MSC SEASIDE at CHRISTMAS 23/12/2017 REVIEW

MSC Seaside at Christmas 23/12/2017

 

Cabin 14262

 

Our booking was made way back on 28/12/2015 and was such a long time ago now, and then the waiting began, originally in a Deck 9 side Aft Aurea suite with the long balcony which we changed about a week later to one of the Aft Aurea suites on Deck 14, cabin 14262, so glad we made this change having seen video of the Deck 9 side Suite interiors which are the same as the standard balcony cabins.

 

 

With the ships Seaside and Seaview being built at Fincantieri in Italy we were lucky to have two friends working on building the ships and we had regular updates and at times photos of the build.

We flew from Manchester, England via Philadelphia to Miami with American airlines, as we were only having an overnight stop we had booked the Holiday inn opposite Bayside Marina. Nothing fancy, but decent enough for a one night sleep.

 

At around 1pm after a stroll around the shops, and a dress and some shoes later we took a taxi to the port, handed over our cases and headed past the White MSC tent and into the building which is Terminal F, large queues had already built up inside so we asked where the Priority boarding lane was as there was no signage to let people know.

We were in the correct area and were through the scanners in about 20 minutes and headed up to the booking in area where one person took exception to another couple jumping the queue due to an MSC employee leaving the tape barrier open!

 

 

 

Once booked in and photos taken we headed off to the ship,around the usual route march, had our photo taken by the photographer and headed up to our cabin via the Aft lifts/elevators.

 

 

The Suite looked even better now it was finished from the previous photos we had been sent, a great amount of storage space even behind the wall mirror and a shower that you could fit about 4 people in. (Photos in the MSC Photos only thread) from a sitting position on the toilet with the bathroom door open you have a view of the sea through the long side window.

 

 

Storage is great with two full size wardrobes one side of which houses the drawers and safe. (Photos in the MSC photos only thread) There are 3 USB ports, one by the right side of the bed and the other 2 by the side of the mirror with 2 US outlets; there are also European outlets.

 

A word of Warning for the Ladies, do Not spray hair spray on your hair while sitting at the vanity mirror because you will set off the Fire alarm! Due to the detector head being close by.

 

 

There is also a do not Disturb and Make up room button byt he cabin door, the muster area for this cabin is in the Garage Disco on Deck 7.

 

 

The Aft lifts can be used by anyone to get on and off and stop at all floors from 7 to 16.

The bed and bedding are the same as those in the Yacht Club and were nice and soft.

The new style phone does not come with a handbook and took a bit of getting used to, it also has a camera but we did not use it.

 

 

These Aft cabins also have the balcony wash machine outside of the balconies up to Deck 14 which has a Glass door for entrance and exit to the cradle, on the one time it was used the guy had climbed up the internal ladder from a lower floor but we were told that sometimes they may ask to come through the cabin.

 

 

The view from the picture window and balcony is great and after a while the wash machine does not bother you until you want to take photos.

 

Not at any time did MSC make clear that the wash machine would be where it is nor does it appear on any of the ship models.

Our steward Jose from Honduras was very good and if we needed anything we just left him a note, there was a leak from the flexible shower coupling and it was fixed within 12 hours.

 

 

The ship itself as you would expect is very glitzy and shiny with its use of mirrors to make small areas look larger and thereby hangs some of the issues encountered on Seaside.

 

 

The Atrium while looking stunning with its all singing all shining Three decks high grand area is sadly too small for what it is used for,especially the Deck 5 area which includes the bar, guest services, the photo shop and future cruises and voyagers club.

 

 

The disaster for us is having customer services here and future cruise/voyagers club is that you have to shout to be heard when there is live music playing, the Atrium on Majestic Princess on which we sailed in April is much larger and much better designed.

 

 

On the other Five MSC ships of which we have been on so far the photo shop has been away from this area and much larger, on Seaside it is squashed into a tiny corner between a corridor and future cruise sales. The photographers seemed to have a small number of backgrounds available to them.

 

 

If you have a pre paid photo package you can print off your photos at one of the kiosks but you have to have a manager insert a code so that you are not charged for them! A backward step, they could have the code on your sea pass card or wristband if you have one.

