Live from Seaside 4/27

[M2ice]

Did a little research, 

 

Seaside holds about 1000 more passengers then the Independence of the Seas.  BUT they have about the same number of staff,  IF all positions are filled.  

 

Do the math,  it is pretty ugly.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

12 hours ago, M2ice said:

We were on board at the same time.  Third time on MSC,  well over a hundred cruises total.  In a balcony/aurora.

 

...

Talked to three different members of the Expedia group.  None would sell MSC unless the customer insisted due to the service/staffing issues.   This despite  the fact that MSC pays them a commission of almost twice the rate of any other line.

...

 

MSC kinda shot themselves in the foot here. Give away a ton of cabins, provide poor service, shut out paying guests from specialty dining.... and then you  have the Expedia folks not being keen on selling the product.

 

Lose, lose...

 

There were a couple of standouts onboard - a couple of waiters (YC and Butcher's Cut) and the bar folks in the Top Sail Lounge.

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, Fissues said:

Thanks for the great review! We will be on seaside in three weeks in the unit next to you in 16004. Appreciate your efforts!

 

Watch your knuckles when you open the glass door (from the inside) near the stairs when heading out of your cabin. It's an easy place to really scrape/jam yourself. Even the handle hits the door jam when it's fully rotated.

 

Also, beware the sliding door going out (to the front) from the Top Sail Lounge on the starboard side - we went out there once and it closed on Cheryl... didn't even pull back when it detected interference, it kept trying to close !  Did we inform anyone? Nope - my bad, but I suspect it's been that way.

 

Tom

[M2ice]

Not sure of the details but the Expedia people were not on board for free.   They were having meetings and not just along for the ride.  Believe it was more of a sales meeting that Expedia was putting on for their store owners. 

 

Sure that they got some perks and discounts but the ones I talked to were very disappointed with the product.   One was standing next to me at a bar for 20 minutes and couldn't get a drink.  

[Jaime0528]

I’m on the seaside in July in yacht club, thank you so much for the dailies and all the great information!!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

21 minutes ago, M2ice said:

Not sure of the details but the Expedia people were not on board for free.   They were having meetings and not just along for the ride.  Believe it was more of a sales meeting that Expedia was putting on for their store owners. 

 

Sure that they got some perks and discounts but the ones I talked to were very disappointed with the product.   One was standing next to me at a bar for 20 minutes and couldn't get a drink.  

 

Correct, "free" was probably not the best word to use. Likely "highly discounted" or just taxes/fees.

 

Imagine how much money MSC must be saving if people end up not drinking as much as planned (not for lack of trying) !

 

We stopped by the Champagne Bar on the last day (you know, the one with all the Veuve Clicquot displays/signage there. Well, they were OUT of any/all Veuve. So much for those plans as well...

 

Tom

[Georgia_Peaches]

Appreciate your thoughts on the Seaside and the YC experience.  My question is...all in all, would you sail again with MSC?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

42 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Appreciate your thoughts on the Seaside and the YC experience.  My question is...all in all, would you sail again with MSC?

 

That depends when you ask me. I'll go for a few minutes thinking - NO WAY, why risk it again just because it's cheap (well, not the RS I have booked for the B2B). Then I think "perhaps this was just a one off/rare thing". Then, I remind myself of what so many on here have reported. Then I think, the YC experience was very nice ... even if their "deluxe" balcony cabin had a sorry balcony. If I'm paying $1,000+/night for the two of us, I'd like a lounger or two - preferably with nice cushions..

 

DARN IT...

 

Tom

[DGP1111]

22 hours ago, M2ice said:

We were on board at the same time. . . .

 

Just some quick notes.

 

. . . . .

Talked to three different members of the Expedia group.  None would sell MSC unless the customer insisted due to the service/staffing issues.   This despite  the fact that MSC pays them a commission of almost twice the rate of any other line.

. . . . .

 

I also had several brief conversations with members of the Expedia Cruises group on all three days, and there was a definite 'theme' to the opinions voiced (albeit a very small sampling of the total group). 

If you were not aware, there was also the presence (at the invite of Expedia) of several competing cruise lines who had the opportunity to market themselves during some of the private sales meetings. 

 

 

22 hours ago, amygutman said:

. . . .  And good lord - to only find out when you got on-board?

You are really lucky to have the YC dining, but consider those who really look forward to having a special night at a special restaurant. who are not in the YC - or perhaps are in the YC, but still wanted to have a special night out.  

. . . .

 

Amy, thanks for that consideration, as it did impact others.

