Oh sure I'll do a review as well - Seaside 2/29-3/7

[Beardface]

I will try to keep this relatively brief, but I know I'll be long winded.

 

First off, my wife and I were in the Yacht Club on this one.  I've never sailed on MSC before, let alone the Yacht Club, so we really had no idea what to expect.  To say that i was absolutely blown away would be an understatement.

 

Room: Had a Deluxe Suite in the YC.  These rooms are about 50% wider than your standard balcony, and the size is apparent from the second you enter the room.  Its genuinely spacious, and felt a bit like home while being on a ship.  Having a butler was nice, but ours tended to stay out of our way, which is great.  Had an opportunity to speak up on deck a few times, and they generally try to be as attentive as a guest expects over the duration of the cruise.  If you need more, they'll be at your beck and call, and if you kind of want them to be hands-off, they'll do their thing behind the scenes.  This was fine for us, as we are not needy at all.

 

Yacht Club Experience: The Top Sail Lounge is seriously top notch.  On a busy ship, it was nice to have a quiet little oasis to come back to every day and every night.  Being able to leave the (at times) chaos of the main area for a quiet night cap was wonderful.  The YC pool deck was wonderful as well.  There were enough chairs for everyone, and the pool wasn't ever crowded, even when the weather was absolutely perfect.

 

Food: The YC Restaurant was very nice in that you could come up and grab dinner whenever you wanted at night.  No needing to worry about making a specific time, just walked up and you were seated.  Being a European line, it was most full after 8pm, which was just fine for us when we wanted to eat around 7.  The food itself?  Extremely flavorful, the meat options were always great and some of the food was downright delectable (like the truffle Risotto).  The portions were small, but filling, and you never felt hungry or overly full.  Breakfast in the YC was a lot better than the buffets, but the hours are a bit short, and if you sleep in at all, you'll absolutely miss it.  Only drawback, and this is a big one, is that I think they had some tainted food on one night.  There were whispers that numerous people had some gastrointestinal issues one night early in the sailing after dinner, and its suspected that one of the meals might have been a bit spoiled when served.  Didn't last, but worth noting.  Also, while the food was excellent when it was good, there were also some times where it just completely missed the mark when it wasn't.  The lasagnette on the last night was completely forgettable, and I would recommend anyone get the rack of lamb instead.  When the food was good, it was excellent, but when it wasn't, it was pretty bad.

 

Entertainment: The shows were hit and miss.  Timeless, Fly, The Wizard, and Peter Punk were all pretty good, though there wasn't really a plot to any of them.  Timeless is clearly the best they have to offer, but Fly was a surprising treat.  Very much appreciated the humor that was added not only during that show but also some little skits that the crew would do before every show.  Some of them were downright hilarious.  Special recognition here goes to Carlos Ponzetto, who I guess we were fortunate enough to have with us for this sailing.  He is an excellent showman and someone that MSC is lucky to have.  The Atrium shows throughout the week were entertaining, but the jewel of this sailing was the White Night party up on the pool deck.  That was phenomenal.  High energy international party that turned into an EDM rave at midnight.  That kind of event is going to attract a lot of the younger crowd once more people get to experience it and word spreads.

 

Ports: Ocho Rios was a complete wash.  Given the other thread I started, nothing more needs to be said there.  After we got cleared, we stayed an extra 4 hours so that no cruise fare would need to be refunded (as happened on the Meraviglia). but all in all, that port can and should be skipped going forward.  The local taxi and weed pushers jumped at everyone coming off the ship like sharks during feeding season.  It was over the top, at times didn't really feel that safe, and given everything else that happened that day, made my wife and I say that if we ever go back, we either get an excursion or don't step foot off the ship.  Grand Cayman and Cozumel were wonderful, on the other hand.  No issues with disembarkation, and the excursions went off without a hitch.  Weather was beautiful.  But the jewel of this trip was Ocean Cay.  MSC has created a wonderful island here, and their hard work has completely paid off.  I am not going to mince words here, Bimini Beach, located next to the Yacht Club area on the backside of the island is arguably the prettiest beach I have ever stepped foot upon.  And that's not taking anything away from the rest of the island.  Only thing I'll say is, there is a lot of coral being washed up on the beaches, so I highly recommend water shoes if you plan to swim.

