MSC Seaside Cruise Review - August 11th, 2018 (Western Caribbean)

We just returned from our fourth cruise, this time aboard MSC Seaside (August 11th to 18th sailing – Western Caribbean). My wife and I have spent a lot of time reflecting on this cruise throughout the week, trying to pin down how we feel about the Seaside and MSC in general, given our limited but growing cruising experience.

 

To help with context: we’ve sailed twice on Royal Caribbean (both times on Independence of the Seas), and once on MSC Divina two years ago. The Royal cruises were both “getaway” cruises for us (no kids), whereas both MSC cruises were with our two sons, and our parents (her parents last time on Divina, and mine on this cruise).

 

I think, to sum up our Seaside experience, we’d conclude that the ship – while beautiful and with many good points – has too many people, has some poor design and logistic elements, and the crew seemed drained and overworked (even for a cruise ship), although still professional and efficient.

 

I also think my wife and I, given a choice, will begin to gravitate back to Royal Caribbean for a number of reasons, although we feel we ought to try some other brands as well depending on the purpose of our cruise. Celebrity is one that is of particular interest to us as a couple, and we wonder if we ought to give Carnival a try with the kids. I’m not sure that MSC will be our first choice in the future, but we may consider a different, smaller ship like Divina.

 

We selected Seaside specifically with our kids in mind, so much of this review will be through that lens. We did consider how we’d feel about the ship if we sailed on her as a couple, and I’ll sprinkle these thoughts in here and there.

 

This is a long one. It is organized into categories for those who want to read about specific topics. I’m happy to try to answer any questions.

 

 

– FLIGHT / PRE-CRUISE HOTEL –

 

We flew into FLL the day before our cruise and rented a van to drive to Miami, where we stayed at the Hampton Inn Airport South Blue Lagoon. For our party of six, the van rental ended up being cheaper than the shuttles we would have needed (airport à hotel, then hotel à port), and we liked the freedom the van gave us to explore a bit on the Friday evening.

 

The Hampton was good – clean, comfortable, decent free breakfast buffet (although I’ve had better at other Hamptons). It was close to grocery, pharmacies and restaurants, and had a good pool and free parking. It was a quick and easy drive to MIA to return our vehicle in the morning, and then we took Alamo’s free shuttle to the port.

 

 

– EMBARKATION –

 

After returning the van, we arrived at the port at around 11:45. I was expecting a lot of people (especially seeing the crowds as we drove past the Carnival terminals), but as we pulled up to the MSC terminal we were surprised to see sparse crowds and idle porters – our shuttle driver literally handed our bags to a porter directly from the bus!

 

Security and check-in were both quick and easy, and we were standing in the Atrium of the ship before noon.

 

We ate lunch at the buffet, then explored the ship for a while before our cabins opened at 2pm. Our boys had brought their swimming gear and were in the pool by 1:30, and we joined them after checking out our cabin and grabbing towels.

 

TIP: Others here have suggested dealing with the waterslide paperwork and bracelet on the first day, and this is excellent advice. We found the guy set up between the Jungle Pool and Aqua Adventure Park, close to where the tube slide ejects / ends. There was one family ahead of me in line. The next day – the first sea day – the line to get a bracelet was long for much of the day.

 

– CABINS –

 

Our party had three adjacent balcony (Fantastica) cabins, midship on deck 14: two connecting cabins, and an additional unconnected cabin. These were not the “super family” cabins (three connecting rooms).

 

Others have said it and I agree: these cabins are TIGHT for space. It was adequate for us, since my wife and I were in one and our boys in the other, but we would have been very challenged for storage space had the four of us been in a single cabin.

 

The bathroom design is another space that wasn’t well thought out, in my opinion. The toilet position is awkward, and I found the shower is very tight to get around in.

 

During online check-in we had requested that the beds in one room be separated; this wasn’t done on arrival but our cabin steward did it quickly upon our request. We also asked him to empty the minibar in the boys’ room, which he also did with no problem. (I bring this up this because, on one of our cruises – I can’t remember which one – the steward refused to empty the minibar.)

