Mpls35
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Thank you- I know it’s strange- some people are just more sensitive than others. Just so I’m clear, your sister smelled sewage on 14?
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And my parents on 14. They also smelled it in the aft, while eating on 8th buffet.
My nose wasn’t completely inoperable- the smoke smell in the Haven and Library was enough for me today question if smoking was just allowed there. It wafted in from south Beach pool which had a lot of smokers sitting under the covering at the doorway to the library/billiard room.
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Great detailed review so far, thank you!
Can you please comment on the sewage smell onboard? I'm super sensitive and this will be a deciding factor for me. Several have reported noticing the sewer smell on deck 11 aft. Did you notice it here? Other areas? Was there any pattern?
Thank you in advance.
I really didn’t. My sister did, to be fair. We were in the hallway of deck 14. I inhaled deeply and couldn’t smell it.
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Here’s the Venchi menu that you can use your cuddle on:
Affogato, arrogato. Anyway.
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I found coffee in the buffet when it opened at 6:30. The coffee was great!!! There was also plenty of tea, lemonade (good lemonade, tart with a little pulp), ice tea, and several other juices. Beverage stations were the same at both buffets.
The pictures of the buffets posted already are very indicative of what you’ll find. I thought they were lovely. Having just finished a house reno, I can appreciate nice tile and finishes! Loved the wood grain hex in Marketplace. I liked how convenient Bisquane was to the pool and our room on 14th. The outdoor seating was great on Marketplace. Our group had a spot under an awning in the aft they liked to meet for breakfast. The weather wasn’t awesome the week we were on so we had to sit inside more often than not.
Breakfast food was good. We all found plenty to eat. The buffet on 8 had a lot more variety. They had Asian breakfasts (miso soup and rice) and omelette stations. Once I saw a line for omlettes 9 ppl deep, but if you walked around the other station had no one. Lots of pastries. Cereal selection wasn’t great. They had cereal displayed in quaint little white ceramic pots. To fill your bowl you had to use a soup spoon. Anyone with boys knows how much they love cereal. Sometimes I just wanted to take the whole pot! The selections were all bran and muesli, but I did find cocoa krispies. We discovered fruit loops on the 16th buffet.
There were breakfast sandwiches on the 16th but I don’t think I saw them on 8th. I think 16th was more grab and go.
Coffee service )lattes and Capps using our coffee cuddle , was good in the buffets. They were delicious too! Even for purchase they were cheap,
$3-4.
Our first sea day was a little sunny and cool. The jungle pool was great for these chilly days. With the roof closed it was warm and humid. The pools were all “refreshing”! Jacuzzis often full.
The slides were closed a lot due to high winds. Finally my son and I got to try the two that you race down. We both got stuck midway and had to push ourselves down! So, not the thrill ride my kid expected. He loved the spray area though. Unpopular opinion alert: they didn’t enforce the “no nappy” rule. There weren’t many, but once my sister saw the first baby in a swim diaper in a pool, and staff was right there saying nothing, she let her toddler go in. She didn’t take him into the jungle pool or other pools, just the kids pool.
The slide board slide was inoperable most of the trip due to high winds. We finally tried it the last day and it was faster than the other two, but still not a thrill. It looks like you come off it really fast, but that’s just because you go down one steep little dip right at the end!
We heard a LOT of complaints that first day! People all around us were furious. Older folks especially were angry about the elevators taking forever or being broken. During peak times we did not use the lifts. I averaged 55 flights a day per my Fitbit. I heard others complaining about the “dirty” carpet that had a few white specks on it. And yes, no one wanted to find themselves at guest services.
I finally got the scoop on the blue chip bands- they didn’t work, so they weren’t giving them out to kids. I was in the middle of getting an entirely new explanation from another staff when the head of the kids club chimed in. I thanked her for finally clearing up this mystery! didn’t bother getting my kid a band to open the room because there was no way I trusted him on his own on this ship. Even at the end of the week I hadn’t figured out the layout well. On NCL we were on a much smaller ship so he was comfortable navigating by himself.