 

All in all, an excellent trip, and an eye opener on what you can get if you are willing to step away from the Royal, Norwegian, and Carnival rotation here in the US.  Bang for your buck, there is no better value in vacationing for a US citizen than there is booking a Yacht Club room on a US sailing.  Our total bill for this, even after gratuities and on board spending were factored, was at worst even in the Yacht Club to what we paid on the Oasis of the Seas 5 years ago, or what we would have paid on the Norwegian Encore in May, both on a standard balcony.

 

We will sail MSC again, and we will sail the YC again, but we might try out either the Meraviglia, or either whatever World Class or possibly even the YC-only ships they are planning, assuming the price point stays around what we had on the Seaside.  But we'll likely have to try out Disney, first, as we have young kids, and that line is basically designed for them.

[dorts]

Finally something not Corona related! Thanks for the great review - leaving Thursday for Saturday boarding and trying my best to keep positive and excited for my two weeks onboard regardless of what may or may not happen!

[alyssamma]

14 minutes ago, dorts said:

Finally something not Corona related!

This!

 

Thanks OP!

[Beardface]

37 minutes ago, dorts said:

Finally something not Corona related! Thanks for the great review - leaving Thursday for Saturday boarding and trying my best to keep positive and excited for my two weeks onboard regardless of what may or may not happen!

No worries.  It really is a great ship with a great crew.

 

I will say, however, there are some drawbacks here and there, just so that it doesn't look like I'm completely toting the company line.

 

First of all, the public restrooms on this ship are disgusting.  Horrible smell of sewage the closer you get to them.  Not terrible, but bad enough that you tended to turn around when you got close.  Apparently, there were enough people on this sailing that had troubles with aim on both #1 and #2 that... yeah.

 

Secondly, even though this ship is 2-3 years old, there were places where it did look a little run down.  A lot of the hand rails were constantly covered in soot, to the point where the lacquer looked like it was eroding.  This was especially noticeable on your stateroom balcony.  The water temperature in the showers was anything but consistent, and would fluctuate at random between ice cold and scalding hot on a whim.  Heard multiple others that had a similar experience there, so we knew it wasn't just us.  The floors up on deck were not teak, but painted rubber.  This isn't necessarily a problem, but did cause them to get extremely hot in the sun, and noticed they were starting to crack badly on the pool deck.

 

The layout, while largely excellent, did have a few drawbacks.  First, its not easy to find your way around this ship.  In a few cases there is no way to get from the front of the boat to the rear on the same deck, especially in the top few decks.  They really needed to have a corridor on Deck 16 so you could walk from the buffet to the YC area without going up to 18 or down to 15.  And while the mirrors everywhere were nice, there were a couple places (like walking past the Sports Bar and before you went up the stairs after the picture lobby to the casino) where we saw numerous people literally run into their reflections because it looked like the walkway continued.  And most annoyingly, up on the pool deck its nearly impossible to get from the main pool to the Bridge of Sighs because people would cram deck chairs so tightly that it completely closed up all walkways.  Made it difficult to even want to explore the ship on a Sea Day.

 

And there were some entertainment options that were just a miss.  The one musical they had was just terrible.  We didn't catch it, thankfully, but were able to see it on rebroadcast in the stateroom later.  Just a complete dud of a show where at any given time there would be 15 people on stage where 13 of them were motionless for an entire song.  And the Improv Group was... Look, they tried, but they were the kind of people who really thought that being able to say the 'f-word' would be all the real comedy they would need, and it pretty much stunk.  about 1/4 of the people who showed up to watch ended up leaving before the half hour was up.  They were just bad.  My wife commented that it was clear they had jokes already prepared and tried to shoehorn them into whatever suggestions were made rather than actually think for themselves.  Hard to argue.

[alyssamma]

10 minutes ago, Beardface said:

And while the mirrors everywhere were nice, there were a couple places (like walking past the Sports Bar and before you went up the stairs after the picture lobby to the casino) where we saw numerous people literally run into their reflections because it looked like the walkway continued. 

