MSC Seaside Review
Seaside review by RCCL Diamond to first-time Black Card
Rating by category
Additional details
First time on MSC; cruised Feb 2-9 from Miami. Took advantage of the status match from Royal Caribbean Diamond to MSC Black Card. Booked Aurea balcony; at the time of our booking, this package included the Premium drink package, which is basically any drink up to $12. If you book now, the drink package includes the lower "Easy Package" but we were grandfathered in to the higher one, which included frozen drinks, a lot of the martinis (Grey Goose, Cointreau, as examples of brands included). We were VERY happy with the package, but the ability to actually use the package and get service was an obstacle course of exhausting difficulty every single time at every single bar, every single bartender.
As embarkation and cabin were basically the same to us as RCCL, i'll skip the detail there... A+ for cabin comfort and cleanliness and B+ for embarkation efficiency... sort of confusing pathways, and both getting on and off, one escalator was down, but still pretty quick.
There wasn't a ton of "night life" on board... live entertainment was OK but not much for dance music. A lot of old standards and easy listening. Casino was OK, but hubby wanted to play craps and there are no craps tables... played blackjack instead.
Cabin Review
Aurea Balcony Stateroom
Very clean and adequate; good sized balcony with both chairs and chaise lounges. Very little drawer space, but we didn't have a problem... no shelves and only one drawer at the desk/dresser. Bed typically uncomfortable... like a king-sized cot :(
Port Reviews
St. Thomas
Love this place; highly recommend the tram ride to Paradise Point! You can easily walk to this; take the tram for $21 pp to top of the mountain and have lunch, drinks, shopping with spectacular views of the island and the ships. Best day!
St. Maarten
Just hopped off ship for about an hour to shop; not really enough time in port to do a lot as we had to leave by 2pm.