Royal Caribbean Diamond member contemplating a MSC cruise on Seaside

[terpshockey77]

We are Diamond members on Royal and family members are going on a MSC Seaside cruise have invited us to join them. I'm trying to navigate how MSC works as far as rooms and pricing. One, should we get a match for our status before booking to get the discount? Two, what room level to book? We have often booked inside rooms so size is not as much an issue but I"m trying to understand the levels and what comes with each as far as dining and the room cleaned. Do they charge each day the room is cleaned? Do you have to pay more to guarantee eating in the dining room? We do not like going to the buffet.

[Skier52]

We are Diamond members on Royal and family members are going on a MSC Seaside cruise have invited us to join them. I'm trying to navigate how MSC works as far as rooms and pricing. One, should we get a match for our status before booking to get the discount? Two, what room level to book? We have often booked inside rooms so size is not as much an issue but I"m trying to understand the levels and what comes with each as far as dining and the room cleaned. Do they charge each day the room is cleaned? Do you have to pay more to guarantee eating in the dining room? We do not like going to the buffet.

DO the match before you cruise and get the 5% discount and you will be a BLACK CARD the top LEVEL .

 

The cabins are classed as Inside ; OV; Balcony; Suite and Yacht Club (inside ; deluxe suite and Royal suite)

 

When you have decided what sort of cabin you want you then choose the Experience (service level) you want.

 

Bear in mind that the Aurea level and Yacht Club have all inclusive drinks packages included,. The basic package with aurea and deluxe package with the YC.

 

The rooms are serviced twice a day and this is part of the cost. Everybody now gets a seat in the MDR. Aurea have "my time" dining in a dedicated part of the MDR and YC have their own dining room.

There is a daily service charge added to your bill daily, this is intended to negate any necessity to give tips to staff.

 

hope this helps

Pete

[George C]

We just got our matching black card that gives you 5 percent discount, we are diamond plus. We booked yacht club, note on that , if friends on in YC you will not be able to visit that area unless you are also in YC. YC has drinks and even including cabin mini bar.

[Dthorne1]

I've had a time with MSC trying to get our status match. There website is never working. We've emailed, contacted facebook, and filled out the forms on the website a few weeks ago when it was working.

 

 

Is there an easier way to get matching Diamond status from RCCL to MSC? Should I call?

 

Thanks

Dustin

[jud123]

I'm also Diamond on Royal...status matched to Black on MSC. Just booked our first MSC for next May...I hope I won't be disappointed.

[Canadian Scarlett]

I am a lowly gold on Royal. I was having difficulty with the website so I called and she registered my match and told me I could have a refund or onboard credit of 5%!

[frank808]

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 weeks in yacht club seaside as d+ members on royal. So good that it might take us 5 years to make pinnacle instead of 3!

I'm also Diamond on Royal...status matched to Black on MSC. Just booked our first MSC for next May...I hope I won't be disappointed.

 

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[Ccradr]

You won’t be happy. See my review...it was plain awful

 

 

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[Cruisergal1208]

You won’t be happy. See my review...it was plain awful

 

 

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First post here and no explanation. Where is your review.

[CoupleUK]

We took advantage of the Status Match and gained Black in Voyagers Club.

 

We immediately booked 3 cruises with them.

 

We HATED that 1st cruise and looked at ways to cancel the others.

 

I am so glad we didn't !!!!

 

Once you adjust to the format of people joining/leaving every day (ie muster drill daily for new arrivals), the multi-language announcements and the increased noise (mainly) from groups of italian families then you will be fine.

 

We have now enjoyed five MSC cruises, have another booked for November and then three booked for 2019 so far.

 

You can enjoy 3 cruises with MSC for the price of 2 with Royal. Drinks are MUCH cheaper, internet is cheaper and excursions are cheaper too.

 

If you can find a deal the go Yacht Club and you are unlikely to want to cruise with anyone else again.

[helen haywood]

Keep in mind that the logistical problems of people embarking and debarking every day will not be the case on cruises in the Caribbean where Seaside is sailing.