Alas, my kid didn’t like the kids club. Here’s how it went on the NCL ship we were on too: kids club staff shows off all the cool technology and games that are available, but when you drop off your kid, they announce its “coloring time” or whatnot and the cool stuff isnt available. My kid isn’t assertive so he usually ends up sitting by himself in a corner. This is why we only use kids club for the occasional meal. Everyone seemed very nice in the kids club, but my kid refused to go back. You could say he’s a bit picky about activities as well. He doesn’t like coloring or LEGO’s, for example. They automatically take kids to the 16th buffet at 7:00 we learned. There were a lot of kids this week; looked like 30+ in the 4-11 age groups.
Our first sea day was an important one- the Vikings playoff game! We skipped dinner in the dining room so we wouldn’t miss the game. We found a great spot in the sports bar. One whole wall is devoted to a large screen tv. A few die hards had rearranged the furniture and nabbed all of those comfy beanbag chairs and grouped them around the tv. The sports bar, like many others, has weird hours. It doesn’t open until 1. You can sit in there and watch a game, but there isnt drink service until 1. They made an exception for game day. Then they close for an hour (5-6 I think). While closed, they set out a platter of glasses of free champagne. Apparently most of the bars did this. They also put out “nachos” ie the salt less chips and tomato sauce. They announced that after they reopened they would be bringing out guacamole, but I never saw it. During half time we darted over to the buffet and grabbed a bunch of to go hamburgers and fries. We had a great dinner in the sports bar. I don’t know if this is common practice, but it’s what we did for most lunches- grab and go elsewhere! The ship has so many areas that seem unused. The garage bar, for example, is so cute- but only open 10pm to 2 am! Seems like such a waste!
There weren’t too many ppl there watching the Vikings-Saints game (maybe 25?) so we had the run of the place. We left towards the end to watch the finale in our room- let’s just say during the game-winning interception all of deck 14 could probably hear us screaming!! SKOL!!!
Jamaica: embarkation was quick and easy. It was pouring but we had a prebooked tour to the Blue Hole with Dr. Fun. We found him after some false tries and his tour was the highlight of our cruise. Highly recommend! Great even in the rain. Coming back we grabbed some pop and Jamaican ginger beer and MSC did not confiscate.
Things start to blue together here so forgive me. Weather was still bad so once back we went the arcade area. We decided not to get a “fun pass.” The F1 simulator is for older kids- there isn’t an age limit but you have to be big enough to reach the pedals, which DS was not. Arcade games were 1.50, air hockey 2.00. We tried the 5D cinema and it was fun but only like 10 minutes. Didn’t bowl.
We enjoyed the library on NCL and I had high hopes for Seaside’s. It is cute, but very weak book selection. Very few English language books and almost no kids books. Cabinets were locked and there was no one around to unlock them. As the week went on we found more cabinets unlocked, and fewer books. They weren’t actually checking them out. I know because we inadvertently came home with one of the Diary of a Wimpy kid books (sorry!) One day towards the end of the week we found an unlocked cupboard that was full of board games! Eureka, we love games!! There were a bunch but only Monopoly and Risk were in English. Also- the library, like the Haven Bar it is directly near, stank of cigarette smoke. Why? It is immediately adjacent the South Beach pool which was were all the smokers are. And there were a LOT at night! So while they had cool chess boards and couches in the library, we had to sit elsewhere.
