MSC Seaside Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,311 reviews

Seaside - A Tale of Two Ships

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

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2018
Cabin: Yacht Club Deluxe Suite

MSC Seaside can be polarizing depending on the "experience" levels you booked. In one area you feel you are on top of the ship's world (quite literally), and yet in another area of the ship you feel you are being herded like cattle. I am referring to MSC's top product, Yacht Club, and comparing it to the rest of the ship.

Before I take the deep dive, here is some background information about us. This MSC Seaside cruise is our fourth cruise in a little over two years. This is also our fourth cruise lines, the others were Norwegian, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. We like to try different cruise lines to experience and explore, and we may have found our favorite: MSC.

MSC Cruises's booking system has two parts: cabin selection and "experience" (service inclusion) selection. Cabins consists the typical selection of inside, outside, balcony, suites, etc. The "experience" you select will have a bigger impact on your cruise than the cabin. Experience starts at Bella (bare bones - three meals a day plus all public areas), Fantastica (better cabin locations), Aurea (private sundeck, anytime dining, included drinks package), and Yacht Club (drinks, private lounge, sundeck & pool, butler & concierge, located on top of the ship).

Cabin Review

Yacht Club Deluxe Suite

Cabin YC1

We had the YC Deluxe Suite. It's not big at around 350 sq. ft. including balcony. Compared to the corner suite we had on Regal Princess, this cabin is about half the size. However, we never felt the need for more space. No, the bathroom does not have a tub. Regal's did. We only used that tub once then it became wasted space. Same with the "living room" on Regal: barely used. We feel Seaside YC Deluxe Suite strikes the perfect balance between size and utilization: you will use almost every part of the cabin you see. There are plenty of drawers for storage. There are two closets where we could hang longer dresses and suits. There were about 10 hangers provided and they were enough for us. Pretty sure the butler could provide more if asked.

The bathroom has a walk-in shower, with a handheld shower head and a ceiling-mount rain shower. Bathroom floor is tiled with marble or marble-looking, non-slip material. The vanity counter is topped with marble as well. Seaside is an one year-old ship and there wasn't any plumbing issues (as expected). However, the shower's water temperature gets difficult to control during peak hours. It would get hot or cold if the neighbors decide to take a shower (or flush the loo) at the same time. It was annoying, but not a deal breaker.

Balcony is a decent size and has two chairs and a small table/ottoman. It doesn't have room for a lounge chair though. Perfect place to tan if you don't want to go by the YC pool.

Talking about the pool, the cabin we had was 18010 and it's located right under the YC pool area. While most of the time we don't hear anything, sometimes we could hear furniture dragging around the deck. The ages-old advice of "don't book a cabin below pool deck" holds true even here.

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