MSC Seaside Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise because it fit our schedule, was cheap, and was about a month since their private island, Ocean Cay, was opened. But we never got to see it.
The onboard activities were plentiful, but virtually everything was charged for, including such simple things as a glass of apple juice! Coffee, tea, and a few other (terrible!) juices were free, but anything else goes on your onboard account unless you buy one of the upscale packages. We chose the cheapest "Bella" cruise package, BIG MISTAKE!! We went to the Thermal Spa for one day and it was $112 for each of us, whereas the "Aurea" package gives you most beverages except hard liquor (the Easy Drink Package), unlimited use of the Thermal Spa, two free massages, and priority restaurant access over Bella and Fantastica packages for about $400 more per person. And then even if you buy one of the upscale packages if you want to so much as play a game of pool on their billiards table you have to rent it! It felt like an amusement park that charges you a hundred bucks to get in and then charges for every ride anyway!
While the buffet was typically cruise ship mediocre, I will say that the main dining room was excellent: steaks tender and cooked to perfection, salmon juicy and melt-in-your-mouth, the soups were marvelous and the service top-tier -- even the coffee was better than the buffet. But to highlight the difference, except for the pizza they'd close the entire buffet during transition from one meal to the next rather than closing one side and then the other, so there were a couple of hours mid-day when you couldn't get anything but pizza. ????
Cabin Review
Bella Balcony Stateroom
Our balcony cabin was nice with very comfortable beds, and the excellent steward catered to our every need. However, the window and/or door frame out to the balcony creaked incessantly and the door would occassionally jam to where it would take both of us to get it open again. There were also no electrical outlets near the bed so we had to get extension cords and stretch them across the room to run our CPAP machines, using up the outlets we otherwise would have charged our phones with (had to use outlets in the bathroom). And as others have noted, the TV channels were pretty lean as were the available movies-on-demand.
Port Reviews
St. Thomas
Took a boat to St. John, then a bus to Trunk Bay. Most beautiful beach I've ever seen, the water was almost as clear as Lake Tahoe, the sand extended way out past standing depth, and the snorkeling was very good.