MSC Seaside. Best one ever.

[GOLDENBONNY]

Hello all. I am back to work and my review will follow later, but I have to say WOW! We had best cruise ever. MSC did it this time.   We knew what to expect from MSC but it was like all new cruise line and luxury one. If you have questions , please ask. Just to clarify the most popular question on this board for now- We had no problem with our old drink package at all, we just scan our bracelet and all drinks , ice cream , sodas , mini bar came for no charge. 

[cocksparra]

Thanks Goldenbonny...Glad you had a great time, travelling 26th Jan...great to know about the drinks package.

Edited December 17, 2018 by cocksparra

[citizenfrank]

Glad you had such a fab time ….but at least it is the holiday season now you are back

I love this class of vessel & great to hear of another positive sailing.

I think it is the sexiest class at sea!

[jules815]

Glad to hear you had a great cruise.  We're on Seaside in YC 1/12, and can't wait!  

 

Look forward to reading your review.  🙂

 

[floridian1]

Subjective ..i know..but how was the food? And the service?

[GOLDENBONNY]

17 minutes ago, floridian1 said:

Subjective ..i know..but how was the food? And the service?

Service in DR was amazing , best one we ever had. Food in DR was very -very good, nothing like we had on Divina this year and even better then Celebrity. Buffet for breakfast was good , again much better then regular MSC breakfast on other ships . Lunch and dinner in buffet could be better but we never been hungry ( I gain 3 kilo )

Service in Bars could be slow sometimes but we had nowhere to rush,we are on vacation,  and if you don't want to wait, just approach the Bar by yourself and you will be served in no time.  

[Linda the Book Lover]

I looking forward to your review especially the shows if you attended any of them.

[Preziosa]

Did you have the Michael Jackson show...

[rvfloyd]

Hi there, so glad when things work out better than expected!

 

Wondering if you needed a converter or just an adapter for the plugs.   We are boarding the Seaside this Sat. and are from Canada so I know we at least need an adapter.

[sptrout]

18 minutes ago, Preziosa said:

Did you have the Michael Jackson show...

 

I will jump in here since apparently, we were on the same cruise. Yes the MJ show is back and it was stunning. The best stage show that we have seen on any cruise. My wife said that MJ's show alone made the whole cost of the cruise worthwhile and she saw MJ live several years ago. The MJ impersonator had it nailed, every movement was pure Michael. The ship's main theatre has a super sound system that can really push the bass down to loud and unbelievable low frequencies. They must have a full wall of speakers hiding behind the performers.

 

We attended all the main theatre shows all 7 nights. We normally avoid production shows like the plague, but all shows were outstanding. With the possible exception of the outstanding service in the YC, the evening shows made the cruise for us.

[Preziosa]

Do you know How long They Will have the MJ show.

We are on the 13.th of april Cruise.

[Beamafar]

Delighted to hear you had a wonderful cruise, GB.  Looking forward to reading the review - you've such a way with words!  😜

[ChrisB66]

47 minutes ago, sptrout said:

 

I will jump in here since apparently, we were on the same cruise. Yes the MJ show is back and it was stunning. The best stage show that we have seen on any cruise. My wife said that MJ's show alone made the whole cost of the cruise worthwhile and she saw MJ live several years ago. The MJ impersonator had it nailed, every movement was pure Michael. The ship's main theatre has a super sound system that can really push the bass down to loud and unbelievable low frequencies. They must have a full wall of speakers hiding behind the performers.

 

We attended all the main theatre shows all 7 nights. We normally avoid production shows like the plague, but all shows were outstanding. With the possible exception of the outstanding service in the YC, the evening shows made the cruise for us.

Is the show running for a while now? We're sailing next week. 

[sptrout]

13 minutes ago, ChrisB66 said:

Is the show running for a while now? We're sailing next week. 

Should be, according to the CD, Friday's show was the world premiere after working on the development of the show for the last 2 weeks. I know that I have read here on CC that the show has been on for at least a couple weeks, but that was what the CD said and was confirmed by a regular crew member that we asked. He was anxious to get to see the show.

[Linda the Book Lover]

1 hour ago, sptrout said:

 

I will jump in here since apparently, we were on the same cruise. Yes the MJ show is back and it was stunning. The best stage show that we have seen on any cruise. My wife said that MJ's show alone made the whole cost of the cruise worthwhile and she saw MJ live several years ago. The MJ impersonator had it nailed, every movement was pure Michael. The ship's main theatre has a super sound system that can really push the bass down to loud and unbelievable low frequencies. They must have a full wall of speakers hiding behind the performers.

 

We attended all the main theatre shows all 7 nights. We normally avoid production shows like the plague, but all shows were outstanding. With the possible exception of the outstanding service in the YC, the evening shows made the cruise for us.

I am so excited to read the positive show review. I am looking forward to them.

[goodml]

Darn it! I had the MJ show reserved last week and we bailed on it at the last minute. Knew we should have gone.

[GOLDENBONNY]

I will try to start now. English is  my second language so please do not comment on any mistakes.