 

TIP: We asked the steward to open the balcony dividers, but he wouldn’t do it, citing safety regulations. He said we had to go through guest services. My wife went down to the desk on embarkation afternoon and they agreed to open the dividers without any hassle, but it didn’t end up happening until the evening of the second day of the cruise (after a second call to guest services). Two years ago, the steward on Divina opened them himself, immediately upon our request, so this is an apparent change in policy on Seaside, as others have reported.

 

TIP: The connecting doors in the cabins have no latch to hold them open – in fact, the closer mechanism on the doors is quite strong (if you let go of the door it will slam closed). Our steward supplied us with door stops to keep the doors open, although they didn’t work all that well. I’d suggest bringing decent door stops if you have connecting rooms and want to keep the doors open.

 

 

– POOLS, SLIDES, WATER PARK –

 

As mentioned earlier, we selected Seaside with our boys in mind, and the slides and water park (Aqua Adventure Park) were a major factor in our decision.

 

The area is well designed, except for a lack of seating for parents who don’t want to get wet. We were often in the water with our kids, but on those occasions when we didn’t want to go in, we had to stand around the water park area.

 

The boys loved the slides and water park. The park has various sprayers, water bucket dumpers, and other fun. The slides are fast and the crew do an adequate job keeping the kids in order – whistle blasts were heard fairly often, and we saw unruly kids (and teens) being asked to leave pools and slides more than once.

 

The pool we liked most was the Jungle Pool, adjacent to the water park. It usually wasn’t too busy and kids were often found in this pool, but they do need to know how to swim – the pool is around 6’ deep with no shallow end. It is also salt water, which we all found irritating to our eyes. We live on the east coast of Canada and we are no strangers to swimming in the (much colder) North Atlantic, so we don’t know why this water bothered us as much as it did.

 

CRITICISM: Both the Jungle Pool, and especially the Aqua Adventure Park (slides and splash pads), lack seating and loungers. There are plenty of loungers around the Jungle Pool, but only a dozen or so allow you to see your kids in the water – the views from the rest are partially or entirely blocked with landscaping decoration. Our kids are still young enough that we want to see them in the water, and when we weren’t swimming with them it was a crapshoot as to whether we’d be able to find a lounger with a view of the pool.

 

The opening hours of the Aqua Adventure Park (including the slides) was also frustrating. The park opened at 10am on sea days, and noon on port days. Oddly, all the water was running in these areas as early as 7am from what I noticed. Our boys are early risers – most days we were ready and swimming by 8:30.

 

On the first sea day of the cruise we hadn’t checked the opening hours, so my boys were in the splash area (which was in full swing) with some other kids at around 9am, but they were chased out by an unfriendly officer who seemed to be in charge of the pools. There were caution cones on the steps leading to the splash pool, but we didn’t clue in to the fact that yellow caution cones in a wet area of the ship meant “closed”, especially since the ledge to the splash pool is low and easily climbed over – which is exactly how our boys entered the area. The next day I noticed that they added straps to make it more obvious that entry was blocked.

 

 

 

– DINING & DRINKS –

 

Buffet & MDR:

 

We ate most of our meals in the buffet on deck 8. There are two buffets: one on deck 8 and the other on deck 16. The one on deck 16 is much smaller – essentially just a single counter that spans the width of the ship – and we found it was crazy whenever we ate there. The deck 8 buffet was much larger, but was also very busy.

 

I now completely understand why it was such a problem having the deck 16 buffet as the main supper buffet in the early days of Seaside (when they used the deck 8 buffet as an overflow MDR space). It is way too small to be the main buffet for any meal, let alone supper!!

 

The food was good. Usually nothing to write home about, and the selection was very similar each day. We ate well and never went hungry!

