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First MSC Cruise-- Seaside March 17-24 Review

iambumbo

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iambumbo

iambumbo

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As a thank you for all of you who've posted about MSC and especially Seaside, figured I'd return the favor and share my thoughts of our trip on Seaside last week. By way of background, I'm 45 years old with 13 prior cruises (6 RCL, 4 Carnival, 1 Celebrity, 1 Princess, 1 NCL) and was joined by my 38 year old girlfriend, who's been on about a dozen cruises too (although only 3 of those with me). We were booked in an Aurea cabin, #14037. Some initial thoughts, which I'll expand on throughout the review:

 

-- It was a fun cruise and very comparable to other mainstream American cruises. Our experience was probably most comparable to NCL or RCL.

-- We would definitely consider another MSC cruise, although we agreed we would want to do Aurea level again.

-- Contrary to the frequent reports of late, I did not find any unusual or offensive odors anywhere on the ship. Not even once.

-- I am a picky eater. I was able to find all kinds of food to eat and never went hungry. Portion sizes were perfectly comparable to other cruise lines.

-- There were some instances of a clear language barrier with the staff, although I found them to be more accommodating than others suggested in recent posts.

-- The ship's layout was easy to navigate, although some areas (particularly the main pool area) were too congested most of the time.

 

As I get into the review, I will start by highlighting the numerous good things we found on the ship as they should be the readers' focus, rather than the negatives which people tend to dwell on too much. Having said that, one aspect of our cruise was by FAR the worst of any cruise either of us had been on, and it wasn't even close. I'll save that one for the end so it doesn't overshadow the rest of my comments... and to give you a reason to keep following along. ;)

 

Lots more to follow, and I'm happy to answer questions directed to me at any time throughout the review.

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iambumbo

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PRE-CRUISE/EMBARKATION/SAILAWAY--

 

Ahead of our Saturday sailing, we flew out of Milwaukee via Southwest to Ft. Lauderdale, arriving Thursday night at about 9pm. We had booked a room at the Rodeway Inn & Suites/Cruise Port for 1 night before upgrading our accommodations the next day. Rodeway airport shuttle was slow but free. The hotel was basically a dump but fine for one night. The bed was comfortable, staff was friendly, continental breakfast was sufficient, and the big bug that crawled on the floor between the beds right before bedtime (no joke) never got any higher than that. Next morning we took an Uber to Hollywood Beach, where we had booked a room at Margaritaville for Friday night. My GF got a free upgrade to the top floor, ocean view, so we were happy. If you ever get the chance, stay at Margaritaville before or after a cruise. The hotel is amazing and sets a great tone for relaxation. It has an awesome pool/beach area, lots of good food and beverage options, and is right on the boardwalk for good people watching. Highly recommend it and it's persuaded the GF to make it our new "home away from home" (she had previously favored the Ft. Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach). Weather was perfect if a shade cool and we got a great start on our tans.

 

The next morning we checked out at 11am and took an Uber to the pier, arriving at around noon. Pier area was the usual madhouse as 5 ships were in port that day. Embarkation was very efficient and we were onboard within 15 minutes of arrival. Interesting observation-- this was the first time I can remember on any cruise where we were not asked to fill out the usual medical questionnaire the cruise lines give to screen out norovirus or other bugs. We were perfectly healthy but it occurred to me after the fact it hadn't come up. In any case, I didn't notice any health issues onboard all week. Another idiosyncracy for new MSC cruisers-- they don't take your credit card when you check in and get your room keys, they have credit card kiosks you swipe right when you board the ship. TIP-- go down (or up) a floor after you board as they have several kiosks there which will likely have much smaller lines than the ones right by the initial entrance.

 

As we had a decent amount of onboard credit, we went to the Excursion desk to book a couple excursions we had preselected, and that took about 3 minutes total. We then went to the Aurea spa to book our free massages. We chose the first sea day (Monday) at 9am, which was the best option available as quite a few times had already been chosen. The GF also signed up for a facial on Friday. They gave us a nice tour of the Aurea Thermal Spa, which we would visit several days (and which I'll review later). We then went to sign up for a time on the Chef's Table at Butcher's Cut, which had been prepurchased for us as a gift. We found a desk that was selling them and encountered our first issue with a language barrier as it wasn't clear to us that he understood what we were asking for, especially when he just hand-wrote the time down to log later. Fortunately all was well and we did end up getting the reservation date we wanted as it turned up the next day on the MSC for Me app.

