MSC Seaside Review
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We, as a family of five (three adults and two teens), decided to try a comparison cruise with MSC through the Caribbean, having had great past experiences with Holland America and Celebrity. As always, we went with a standard Veranda, but enhanced it a bit with MSC’s “Aura Experience”. With one exception, I’ll explain later, it’s definitely worth every penny.
Thanks to Aura’s priority embarkation we were aboard quickly—look for the PRIORITY sign off to the left as soon as you get inside the cruise port. We had intentionally arrived in early afternoon (for a 7pm sailing) and we’d barely gotten aboard (ducking the beverage card hawkers) when an announcement was made that our staterooms were ready.
One of our family members required a wheelchair so I immediately made my way to the customer relations desk to arrange for one. I expected a long line, being departure day, and indeed it was fairly long, but I was in no hurry. It did surprise me that the desk wasn’t fully manned, I know this because I had to return the wheelchair on the final day and at that time the desk was full.
Cabin Review
Aurea Balcony Stateroom
Our stateroom was clean and we especially liked the clever switch system MSC uses to control the lights (stowing one’s card in a slot by the door gives light control) and also the system they use to notify the stewards when the cabin’s available for a cleaning or do-not-disturb. Bring charge blocks for your electronics as, per usual, there’s only one outlet and it’s at the desk. A larger table would have been nice but we made it work. There was adequate storage for two.