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Short review Seaside 3/24/18

Rob-Bob

By Rob-Bob,
in MSC Cruises

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Rob-Bob

Rob-Bob

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Went on the Seaside 3/24/18 sailing. I had booked in December 2015 and had built up expectations that did lead to a slight disappointment. That was my fault since I set the bar so high. This was our 17th cruise on 6 different lines. Our 2nd MSC (Divini in March 2016).

 

The most disappointing items were the room storage and bathroom size. I lived out of my suit case from under the bed while my wife used the closet and shelves. Too small of an area for us to get everything hung up and placed in drawers (2). Also there was no chance of both of us to be in the bathroom at the same time. Both minor inconveniences but we wished there was more room in both areas. We had a balcony cabin on deck 14. The rest of the room was fine and the bed was very comfortable. Also - no towel animals. I am not sure if it was just our room or if they do not do them on the Seaside.

 

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at the ship around 1:00 and were in the buffet on deck 8 enjoying a bite to eat by 1:20. Straight to our room after lunch. We were not thrilled with the buffet the first couple days but once we got the feel for it and found the less crowded seating area we actually got to enjoy going there. We ate most breakfasts and lunches in the buffet between both deck 8 and 16. Usually 16 for breakfast and 8 for lunch. We thought the food was good. We never had trouble getting in, going to any station, finding a seat or relaxing while enjoying a leisurely meal. I give the buffet an 8 out of 10.

 

We did explore and utilize most of the ship at one time or another. We visited most bars, the gym, went on the water slides and zip line, played in the casino, saw every show in the main theater (breeze making reservations and never a seating issue), went to activities in various lounges and spent time on deck and in pools. We did smell the sewer odor the first day around the kids water area but never after that day or anywhere else. My wife said the casino smelled the best of any ship we have been on. It was a pleasure walking in.

 

We loved 60% of the shows, enjoyed 25%, and were just okay with 15% (pure estimates). I think this is more due to preference of content than talent or execution. The talent was amazing and we looked forward to going to the shows every night. Over all we felt the show quality was well above average compared to other cruises.

 

The service throughout the ship was hit and miss. Sometimes we got excellent service with a smile and other times we kind of had to work to get served. Mostly good to excellent though.

 

We ate in the complementary dining room every night and loved our waiter. He gave us top notch service. We sat at table 683 and had Sudana as our waiter. He was great. The service was quick and food always hot. Every meal was not always to our liking but it probably broke down to 3-4 excellent meals, 2 good meals, and 1-2 so-so meals. We never worried though because we didn't eat what we didn't like and could get a snack anytime we wanted. The desserts were always great.

 

debarkation was quick and easy. We got off the ship around 10:00. Outside was pure bedlam but we got through it with a little patience.

 

Overall we had a great cruise, perfect weather, a couple great excursions, met some great people, the ship was the smoothest ride we ever had, and we were very sad to get off the ship after 7 great days.

 

That is all for now. If you have any questions ask away.

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jcollin

jcollin

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Thanks for the review. We are on Seaside on the 14th. We have early dining but are unsure of the time. I've read there are 3 seating times. Did you have early and it so what time was that? Thanks

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Rob-Bob

Rob-Bob

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Thanks for the review. We are on Seaside on the 14th. We have early dining but are unsure of the time. I've read there are 3 seating times. Did you have early and it so what time was that? Thanks

 

Actually the dining times and show times worked out for us the best that it ever has. We typically get early dining (when there normally is two times). This time we ate at the middle time. The dining times were 5:15, 7:15, and 9:15 I believe. We ate at 7:15 and we would go to the 6:30 show. We were out by 7:05 - 7:10 and make the 4 minute walk on deck 6 from the theatre to the dining room and make it in plenty of time. This freed up our after dinner evenings to do any other activities, hit the casino and hang out wherever. It worked out perfect.

 

Eating at 7:15 also was nice if we wanted a late light lunch.

 

I did not take any photos of the dailies although we did save them. I will try to take pictures tonight and see if I can upload them although I am not very technologically savvy.

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Rob-Bob

Rob-Bob

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Also we did get the internet package. We bought the basic surfer package (3g of data). It worked fine. I used it to check e-mails, check sports scores, and I faced timed my children a few times. The first couple days I logged out quickly because I was afraid of running out of data. The last 3 days I hardly logged out and I only used 1/3 of my data. While I was not on line doing things for long it certainly served my purposes fine and I thought it was well worth the purchase ($49).

 

We did the zip line 1 time and they attendant really tried upselling the unlimited ride pass. We paid the $10 for 1 ride each and we really did not have any desire to do more than that. It was fun but not real exciting and not real fast. It did provide a nice view but the time it took to wait in line (around 25 minutes or so) once was enough. The zip line was not open much due to high winds and they only had one line open was it was operational.