 

We then wandered the ship to get a feel for it and to grab a few beverages. With no prior experience with the ship, it was a bit confusing at first even though I had extensively reviewed the deck plans ahead of time. Within a couple days though, we found it pretty easy to navigate. Our luggage arrived around 4:30-5:00ish and we unpacked fairly quickly. We then went on deck for sailaway as the sun began to set and we were the only ship left in port. Due to the later departure (7pm), there is no sailaway party although the deck was full of people waving bon voyage to Miami. As we entered the ocean, we headed down to change clothes and headed to dinner. Aurea and Wellness guests have a separate entrance to the Seashore dining room, as this was the only time all week we found any line. Even this night it was maybe 10 people ahead of us and only about a 5 minute wait. Dinner service was great and I think we wandered a bit after dinner before heading back to the room.

 

Next section-- review of the ship layout and cabin!

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iambumbo

iambumbo

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Following . So far I am really enjoying your review . May I ask why you waited to book your excursions until you were on board ? It sounds like you really did your homework before the cruise , and you knew what you wanted to do .
I didn't find a way to apply OBC to excursions on MSC's website, and we had $370 to use up, so we decided to just wait till we boarded so we could use it then.

 

I promise more to follow tonight after I get off work! :)

 

Sent from my SM-G935R4 using Forums mobile app

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iambumbo

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ROOM REVIEW--

 

We were in an Aurea balcony, 14037, forward port side of the ship. The layout of the room was pretty standard. Balcony was adequate sized with two chairs and a foot rest. Dividers provided good privacy. The bed was comfortable to sleep on, although the divider in the middle was noticeable. We didn't use the couch for anything except an extra place to store our stuff. Luggage fit under the bed, but just barely. No outside sounds were noticeable from inside the cabin, except the occasional door slam. TV was about half ship-related programming, the rest about half American non-broadcast (cable) channels and the other half various foreign language channels. Interestingly, the ESPN Caribbean channel broadcast some NCAA basketball games so we didn't miss out on any of that action. You could access the MSC for Me app through the TV to book things and check your account balances at any time. There were some shelves to conveniently store your papers, which was a nice plus. The room comes stocked with a minibar consisting of 4 different beers, 3 shot bottles, various sodas and juices, and a handful of snacks like Pringles and peanuts. Prior to boarding we had upgraded our included classic drink package to premium ($56/pp for the week and well worth it) so the minibar was included, and we put it to good use. The shower had a notch for a shower gel/shampoo dispenser but ours was missing, so we received typical hotel small tubes of toiletries. The closet contains a safe but on the small side. Overall, your typical balcony cabin with adequate furnishings.

 

For those who have not sailed on some newer ships, this was one of those rooms that has a slot to leave your key in by the door, and which needs to have the key in place in order for power to flow through the room. In other words, if you want anything to charge while you're gone, make sure you leave a key in the slot. When the key is in the slot, it also triggers a light outside the cabin to let your steward know you're in the room. You also had buttons for Do Not Disturb and Make Up Room, which would also trigger lights outside the room to notify your steward. At Aurea level, we were given a band that could open your cabin door (and also be used to buy drinks or other purchases), so it was no big deal for us to leave a key behind if we wanted to charge stuff. I think you can buy the bands for $5.00 too, and I would recommend the purchase if you don't have Aurea. The only issue is that you still needed your card when you showed up for dinner and other places like the casino. Some of the portable machines had a hard time reading the band so I also used the card on occasion when ordering drinks.

