cp1824

10% of commissionable fare as OBC plus any cruiseline incentives

Loungers were added to both shaded areas, smoking and non-smoking.

 

There are signs indicating that all of the outdoor area in front of the Topsail Lounge are now smoking.

 

Great to hear about loungers in the shade on non-smoking side.

Doesn't make a lot of sense to make the whole outdoor area in front of Topsail smoking. They should keep it to one side so those who don't want to inhale smoke can enjoy the area as well.

Thanks for the great info you are sharing!

Coke products.

Do they still have Dr. Pepper?

16049, 18030 and 18036 now have the two circles for room icons on the deck plan that is listed as the transformer couch on other decks:

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Discover-MSC/Cruise-Ships/MSC-Seaside/Deckplan.aspx

Seaside YC cabins 16049, 18030 and 18036 were all changed to the two round dots on the deck plans....anyone know if this means they have brought the bunk bed couches into the YC?

Deck plans now have the bunk bed couch icon (the two round circles) for a couple of the YC cabins. Has MSC changed some of the rooms to have these now?

In Miami it's the same union porters for YC that handle your larger bags at the white tent who also take care of the rest of the passengers bags. They make it clear that they are "taking care" of your bag and expect a gratuity for slapping it onto that larger cart and pushing it into the building to be scanned and then loaded onto the ship.

Get premium drink package and enjoy the drinks at the "Welcome Bar" on deck 16 by the specialty restaurants.

Another question. Can you access LaMuse from the cabin hallway on 18 or only from the stairs leading up from YC lounge on 16?

 

 

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There is an entrance to the YC restaurant from the starboard hallway on deck 18. Takes you to hostess, copy of menu and hand sanitizer station.

CP1824

If you have answered this question already I apologize. What are your thoughts on the food in the YC dining room and by the YC pool? Thank you

We were quite pleased with the food offerings, there certainly wasn't anyone going hungry. The menus provided good variety of options and allowed us to "force" the kids to try some new foods. The poolside buffet was great - easy casual option for breakfast and lunch.

What type of drink package comes with YC. Do you have to pay extra for the premium package? I was under the belief YC included premium package on the Seaside. When I called to double check my reservation I asked MSC rep and she stated YC includes regular drink package and you must upgrade for the premium plan. I thought I read that on the boards. On CC agent told me do not believe all you read on the boards. What plan comes with the YC?

Was premium when we were just on board....couldn't see them changing this. The amount of wrong information their staff has is laughable. They really need to step up their training and access to accurate information for staff both on shore and on the ship.

I would like to be able to keep in touch with my kids while on board.

Does the "MSC for me" app allow calling or texting within the ship, either from the room or another mobile phone?

Also, can you track the location of your kids with the wristband? I believe that was one of the features mentioned on their website.

 

Thank you

No calling or texting features in the app at this time.

If you were to be able to track your kids it wasn't clear in the app how to do this. The app did use your phones Bluetooth to talk to the beacons on the boat and show your location on the map within the app.

thanks for the info. I was thinking of getting this package for our upcoming cruise. Would you be able to explain a little more on how it works? (sorry I am not familiar with MSC). Do they give you a card (like a CC), and you use this at the end of your cruise to access the pics?

The best way I figure to use it is to get the card as soon as you can from them after boarding and give to photographers each time they take pictures. They use NFC to tap the card to their phone for which account to assign the pictures to. If you do this everything they take except maybe the embarkation photos will be properly assigned to the card.

After returning you can go to mymscphotos.com and access the photos for basic edit (add/remove border and zoom in/out). From what others have reported there is a way to download the photos to your phone/tablet while on board, but as we didn't learn of the card until the end of the cruise we didn't know this to take advantage of it. The card has a code on it to access the pictures from that website.

For $99 this was a great deal and we would definitely recommend it.

We have never sailed MSC, it will be in the YC on the Seaside in June. Do these wrist bands just function like a ship keycard? Is the benefit in not having to stow them in pockets, etc.? Do they take the place of your keycard while on the ship? Are there any pics of the wrist bands?

 

Thanks!

 

 

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See the last picture here: https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Discover-MSC/MSC-For-Me.aspx

Pretty much what they look like, small changes to how to fasten on the Seaside version. See my first response in this thread for details on what they can do.

can't do it through the Concierge?

These aren't NCL concierges....to be honest I couldn't figure out what value they did provide as if we asked a question they seemed to try and give the answer that you wanted to hear even if it was wrong. We quickly stopped trying to use them and our cruise experience went up. It was simply faster and more accurate to book a restaurant or show on the screen or app than to waste time at the concierge desk and then have to verify that what they did was done correctly.