 

We dined in the MDR twice: once on the first formal night (day 2), and then on the final night of the cruise. Our waiter was friendly, but seemed annoyed that we didn’t dine there each night. He made a comment about it on the first evening, and then seemed somewhat perturbed about our presence on the last night. Perhaps he was just having an off night or was tired from the week. There are three seatings for supper on Seaside and it must be a big job to turn over the dining room for that many people. On that point: we found that the atmosphere in the MDR lacked the relaxed pace of dining we experienced on other ships. We weren’t exactly rushed, but we felt aware that we had to get in and out in a certain time frame. (We had the second of three seatings – 7:15.)

 

CRITICISM: We found the show times didn’t align well with the dining times. For instance, the show times were 6:45, 8:00 and 9:15, while our dining time was 7:15. If we wanted to go to the early show, we’d be rushed to get to supper on time. 8:00 wasn’t an option if we were dining, leaving the late show as the best option. We did go to the early show on the final night of the cruise and arrived at the MDR about ten minutes late (along with a number of other guests entering with us from the show). Seaside or MSC management may wish to consider better aligning the dining and showtimes.

 

 

PRAISE: The Mealtime Beverage Package worked well for us, and especially for my parents. This allowed for free wine, beer, soda and fruit drinks at meals, both in the MDR and buffet. My parents are wine drinkers and they would sometimes have a glass with lunch and at least one at supper, often taking another glass with them as they left. For this reason they just barely managed to get through their cocktail drink tickets by the end of the cruise!

 

 

TIP: There are call buttons for drink service on the buffet tables. We found it took a very long time to get drink service using these buttons. On deck 8, just going to the buffet bar directly was quicker and easier.

 

 

Specialty Dining:

 

My wife and I ate at one specialty restaurant on this cruise: the Bistrot la Bohème on deck 8. It was odd in that the tables are set up in what is essentially the corridor. The food was good – again, nothing to write home about, but a nice change from the buffet line with the kids, and the waiter was one of the friendliest crew members we interacted with. That alone, plus the quiet atmosphere, was worth the $15pp fee.

 

Water was free in the MDR and in the buffet, of course. At the specialty restaurant we had to pay for water with our meal.

 

There were crew members constantly circling around the ship throughout the week, pushing the specialty dining. I wonder if the fee-based restaurants on Seaside are struggling. The bistro we dined in was hardly ever busy: the night we ate there, perhaps three other tables were occupied.

 

 

Drinks / Bars:

 

Bar service was hit-or-miss, and the drinks themselves could also be hit-or-miss. We both found bar staff that we liked and we tried to go to as often as possible, and our habit of tipping $1 per drink for good service (NOT automatically) helped get us noticed in a crowd. My preference was a waitress in the Sports Bar on deck 8, while my wife liked a bartender at the Seaside Bar on deck 5.

 

When we got drinks from bar staff other than the two we liked, the consistency varied wildly from bar to bar, even for the exact same drink.

 

The OJ mix they used in some cocktails had an odd flavour – perhaps best compared to Tang flavoured drink. It took away from the enjoyment of drinks that use OJ as a mixer.

 

TIP: If you like frozen drinks like strawberry daiquiris or pina coladas (or the Miami Vice – a mix of the two – yum!) go to the Jungle Pool bar on deck 18. They have those slushy machines that you see in convenience stores: one each dedicated to strawberry daiquiri and pina colada mix. Very nice and consistent flavour and texture. They add alcohol for adults and keep it virgin for the kiddos.

 

 

Other / Misc:

 

We did not specifically order room service on this ship – a first for us, as we usually enjoy a room service lunch at least once on a cruise.

 

We did, however, order a “Romantic Sunrise” breakfast package online before we sailed. This was supposed to include pastries, fruit, freshly squeezed OJ and two MSC-logoed flutes we could take home. “Flutes” is the term MSC uses – this is important for this story.

 

There was no info about this package in our cabin, so I went to guest services with my paperwork to ask. No problem, they said, and asked what day we wanted – we opted for the second sea day, or day 5 of the cruise, at 7am.

