“Dance with the waves, MOVE with the sea. Let the rhythm of the
water set your soul FREE.”
Christy
Ann Martine
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| MSC Seaside |
We
just returned from our first time cruise on the MSC cruise ship
family on the MSC Seaside out of Miami, Florida. This is the biggest
cruise ship we have ever been on that can carry 5,429 passengers plus
a crew of 1,413. It was the largest cruise ship built by Fincantieri
of Italy. When it first set sail on November 26, 2017, it was the
14th largest cruise ship in the world with a length of
1,060 feet. For those who have difficulty walking, this ship may not
be the one for you as there are long distances between rooms and
venues.
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| Our room |
The
boarding process was easy with no hassles. When we boarded the
ship, we were allowed to go right to our rooms and put our carry on
bags away so we wouldn’t have to drag them around the ship with us.
When we first got to our room, we tried to turn on the lights but
couldn’t. Then we realized it was set up as if we were in Europe,
where you put your key card into the slot near the door to activate
the lights and the electrical plugs. The room steward could see if
we were in our room as the key would light up our room number, so he
knew not to disturb us. You had to have the key in the key slot to
charge your phone so there were times when we left the room with one
of our key cards still in while we went out delaying our room getting
cleaned. Our room was spacious with a full size sofa, king bed, and
nice size balcony. 70 percent of the rooms have private balconies
and some of them are quite large with loungers instead of just a
couple chairs and a table. They do have interconnecting rooms so if
you have a large family, you can still be all together. The bathroom
was small but sufficient. Our other luggage didn’t show up till
8 o’clock that night so we stayed in our travel clothes for dinner.
After
settling into our room, we went to explore the ship and headed to the
16th floor. Being it was the first day, the buffet was
very crowded but their was a large selection of foods to choose from
and the food was good. Not great but good. The pizza was excellent
with great flavored homemade sauce. Next came going to the pool bar
and getting a bon voyage drink. This cruise was a gift to all of
us who work for our doctors office in Augusta. There are 32 people
in our group including staff and their significant others, on this
cruise for rest and relaxation. The doctor and his wife are
extremely generous and treat us all as if we are their family. What
a special treat for us all and we have so much fun cruising with our
gang.
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| Miami Beach Pool |
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| Bridge of Sighs |
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| Our group |
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| Joe and I |
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| Butcher's Cut Restaurant |
While
we were up on deck 16, we checked out the Miami Beach pool which is
where there is always something going on from dance classes, to belly
flop contests, to outdoor movies, to Karaoke, etc. This is the main
pool area where there are lots of places to lay back on a lounger and
enjoy the sun. That is also the floor where the Biscayne Bay
Restaurant and Buffet is located as well as some of the specialty
restaurants such as the Asian Market Kitchen, Butcher’s Cut, and
Ocean Cay Restaurant. Our group ate at the Butcher’s Cut Restaurant
one night and the food was fantastic and the staff wonderful. The
Bridge of Sighs is located to the back of the ship and is an amazing
feature of this ship with a sky walk that goes over the ocean and the
floor is clear so you can see straight down. Our group got our
picture taken there on white night and the picture turned out great.
This
ship featured an amazing area on the 18th Deck called the
Forest Aquaventure Park. This park is set up as a jungle with great
features for the kids including a splash pool, adventure trail with
rope features, two high speed racing slides that extend over the side
of the ship, and an aqua play area for the young children. It is set
up very nice with fake tropical plants and a plant wall that really
adds to the decor. This is a great place to be for family fun.
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| Lego Club |
On
the 19th floor, this ship features the a zip line that is
the longest one at sea at this time, which you can use for a fee of
$20 a week per person. It is a little slow sailing but still looked
like fun. There is also an interactive water slide that is 367 feet
long and combines video games, lights, and music for a great ride.
There is also a baby club, teen club, and a young club, plus a mini
club that is dedicated to Lego fun for the family.
The
19th floor also offered bars and a special sundeck for the
Yacht club members only. We never saw that but I’m sure it is
nice. We were disappointed as there wasn’t one club at the front
of the ship that anyone besides the Yacht club members could access
where you could sit, listen to music, and see where we were going.
That is where we enjoy hanging out the most, but this ship lacked
that, at least for the general population.
Deck
20, at the very top of this ship, is where you can have a good game
of basketball in their sports area.
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| Art Gallery |
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| Seashore Restaurant on Italian Night |
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| Seashore Restaurant |
Down
on deck 5 was where the Art Gallery was located and where you could
buy original artwork as well as prints. The Seashore Restaurant is
where we ate the majority of our meals and our main waiter, Enrique
Ronquillo and his assistant, Reymark were wonderful. They did a
great job, were very nice, and did all they could to make our meals
pleasant. They really catered to us making sure our drink glasses
were always full and bringing us whatever we requested with a smile.
Others in our group didn’t have the luck we had with the wait staff
and many said their waiters were not friendly at all. Also on this
floor was also a bar called the Seaside Bar.
