Msc seaside review--march 17, 2018

[disneykins]

A little background on us. We are early 60s semi-retired couple so can cruise when we want and usually do a couple of cruises back to back when we are in Florida. Being from Canada, the airfare is a factor in how often we cruise and from where. The week before this we did a 5 day Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas with 15 friends (all ages, 10 to 70+). We had a great time as a group but were looking forward to relaxing on this cruise.

We cruised March 17 to 24 out of Miami to Nassau, St. Thomasand Antigua. We are Black card members (using the status match last year onDivina). We arrived at the port around 11 am and were processed quickly, satfor about 10 minutes until boarding began and were on the ship in no time. Wewere in a Fantastica balcony. We had booked a Bella inside while onboard Divinalast year but when the price of a balcony dropped after final payment we calledMSC and they moved us up. One problem with this, they forgot to add the $100obc to the new reservation (same ressie number so it should have still beenthere). Problem solved when we spoke to Valentina the Voyagers club rep onboard. She emailed head office on the secondlast day of cruise when I noticed the error. On the last night, she apologizedthat she hadn’t heard back, I figured I’d take it up with them when I got home,but on our final bill I noticed it was there. When we disembarked, Valentinafound us and told us it came through that morning and she tried to call ourroom but we had already left. Greatcustomer service.

Our balcony cabin #14068, was great, we spent a lot of timeon the balcony watching the ocean go by, very relaxing. They have a USB portnext to the bed, handy for charging cell phone at night. There is another USBport near the TV. We like the buttons near the door to let the stateroomattendant know when we are out. Weforgot on one port day and when we came back, the room was not made up, no bigdeal. We put out our room service menu everynight and it was delivered on time every morning. The portions were small, sowe ordered extra the next day and would spend an hour on the balcony with ourcoffee and pastries every morning before going to the buffet for more pastries,they were so good. We actually never hadbacon, eggs, waffles the whole week, the pastries were enough. We never hadtrouble getting a table at the buffet. We always find the coffee too strong onships so DW takes her own Starbucks instant coffee pouches. No need on MSC,they provide Nescafe and Maxwell House instant packages, what a great idea.

First thing after boarding, we registered our credit card atthe kiosk, no problem, no lines yet. We started exploring the ship and wereimpressed with the style, the elegance of the ship. Very modern, lots of glassand mirrors and angles. No long,straight public areas, everything seemed to be its own little neighbourhood. It’sa big ship, but we found ourselves in the same areas most of the time. The aft pool, Venchi, Seaside Lounge, and theAtrium. We didn’t spend much time at theJungle pool (always a lot of kids, seemed very hot when the roof was closed),or the Miami pool on top deck (very popular with loud music any time we went by).The Miami pool deck is very spacious and when we did venture up there, we hadno problem getting a lounger. We prefer the shade and there wasn’t much upthere. Spent most of our days at the Aft pool (adults only) and had no troublegetting loungers there whenever we went. We might not get prime locationsaround the pool but after a while, someone would leave and we could upgrade ourspot. There is a smoking area back there, but it never bothered us too much,except when passing through it to use the rest rooms. We noticed there was nostale smoke smell in the casino, maybe because the ship is so new. Also, we never noticed it to be overly smokywhen passing through, which we did every night after the show.

We thought the shows were among the best we have seen inover 30 cruises on NCL, Royal, Carnival, Disney and Cunard. We booked all ourshows for the week from our cabin TV as soon as we got to our cabin and had noproblems seeing all the shows. ExceptSinatra, it was only offered at 8:15 and 9:30 on the first night and we haddinner at 8:30. The stage sets, the singers and dancers, the costumes, all topnotch. Our main complaint was they were not long enough. We especially enjoyedthe show where they did selections from Phantom of the Opera, and the MichaelJackson show. I wonder if they could do a full-length theatre show somehow onone or two nights. The shows were at 7, 8:15 and 9:30 and there was a comedyimprov show on 3 or 4 nights at 11pm. The comedy show was also very well doneand a lot of fun. They used to do another, different, opera style show at 10:30but discontinued it in the last few weeks after “overwhelmingly negativecomments” (from cruise director, Stephen), mostly from Americans on CruiseCritic. We told him we would have loved to see it and he said it is still onthe Mediterranean cruises. So, I guess they are trying to cater to the Americanmarket and they do read Cruise Critic, lol.

We had late dining, we had requested early and beingFantastica thought we would get it. Wewere first in line to ask the Maitre’d to change us and he said he would put uson a waiting list but it didn’t look good. We later heard that a lot of people had this problem and some did getswitched to early. I guess we didn’tcomplain loudly enough, it wasn’t going to ruin our cruise so we made the bestof it. We don’t think we’d want late dining again though, sometimes we werestill eating dessert at 10 o’clock, a little late for us since we are usuallyin bed by 11 or 11:30. We were quite happy with the food, some of our tablemates weren’t so happy, one sent back a calamari appetizer for beingundercooked, but they said they thought the food was just good, nothing wowedthem. We are not real foodies and so aremaybe easier pleased? We found nothing to complain about with the food exceptmaybe the desserts could have had more selection. And the ice cream (I love my ice cream)portions could have been bigger. I guess they want you to buy the gelato, and wedid, it is the best. We had one complimentary dinner (being Black members) atButchers Cut. Shrimp and Hearts of Palmsalads were great, Filet Mignons were best meal on ship and desserts (can’tremember what they were) were also very good. All in all, we were very happywith the dining experience on board and with our table mates, 2 English ladiesand a Boston couple. To address some complaints others have expressed, wealways had our water glasses refilled numerous times and had 2 kinds of butterat every meal). Our waiters were alsovery good, we didn’t notice any mistakes, they were very polite, didn’t over dothe chit chat and were able to fill any special requests we had.

