My View: 14 Days of Chasing the Sun on Seaside

[APDMOM]

A few more ship pictures...

 

Bistrot La Boheme: (This is where you can get 3 canapés if you order a cocktail in the evening)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Marketplace Buffet Drinks:  Self -serve, self-pay (or free if you have certain drink packages):

 

Pay with your card or wrist band at this electronic pad:

 

Free drinks (available 24 hours):

 

The back of the Marketplace was the best spot - much less busy:

 

[APDMOM]

Venchi Creperie at the Aft pool:

 

 

[APDMOM]

Shops:  I did not really care that the shops were so far apart.  I am still not sure I found all of them 😁. The prices at the shops were very high.  T-shirts were around $18, with no 2 for $20 option like on other cruise lines.  A refillable water/coffee mug with the MSC logo was $50.  There is no way I am spending that kind of money on a logo item.  Also, the bottles of alcohol were much more expensive than on land (BJ’s or Total Wine).  It was not even worth the ‘duty free’ price. They did have some $10 sales.  I bought a blue sun hat that is already fading...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Final Thoughts:

 

Favorite Things:

 

Wrist band:

  Absolutely worth the $5.  We got addicted to it very quickly.  It got to the point that we locked two of our key cards in the safe, and just went everywhere with the wrist bands!

 

Aurea Thermal Area: 

I ended up loving the Thermal Area.  I was alone in that hot tub every time I went there (7 of 8 times - one late evening it was already closed for sanitation).  The outside area can be VERY windy on sea days, so it is not an ideal area to relax while the ship is moving.  However, it is not utilized a lot, so it is a good option to get away from the crowds.

  I am not sure that I would pay for the Thermal Area again, as we receive 1 hour per week for free for the Voyagers Club benefit.  However, the $109 for the two weeks was an excellent deal!    I am just a bit too frugal to splurge on the luxury for another cruise.

 

Shows:

 

The Three Stooges, Zimbabwe Style

I absolutely loved the 3 acrobats from Zimbabwe.  They were so entertaining! They were featured in most of the shows.

 

Shows in General:

    I definitely found these shows to be my personal favorites of the 34 cruises we have now completed.  However, I don’t think anyone can say these are “the best”, as you can simply not compare a full Broadway production or an ice show or an intimate dinner show with these shows.  I would not be comparing apples to apples if I tried to make that judgement.

 

  I can say that on this cast, I have found the best singers.  They blend beautifully a majority of the time, the solos are practically flawless, and the intonation close to perfect.  All I can think about is, “How can I get my mom and dad on this ship?” I am working on it!

 

My personal favorite shows were “Fly” and “My Life in Music”

 

Food: 

 

Buffet:

Best buffet of all cruise lines we have cruised (Royal, Carnival, Norwegian, Costa, Celebrity, MSC)

However, I am starting to see why people think the buffet food is “always the same”.  I would rather say that it is “always similar”.  However, we never ran out of new dishes to try during our two weeks onboard.  For example, they had regular salted fries, salt and garlic fries, maple flavored fries (my favorite!), sweet potato fries, etc.  There was a different pasta dish every day, often with seafood (lobster, crab, shrimp, respectively).  They had chicken legs and wings every day, but they were prepared differently throughout the week.  It was the most tender, best tasting chicken!  They had a very wide variety of food, and there is no way anyone can say they only found pizza, burgers and hot dogs (only true between 3 and 5:15 p.m. but you always have free room service options).

 

   Some of my favorites included the couscous salads, Mediterranean Jellies, Fresh bread, Chilled soups in buffet, breakfast pizza with fried eggs on top, all chicken dishes (they were all great!), most pasta dishes, daily stir fried veggies, mashed sweet potato and mashed butternut squash.

 

Main Dining Room:

They had a good variety of options in the Main Dining Room.  The food was similar to other cruise lines, when it comes to the MDR.  However, except for the cream of tomato soup, nothing stood out as a dish I just HAVE to order again when we cruise on MSC again.  Of course, I have not tried all the dishes, so next year is another opportunity to find That One Dish you remember a cruise line by.

 

That Bloated Feeling?

