Brief Review and Comments - Seaside Feb 10

[calgaryhhr]

I just want to share some brief comments on my experience with Seaside. Overall it was a decent experience and it was great to be on vacation but I'm reluctant to do another Caribbean cruise with MSC although I would consider a European cruise with them.

 

Ship Experience:

Overall the ship is very nice and well designed. The outdoor spaces were appreciated and the ship never felt crowded even though it was sold out. I liked being able to sit outside during meals.

 

A few negatives that I experienced included the design/layout of deck 16. I didn't like having access across that deck from front to aft. The location of the speciality restaurants on deck 16 seemed a little weird and felt kind of awkward. The French bistro needs to be scrapped. I never saw anyone dinning there. That location would actually be perfect for the Venchi cafe. The entrance to the main dining rooms could have been larger and more open because it became very congested before and after dinner service.

 

Sports and Activities:

Pools were great. They were deep but didn't discourage my kids from using them. The Jungle pool is really nice and very hot and humid when the roof is closed. Hot tubs were decently hot although the two aft tubs on deck 16 were never functional. The water slides were good and we enjoyed them although the slide boarding was a big disappointment. For some reason the boards would stick to the slide and would get stuck. The ping pong and foosball were big hits and people were always playing. Shuffleboard would have been nice to have though. We went to play soccer one night late in the week and all the soccer balls had been destroyed. There were three balls in the equipment box that had been shredded and popped. There was only one ball left that still had air but it was shredded as well and had no cover anymore. The bowling was great. I really liked how the bumpers were controlled and would go up and down automatically based on the player settings. The F1 simulator was really cool. I was surprised to see that there was no arcade on Seaside though. They only had an air hockey table, a motorcycle racing game and a car racing game.

 

Food and Beverage:

Food quality was acceptable and we had some great dishes but also some lacklustre food as well. The great food and beverage include the gelato and Venchi coffee drinks. The pizza was good and they had a great lasagna one night in the buffet. In the buffet I also found some great beef ribs, jerk chicken, mac and cheese, turkey and the burgers were good. Service in the MDR was great. It was quick and efficient and the waiters tried to get to know us by having drinks ready for us although we did want different drinks every night. They also accommodated special requests for kids meal such as adding brocoli or green beans to their orders. I can't really complain about our MDR experience.

 

Butcher's Cut was a bit of a disappointment though. The filet wasn't as tender as it should be, the salad was over dressed and I wasn't a huge fan of the strawberry topping on the cheesecake. Service was quite a bit slower up there as well.

 

My biggest issue with food was the dinner buffet and late night options. They had some decent offerings some times like the beef ribs, lasgna, lamb curry, jerk chicken and turkey and I would have liked to have seen more dishes available at dinner. There was usually only one featured fish, meat and pasta dish along with some salad, pizza, hot dogs and burgers. My experience was that the buffet was cleared out by 10pm and sometimes earlier than that. After 10pm I only saw pizza available. They had no late night snacks laid out such as fruit, cheese or dessert. I usually stopped at the buffet around 9pm to prepare a snack plate for my kids so that they could have a bedtime snack. I learned this after the first night when I went to get them a snack and came back empty handed.

 

Drinks were good and pretty easy to get.

 

Cabin:

We were in Fantastica suite 9002 which was very large and had a huge deck. It was a great cabin. We booked our cabin in Dec 2015 as a family of 4. However on the first night when we returned to our cabin we only had sleeping accommodations for three people. We only had our bed plus a single convertible sofa bed.

 

We had to go down to Guest Services and get some help from the Hotel Director. They only had two other cabins available so we couldn't switch and we couldn't put our kids in a separate cabin elsewhere in the switch. They didn't have any cots and asked if our youngest could sleep in a crib but she is 5 so that wouldn't work. Reluctantly, they said that they could find a single mattress somewhere and bring it up into our cabin and set it up on the floor in the corner which was perfectly acceptable.

 

Our cabin was quiet and the deck was usable almost all the time. The wind was really strong the first sea day and second night but after that all the sea days were calm and we could actually go out front onto the deck.

 

Rants and Rumours:

These are not my opinions but are things that I heard from others on board. Food was the biggest issue and the dinner buffet was a grumbling point among many people. A few people were pretty upset with the lack of hand washing at the buffet entrances. One person mentioned that their cabin toilets didn't work twice and they also didn't have any hot water at one point.

 

Someone also mentioned that apparently they are having a tough time staffing the ship. I'm not sure of their source but they mentioned that the ship was at half staff and was experiencing a lot of turnover. On the last night when we went to pick up the kids from the club one of the staff up there had apparently just given their notice of resignation because the staff at the desk was talking about it.

 

 

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[gkbiiii]

This is completely insane: how does MSC build a ship with four-person suites, with three beds??

[lcpagejr]

This is completely insane: how does MSC build a ship with four-person suites, with three beds??