 

The time change happened between days 4 and 5, and we forgot about the delivery, so the poor guy was knocking on our door at 7am sharp (which felt like 6am for us due to the time change), but he was professional as he brought in our food while I stumbled around, half-awake, looking for a tip.

 

This is where MSC’s attention to detail was a bit lacking. We encountered minor things like this several times during the week:

 

- The OJ was not freshly squeezed, but rather the same as in the machines at the buffet.

- The glasses were plain juice glasses, not MSC flutes.

 

The reason we ordered the package at $19 was for the glasses and fresh OJ. The other food we could have had, for free, from the buffet or room service.

 

We enjoyed the food regardless, then I went to guest services to sort it out. They apologized and said they’d send the two flutes and fresh OJ right away.

 

By the time I returned to the cabin, a delivery had indeed been made: two more trays of FRUIT, but no FLUTES. I kid you not.

 

I called back down to guest services, who again apologized and said they’d made it right. Soon after, I received a call from the food services supervisor, who apologized and said the delivery was on its way.

 

Five minutes later the flutes arrived (quite nice – we like souvenir glassware from ships).

 

The fresh OJ never did arrive and we opted to not pursue it.

 

 

– PORTS –

 

We visited the same ports as our Divina cruise two years ago: Ocho Rios, Georgetown (Grand Cayman), Cozumel, and Nassau.

 

 

Ocho Rios:

 

We went to Dunn River Falls last time, so for this visit we decided to visit the Green Grotto Caves and the Turtle River Falls & Gardens (formally Enchanted Gardens). We booked through Yardie Tours, highly reviewed on TripAdvisor. The tour price included admission to the sites.

 

Neither attraction was very busy, but both were well worth the visit. The caves were very cool – our boys enjoyed the experience and the tour lasted for about 40-45 minutes. Our guide was excellent and entertaining. The cave system is very warm and humid – not cool as you’d expect caves to be.

 

The Turtle River Falls & Gardens is a hidden gem. Again – not busy at all. While you can’t climb the entire falls system as you can at Dunn River, you’re still able to go into the water and climb small sections of the falls along the way. The guided tour also includes a visit to an aviary where they have birds eat from your hand, a macaw sits on your shoulder and head, etc. The guide here was also excellent and very friendly.

 

The one odd part about the Turtle River Falls is that it is apparently a former resort (Enchanted Gardens), and so there are a number of buildings in various stages of decay on the property. The reason for the abandonment wasn’t well explained and some people might find it off-putting, but we didn’t feel unsafe.

 

We were talked into visiting the Taj Mahal shopping area on our way back to the ship. When we arrived I realized it was the exact same shopping area we went to during our last visit to Ocho Rios (we used another tour company last time – Peat Taylor Tours). The store staff clearly seem to be in cahoots with the tour guides – perhaps they are even owned by the same people. We’ll know better next time.

 

In truth, “running the gauntlet” in all of these ports is becoming tiring, especially since the stuff is all so similar. We’d like to try to find more authentic markets in the future.

 

 

Grand Cayman:

 

Based on advice from Cruise Critic, we opted to use the public bus system to visit Public Beach along 7-Mile Beach. We started walking along the main road, and before long we heard the beep from the public bus/van. $2.50 each set us on our way, and the friendly driver chatted with us about the island as we travelled along.

 

We spent about 90 minutes at the beach – lovely place. There were showers and facilities available, as well as snorkel, beach toys, umbrellas and chairs to rent. No pushy vendors at all.

 

Our return journey was just as easy – the bus stopped across the street from the beach – although they brought us to the bus depot a few blocks away from the port. It was easy to find our way back to the pier, shopping a bit along the way.

 

 

Cozumel:

 

This was our third visit to Cozumel and we again used Tours Plaza, who we highly recommend. It is a “driver for the day” service, and he’ll help arrange the day however you wish. Admissions to sites are not included, however. My mother wanted to see the Mayan ruins at San Gervasio, then we drove along the back side of the island to El Mirador, then onward to the city for lunch at La Choza. We skipped the beach on this tour.

