My late review of our March 31st Seaside Cruise

[Luckyone2]

My late review of our March 31st Seaside cruise:

This review is coming from the point of view of nondrinkers, nonsmokers, noncomplainers, and "it is not all about me" attitude. My husband is retired and I am close to retiring. My husband and I chose this cruise because of our previous positive experiences that we have had with MSC. We have sailed twice each on MSC DIvina and MSC Poesia. We also chose MSC Seaside because we have been closely following the construction of this magnificent ship. As in previous MSC cruises, the embarkation was very quick and easy. We were on the ship within 40 minutes of walking in the terminal. Our first views of MSC Seaside did not disappoint; this is one beautiful ship! This is one cruise where we cruised mainly for the ship and not the ports. Whoever designed the MSC Seaside shares my husband's and my love of the sea because I have never seen a cruise ship that make use of the beauty of the sea as much as this ship does. This ship is truly a work of art! Of special note are the outside areas along the sides and back of the ship where you can eat and enjoy the beautiful seaside. After boarding, we immediately went to lower buffet. I have read several reviews where people spoke of long lines just to get into the buffet. I read of a disorganized buffet, I read of cold, uninteresting, and boring food. I read of there being nowhere to sit. I do not know where these people went to eat, but they definitely did not eat at any buffet on the MSC Seaside. The food is good, plentiful, varied, and delicious! There are so many good choices, that we had a hard time choosing what we wanted to eat. There is more than plenty of places to sit! There is no line anywhere to speak of! After eating, we simply waited until our cabin opened. Our cabin was a fantastica balcony with a Bella experience. Our cabin steward, Epi, greeted us when we first got to our cabin, We saw Epi often, and we appreciate the way that he took care of cabin. My husband and I had plenty of storage. The bathroom had plenty of room. While I thought the shower was fine, my husband thought it was a little tight. My husband and I were assigned to the Ipanema Dining Room where we ate every evening. Our waiter, Sailesh, was absolutely wonderful! Sailesh was significant part of making of cruise memorable! My husband and I enjoyed most dishes, some food more than others. We were assigned the 9:15 dining time, which we at first, were unsure of, but it turned out to be perfect because we attended the shows at an earlier time. But, to be honest, this was a spring break cruise with lots of young children and at this time, there were no children dining. We have always loved the entertainment on MSC ships, and the entertainment on the MSC Seaside did not disappoint. First, I must say something about the MSC for Me App. It is a total game changer. It keeps up with where you are, it is your map, it keeps up with the ships daily activities, it keeps with your daily agenda, the daily weather, and it will draw a map for you! After my husband and I checked in and while we were waiting to board, I used the app to book all of the shows for the week. Love it! Anytime during the ship, if we wanted to know what was going on, we looked it up on the app! If we wanted to know where we were, we looked it up on the app! If we wanted to know how to get somewhere, the app would draw us a map! Love it! The shows on the MSC Seaside were in the spirit of Cirque du Soleil with a good mix of singing, gymnastics, and fantasy. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed all the shows. We arrived at the shows 30 minutes early and had no trouble getting a great seat. We also greatly enjoyed the future cruises talk and the behind the scenes talk. We attended the Cruise Critic meeting for the first time, and I was really impressed at the amount of people at the meeting and also the number of MSC officials there. It was very nice. We appreciated the photos that MSC sent to us from the Cruise Critic meeting. Capt. Massa was seen often around the ship and was very approachable, The cruise director, Stephen Cloete, was very funny! The MSC activities team were always full of fun and energy! We walked around the ship often and never had any trouble navigating around chairs or people. Even though smoking is allowed in the casinos, it was not at all overwhelming on the smoking side and not at all noticeable on the nonsmoking side. People have made comments about crowds and elevators, and we personally witnessed people not getting on an elevator simply because it was going in the wrong direction. What we did was get ON the elevator because what goes up must come down, The elevators are very fast. We also noticed that if no one was on the elevator and even though the elevator might have indicated it was going up, if a lower floor was pressed, the elevator would then change and go down. We also noticed if you come out of the dining room or buffet, usually out of one set of doors, and that bank of elevators is crowded, walk around the corner to the other bank of elevators and there was usually no one waiting. We did notice that anytime that we sat down, we were quickly approached by waitstaff to see if we needed anything. We were never hounded. The ship is constantly kept clean; we saw staff working everywhere to keep it clean. Public bathrooms were spotless. We didn't zipline, do the slides, or the interactive games, but people that we talked to seem to enjoy them. Disembarkation was easier than embarkation. From call to disembark to driving out of the parking garage was no more 15 minutes. My husband and I absolutely love everything about the MSC Seaside and would not hesitate to sail with MSC again.

