My View: 14 Days of Chasing the Sun on Seaside

[Gallivanting Souls]

Unfortunately I have run out of time and might not remember to come back and read from page ten to the end. Can you please mention what all theme nights there were? I did read white night and 70's. Were there others? Did MSC tell you this ahead of time? Thanks for the info so far!

 

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

Unfortunately I have run out of time and might not remember to come back and read from page ten to the end. Can you please mention what all theme nights there were? I did read white night and 70's. Were there others? Did MSC tell you this ahead of time? Thanks for the info so far!

 

White night, Pirate night, Country and Western night, Gatsby Night (which is also the first elegant night, on Sunday), Elegant night (Thursday).  Those are the main ones - Italian night in the dining room (which was on white night one one of our cruises! Not cool with the marinara sauce and white clothes!  Lol).

[APDMOM]

Here is the Vlog.... @familyoutdoors

 

 

[psmarkle]

On 6/23/2019 at 2:58 AM, The Engineer said:

Thanks for an amazing review! Me and my family will be on the Seaside in August and it's our first MSC cruise so naturally I'm nervous about the differences I've read with this line as compared to our usual Carnival or Norwegian cruises. Several things you noted have answered some of those concerns so I cannot thank you enough!

 

One question I had - what were people wearing to the MDR most evenings? I'm used to being on a relaxing vacation when I go with Carnival or NCL where cargo shorts and a Polo or T-shirt are acceptable, and I just somehow can't shake the feeling that MSC is more "uppity" and I don't want to stand out. I hate having to pack "nice" clothes for a vacation, it just takes up extra space in the suitcase and is more a hassle than not.

 

Last summer sailing in the YC on Seaside, I packed 1 pair of Khaki long pants and 4 polo shirts.  Wore the same pants each night for dinner, rotating the polo shirts 2X. After dinner, changed right back into cargo shorts/t-shirts.

[pcrum]

Thanks for a great review.  Just a couple of questions....can you book the shows before the cruise?  For instance, on NCL, you can book a month or two before sailing.

 

Also, your photos of the dailies are so good.  Did you scan as a pdf or take a photo?  I'm impressed with the quality.

 

Thanks again!

[reedprincess]

37 minutes ago, pcrum said:

Thanks for a great review.  Just a couple of questions....can you book the shows before the cruise?  For instance, on NCL, you can book a month or two before sailing.

 

Also, your photos of the dailies are so good.  Did you scan as a pdf or take a photo?  I'm impressed with the quality.

 

Thanks again!

Shows are booked once hooked into ship's intranet. So, basically, once aboard. Via app or tv or screens around the ship.  No booking in advance of sailing like NCL or RCI... Three show times nightly: 7, 8:30, 9:45. 

[Arzeena]

Hi APDMom

 

We just returned from the Seaside. I had read your review and was really looking forward to it. But we had a very negative experience. I tried to see it through your eyes, and how you would perceive several situations, but unfortunately it did not help me. MSC made me really appreciate our other well frequented cruise lines. I am sorry but I could not stand to be on that ship and I am amazed that you spent 14 continuous days on it. We found the ship itself is beautiful, but found the management on that sailing utterly terrible, crew and staff extremely rude and unorganized, food of Chef Boyardee level (to be polite). LOL! 

 

We have one more cruise booked on MSC on the Meragvillia. I am now not sure if I want to keep it . After one not so good experience on the Divina and one terrible experience on Seaside, will the third time on Meragvillia be a charm???????? Very confused.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Arzeena

[Arzeena]

Some more thoughts:

-Cabin was very well appointed and spacious (we had adjoining Fantastica balconies)

-Ship was very beautiful, many seating areas all over.
-Waiter and the Phillipina hostess in Butcher's Cut Restaurant were the best. (Cannot say the same for the Specialty Restaurants Manager and his side kick who were rude and awful and imho should not be in any service industry employment)
-Shows were very good, especially Starwalker.

-Loved the outdoor areas on the this ship.
-Spa services were very good. The thermal pass however, was a waste of money.....spa was over crowded, not adequate enough to accommodate that many people. Chair hogs galore and many areas were dirty.
-Food (in the buffet) was terrible for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was good. Subjective but this is our opinion.

[APDMOM]

On 7/4/2019 at 2:18 PM, pcrum said:

Thanks for a great review.  Just a couple of questions....can you book the shows before the cruise?  For instance, on NCL, you can book a month or two before sailing.