 

Exactly!! Its not that there was a lack of room! The area where they placed the mattress on the floor looks like it was large enough for another couch (worst case scenario)

[lcpagejr]

Thanks for the review... Great room and balcony!! Looks like there was plenty of room for another couch for that 4th bed!!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[gkbiiii]

How can MSC screw up such basic things like room design and shore excursions (on another thread)?

[sidari]

This is completely insane: how does MSC build a ship with four-person suites, with three beds??

 

 

In the exact same way that they have an SJ3 Aurea Whirlpool cabin for 5 that can sleep 6 and has 6 beds!

 

 

Simple solution for 9002 is bunk beds, all that space and very poor storage just like the standard cabins, too much money spent on staircases in the Atrium and not enough in many cabins, odd thing is that Meraviglia cabins look the same and same colours!

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

Keith

[calgaryhhr]

This is completely insane: how does MSC build a ship with four-person suites, with three beds??

 

 

In the exact same way that they have an SJ3 Aurea Whirlpool cabin for 5 that can sleep 6 and has 6 beds!

 

 

Simple solution for 9002 is bunk beds, all that space and very poor storage just like the standard cabins, too much money spent on staircases in the Atrium and not enough in many cabins, odd thing is that Meraviglia cabins look the same and same colours!

 

The designers definitely did not pay enough attention to some of the specialty cabins like the forward Fantastica suites and even the Grand Suites in my opinion. Our cabin certainly could have used some different furniture and a different layout but no one put any thought into that. From what I have seen in the Grand Suites they really could have used some different furniture in their and that "conference room" table looks out of place in some of the suites. At least with the aft suites they had a custom design for the desk/counter top area to utilize the extra space.

[mom2tcdx2]

I am a bit surprised though that they didn't change your booking to another cabin. Does that same cabin still show available for 4 or does it currently only show 3?

 

Reason I ask is we booked just a standard balcony in Dec 2015 for our May cruise for 3 people. We then received an email about 1 1/2 years later apologizing that once the ship was more in the building stage, our original cabin would no longer had 3 people but only 2 and they changed our cabin number and moved us down the hall.

[tcneal]

This is completely insane: how does MSC build a ship with four-person suites, with three beds??

 

 

In the exact same way that they have an SJ3 Aurea Whirlpool cabin for 5 that can sleep 6 and has 6 beds!

 

 

Simple solution for 9002 is bunk beds, all that space and very poor storage just like the standard cabins, too much money spent on staircases in the Atrium and not enough in many cabins, odd thing is that Meraviglia cabins look the same and same colours!

 

I agree. It's clear to me that many rooms should have bunk beds but didn't get them. It seems like they couldn't order enough or some made the cost cutting decision to go to regular sofas because the I bet the bunks are more expensive.

[soccerbaseballmom]

Thank you for your review!

 

We are booked in 9003 on the Seaview this coming summer. Did you find it to be rocky? Any seasickness experienced?

[TravelinGert]

I ate lunch in the French Bistro on Thursday of last week. There were four other couples dining there with me. Not a great turn out I'll agree. The food and service were very good.

[calgaryhhr]

I am a bit surprised though that they didn't change your booking to another cabin. Does that same cabin still show available for 4 or does it currently only show 3?

 

Reason I ask is we booked just a standard balcony in Dec 2015 for our May cruise for 3 people. We then received an email about 1 1/2 years later apologizing that once the ship was more in the building stage, our original cabin would no longer had 3 people but only 2 and they changed our cabin number and moved us down the hall.

 

It now shows a triangle on the deck plan indicating a sofa bed. The older deck plans showed a diamond so the room was planned for four initially. No one contacted us about making a cabin change prior to our cruise.

[calgaryhhr]

Thank you for your review!

 

We are booked in 9003 on the Seaview this coming summer. Did you find it to be rocky? Any seasickness experienced?

 

There was a fair bit of motion especially the second night when we were on course to Jamaica. Not enough to make any of us sick though. There is some noticable noise from what I assume are the stabilizers but again it is not too intrusive. The worst issue is the early mornings of port days. When they open up the front hull doors coming into port it is quite noisy during that operation but it is less than a minute. It will probably wake you up.

[Devo12]

Calagyhhr-how did your kids like the kids club? Lots of kids in it? Lots of activities?

 

 

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[calgaryhhr]

Calagyhhr-how did your kids like the kids club? Lots of kids in it? Lots of activities?

 

 

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I didn't comment on the Kid's Club in my brief review of our Feb 10 cruise because my kids didn't use the club very much. The experience they did have was sub optimal though. They complained that it took too long to get activities going because of the diversity of the group. Many of the kids didn't understand the instructions and direction had to be given in multiple languages. They also tried to schedule too much stuff. 30 minutes for a specific activity but it took 10 to 15 minutes to get things going and then 10 minutes of activity time followed by clean up. It was a lot of boredom and waiting.

