Just off Seaside/MSC Not Ready To Compete In North American Market

[grandgeezer]

We used to do almost all our cruising on Celebrity, then we did the Seaside this past September.  We just booked a 14 day Caribbean cruise on the Seaside. Bye,bye Celebrity, it’s time to move on.

[deliver42]

We've cruised RCCL, Carnival,Princess, NCL, and MSC. For bang for the buck, you can't touch MSC. We've been on the Divina twice, once in the YC and once in Aurea balcony, and loved both cruises. We are booked on the Seaside for next year in the YC and intend to do more. We love interacting with the Europeans on the ships and can always overcome the language differences. The crews are great, and the food, though limited in variety, very good.

[DMH15]

25 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

We've cruised RCCL, Carnival,Princess, NCL, and MSC. For bang for the buck, you can't touch MSC. We've been on the Divina twice, once in the YC and once in Aurea balcony, and loved both cruises. We are booked on the Seaside for next year in the YC and intend to do more. We love interacting with the Europeans on the ships and can always overcome the language differences. The crews are great, and the food, though limited in variety, very good.

I am a real foodie with culinary education but I have decided that my next cruise, in May, food will not be a major focus.  So, I will go in with an open mind.  It is all the great things about YC that have me excited.  Yesterday I booked 2 massages and a facial.   Yay. 

 

One question. How are the YC breakfasts? My fave meal of the day.  

 

 

 

 

[sptrout]

15 minutes ago, DMH15 said:

I am a real foodie with culinary education but I have decided that my next cruise, in May, food will not be a major focus.  So, I will go in with an open mind.  It is all the great things about YC that have me excited.  Yesterday I booked 2 massages and a facial.   Yay. 

 

One question. How are the YC breakfasts? My fave meal of the day.  

 

 

 

 

The breakfasts are good; typical items and the menu stays the same every day. Omelets made to order with all the add-ons that you want. I assume other items are cooked to order, but omelets were the only thing that I ordered. The Grill is also open for breakfast if you want to dine outside. The Grill has a small buffet, but you can still order items made to order from the outdoor grill. In both restaurants, the service is fast. Coffee of all types I assume are available, for example, I had Cafe Americos every morning.

Edited December 28, 2018 by sptrout

[Debde]

9 minutes ago, DMH15 said:

I am a real foodie with culinary education but I have decided that my next cruise, in May, food will not be a major focus.  So, I will go in with an open mind.  It is all the great things about YC that have me excited.  Yesterday I booked 2 massages and a facial.   Yay. 

 

One question. How are the YC breakfasts? My fave meal of the day. 

 

All meals in the YC restaurant are very good. Between the restaurant and the outside area, you will enjoy breakfast!!

Note: It took me two days to realize they had cooked to order eggs and omelets outside by the grill area!!😕

 

[DMH15]

2 minutes ago, Debde said:

 

All meals in the YC restaurant are very good. Between the restaurant and the outside area, you will enjoy breakfast!!

Note: It took me two days to realize they had cooked to order eggs and omelets outside by the grill area!!😕

 

Great info.  Thanks.  If I have a good breakfast I am good to go!

[DMH15]

6 minutes ago, sptrout said:

The breakfasts are good; typical items and the menu stays the same every day. Omelets made to order with all the add-ons that you want. I assume other items are cooked to order, but omelets were the only thing that I ordered. The Grill is also open for breakfast if you want to dine outside. The Grill has a small buffet, but you can still order items made to order from the outdoor grill. In both restaurants, the service is fast. Coffee of all types I assume are available, for example, I had Cafe Americos every morning.

Sounds amazing!   Thanks.  

[jean87510]

We have traveled with carnival, celebrity, and royal. We have upcoming cruise with Norwegian and just booked a 2020 cruise with msc for our 30th anniversary. My concern is from what I'm reading, all happy north Americans love msc because they are in the yacht club. We dont have the funds for this yet, so we are in an inside with fantastica.  I do not consider myself nor my husband as unable to adapt to other cultures. Are the "steerage" sections ok to be in? Will it be uncomfortable for an American couple in their 50s who dont really drink, exercise all the time, read, do active excursions, and like healthy food and usually are in bed by 9?  I'm reading all these comments and honestly it sounds like current msc passengers are not too fond of the Americans and perhaps the crew isn't too thrilled either? We already booked but I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it. Luckily it's a port intensive cruise so we will be pretty busy.

