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I notice online is says the Bolt Coaster is "Fun for all Ages" and does not list a height or weight requirement. From the the few that have been onboard the new Mardi Gras, did you happen to see if there was a height and/or weight requirement? Same for Sky Course. Can't find the actual restrictions on line. Just that restrictions are in place...

As for shows, I heard Carnival was trying to up their game a little in this department. Are there indeed new shows on this ship? Did you see any and how were they?

Thanks!

Thank you all so much for the information. I’m taking notes to pass along! So appreciate it.

Anyone experienced this with MSC in Miami? My folks are considering coming with us on the Seaside and my stepdad is on personal dialysis. I know Baxter delivers to other cruise lines but so far I'm not sure MSC has given me the answers we need to feel secure that all boxes of solution, supplies, etc will make it on board and to their cabin. It's an 8 day cruise and thus way too much in medical supplies to lug. Could you please share your experience?Would it be wiser to go directly through Baxter? We are contacting them anyways to see if they've delivered to MSC in Miami before and what not. 

Anyone experienced this with MSC in Miami? My folks are considering coming with us on the Seaside and my stepdad is on personal dialysis. I know Baxter delivers to other cruise lines but so far I'm not sure MSC has given me the answers we need to feel secure that all boxes of solution, supplies, etc will make it on board and to their cabin. It's an 8 day cruise and thus way too much in medical supplies to lug. Could you please share your experience? Would it be wiser to go directly through Baxter? We are contacting them anyways to see if they've delivered to MSC in Miami before and what not. 

This is all so helpful. Thank you!

Looks like we’ll be on the private island all day. Rented floating mat and umbrella. Thoughts on anything you wish you’d brought down from the ship or accidentally left at home that you wished you’d had when you were out there?

We did the Seaside two years ago and have also sailed Carnival, Royal and Disney many times. We are booked again for Seaside this summer. Hands down my kids tell us how awesome the MSC kids club was. They cried every time we came to get them to go back to the cabin for showers and bed haha! I think you'll get many opinions but we found the ship to be stunning. Sports bar was awesome. Kids club and activities were great. I actually found that they stuck to the schedule pretty well. Have your kids at least try it. A lot of kids are timid to go to a kids club but these counselors know that and really did a solid job keeping everyone engaged. I enjoyed the fact that the kids weren't stuck in the club all day either. They took them around the ship some days. Rehearsed a big song and dance routine that they performed for their families later in the week and just did fun stuff. My kids liked the fact that they got to walk to a dining area just for them where they all sat together with counselors but it was only kids. On carnival you drop off in the restaurant and then race to your dinner and Disney feeds them in the kids club. Also, all the lego stuff was a treat. Food was honestly on par with other lines. Seriously. We live in a big city and have many restaurants to choose from. We are foodies if you will but I don't recall coming across anything disgusting like other people have mentioned. I did notice that one chicken dish I had was labeled maybe chicken piccata but was a thick cut of chicken. Almost, like their version of it I guess? It tasted good though! And the specialty restaurants were fabulous. There was such a large selection that we didn't have any qualms about the food. The shows were great for all ages and the Aurea perks of the thermal spa area, 2 massages and the private sun deck area added to the perks. Our kids still aren't big enough for the ships with bumper cars and roller coasters so the fun water park and stuff was plenty for them to stay entertained for a week. Give it a shot. I think you'll like the beauty of the ship too. New and modern. I truly can find something to complain about on all of our ships we've been on. Mega ones to the old ones. Even Disney! But from our personal experience, we really had a wonderful vacation. 

Thank you!

We dock on a monday night at 5pm. Triana's will be closed. Would love to see a Flamenco show while eating or even a place with Salsa dancers. Anything to keep our kids entertained. Any other suggestions in Old San Juan near the port? We'll be on the MSC Seaside.

Two years ago we sailed to St.Thomas. Despite the devastation at the time. I had researched a local beach 20 min away that was operating. It was right next to a runway at the airport. The beach bar/restaurant operated out of a converted school bus. I believe walking in there was a quote from someone famous. Maybe Churchill? Can you please help us remember so we can visit again? If I recall, it was off the beaten path and more of a local spot. Thanks!

This just made my day. Thank you!