 

 

Nassau:

 

We decided to visit the Pirates of Nassau Museum with our boys. It was expensive for what it is, in my opinion. The experience is well designed, but quite short. There is also a portion of the tour where surgery on a pirate ship is depicted. The scene itself isn’t overly gory, but there is a sound effect that repeats which my seven-year-old didn’t like at all.

 

From the museum we walked to Junkanoo Beach for a quick stop, and then swung by the straw market on our way back to enjoy the quiet ship for the afternoon.

 

Nassau was the most aggressive port we visited in terms of vendors and taxi drivers pushing us for a sale. It never seemed to end, even at street level at the stores, away from the pier itself. At the beach we were asked by no fewer than five people within two minutes if we wanted an umbrella and chairs.

 

 

 

– ENTERTAINMENT –

 

We saw three shows, and they were all excellent in terms of production and visual effects. Much like Divina, the storylines were somewhat ambiguous, likely due to the many languages of the passengers.

 

My wife and I felt that the entertainment options throughout the day were limited – even had we been sailing as a couple, we would have found it hard to keep busy throughout the day, whereas on Royal Caribbean we found that there was plenty to do.

 

The entertainment staff were hit-or-miss, but none were awful. We won trivia at one point and the crew member told us a prize was on its way to our cabin, but nothing ever arrived. On another day, we were on deck with our kids and a dance song was playing so we danced around together, and two entertainment staff joined us and danced with the boys, then we all took a selfie at their suggestion which was a nice interaction.

 

The 70s party was fun, although Royal does it better (at least on Indy). The Atrium space is a bit odd in terms of hosting large parties on the ship.

 

There were two gala nights on the second and sixth days of the cruise. We dressed for the first one and did smart casual for the second. Most people seemed dressed nice, although perhaps not as formal as suits, etc. There were still a few shorts and t-shirts in the dining room - to each their own.

 

White Night, on the other hand, seemed to be the main event on this ship. People were dressed in beautiful white clothing; some of the outfits were very formal and elegant. It really felt that White Night took the place of the gala nights in terms of the "buzz" on the ship.

 

 

– FELLOW PASSENGERS –

 

I'd estimate that the vast majority of passengers hailed from other parts of the world beyond North America.

 

It was very interesting to meet and interact with people from countries far and wide. We learned a bit about various countries and cultures from passengers we chatted with. At times there was a language barrier, but it usually didn’t get in the way. I was often envious of those who are multilingual. My wife speaks English and French, but I only know English.

 

When I wrote a review for Divina I described fellow passengers as “assertive”. I’ll double-down on that description for the passengers on Seaside, but I think it also may be due to the ship having too many passengers for the design and space on the ship.

 

I’ve read many times that a cultural norm in parts of Europe allows for a different type of order in terms of lines, cutting in front of others, etc. It isn’t considered rude, but rather just the way it is. For this reason, I’m exercising caution in this review and I’m reluctant to describe this type of behaviour as rude, but at the same time it is something to be aware of.

 

The best way I can describe it is this way: in crowded public places, there is often a natural “ebb and flow” of movement that most people seem to understand, with exceptions of course. That seemed to be missing on Seaside. I actually noticed it when we were flying home: connecting through the busy Toronto airport (YYZ) was a breeze after the week on Seaside, since that “ebb and flow” was present, at least to a degree, in the airport (of all places!!).

 

 

– DISEMBARKATION –

 

We had a mid-afternoon flight, which was an awkward time: we didn’t want to wait on the ship, but there wasn’t much time to do anything. We opted to rent a van again and spend sometime exploring Fort Lauderdale before flying.

 

For this reason, we decided to do the self-assist disembarkation. Our TA suggested we line up at 6:30 and that was good advice: the line was fairly long when we arrived, and by 7am it snaked well past us.

