When you check in, they take you picture and give you your card. They don’t explain that you need to register you card at a kiosk, make reservations for your theater shows, give you your your VIP photo card, explain the internet package etc., your dining instructions.....nothing. There are no written instructions or summaries given either. As a result, once you get on the ship, chaos and frustration - long lines and frustrated guests reigns. We had read about how all this works, so we knew what to do, where to go and what to expect. But even on the second day, people were still mad as they tried to enter the theater without reservations and were turned away. MSC needs to do a better job explaining to guests how to navigate through these issues upfront to avoid angry guests later.

We were fortunate to not have many interactions with guest services. The two times we called them from our cabin, we were shocked at the language barrier. The Seaside attracts a very large number of European guests so the Seaside staff are faced with the unique challenge of having to have a staff that can accommodate many languages. However, at least 50% of the guests are either from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia or New Zealand and when we called guest services twice from our cabin, the person answering the phone did not understand English well enough to help us. We had to walk down and stand in line to get support. I wasn’t surprised by room stewards, servers, etc. who struggled with English, but guest services should be fluent - via phone and in person, or get you to someone who is. We were missing the stopper in our whirlpool tub on our balcony so it wouldn’t hold water.... and they misunderstood and sent up a maintenance worker with a mop because they thought our balcony was flooding....we laughed....it was really funny....but a waste of everyone’s time! Same issue with questions on our final bill.

And about the international mix of guests on the Seaside....that was one of the best parts of sailing the Seaside. We loved meeting others from all over the world. We did not see bad/rude behavior from other Americans....or passengers from other countries. If anything, we felt the mixed nationality and mixed demographic of ages on this ship to be one of this cruises’ most attractive features.

Despite the length of this review, there are many things I didn’t cover. Feel free to ask questions, but we would recommend the Seaside to all!

[sandpiper35]

Thank You for your review.

 

Cheers.

[mafig]

Thank you for your review and welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Very thorough.

 

Glad you enjoyed it:D

[DCGuy64]

Wow, thank you so much for your review, and especially for taking the time to write something as in depth as this. I found it extremely helpful and very credible, since you mentioned both pros and cons. I also liked that you stated early on that it was a great time and that you would not hesitate to cruise with MSC again. I'm glad you had such a good time. Since I'm sailing on that ship later this year, it gives me a lot to look forward to. Happy to read such a wonderful review and glad you enjoyed your vacation. :D Thank you!!

[thegraminator]

First off , I love your review . What a great time you had !

 

Now one question please . . . You mentioned the Seaview Lounge for a quiet getaway spot . Can you tell me what deck this is on, or where it is located ?

 

Oh one more thing . . . Did you participate in any of the afternoon activities (trivia , arts &crafts, etc ) ? If so can you share your experience ? Thank you so much !

[mafig]

Seaview Lounge.

 

I have an old brochure for Seaside and I went looking to see where the Seaview Lounge was, based on your review.

 

Unfortunately, my brochure is so old that it's not listed.

 

I'd like to know where it is too.

[buffalogal16623]

First off , I love your review . What a great time you had !

 

Now one question please . . . You mentioned the Seaview Lounge for a quiet getaway spot . Can you tell me what deck this is on, or where it is located ?

 

Oh one more thing . . . Did you participate in any of the afternoon activities (trivia , arts &crafts, etc ) ? If so can you share your experience ? Thank you so much !

 

 

The Seaview Lounge is on Deck 8 on the same level Sports Bar and the Spa/Gym/Salon.

 

We tried to participate in trivia every afternoon - I think there was a 10:30 and 3:30 trivia every day, even port days. It was usually in the Seaview but occasionally in a different lounge. It was a lot of fun with a wide variety of topics and attracted quite a crowd! For the record, we were always awful at it, but had a lot of laughs! We did not participate in the arts and crafts activities although I saw a few of them on the dailies so I can't comment on them.