Our ports of call were ones we had been to many times. In Nassau, we chose to stay onboard and enjoythe ship. We had a free hour in thethermal area and ended up spending about 3 hours, no one told us to leave andit was basically empty. We enjoyed the hot tub, tile loungers, saunas and steamrooms, the salt room was relaxing, the snow room interesting (being fromCanada, we can get enough of that at home, thanks). Very nice but I don’t thinkI would spend the money to use it every day. I don’t know if it would getcrowded on sea days, it doesn’t seem very big. In St. Thomas we took an $8 taxito Emerald beach, a little gem we discovered years ago that not many people knowabout, got 2 loungers and umbrella for $20 and had a great day in the sun and abeautiful, uncrowded beach with clean facilities. In Antigua, we did the same, $5 taxi to FortJames beach, $20 loungers and umbrella, beautiful beach favoured by locals, notmany tourists and clean facilities.

One complaint we had (and we heard others say the samething) was that the Yacht Club dominates the front part of the ship. I don’tthink there is anywhere on the ship that we can get to the front. I know theypay a lot of money for their perks, but I think there should be a lounge orsome outdoor space where the regular paying customers can access the front ofthe ship. We did get to see the YachtClub outdoor areas on deck 16, I think on embarkation day and it looked quitenice, padded loungers, a nice shaded bar area.

We enjoyed the various lounges on the ship. We used theSports bar almost daily, short lines at the bar and comfy chairs and you couldtake your drink outside to a nice seating area too. Across from the Sports Bar is the SeasideLounge. We often sat here to listen to the various musician, usually easylistening kind of music, but very well done. One problem we encountered here onthe last night about 11 o’clock, there were maybe 6 couples listening to thesax player and pianist. A couple of families with small children, maybe ages 4to 8 came in and were quite noisy, the kids were jumping on the couches andprobably didn’t want to be in a lounge, lol. They got a lot of dirty looks and were even shushed by a few people tono avail. One of the dads got up to get a drink and one of the unhappy patronsgot up and confronted him at the door. He suggested the dad take his family tothe Sports bar or somewhere where the kids could run off some steam. That dad didn’treturn and the noise continued so the same unhappy patron went to speak to theother dad. He didn’t raise his voice or threaten in any way, but he was quitebig and a little intimidating and the families eventually did leave. It wasannoying at the time but in hindsight quite funny, if the musicians turned upthe volume, the families did too, you’d think they’d preferred to be somewhereelse too. I know they paid their money like the rest of us, but it’s a littleinconsiderate of others and maybe disrespectful to the musicians? No big dealand it probably happens everywhere.

We had 12 drink vouchers each with the Fantastica packageand found that was enough for the 7 day cruise. We also had a bottle of Prosecco in the cabin which came in handy formimosas on our balcony. Fantastica also gave us a bowl of fruit, chocolatecovered fruit, 2 chocolate ships, slippers (to take home) and robes (too smallor are we to big?). We had a Cruise Critic meet and greet and MSC does thisbetter than anyone else. We were onNavigator of the Seas the week before and we were 10 minutes late for theirmeet and greet and they wouldn’t give us a drink. MSC had all their officers there, Captain,Hotel Director, CD, everyone. And they all made a point to mingle with notebooksout asking for any suggestions or complaints we might have. They provided cakeand drinks. They had numerous waitresses working the room with a choice ofAperol Spritz, champagne, vodka matini, gin sour and fruit punch. And the drinks kept coming for an hour! Thenext day we had a Black Card party with the same unlimited drinks. The next dayit was the Captains Gala Evening, with the same unlimited drinks again. On this night we thought we’d start at theSports Bar and work our way around the various lounges but the waitress keptcoming by insisting we take 2 more drinks since it would end shortly. We spentan hour here drinking champagne and enjoying the snacks they provide. Another night they had a welcome back partywith the same drinks again. With allthese free drinks and the 12 drink package, I don’t see any need to buy the allinclusive drink package, but shhhh don’t tell MSC, they might change theparties, lol. We never had any problems with our drink tickets, I think oncethey might have charged me for 2 wines at dinner but it didn’t show up on mybill, and once they gave me a 2 for 1 deal using a ticket but wouldn’t do itthe next night. We used the tickets for gelato without any problem. Since wedidn’t buy any souvenirs or shore excursions, our total bill for the week was$175, the service charge of $12.50 per day per person ($2 less than Royals$14.50 charge last week). We had $100obc for booking on the Divina, so our take home bill was only $75 USD.