 

Going back to the room, there were two minor drawbacks-- storage and shower size. We brought 3 full suitcases and a carry-on and barely had enough space to put our stuff away, particularly in the closet. I also did not care for the sliding door in the closet, which would auto-close and pinched my fingers pretty badly on one occasion. It was tight but got the job done, so that's why it's only a minor complaint. As for the shower, I'm an experienced cruiser and therefore well aware that cruise ship showers are never very big. However, if anything fell on the floor, it was a bit of a challenge to pick up with the door shut and being only 5'9" and 190 lbs., I can imagine the difficulty for an even larger person. The shower head was removable though so that would make things easier to clean any hard to reach spots. For our purposes, the room was more than sufficient.

 

Let's move on to the rest of ship next!

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SHIP LAYOUT--

 

For the most part, the ship does a very good job spreading out the thousands of passengers onboard during a given week. I didn't really see many obvious bottlenecks outside of the usual things like a show letting out. The furnishings around the ship were visually appealing and included a wide variety of decor to give each area its own ambience. Some people have commented about some areas being confusing and walking into walls or mirrors but I didn't have that experience at all. There were countless touchscreens that would show you where you were on the ship and where to find anything, and which could also be used to access the daily program, make reservations, etc. A very nice benefit of a brand new ship!

 

Pool Areas-- The waterslides were a blast and I didn't feel out of place at all as lots of older "kids" like me were trying them out. The slideboard ride must have been fun because they always had a long line so I skipped it rather than wait 30-45 minutes to go down once. The pools are indeed over 6 feet deep so you didn't see the usual adults standing around drinking all day. Instead, people would either hang on the edge or you'd see kids with floaties on their arms. The pools have "overflow" decks that water would splash on so you sit there if you just wanted a quick cool-off. The main pool (deck 16 aft-- Miami Beach) had a lot of fun activities but was way too congested during busy times, to the point you could barely walk through. The Deck 19 deck for Aurea passengers is a nice bonus during those busy times (not to mention its own bar), and that's a big reason to upgrade to Aurea. The Bridge of Sighs is a must see and is as visually intimidating as it looks in pics. We didn't hang around the South Beach pool on deck 7 aft too much but it looked pretty busy most of the time. The starboard covered area of South Beach pool area seemingly has a permanent smoker's smell as that's where they go to puff away day and night. The Jungle Pool could be covered with a roof so everyone has somewhere to swim even when the rains inevitable come. If you don't need immediate pool access, there is plenty of deck space somewhere for everyone to grab a chair and layout. Lots of deck chairs along deck 7, and there's some included inside the Aurea Spa as well.

 

Atrium Area-- The atrium has three different overlooking floors, with bars on each so plenty of opportunities to get your drink on. We love champagne and the Champagne Bar at deck 7 was criminally underused, with a fantastic bartender who took great care of us. They would put on nightly 5 minute shows in the atrium depending on the various theme of the night, which were fun to watch. For music lovers, we noticed there was about as much as on any ship out there, whether you like DJ, house band, solo guitar players, or small groups, and covering many different genres. The main theme night bands were very well attended.

 

Dining Rooms--The Seashore dining room where we ate all our meals was visually appealing but pretty congested. Very easy to get a table for two although many of them were basically right on top of each other. We only ate at Butcher's Cut but it was nicely laid out. The specialty restaurants were located right next to each other on deck 16, with a dedicated bar, which makes the experience feel like a special night out. MSC made a great decision spreading out the two buffets on decks 8 and 16 and by making a lot of the seating outside. It really spread out the foot traffic so you could always find a table without having to walk around the entire buffet twice during busy times.

 

Theater/Casino-- The theater is a single level but since there are 3 shows a night, that's adequate seating for people to attend. It does create a closer experience for viewers and I like the concept. The casino is about half slots/half table games, divided by a bar in the middle. Usual games with $10 minimums (except for $5 between 11am-1pm on sea days), no craps table.

 

Thermal Spa-- This was the most pleasant surprise of the trip. I've never used a spa or even gotten a massage before this cruise, and I loved it! The massage included with Aurea was so relaxing, and perfect in terms of not being too rough. The spa had a great mix of rooms, including 2 saunas, 2 steam rooms, a snow room, 4 aromatherapy showers, a salt room, and a huge hot tub. Plenty of chairs to just relax inside and outside, along with at least one hot tub outside. We visited 4 days for about an hour each and came out so relaxed. I jokingly said to my GF this spa experience converted me to metrosexuality. ;p

 

Up next... dining experiences!