I boarded about a half hour after Tom/Cheryl, and waited on them to advise me about some potential of us dining together in Specialty Restaurants we'd discussed. I was not in Yacht Club.  It started with "full steam ahead", then morphed into "hang on, there might be issues" and eventually "Nope, ain't gonna happen for anyone".

I had a pre-purchased dining package, and I went to the podium to find out how that would factor into my dining plans.  To paraphrase, the initial reply was, "Oooo, sucks to be you". 🙁 

It seems that my accepting response was different than most/all others onboard, and it seemingly made a difference. I've spoken with ship leadership praising one very helpful individual, and I intend to do a nice gesture for that same person in a few weeks when I return.

 

On 4/30/2023 at 2:30 PM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

. . . . .

This cruise would not have been the same (and we might still be on that darned balcony) without being able to share it with @DGP1111. He had run "MSC reconnaissance" for us a few weeks prior on the Meraviglia. Don, how many sailings have we been on together now? I think you keep a better count than I !

 

 

I do know the number, but how about we call it 'Well beyond a baker's dozen' (heck three times last year alone -- mostly unplanned).

Always always always a pleasure, my friends, and this time I get to sport the badge of Rescue Ranger!! 😀

.

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

15 minutes ago, DGP1111 said:

...

If you were not aware, there was also the presence (at the invite of Expedia) of several competing cruise lines who had the opportunity to market themselves during some of the private sales meetings. 

...

 

 

Now that is a twist I wasn't expecting !

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

But Tom matched to MSC Black  because of his Diamond status on Carnival and with it should have a comped meal in a specialty venue.  If he's SOL because of Expedia, that's a very bitter pill to swallow.

 

Actually, I matched initially to Gold with MSC owing to our Diamond tier with Carnival - seems like that should have matched to their top tier, but that's another discussion! Shortly after that I learned of a "workaround" where I could use our Celebrity Elite+ creds to get a Discovery/er? tier of some kind with Azamara (reciprocity), which I've never sailed on. Once I had that, I went back and re-submitted with MSC, though that's something which everyone, and MSC itself, said can't be done (only 1 "match" allowed in their program). Let's just say, that rule is not cast in stone...  😉

 

In the end, I did get some kind of credit (50% off) in Butcher's Cut - apparently owing to the Diamond/Black card status. It used to be only known as "Black" with MSC, so at this point - I guess both terms apply to their top tier.

 

Tom

[TheSoccerCoach]

We were on this sailing in the Yacht Club and the only dark cloud to the entire experience was the EXPEDIA group - they were horrid. 

This was our third sailing on MSC Seaside, 10th with the line. And, with the exception of Expedia, it was a lovely weekend sail in the YC! 

We were able to book Tepanyaki for dinner, although would have preferred Butchers Cut. Could have done Butchers Cut for lunch but decided to stay on the pool deck in our cabanas instead. 

Our Butler and Junior Butler were lovely! Our cabin was lovely. The shows were fab! So glad Starwalker was on board - always a great show!

The food was wonderful and never had an issue with service, especially in the Yacht Club. Outside of the YC, I had other bar staff going out of their way to help me. 

But, the Expedia people were everywhere...loud, cutting in line at Venchi, coming late to YC dining (15 minutes before close ) demending service. Some members of their group were so obnoxious. Maybe they weren't sold on MSC, but we, most assuredly, were not sold on them. 

And, funny, but we were on Divina in 2016 with the MSC Company Meeting and we loved it! Met lovely people! 

We are headed out again in the YC on Seashore this December. Looking forward to it! 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

14 minutes ago, TheSoccerCoach said:

We were on this sailing in the Yacht Club and the only dark cloud to the entire experience was the EXPEDIA group - they were horrid. 

This was our third sailing on MSC Seaside, 10th with the line. And, with the exception of Expedia, it was a lovely weekend sail in the YC! 

We were able to book Tepanyaki for dinner, although would have preferred Butchers Cut. Could have done Butchers Cut for lunch but decided to stay on the pool deck in our cabanas instead. 

Our Butler and Junior Butler were lovely! Our cabin was lovely. The shows were fab! So glad Starwalker was on board - always a great show!

The food was wonderful and never had an issue with service, especially in the Yacht Club. Outside of the YC, I had other bar staff going out of their way to help me. 

But, the Expedia people were everywhere...loud, cutting in line at Venchi, coming late to YC dining (15 minutes before close ) demending service. Some members of their group were so obnoxious. Maybe they weren't sold on MSC, but we, most assuredly, were not sold on them. 

And, funny, but we were on Divina in 2016 with the MSC Company Meeting and we loved it! Met lovely people! 

We are headed out again in the YC on Seashore this December. Looking forward to it! 

