MSC Seaside Review
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My husband and I selected the MSC Seaside for a getaway that we hoped would be a fun, relaxing and hassle free experience. Instead we got an overcrowded cruise with poor service and a smelly cabin.
One of the reasons that we chose the cruise was the newness and the beautiful appearance of the ship in the photos we saw online, while the ship itself had some stunningly beautiful venues, what was disappointing was that some of these venues were too in relation to the number of persons on the ship. in some places the carpets looked a bit shabby, which was surprising for a ship that has been running for less than a year. Also surprising were the mechanical problems that seemed to occur with such a new ship. On several occasions the toilets near the buffet restaurants were overflowing and gave off a bad stench and on several days there was no hot water in our cabin. Please see the cabin review for more details on our cabin.
The dining on the ship left much to be desired in most instances. Because of the number of people on the ship there were 3 dining times and two main restaurants. We had asked for and were told that we would receive a late dining time but were given the earliest (5:15) available so the first night we ate at the Ipanema dining room and were later assigned to the Seaview main dining room as our restaurant. Dinners in the main dining rooms were acceptable but the portions that were much smaller than usually found on other ships that we had sailed. Our wait staff and the Maitre D were nowhere to be found once the orders had been taken and food delivered in the main dining rooms. We had to order additional appetizers and main courses to have a normal dinner in the main dining room. On one occasion we had to go to the buffet after our diner with limited options available.
Cabin Review
Aurea Balcony Stateroom
Our cabin, a suite, also left much to be desired. On several days during our seven day cruise there was no hot water in the shower. This problem was not limited to our stay but affected several other suites on our floor during our sailing.
The worst part about our cabin however, was the smell that permeated the extended balcony and our cabin on several days. This first occurred when the staff washed the balcony and then again when it rained. It appears that MSC allows some cruisers to sail with their pets and we had the misfortune of receiving a cabin in which a person had sailed with their dog. While I am not against sailing with a pet if it is needed, the deferred maintenance in the cabin produced visible pet stains on the deck and on the interior door connecting the adjoining cabin. When I complained about the smell and the pet stains, the staff proceeded just to wash it again which caused the smell to return. When I told the staff that it did not go away and that they would need to sand it to remove the smell, we were visited by a staff member who tried to convince us that what we saw were not poop stains and that there were no smells. This was in spite of the fact that other workers on the ship admitted that pets do sail on the ship at times and that the stains were in fact pet stains. In the end it took MSC three days of our seven day cruise to properly clean up the deck so that we could enjoy it and MSC never apologized for the condition of our cabin.