Need Help First Time MSC/ Seaside

[Cruisegirl6]

We are avid cruisers on Royal Caribbean, Carnival and did some NCL and Princess.  We want to try a different cruise line and we are ready to book tomorrow.  We are considering the NCL Breakaway and the MSC Seaside.  We like your thoughts on MSC and have a few questions if your able to help, thank you!

 

1-  Are the beds double, queen or king if we put both beds together?

2-  How is the food on MSC, how does it compare to other cruise lines?  Is it better or worse than Canivals food?

3-  I was told there isn't a time when we can walk in the MDR, we were told there is late and early seating and we are assigned a seating, what time is the early and late seating?

4-  Is there any food besides room service for late night snacks, after 11pm?

5-  How is the casino....is it large, is it very smokey, are there alot of slot machines?

6-  Is there a casino program, such as Carnival has the players club and RC has casino Royale?

7-  Is there a casino program where you can earn comp cruises?

8-  I was told the language is mainly Italian on board and the staff/crew all speak Italian and English, do you find this to be an issue?  (we are Italian but don't speak it lol)

9-  Dinners does anybody have copies of the MDR dinner menus"

10-  Our cruise comes with free wi fi can anybody tell me how they like the wi-fi (we only get 250 minutes and heard we can purchase 250 additional minutes for $150, is this true?)

11-  How is the drink package?  Do they have premium liquor that comes with the beverage package, like to hear your thoughts

12-  How is the interior and exterior any comments you like to share?

 

THANK YOU!

[Essiesmom]

1.  The beds are the standard cruise ship size and can be separated.

2.  I feel food is not quite up to Carnival.  We are soup/appetizer/salad people, and never go hungry.  We felt many of the mains were not up to American par - don't order beef.  

3.  On MSC, there are 'experiences' that you book under.  If you book Bella or Fantastica, fixed dining is your only option other than the buffet.  There are two dining rooms:  Ipanema Restaurant times were 5:15/7:15/9:15;  Seashore Restaurant times were 5:30/7:30/9:30.  If you book Aurea experience you can have anytime dining.  Of course, Yacht Club has their own dining room.  

4.  From 10:30pm - 1:30am there were late night snacks in the Marketplace buffet on deck 8.  

5.  Casino did not seem smoky when we passed through.

8.  everyone speaks English, although some are better than others.  There will be many more Europeans onboard so there will be announcements in five or more languages.  

10.  You need to go to the MSC website and read about the wifi packages.

12, Interior and exterior of Seaside are spectacular.  You will spend days wandering around discovering things.  

[SteelCruisin]

I am posting a series of vlogs, if you have time give them a look, it should give you an idea of what the Seaside is like, the guy doing them is an avid Carnival cruiser but seemed to be blown away by the Seaside...

 

[reedprincess]

19 hours ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

We are avid cruisers on Royal Caribbean, Carnival and did some NCL and Princess.  We want to try a different cruise line and we are ready to book tomorrow.  We are considering the NCL Breakaway and the MSC Seaside.  We like your thoughts on MSC and have a few questions if your able to help, thank you!

 

1-  Are the beds double, queen or king if we put both beds together? Normal cruise ship size bed somewhere between a queen and a king 

2-  How is the food on MSC, how does it compare to other cruise lines?  Is it better or worse than Canivals food?   Much better than Carnival in our opinion (but then, it's been 12 years since we set foot on a Carnival ship!). Comparable to Princess, better than RCI, not quite as good as Celebrity, etc. 

Food is wildly subjective when it comes to taste. Quality however was good, and variety was fab in buffet and dinner. Portions are smaller than more US focused lines, which we appreciated, you can always order more..

3-  I was told there isn't a time when we can walk in the MDR, we were told there is late and early seating and we are assigned a seating, what time is the early and late seating?   Seaside dining times are 5:15/5:30, 7:15/7:30 and 9:15/9:30. Two MDR hence two different times. If you want anytime aka MyChoice dining, you have to book the Aurea Experience (or Yacht Club which has it's own dining room).