 

 

There are plenty of bars on the ship but as others have said they are understaffed as are the waiters, at the popular bars it could take awhile to get drinks, for some unknown reason the Sports bar was always cold though much of the ship was the same at times.

 

 

We were seated in the Seashore dining room and the Starboard side is used for Aurea guests, we managed to get a table for two each night that we were there, our waiters Onell Holmes and Imam we had come across before on another cruise, these two are real good fun and very fast at getting orders out, the food was mostly on the very good side and cannot recall a poor meal,two of our seven nights were spent at Butchers Cut where the steak was Excellent and Tepanyaki where the food was again Excellent.

 

 

Every morning we ate in the Buffet on Deck 8 and never had an issue finding a seat even in the first two days when it was too windy to sit out side, though we were there before nine am on most days.

 

Lunch time was much busier but again we managed to find a seat fairly quick, this we believe is due to the other buffet on Deck 16 which seems to work well in separating people so not everyone is in the same place at the same time.

Food in the buffet even now after 6 sailings is hit and miss with certain things, morning breakfast on at least three occasions the beans were luke warm to cold despite being on a hot plate, plastic plates are not helping either as they draw heat from the food.

 

 

On seaside the food is replicated on both sides of the buffet, there is only one bar inside the buffet which makes getting a drink somewhat slow, once again not helped by not having enough staff. The other bar is on the starboard side outside dining area.

 

 

 

One thing that stood out on a number of days was that if you were in the buffet at or after 2 pm there was no cutlery in the napkins available, on two occasions we had to ask one of the guys in the cream coloured jackets to bring some for us.

 

 

With regard to the shows we only saw one and it turns out we had seen it before on Divina and Preziosa; the only difference was the stage set. We are still baffled as to why Seaside has a Theatre that only holds 930 people while Divina holds 1600!

 

 

The pool on Deck 16 was quite a busy place on the sea days and the Deck 7 pool got busier as the week went on.

 

 

The Deck 19 Aurea and Wellness sun deck was not over busy until towards the end of the week and despite MSC claiming it is Adults only there were plenty of kids there as well, apart from a few toddlers who had the odd tantrum I cannot recall seeing any other badly behaved kids.

 

 

MSC do need to alter how people come and go on the Port side of the ship as originally they only had a rope between two posts, the entrance to Top 19 was on the Starboard side where you had to show your card and collect and sign for the White sun bed towels.

 

 

 

However on the Port side anyone could just wander in at will because there is not a staff member there all day, they may need to have a glass gate like the Yacht club. Another issue being that if you decide to use the Slides or Zip line you have no I.D to re enter unless you carry it with you.

 

 

We queued for the Zip line for around 1 hour and 10 minutes some we heard even longer, time is taken getting people into the harness and helmet but the line is only open from 10 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm, and closed when the wind reaches a certain level.

 

The three slides were great and quite fast but you have to use the same staircase as those going to the zip line, a separate staircase would have helped.

 

The Miramar bar on 18 was the only place we were able to gets moothies.

 

The water park area though does appear to have an issue with water swilling all the way across the deck including the walkway to get into the Starboard side of the jungle pool,

there are a few cabanas outside and the water upto a few inches deep is allowed to swill across the deck, something that needs to be rectified.

 

 

The ship itself as previously noted is all shiny and glitzy but just under the surface there are signs the ship was rushed into service and 5,000+ passengers are too many for the size of the ship, which is 30 feet shorter than Divina in overall length plus the area where the aft pool is located, so a shorter superstructure with more crammed in to smaller spaces.

 

The carpets throughout the ship appear to have an issue in attracting bits of rubbish and even after hoovering they never look clean, that goes for the cabins as well as the stairs that seem even worse.

 

 

The same colour scheme throughout the ship does not appear to help and we can see why there were so many complaints of dirty carpets on the Transatlantic.

 

 

 

Looking closely in our cabin alone you can see badly laid carpet, just outside the door there were threads sticking out from the carpet backing that had not been cut off correctly, the carpets may improve over time but if they continue as they are MSC need to act quick to have them replaced.