Edited January 26, 2018 by buffalogal16623
adding to the response

[DCGuy64]

Did you by chance use the spa at all, and if so, what were your impressions? Were there any particularly good bars onboard? Thanks again for your review, so enjoyable to read. :)

[missthesea]

Thank you for the detailed and balanced review! Glad you had a great cruise. Reviews like this will help us find our way on the Seaside right away, and hopefully avoid their weak guest services desk. It sounds like if you are open, positive, and don't have major issues that you need customer service help with - you will have a wonderful time. Of course, that is true for many cruise lines I think! I will also be annoyed if staff are pestering us around the ship to come to the specialty restaurants. I noticed that happening when we walked by the specialty restaurants on the Celebrity Equinox last year, but only at their entrances.

 

 

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[scottygirl]

Cons:

Finally, I loved the specialty restaurants, but I really did not like the fact that the staff from the specialty restaurants were constantly running around the pool and the buffets trying to drum up reservations for the restaurants. I must have been approached at least 7 or 8 times asking if I was interested in booking a specialty restaurant. We had the same experience sitting in the buffets. I do not want to be approached during my vacation while I’m relaxing with solicitations on a cruise. We were kind....it’s not the staffs fault....its a management decision and one that I communicated in the survey I was sent at the end of the cruise. I hope they stop that.

 

We had this happen to us on the Freedom of the Seas. It was truly annoying especially when we were eating in the MDR. I too mentioned it on the survey.

[seapad]

How's your experience with the VIP photo package. Are you happy with the various photo opportunities...any issue with getting your prints into your phone, or into your account? We are thinking of buying this package, would you recommend, and any tips you can share so we can avoid any pitfalls?

[missthesea]

Did you like having the VIP photo package? Any tips on that?

 

 

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[FMZ]

Hi thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful review. Very helpful. My question is regarding the mini bar. Was it stocked often and where you asked your preferences?

 

Sent from my Z982 using Forums mobile app

[buffalogal16623]

Did you by chance use the spa at all, and if so, what were your impressions? Were there any particularly good bars onboard? Thanks again for your review, so enjoyable to read. :)

 

 

Because we had the Aurea experience, we got two free spa services plus access to the thermal suite for the entire trip. We got massages - and they were heavenly! We enjoyed them so much, we purchased an additional massage each. We toured the thermal area but sadly never got to enjoy it. That's the trouble with these enjoyable cruises. There is so much to do you end up not being able to do everything. The thermal area treatment rooms looked amazing though!

 

With respect to the bars - it depends on what you like in a bar. We spent most of our time in the lounges listening to live music - and our favorite has the Haven Lounge which has a full bar - but is only open when the entertainment, shows and parties/events are going. But, in terms of regular bars - our favorite was probably the Shine Bar in the atrium because you were in the middle of all the atrium activity, nightly entertainment, the beautiful views, the people watching and they have good drinks and nice bartenders. The Shine Bar also serves little nibbles - pretzels and chex type mix as well - with your drinks which no other bar we saw offered...for what that's worth!

[buffalogal16623]

How's your experience with the VIP photo package. Are you happy with the various photo opportunities...any issue with getting your prints into your phone, or into your account? We are thinking of buying this package, would you recommend, and any tips you can share so we can avoid any pitfalls?

 

 

We liked the VIP photo package a lot, but it took a little work. First, you must go to the photo shop to pick up your VIP photo card. I don't know why they don't deliver it to you. When you get photos taken, you give them your cruise card, not your VIP photo card - be sure its the card of the person in your cabin that the VIP photo card is registered to. Then....as you have photos taken....you have to go to the photo shop and get the pics from your cruise card transferred to your VIP photo card. They let you see them on the screen and you can download all or some. Then you used the code on your VIP photo card to digitally access all your photos - and then download them to your phone or Facebook....or wherever. We did this daily to make sure we didn't lose anything, but you could wait and do it once at the end of the cruise - although fair warning, the photo shop is crazy on the last night! We took photos at every opportunity for fun! If we saw a photographer....we went for it. Why not! In the end, we got so many wonderful photos of us - some professional studio quality....and it was absolutely a great value! I would do it again a heartbeat! We ended up purchasing a few printed photos as well because the quality was excellent and you get a huge discount on the printed photos as well. Just be sure you download your photos while you are still on the cruise. I read some other cruise critic board messages that said their pics disappeared from the website after the cruise was over although they were supposedly going to show back up after a couple of weeks. I took no chances and downloaded them to my phone each night.