I don’t know what it is about MSC!  Our friends from CC mentioned it first, and I realized it is so true!  Where is “that bloated feeling” we often get on a cruise?  She thinks they use better quality ingredients - maybe more natural/pure products.  I must agree that this has been a cruise where I felt healthy and never bloated.  They do use very good quality milk (seen on the cartons), so maybe they use better products for the European market?  Just a theory, but it certainly feels true.  BTW, I only gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks.  I usually gain 2-3 pounds per week of cruising.

 

Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle: 

Best of all the ships we have been on.

 

Dining and Bar Service:

Our dining team in the main dining room was excellent (Edison and Mark from the Philippines) - two of the best waiters we ever had.  In the buffet, the service was also very good.  The waiters cleared tables in a timely manner, except during peak times (like right before docking in port when everyone tries to stampede for breakfast).  However, they constantly moved about and worked as fast as they could to clear tables.  Bar service was never a problem, but we did not have the drinks package and just bought one or two drinks per day.

 

Minor Issues:

 

Cabin: 

Small, but good value for the money we paid.  Very narrow space by the closet.  However, I loved the deeper balcony.

 

Service:   I think the room stewards are assigned too many cabins, or not utilized with the best planning.  Although our room steward did a VERY good job and never just stood around talking, it takes a long time to get through all the cabins.  We calculated if he only spent 20 minutes per cabin assigned to him, it would add up to over 7 hours of work.  He is supposed to work from 8-12 for morning service, but he was often there past 2 p.m.  It may be better to assign 2 room stewards who share more cabins - one who specializes in bathroom cleaning and thus becomes more efficient in one area, and one who specializes in cleaning the room itself.  

 

Two Main Gripes of the Cruise:

 

Balcony:

I really did not care for the location of the balcony, and consequently the layout of the ship.  I will have to research for a better location on this ship, but with the 14 days we had very limited options for cabins.  Although deck 8 is a nice outdoor area of a majority of passengers, it really interferes with the relaxing atmosphere I would like to enjoy on the balcony.  We frequently heard chatter, yelling, and music from deck 8. 

 

To make it worse (and I know this can happen on any cruise), one of our neighbors smoked on their balcony the first week.  The second week, somebody on deck 11 listened to their personal music loudly over a bluetooth speaker, with what sounded like a crowd of friends.  The next day, our direct neighbor blasted their choice of music on a speaker.  We ended up calling it in, because we could not even take a nap, it was so loud.  

 

What was most disappointing is that the manager said our neighbors are their guests, just like we are guests, and they need to respect them too.  They can only kindly ask them to stop playing the music.  Thankfully, the neighbors respected the request.    

 

The thing that really bothered me about our encounter with the manager is that he said they can not even implement the no-smoking-on-balcony-rule.  They can only ask the passenger not to smoke, but there are no consequences if they continue.  This is very disappointing, and I hope it was not an accurate statement by the manager.

 

MSC still needs some balance with customer service.  If they say “the customer is always right”, which customer?  The one who plays loud music, or the one who does not want to hear the music?  They need a little common sense in their rule implementation, and consequences if they are serious about rules.  

 

This was 1 of only 2 gripes we had during the two weeks, and it will not keep us from sailing MSC again. 

 

Charged for 2 drinks, not one:

The other gripe was related to the double charge for a drink, which was corrected and actually completely removed, so we ended up with a free drink.  However, the same thing happened to our friends. So, we think some bartenders do this for extra gratuity... Just a theory, but this has never happened on any other cruise to either of us.

 

Overall Impression:

This cruise was the best value for money of all our previous cruises.  DH has decided MSC is his new favorite line.  I still lean a little more toward Royal Caribbean, but can see myself be swayed in the direction of MSC too.  I just need a little time between cruises and maybe 4 more weeks on Seaside next year to make a definite decision.  😃

[cruisingnewtoit]

Wow MSC allows smoking on the balcony. That would be a deal breaker for me. 

[reedprincess]

13 minutes ago, cruisingnewtoit said:

Wow MSC allows smoking on the balcony. That would be a deal breaker for me. 

