MSC Seaside — Thoughts??

[nt199206]

15 hours ago, lptazbear said:

We sailed Seaside back in Sept and loved it so much that we sail out this Friday on Divina. The ship is gorgeous, the service incredible, love the little perks like pay $10 for a wrist  band that is your room key (makes it so easy)., and in buffet areas they have things on every table that you can press for bar service.  Any specific questions?  If you have any loyalty with another vendor they will status match you too.  That perk is the best 

I saw the loyalty match feature... that’s awesome! Will be matching my Princess Captains Circle loyalty with them! Wristband idea is neat... can it be used for disembarking and re-embarking at the ports? Or is it strictly a room key?

[reedprincess]

33 minutes ago, nt199206 said:

I saw the loyalty match feature... that’s awesome! Will be matching my Princess Captains Circle loyalty with them! Wristband idea is neat... can it be used for disembarking and re-embarking at the ports? Or is it strictly a room key?

Wristband can only be used aboard - for room key, shopping, drinks, etc but  you need to use your cruise card for embarkation/disembarkation in ports.  

[nednrom]

Deleted.  didn't mean to post twice

Edited January 28, 2020 by nednrom

[nednrom]

On 1/25/2020 at 2:02 AM, nt199206 said:

Hello all!  Just booked the MSC Seaside (Carib) for July 2020.  I have seen so many mixed reviews regarding both MSC and the Seaside herself.  Who has sailed MSC before? This will be my first MSC voyage.  Previously I have sailed Princess and Norwegian.   How likely would you guys sail MSC again? 

We sailed MSC Meraviglia for the first time this past Christmas.  We are NCL and Royal cruisers and we have sailed with Princess twice.  We matched Gold.  We liked it so much we booked the Seaside on board.  Although we were in the YC, we did venture out quite a lot.  I don't think it's any different than any other cruise line.  There are some rude passengers, chair hogs; buffet gets incredibly busy at lunch time and there is traffic congestion when shows let out or when there is a sale.  We liked most of the shows. We found service to be good outside the YC, impeccable in the YC.  Food in the YC ranged from meh to great but Butcher's Cut was wonderful.  Can't really comment on MDR.  It would be different on the Seaside.  We heard a lot of negative things before we left but were pleasantly surprised. Take every review with a grain of salt and have a great time!

[roommusic]

We sailed on Seaside last March and are sailing again March 2020. We wanted to repeat the experience. We liked this cruise better than any we've had, though we enjoyed them all. I agree, the dining room food is not as good as other ships, but it was fine. The buffet was the best of all our cruises, so we ate there breakfast and lunch. We ended up with the earliest dinner seating last year and were disappointed, but we made the best of it and discovered that all the pools are practically empty after that 5:15 seating. So we'd get a drink at the Sports bar at about 4:30, get a second one and take it to the dining room (bar service in the dining room really does take forever), enjoy the food, then go to one of the pools while everyone else is either at dinner or at a show. We don't do entertainment anymore, so I can't speak to that. But this ship is so beautiful. I found several ways to get my steps in the morning, we had a couple of favorite locations, inside and out, to play games. We had Fantastica suite last year, and are getting Fantastica balcony this time. We have friends who swear by YC but since we haven't tried it yet, we can't comment. We had a great time and hope to again. March 7, 2020 is our sail date, can't wait!

[neptuno]

Seaside was designed for warm weather cruising, so there are more outdoor spaces to sit in than on other ships.  This is wonderful in the Caribbean.  When we sailed (twice) the music and dancing was great!  The food in the MDR had been cut back, no longer can you see a seven course menu, but got for it, order three appetizers. The "Easy Package" works OK, but if you are on a freebee account, go for the upgrade.  We were happy with the "Easy", and loved to dance late to latin ritmo.

[RaftingJeremy]

I’m going to be new to msc, platinum on NCL.   I booked a balcony stateroom with the Bella experience. The things that you get with the others didn’t really matter to me.  As long as I have my balcony and my drink package I’m good.  

[Cruising_Gals]

On 2/13/2020 at 11:21 PM, neptuno said:

Seaside was designed for warm weather cruising, so there are more outdoor spaces to sit in than on other ships.  This is wonderful in the Caribbean.  When we sailed (twice) the music and dancing was great!  The food in the MDR had been cut back, no longer can you see a seven course menu, but got for it, order three appetizers. The "Easy Package" works OK, but if you are on a freebee account, go for the upgrade.  We were happy with the "Easy", and loved to dance late to latin ritmo.

So glad to hear it!  We get Easy Package with Aurea Suite, should be good enough, we don't drink that much.  Happy to hear about the music and dancing, that's more important, good times with the family.  Thanks for the input.