Hey, someone posted a review on YouTube and it said people had to purchase the armbands. Is there a fee for them or will they be provided free of charge? Assuming, there is a fee ... do you know how much it is?

Included in Yacht Club and provided with cruise card at check in for those ages 12+, not sure if included in any other level of service other than for children.

Children who were 11 and under were also free, but had to get a red or green kid band (colors indicated age grouping, red for younger, green for the older - not sure the specific grouping). This required signing a form (MSC has a paper waiver/form to sign for everything it felt like) to get the band for each child and could be done once on board.

Want to do something really cool - go to Coki for the discover scuba class @ Coki Dive Center - cokidive.com

Taxi to Coki Beach and spend the day on the beach with a great reef to snorkel and the dive lesson and actual dive (roughly 30 minutes at depth of up to 40 feet). Great instructors who made sure we were all comfortable and took care of everything for an awesome experience. They set you up with snorkel gear after the class (included in class price) if you want to continue to explore the reef.

We got chairs and umbrellas right by the dive center end of the beach. Take some cereal from the ship or you can buy some dog bones from the vendors to feed the fish with - they will swarm you.

cost of taxi from Crown Bay to coki beach

 

Are umbrellas available for rent....I need shade

 

Do you currently need water shoes?

 

Thanks

 

25 dbb

$5/chair, $10/umbrella were price over holidays - think this is what we have paid in the past as well. We didn't wear water shoes and had no problems. There were occasional pieces of glass on the beach, but no different than any beach that allows glass bottles.

How do you reserve the shows?

With the app on your phone/tablet or on any of the screens located around the ship - very easy to do....just have to remember to do each day.

Thank you for the information, Cp1824!

 

I have another question: are (nice) shorts allowed in the YC dining room for lunch? Obviously they won't be for dinner.

They didn't turn anyone away for tshirts and shorts at lunch in the YC restaurant. The YC restaurant is not crowded for lunch as many opt to eat the steak and rotation of lobster and lobster sized shrimp at the grill on deck.

Inline below

Anyone who has sailed in YC on Seaside (or will be doing so in the next few weeks), I would appreciate answers to the following questions.

 

- Does anyone have pictures of the 3rd/4th/5th berths in YC balcony cabins? I heard that these cabins do NOT have the bunk beds, Is this correct?

4 person room is a double sofa bed, recommend requesting a second duvet if you have 2 kids sharing to cut down on the fighting over covers, there are no bunk beds in YC at this time (would be nice for them to consider)

- Do YC guests have special seating at shows? Do they have to 'reserve' shows like Bella/Fantastica/Aurea do?

None at this time, must reserve the shows each day the same as rest of passengers

- Can anyone post YC menus, including the 'always available' menu?

 

- What is the functionality of the MSC For Me App/Band? What does the band do for you? Is there anything you need the cruise card to do (that the band iis not capable of doing)? Is the cruise card required to have the lights on in your cabin? Or will any card do?

Only need the card when leaving the ship, but if you leave one in the slot in the room the stewards will use this as an excuse to skip servicing cabin - the occupied light was on and nobody answered when knocking on door. It must be a ship card, believe it uses the NFC in the card to turn the lights on....not the presence in the slot. The band opens YC doors, cabin door, lets you into thermal area in spa, locks/unlocks locker in spa changing rooms, locates pictures on the photo kiosks, can be used for any onboard purchases, drinks, gelato, etc (outside of the YC you will have to tap the band or a card on one of the tablets and sign the zero dollar charge that is noted included in package for included drinks/gelato). Very convenient and nice to have. Also helps in first couple days to identify that you belong in YC as they learn who is a YC guest they do check to ensure there aren't extras in the area.

Thank you for any information anyone can post!

I feel like I read somewhere the photo as you board the ship is not included in this? Do you happen to know if this is true or not?

Thanks

 

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We missed that picture opportunity, so I can't answer that. We had printed pictures delivered that were from events that we were able to get added to the digital account with no problem (other than the wait for that single shared computer that could do these tasks). The printed pictures had a code on the back that let them add the pictures to the account.

Thank you! I already purchased for both our cabins for Seaside in July good to know we should go by and pick up the card once on board.If I down load them to my phone can I then send them to a photo site like shutterfly to have prints done?

