First Review 
Our experience on MSC Seaside 
The cabin itself is ok , the bed about queen size , with the smallest shower /bathroom I’ve ever seen , but it’s adequate. The ship itself is simply beautiful ., (except for the 2 buffets) . All chrome , glass and shiny , with gorgeous tiled floors . Very futuristic in design , however , it’s dreadfully lacking in soft furnishings . With so much molded plastic seating , you don’t know if it’s a bench you’re sitting on , or a piece of art . Due to all of these hard surfaces , the acoustics are atrocious . Everywhere you turn , there’s music and it’s blazingly loud . The main dining room has soft chairs , but that’s where they really dropped the ball . They lowered the ceiling , so consequently it’s near impossible to have any across the table conversation , as there is nowhere for all of the voices to travel . It’s a very noisy dining room indeed . Because it’s a relatively new in the North American market , prices are highly discounted , so consequently many of the local families bring their entire families along and take several cabins . This leads to overtired kids screaming through the late dinner sitting at 8.30 pm , adding to the racket in the low ceilinged dining 

 Staff seem confused , overworked and have no answers when asked directions . One can’t help but feel sympathy for them as they are obviously trying their best to cope with a heavy workload and language barriers . I questioned our steward about how many cabins he had to clean . .  It was 3 more than Princess and 4 more than Celebrity , but these people do not have assistant stewards helping . We can see the strain in their pitiful forced smiles , and it’s painful to witness .
 Drinks are obviously pre mixed , with no discernible alcohol in cocktails . I ordered a mojito . Traditionally mint leaves should be muddled with a little cucumber , however what I got was a half cup cucumber and mint leaves and a cup of ice , with a half cup of premix poured over it . “It was a salad with ice , in a water glass “ !
No daily programmes in English until day three . 
No booklet paper maps of ship , instead you use interactive signboard near elevators 
Blaring loud music , with thumping base in all public venues 
 Boarding was fast and pleasant .
Food served in deck 16 family buffet was cold and bland . A week later , we’ve realized that’s normal in all restaurants onboard . They are pitifully understaffed and waiters are overworked and run off their feet . Dinner time is so stressful for them , that you almost feel guilty to ask for a water refill or cream for coffee . 
On day 4 of our 14 day cruise , they ran out of merlot . 
That same evening the poor waiters had to announce to passengers  that the soup was  “off the menu” as they’d ran out of red beans for the Italian soup . I ordered ‘ surf n turf ‘  prepared to pay $25 . for this favourite of mine , only to be told by the maître de’ that  they were out of the Bernaise sauce for the steak . I asked him why they didn’t whip up another batch , it was only 8.30 pm ? He responded that “  it’s a long process ,  etc . and I should order it the following evening instead “  . 
Food served at Marketplace Buffet was tasteless and drab .
Placement of various types of foods was in old lunch counter buffet style , one long counter  , but  built around an interior kitchen , instead of today’s modern  buffet stations . As we know , this type of buffet set up has never worked , and can actually erupt into chaos , when 5, 000 hungry passengers descend upon it , reducing the situation to an ear splitting noisy feeding frenzy  of people bumping into each other in chaos    . 
Two of the elevators were always broken down . 
.Several public washrooms overflowed and were left  unattended for two days . The stench emanating from them wafted along hallways of three decks where they were located . Public decks 6 , 7 , 8 .

Today’s buffet lunch , 
Hot offerings : hotdogs ,  hamburgers. , macaroni , tacos  , pizza 
Cold offerings : brown lettuce , tomatoes , cold cuts , pre-made egg sandwiches , celery , cucumber , and enormous 2L. jugs with sticky handles full of salad dressing .

I personally have eaten a lot of bread and rolls this week , as food at dinner is simply inedible . Tonight’s starter consisted of some sort of thick stew wrapped in rice and rolled in breadcrumbs , then deep fried . It was disguised on the menu , written in French , but absolutely disgusting . A lot of stews and some revolting combinations , covered in semi warm cheese whiz .  . They couldn’t possibly have an actual chef in kitchen , but perhaps instead a kitchen staff attempting to fake it , but it’s a disastrous fail . Essentially tasteless , bland , dishes served lukewarm on cold plates . No real butter onboard , only margarine . No real cream onboard , only dairy product . 
 
The entire setup of restaurants and bars onboard feels very amateurish, and appear to be run by marginally skilled staff . 
The truly hard working staff are the waiters and cabin stewards , and as stated earlier , we’re truly sad for them , as they’re carrying the burden of this beast . They don’t seem to have had much training and consequently it shows in the service , but they are so desperate to please that it’s sad . I’ve spoken ‘one on one’ with some of them and they say , “one complaint against them and they are fired “ . That’s a horrible threat to hold over someone . Obviously , they’ve hired these young people , given them a brief training session and have cheap labour at minimum wage .  

I’ve also spoken with several of our fellow passengers , and the complaints are adding up . Most cabins on the rear half of the ship are assaulted daily with the pounding base of the music , throbbing at a volume that’s right off the chart , the screams , whistles , yelling of the DJ , the non stop pool games and contests . Sound comes right through the locked balcony door . None of the passengers to whom we have spoken intends to return to this cruise line . As for us , if we could have left this ship by day 2 , we would have , but as it happens we have arrangements made and previous commitments to honour , so we’ll see it through , but it’s deplorable and needless to say , we’ll never set foot on any MSC ship again . . . We’re sticking with our top three favourites  . . .Cunard , Celebrity and Princess . . . 

Below pics are Marketplace Buffet and Deck 16 Buffet and some of the dishes on offer . Scary stuff . Note the baby octopus .

It was a damn blasted cockroach .A damn blasted invasion of roaches .

MSC Seaside Review

Cruise from hell

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Find an MSC Seaside Cruise from $79