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Rob-Bob

Rob-Bob

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We were Fantastic and had the classic drink package which was included with our cruise price. I was great. We could order a drink anytime we wanted and did not hesitate to try drinks that were unfamiliar to us. I would typically have 2 glasses of wine a dinner except for the last day when I tried a couple drinks more than usually in the afternoon including a key lime pie martini. I passed on the wine that night.

 

Ports - we did not get off the ship at Ocho Rios Jamaica. We have been there several times and had no desire. That was probable the first time we did not get off the ship at a port and it was great. We had the ship to ourselves.

 

At Grand Cayman we took an island tour. We went to a tequila place, The Turtle Farm, Hell, The Conch house and 7 mile beach. It was good. I heard more about the Dart family than I ever knew.

 

Cozumel we took an ATV tour. It was great. 3 hours on an ATV up and down the West coast off roading. We finished up at a resort where we ate lunch and did some snorkeling. Very nice day.

 

Nassau we just got off the ship for a short while and strolled around town. We have been to the 4 ports several times before and had done all of the typical stops a couple times each (sting ray city, Dune River Falls, Atlantis). We were really excited about visiting MSC's private island when we booked in 2015. Of course we all know how that is going.

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Rob-Bob

Rob-Bob

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I forgot to add that Stephen was the cruise director and he was great. Very funny and not over the top with encouraging cheerleading. I thought Stephen was always "on" and very enjoyable to listen to. Cloe ran the trivia contest and she was great also.

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Europeantraveler1

Europeantraveler1

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Hello! Thank you for your review! I was wondering....

How did the Seaside compare to your prior cruise on the Divina?

I know the ships are each in a different category but did you feel the Divina had more of a ‘quiet elegance’ and more ‘low key’ atmosphere than the Seaside? Were your staterooms comparable (larger/smaller) and what about the food on each?

We are considering either the Seaside or the Divina for western med. family cruise celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary.

When you cruised on the Divina, did you enjoy the ports you visited?

Thanks for your comments!!

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Rob-Bob

Rob-Bob

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Hello! Thank you for your review! I was wondering....

How did the Seaside compare to your prior cruise on the Divina?

I know the ships are each in a different category but did you feel the Divina had more of a ‘quiet elegance’ and more ‘low key’ atmosphere than the Seaside? Were your staterooms comparable (larger/smaller) and what about the food on each?

We are considering either the Seaside or the Divina for western med. family cruise celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary.

When you cruised on the Divina, did you enjoy the ports you visited?

Thanks for your comments!!

 

I will try to answer although my memory of the Divina is a bit hazy. I did think the Divina was more elegant. It is hard to compare state rooms because the room I had on the Divina was really nice. I was in room 11224 which is an angled/corner balcony room and the balcony was huge. The balcony approached the size of the room. It was the same price as a regular balcony room. I do not remember any storage issues so I am assuming the rooms on the Divina are bigger than the Seaside.

 

I did think the food was better on the Divina also. I do not remember any bad meals and do recall a few great ones. My wife like the food better on the Divina and did comment on that. Also the casino had more games. The Divina had poker and offered black jack tournaments while the Seaside had neither. The Divina had a track and a deck that went around the ship but the Seaside has neither which I fell is a big miss on the Seaside. Also the infinity pool on the Divina was and upgrade. We did really enjoy the atrium on the Seaside an thought it was one of the best at sea.

 

We did pay about $900 more for the two of us on the Seaside for a Fantastica balcony than we did on the Divina. It was two years later but I am assuming there is a cost difference if that makes a difference. I do believe the ports change periodically so you will need to look at those on your own.

 

I hope this helps.

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Europeantraveler1

Europeantraveler1

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Thanks, “Rob-Bob”!

We are very interested in the Yacht Club staterooms on either ship. Our group will consist of me/husband/married daughter/her husband/2 grandsons (13/15) and single daughter....This is for a late June, 2020 cruise. I discovered that 2020 is open for booking in Europe (except England) and nothing will open up for the rest of us for another 5-6-7 months.

So with the grandsons I’m wondering if on the Divina there are any interesting activities/attractions for the grandsons as there are on the Seaside?

I know the port itinerary for a week-long cruise is pretty intense and we’ll be wanting to take the family sightseeing to the many places my husband and I have seen on previous trips on our own.

Also, I’ve read that while in port, the MSC ships pretty much shut things down. So that won’t leave a lot of time for the grandsons to take advantage of any activities they might like to try.

I’m just thinking that with the introduction of the new Seaside and upcoming Seaview,....perhaps we’d be able to find it easier to book three YC staterooms on the Divina? I think there’s even another new ship coming down the pike?? So by 2020, Seaside will be two years old; the Seaview a bit newer and then an even newer ship than those two.

Thanks for your reply!!

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