MSC Seaside Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,308 reviews

First Anniversary, First Cruise, Best Cruise!

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on MSC Seaside
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harrisodaniels
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jun 2018
Cabin: Aurea Balcony Stateroom
We enjoyed dressing up (I highly recommend the Lazy Husband Suit) and our n
Aurea Balcony 9059 - 2 loungers, 1 table/ottoman, 2 upright chairs
Our fun Cozumel Chef Food Tour group. Including a honeymooning/birthday!
Snow Room Selfie in the Aurea Spa.
Teppanyaki Anniversary Dinner
The Wife with Teppanyaki Chef Wayan
My Old Smokey cocktail from Anton in the Wine & Cocktails bar on Deck 16, o

My wife of (actually less than) 1 year, Kristin and I had an amazing time on the Seaside last week and I can't say enough praise about it - best cruise ever, got more value out of our package and did more activities than I even thought we would!

For reference, we had an Aurea Balcony (B3 – 9059), upgraded to Deluxe Drinks Package, and booked our own shore excursions ahead of the cruise through viator.com. We didn’t use a TA, I booked online through MSC’s website in April 2018 and called back MSC Customer Service many, MANY times in 2 months to tweak details, change staterooms 3x (which was NEVER a problem!) – from 9066 (Fantastica corner Suite), to 14038 (Aurea balcony, close to front of ship), and finally to 9059 (B3 as well, but closer to front of mid-ship, directly above Gym/Spa, just above deck 8&7 with the best bars, lounges, buffet, easy steps down to the Metropolitan Theater.

It’s truly thanks to reading CC reviews and posts on the message boards that I was able to plan the perfect First Cruise for my wife. She’d only ever been on a small sailing from South Florida to Key West before, and wasn’t sure how she’d like a full week on a giant 5,500 passenger cruise ship. She loved it! It was my 4th cruise, but the 3rd was on the Disney Magic in 2002! So this was my first real, independent, married adult cruise without my family – way different, WAY better!

Cabin Review

Aurea Balcony Stateroom

Cabin B3

Cabin was exactly what we were looking for, for 2 adults: Comfortable, large (Queen size) bed, spacious balcony, a couch to sit on (or more accurately, to unload our clothes/backpacks onto and keep our towel animals), a desk, and a minibar. Yes, the bathroom/shower are a tight squeeze, but would you really pay more to have a tub on a cruise ship, or trade less room/balcony space for more bathroom? It was fine! And we showered a few times in the Aurea Spa, which had really nice spacious rain showers. 1 flight down from the stateroom! On June 16-23 we had the best Cabin Steward ever, Robean (another poster said he went by "Rowan") - who really stepped up his game each night with towel animals.
 See photos!

Port Reviews

Miami

Flew into MIA and had stretch limo pickup. Highly recommend Larry's Limo out of Ft Lauderdale - get a quote and see if it compares to what others are suggesting, but their service and price was the best I found for what we needed. Our driver Victor took care of everything, from meeting us at Baggage Claim at MIA to providing ice, soft drinks, a cold bottle of Champagne, and a bottle of Orange Juice (as requested for Mimosas), letting us hook up our phones to play a Miami Spotify playlist on the stereo system, and driving slow through Little Havana to make the ride to the Port of Miami a fun one! 
http://www.larryslimo.com

Nassau

Finally, we had no pre-determined plans for Nassau, but we had heard about Ardastra Gardens, Zoo & Conservation Center, and decided to walk from the Cruise Port to the Gardens, which we were told was about 25min along the coast. You pass 2 beaches – one of which is Jukanoo Beach – and then you get to the Fish Fry, which is a famous area of tons of different little food stands, trucks, cafes, and restaurant/bars along the beach that serve the local dish, Conch Fritters, fried shrimp & fish, and all types of ways to cook or prepare Conch. Shortly after we left the Cruise Port area, a local man started walking alongside us and talking to us about our plans. We didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, because he introduced himself as Little Patrick, the PR man for Goldie’s Conch House in the Fish Fry area. We’d heard Goldie’s was the oldest and “original” Fish Fry, so we had already planned to try it, but Patrick walked us there and we had some local beers while watching him grab a Conch right out of the water behind Goldie’s and take it apart, showing us all about the creature. We used their free wifi and enjoyed their AC for a bit before walking to Ardastra Gardens and strolling around looking at different tropical birds, plantlife, and some animals. A nice little place to walk around, and mostly in the shade! We got some local fresh-cut young coconuts and drank the water and scraped the gooey coconut meat from a corner where they also had local homemade banana bread and coconut tarts for sale – we brought them back on the ship with no issue from MSC security when they scanned our bags (it may have been lax – we got our bottles of rum and tequila on without any problems too!)
Had Conch Fritters and “Scorched Conch” (like ceviche – raw chopped conch with lime juice) at Goldie’s – delicious! Then we swam a little at Junkanoo Beach before getting back on the ship.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147416-d1595994-Reviews-Goldie_s_Conch_House_Nassau_Bahamas-Nassau_New_Providence_Island_Bahamas.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147416-d148528-Reviews-Ardastra_Gardens_Zoo_and_Conservation_Center-Nassau_New_Providence_Island_Bahamas.html
https://www.facebook.com/realbahamiantours


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