Seaside 5.12-5.19 Review

After reading everything I could on the Seaside before we cruised, I figured I'd share my thoughts about our last week onboard. On this cruise was myself, my husband, and my mom (32-60). We all used the loyalty status match from our Diamond status on Royal Caribbean to Black Card members of the Voyagers Club. As you read in another post, there was a crew member that went overboard during this cruise and it was a somber day. We didn't save any of the daily planners, but I can try and answer any other additional questions.

Pre-Cruise: my husband and I drove down to Miami the day before and stayed at the Hilton Downtown Miami. The room was a great size, clean and had ceiling to floor windows. We walked a few minutes to have dinner at Mike's at Venetia. The ambiance was as expected and food was fine. Nothing special, but not bad either. We had the buffet breakfast at the hotel, and there were plenty of options.

Embarkation: we arrived at the pier around 11:15, parked in garage G then walked our suitcases over to terminal F. After dropping our stuff off with a porter, we got inside and only had 2 couples ahead of us for security. Once upstairs we walked right up to a checkin desk (thanks to Black Card priority embarkation) and got our cards and bands. They didn't let us onboard until noon, but it was a quick and efficient process.

Cabin: we had an Aurea experience balcony on deck 14 and my mom was in a Fantastica experience balcony on deck 11. The cabins were identical in size and comfortable to what we're used to. The colors weren't as obnoxious to us as the initial photos we saw, so that was a positive. However, we agree about the lack of (or poor arrangement of) storage. The couch was too large and so close to the closet that it was awkward. The closet doors didn't open fully to access all our hanging clothing, and there were only two drawers of storage (three I guess if you count the small one in the desk with the hair dryer). The bathroom layout is tight as previously mentioned, both the toilet and the shower. Our entire deck didn't have a wooden top on our balcony railing until the last day since it was being refinished. We rarely saw our room steward, but he always made up our room and replaced towels so no complaints. He was friendly when we did see him and fulfilled the one request we had quickly.

Ship: the ship is gorgeous! The layout was different that what we're used to, but it was easy to navigate. Yes there are a few decks where you can't walk forward to aft, but it's not an annoyance. We enjoyed all the outside seating at the buffet and never had trouble finding a table. Only twice during the week did we have a full elevator, about half of the time it was just us. Some of the elevators were warmer than others, and some public spaces are colder than others. With the Aurea experience we had access to the thermal spa, and it was beautiful and relaxing. As well as Top 19, which we found to never be crowded. There was always a crew member cleaning something, and there was nothing that stood out to us as being dirty or needing to be replaced (shy of the previously mentioned railing). Despite the volume of people onboard we never felt overwhelmed as there are many bars/lounges. We never experienced any foul smells nor had difficulty finding loungers near the pools.

Food/Drink: I loved that there was gelato at all the pool bars and that it was included in our drink package. We had dinner at Butcher's Cut the first night and everything came out timely and delicious. We were able to request substitutions to the included menu items and be graciously accommodated by the servers. Another evening we did Teppanyaki which was also enjoyable. Our chef was funny and the experience met our expectations. We were also able to swap out a menu item here with no issues. We returned to have sushi one sea day for lunch as well. Most meals we ate were at the Biscayne Buffet and we never felt there was a lack of options. The pizza was better than any other cruise line and I loved the daily pastas and carving station in the back. We had one of each meal in the Seashore Restaurant, but on different days. The breakfast service in the dining room was "worse" than the others. At all of our sit-down meals we appreciated the attentiveness of our servers and that they actually had the time to chat with us for a few minutes, something that was lacking on our previous Royal cruises. The bar service call button in the buffet were efficient and the servers always came quickly. We spent most of our time at the Seaside Bar, and Justin was the epitome of great bartender. He was personable, always called us by name, and made the best mojitos.

Entertainment: we didn't attend any of the theater shows, so I can't comment on those. We did enjoy the shows that were performed in the atrium. I went down two of the water slides, but not the slide board, and only ever saw one person on the zip line. We both enjoyed our Aurea included massages. Our therapists asked if we were interested in purchasing any products, and weren't too pushy when we declined.

Ports of Call: as an anniversary gift my mom coordinated for us all to go on the Golden Eagle catamaran in St. Maarten. The crew was friendly, but unfortunately the snorkeling wasn't so great because it was so windy that the water was cloudy. Afterwards, the catamaran went to Mullet Bay for some beach time before heading back to the pier. The three of us took the water taxi over to Front Street for some lunch at Pirates in Paradise then lounged beachside before heading back to the ship. Nassau has never been a port that appeals to us, so we were only on land for about 40 minutes and just walked the first block.

Disembarkation: we always do the express walk off, and this was the fastest experience we've had. From being in our stateroom to getting into our car was about 15 minutes.

Thanks for the positive review.

Thank you for taking the time to write a very comprehensive review. I'm pleased you all had a positive experience.

Thanks for your review!

I love your review ! Very informative ! One question . . . How did disembarkation at the ports go ? Some of the recent reviews say it was a horrible experience with some stating it took over a hour to get off the ship! What was your experience ?

Thank you for taking the time to share !

Thanks for posting your Review! We will be sailing on the Seaside soon.)

I too was on this sailing an will hopefully have time to post a more in depth review. I agree that this was a great cruise. There were some minor annoyances, but nothing like the negative reviews I had read before sailing... The ship is absolutely gorgeous at every turn. The staff was very friendly and attentive. I attended every show and was thoroughly blown away each evening. They were fantastic..and I cannot imaging the hard work of 7 different shows, 3 times a day. Bravo to them. Yes, this is a different cruies experience if you are a main stream (mass market) cruiser, but the differences were actually things that I liked.

I agree with the poster about the SPA...Wonderful, large, and so relaxing. Possibly the best part of my trip. I do not want to hijack so I will post my review later in the week and I have all of the dailies to post as well.. Still recovering and catching up....lots of pictures on my fb page, too! PhoneJoan!

Looking forward to your review .

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I love your review ! Very informative ! One question . . . How did disembarkation at the ports go ? Some of the recent reviews say it was a horrible experience with some stating it took over a hour to get off the ship! What was your experience ?

 

Thank you for taking the time to share !

In St. Maarten we were with the tour, so our meeting time in the theater was 8:10 and they guided our group off the ship by 8:15. By the time everyone got their wristbands and walked to the catamaran we were setting sail by 9.

In Nassau we were there 9a-7p, and we didn’t disembark until around 4 (since we didn’t disembark the bar the night bar until very late ;p) so we were able to walk right off.

Nice review thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. Sounds like a wonderful week!

thanks for the review, glad you had an enjoyable cruise! looking forward to experiencing the Seaside in July

I love your review ! Very informative ! One question . . . How did disembarkation at the ports go ? Some of the recent reviews say it was a horrible experience with some stating it took over a hour to get off the ship! What was your experience ?

 

Thank you for taking the time to share !

I was on this same cruise. We booked a tour to Maho Beach in St. Marteen through an outside vendor, so we had to disembark ourselves. It definitely didn't take us over an hour to get off the ship, not even close. It was pretty efficient (at least from the gangway we got off on). In the Bahamas, we booked Atlantis through the ship. So as mentioned above, we had a set meeting point on the ship (we met at the Haven Lounge). We got our wristbands and waited until it was time to leave. Once it was time to leave we were escorted to the gangway and got off the ship with no problems.