 

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I'd expect so, we haven't tried printing anywhere yet. This is the text of what came in a .txt file in a bulk download of the photos:

ENGLISH

Photo Download Sale Agreement

CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

By viewing and/or using digital image files contained in the Photo

Download (“Download”), you the buyer (“Buyer”) are agreeing to abide by

the terms hereof.

CONVEYANCE: In consideration for the Download purchase price paid by

Buyer to MSC Cruises Photos through the Photo Site found at

http://www.MyMSCPhotos.com, Sellers hereby grant, sell and convey to Buyer

the intellectual property rights owned by Sellers or their affiliates only in and

to the digital image files contained in the Download (the Photographs).

The Buyer's rights to the Photographs, however, are subject to any and all

intellectual property rights owned by Sellers and their affiliates or by any

third party in and to any borders, greeting cards, trademarks, trade names,

logos, cartoon characters or similar intellectual properties displayed in or

as a part of such digital image files when such files are rendered into visible

form from the Download.

RIGHTS AND RESTRICTIONS CONCERNING USE: In further consideration

of the rights conveyed by Sellers, Buyer agrees not to resell, or otherwise

use in any commercial manner (i.e., use, duplicate, display in any form

or fashion, whether now known or hereafter developed, for the purpose of

receiving or facilitating the receipt of financial remuneration or any

other consideration), the digital image files or the Photographs or

prints of the Photographs. Buyer and Sellers agree that Buyer shall

have the right to create duplicates of the digital image files contained

in the Download and the Photographs for personal use and to give as

gifts, so long as such duplicates are not used in the described

commercial manner. Other than to create duplicates of the digital

image files and the Photographs, Buyer shall receive no right to use,

and shall receive no rights or ownership interest of any type in or

with respect to any other intellectual property rights owned by Sellers

and their affiliates, or by any third party, that are displayed in or

as part of any digital image file or Photograph. All intellectual

property rights (including, without limitation, copyright and trademark

rights) in and to properties depicted in any Photograph shall remain

the property of their respective owners.

How did you purchase this card? I've read about this card but can't seem to find it for purchase and customer service hasn't answered my question regarding it. Our sailing is the MSC Divina but I've seen this card referenced with that ship as well.

It was available on the website for the sailing we were on. It seemed to come and go as an offer on there when we were logged in and looking at the extras available for purchase.

Purchased this online ahead of cruise for $99 with the promise of digital copies of all photos taken during the cruise. This was a great deal, but as with all things MSC Seaside not clear on how it worked.

The photographers on Seaside were great and all photos were added to a single room card. On the last day of the cruise we stopped by the photo desk to add some printed photos that weren't on the card and ask how we would get the digital copies. Their response was that we needed to purchase the digital copy for each picture individually. After a manager was brought over due to frustration on both our part and that of the crew member he looked in a drawer and found a pre-printed VIP Photo card with our cabin number on it - the crew member initially helping us had no idea that this package could be purchased in advance (and with the size of the stack of these cards there were others who had pre-paid as well and not known to go get this card). After a half hour of waiting for the single computer they had available to them to work on photos they were able to move the pictures from the room card to the VIP Photo card. The gave us the card in a nice thick cardboard presentation case. A note to the cabin to pick the card up and some instructions on ensuring all pictures were taken with that card would have been nice to have.

When checking that night we found that not all of the printed pictures had been added to the card and this required another visit to the photo desk. This was fixed after another 30 minute visit.

Tips for those who take advantage of this offer:

- Go by the photo desk ASAP and ensure that you have the photo card

- Any pictures put onto a room card will have to be moved by a photo staff member to the VIP photo card - on the Seaside there was only one computer that could be used to do this and a line of staff waiting to use this single computer

- Pictures on room cards are specific to that persons room card - they don't aggregate across cards for the same cabin

- Check the photo kiosks on a regular basis for pictures from your card to make sure they are all showing up on the card, just drop the card on the NFC spot and it will take you right to the pictures.

The pictures were available to access online 9 days after the cruise (not the 5 or 7 mentioned on board or the 3 on the website). The website allows you to add/remove border and to zoom in/out. We found that if you zoomed in then out you could adjust many pictures that looked like heads were cut off to include the whole head in the picture.

We found out after the cruise that all of the photos could have been accessed and downloaded onto a mobile device while onboard - we didn't know this or we would have done this.

The photos are ~1MB JPG files to download and are 2400x1800 size at 96 dpi. The system is powered by Kodak Alaris and doesn't seem to have the facial recognition technology to automatically assign photos to cabins that exists on other cruise lines.

A bit of instructions with the purchase would have made for a smoother experience, we would definitely purchase again.