 

Also, your photos of the dailies are so good.  Did you scan as a pdf or take a photo?  I'm impressed with the quality.

 

Thanks again!

Hi, pcrum!

I see someone already answered about the show booking (thank you @reedprincess!).  We booked on the app while waiting to board.  You can access the ship wifi from the waiting room at the port.  

 

I used my Nikon Camera to take the pictures of the dailies.  I found this to be very easy, as Nikon has an app to drop pictures from the camera directly to my iPad, no internet connection needed.  🙂

[APDMOM]

On 7/5/2019 at 10:47 AM, Arzeena said:

Some more thoughts:

-Cabin was very well appointed and spacious (we had adjoining Fantastica balconies)

-Ship was very beautiful, many seating areas all over.
-Waiter and the Phillipina hostess in Butcher's Cut Restaurant were the best. (Cannot say the same for the Specialty Restaurants Manager and his side kick who were rude and awful and imho should not be in any service industry employment)
-Shows were very good, especially Starwalker.

-Loved the outdoor areas on the this ship.
-Spa services were very good. The thermal pass however, was a waste of money.....spa was over crowded, not adequate enough to accommodate that many people. Chair hogs galore and many areas were dirty.
-Food (in the buffet) was terrible for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was good. Subjective but this is our opinion.

@Arzeena

 

I am sorry to hear about your negative experience with staff.  We had no major issues, and found most of the staff to be very accommodating.  I agree that the specialty restaurant hosts were not the friendliest, but by no means rude to us.  

 

As for the thermal spa - I guess it varies by cruise.  It was never crowded when I went (usually early in the morning, or around 8 p.m. on port days).  There were 6 people on one of my visits, and that was the busiest I encountered.  What time of the day did you use the spa?  It may be related to the time of day.  I hope you have a better time on Meraviglia, or find the cruise line that better fits your needs and vacation style. 

[Arzeena]

9 hours ago, APDMOM said:

@Arzeena

 

I am sorry to hear about your negative experience with staff.  We had no major issues, and found most of the staff to be very accommodating.  I agree that the specialty restaurant hosts were not the friendliest, but by no means rude to us.  

 

As for the thermal spa - I guess it varies by cruise.  It was never crowded when I went (usually early in the morning, or around 8 p.m. on port days).  There were 6 people on one of my visits, and that was the busiest I encountered.  What time of the day did you use the spa?  It may be related to the time of day.  I hope you have a better time on Meraviglia, or find the cruise line that better fits your needs and vacation style. 

Hi APDmom,

We cancelled the Meragvillia cruise (majority in my cruising party voted to cancel) and booked a similar itinerary on Royal Caribbean.

[DancerMama25]

Thank you so much for your time, review, and photos.   We are struggling to decide if we want to “jump ship” from Royal and try something different.   I really appreciated your insights as we make this decision.   We like the atmosphere of the themed parties and it looks like the atrium will fit this bill.

 

A couple of clarification questions:   It looks like there is a lot of time when there is no “included” place to eat that is open.  (Gaps of time by the hours.). Am I missing something?  Also, we are late night people; is there no place to eat that is open 24 hours?   I’m looking for the late night sandwich/pizza/snack kind of option for when we leave piano bars late and head somewhere to play cards, etc.  

[APDMOM]

On 7/9/2019 at 11:18 AM, DancerMama25 said:

Thank you so much for your time, review, and photos.   We are struggling to decide if we want to “jump ship” from Royal and try something different.   I really appreciated your insights as we make this decision.   We like the atmosphere of the themed parties and it looks like the atrium will fit this bill.

 

A couple of clarification questions:   It looks like there is a lot of time when there is no “included” place to eat that is open.  (Gaps of time by the hours.). Am I missing something?  Also, we are late night people; is there no place to eat that is open 24 hours?   I’m looking for the late night sandwich/pizza/snack kind of option for when we leave piano bars late and head somewhere to play cards, etc.  

@DancerMama25

Unfortunately, there is no place that is open 24 hours for food and snacks (besides room service).  The buffet is open from about 6:30 a.m. until 1 a.m. See the marked times for pizza and snacks late night.  There is a 24 hour drinks station in the buffet.  There are many lounges that are open to play cards inside.  Every level of the atrium has seating with tables and the Seaview Lounge is a great venue too.

 

 

[APDMOM]

MSC made my day!  Thanks to price drops, we were able to reprice our 2 cruises for next year, saving a combined total of $942 for the 4 weeks!  I feel like booking that Christmas cruise on Meraviglia or Armonia 😁

[tcmagnum]

Thank you for an amazing review - Just gone done reading every page.