 

Oddly, on the morning of disembarkation, we didn’t have an invoice on either cabin door. I called down to guest services and they said it was due to us still having a small amount of non-refundable OBC remaining on our account, so we didn’t owe anything. Sweet!

 

The line started moving shortly after 7am. It was a quick and easy process to exit the ship and get through customs. We picked up the free Alamo shuttle at the pier for the return to MIA for our van rental, and then enjoyed the morning exploring Fort Lauderdale before flying home from that airport.

 

Our journey home was supposed to have taken eight hours, but it turned into a fourteen-hour ordeal –we arrived home at around 4am the next day, having been awake for almost 24 hours. But, that is a story for another forum!

 

 

– INTERNET, DRINK COUPONS, SERVICE –

 

When we booked we had a certain internet package included, which has since changed. When we activated the internet on the ship we were given 3GB in each cabin, and it said we could hook up two devices (although we only used one device for each cabin account). The internet worked fairly well, and I found the app easy to use. The activation is a bit odd: you create an account in the app, and then create a second, different account for the internet. As others have said, remember to go into the app to start and stop your wifi session each time.

 

We each received the 12 drink coupons (alcohol for us, non-alcohol for the kids). This was on top of the previously mentioned Mealtime Drink Package. The tickets worked well: bartenders took the coupons and filled our orders. They did need to scan our cards but we didn’t need to sign. My wife and I used all 24 adult drink coupons, but we came home with about 14 non-alcoholic drink coupons.

 

Service on the ship was mostly efficient and professional, although not overly friendly. Our cabin steward attended to our needs very well. Guest services was fine when I dealt with them, although my mother left very angry when she felt ridiculed by a guest services member after asking a question about how to access the internet. I will say that few of the crew seemed overly happy, and there was a sense of fatigue or wariness among several crew.

 

 

– CRUISE MISCELLANY –

 

The best new item I brought on this cruise: a small LED light that has a magnet on the back. It allowed me to get up in the dark without having to turn on a room light, thus causing less disturbance for my wife as she slept. It attached to the wall beside the bed, and I could snap it to the cabin ceiling to create a spotlight.

 

What I'll stop bringing on cruises: I haven't used a highlighter yet, although they're easy to pack. On this ship a power adapter was not necessary, but we don't bring or use a lot of electronics on a cruise.

 

 

 

– FINAL THOUGHTS –

 

 

We’ve taken four cruises now. My wife and I asked each other where we’d rank this one, and it is hard to say.

 

This ship was much better for our boys compared to Divina, although the relatively limited hours of the water park and slides was a bit of a surprise. Perhaps that is normal on ships – any comments on this point would be appreciated. They could live in water, though, and the Jungle Pool was a frequent venue for us.

 

Our youngest really enjoyed the Kids’ Club, but our oldest wasn’t a fan. The age band was 7 to 11 years old, which at first we liked – it allowed our boys to be in the same club. As it turned out, however, the kids skewed to the young end, leaving our 9-year-old with a bunch of younger kids to play with. They went to the club three times, each time for about 60-90 minutes. I’m sure our 7-year-old would have gone more frequently, but he adores his older brother and didn’t want to be away from him for long.

 

 

All in all, it was a good cruise but not a great cruise, and the little irritations started to pileup over the week. Every cruise requires that you take things in stride, and we did. We do think, however, that Royal might do a better job with the customer experience, logistics, ship design, and overall cruise organization. Having said that, a smaller MSC ship might still appeal to use at some point in the future.

Thank u for this. Sailing on her Nov 3rd with our 13 and 9 yr olds...

The tips u gave were great.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Forums mobile app

Thanks for the well balanced review.

Thank you for taking the time to post a very thorough review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for the well rounded review. There is another "Pro" you forgot - kids go free on MSC, not so for RCCL. Depending on the time of year, this makes a big difference.

Thank you for the review!

Thanks for the well rounded review. There is another "Pro" you forgot - kids go free on MSC, not so for RCCL. Depending on the time of year, this makes a big difference.