LOL, I've been on the ship 2x and done it multiple times. Alcohol might have been a contributing factor 🙂

[pirate4me2]

Thanks for the review OP! We are sailing MSC for the first time this September, in the YC on Seaside, and I am so looking forward to it. We have loved all our Carnival cruises, but I think a change is going to breathe some fresh life into cruising for us. :)

[Vinegarjoe10]

8 hours ago, Beardface said:

No worries.  It really is a great ship with a great crew.

 

I will say, however, there are some drawbacks here and there, just so that it doesn't look like I'm completely toting the company line.

 

First of all, the public restrooms on this ship are disgusting.  Horrible smell of sewage the closer you get to them.  Not terrible, but bad enough that you tended to turn around when you got close.  Apparently, there were enough people on this sailing that had troubles with aim on both #1 and #2 that... yeah.

 

Secondly, even though this ship is 2-3 years old, there were places where it did look a little run down.  A lot of the hand rails were constantly covered in soot, to the point where the lacquer looked like it was eroding.  This was especially noticeable on your stateroom balcony.  The water temperature in the showers was anything but consistent, and would fluctuate at random between ice cold and scalding hot on a whim.  Heard multiple others that had a similar experience there, so we knew it wasn't just us.  The floors up on deck were not teak, but painted rubber.  This isn't necessarily a problem, but did cause them to get extremely hot in the sun, and noticed they were starting to crack badly on the pool deck.

 

The layout, while largely excellent, did have a few drawbacks.  First, its not easy to find your way around this ship.  In a few cases there is no way to get from the front of the boat to the rear on the same deck, especially in the top few decks.  They really needed to have a corridor on Deck 16 so you could walk from the buffet to the YC area without going up to 18 or down to 15.  And while the mirrors everywhere were nice, there were a couple places (like walking past the Sports Bar and before you went up the stairs after the picture lobby to the casino) where we saw numerous people literally run into their reflections because it looked like the walkway continued.  And most annoyingly, up on the pool deck its nearly impossible to get from the main pool to the Bridge of Sighs because people would cram deck chairs so tightly that it completely closed up all walkways.  Made it difficult to even want to explore the ship on a Sea Day.

 

And there were some entertainment options that were just a miss.  The one musical they had was just terrible.  We didn't catch it, thankfully, but were able to see it on rebroadcast in the stateroom later.  Just a complete dud of a show where at any given time there would be 15 people on stage where 13 of them were motionless for an entire song.  And the Improv Group was... Look, they tried, but they were the kind of people who really thought that being able to say the 'f-word' would be all the real comedy they would need, and it pretty much stunk.  about 1/4 of the people who showed up to watch ended up leaving before the half hour was up.  They were just bad.  My wife commented that it was clear they had jokes already prepared and tried to shoehorn them into whatever suggestions were made rather than actually think for themselves.  Hard to argue.

beardface, 

 

Nice review. And it was nice to meet you and the Mrs. We were on the Cozumel excursion together and at Ocean Cay when the shark swam by. Joe and Erin. 

 

There is a quick way to the buffet on deck 16. Walk through the Butcher's Cut restaurant and cut through the crew only door, it empties out into the back of the main buffet. Our butler showed us this, and I guess it is allowed because no one ever said anything to us. 

 

We are looking at the Seaside eastern itinerary next winter or the Meraviglia, but definitely going to sail YC again, 100% concur with your overall assessment. 

 

Regards, 

 

Vinegarjoe 

[Beardface]

42 minutes ago, Vinegarjoe10 said:

beardface, 

 

Nice review. And it was nice to meet you and the Mrs. We were on the Cozumel excursion together and at Ocean Cay when the shark swam by. Joe and Erin. 

 

There is a quick way to the buffet on deck 16. Walk through the Butcher's Cut restaurant and cut through the crew only door, it empties out into the back of the main buffet. Our butler showed us this, and I guess it is allowed because no one ever said anything to us. 

 

We are looking at the Seaside eastern itinerary next winter or the Meraviglia, but definitely going to sail YC again, 100% concur with your overall assessment. 