Cruising mega ship was not in my books at all, but after watching Jim's review, I loved it very much and decided to check the price for Aurea WP cabin, for my surprise it was only $2700 for two adults and child. I went home , talked to my DH and we decided to give it a try. I started my booking next morning and my final price was $ 3650.00  What? !!! I called MSC and some nice angel on the phone book my cruise for $ 2700.00 . Now I could probably start complaining about how expensive Florida hotels become over last year , how expensive become flights to Florida, but I will jump to better part of our beautiful vacation. 

 

[GOLDENBONNY]

DAY 1

My DH for some reason always want to be first one in port .  so by 9 am we already had breakfast and booked Uber for our ride from Fort Lauderdale (yes, Miami hotels become so expensive I had to stay in FL) . Terminal doors opened by 10:15 am and in 5 minutes we been inside . Since we are Black members and we have Aurea cabin, we proceed for special area designated for important people like us LOL. Embarkation started around 11:30 am and in very organized way (well ,we had to move some very "polite" Americans who try to run over my DD to be in front of us in line ) we proceed on board. 

First impression is WOW!!! This ship is absolutely beautiful .

We went straight to Buffet for lunch and found it very spacious with lots of outside sitting . Food was OK nothing to be Wow about , but if you know me food is not why I am cruising . I cook every day at home (this  fact surprise my next door neighbor for some reason) and we go to good restaurants very often , so I don't cruise for food, but I know food and I love food.    

After Buffet we decided to check on our cabin , it was not ready but our very nice steward let us drop out carry on. We had cabin 10219 . Very good location and very big balcony. Now back to explore the ship, and book our free massages, and our free dinner in Butcher Cut . Boy i love word FREE. MSC really nailed layout and design  of this ship. 

Two things we did not like- small Theater (book your shows from Terminal) and not enough shade in pool ,actually not shade at all. 

Around 2:00 pm cabins are ready and we went to unpack.Our champagne and strawberries been waiting for us in cabin.  I went to unpack🥂 ,and my DH went to check how Jacuzzi works and right away he found out that shower is broken and water is leaking . I let my steward know about the problem right away  and he said he know about it and someone will come to fix it. We know MSC good enough and we knew how fast it can be LOL. For our surprise in 15 minutes some one really come to fix it .

Time for dinner ! Aurea guests have separate area in restaurant which we loved very much. I don't know how it was in rest of restaurant but in our side service and food were best one we ever had on any cruise line. 

I don't remember first show name , but as usual it was very good . 

[GOLDENBONNY]

this is some food porn from last dinner. I don't know how some people complain its a small portion.  

Edited December 18, 2018 by GOLDENBONNY

[LisaLisa87]

I'm looking forward to reading your review, Goldenbonny! Can someone tell me the name of the MJ show? We board Saturday and I want to make sure I reserve seats for this one! What are the other "can't miss" shows? I'll probably only be able to talk DD and DH into going to a few of them. 

[sptrout]

1 hour ago, LisaLisa87 said:

I'm looking forward to reading your review, Goldenbonny! Can someone tell me the name of the MJ show? We board Saturday and I want to make sure I reserve seats for this one! What are the other "can't miss" shows? I'll probably only be able to talk DD and DH into going to a few of them. 

"Skywalker" I believe.  It was on the last night of the cruise. The CD will remind you often. As for the other shows, we liked them all which was a first for us. A word of caution when trying to choose which shows to attend based either on their names or the descriptions of them. The names mean nothing much as far as I could tell and the descriptions were very understated and never properly described the show's contents. I recommend that you get your group to the first show and then they will be hooked as we were.

Edited December 19, 2018 by sptrout

[GOLDENBONNY]

13 hours ago, LisaLisa87 said:

I'm looking forward to reading your review, Goldenbonny! Can someone tell me the name of the MJ show? We board Saturday and I want to make sure I reserve seats for this one! What are the other "can't miss" shows? I'll probably only be able to talk DD and DH into going to a few of them. 

Its on last day and its Skywalker,but please don't miss other once , they all good . the only one we did not like that much was Peter Punk, it was funny ,but I wish they would keep old Treasure Island one. 

[GOLDENBONNY]

Day 2 at Sea 

We woke up early around 7:30 am  (don't ask why probably the age)  and decided to go to pool right away , for our surprise pool was empty . All other cruisers been sleeping so we had a nice swim in empty pool till almost 9:00 am. We never stay in pool after 12 :00 pm , because of sun plus hate crowds. 

Our free massage was booked for 1 o'clock this day . I never had any SPA procedures on board , I do enough massages at home and I never wanted to pay that much for some one who I don't know.I was wrong. WE had very good service and very professional massage. 

Rest of the day we spend sleeping, resting in WP on balcony and watching nice show.

Edited December 19, 2018 by GOLDENBONNY

[GOLDENBONNY]

Day 3 San Juan

MSC arrive late to this port  and since we been San Juan many time  we decided to book Butcher Cut for this evening . It was suppose to be free dinner but we ended up with $100.00 bill.  $39.00 for my DD and $50.00 for tomahawk steak. Regular price is $100.00 but we could get it for 50% off. Dinner was very nice and meat cooked to perfection. Steak was huge for some reason it does not look like this on my pictures. 

Edited December 19, 2018 by GOLDENBONNY

[Linda the Book Lover]

I am looking forward to the Butcher's Cut.