BACKGROUND INFO:

This was my 15th cruise. I usually cruise with just my sister or a group of no more than two couples. But this time, I traveled with a family group of 13 people – 7 adults and 5 children ranging from ages 2 to 12. We chose the MSC Seaside for the experience of cruising on a mega ship and because 3 of our party had previous cruised on the Divina and enjoyed it.

We decided to fly to avoid the 12+ hour drive and the first challenge was packing light so that we could avoid waiting for (and worrying about) dealing with baggage. I was sharing a cabin with my 12-year-old grandson and we packed two small carry-on suitcases and two underseat bags (his backpack and my underseater). Our group likes to roll our own bags onto the ship (without use of porters), so this was another reason to pack light. Read more