MSC Seaside

“Dance with the waves, MOVE with the sea. Let the rhythm of the water set your soul FREE.”

Christy Ann Martine

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 14^th 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.

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 16^th 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.

Miami Beach Pool

Bridge of Sighs 

Our group

Joe and I 

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 18^th 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.

Lego Club

On the 19^th 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 19^th 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.

Art Gallery

Seashore Restaurant on Italian Night 

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.

Ipanema Restaurant

Metropolitan Theater

Shine Bar

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.

Haven Lounge

Peter Punk show in Metropolitan Theater

The show the Wizard.

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.

70's night at Piazza Grande

70's night

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.

South Beach Pool

South Beach Pool

Looking up from South Beach Pool to Bridge of Sighs

Garage Club

Garage Club

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.

Crystal Lite staircase

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.

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.