This cruise was part of an itinerary which included the Austrian Christmas market with a culmination cruise across the Atlantic to Miami. Embarkation was in Trieste Italy and everything went smoothly. This is a very large ship which had a way of feeling actually smaller than it's size would dictate...no promenade deck. Our cabin was woefully short on storage, with barely enough space for our small amount of luggage. We are experienced travelers and we don't weight ourselves down with luggage that we don't use.

Seaside was brand new, we were the first to sail aboard her, so every thing was spotless and in good order. Lines were always long to handle questions and complaints. There never seemed to be enough staff to handle the questions being asked.

The main dining room was very harried, disorganized and the wait staff were stumbling over each other. We ate there three nights before giving up and eating at the buffet on deck 14 for the remaining evenings. At the buffet, you came in to pizzas and hamburgers. If you explored, you would find the prime rib and other entrees located way in the back out of sight. One thing for sure, we didn't gain weight on this cruise as the food was way below par. When you order a shrimp cocktail and get three little shrimp as small as a salad shrimp, you know they are skimping on the ingredients in the kitchen. Several other restaurants on board were for an extra charge You might be sitting by the pool and along would come someone to try to interest you in one of the sur-charge restaurants. Read more