 

Regards, 

 

Vinegarjoe 

 

Oh no, my identity has been compromised, abort mission!  Haha.  Great to meet you two as well.  Glad to hear you had a good trip as well, hope you had a safe travel home.

 

Yeah we were shown the cut through as well, but there was no way we were going to use that during meal times.  Just didn't seem right to literally have to cut through a paid dining experience like that, and if that really is their path, they desperately need a better solution.

 

Oh and yeah, you bring up a good point.  There are sharks at Ocean Cay.  Swim accordingly.  And there's enough dead coral and Heineken glass shards in the wading area that it is highly advisable to bring swim shoes.

 

Oh, and you better believe the first things we got when we arrived home was a Reidel tequila glass 2 piece set from Amazon and a large bottle of 1800 Reposado.  Have to put our teachings to the test!

[nednrom]

11 hours ago, Beardface said:

I will try to keep this relatively brief, but I know I'll be long winded.

 

First off, my wife and I were in the Yacht Club on this one.  I've never sailed on MSC before, let alone the Yacht Club, so we really had no idea what to expect.  To say that i was absolutely blown away would be an understatement.

 

 

We sailed in the Meraviglia YC as first time MSC cruisers in December and feel the same way. We were so blown away that we booked the Seaside YC later this year.  My husband and I both agree that the suite value of MSC compared to Royal and NCL is not even comparable.  We will still cruise with Royal and NCL but MSC YC will also be a consideration when researching for cruises.

 

[Beardface]

9 hours ago, nednrom said:

We sailed in the Meraviglia YC as first time MSC cruisers in December and feel the same way. We were so blown away that we booked the Seaside YC later this year.  My husband and I both agree that the suite value of MSC compared to Royal and NCL is not even comparable.  We will still cruise with Royal and NCL but MSC YC will also be a consideration when researching for cruises.

 

 

Value per dollar spent in the YC is probably the best in the cruise industry.  Its truly remarkable what they are able to provide for the price they are able to charge.  If they are able to keep this going long term, its a complete game changing disruption of the cruise industry. NCL especially needs to be careful here, because when you compare the Haven to the Yacht Club, the experiences are similar while MSC undercuts them in price by nearly half.  As soon as that segment becomes more comfortable going with a foreign line, their bottom line is going to take a significant hit unless they adjust.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, Beardface said:

 

Value per dollar spent in the YC is probably the best in the cruise industry. 

 

I've sailed in YC and fantastica balcony, and personally would extend this statement. Value per dollar spent in a regular balcony is also one of the single best in the cruise industry (interior too for that matter) For our Easter cruise, 7 day in a balcony was $529pp (plus taxes). A balcony on nearly every other line was 80-130% higher. We could have booked an interior for $249pp (that's 7 days at Easter pre Corona insanity).

 

Where MSC has stumbled since I've been a close follower (nearly 10 years now) is that their product can be wildly inconsistent. Service and overall quality would be the two things most commonly reported. YC takes some of that off the table, but not all. For example, my butler was no different than a normal cabin steward. Didn't even see him for days. We could have complained, but like you, we are low maintenance. My experience is not the norm, but it happens enough (maybe 5-10% of the time in reviews) to know that the possibility exists. Food is subjective, but it's enough to turn some people off.

 

I know you didn't have any issues with shore side service, but it's absolutely terrible. I have yet to hear of any other line where travel agencies downright refuse to sell the product. However; 90% of the time they eventually come through, it's just a serious headache.When things go without a glitch, it's lovely. First sign of a glitch and buckle up.

 

Sorry I'm so long winded, but the bottom line for me is that I do not hesitate to recommend MSC, but I do so with reservation. The people who report the worst experiences on MSC are people who had their expectations misaligned. Well seasoned travelers who are willing to go with the flow can really maximize their travel dollar. :)

 

 

 

 

 

[geonurse]

Seaside Yacht Club should be treated as if it’s a whole different ship- because the experience seems to be so different from “ steerage class” . I’ll never sail MSC again unless I’m in Yacht club. 
 