[LMaxwell]

15 hours ago, jean87510 said:

We have traveled with carnival, celebrity, and royal. We have upcoming cruise with Norwegian and just booked a 2020 cruise with msc for our 30th anniversary. My concern is from what I'm reading, all happy north Americans love msc because they are in the yacht club. We dont have the funds for this yet, so we are in an inside with fantastica.  I do not consider myself nor my husband as unable to adapt to other cultures. Are the "steerage" sections ok to be in? Will it be uncomfortable for an American couple in their 50s who dont really drink, exercise all the time, read, do active excursions, and like healthy food and usually are in bed by 9?  I'm reading all these comments and honestly it sounds like current msc passengers are not too fond of the Americans and perhaps the crew isn't too thrilled either? We already booked but I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it. Luckily it's a port intensive cruise so we will be pretty busy.

I have been 3 times, never in Yacht Club.  Inside twice, Balcony once.  Service fine.  Never wanted for anything, didn't wait in lines.  No one pampering us, but really, it was as good as Royal Caribbean was 10-15 years ago (better than now). 

 

Maybe it's me, but I saw the same mix of crew members I see on every other cruise line; Jamaican/Caribbean bar tenders, Philippine and south east Asian room and wait staff, Italian officers, international entertainers and mostly European for the cruise staff and activities.  You could swap out their name badges and put them on RCI or Carnival, etc.  

Edited December 29, 2018 by LMaxwell

[sptrout]

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Maybe it's me, but I saw the same mix of crew members I see on every other cruise line; Jamaican/Caribbean bar tenders, Philippine and south east Asian room and wait staff, Italian officers, international entertainers and mostly European for the cruise staff and activities.  You could swap out their name badges and put them on RCI or Carnival, etc.  

3

 

I agree I could not tell any difference in the nationalities of the crew members (that the passengers work with every day) than any other line. I would add a lot of old USSR counties in the mix including  Ukrainians. Same thing on our Celebrity cruises.

 

I think the nationality issue if there is one, is with the passengers no so much with the crew. A couple of weeks ago on the Seaside, there was a big mix of home countries, but nothing that I would have noticed if not for reading about the Seaside/MSC months before our cruise. One funny thing that happened to me was that there was a large group of Asian looking people that just happened to sit close to us in the main theater at least 3 nights (I only noticed them because of the large number of people). My guess was Japanese for no real reason, just guessing. At the end of the last show of the cruise CD starting asking how many people were from counties X, Y, Z, etc. The group that I just mentioned were sitting just in front of us; they were from Canada. Never know.....

[jimbob22]

On 11/26/2018 at 11:04 AM, asctony said:

I agree with you on the food and service. As for acknowledgement at the bars? They are very busy. I normally got - what can i get you? I accept that. Really they need more staff. They like all cruise lines have cut back in staff. 

Just got off a fully booked NCL Breakaway, and the bars seemed to have numerous bartenders.  Guest Services line also moved very quickly, partly due to a second staffer that would ask you what you need help with, and then potentially steer you to someone other than guest services (eg. box office, etc.).  But it didn't seem like they were skimping on staffing.

 

On another thread someone commented that buffets can't really have great variety, which is also untrue.  The Breakaway had great variety on the buffet each night, and between each night and the night before.  It's all about the ability to creatively use leftovers.  It seems like MSC lacks creativity in this area.

 

Perhaps these things done by NCL do cost more money--but the honest thing would be to just say that MSC does provide lesser service and food, but they also charge less.  

[sfaaa]

One only has to look at MSC cruise prices and you know it is competing aggressively in N American market with some success. The fact that US mainstream cruise lines are now including MSC in their customer surveys can only mean they are seeing MSC as a competitor. To increase market share, MSC just needs to add more non Caribbean ports to its N American itineraries and it's game on. Many of the so called inferior food/services mentioned are of minor nature and can be fixed with more training and customer research. I am a converted MSC believer with two more cruises booked to 2020.

