Onboard Seaside: Ship B+ to A- everything else C- to C+

Hardly being told to eat what's in front of you! As previous post points out, plenty of options. You are complaining about a buffet that you haven't personally seen or been to, (which many others have said has plenty of options, despite what some say here), that may in fact be open when you cruise (and I suspect it will be) and that your thousands of dollars entitle you to whatever you think you "should" have. Sounds very Westchester County to me. Looking at your upcoming cruises you might want to consider travelling YC next time. We will be on Seaside in YC two weeks after you, and I am not worried at all. Hope you find a way to enjoy the trip!

Very "Westchester County"?! Have you ever been there? Porchester, Mt. Vernon, Yonkers are all in Westchester County. Plus *I'm* from Westchester County and take umbrage! :D

I don't think HAL's dining room or buffet experience is all that great, so I doubt MSC would fall much below that. I especially hate that you cannot serve yourself at the HAL buffet. It turns it into a cafeteria and I do not like having to explain to someone how I like my plate made. But of course, to each their own!

I really hate that too! One of the best things about a buffet is being able to "pick and choose", like leaving off the broccoli in chicken & broccoli!

And finding the perfectly cooked piece of bacon, not the one dripping in grease.

And the pizza slice that is just a bit bigger than the rest :)

And the pizza slice that is just a bit bigger than the rest :)

I don't think HAL's dining room or buffet experience is all that great, so I doubt MSC would fall much below that. I especially hate that you cannot serve yourself at the HAL buffet. It turns it into a cafeteria and I do not like having to explain to someone how I like my plate made. But of course, to each their own!

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Really? We were on HAL last March and thought that the food was very good in both the buffet and MDR, at least as good as Celebrity (and influenced our decision to sail them again this June). Not being able to serve yourself is apparently to cut down on norovirus.

 

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It is OK. Not bad by any means. It also varies from ship to ship. I have found that the older HAL and Celebrity ships have a lot less variety.

Very "Westchester County"?! Have you ever been there? Porchester, Mt. Vernon, Yonkers are all in Westchester County. Plus *I'm* from Westchester County and take umbrage! :D

My brother lives in Mamaroneck, and I grew up in CT, so..... ;)

Yes, I should have booked YC. In fact, i could have switched to an inside YC a few weeks ago but didn't and now regret it. No one told me that MSC was a budget line until I started reading posts in this thread making excuses for stuff. I thought with their status match program they were trying to convince seasoned travelers that they were a viable alternative to the major US lines. Apparently not. But I'll find out in a few weeks.

I think you have a misconception of MSC as being a budget line. We cruise Celebrity, Costa, HAL, MSC, NCL, Princess and RCI. Each one of these lines have their pluses and minuses. Price wise MSC gives you the best bang for the buck. Their beverages and beverages packages are reasonable compare to NCL ($45/day compare to NCL $89/day plus 20%.) Now if you are comparing anyone of these to the real expensive lines (Crystal, Seaborne, Regent, Viking, etc., then yes, MSC is a budget. But, the only big difference is the food on MSC as some people are very subjective. Try it for yourself, then you can say with your own experience.

I think you have a misconception of MSC as being a budget line. We cruise Celebrity, Costa, HAL, MSC, NCL, Princess and RCI. Each one of these lines have their pluses and minuses. Price wise MSC gives you the best bang for the buck. Their beverages and beverages packages are reasonable compare to NCL ($45/day compare to NCL $89/day plus 20%.) Now if you are comparing anyone of these to the real expensive lines (Crystal, Seaborne, Regent, Viking, etc., then yes, MSC is a budget. But, the only big difference is the food on MSC as some people are very subjective. Try it for yourself, then you can say with your own experience.

As for the drink package pricing, $89 is outrageous compared to Celebrity, Royal and HAL, but that's a different topic.

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Actually, I didn't think that was the case but several people here have been making excuses for stuff by claiming that it's much cheaper and I shouldn't expect the same experience.As for the drink package pricing, $89 is outrageous compared to Celebrity, Royal and HAL, but that's a different topic. Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

I don't know why people would make excuses for any cruise line or ship. I read this board daily and have been on MSC. When I see a shortcoming, I don't try to make excuses for them. Some people may be 'cheerleaders.' Read some of my recent postings about MSC and the Divina. I try to give an unbiased opinion based on what I think and experienced. Yes, I do compare MSC to other cruise lines.