Hoping on here to ask, is it the norm for people to order a Pina Colada (virgin) with shot on the side? Or do we need to be discreet and go back to the bar ten minutes later? 😆 In all seriousness, I goofed when booking our trip for May and thought our Aurea package came with the old Classic package in lieu of the new Easy package. Trying to figure out how to make the best of it because I don't want to pay the $400 upgrade!

Thank y’all so much for the info!

I managed to book our summer cruise for May without double checking what had changed since we last cruised the Seaside. Whoops/Yikes. Apparently, the Easy package is not as good as the old Classic package from what I can tell. If you've recently sailed the Seaside with Aurea (without upgrading your drinks package) could you please give me some examples of what you were able to order alcohol wise? I can't seem to locate menus from our ship and the ones I do locate only list two beers and literally nothing else but coffee and fruit juice. I'm cringing.... Was the gelato still included? We will be black card/diamond when we cruise this time and I'm not sure that will help. Any feedback is appreciated!

Is Gelato included in the Aurea package that comes with the Easy drinks pkg? We are black card/diamond if that makes a difference?

George,

How did you go about using your free dinner perk? Did you reserve before sailing? (if so, how) and if not and did it onboard, was availability easy to come by? We are Black Card now Diamond too and wondering how we actually take advantage of the perks....it mentioned something about other offers/vouchers or something too..Thanks!

The massage choices are pretty much any 50 minute massage treatment. At least when we went a few years ago. It may have changed since then but we were blown away because we assumed it'd be a standard complimentary treatment. Also, the thermal spa area is not to be missed. Such a neat experience trying out each of the sensory type rooms. It is so worth it when you consider the price of a la carte spa pricing in my opinion. We are booked for May so I need to start researching what all has changed!

Has anyone done this? I purchased it for our kids in May. It only charged for the children yet it says "Family" so not sure if it is a child only event through the kids club staff or if parents tag along as their kids go on the little adventure. It is 2 hours the day we are in port at the private island. Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks.

We too enjoyed our cruise on the Seaside. My kids were obsessed with the kids club and we loved their staff so much. We are seasoned cruisers having been on Royal, Carnival and Disney and while we've enjoyed them all we continue to talk about our MSC trip. We just booked for May and I'm curious to know if you or anyone you know has tried out the family excursion on the private island. Saving Doremi? Looked cute for the kids. Trying to find more info however, I'm wondering if it is still too new for any posts!

This company is fabulous start to finish. We have great tour guides, fabulous communication and most of all, a great time. Will use this company for years to come!

We too are on your sailing and in the exact same situation. From what I've read on our other social site "Face place" I think we'll be okay. Apparently the characters are everywhere for the kids and they stay super busy and entertained in the kids club each day. I'm more concerned with some of the adult programming like mixology, etc but plan to go to get services upon boarding if nothing opens up before then. I guess I figure we'll save some money by not paying for some of this stuff ha ha. I was hoping for a character breakfast for the kids at least but so far, no luck. Just going to try and make the most of it and hope everyone is right that we won't notice we didn't get to sign up for anything. Just stinks to pay so much and know we'll be on a smaller ship for two weeks with out the reassurance that we have some cool things already in place to keep us entertained but I did read these TA sailings are unique in that the programming is different and varied from the norm anyways...I did buy some cheap, fun dress up stuff for pirate night for my kids so we can have fun getting ready for that. I figure they won't know what they may be missing if I don't tell them!

Responses to some questions! :

Free WiFi was one of the perks when we booked. Believe it was the surfer promo. Whatever it was , it was enough to get us through the week!

Slides: so there are two side by side toddler slides that everyone plays on. I believe the sign said 40 in for all slides and age 7 and up. The age thing was absolutely not enforced. My daughter I think was about 41 in and was never stopped either. I think they seemed to intervene when it was a child that looked very wobbly on their feet as the slides arefast and they want you to get up and out of the way as soon as you are done so the tiny tykes were the ones I ever saw them talking to. Still, never saw anyone turned away. The slide with the raft was 43 in and up. You go up quite a few stairs dragging a raft which maybe explains the slightly bigger height requirement. kids being able to carry their raft and all. My son is tiny so we did the double raft and each lifted it as we climbed.

Excursions: did those on our own as they were easy places to navigate to

Dining: we did Aurea my time dining and were in and out in about 1.5 hrs and sometimes less. My kids did fine with it. Our service was excellent.

What a faboulous trip. I’ll highlight info below but I’m so confused about the negative reviews as we collectively decided this was probably our favorite trip yet. Family of Four (35, 43, 7, 5). So glad we stuck it out despite what I read prior to going as we really love MSC now!