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DINING--

 

We ate all of our breakfasts and lunches (when not in port) at the buffets, and all of our dinners at the Seashore restaurant, except for our jaunt to Butcher's Cut. For inquiring minds, I did notice that deck 16 buffet was closed for dinners, with half of deck 8 buffet for buffet eaters and the other half for those assigned to that dining room.

 

As mentioned at the outset, I am a pretty picky eater but I found plenty to eat in the buffets. Of course, I also tend to eat a lot of the same foods (more so for breakfast) so if there was any lack of variety, I probably would not have noticed. The pizza is great as advertised, as are the various bread options. There was a carving station every day for lunch, although with some unusual meats such as lamb and veal. I concur with others' comments that there are many foods which many Americans may find unusual but there are enough options for your standard meat-and-potatoes folks too. Line cutters no worse than any other cruise.

 

We had anytime dining but went nearly every night around 8:30-8:45. By then, there would be no or little line and we were seated quickly. We had heard drink service could be slow so we'd usually bring drinks with us to dinner. The waiters had many different wine bottles nearby and would bring you something if you were thirsty. As with the buffet, the entree options were a little exotic for American tastes but I was able to find something I wanted every night. There is a "traditional favorites" menu but it's not offered on elegant nights or Italian night. That saved me several nights as I often ordered the NY Strip steak and/or rotisserie chicken off that menu when nothing appealed to me from the main menu. Portions were no smaller than on other cruises and pretty solid quality. Some people had said the crew was not amenable to changes but our waiter would provide salad with no dressing or combine plates, as requested. We had the same waiter, Barbara from Brazil, 5 of the 6 nights and she took great care of us. My concern of anytime dining is not getting the same wait staff every night as I like how they learn your tastes and idiosynchracies, but that wasn't an issue as we got the same waiter repeatedly and she made great suggestions about what to get (or avoid).

 

I chose Italian Night as our Butcher's Cut night because I had seen the regular dining room menu online before our cruise and knew nothing would appeal to me, and traditional favorites would not be available. You may recall that we ran into a bit of language barrier in scheduling this, although the waiter was trying to explain that he didn't know which night would be Italian night as it varied week to week. In any case, he got us the night and time we wanted, and even came over to say hi while we ate and ask if we had been the couple who wanted that night.

 

The Chef's Table was a gift from my GF's parents. As we all know, cruise lines generally oversell their products but this is one that was actually undersold. Their description said you'd get bone-in ribeye, a shellfish appetizer, a side, and a dessert. This was soooo much more than that. Now, we may have gotten lucky because nobody else had signed up so it was just the two of us, and wow, did they take care of us. The maitre d' himself served us. The assistant brought over bread and the maitre d' jokingly said don't eat that, I don't want you getting full on bread! He said if you don't like anything, let me know immediately and I'll replace it with something you do like. The sommelier came over and said you can pick a bottle of wine from the menu up to $70 or let me pick a good one for you-- we deferred to him and got a very smooth Shiraz. First course was a huge two level tray that included monster shrimp, lobster, stone crab, king crab legs, and oysters. Next came their signature course of some kind of hard boiled eggs and liver. He could tell I was not a fan and offered to get me a salad, which was a yummy replacement. Next course was a smoked tomato soup. Now come the entrees! You not only got several slices of the bone-in ribeye, but also filet mignon, with 4 sauces to dip them in. Next came something I'd never tried before, a huge cut of... bison! It tasted just like NY Strip but was very tough, the GF couldn't eat it as she'd reached maximum capacity. We somehow found room for dessert and I had cheesecake while the GF had lava cake. The maitre d' was grateful for our feedback, which was glowing. He mentioned lots of people were turned off by the price ($75 if booked online, $88 onboard plus 18% gratuity)-- I said you should sell it better as more people would buy if they knew what you all get! Sorry for the long description but I hadn't seen one in any other review and it deserves more publicity.

 

Of course, the Venchi/gelato shops bear mention. I believe they were 4 of them around the ship and they were very popular for good reason. Lots of different flavors plus you can choose the bars with the premium drink package. I grabbed a milkshake one day with it too.