We took to getting a drink before dinner each night somewhere near Ipanema like the Shine bar or the atrium bar. Results varied but were mostly consistent. Again, I got lucky but my parents got some lousy drinks. My mom got a martini that was 90% vermouth. It was yellow. My dad got a Manhattan that was all grenadine (it was bright pink). My kid got a cherry coke one night that none of us could figure out- I think they added bitters? Nasty. We had to wait a long time for drinks (about 10 min) so we usually just let it go. That said the bartender at the Miami Beach bar was awesome and regularly slipped my husband an extra can of Diet Coke here and there (and we tipped him!) The pina coladas by the pool were awesome. We made good use of our coupons. The coffee cuddle was a curious package. You could get the usual (latte, capp, etc) but also “coffee delights” which to my knowledge are only available at Venchi. Those were a fantastic deal, when it worked. My sister went there and the waitress refused to let her use a coffee cuddle coupon. Other times I was told I couldn’t use the cuddle on hot chocolate at Venchi, but I could use the kids NA coupon. Another time I was told the opposite! Oh well. Each time I tried to patiently explain the inconsistency but they were not interested. Some tips on Venchi- the hot chocolate is very rich but your kid probably won’t like it, not a lot of sweetener. I got the espresso with 3 pralines a lot because it was a way to get free chocolates! Also the arrogato coffee had a scoop of gelato in it and was awesome. It was annoying that it specifically says “your choice of gelato” but staff would only allow chocolate. No matter that I repeatedly pointed out “your choice!!”
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I slept like a baby in our room. The mattress was nice and firm. Everything was in good working order.
The next morning I awoke way too early so roamed the ship. I had purchased the Streamer package and still hadn’t figured out how to use it. I had wanted to buy the social package for $20 but it disappeared from the MSC website before I could snag it. I only wanted WiFi to keep in contact with my family.
At around 600 am I wandered down to guest services where there was no one around. A staff member appeared and I asked if he was open- he shrugged. I asked him about the WiFi and how to connect. He said it was already on my phone. I’m pretty tech savvy but it definitely wasn’t on my phone. I tried to explain to him but he just wordlessly snatched my phone and started tapping. He was right- it was there on the MSC app but hidden. He then ominously began explaining how I was certain to burn through all my allotted data unless I was very careful. To protect myself from myself, MSC “helpfully” logs you out of WiFi every 3 hours so you don’t accidentally go over. Which means if you want to text ppl you not only have to be logged on, you have to hope your family member is too. Many times throughout the week we were bickering with each other about who wasn’t logged on. It was a huge pain. The streamer did work pretty well though even in our room. My sister has an iPhone X which stopped working midweek; the texting program needed an update or something and she couldn’t get it to work; MSC said their IT had looked into it and it was an Apple problem and not theirs.
We were all a little annoyed by MSC service. I was less annoyed than most. They were brusque, but not rude. Mostly they just didn’t know, or acted like they knew. That morning was the only time I went to guest services. That guy didn’t crack a smile once. I asked him about the kids band and he told me they were not free and they cost $5. Huh? He said they were only available in the kids club, not the logo store. I recounted to him both the other stories I had heard and he just shrugged and said “I don’t know why they are saying that. They aren’t free.” He also kept insisting my kids paper band would open his stateroom. I just kept saying “no, it doesn’t, it’s paper.” To which he shook his head and said yes, it does. When this happened to me with staff, as it did a few times, I’d just chuckle and go find a drink. Others in my group were really annoyed.
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Around 10pm my sisters bag still hadn’t arrived and she needed the rest of her baby gear. She was already very upset because she specially arrived to the ship early to snag one of the ships famed Chicco strollers only to find they only had 4 for the whole ship!! She did procure a pack n play but was really relying on that stroller. Hauling a toddler around the whole ship wasn’t very appealing for her.
Without her bag she went down to customer service aka the 10th circle of hell. Staff wasn’t very helpful and told her there were “millions!!” Of unclaimed bags and that she must not have put the tag on properly. She was furious and holding her adorable but squalling toddler and demanded her bag; a staff hopped to and led her into a room with maybe 20 bags. He told her that her bag had been flagged for contraband and did she try to smuggle booze?? Spoiler alert- she did not (I’m the rebel of the family apparently) She pulled out diapers and Elmo and essentially yelled this at them and they let her go. So, not a good first impression for her.
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We met our steward, August from Bali. He was wonderful. We really lucked out. He was always in the hallways cleaning or folding. We gave him some cash and he brought us ice each night and gave us turndown service. He replaced our beach towels twice a day!