 

 

Being in an aft suite there is quite a lot of vibration from the stern thrusters that shakes the ship quite a lot more than any of the other five MSC ships we have been on, the ship also rolls quite a lot more which could be down to the engines being placed midship. I normally do not have an issue with the rolling but it did wake me up on quite a few occasions during the week.

 

We decided to buy a wifi package once onboard but had quite a few connection problems throughout the week, the MSC app that worked well enough leading up to the cruise on my phone but failed to work once onboard the ship!

 

As stated above there does appear to be a lack of staff in numbers and this was very evident at the Venchi Chocolate bar where on at least two occasions we gave up trying to get served.

 

 

In the evening there is a DJ on Deck 7 near the Miami beach pool, on the White night which is held at the back of Deck 16 the music was quite loud 2 floors down which went on until 1 am.

 

The pool on deck 16 it was thought at one time had a floor that rose up to accommodate the outside disco but this has proved not to be so.

There was a broken glass panel on the Starboard side Infinity Bridge but it did not stop people from walking on it or taking photos while standing on it.

Our Cruise Critic meet and mingle had a total of 202 people sign up, we are not sure how many attended but photographs had to be done in two groups with Pier Paolo Scala and some of his deck officers, The Captain was good enough to have photos taken with anyone who asked, he was very keen on taking one of the back of our MSC T shirts that has our Six cruises on it. Be sure to hand your invitation in to one of the staff at the door to the Haven lounge or you will not get the photographs sent to your cabin.

 

During the port stops for some reason they were only using one scanner as people were coming back on board which lead to long queues.

 

There were a few other issues that were an annoyance with regard to our Black card benefits; The Prosecco and strawberries were not delivered until the 3 rd evening of the cruise, we were not sent our invite to the Voyagers club Black party and found out about it the day after it had happened which meant we also had to go and ask for our chocolate ships which are handed out at the party.

 

 

We were told by the Voyagers club rep that the complimentary meal at the speciality restaurants was now just 1 per cabin and showed us the paperwork she had to that effect, I showed her an email from the Voyagers club UK received 2 days before the cruise which clearly says each card holder will receive a meal for two people. We also made her aware that this was our 6th MSC cruise.

Two days later we received two vouchers for two people for the restaurants bearing the name of the Voyager club rep.

 

 

 

Despite the few hiccups during the week we had another great holiday and while we like the Seaside and would book it again we hope that the issues mentioned above are rectified as soon as possible because it would be a shame for this ship not to be a success especially as the crew are working their backsides off under a lot of pressure to make the ship a success for all.

Edited January 5, 2018 by sidari
word grouping

Thank you for your review. Did you happen to try the F1 racer simulator or the 5d movies? I’m wondering if they were in working order on your voyage?

No we never used them, did see others use them though so all was well as it was with the bowling.

Appreciate your comprehensive insight of the Seaside. Gives us a fair idea on what can be expected.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you for your review.

 

Did you by any chance run into any Yacht Club guests? I'm wondering what their thoughts were?

There were quite a few among our group, they did not have the dining issues as they have their own, at least one has issues with getting their cabin cleaned during the day, there were four people in their room.

If you want a photo with the Captain on the Elegant night you are sent a souvenir folder to your room containing the photo, you cannot buy just the photo.

Thanks for the report. I really like the idea of having the electronic "Do Not Disturb" and "Make up the room" signs.

Thanks for the report. I really like the idea of having the electronic "Do Not Disturb" and "Make up the room" signs.

 

 

i do too. The newest NCL ships have this feature. Funny enough, I recently sailed on HARMONY OF THE SEAS, a new and very technologically advanced ship, and they used a door magnet for the DND and Make up Room indicators. Kind of surprised me. For some reason Royal Caribbean decided against the electronic feature. I'm sure they considered it as no detail was left to chance on Harmony.

at least one has issues with getting their cabin cleaned during the day, there were four people in their room.

 

 

that's not good.

 

can you keep your ears open for more feedback...please?:*

that's not good.

 

can you keep your ears open for more feedback...please?:*

 

 

It's possible with four people in the room, someone was always in it and the cabin steward had little opportunity? Could be any number of things.

This is a terrific review.

 

Keith

Thanks for your review, I hope that you enjoyed your cruise!