[lcpagejr]

Excellent review and feedback! We were on Seaside the week before you and we totally agree with your assessment and observations. MSC hit a homerun with us and has gained a regular customer!! Bye bye Carnival, Princess, RCL and NCL!!

[windlicht]

Thank you for this wonderful review!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[pappahbuttz]

Thanks as well for the review. Although I am not sailing on the Seaside, but on her sister the Seaview in 50 days, I really enjoy reading the different reviews and getting a good idea of what I have to look forward to! This will be my first sailing on MSC and am very excited. One thing is that I find, is some people take cruising, so to say more seriously, and let some what I would consider trivial issues become a huge rant. It has taken a long long time for me to be able to have this cruise so it will take a lot to ruin it! It was refreshing to see people that take all the positive and not dwell on the minor imperfections!

[thegraminator]

Love love love this positive review ! Thanks for sharing your experience ! It really seems that MSC has listened to the concerns of the earlier passengers and made an honest effort to correct those things.

 

One question if I may . . . How did you receive the invite to the Meet and Mingle party and what day ( or evening ) was that held ? Thanks again !

[Luckyone2]

I signed up for the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle Party here on this site. The Meet and Mingle Tab is at the top of this page. An invitation is sent to your cabin a day or two before the party.

[spidybabe]

Great review! Thanks.

We sailed on the Seaside twice and loved each sailing. Stephen was fantastic, as well as all the crew.

Safe sailing

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Forums mobile app

[shukapaw]

Thanks for the great review. Makes us "hungry" for our Seaside trip which departs in 18 days!

 

If I may make a suggestion, please break future reviews up into paragraphs as it makes it so much easier to read.

 

Thanks again,

 

~Brian

[Clarea]

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

[Formula280SS]

My late review of our March 31st Seaside cruise:

This review is coming from the point of view of nondrinkers, nonsmokers, noncomplainers, and "it is not all about me" attitude. My husband is retired and I am close to retiring. My husband and I chose this cruise because of our previous positive experiences that we have had with MSC. We have sailed twice each on MSC DIvina and MSC Poesia. We also chose MSC Seaside because we have been closely following the construction of this magnificent ship. As in previous MSC cruises, the embarkation was very quick and easy. We were on the ship within 40 minutes of walking in the terminal. Our first views of MSC Seaside did not disappoint; this is one beautiful ship! This is one cruise where we cruised mainly for the ship and not the ports. Whoever designed the MSC Seaside shares my husband's and my love of the sea because I have never seen a cruise ship that make use of the beauty of the sea as much as this ship does. This ship is truly a work of art! Of special note are the outside areas along the sides and back of the ship where you can eat and enjoy the beautiful seaside. After boarding, we immediately went to lower buffet. I have read several reviews where people spoke of long lines just to get into the buffet. I read of a disorganized buffet, I read of cold, uninteresting, and boring food. I read of there being nowhere to sit. I do not know where these people went to eat, but they definitely did not eat at any buffet on the MSC Seaside. The food is good, plentiful, varied, and delicious! There are so many good choices, that we had a hard time choosing what we wanted to eat. There is more than plenty of places to sit! There is no line anywhere to speak of! After eating, we simply waited until our cabin opened. Our cabin was a fantastica balcony with a Bella experience. Our cabin steward, Epi, greeted us when we first got to our cabin, We saw Epi often, and we appreciate the way that he took care of cabin. My husband and I had plenty of storage. The bathroom had plenty of room. While I thought the shower was fine, my husband thought it was a little tight. My husband and I were assigned to the Ipanema Dining Room where we ate every evening. Our waiter, Sailesh, was absolutely wonderful! Sailesh was significant part of making of cruise memorable! My husband and I enjoyed most dishes, some food more than others. We were assigned the 9:15 dining time, which we at first, were unsure of, but it turned out to be perfect because we attended the shows at an earlier time. But, to be honest, this was a spring break cruise with lots of young children and at this time, there were no children dining. We have always loved the entertainment on MSC ships, and the entertainment on the MSC Seaside did not disappoint. First, I must say something about the MSC for Me App. It is a total game changer. It keeps up with where you are, it is your map, it keeps up with the ships daily activities, it keeps with your daily agenda, the daily weather, and it will draw a map for you! After my husband and I checked in and while we were waiting to board, I used the app to book all of the shows for the week. Love it! Anytime during the ship, if we wanted to know what was going on, we looked it up on the app! If we wanted to know where we were, we looked it up on the app! If we wanted to know how to get somewhere, the app would draw us a map! Love it! The shows on the MSC Seaside were in the spirit of Cirque du Soleil with a good mix of singing, gymnastics, and fantasy. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed all the shows. We arrived at the shows 30 minutes early and had no trouble getting a great seat. We also greatly enjoyed the future cruises talk and the behind the scenes talk. We attended the Cruise Critic meeting for the first time, and I was really impressed at the amount of people at the meeting and also the number of MSC officials there. It was very nice. We appreciated the photos that MSC sent to us from the Cruise Critic meeting. Capt. Massa was seen often around the ship and was very approachable, The cruise director, Stephen Cloete, was very funny! The MSC activities team were always full of fun and energy! We walked around the ship often and never had any trouble navigating around chairs or people. Even though smoking is allowed in the casinos, it was not at all overwhelming on the smoking side and not at all noticeable on the nonsmoking side. People have made comments about crowds and elevators, and we personally witnessed people not getting on an elevator simply because it was going in the wrong direction. What we did was get ON the elevator because what goes up must come down, The elevators are very fast. We also noticed that if no one was on the elevator and even though the elevator might have indicated it was going up, if a lower floor was pressed, the elevator would then change and go down. We also noticed if you come out of the dining room or buffet, usually out of one set of doors, and that bank of elevators is crowded, walk around the corner to the other bank of elevators and there was usually no one waiting. We did notice that anytime that we sat down, we were quickly approached by waitstaff to see if we needed anything. We were never hounded. The ship is constantly kept clean; we saw staff working everywhere to keep it clean. Public bathrooms were spotless. We didn't zipline, do the slides, or the interactive games, but people that we talked to seem to enjoy them. Disembarkation was easier than embarkation. From call to disembark to driving out of the parking garage was no more 15 minutes. My husband and I absolutely love everything about the MSC Seaside and would not hesitate to sail with MSC again.