Edited December 31, 2018 by sfaaa

[rikitikitavii]

Jean87510,

You and your husband will be just fine.  We sailed Seaside in August, Bella balcony.  We never had to wait long for elevators, we were given 7:30 dinner time, which was good for us.  Not sure which ship you are on, but the buffet on Seaside was good and had variety for breakfast and lunch.  We attended the early show, less crowded and was about 30 minutes in duration.  Plenty of places to relax and read.  We had zero issues with being "American" , with either crew or fellow passengers.  MDR meals were in line with other cruise lines, but seemed busier than other cruises.

announcements were multilingual, but were few and far between.

hope this helps to ease your nervousness.

Rick

[BermudaBound2014]

On 12/4/2018 at 10:48 AM, sidari said:

No sooner had we booked than the next morning we noticed that YC was sold out!  Amazing!!!  

 

Likely booked by US tour operators and guests who can hold on to them and Block them until the day before final payment and then cancel! This stops others who want to book taking the opportunity, it is time that this practice was stopped.

 Sadari, in the US, tour operators and travel agents operate under entirely different rules. Could that be the case with your booked up YC? I'm sure it differs by country,  but I was under the impression that European tour operators (not travel agents) like TUI could also block large number of cabins without a deposit. 

 

I also thought that MSC held XXX amount of cabins per market and perhaps all the YC cabins in your market were sold immediately? Even though the YC is becoming more popular, I find it very hard to believe that 100% of the YC inventory was reserved on day 2 after being released. I'm willing to look up available inventory from the US if you want to give me a date to search. In the very least, an interesting experiment :). 

 

I do agree that the process of holding multiple cabins under refundable fares is sketchy. Some US cruise companies are no longer allowing refundable fares and/or charging extra for the privilege of being able to cancel before final impression. IMO, It won't be long before this is an industry standard policy. 

 

 

[Beamafar]

BB ... hope you don't mind me weighing in here (and I hope the same of Dave - Sidari - too.  He's currently on Divina and may not see your post).

 

The first line in Sidari's post that you quoted is actually a quote from someone else and the paragraph that follows was Sidari's response to it.  Hope that clarifies it.  I'm familiar with Sidari's posts, so I know that he has no interest in booking YC - he's expressed that sentiment on a few occasions on the forum.

[BermudaBound2014]

Thank you for the clarification! I think I am having trouble with the new features as that is twice I quoted the wrong person :(.  Cruisecritic is slowly coming back online for those of us using Tapatalk - which is a good sign because I missed these forums.  As always, you are very helpful Beam :)

[Beamafar]

I don't think it was your mistake in that instance, BB.  I got used to Sidari quoting people without using the quote function, which could often lead to some confusing posts.

 

Good to know that CC is coming back on Tapatalk!  I'd got used to using the app to upload photos of daily planners, menus, etc and wasn't sure how I was going to do it on the website.  Couldn't believe that, in this day and age of app use, they'd decided to terminate it and claim that the website was easy to use (or something to that effect - I've just downloaded the CC app - again! - to read exactly what it said, but it's actually working now!)

[1powerguy]

On 11/24/2018 at 11:52 AM, JDGGG said:

Just off the Seaside's Thanksgiving Sailing. I will provide a brief review but this is more for Q & As about this ship. I've been on two dozen + cruises mainly on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean with some others sprinkled in (Cunard/Princess/Azamara/Seadream etc).

I will judge everything on a 1-5 basis with 5 being the best.

Design and décor of ship-4/Ship itself is beautiful. Main reason it didn't receive a 5 is the layout is a bit choppy and at times can feel crowded (mainly in buffets and elevators). Also, was warm in many places. Wasn't surprised cause I've read this on CC. One question to MSC... Why build a ship for hundreds of millions of $$$s and not air condition the elevators???

Food-2/I am no fancy pants but the food was mediocre at best. Buffet was the same everyday and dining room food was edible, but portions were incredibly small. 