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| Ipanema Restaurant |
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| Metropolitan Theater |
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| Shine Bar |
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| Private sitting area in Shine Bar |
The
Ipanema Restaurant, another specialty restaurant was on Deck 6 as
well as the lower level of the Metropolitan Theater, duty free shop,
excursion booth, Venchi Chocolate Bar, as well as the Shine bar.
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| Haven Lounge |
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| Peter Punk show in Metropolitan Theater |
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| The show the Wizard. |
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| Show in the Haven Lounge |
On
Deck 7 is where our favorite lounge was called the Haven Lounge.
They had good entertainers, dance classes, and comedy skits there.
On the other side of the ship was the Metropolitan Theater which is
where we saw all the shows. Announcement in the theater were
announced in five different languages and other places in the ship
only in English and Spanish. There were a lot of Europeans on the
ship. They did have incredible Broadway class shows with amazing
acrobatics and performers. We enjoyed their improv comedy. They even
had an opera with two amazing opera singers. The down side is the
ship doesn’t have a ship band which was disappointing. We love a
live band with horns and on past cruises and have enjoyed some great
talent. Also we noticed that some of the shows did not have live
singing and were lip synced. That was disappointing to us as well.
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| 70's night at Piazza Grande |
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| 70's night |
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| White night |
A fun event to watch on the boat was both the 70's night and white night in the central area of the boat. It was amazing to see so many people participating in these events.
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| South Beach Pool |
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| South Beach Pool |
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| Looking up from South Beach Pool to Bridge of Sighs |
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| Garage Club |
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| Garage Club |
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| South Beach Bar |
There
were many shops on this floor, a champagne bar, Venchi Gelato Bar,
and the casino. Also our favorite pool was the South Beach pool in
the back of the ship for adults only and the whole pool was 6.5 feet
of salt water and was a great pool to float in before the afternoon
rush came. They allowed some of the passengers to put towels on the
loungers to save them even when they weren’t at the pool. We
called them the zombies. That was frustrating as they got up early
and marked the best seats making it hard to find a seat later in the
day. The South Beach Bar was right there for getting liquid
refreshments which was nice having a cold drink by the pool. There
was also a video arcade and a bowling alley with two lanes, and a
late night club that was set up with an antique car, high top tables,
and bar. We never stayed up late enough to see that club in action.
Deck
8 also offered a buffet called the Marketplace which was another help
yourself food venue. This deck offered a nice option of being able
to get your food and take it to an outside table to get close to the
ocean. It was nice change to be able to eat outside. There were
also a few shops on this floor as well as a few bars and lounges to
sit and enjoy music. The Aurea Spa, gym, photo gallery, and the Seaview
Lounge are located on this floor. When we went to the Seaview
Lounge we were not happy with their service even when it was not
crowded. Their help was not friendly and appeared to scowl at us.
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| Crystal Lite staircase |
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| Piazza Grande |
This
was a lovely ship with lots glitzy mirrors, lights, and shine and has
a European flair. We had a lot of fun exploring the ship with all
that it had to offer. Our cruise was a blast with my workmates and
we did enjoy our seven days at sea but their were some issues.
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| Rob Duncan playing the piano |
Many
things were not included in the fare including, alternative
restaurants, the two Venchi chocolate outposts, bowling alley, 4D
Cinema, video games, Formula One Simulator, zip line, gratuities for
the ship’s crew, spa treatments, specialty coffees, sodas, and
alcohol, excursions, Wi-Fi access, and organized classes in the
fitness center.
The
things that are included in your fare are your room, meals at the
main dining halls and buffets, most entertainment, most daily
activities, and the use of the fitness center.
Now
with all the good I mentioned on this ship, there also was some bad.
First thing, is we were all hounded by the crew to upgrade our drink
and meal packages. They continued to hound us throughout the
cruise. We never met nor had any interaction with out room steward
with which is unusual. On the cruises before this one, they have
always introduced themselves to us and have been available and
visible throughout the cruise. Room service dishes were left in the
hallway for an extended period of time. The orange juice they
served was not real OJ but more like Tang. Only a couple bars had
the real stuff and it had to be asked for. Also there was not a
track to run or walk on. We saw people running through crowds and
near the pool as there was no other place to run.
The
worst thing that happened was to a person in our group at the casino.
She was playing cards by herself and was up 2100 dollars in chips.
One one hand, she was wearing a nice size diamond and a diamond
bracelet. She had a mixed drink next to her and a male worker
walked by and put a shot of something in her drink. She asked what
it was and they told her it was Tanqueray which was what she liked.
She only took a few sips and within half hour started feeling its
effect. Her husband came to check on her and she was passing out
and had no control of her hands and couldn’t speak. He got her
chips, got her to the room where she passed out for four hours.
When she awoke, she was hungry with no hangover. It appears she
was drugged with GHB which is commonly known as the date rape drug.
When she reported this incident to the Director of the cruise line he
informed her that someone had died on the same cruise from being
drugged.
This
was a very serious incident and we all were blessed she only had a
few sips or she could have ended up being like the other person who
had died. Beware. Because of this incident, I can not
recommend the MSC cruise line. It was a beautiful ship but much
needs to be done to improve on it. Joe and I did have a nice cruise
but it was too sketchy and frightening for us. Never again.