1. Ship: Beautiful as everyone has agreed. Very new and modern. Our Aurea pkge came with the wrist bands which were so useful for the week. Never had to bring my card anywhere unless we were getting off the ship. The kids weren’t given them as MSC was testing out new trial and just gave kids wristbands that were scannable at the entrance of the kids club but couldn’t open doors or load $ on to.

2. Food: we found the food to be great. Especially when feeding 5k ppl. I’m normally not a buffet person and ate everyday in the breakfast buffet on 16. They had fresh fried eggs over hard and soft which I hadn’t seen on other lines we’ve sailed. I found the Buffet to be great and always had plenty of options to eat. And the salad area offered at least six fresh veggies to add so not sure where the complaints are coming from. Tried the Sushi place and it was delicious. Canceled our reservation for Tapenyaki bc our kids were so obsessed with the kids club they wanted to stay there for dinner that night. I recall one post about how the food didn’t match the description and while my Chicken Scalopini wasn’t thinly sliced American style, I found it to still be good. They give you so much fresh bread which is a nice change from Carnival’s two pieces. We had the My time Dining with Aurea and had Hari every night as our server. I found the table service the best we’ve had. So quick, correct!, and if I was on the fence about what to order he always brought me both and called it “energy”! Haha my kids ate 3 times in the dining room with us and enjoyed the beef minute steak from the kid menu , chicken soup (kid menu), shrimp cocktail from the adult menu and plain pasta. He was always willing to accommodate us and had little napkin animals ready for when they arrived. Gelato bars were at every pool pretty much and they were as good as everyone said. We had the classic drink pkge with Aurea but after getting on board, we decided to upgrade to the Deluxe for $64 each for the week. Great deal and it really did include just about everything. However, if you choose not to upgrade the classic pkge offered so much. Plenty of selections.

3. Kids Club/Pools/Arcade: my kids had such an amazing time. The first day is just registration so when you enter the club, not much is “open” to play with other than foosball and Legos but don’t let that deter you. Once we set sail, there were so many activities. They even take the kids on field trips around the ship (choreographed dance routine by the Miami Beach Main Pool, older kids got to go to the 4D arcade room, etc). Every day my kids had their face painted or told me all about the cool activities they did. They loved the “Kelly and Khloe” series (about the captain’s daughter’s on board) and Doremi. I also noticed they did offer Baby Time for children under 3. Some times with parents and other times without so good to know for folks traveling with wee ones. Not sure if there is an extra charge. Something I really enjoyed about the Mini’s and Juniors (3-6 yr, 7-11yrs) is that the clubs were open 9am -11pm everyday. They did close for lunch sometimes but I think on port days I saw them taking kids to lunch one day. Ours always are lunch with us but the hours were so convenient so if it was a night we were all going to see a show and do dinner together, we’d be able to let the kids go to the club beforehand whereas on other ships the club often closed from 3-5, etc. kids club eats dinner at 7pm so be sure to feed yours snacks prior if they tend to eat earlier at home. They section off an area of the buffet away from everyone for their dinner and actually escort them from the club to the dinner area. You don’t drop off in there like on carnival. I found the security of the kids to be great. Mine really enjoyed it. They were in seperate groups but often saw each other for movies and evening activities. The juniors club has the option to check themselves out but I checked a big No on the form since mine is only 7. Our ship did have a lot of Europeans but mostly kids from England/US. My kids are bilingual and speak Spanish but they told me the Spanish, French and Italian kids they met all spoke English and So did the counselors. One of them told me she spoke Portuguese, French , Italian and English but that she wishes her Spanish was stronger....ummm, right! I was so impressed with all of them! The Arcade doesn’t have a ton of games but offers other things. We didn’t get around to bowling but it looked fun. The hours are kind of nutty but the guy told us it’s bc they realized the activity makes it too loud for people eating and socializing near by. It’s a nice room though and my kids were taken by the club to a dance disco and to do some arcade stuff (free of charge to me) so I think they got their fix bc they didn’t complain about not going as much as we normally do.