AGREE!!

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Forums mobile app

Wonderful review, thank you so much!!

macdon ... Nice review overall, with MSC if you can live with the little issues then you will cruise more with them, yes they do things different in some cases such as the time limits on pools etc and the entertainments team have a similar thing where they close down for at least two hours during the day, this we equate to "Siesta time" in Spain because they do other things in the evenings.

Regarding the issue with the flutes I think it is a case of knowing the right person who to contact, we have been lucky on our last Two Seaside cruises that a friend who is the Deputy House keeping manager was on the sailings which meant we had a point of contact if we had an issue.

It sounds from the review that you may be back to MSC especially as the kids enjoyed themselves.

Thanks for the well rounded review. There is another "Pro" you forgot - kids go free on MSC, not so for RCCL. Depending on the time of year, this makes a big difference.

 

Yes but if like OP you split the kids and take two rooms you don't benefit from this. On Seaside you can book a suite for 4 for about the same price as two interior rooms. Which is preferable depends on family preference and age and size of kids.

Great Review-thanks for posting! We're sailing on the Seaside in just a few weeks-can't wait! :)

I paid half of what I would on MSC than RCCL for my cruise next month, so I'd be happy if it's half as good.

Addition

 

Three things I forgot to mention in the review:

 

Zip line: Much to my disappointment, I didn't get a chance to try the zip line! I tried three times: once it was during closed hours (I went up on a lark while we were on deck 18, without previously looking at the program), and the other two times I went, during listed opening hours, only to find it closed due to wind. We didn't see many people using the zip line - I can only think of three or four times when I noticed it being used.

 

4D Cinema: My wife and I used this once, late in the week. It was a really cool experience, albeit too short for the $10 pp charge. You go into a small, single-row theatre with chairs that move and wind blowing in your face. The movie is 3D point-of-view, and it is a zombie theme: you use toy guns (think elaborate versions of those old Nintendo duck hunt guns) to shoot the zombies. It's neat in that the chairs move along with the movie - the car rolls down a hill and the chairs are bumping and twisting beneath you, with wind in your face, etc. I'd like to see the experience last longer and/or be cheaper.

 

Arcade: Seaside does not have any significant arcade: two video games, an air hockey table, and a claw game are the four machines I can think of. Our boys were a bit disappointed in this. We aren't the type to allow our kids to spend a lot of money at the arcade, but on Divina it was a welcome attraction for them to pass a few minutes on a long sea day. My older son and I enjoyed a couple rounds of air hockey, and he used one of the ride-on video games for a few minutes.

Yes but if like OP you split the kids and take two rooms you don't benefit from this. On Seaside you can book a suite for 4 for about the same price as two interior rooms. Which is preferable depends on family preference and age and size of kids.

 

 

Yes, we felt that we wanted to do separate rooms for this cruise - four in a cabin for a week last time was a bit tight, to say the least. We didn't feel they were old enough yet to have a room across the hall - that's another trick I've read about when travelling with older kids and teens: the parents have the balcony and the kids have the interior room across the hall to save a few bucks! :D

 

 

Also, does MSC still do Kids Sail Free in the summer? Ours sailed for free on Divina two years ago in the summer, but for some reason I had thought MSC changed this promotion to off-peak times of the year.

Edited August 21, 2018 by macdon9876
Grammar

 

 

Also, does MSC still do Kids Sail Free in the summer? Ours sailed for free on Divina two years ago in the summer, but for some reason I had thought MSC changed this promotion to off-peak times of the year.

 

It has changed. I read the policy recently, I think kids 12 and over do pay cruise fare in the summer while kids between 2 and 11 pay some fare. For our summer 2019 (May) cruise, the cruise fare is listed as $120 for each of my kids (all under 12).

 

I just checked the pricing for later in summer 2019, same itinerary, and it's up to $877 per child. If those 3rd and 4th passengers were adults, their fare would be $1177.