[Markanddonna]

1 hour ago, geonurse said:

Seaside Yacht Club should be treated as if it’s a whole different ship- because the experience seems to be so different from “ steerage class” . I’ll never sail MSC again unless I’m in Yacht club. 
 

So true. Thank you,  Beardface that you made it perfectly clear you were in the Yacht Club. The reviews from for the ships with the Yacht Club should be clearly labeled. Inside cabins are still a great value, but the public area experience is where things can fall apart.

[Beardface]

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

So true. Thank you,  Beardface that you made it perfectly clear you were in the Yacht Club. The reviews from for the ships with the Yacht Club should be clearly labeled. Inside cabins are still a great value, but the public area experience is where things can fall apart.

 

I will say, though... I didn't have much of a problem with the public spaces of this ship.  If anything, the Seaside is a beautiful ship, with so much chrome and so many mirrors that its impressive.  And more impressive, these mirrors and that chrome were always spotless, so you could tell that the cleaning staff was all over keeping the ship in good order during the full week.  And the public space events were genuinely fun.

 

It felt like a very similar cruise to that of Royal in that regard.  Now, I didn't experience the MDR or any specialty dining, so I cannot compare experiences there, but from what I have seen from some vlogs, the MDR has a similar issue than I noticed on the pool deck.  That is, this ship has a tendency to try and cram too many people into small spaces.  Tables in the MDR look to be spaced only inches apart, and up on the pool deck there were times that, as I said before, passengers would cram in loungers so tightly it was difficult to walk through them.  Getting from the main pool area to the Bridge of Sighs on Sea Days was a damn near impossible task with how tightly they were packed in, which is kind of crazy given how much deck space there is on this ship.  And when you factor the ship sailed with only 3,500 passengers, I do wonder how bad it would have been with a full ship.

 

Another thing that was a little eye opening to me was how much smoking they allowed on deck.  On every other ship I've been on, there would be a small smoker's area on one side of the ship.  With the Seaside, it was literally the starboard side of the ship.  The entire South Beach pool deck at the backside of the ship eventually became a huge smoker's lounge.  I'm not necessarily complaining about this, its just that it was noticeable how different they treat smokers on this ship than your typical American lines.

[Muushka]

Thank you Beardface, for your fair and balanced reporting.

 

I have a few questions. 

 

About that smoke.  We will be starboard on the 15th deck (YC1).  Can I assume the smoke won't make it all the way up there?

 

One of the reasons we love suites is because of the special treatment.  In real life we do not get any special treatment, we are pretty frugal.  But on a cruise, once a year, we love it.  We typically cruise with Celebrity where they have Luminae for the suite restaurant.  The attention they give is amazing and they always remember your name.  We wonder about MSC, dining room, do they have awesome staff that gives excellent service?  Or butlers who often open your door with a smile?

We look forward to the Yacht Club experience (providing that this "C" mess will be over by October).

[Beardface]

6 minutes ago, Muushka said:

Thank you Beardface, for your fair and balanced reporting.

 

I have a few questions. 

 

About that smoke.  We will be starboard on the 15th deck (YC1).  Can I assume the smoke won't make it all the way up there?

 

One of the reasons we love suites is because of the special treatment.  In real life we do not get any special treatment, we are pretty frugal.  But on a cruise, once a year, we love it.  We typically cruise with Celebrity where they have Luminae for the suite restaurant.  The attention they give is amazing and they always remember your name.  We wonder about MSC, dining room, do they have awesome staff that gives excellent service?  Or butlers who often open your door with a smile?

We look forward to the Yacht Club experience (providing that this "C" mess will be over by October).

 

We were a starboard YC1 on the Seaside on Deck 16 and the smoke never made it to us.  It really dissipates quickly, unless your neighbor is smoking on theirs.

 

Its just really noticeable at the South Beach Pool.  The air kind of swirls in that space given the design of the ship, so the smoke lingers a bit more than other places.  The rest of the ship is so open and airy that you really don't notice it too much.

 

And the YC in general is really just a different experience.  They really do make you feel like you're being taken care of on the ship.  The only thing I could do without is the priority elevator access.  We never used it.  First, because we never really felt like we needed to, and second, because the times where we did, there was enough of a crowd who also needed elevators that we didn't want to be a-holes by using it.  Everything else, on the other hand, feels like how cruising used to be before the lines started nickel and diming passengers to death in order to squeeze every penny out of them.