Service-3/Only reason I give it a 3 is because my cabin steward was excellent. Everyone else barely smiled. I can elaborate but I think most people on here understand what I mean. I did not get a "Happy Thanksgiving" from one crew member. This was surprising. Dining room service was choppy and ordering a drink during meal service seemed like an outrageous request. 

Room-3/Normal balcony room. Felt cramped and storage was terrible. We used our couch as a dresser. Once again, why spend millions on a ship and have minimal storage in the staterooms???

Kid Stuff-5/My 4 year old daughter loved the kids program and the outdoor waterpark was top notch for a cruise ship. 

Casino-1/Not cause I lost... I expect to lose on a cruise. The staff was the most unfriendly I have encountered on a cruise ship. 

Bar Service-2/Not blaming the staff but I'll blame MSC. There were huge bars (Sports bar for example) with one or two bartenders???

 

Overall Score-3

 

Please feel free to ask questions. I do not plan on going back on MSC any time soon. I will probably wait a couple of years and possibly try it again if the price is right. 

 

[1powerguy]

I just got off of the Divina on Dec 20 2p18 and your scores are exactly to mine.  i have been on about 90 cruises and MSC was the worst as for service and lack of training of crew.  This includes my very first cruise on an old Holland America sailing that caught on fire.

[grandgeezer]

Maybe it's the ship, maybe it's the class of cabin booked. We dumped Celebrity, after 21 cruises and 244 days at sea, for the Yacht Club Deluxe Suite on MSC Seaside. Both have their pluses and minuses but MSC blows them out of the water when it comes to value for the money. Yacht Club vs Celebrity Sky Suite (entry level suite), not even in the same zip code.

[sptrout]

48 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

Maybe it's the ship, maybe it's the class of cabin booked. We dumped Celebrity, after 21 cruises and 244 days at sea, for the Yacht Club Deluxe Suite on MSC Seaside. Both have their pluses and minuses but MSC blows them out of the water when it comes to value for the money. Yacht Club vs Celebrity Sky Suite (entry level suite), not even in the same zip code.

Agreed! We have been in the Sky Suites, Princess and RC's similar size suites, and the YC blows them all away.

[jean87510]

On 1/1/2019 at 11:38 AM, rikitikitavii said:

Jean87510,

You and your husband will be just fine.  We sailed Seaside in August, Bella balcony.  We never had to wait long for elevators, we were given 7:30 dinner time, which was good for us.  Not sure which ship you are on, but the buffet on Seaside was good and had variety for breakfast and lunch.  We attended the early show, less crowded and was about 30 minutes in duration.  Plenty of places to relax and read.  We had zero issues with being "American" , with either crew or fellow passengers.  MDR meals were in line with other cruise lines, but seemed busier than other cruises.

announcements were multilingual, but were few and far between.

hope this helps to ease your nervousness.

Rick

Thanks. I'm trying some new cruise ships and my travel agent friend strongly argued against msc. Then I read some of the comments here and was like, huh? But as my husband pointed out, we go for the ports not the ship and we are so much more interested in exploring new places, we honestly dont notice other things. As long as I dont have to cook, I'm fine. I dont care about towel animals, seats at the pool, Broadway shows, mdr seating. We are usually so tired we fall asleep by 9. 😉

[Beamafar]

3 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

Yacht Club vs Celebrity Sky Suite (entry level suite), not even in the same zip code.

 

Couldn't agree more!  I've been saying something similar on here ever since we tried an SS1 on Celebrity in Jan 2016!

[Teacher42]

We just got off the Divina . Our first cruise on MSC, Yacht Club only choice we would consider. We booked 3 more MSC yacht club cruises. Booked on Celebrity Equinox for this summer as well ,CS suite. Have to go back to 'old faithful' to break up any monotony.

 

 

 

 

 

[Beamafar]

Our last 2 cruises were on Fantasia and Musica class ships;  our next three are on Lirica, Seaside & Meraviglia class ones - that breaks up any monotony for us!  We don't need to change companies to change experiences.  Not every MSC cruise is the same, either!  Of course, our cruises have rarely been Caribbean-based - we enjoy much more varied itineraries.