 

We, no doubt, crossed paths once or twice!

 

I only went up to the YC top deck 2-3 times (once to explore, twice to grab a bite). I never saw the cabanas being used. Did you have one which came with your cabin, or one of the others? 

 

It looks like on the Seashore next year we'll have one - but I'm not sure how much use it will get, as our RS balcony appears to have more reasons to hang out there than our last balcony.

 

Tom

[TheSoccerCoach]

49 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

We, no doubt, crossed paths once or twice!

 

I only went up to the YC top deck 2-3 times (once to explore, twice to grab a bite). I never saw the cabanas being used. Did you have one which came with your cabin, or one of the others? 

 

It looks like on the Seashore next year we'll have one - but I'm not sure how much use it will get, as our RS balcony appears to have more reasons to hang out there than our last balcony.

 

Tom

Nice! My wife loves the YC pool deck, so we spent a fair amount of time there. But, we reserved the cabana through the concierge at no charge. The "cabanas" on Seashore are even more open than the ones on Seaside and are first come/first service unless with your suite. We prefer the YC in Seashore to the one on Seaside. And, the service is even better on Seashore in my opinion. But, as a general rule, we don't spend much time in our cabins or on our balconies, we prefer to be out and about in the YC meeting people and enjoying the vibe. When we have to go out into the rest of the ship, especially without the Butler, it is getting harder and harder to do so. We saw some sights this past weekend that we would have preferred not to. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

5 minutes ago, TheSoccerCoach said:

... When we have to go out into the rest of the ship, especially without the Butler, it is getting harder and harder to do so. We saw some sights this past weekend that we would have preferred not to. 

 

Yes - that seems to be more the case than we've seen on Celebrity or NCL. The two experiences are further apart on MSC.

 

There were a few "angry elves" onboard (reference to the movie Elf)  🙂 

 

Tom

[TheSoccerCoach]

Angry elves, most assuredly. And, then the questionable dress...I am not asking for much, but maybe not a thong bathing suit in the evening at the bar in the casino...maybe not that?!

 

Too much to ask? 

 

Sigh...

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

25 minutes ago, TheSoccerCoach said:

Angry elves, most assuredly. And, then the questionable dress...I am not asking for much, but maybe not a thong bathing suit in the evening at the bar in the casino...maybe not that?!

 

Too much to ask? 

 

Sigh...

 

Cheryl and I both observed/commented on the amount of backside skin on parade. Then again, this was a 3-night sailing I suppose!

 

Tom

[shipgeeks]

M2ice, You mentioned the security getting back on the ship at Ocean Cay as being overly invasive. I'm curious what the situation was. Presumably you were not patted down nor made to strip.

The only other thing I can think of is passengers being asked to open backpacks.  On both MSC and RC recently, we have witnessed passengers trying to take large amounts of shells and coral onto the ship, and being denied, primarily for hygiene reasons.

Was that what you saw, or was there another issue?

[pirate4me2]

Thank you for doing this review, I have been looking forward to your thoughts since we sail Seaside in August for our first non-Carnival cruise. I especially appreciate the dailies/whatever MSC calls them!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

26 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

M2ice, You mentioned the security getting back on the ship at Ocean Cay as being overly invasive. I'm curious what the situation was. Presumably you were not patted down nor made to strip.

The only other thing I can think of is passengers being asked to open backpacks.  On both MSC and RC recently, we have witnessed passengers trying to take large amounts of shells and coral onto the ship, and being denied, primarily for hygiene reasons.

Was that what you saw, or was there another issue?

 

There was a group of 3 (4?) guys ~25ish in age we came upon on the island. One guy was climbing a palm tree to knock down coconuts. Well, a short while later, while going through security to get back onto the ship, guess who was slowing down the line because he had TWO LARGE COCONUTS in his backpack.... yep...

 

Tom

 

[TheSoccerCoach]

1 hour ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

There was a group of 3 (4?) guys ~25ish in age we came upon on the island. One guy was climbing a palm tree to knock down coconuts. Well, a short while later, while going through security to get back onto the ship, guess who was slowing down the line because he had TWO LARGE COCONUTS in his backpack.... yep...

 

Tom

 

Exactly! And, Ocean Cay is an island with 150 workers who live and work there. Not out of the realm of possibilities that they would slip contraband or something else to a guest they know to smuggle back on board. Hence the appropriate security measures. Our friend had a flashlight in his backpack and his cigar case. Both dinged the cameras and the staff member took a second look at them. And, then they had a fab discussion about the cigars available on board. Any situation can be turned into a fun, positive one, even going through security.