I thought I would write a review of my cruise on MSC Seaside by stating some general points without a lot of elaboration but sharing some of the things that I thought differentiated it from others. I was hoping to relax on this cruise and I certainly did! I spent most of my time dining, gambling and spa-ing. My sister and I boarded on St. Patrick’s Day. My sister has cruised 50-60 times times and this was only number 6 for me, my first on MSC. We both thought it was a wonderful cruise. We had some concerns after reading reviews but thankfully all the issues that we were worried about simply were not apparent to us. Embarkation in Miami was very smooth. Sister was booked as casino vip on the status match program and I was along for the ride enjoying the perks. We were black card members in an Oceanview room w/Bella experience. We had purchased the Spa Thermal pass ahead of time which was to include a 30 minute Bali massage and pass for the thermal area for the entire cruise. I love spa treatments so I also booked a trio of massages that included a 45 min candle massage, a 45 min shell massage and a 45 min Himalayan salt massage. I booked the three treatments plus the 30 minute Bali massage that came with the thermal pass.  Once on board we headed right to the spa to book our treatments. We stopped along the way and booked the wine package. The wines we were going to be able to enjoy were any wine on the menu that was $33 or below. We had mulled the idea over beforehand but we were pleased that it was so easy to do on embarkation day.

Okay, then we went to the spa to book the treatments on the sea days. The spa staff were warm and very friendly. I got the feeling that not many people had gotten there ahead of us because I was able to book all the treatments for ‪9 am‬ on the sea days that I wanted them. We took a brief tour of the thermal pass area and saw the sauna, steam rooms, snow room, Himalayan salt room and the sunning area (for thermal pass holders) on the deck. After that we headed to the marketplace buffet on the 8th floor. The food all looked wonderful. We made our plates and headed outside to enjoy the fresh air. One of my favorite things about the ship is how it is chock full of tables and comfy chairs outside on deck. Shortly after sitting down a nice, super personable man asked us if we wanted a cocktail. We did not have a package that included cocktails but we enthusiastically said yes. He could tell that we got a kick out of him and mentioned that he had some open tables for our dining time. Not long after we went to the dining room and requested that we be changed to one of his tables and surprisingly they were able to meet our request. It ended up being a great move on our part. Gabriel was a skilled, thoughtful, fast on his feet and very witty waiter. He and Lloyd who took care of our wine selections really added to our trip. Our meals in the Ipanema dining room were something we looked forward to every night. The food was wonderful and the wines were more than adequate with a fair number of options to pair with our meals.  We were quite happy that we had booked the wine package.

Once in our room we discovered the space to be quite adequate and the decor to be very pleasant. It was exceptionally clean. Bernal our housekeeper was very nice and very helpful when needed. It was St. Patrick’s Day and we did not know if it would be observed on the ship or not. We had taken a chance and donned our St. Patty’s shirts and it was fun to see that so many passengers were dressed in green outfits and that the ship had some decorations and green desserts in the buffet. I was happy the next day that my sister who was a little leary of getting her first massage went through with it. I think she enjoyed it although I won’t say she loved it but she definitely enjoyed the pass which allowed us to sun in a relatively private area and to enjoy the warm stone loungers, the hot tub, the Himalayan salt room, snow room etc. Read more