 

Next up to cover... what I'd call the aspects of the cruise some folks might find "unusual".

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THE "UNUSUAL" STUFF

 

For first time MSC cruisers like us, we did find some things that were out of the ordinary, although some of them were known ahead of time thanks to fellow reviewers.

 

-- The obvious one is the language barrier. With so many nationalities represented onboard, you will find that probably only about half your fellow cruisers will speak fluent English. Many announcements are made in 5 languages, although that didn't bother me. I found the different cultures interesting and provided for a more worldly experience. Of course, because of the broad clientele, the end result is many of the staff speak a little of everything but don't master anything. This will result in the occasional mixed signal. For example, the GF and I ordered the rotisserie chicken from the everyday menu at dinner one night but the waiter brought out the fowl from the regular menu. It was quickly replaced once we pointed out the mistake-- no harm, no fowl. ;)

 

-- Because of the language differences, the shows were mostly the same, focusing on dancing and visual effects. They also offer 3 shorter shows each night instead of the usual two, which I liked as I could catch the 7pm show while the GF got herself primped up, go back and get cleaned up myself, and then head to dinner.

 

-- Nudity is not as much of an issue as it can be for us Puritanical Americans. One woman was completely topless sitting up for about 30 seconds around the pool which took me slightly aback. Euros don't seem to care much about letting their very young girls play without a top either, which was obviously innocent but unusual in our culture.

 

-- The GF pointed out they don't bring pitchers of water to the table for dinner. It was large bottles of water only, which was fine, but certainly not the norm on other lines.

 

-- I've already mentioned the pools being over 6 feet deep, so don't plan on spending an hour in the pool with drink in hand.

 

-- Main beer on tap around the ship is Heineken, not a Budweiser or Miller product.

 

-- Most cruise lines play "background," lighter music in the main areas around dinnertime. On the Seaside atrium though, they had a DJ largely playing techno music during busy crowd times. Cool with me as I like that kind of music anyways, but the only night things slowed down were on elegant nights.

 

-- The buffets not only have drink service, but even better, you could order an attendant directly to your table by pressing a button on the table. Fast and convenient service!

 

-- On disembarkation, we didn't have to fill out a customs form. Just show your passport and you're free to go.

 

-- I discovered that the final bills are processed from France so if you have a basic American credit card, you may be charged a foreign transaction fee on your bill unless your card waives that fee.

 

As always, your experience may vary! Will let you know if I think of any others.

 

Next, recap of our stops in Nassau, St. Thomas, and Antigua...

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mardavbetale

mardavbetale

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Great review. We’re on the seaside in September and like you, it will be our first msc cruise. Coming from the UK we’re use to all the different European foods and coutures etc, so that shouldn’t be a problem for us. I’ve Just a couple of questions if you don’t mind.

 

The Aurea balconies on deck 14 look bigger on the deck plans than the Aurea balconies on 15, is that the case?

 

How dressed up do people get on elegant nights? I know all cruise lines differ on these nights so just want to make sure we don’t overdress or underdress. We’ve just come back from a p & o cruise and almost all the men wore black tie on these nights. Many thanks. Maria

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thegraminator

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Great review ! I love all of the details ! Two questions . .

 

What did you think about the coffee available in the buffets ? I don't like the Specialty Coffee served in Venchi , I just like plain black coffee .

 

And secondly , what was your impression of the on board shops? Any great offerings or bargains ? TIA

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KatRangoon

KatRangoon

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No craps table at the casino! This is the first I've read about that, thanks for letting us know, as that is my favorite game. If the blackjack or poker was only $5 I might have been tempted as they're not my favorite but sometimes fun, but for $10, I think I'll be leaving my casino money at home. :(

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resstation

resstation

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Great review ! I love all of the details ! Two questions . .

 

What did you think about the coffee available in the buffets ? I don't like the Specialty Coffee served in Venchi , I just like plain black coffee .

 

And secondly , what was your impression of the on board shops? Any great offerings or bargains ? TIA

 

 

I'm not a "shopper" but I do love browsing. I haven't heard a thing about the onboard shops. Good question.

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