Finally our bags arrived around 8 pm, to our relief. We had brought on some rum runners (don’t hate me) but they arrived safely.
We inquired how to get our drink tickets and you have to ask your room steward. The tickets are, as many have stated, completely asinine and annoying. I didn’t carry a purse the whole week and instead had a card case that stuck to my phone; so I never could carry more than one or two. More on drink service later.
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We wanted to rush out of dinner so we wouldn’t miss sail away, but the ship was delayed due to a flight from China being delayed. Lucky for them! Sail away was anticlimactic. I missed not having a front portion of the ship. I felt like there wasn’t one main gathering spot on this ship. Maybe the Miami Beach pool held this function? It was very windy and cold so we watched from inside the jungle pool. We were also impatiently waiting for our bags.
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This was the room service menu. The sandwiches were pretty bad (no condiments, so dry and tasteless) but others said the Mediterranean salad was good (but no dressing). Chips had no salt and the “salsa” onboard the entire ship was no more than tomato sauce.
I thought the dining room food was fine. It wasn’t as good as I remembered RCI, and was about on par with NCL. However all things equal I prefer my time dining and the choice of restaurants on NCL. I always found something I liked. The short ribs were okay but fatty, salmon excellent, pasta pretty good. Shrimp fettuccini had one large prawn that was mostly head and entrails. We used dinner as a way to sit down on the quiet and regroup together. The dining room was a little loud and it was hard for everyone to speak to each other.
Dress was casual. I didn’t see anyone get turned away. My husband wore “nice” shorts with a polo and loafers and wasn’t out of place. My mom has bad feet and wears orthotic sandals and was fine. Elegant night was practically an afterthought and they forgot to announce Italian night.
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No bags had arrived so we explored the ship until dinner time. It was immediately clear that it would take us some time to figure out which elevators went were! We still didn’t feel comfortable by the end of the cruise finding our way around. I would have liked a paper map! The MSC for Me app has a feature which allows you to see where you are on the boat and gives you directions where to go. But I found it clumsy to use. Same with the big tv screens around the ship; there was always lag in the technology which made it frustrating to use.
We made it up to the kids club to check in there and sign waivers. I asked about the blue chip bands and was told they were now only available in the logo shop. Okay then. My son has ASD and was resistant to attending the kids club. He is high functioning but shy around other kids and adults he doesn’t know. I spoke with the staff and they assured me they would make him feel comfortable. I had told him all about the 3D printers and VR video games to get him excited. They assured him he could play with those “whenever he wanted”.
Our dinner reservations were for 5:30 in Ipanema. We were happy with the earlier time due to the two kids. We dressed casually the first night because our bags still hadn’t come.
Our server for the week was Anna. She was Italian and just off Fantasia. Dinner the first night took a long time. Our kids were both in rotten moods and almost 2 hours in we still hadn’t received dessert. My parents were unhappy with the steak (I wisely avoided; the salmon on the classic menu was always great). The kids menu was lackluster that first night. Only white pizza and a chicken hotdog, or penne. My picky kid did choke down some steak and fries and was okay.
We had just the 12 drink tickets and the coffee cuddle. Coffee was very hard to procure in the dining room. We asked the first two nights and it never came. Finally we ordered lattes but they came before the entrees. When Anna would ask us for our drink menu she looked like she was pleading with us not to order anything! It took a long time. The dining room manager came and apologized several times and said the wait was due to the long backup at the bar. Instead we would get a drink at a bar and bring it in with us.
There was a lot of misinformation between staff. I didn’t hold any of them personally responsible, but I do hope they better train staff going forward. Anna was working her tail off, but had strange responses for us. On Italian night they had Aperol Spritz’s on the menu for $7. Anna said they weren’t available. When we asked for fries for the kids she said we had to order the whole steak and fries. Finally she relented and said she’d ask the cooks. She said there were no substitutions allowed to anything on the menu. I kindof doubt that is entirely true, but we aren’t a picky crew so we just went along with it.