We didn’t do any of the water slides or zip line but theylooked fun, especially for all the kids. They also have bowling, a Formula 1 race-carsimulator that looked fun

Disembarkation was easy. We had a 4 pm flight out of Miami,so stayed in cabin until 9, hung out on ship until last call at about 10:15 andwalked off the ship with our luggage. Easy to pick up a shuttle at the curb for$10 each and we were at the airport by 11. We were able to bump up to a 1:30 flight for no charge so didn’t have towait too long.

All in all, a great cruise, very relaxing, a beautiful ship,great crew, very friendly. Oh, the smelleveryone talks about, never noticed it and I was looking for it everywhere Iwent, lol. I’ve heard there were too many Europeans on board, or too manyAmericans, or too many kids, or too many rude people. We thought there was anice mix of English speaking and foreign speaking. Lots of kid but it was Spring Break, so weexpected that. Rude people, well you’ll find that everywhere and I don’t thinkthey were all American or all European but a good mix. I do know that none ofthe rude people were Canadian though, lol. We have an MSC Divina TA booked fornext March, 22 days for about $1000 each, how can you beat that. And we will continue to cruise MSC as long asthe itinerary and price suits us. Wewill also cruise other lines, they are all really more alike than they aredifferent, so the itinerary and price will still be our deciding factors.

[scpirate]

Thank you for the review.

[windlicht]

Awesome! Thank you!

 

I have heard lots of good things about the Seaview Lounge... they have jazz at night, right?

And I am disappointed that they cancelled the opera show. I love opera... and on the Divina last summer I had the impressionthat it was well received. I guess not. Well, I wish they would reconsider. I think that there are quite a few people who enjoy opera - a thought - maybe they don't tend to be the ones to complaint and therefore MSC might get a bit of a skewed impression there? Not sure.

 

Well, lovely and informative review!

[georgemoe]

Great review thank you. Going in a couple weeks. Looking forward to all the shows!

[mafig]

Thank you for your review.

 

It's a shame about the opera.

When a few people don't like something it doesn't mean that all people don't like it.

I would never write a review and if I didn't like something, for instance pizza or opera, and state "Americans don't like .......":rolleyes::mad:

[Celebrity Cerveza]

I can’t recall what day it was, but a couple of days at around 2:00pm they had an opera performance in the Metropolitan Theater. We sailed in February, but never made it to either show. Hoping it’s still on the program when we are back on her in late May!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[cdvla313]

Thanks for the review!

 

Aw, that's a shame they've canceled the opera shows. One of the points that convinced my parents to take our cruise in May was b/c of the diversity of the entertainment; we like comedy and cirque-type shows, but we also like opera and classical music; me and my brother played in orchestras for years. We went on a Cunard cruise and loved the quartet that played at dinner and during afternoon tea. I totally understand not having these kinds of shows every night in the main theater, but one night can't hurt! Or maybe have a singer and piano or a violin and piano in one of the lounges at night. Oh yeah, and we're Americans. :P;p

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[C-sea]

Enjoyed your review, I also am disappointed MSC already canceled the opera show. It was advertised with such pride, I was truly looking forward to experiencing it

[bostonfred]

Great summary...do you or does anyone else know the day and time of the meet and mingle ...thanks

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[bratsuzy]

I saw the Opera show it was wonderful!

[kimala]

I agree sad about the opera. I was a theater major, over 35 years ago and our professor took us to an opera just to expose us to it...a great experience although it wasnt my favorite form of theater, I was definately going to see the butterfly on our seaside cruise even if my hubby did not attend...sad.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[travelberlin]

Nice summary of your cruise. Thanks!

Ivi

[thegraminator]

Great review ! Thank you !

[Pluto_fan]

Thank you for your review! Sounds like you had a very nice time.

 

Rude people, well you’ll find that everywhere and I don’t thinkthey were all American or all European but a good mix. I do know that none ofthe rude people were Canadian though, lol.

 

LOL, way to go, Canadians! :halo::halo:

 

And we will continue to cruise MSC as long asthe itinerary and price suits us. Wewill also cruise other lines, they are all really more alike than they aredifferent, so the itinerary and price will still be our deciding factors

 

Completely agree with you on this. Happy cruising!

[CruiseCrazyNatNat]

Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed review. It helped answer a few of my questions for our upcoming seaside cruise.

[thegraminator]

Loved reading your review ! Thank you for sharing your experience ! These positive reports really are encouraging . You seem like the kind of folks that don't let the small stuff ruin their vacation . Thanks again !

[thephantomsgirl]

Thank you for your review!

[Aloha 1]

Great, honest review! Thank you for posting. We sail Seaside next March and can't wait.

[Jaco5NC]

Thank you for sharing your experiences! Sounds like a wonderful week!!

[RyanMFitz1]

Really enjoyed your review. Sailing on the SeaSide for the first time with my nieces January 2019. They are super excited and this review has me feeling the same way.

 

Thank you !