Smoking is prohibited on balconies - however, some guests still do it. And whether MSC enforced their own rules seems to vary 

We had smokers on the balcony next to us on our sailing back in January - we ended up with butts on our balcony one night. We reported it immediately - 2:30am! Security actually went to their cabin and spoke with them. (Yes, they were up and out there smoking then). They never did so again.   So apparently, like muh with MSC - YMMV.  LOL. 

[cruisingnewtoit]

3 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Smoking is prohibited on balconies - however, some guests still do it. And whether MSC enforced their own rules seems to vary 

We had smokers on the balcony next to us on our sailing back in January - we ended up with butts on our balcony one night. We reported it immediately - 2:30am! Security actually went to their cabin and spoke with them. (Yes, they were up and out there smoking then). They never did so again.   So apparently, like muh with MSC - YMMV.  LOL. 

For the manager to say we can request for them not to smoke is ridiculous. All other major cruise lines would stop the smoking not request it. 

 

Not sure if I want to test the smoker's desire to abide by the request.

[reedprincess]

11 minutes ago, cruisingnewtoit said:

For the manager to say we can request for them not to smoke is ridiculous. All other major cruise lines would stop the smoking not request it. 

 

Not sure if I want to test the smoker's desire to abide by the request.

You'll note I'm not the one who made the comment about manager saying anything. They sent security to the neighbors cabin pretty much immediately, and whatever they said - it stopped and never happened again.  So, in our case - calling was effective, and there was no pushback or anything of the sort from managers. .. it happened faster than we've experienced on Celebrity, FWIW. 

As noted, there's lots of inconsistency in MSC and how they handle things on a case by case basis.  

[Epos Man]

One sure way of stopping smoking on balconies is to in the terms and conditions that if you are found to have been smoking on your balcony you are given a 200 dollar/euro fine

 

[APDMOM]

Well, my bags are packed and ready for my new adventure to Namibia.  Thanks to everyone for following along and for the great company during our cruise!  Until Next May and June... We look forward to our 4 weeks on Seaside in 2020!  

 

For those with upcoming cruises:  May you have sunny skies and calm seas 🙂

 

 

 

 

[Arzeena]

4 hours ago, APDMOM said:

Hi, Arzeena,

You can get regular ice water in the MDR, as well as regular tea and coffee for free.  It is the same as other cruise lines.  Just let your waiter know you want the free water, although they automatically gave that to us the first night.  🙂 Enjoy your upcoming adventure!  I wish we could join you!!!

Thank you!

Hop on what are you waiting for?😁

[Arzeena]

Thanks again for that fantastic review and pictures.

Have a great trip to Namibia!

[nycfa]

Thanks for a great review!  Thanks for taking the time to do it live.    Safe travels!

[reedprincess]

Thank you so much for your fabulous review.  You really did bring us along with you and I, for one, truly appreciate it!!

[petuniaflower]

I have a question about the diner style looking pics with the old cars etc..is it a diner/free?

[APDMOM]

2 hours ago, petuniaflower said:

I have a question about the diner style looking pics with the old cars etc..is it a diner/free?

We found out it is a night club with a bar. No meals. 

[Essiesmom]

Where did you get those polo shirts with Port and Starboard on the sleeves?  Very practical... EM

[janetmojo]

Fantastic job!  Enjoy your Africa trip!  Thanks for all the super helpful info for the last two weeks, this is one of the most nicely done reviews I have read in quote awhile.

[bigblue1952]

Great review. Thanks for all your tips.

[Mitziismydog]

Thank you for the awesome review, looked forward to it every day. 👌

[APDMOM]

22 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Where did you get those polo shirts with Port and Starboard on the sleeves?  Very practical... EM

We had them made at a local store that does embroidery.  🙂

 

[tobyt]

Great review, very fair and balanced! We enjoyed our winter trip on MSC Seaside and will be happy to go again if the pricing and details work. We did find some of the port times a bit strange and there are certainly some growing pains but based on your review it sounds like adjustments continue to tweak the product.

[Essiesmom]

1 hour ago, APDMOM said:

We had them made at a local store that does embroidery.  🙂

 

 

Thank you...That gives me great options.  EM

[paulajj]

Thanks for the great review!