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Bathroom shower had “Med” by MSC shower gel and shampoo containers which were surprisingly nice. Same stuff
As in the spa showers.
The garish carpet in the photos wasn’t as bad as you’d think. It’s more of a violet, like Pantone’s color of the year. The color was repeated on the headboard and throughout the ship.
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The TV was large (35”?) and had many channels. There was TBS, TCM, and ESPN. Also Cartoon Network and boomerang. The tv system was “closed” meaning we were not able to plug in our iPads via hdmi or AV adapter to watch movies, as we had done in previous cruise. Oh well.
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Rooms weren’t available at 2:00, so my son and I went to try the pools. Unfortunately none were filled! The jungle pool was in the process of being filled, and the slides were closed. We did find a jacuzzi available at the exit of the slides on 18. This was the jacuzzi we most often used. It was lukewarm, as are all the jacuzzis. The indoor spa jacuzzi was a little warmer.
At 2:00 the announcement was made about rooms being open so off we went. We were in 14112, Fantastica interior. I was happy with the room. It didn’t feel smaller than the interior room we had on NCL because the colors were lighter and the fold down beds were in the ceiling instead of protruding from the walls. The closet hanging space was ample, but I could have used more drawer space. I didn’t utilize the two bedside tables well enough; they were empty. The desk had a large wide and shallow drawer which held the hair dryer (plug built in). There were two plugs on the desk with 2 usb plugs. There was one usb plug by one side of the bed. There were no plugs in the bathroom other than a euro plug.
The bathroom was smaller than NCL, but adequate. There was plenty of storage on the wall and under the sink was a garbage can and plenty more storage.
The towels were plentiful and brand new. You received pool towels as well which were nice and big and thick.
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We had prepurchased the Relaxing Wave 30 minute facial, 30 minute massage, with a week long Thermal pass for $129. My sister had additionally booked a manipedi and wanted to add on a hair color. Hair coloring was $44! My mom got a cut and it was like $30.
The facilities were beautiful and I was thoroughly impressed. Most of the spa staff was from Bali. We were approached by a nice woman to whom we explained we wanted to make reservations. She sat us down and proceeded to try and sell us packages. We politely informed her that we already purchased the packages, we just needed to book. I think it was either the language barrier or just lack of staff training, but she was so confused. She kept asking us if we were Aurea, and we said no, we were Fantastica. Finally she gave up and sent us to the gentleman at the front desk who quickly made our appointments. She informed us that we were indeed Aurea, which I still don’t understand. We were lucky to get our appointments early in the week.
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We entered on deck 6 and were told to immediately check in our son to the kids club at the table at deck 6. We did so and encountered our first of many minor tech/service snafus. They gave my son a paper band instead of the blue chip bands I had heard about. The staff said you had to get them at guest services. I immediately cringed thinking of the long lines I would inevitably encounter. We decided to let it go for now and deal with it later.
Met up with our family on the 8th floor Marketplace Buffet. It was very busy! We didn’t try to eat with them, just said hi. My sister and I went off to make spa appointments and stop by the kids club to sign waivers.
Went by the spa and it was empty at 1:00. This is the reception area:
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DH (45) myself (38) son (10) and extended family (2 seniors, adult female and toddler) sailed this past week on Seaside. We are all novice cruisers, myself having cruised twice before, on RCI 9 year’s ago and NCL Star 2 year’s ago. We chose this ship because of the ports and the price. The fact that it was brand new was a bonus. Hadn’t heard much about MSC.
I didn’t take a lot of pictures on this trip, so apologies in advance! The pictures already posted of the ship speak for themselves, with a few exceptions I’ll note.
Embarkation: our tickets said to embark at 3:10, but we learned from CC that you can come much earlier. We had stayed on Miami Beach the night before (Pricelined Washington Park hotel) so it was an easy $8 Uber. We arrived at 12. The line was maybe 35 minutes long. There appeared to be about 55 windows but not all were open. We had uploaded security photos prior to leaving (which took many hours due to MSC’s terrible website!!) however I shouldn’t have bothered because they automatically take ones for you at check in.