 

Great review.

 

We were on B2B a couple of weeks prior. Agreed, nice ship. A beautiful ship. A really, really beautiful ship.

 

Might add "non-paragraph, grammatics concerned?

 

Again, nice review. It is a nice ship. Will be on next March again.

 

Also continuing to 'taste NCL in the meantime.

 

RCCL? What the heck happened there?

 

DCL on the horizon with 2 of the oldest grand kids 6-4; and compared to MSC, "bend over and give us your wallet, credit card, paypal and bitcoin accounts" (no pricing issues for them; build a few ships and fill at top $). :o

[Luckyone2]

Yet, you copied the whole thing to say you were concerned about the non-paragraphs. But, I do agree that I should have separated my commentary into paragraphs; I had copied directly from my review that I posted on CruiseCritic and didn't check the format. I will immediately go on another cruise so that I can submit another review and correct my mistake! LOL

 

Something that I left from my review concerns the Metropolitan Theater. Having traveled on the DIvina and the Poesia, the only thing that underwhelmed us at first was the Metropolitan Theater. It was much smaller and less glamourous than the theaters on either the DIvina or the Poesia. However, after the first night, we didn't think to compare again because the shows were so good! The intimacy of the theater worked because the actors and singers would often come out into the audience. So the theater design was more about making it more about the show and less about the showcase.

 

 

Thank you everyone for your feedback!

[Formula280SS]

Yet, you copied the whole thing to say you were concerned about the non-paragraphs. But, I do agree that I should have separated my commentary into paragraphs; I had copied directly from my review that I posted on CruiseCritic and didn't check the format. I will immediately go on another cruise so that I can submit another review and correct my mistake! LOL

 

Something that I left from my review concerns the Metropolitan Theater. Having traveled on the DIvina and the Poesia, the only thing that underwhelmed us at first was the Metropolitan Theater. It was much smaller and less glamourous than the theaters on either the DIvina or the Poesia. However, after the first night, we didn't think to compare again because the shows were so good! The intimacy of the theater worked because the actors and singers would often come out into the audience. So the theater design was more about making it more about the show and less about the showcase.

 

 

Thank you everyone for your feedback!

 

It was a chide, a kidding. :o I loved it. :D

 

[i didn't COPY the whole thing, just hit the QUOTE reply]

[cmdchiefthom]

Fantastic review!!! It makes us more excited and anxious to board the Seaside in April of next year!:D

[Luckyone2]

Thank y’all!!!

 

No problem, Formula280SS! I took it as all in good fun!

[thegraminator]

Lucky one 2,

one more question about the theater . I think I understand correctly that the theater on the Seaside is smaller than on the Divina (which seems kinda dumb to me, that they would build a bigger ship with more passengers , then make a smaller theater ). But we loved the layout and sight lines on the Divina . So does the theater on the Seaside have sight line problems and we're guests who did not have a reservation turned away due to the small size ?

 

We will definitely be sure to book the shows for the entire week shortly after we board .

[Luckyone2]

All seats in the Metropolitan Theatre have excellent views of the stage. There is nothing to block your line of sight anywhere. I really don't know if anyone was turned away but I did hear that at a certain time, no-show reserved seats were filled by people who were in line. We attended the second show everyday, and it was always a full house. I recommend getting to the theater at least 20 minutes ahead of time if you want prime seating.