This was our first cruise with MSC. We love cruises and typically cruise 1-2 times per year. We wanted to try out MSC because of their kids go free policy. The new Seaside was beautiful! The ship is very large and has 2 buffets to accommodate all of the passengers. We never had trouble finding a table or waiting in lines for food at either of the buffets. The dining room we were assigned to was perfect. The portion sizes were much smaller than what you would find on RCCL, Carnival, NCL or Disney, but you can order as much as you want. The food was good, we have no complaints! Best pizza ever in the buffets!! Most cruise lines offer self-serve ice cream machines and the Seaside does not. They don't make it easy to find the free ice cream machine and it's only open at certain times. I think they want you to purchase the gelato offered throughout the ship. Look in the deck 16 buffet at lunch time hidden to right side. As soon as you get on the boat, go up to the water slides deck to sign your waiver and get the wristband. If you wait until the first day at sea, the line will be long and you cannot ride the slides without the wristband. Also, activate your credit card at one of the kiosks when you board the ship. Again, if you wait, the lines get long. The kiosks can be found inside the lobby where you board the ship. If you want a wristband that can be used like your keycard (so you don't have to carry your card around your neck or in a pocket) the place to get it is inside the hallway leading to the art gallery on deck 5. It seems like many of these things (activating a credit card, getting a wristband and signing waivers) could be taken care of during the embarkation process at port, but not for this cruise line. Hopefully that will change! The staff was very friendly and helpful. The shows were entertaining - lots of dancing, acrobatics and things like that. The shows are short in duration compared to other cruise lines, but we liked that. I believe they had 3 performances per night. Make reservations to get a seat. You can make reservations at any of the interactive maps/screens found throughout the ship. We also booked all of our shore excursions through MSC. If you book online prior to your cruise, you get a discount. Embarkation and disembarkation were both very smooth and quick. Overall, we loved the ship and it only took a little bit of getting used to MSC's way of doing things. You can't beat the free kids policy, so we have already booked another cruise with MSC.