MSC Seaside Review
Beautiful ship, minus the service inefficiency and rude, pushy passengers
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise because it seemed at the time to be the best deal of the season in respect to price, available packages, itinerary, and our own criteria.
We were a group of 10 people in 4 cabins. 2 reserved balcony staterooms in Bella Experience, and 3 in "guaranteed" inside staterooms ( 2 of which got upgraded to balconies 3 days before the cruise). The guaranteed room only means that they may only assign a room at the last minute, meaning you cannot finish the registration process or print any docs before a room has been assigned.
Our problems began with Affordable Tours, who pretty much abandon you once payment has been made. Once handed off to MSC for the registration process, it was an exercise in frustration. Our personal info all had to be corrected repeatedly. Even once all info was entered (again), upon printing of boarding passes and Edocs, I noticed more new errors like wrong genders...
Cabin Review
Bella Balcony Stateroom
The cabin was poorly laid out. While the bed was comfortable, half of the closet was blocked by the couch, was barely enough storage space forcing us to live partially out of our suitcases for the week. The toilet was tightly situated between the shower and diagonal section of the vanity, therefore I had to sit sideways on it. I'm only 5,10" .The steward kept the cabin and bathroom clean.
Port Reviews
Ocho Rios
As usual, getting through the nest of merchants and taxi drivers proves exhausting.
We just walked to the local beach. Paid 21$ for admission, 2 chairs and and umbrella.
Grand Cayman (Georgetown)
This was the least bustling port of the trip. There was no nest of people pulling at you.We did a private excursion to snorkel a reef, swim with stingrays, and visit starfish point. Definitely a highlight of the trip.
Nassau
We were supposed to go to MSC's new private island but it called for unfavourable weather, so we ended up in sunny Nassau....again. We were all really looking forward to the new island and all it has to offer but it didn't happen. So we spent another day exploring Nassau.