 

We were excited about dodgeball the one day so I took my kid to the club. Dodgeball included using only a single ball. Many of the Euro kids didn't quite grasp the concept of the game. So essentially it was one kid with the ball and he/she would throw it at the other team. Then someone would retrieve the ball, get some instruction on what to do and throw it back. For my kid it was just a bunch of standing around in the court instead of actual physical activity. He complained about that a lot. They also did not offer the cooking class on our sailing and my kids seemed a bit disappointed with that because we told them that they could learn to do some cooking.

 

My kids did not want to spend any time in the club. They loved the clubs on NCL and Carnival though.

[thegraminator]

I see from your review that you used the Bowling and formula simulator . Did you purchase a Fun Pass ? If so , can you share with us a little on how it worked out for you ?

 

Also , please tell me that they eventually brought in a bed frame for your child , and they did not have to spend the entire week on a mattress on the floor . That is so not okay ! You booked and paid for a cabin that slept 4 so there should be 4 beds in this cabin . As others have pointed out, there is more than enough room for a bed. Please tell me that they addressed this problem and took care of your family !

[calgaryhhr]

I see from your review that you used the Bowling and formula simulator . Did you purchase a Fun Pass ? If so , can you share with us a little on how it worked out for you ?

 

Also , please tell me that they eventually brought in a bed frame for your child , and they did not have to spend the entire week on a mattress on the floor . That is so not okay ! You booked and paid for a cabin that slept 4 so there should be 4 beds in this cabin . As others have pointed out, there is more than enough room for a bed. Please tell me that they addressed this problem and took care of your family !

 

We bought one of the smaller fun pass options. You just purchase the credits at the desk beside the F1 simulator and they load it onto your account.

 

We didn't press the mattress/bed issue. We were satisfied that we managed to get something for the kid to sleep on and she's only 5 so she was happy to have a comfortable mattress. It wasn't ideal but there was no other option.

[Clarea]

Thank-you for your report.

[mericker]

I didn't comment on the Kid's Club in my brief review of our Feb 10 cruise because my kids didn't use the club very much. The experience they did have was sub optimal though. They complained that it took too long to get activities going because of the diversity of the group. Many of the kids didn't understand the instructions and direction had to be given in multiple languages. They also tried to schedule too much stuff. 30 minutes for a specific activity but it took 10 to 15 minutes to get things going and then 10 minutes of activity time followed by clean up. It was a lot of boredom and waiting.

 

 

 

We were excited about dodgeball the one day so I took my kid to the club. Dodgeball included using only a single ball. Many of the Euro kids didn't quite grasp the concept of the game. So essentially it was one kid with the ball and he/she would throw it at the other team. Then someone would retrieve the ball, get some instruction on what to do and throw it back. For my kid it was just a bunch of standing around in the court instead of actual physical activity. He complained about that a lot. They also did not offer the cooking class on our sailing and my kids seemed a bit disappointed with that because we told them that they could learn to do some cooking.

 

 

 

My kids did not want to spend any time in the club. They loved the clubs on NCL and Carnival though.

 

 

 

We were on the Seaside 1/27/18 to 2/3/18. My 10 year old son had the same issue with the kids club. He does not want to do another MSC cruise. However he did enjoy the show (except Butterflies Opera - which we didn’t care for either).

 

 

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[mericker]

We bought one of the smaller fun pass options. You just purchase the credits at the desk beside the F1 simulator and they load it onto your account.

 

 

 

We didn't press the mattress/bed issue. We were satisfied that we managed to get something for the kid to sleep on and she's only 5 so she was happy to have a comfortable mattress. It wasn't ideal but there was no other option.

 

 

 

We bought the $100 fun pass which gave us an additional $60. So we had $160 to spend. We used $50 to buy the zip line pass, did the bowling @ $25 per half hour but only got one game with 3 of us so did another half hour for the 2nd game. We did 2 games of the 4D interactive theater. Zombies and Cowboys. The other game was Godzilla. It was $10 per adult and $8 per kid and was only 5-8 minuets long - was fun. Did a couple of games of air hockey and it was gone. No arcade. Zip line was fun but not open much - usually to windy. Did it on port day. Ended up only doing it twice.

 

 

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[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your report.

 

Keith

[thegraminator]

Calgaryhhr , you are a much nicer person than I am ! !

I realize your daughter was okay with the mattress on the floor , but that still was not right ! You paid for 4 beds ! You need to be compensated for not receiving what was rightfully due to you. Contact MSC and explain to the Higher Ups the situation , they owe you my friend .

[BermudaBound2014]

Yikes! Has MSC fixed the mis-communication about this cabin yet? Is it still saying the cabin holds more than available beds? Seems like one of those fancy bunk bed couches could fit by the door and then the room could hold 5 (and be marketed as such).