Just off Seaside, first time MSC cruiser- thoughts

[CruisingBeans]

Just of Seaside today. We were in a balcony Fantastica and it was my family with 4 1/2 yo and 7 1/2 yo and my brothers family with 21, 19 and 15 yo kids. It was the first MSC cruise for all of us. Usually we are Carnival or Celebrity cruisers. And we all enjoyed. Like every cruise I’ve been on there are always good and not so good things. But I’ve yet to go on a bad cruise!

 

Cabin- yes shower is small, storage is small but none of this was surprising. I did my research. Luckily my daughters got bunk beds cause a pull out sofa would take up way too much room. I love the buttons/ lights to tell attendant when you are in/out of room and when you want it cleaned-learned the first night if you don’t press the button they’re not coming in. The ship is a year old - not sure why the shower was so moldy if the clean it every day, it wasn’t an huge issue for us but may be for someone else.

 

Overall ship- beautiful, lay out a little choppy, hard to find bathrooms. If you want sun, have to go to Miami pool area. Jungle pool doesn’t have sun neither does the water park area. None us walked in to a mirror so that was a bonus. Get your waterslide bracelet day 1 as on day 2 the line is super long and if you already have it can jump on as soon as the open. Adults need bracelets too. The table is next to the end of the single blue slide with the inner tubes.

 

Food- we all loved smaller portions. We had 7:15 dinner and good service except for drinks. It wasn’t any worse then any other cruise line- walk in with a full drink and order another immediately and you are good. The dinner ended at around 9. Made it a little difficult for kids program after but 5:15 was just too early. My family ate breakfast in dining room twice, one with good service and one bad. Breakfast menu is standard, regular fare. We had lunch in dining room twice, mostly because food on buffet was always the same it was nice to get something different. My brother’s family ate more often in dining room for breakfast/lunch and had great experiences. The food in buffet wasn’t bad just the same. This was fine for breakfast but got old for lunch. The pizza is good but even my kids got sick of it. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t go hungry and this is not a deal breaker for us as food at dinner was great.

 

Shows- I never go to shows, went to one cause I heard they were good. It was ok, not my thing. Very rude person behind us that caused person next to me to move seats. My husband went to adult improve and said it was pretty good. Book the shows you want early, the Michael Jackson show which is last night and filled quickly.

 

Drinks- never found a bar I loved. The sports bar was the best sports bar I’ve ever seen but didn’t love to sit there dressed up after dinner.  Drinks were average to below average so I drank a lot of beer and wine. Since I’m from a great craft beer city I will never find a cruise that has great beer. We upgraded from DOU to all inclusive deluxe. Included gelato and mini bar. My brother had drink tickets and waited to upgrade til on ship and did get some credit for vouchers. Bar service was on par with other cruise lines. Button on tables didn’t always work well. Liked that I could order a bunch of drinks at once (for kids and husband with one card)

 

Kids program- my kids didn’t love it. Not sure why. The oldest only went after dinner but the younger went before and after. They had themes and parties but because of dinner often missed the face painting. I didn’t feel the staff there knew the kids as well as other cruise programs. They never refused to go, I think they just preferred other ones.

 

Fellow passengers- other than the fact that lots of different languages were spoken, it was very similar to other cruises. People can be rude no matter where they are from (trash and food left on elevators, cutting people, being pushy). 

 

Ports- hadn’t been to them since having kids. We don’t do ship tours. Ocho Rios- climbed falls, did the boat to falls tour- it was 40$ person, included falls guide. Grand Cayman- Turtle Center- this was great if you have kids 3-7 especially who want to try snorkeling cause you snorkel with turtles but don’t take a taxi there take the bus, it’s 2.50 per person. Cozumel- shopped a little and stayed on boat which was empty. Nassau- walked to public beach.

 

Overall we had a lovely cruise. I would go on MSC again if price was right and different ports.

[floridian1]

Nice review, if you like craft beers you might want to check out ncl escape and ncl bliss they have a craft beer venue that was great!

 

How did your kids like the water park?

 

Was there after hours at the kids club that they charge for? I saw some comedy shows start at 1045 and the kids club closes at 11?

[CruisingBeans]

Ohh thanks for the info about NCL. I’m checking that out!

 

Both kids loved the water park. The 4 1/2 yo could go on all but the inner tube slide (they do it by height) but she only went on the real little ones and brown one but loved the splash area. The 7 1/2 year old went on all of them. There at lifeguards at every pool, no drinks near pools or hot tubs and they count how many people in hot tubs do not overcrowded.

 

Kids program until 11- I didn’t see an after hours on advertised. Yeah the adult improv was 10:45.

[paulajj]

Thanks 🙂

[LakeWobegon]

20 hours ago, CruisingBeans said:

Ohh thanks for the info about NCL. I’m checking that out!

 

Both kids loved the water park. The 4 1/2 yo could go on all but the inner tube slide (they do it by height) but she only went on the real little ones and brown one but loved the splash area. The 7 1/2 year old went on all of them. There at lifeguards at every pool, no drinks near pools or hot tubs and they count how many people in hot tubs do not overcrowded.

 

Kids program until 11- I didn’t see an after hours on advertised. Yeah the adult improv was 10:45.

 On Escape, they had the District Brewhouse. If I remember correctly, it was well over 60 beers, about 3/4 of which were on tap. Some of their own proprietary brews as well. Thanks for the review!

[LakeWobegon]

Also, this was included in the drink package which is one of the “free” perks you can choose from. 

[Shidah]

Thanks for your review.  I’m trying the Escape for the first time this March and plan on spending a lot of time in the District Brewhouse.  Also, the whole ship is pretty casual, so no need to dress up then feel uncomfortable at a bar afterwards.