 

From the things you've pointed out, it does seem that a lot of these issues can and should be addressed - no fatal flaws in the ship itself (bar the aft vibration!). I'm hopeful that MSC can iron these out.

Ernie ... I know the people from the YC cabin that I mentioned, they were all out of the cabin most of the day, in fact after 5 days they sought out their butler in order to get something done!

Our cabin was not turned down on the first night.

 

By the way you can only get entry to the speciality restaurants from the forward elevators or stairs, another design flaw for me.

 

 

 

By the way you can only get entry to the speciality restaurants from the forward elevators or stairs, another design flaw for me.

 

 

 

This I already knew just from looking at the deck plans. There are doors that connect to the buffet aft but they are really meant for crew only.

 

Sorry about your friends. On the very first day with no cabin service I would be taking it the YC Concierge to correct.

, in fact after 5 days they sought out their butler in order to get something done!

Our cabin was not turned down on the first night.

 

 

"sought out their butler":eek:

 

On Divina we were practically tripping over him each day. Wherever we were, he was, wherever we turned, he was there too. We saw him vacuuming the halls and a couple of times we scared each other when I opened the door to our cabin and he was right there delivering the daily newspaper. btw, I wonder if they do that on Seaside?:confused:

Great review!

Wonderful review! Thank you SO much!!

Excellent review ! Thank you ! There seems to be quite a bit of upheaval about Bella guests being seated in the deck 8 buffet for dinner . Do you have any input on this situation ?

, in fact after 5 days they sought out their butler in order to get something done!

Our cabin was not turned down on the first night.

 

 

"sought out their butler":eek:

 

On Divina we were practically tripping over him each day. Wherever we were, he was, wherever we turned, he was there too. We saw him vacuuming the halls and a couple of times we scared each other when I opened the door to our cabin and he was right there delivering the daily newspaper. btw, I wonder if they do that on Seaside?:confused:

 

I had heard that the Butlers in YC on the seaside is 1:26 compared to the 1:12 ratio on the other ships. Maybe that's the reason for slow service? Hope they fix it by July before we sail.

Thanks for the review. I enjoyed it. Interesting your comment about the pool. You sent me that pic with the floor partially raised, so it seems it was built that way, although perhaps not utilized yet? There was even a video of the head of MSC entertainment touting how the pool could be turned into a nightclub. Looks like the lighting is there as well.

 

Too bad about some of the shoddy workmanship. Typical of Fincantieri (aka TinCantieri). They are not known for their quality work like Meyer-Werft in Germany, but they are cheap!

 

Saw a post on a FB page about a ship that Meyers had built some years ago that the op had sailed on and the same comments were made about them lol.

 

The Deck 16 pool ladders look like they prevent the floor from being raised, on the White night they used the area in front of the big screen.

 

You may also recall Mr Vago stating that the only people who could get on and off the elevators between Deck 7 and 16 would be those in the aft suites! Never happened.

Ernie ... The people I mentioned in the YC have just mentioned that when they were on the Divina YC the butler/ passenger ratio was 1.12 on Seaside it is 1.26 ! The same goes for the cabin stewards with increased number of cabins to clean.

Saw a post on a FB page about a ship that Meyers had built some years ago that the op had sailed on and the same comments were made about them lol.

 

The Deck 16 pool ladders look like they prevent the floor from being raised, on the White night they used the area in front of the big screen.

 

You may also recall Mr Vago stating that the only people who could get on and off the elevators between Deck 7 and 16 would be those in the aft suites! Never happened.

 

 

People will always complain, but it's fairly well known within the industry that Meyer-Werft in Germany is probably the best cruise ship builder in terms of quality and attention to detail. Fincantieri the worst, but they always bid the lowest due to volume. They are the mass producers of cruise ships and the quality of their finish work can be questionable.

 

The ladders can be removed. I've seen them in several pictures just sitting on the side of the pool. Attached is e pic with the ladders removed. Normally I would not put too much faith in anything MSC says, but I clearly saw the pool floor raised up in the pic you sent, and the video from MSC's head of entertainment was fairly recent, after Seaside entered service.

 

 

Thanks so much! I've been reading all of your comments and enjoying your photos for months.

 

Your review was very helpful.