Water Park is incredible and there is plenty for smaller kids. My kids aren’t big and my 40in daughter rode all the slides except the one with the raft. However, nobody measured her so she probably could have. As mentioned in other posts, you must complete a waiver to get a wristband for the slides if you plan to ride any of them. Even adults. Turns out the Arcade guy also has the waivers available so if there is a long line outside by the water park, head up to the Arcade. They don’t have full blown lifeguards but there are attendants at every slide and around the little pool area with whistles to keep any rough housing at bay. Jungle pool was also neat bc it has a retractable roof. We went to the Main Miami Beach Pool one day after getting back on the ship. Loved the whole feel of that area. So Miami! It didn’t dawn on me that I didn’t hear a bunch of contests going on as we hung out in the Top 19 area unless we were with the kids at the water park. But they do have that stuff. The ship is just so large you have to go find it. Sure enough when we were getting smoothies for the kids at the Miramar bar, I looked out at what I thought was the edge of the boat and then saw the Miami Beach Pool. (I may be confusing this with South Beach Pool) but the main pool with the big screen for movies. There, we heard/saw some stuff going on. And there is always music playing wherever you are. Not always live but that is fine by me. Can’t say enough about this portion of our trip. You can tell MSC enjoys the family aspect of traveling. Everything seemed convenient to us.

4. Entertainment: shows were awesome. Not sure about the exact storylines but really neat acts. Loved Dream. Peter Punk and Timeless were great too. Skipped the first night of Frank Sinatra and Fly and My life in Music. Casino was nice. Not massive but everything we needed. The buy in on Roulette is only a $1. However, blackjack was $25.

5. Ports: I enjoyed how MSC has waters, tents and sofas outside for everyone to enjoy. I was worried about not being yacht club but there was never any issue feeling less than. We visited the Adastra Zoo in the Bahamas, Karakter Beach in St Maarten (great for kids and the airport is literally next to the beach so we watched tons of planes land and take off, played on the very quiet almost private beach, ate lunch and could sit in the loungers with umbrellas as long as we bought food or drinks. Food was fine. Also bought a bucket of beer. Puerto Rico we did on our own as well and walked through town to San Cristobal Fort and then stopped at a chocolate restaurant for a snack before heading back.

Pros: The Aurea pkge also included free massages and access all wk to the Thermal Spa area. That was neat but only went once. The massage was great and it was a free 50 min massage with hot lava stones. My choice as you could pick Balinese without stones. There isn’t a separate locker room unless you go to the thermal area and when I did the day we went to that area, our wristbands opened and closed the lockers there too. Super convenient. I tipped in cash as there was nowhere to add an extra tip as the massage and 15% gratuity added in are both not charged. I ended up getting a facial one day too. Loved it. They did have a few combo specials but I didn’t have time to take advantage of.

The free WiFi lasted us all wk. be sure to follow the prompts and turn it on /off so you don’t blow through it.

Photos, didn’t do the photo pkge but bought a few pics of the kids. Wow, their photographers really do a good job of getting many poses and what not. There are no printed photos out for display, just follow the prompts at the kiosks and you can see the photos. Before I decided to buy the three, one of the reps said he’d let me see them in person and came out two minutes later with all of the hard copies! Pretty cool. I picked the ones I wanted but only wanted them digitally. $9.99 a piece digitally and had them downloaded to my phone that night. Awesome. Included the MSC banner Inaugural Season logo too.

6. I can’t say enough about this ship or crew. You can tell they are trying and I really felt the family vibe. I felt very safe and enjoyed the different cultures and food. I’d be interested to try the sister ship Seaview in Europe. I only encountered one person who barged on to the elevator before I could get off but honestly, that would never ruin a cruise for me. I tried to ask ppl I met about their experience and every person said it’d been great except one elderly couple said it’s been good/okay. They typically sail Celebrity they said. Our boat was the largest one in every port btw. It was massive. And they really did try to think of everything. The interactive screens actually worked every time I used them. When I tried on RCCL I had problems a lot. I think MSC has worked the kinks out. Give them a shot.

Anyone currently there or have just left?

I know weather fluctuates but since we have had non stop rain on the East Coast here, just curious how the weather has been there? Hoping we’ll find some sunshine on our seas days. Heading to get ponchos tonight. We’ll be there in a few days!

We recently spent the day at Karakter and enjoyed it. Not pushy at all about the drinks. Food was pretty reasonable.

Mr Payroll, how bad was the taxi ride to andfrom Karakters? And do you remember what it cost?

I keep reading horror stories about two hour commutes each way but it seems like a great beach for a family day. Thanks!