[NYHartChapp]

Thanks for the well-balanced review. Very helpful.

[buffalogal16623]

How's your experience with the VIP photo package. Are you happy with the various photo opportunities...any issue with getting your prints into your phone, or into your account? We are thinking of buying this package, would you recommend, and any tips you can share so we can avoid any pitfalls?

 

See my response on another entry below on the VIP photo package....

[buffalogal16623]

Hi thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful review. Very helpful. My question is regarding the mini bar. Was it stocked often and where you asked your preferences?

 

Sent from my Z982 using Forums mobile app

 

It was stocked daily and even more often if we asked. We weren't asked our preferences,but we let our steward know and then he monitored the mini bar for those items after that. The only thing was, even though it's all free as part of the deluxe drink package, you still have to sign a receipt for the items. Initially he wouldn't give us new stock until we signed, but after a day, he just left the receipt for us to sign when he stocked the mini bar and we signed it and he picked it up when he cleaned the room next time. The receipts are apparently an inventory control thing even when it's covered under a drink package.

[n8botting]

Can I ask how you go about registering your credit card, etc? Is there somewhere I should go when i get on the ship to do that?

[DCGuy64]

Because we had the Aurea experience, we got two free spa services plus access to the thermal suite for the entire trip. We got massages - and they were heavenly! We enjoyed them so much, we purchased an additional massage each. We toured the thermal area but sadly never got to enjoy it. That's the trouble with these enjoyable cruises. There is so much to do you end up not being able to do everything. The thermal area treatment rooms looked amazing though!

 

With respect to the bars - it depends on what you like in a bar. We spent most of our time in the lounges listening to live music - and our favorite has the Haven Lounge which has a full bar - but is only open when the entertainment, shows and parties/events are going. But, in terms of regular bars - our favorite was probably the Shine Bar in the atrium because you were in the middle of all the atrium activity, nightly entertainment, the beautiful views, the people watching and they have good drinks and nice bartenders. The Shine Bar also serves little nibbles - pretzels and chex type mix as well - with your drinks which no other bar we saw offered...for what that's worth!

 

Thank you kindly! I had a double motive for asking about those things: 1. I read a very negative review on the Italian version of another trip review site and he mentioned some specific things he hated about the spa that you didn't have. 2. A number of cruisers have mentioned the Sports Bar as being good but I'm not generally a sports bar type of guy. I'll check out the Shine Bar. Thanks again!

[buffalogal16623]

Can I ask how you go about registering your credit card, etc? Is there somewhere I should go when i get on the ship to do that?

 

There are kiosks - almost like ATM machines - located in the Atrium when you come on board. They had several of them that I could see on embarkation day and they had guest services ppl next to each of them to assist people. I understand you have 48 hours to register so if the lines are long you could wait to register them the next day, but we did it right away and the lines weren't too long....we waited about 10 minutes.

[seapad]

Thanks so much for the great review and tips on the VIP photo package. I can see it could be confusing. Thanks.

[windlicht]

Seaview Lounge.

 

I have an old brochure for Seaside and I went looking to see where the Seaview Lounge was, based on your review.

 

Unfortunately, my brochure is so old that it's not listed.

 

I'd like to know where it is too.

 

In one thread it’s explained:

The Seaview Lounge is the new name for the News Cafe.

So, on the old maps, that’s where it is.

[mafig]

Thank you. That's a nicer name, I think.:)

[researchfreak90]

Do you have any pictures of the menus offered under the trio dining package? if not can you give an Idea as to what items you had to choose from at each of the three places you visited?