We are getting ready to pull the plug and book our first on MSC.  And 

just found out friends of ours are going on Seaside in October.  I'm going

to send her the link to your review - I think they will enjoy reading it.

 

Congrats on the price drop!!  Nothing like that to make your day/week!!

[china1095]

What a great review, so informative.  I feel like we are ready for our 14 night on the Seaside. I’m wondering if you happen to know, we are booked on the Meraviglia for 3 nights and we are black card members.  Do you know if we get the free specialty dinner on a 3 night cruise for black card status.

[APDMOM]

8 hours ago, china1095 said:

What a great review, so informative.  I feel like we are ready for our 14 night on the Seaside. I’m wondering if you happen to know, we are booked on the Meraviglia for 3 nights and we are black card members.  Do you know if we get the free specialty dinner on a 3 night cruise for black card status.

I don’t know the definite answer, but based upon their list of privileges, I think you will have the free dinner option.  It does not specify the length of the cruise.  Hope it works out that way! 🙂

 

[APDMOM]

On 7/11/2019 at 4:17 PM, APDMOM said:

MSC made my day!  Thanks to price drops, we were able to reprice our 2 cruises for next year, saving a combined total of $942 for the 4 weeks!  I feel like booking that Christmas cruise on Meraviglia or Armonia 😁

 

We did it!  Booked Meraviglia for Christmas!  I plan on buying an internet plan, and hope to do a live review again. 🙂

[perfect match]

I had planned to follow this review live.........

 

Obviously that didn’t happen! We just booked a cruise on Harmony, and saw your Harmony review pop up on the Royal Caribbean board, so I started re-reading it. I reached the point where you mentioned that your next cruise would be MSC in June, so I found the link in your signature and I’m finally here. I guess better late than never! 

 

I really enjoyed your your view on MSC in general and Seaside in particular. There are some things I think we’d like, some, not so much. Overall, I just might give MSC a try one of these days. There are so many cruises on our list already, though, that I just don’t know when we can fit MSC into our schedule. 

 

Thank you you for another wonderful review, and, of course, your beautiful pictures! I’ll be looking for both your Royal Caribbean and MSC reviews on your upcoming cruises! 🛳 😀 

[mom2tcdx2]

Loved looking over your review.  I really have missed this ship - she is stunning.  We sailed May 2018, after having book her in December 2015.  We finally booked for October of 2020, which is soooooo far away.  But we do have the Meraviglia this September.  Will be interesting to see how that ship compares to the Seaside and the Divina (we have sailed the Divina twice).  While both are quite beautiful ships, I found I think I prefer the Seaside out of those two.  

[Astro]

On ‎6‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 11:03 AM, APDMOM said:

More ship pictures for your sea day ship tour:

 

Champagne Bar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atrium:

 

 

I never imagined how beautiful the Swarovski stairs would be in person, as all the pictures I had seen were from far away.  Here is one with a close up view.  They really have large crystals embedded in each of those stairs:

 

 

 

 I love seeing the different displays on the large screens in the atrium.  Here are just a couple of my favorites:

 

 

Did you by any chance get any pictures of the Champagne bar menu?

Thanks so much

[APDMOM]

57 minutes ago, Astro said:

Did you by any chance get any pictures of the Champagne bar menu?

Thanks so much

Unfortunately, I think I missed that one.  

[cruisequeen4ever]

Such an informative and fun review; thank you! Did you blog your Namibia trip? Was it a family vacation, too? 

[APDMOM]

On 8/18/2019 at 6:08 AM, cruisequeen4ever said:

Such an informative and fun review; thank you! Did you blog your Namibia trip? Was it a family vacation, too? 

 

Hi @cruisequeen4ever!  I did not do a blog for the Namibia trip.  I flew alone to visit my family and parents who live there.  I took plenty of pictures, of course!  Here are just a few highlights... beautiful country!!! 🇳🇦  Definitely bucket list worthy!

 

Interesting fact... Swakopmund is the town where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie rang in the new Millennium 😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by APDMOM

[mateodavid70]

Thank you so much for sharing this wealth of information! I feel like I was there on the cruise with you as I read along. We were on the Divina a few years ago, and are now booked on Seaside for May 2020 and super excited to check it out for the first time and Ocean Cay as well.  I'm sure I will be coming back multiple times to read your posts again to keep in the cruising mood!!!