[Muushka]

16 minutes ago, Beardface said:

We were a starboard YC1 on the Seaside on Deck 16 and the smoke never made it to us.  It really dissipates quickly, unless your neighbor is smoking on theirs.

 

Wait....I thought they didn't allow smoking on balconies.  If they do allow it, is it only on starboard?  I will be switching if yes.  We were on a RCI cruise before the no smoking on balcony was allowed rule and our next door neighbor rendered our balcony useless.  And there was nothing we could do about it, she wasn't breaking any rules.

Thanks!

[Beardface]

9 minutes ago, Muushka said:

 

Wait....I thought they didn't allow smoking on balconies.  If they do allow it, is it only on starboard?  I will be switching if yes.  We were on a RCI cruise before the no smoking on balcony was allowed rule and our next door neighbor rendered our balcony useless.  And there was nothing we could do about it, she wasn't breaking any rules.

Thanks!

 

They don't allow it, and I never noticed it.

 

But that doesn't mean it won't happen.  I've seen it happen on ships with far more stringent rules than MSC.

[Two Wheels Only]

I'll be back on Seaside then 3 months later, I'll try Meraviglia for the first time. Seashore the following spring is also planned but I need the 2022 school calendar to know the exact week. Europa (World Class ship) will be next when it arrives in Miami (eventually). Of course, with the you-know-what lockdown, anything Italy is subject to change. It's a drawback of booking things 1.5 to 2 years in advance.

 

The "all Yacht Club" ships probably wouldn't work for us. We have 2 kids and those ships will probably be more like Regent Seven Seas ships which also don't work for us.

 

With so much "free time" MSC could take care of any plumbing related issues, wooden railing issues, etc. New classes often have these minor issues that are unlikely to be seen in future ships of the same or similar class. Seashore shouldn't have any odor issues at all in the way that Seaside did.

[Muushka]

2 hours ago, Beardface said:

 

They don't allow it, and I never noticed it.

 

But that doesn't mean it won't happen.  I've seen it happen on ships with far more stringent rules than MSC.

OK, good.  Thanks!

[rattanchair]

5 hours ago, Beardface said:

we didn't want to be a-holes by using it.

Dear Bf,  We do not use the elevators because we do not want to gain weight nor 'catch' something. But we would love to be considered "a-holes," having paid 10 x the price, if the need arises. Just look at who considers you an "a-hole". "Water off a duck".

[Two Wheels Only]

8 hours ago, Beardface said:

The only thing I could do without is the priority elevator access.  We never used it.  First, because we never really felt like we needed to, and second, because the times where we did, there was enough of a crowd who also needed elevators that we didn't want to be a-holes by using it. 

 

Once you get the hang of it and know which elevators work better with it than others, it's really no big deal. I wouldn't mind if there was an Express elevator that went up to YC decks automatically 24/7.

[BermudaBound2014]

8 hours ago, Muushka said:

 

Wait....I thought they didn't allow smoking on balconies.  \

 

My personal experience on both MSC sailings, my neighbors smoked on their balconies. Once in an aft facing balcony and once in starboard YC. One thing about MSC is that it attracts a European crowd that smokes considerably more than we do here in NA. MSC also does not appear to enforce the no smoking on the balcony rule. If you do a search in the reviews, you will see the trend. 

 

Of course, this isn't to say there will positively be smokers on the balconies surrounding you, but I believe the odds are greater you will experience this on MSC. 

[Beardface]

13 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Once you get the hang of it and know which elevators work better with it than others, it's really no big deal. I wouldn't mind if there was an Express elevator that went up to YC decks automatically 24/7.

 

No disagreement, but I would prefer them to be additional YC exclusive elevators that don't take away from the capacity that the general public already has.

[Muushka]

Thank you BB2014.  Now that I think about it, we won't be using the balcony as often because it is a Canada cruise, mid October...cold!

But if it were a Caribbean, that would be an issue.

 

Can you complain to anyone to stop the smoking?