Read each posting and then make your own conclusion. There is always someone who is never pleased and others who are never dissatisfied. Each of these forums have basically the same complaints about Dress Codes, Tipping, Price of Drinks, Food, etc.

Until you experience it for yourself, you will never know. Hope I provided a little information to help you make your choice. Happy Cruising!!!

Not correct. You're comparing the double occupancy CARNIVAL VISTA with the total occupancy of MSC SEASIDE. That is not an apples to apples comparison.

 

In actuality, CARNIVAL VISTA carries 3936 pax double occupancy and MSC SEASIDE carries 4134 pax double occupancy, but of course MSC SEASIDE is the larger ship by gross tonnage giving her the higher space ratio.

 

Having sailed on CARNIVAL BREEZE (sister to VISTA), I found the ship extremely crowded especially the tiny pool areas, with not enough pools and bottlenecks throughout. A very high density ship. I'll be sailing on SEASIDE in a few weeks so I'll be comparing the speciousness.

 

I'm not taking these early reports as typical because one the ship is still very new and going through teething pains, and two because so far the only cruises have been holiday cruises, which tend to have the ship at max capacity, are loaded with kids, taxes the crew to the limit. This is true on any line. I avoid holiday cruises on any cruise line like the plague. I'll be more interested in reviews once the ship has settled in a bit and it's not a holiday cruise.

 

Regarding the buffet being used as a dining room assignment, no I don't agree with it one bit, and MSC has done this for years. It's done on DIVINA on cruises filled to capacity (holiday cruises). On regular cruises it's not an issue. I will say if MSC does this, they should be VERY clear about it in brochures and websites, that if you book this certain cabin category you may be assigned the buffet. That is only fair.

There's a big difference in terms of reaching the capacity between Carnival and MSC. We are experiencing it ourselves. On Carnival, or any of the other cruise line for that matter, you can book any room you want even if you're only one person (of course paying for double occupancy).We booked the Aurora suite at the back of the ship (four people in the cabin) My in-laws booked the same suite and there's only two of them staying in their room. They have been told that they could be bumped from that room in order to give it to people with four persons in their party. You can easily check this by using their website and varying the amount of passengers in each class and you'll see that you won't get the same room coming up. MSC is doing what they can to get to that capacity.

Made me laugh. When I started cruising in 1976, there were inside or outside (porthole) cabins (no such thing as a balcony). Dining was early or late. You ate every meal with your assigned tablemates. There was no buffet choice, no extra cost dining. Yes, there was a midnight buffet (it was set up on a couple of folding tables), except for the gala midnight buffet, which was mostly for show.

 

Entertainment was usually the Cruise Director who also sang, or passenger participation, every once in a while a guest performer...much more low key.

 

So, yes, things have changed drastically since my early days on Sitmar (also Italian). Some for the better, some not, but cruising is still the biggest bargain in travel, IMHO.

 

Oh, and BTY, these ships were 20 to 25 thousand GRT.

 

Stan

You can have an Italian or European experience while offering competitive service and dining options. These are not the same thing. I think the design, the bespoke entertainment, the decor represent "differences" that can be positive. But poor service and making it difficult for guests to have an enjoyable dining experience isn't endearing. Service will improve, you could insert any recent ship name in there for that, new ships with poor service but it works better after a few sailings; but it does seem like maybe there's an Achilles heel for dining<?>

In another thread, someone who was on the ship said that the alternative menu is available every night. It seems odd to me that there are conflicting reports on this. The few menus I've seen posted do have the alternative choices on them. Also, there is a post of a video of the buffet on deck 16 and I'm quite surprised how big it is and how many choices were offered. It was at lunch time but I can't imagine it being scaled back that much at dinner. I certainly wouldn't consider it a "kiddy buffet". With that said I don't think they should be forcing people to dine in the deck 8 buffet. Instead, if they really need that space for overflow I'd make it an "anytime" dining room so those who wish to have that option can go there.

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I'm still hoping that MSC clears up what seems to be staffing problems on the ship (their ratio of crew to passengers is worse than other cruise lines running out of American ports). I'll keep watching these posts for the next several months for the yea' s and nay's. We are booked on the Seaside in the Aurora suite at the back of ship in November of this year, but I still have a booking with NCL on the Escape (an extended balcony mini-suite) as well. I'm hedging my bets and not canceling anything until we see how things shake out on the Seaside.