4-  Is there any food besides room service for late night snacks, after 11pm?   Buffet till 1:30/2am with pizza, burgers, sandwiches, salad, fruit, desserts.

5-  How is the casino....is it large, is it very smokey, are there alot of slot machines?   Small but adequate, no craps table, a fair amount of slots, not smoky, but smoking is allowed in certain areas.

6-  Is there a casino program, such as Carnival has the players club and RC has casino Royale?  YES

7-  Is there a casino program where you can earn comp cruises?   YES

8-  I was told the language is mainly Italian on board and the staff/crew all speak Italian and English, do you find this to be an issue?  (we are Italian but don't speak it lol) all the staff speaks English.  It may be their second or third language, but they definitely speak it well enough to communicate clearly. Announcements are done in 5 languages - English may be first, or may be somewhere in the middle.  Menus, daily programs, etc all in English (with other languages available also)  It's a non-issue.

9-  Dinners does anybody have copies of the MDR dinner menus" 

See review posted below. All the dinner menus are there.

10-  Our cruise comes with free wi fi can anybody tell me how they like the wi-fi (we only get 250 minutes and heard we can purchase 250 additional minutes for $150, is this true?)   I haven't seen internet pricing by the minute, I've only seen packages by the Gigabyte, ie 3G or 6G or unlimited. Again, pricing and details at the website but yes - you can top up your packages aboard if you run out, pricing depends on how many days left and how many gigs you purchase, it gets cheaper as the cruise progresses.

11-  How is the drink package?  Do they have premium liquor that comes with the beverage package, like to hear your thoughts.

Depends which drink package. Easy is basic brands, basic drinks and all non-alcoholic, Premium is premium brands, anything $12 and under !which is most everything and Premium Plus is any and every drink available by the glass (Johnny Walker Blue, Ocean Vodka, Moet, etc) Pricing depends on package, details at website.

12-  How is the interior and exterior any comments you like to share?  Gorgeous ship. Sleek and modern and gorgeous. The Swaravski staircases are stunning.  

 

 

THANK YOU!

See the following review for in-depth coverage of the ship, menus (dinner, specialty, bar, etc), and so on.

For us, after 30 or so Princess, 25 or so Celebrity, multiple RCI and one each Carnival and Cunard, MSC was a breath of fresh air and restored our love of cruising again.  We currently have 2 more booked for this year and 2 for next. They're who we are looking at first now, instead of Princess or Celebrity...

[#1TravelMom]

We've been on the Seaside twice.  We've done many cruises on all other major lines.  Our first time on the Seaside we were expecting a vastly different experience than other lines.  We found many more similarities than differences.  We liked it so much, we booked again.  I read a review that said the food was inedible - totally not true in our opinion.  We found lots of choices at the buffet and MDR.  I can't even think of any MAJOR differences.  There may be more people of other nationalities, but not a problem.  The staff was wonderful and the ship was squeaky clean.  We never saw dirty dishes, etc. sitting on tables.  The shows are a little different - more of a short variety show, but very enjoyable.  We look forward to a third sailing in the future.

[MISTER 67]

11 minutes ago, #1TravelMom said:

We've been on the Seaside twice.  We've done many cruises on all other major lines.  Our first time on the Seaside we were expecting a vastly different experience than other lines.  We found many more similarities than differences.  We liked it so much, we booked again.  I read a review that said the food was inedible - totally not true in our opinion.  We found lots of choices at the buffet and MDR.  I can't even think of any MAJOR differences.  There may be more people of other nationalities, but not a problem.  The staff was wonderful and the ship was squeaky clean.  We never saw dirty dishes, etc. sitting on tables.  The shows are a little different - more of a short variety show, but very enjoyable.  We look forward to a third sailing in the future.

You are correct on the buffet, have cruised many times and MSC has the best buffet and of course the pasta and the pizza are outstanding.I've had some great dishes in the MDR and nothing was close to inedible. 

[Cruisegirl6]

Thank you.