MSC Seaside Review
4.5 / 5.0
cruiser1402
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s
Rating by category
Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service
Additional details
Sail Date: Mar 2018
Traveled with children
My family cruises every now and then. MSC Seaside was our 8th cruise. We went with a group of 13 people, and the ship had it's pros and cons to suit everyone's needs and wants. Personally, I wasn't sure what to expect on this cruise. I read reviews before which said that it was an awful ship. My family isn't the largest fan of MSC (we have sailed on them 3 times now) and our past experience really ruined it (paying for water was unreasonable, but this is no longer an issue). Some people said that it was a great ship which gave me hope for it. So overall, I wasn't sure how to feel about this ship. In the end, I can say that it was better than expected.
As for the smell that some passengers notice, I faintly smelt it at the start of the trip, but it barely bothered me for the entire cruise. The elevators were slow and a little inconvenient at times, but if you've got patience, it's fine. For one or two days, one of the elevators weren't working, but I didn't have that much of a problem.
Since we were a group of thirteen, there were a handful of kids in our party. From what I heard, the teens club seemed pretty good. They told me that the supervisor was great. I was surprised because my daughter hated to go to kids club but her friends dragged her to go to the teens club and she ended up enjoying herself. It really was just a hangout area for the kids.
Cabin Review
Cabin Balcony
We had a balcony stateroom which was pretty decent. It was probably the same size as any other ship. It was interesting to embark and disembark during the evenings as typically, we're used to leaving ports during the day. It really gave us the chance to see the Miami nightlife and the condominiums. The washrooms were small (like usual) and since we were a family of 4, we had two bunk beds. The closet size was fine for us, but I know some people said that it was too small or squishy.
Port Reviews
Ocho Rios
Visited the Blue Hole which was nice. Depends if you're up to jump. Local tour guides rush you to quickly jump and swim. We went to 7 Mile Beach afterwards which was beautiful. Best beach that we went to on our trip, hands down.
Cozumel
Went to Paradise Beach. Lots of seaweed, it was a chilly day, pretty busy. We typically enjoy the beach, but it was hard to enjoy this one. Stayed in the pool instead.
Costa Maya
Visited the Chachoba Ruins. It was cool to explore. After, we went to the beach which was not nice. It was a dirty beach and it was also a cloudy day.
Grand Cayman (Georgetown)
Stingray City was great! We loved it. Got a private tour with our group of 13. We were rushed too because there was something wrong with the boat which set us back quite a bit of time. Otherwise, it was lots of fun. After we went to a beach which was great.
11 Helpful Votes
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