The scene at check in:
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I never smelled it, but someone else in our group did. She smelled it in the hallways and I smelled nothing. I did encounter a few (3) public toilets that were clogged and in need of servicing. No smell in our bathroom altho the shower had a certain mustiness that I think is due to the fact that the glass door seals shut.
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The first night we got a kids menu that was Western themed. It didn’t have cheese burgers or quesadillas on it, much to me kids chagrin.
We received a menu every night we asked for it, including Elegant night.
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Here is tonight’s kid’s menu; it is different than the first one we got, but proof that it exists!
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It was mentioned on another site, but don’t rely on their assurance that they provide strollers. There are 4 strollers for the entire ship! She did get a pack n play. She had to buy a stroller in Cayman.
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There are a lot of babies this week. My sister dropped off her 18 month old one night when there were 9 babies and what appeared to be one staff. (We think the other staff was busy checking ppl in or doing other things). She got a call and hour and a half later asking her to pick him up because he was crying. When she picked him up the one staff was on the floor with all the babies.
During the day I’ve seen just one baby in there. No reservations needed.
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Thank you. Hopefully there will be more options for kids...but this doesn't sound great. I will have to stash some cereal and milk in the room!
The cereal situation could also be improved. I didn’t see any brown paper bags 🤨 but they do put cereal in these tiny white pots and you serve yourself with a small soup spoon. Choices aren’t marked but appear to be Cheerios, bran, muesli, and chocolate Rice Krispies. My kid has been eating the chocolate variety for breakfast all week, along with pancakes, fruit, sausage, and warm pain chocolate.
We’ve been skipping the kids menu in the dining room; last night my picky kid at calamari for the first time and he ate all his rigatoni with meatballs. Another night he ate lasagna. Steak is on the menu each night with fries, so our server always brings out a plate of fries for him too. He isn’t starving!
We sent him to the kids club once and they take all the kids to the small buffet at 7:00. They seat them in the back by the chicken nuggets and ice cream and help them get pizza and whatever else they want.
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Ya that is strange indeed
We have walked on with rum, beer, and sodas at each port this week and no one has taken anything! I watched them stare at the scanners each time.
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Questions about the thermal area:
- If we pay for access to the thermal area for the duration of the cruise, then do we just walk in whenever? Make reservations? Wait to use the area of choice? And if waiting, what length wait should we expect?
- For anyone that has used these areas, did you feel it was worth it to have access the entire week?
I have a thermal pass this week. Actually I got the “relaxing wave” facial and massage for $129 that included spa pass and it is an astounding deal. The massage/facial was awesome.
The thermal pass is pretty cool. It is not worth the $190 or whatever they charge on board. I wouldn’t pay $90 either, but perhaps others would. You are given a paper card pass and you present it at the reception. They give you a slap bracelet that has the order of treatments you are supposed to use for optimal use. I was incredulous I had to hang on to this flimsy paper all week but they said yes. They use it to count how many are in the thermal area. I haven’t been denied yet. You get the card back when you leave. No reservation needed. Some of the rooms are so fancy I can’t figure them out! But most are self explanatory (dark sensory steam room is my fave). Cold rain shower, snow room, salt room, and some sort of weird bidet room that I haven’t figured out! The jacuzzi is nice, was only crowded the first sea day (maybe 8 ppl in it) Salt room is popular. I waited 15 minutes in another area until a lounger opened up. There are maybe 8 loungers in it. Warm stone loungers (3-4?) aren’t really that warm. There is access to a “private” outdoor area with loungers and jacuzzi, but the area isn’t really private (anyone can access outside)
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Seaside review: January 13 sailing
in MSC Cruises
Posted
Just the spend x dollars. We spent less time there than I anticipated so didn’t mind not having it. Bowling was frequently available tho, as was billiards.
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