[asctony]

We are Diamond+ on RCI. Past 2 years have done Divina 3 times, Sifonia 1, and going on Seaside soon.

You should enjoy MSC. Don't jet people confuse you. The only way you will know if it is for you, is to do it.

We cruise other lines, too. Each line is what you make it.

Happy cruising!

[Ccradr]

Cruisergal, with so many posts I figured you would know better than me how to get to my review of Seaside. Hopefully this isn’t a forum where a 1st time posters opinion isn’t welcomed...I believe everyone here was a first time poster at once. Since I wrote a review, I would be a 2nd time poster? Not sure, anyway here is the link below. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=626371&et_cid=3110946&et_rid=256034865&et_referrer=Boards_WAR_CC

[sidari]

Sailed on Seaside on two occasions and in two different cabins in different locations on the ship, only noise was when they held the White night outside on the Xmas cruise. Never any issues with staff on both sailings.

Seems like you may have been unlucky.

[Ccradr]

Maybe so, but when I read so many others with my same experience you have to wonder of the inconsistency of experience and how far off they should or shouldn’t be. When I spend this amount of money, I want to have an overall great experience. 1 thing here or there won’t break an experience. But the amount and frequency of things that happened to me were unacceptable. I actually joined cruise critic because I wanted people to know what they could be spending their hard earned money on. For some, it’s just money, for others they have saved up for awhile to do something like this. Whichever you are, I believe at the very least, the cruise ship personnel should not be rude. Just my .02

[frank808]

Cruisergal, with so many posts I figured you would know better than me how to get to my review of Seaside. Hopefully this isn’t a forum where a 1st time posters opinion isn’t welcomed...I believe everyone here was a first time poster at once. Since I wrote a review, I would be a 2nd time poster? Not sure, anyway here is the link below. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=626371&et_cid=3110946&et_rid=256034865&et_referrer=Boards_WAR_CC

I was on the exact same cruise but had a completely different experience. Just saying that the experince is different for different individuals while on the same cruise.

 

I will admit that passengers in general that i encountered were more rude or pushier than i have experienced on royal. But that could happen on any line as it is the nature of individual passengers.

 

Did notice that excursions desk is run a little different than royal as they did not give you tickets till the night before the activity. They should provide more training to excursion desk if the people were rude on incompetent.

 

Noticed that there were sinks when entering buffet but no person telling you washy washy with hand sanitizer. Wife commented about that and we just washed pur hands after getting food from buffet but before eating. Liked the food choices but did notice in buffet that it was a little repetitive compared to royal.

 

The service charges are just like royal but a little cheaper at 15% vs 18% on royal. Daily grats at $12.50 ppd are definitely less than what royal charges.

 

 

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Edited July 26, 2018 by frank808

[sidari]

I am not saying you were rude to the staff but I have seen people who have and are surprised when staff shrug their shoulders at them! Having sailed 7 times with MSC and 13 with other lines I would say that the MSC staff have not been much different to those others.

There are a large number of people who like MSC and sail with them quite a lot and the numbers are growing.

So far MSC as far as I know have never had a case of Norovirus despite the fact that some people do not use the wash sinks or the sanitizer, though some people cannot use the sanitizers.

[Ccradr]

I’ll say this, not here to defend my bad experience just to report it. Others can disregard it or heed from my experience. I have sailed many times with RC, and of course they are different companies but you don’t see the kind of negative reviews on RC that you do for MSC. You need look no further than other CC reviewed under Seaside Cruises, right here on CC.

[sidari]

From our first cruise on the then brand new Ruby Princess in 2008 I read a few reviews mainly to see the feedback, I still read the odd few of ships we will sail on but make my own mind up and to date it has worked well.

Many reviews have been from people who want things to be the same as they are on their preferred cruise line and get a culture shock when they find out that it's different, the usual response is MSC should do this or that or should be like the rest.

Well thank goodness they are not like the rest.

[Ccradr]

You are right! I want them to be nice, warm, respectful when I’m paying them to do so! That’s what most other cruise lines do, so yes I do want them to be like that.