I can tell you there loyalty level match program was a great marketing tool (our NCL level got us the black level on MSC). It's the only reason I am giving them a shot to begin with. You kind of get married to your cruise line once you start moving up in the loyalty tiers and the perks that come with it.

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I can tell you there loyalty level match program was a great marketing tool (our NCL level got us the black level on MSC). It's the only reason I am giving them a shot to begin with. You kind of get married to your cruise line once you start moving up in the loyalty tiers and the perks that come with it.

Absolutely, us as well! Hopefully it won't be a "one and done" as far as MSC is concerned.

I can tell you there loyalty level match program was a great marketing tool (our NCL level got us the black level on MSC). It's the only reason I am giving them a shot to begin with. You kind of get married to your cruise line once you start moving up in the loyalty tiers and the perks that come with it.

Agree! We're Elite on Princess and nobody matches their perks on that level. Nobody. However, we are willing to give MSC (and Seaside) a try for something different, and it was the status match that convinced us to try. Looking forward to something different.

Thanks for your review. Like others have commented don't like the idea of possibly dining at the buffet instead of the MDR for dinner. I'm traveling solo so chose the Bella experience since I'm paying for 2.

I haven't been on the Seaside yet (coming up end of June) but I try to see the good in things. I know it's hard not to be disappointed sometimes. Here is a thought though: I have never had the luck to be seated by a window in a MDR; that's ok - especially on The Divina, our MDR waiter was phenomenal, which would have made up for a lot of things in my book.

But I am thinking, even if they seat you at the Buffet with the Bella experience... I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, is it? I mean you still get full MDR service, the same food choices, tablecloths and so on, right? So, the buffets have wonderful huge floor to ceiling windows all around; there won't be the usual crazy crowds. I think it would be quite nice to have dinner there actually. I haven't seen it, though. Perhaps it isn't nice... I guess it depends on what MSC and what the Bella overflow passengers do with it.

I am curious though, if I am completely wrong about this lol. As someone else said: It would be nice to have photos or even a short video for documentation. :)

On Divina except for no outdoor spot to view off the bow, I never felt second class next to YC.

Divina has a great buffet set-up, so disappointed to read that experience is downgraded on Seaside. I will be on a Back-2-Back in Yacht Club first week, then Balcony the second. It'll be an interesting persepective, for sure.

But it’s not a North American cruise!

It’s a Caribbean cruise out of a North American port on an Italian ship!

There will be a lot of us Europeans on board plus South Americans, Asians and Russians probably (based on our Divina cruises)!

And we all don’t want the full on American experience!

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Agree^^

Safe sailing

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First of all, "food is not subjective", as this is a cop out for poor quality used by cheerleaders.

The buffet on Divina was the worst buffet I have been on (other than Posea) of any line, including Carnival & NCL. What is the point of naming future build classes, "World Class", if MSC has no intention of even coming close, to that standard?

Food obviously IS subjective, because I have sailed on MSC Divina four times and LOVE their buffet in lay-out and selection.

 

There are a lot of us Americans who don't want the American experience either. I can get that anywhere. MSC's differences are what I've always loved about sailing Divina!

While this is true....Remember that MSC has been aggressively marketing they want to be the leader in North American cruising and their new ships were built/layed out with this goal in mind. This is why some people trying out MSC (Seaside) are struggling with information shared to date or on ship observations on service, layout, food offerings, etc.

Here is a video of the Biscayne Bay Buffet. It actually looks pretty decent, I thought it would be much smaller.

 

That is not encouraging. Way less offerings than MSC Divina.

Why would anyone have to "suck it up and eat what's put in front of them"? Last I checked, there was a main dining room (with pretty extensive, varied menus), 4 specialty restaurants (which all look great), 2 buffets at lunch and 1 at dinner, amazing pizza, dessert bars and ice cream/gelato, and room service. I'm sorry, but if you cannot find something you like to eat with all of those options, you should not go on vacation. You should probably visit a grocery store instead.

That may work for you, but I have Celiac. Celiacs should not eat buffet due to cross contamination, but on embarkation day and on port days on cruises there is often no choice. On MSC Divina, I can get many options plated in the back to avoid cross contamination. If that posted video is a true representative of their daily offerings, I will get to eat a salad, cheese cubes and maybe cold meat slices (if they are gluten free). That's it. No carved meat, no fresh fish, no plain chicken. All I saw was breaded items and sauce covered items!