Wanting to book a cruise on MSC Seaside but unsure if you’ll like it or not? This post goes into detail about every single part of your vacation from food, drink packages, staff, cabins and more!
MSC Seaside is the first ship in the seaside ship class.
It is 153,516 GT, can hold over 5,000 passengers and was launched in November 2016, although it didn’t start sailing until 2017.
This ship has 19 decks and 11 bars.
MSC Seaside is an absolutely gorgeous ship with so much to offer! If you’re wanting to try an MSC cruise, this is a great option to start on.
This post is all about MSC Seaside.
ACTIVITIES ON THE SHIP
-Pools
-Hot tubs
-Bars – the themes for these are amazing. The sports bar is a nice touch on the ship. ($$)
-Spa ($$)
-Fitness center
-Cinema ($$)
-Zipline ($$)
-Billards ($$)
-Theater shows
-Karaoke
-Game shows
-Water slides
-Casino ($$)
-Bowling ($$)
-Arcade ($$)
-F1 simulator ($$)
-Art auctions
-Kid club areas
-Live music
-Shopping ($$)
-Themed nightly parties
While it doesn’t seem like kid areas are the focus of the ship like they can be on other lines they still do have great options for your kids and teens with the dedicated spaces & the forest aquaventure park.
Seaside has SO much to offer and so many unique spaces with cool decor themes to hang out in.
If you’re wanting to hang out and listen to live music you can. Maybe you want a themed dance party at night? You got it. Or do you want to go down their tube water slide? You can do that too!
Review:
MSC’s Seaside is a ship you won’t get bored on considering the long list of options you have to keep you entertained. A lot of things are an additional charge though, so some people might not like that.
I loved exploring the ship and trying something new every single day.
Click here to watch 7 days of vlogs on MSC Seaside on TikTok
STAFF
I had a very positive experience with the staff on Seaside!
I do want to note as an American who is used to over the top friendliness that you can get on lines like Royal Caribbean, it wasn’t the same but that didn’t bother me.
I’ve heard some negative reviews of the staff on MSC but I don’t think some people know there is a cultural difference of socializing and professionalism that differ on different cruise lines.
If you’re from America you may want the staff to strike up a conversation with you. I noticed on MSC since it’s a European based cruise line that the staff wasn’t AS friendly as what I was used to but that doesn’t mean they weren’t nice or great at their job, because they were!
Bar staff
The bar staff were always attentive, I never waited long for a drink.
If you’re looking to cruise on MSC, most likely from a US port and find a bartender named Ted you’ve striked the jackpot. He was amazing at his job & had a fantastic personality.
Most days he was singing to the passengers as he was managing the bar.
If anything the bar staff most of the time spent some time really making you feel special & taken care of more than most in last experiences on other lines that may be too busy and are just throwing out drinks as fast as they can.
Room steward
We saw our room steward a few times and he was nice as well and always did a great job on our room.
Dining staff
The dining room staff is where I saw the biggest difference in socializing from the staff. On other cruise lines I’ve had staff stay & talk with us every night for a few minutes. They also wanted to triple check we liked our food.
While our waiters did not do either of those things, they were nice, efficient and good at their job. I personally don’t mind the change as someone who is half British & pretty introverted.
Review:
I was very pleased with the staffs attitude, service, friendliness and hard work.
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CLEANLINESS
If you’ve cruised on seaside or are considering it you may have googled and saw some shocking articles about this ship failing a health test, read more here.
This failure happened 2 weeks before I was supposed to get on the ship. I believe I didn’t see the article though until I was already on board.
I however, did not deal with any bad sanitary issues while on my week long cruise. In fact, I probably saw more staff cleaning than I have on any other cruise in life.
This ship was constructed in 2016 so it was still relatively new. Nonetheless, they still did a great job keeping it up to par.
Review:
The ship was very well maintained and wiped down the entire voyage so I have no complaints there.
People and companies make mistakes, things happen but what I appreciated about MSC was how fast they were able to take in negative feedback and make a complete 180 change to do the right thing.
SHIP APPEARANCE
If I have one word to describe MSC cruise ships it’s STUNNING.
I personally have not cruised on your luxury cruise lines like Viking, silver sea, etc so I can’t speak for your stereotypical luxury cruises but MSC was very impressive to me.
They offered an insanely budget friendly price and a gorgeous ship. It’s sleek, modern and well thought out.
Some areas almost give a space ship type vibe.
The ship held 5,000 people and it never felt crowded.
I really appreciated that most of the inside areas of the ship had floor to ceiling glass walls.
Sometimes on other lines and ships of that size like Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class, they’re great ships but you don’t have a lot of ocean views. It’s more of a mall feel whereas MSC gave you awesome ocean views almost everywhere.
Standouts:
Two big standouts to me for the ship were the Swarovski staircases.
They were a gorgeous and high end touch that really added something special to the main areas.
The second stand out for me was the bridge of sighs. To be honest it is the reason I ended up booking the cruise.
Their infinity bridges overlooking the wake view were unlike any other ship design I had previously been on. Absolutely loved it.
Review:
If you’re looking for a classier vibe but still works within a budget MSC and their stunning ship designs are the one for you.
FOOD
Food is the biggest complaint I hear from other cruisers about going on MSC. Most people seem to either love or hate the cruise line based off this one thing.
I did like the food on MSC but I did not LOVE it. I will say I only ate at the included venues so I can’t speak for specialty dining or Yacht Club experiences.
It’s really hard to give an opinion of food on a cruise ship because everyone is different. People grew up differently, have eaten some foods but not others, are used to a certain standard or not so it really makes for a lot of variety and controversy in the answers on if the food is good or not.
A few of my opinions as someone who has dined at very fine dining and also loves fast food. Who also doesn’t expect the world from a cruise ship that’s a budget price & has 5,000 passengers to feed every day.
- I was slightly disappointed that on Seaside there are only 2 venues included with your cruise fare.
For a ship of this size it would’ve been nice to have a cafe or something else as an included option.
Click here to read every food menu MSC Seaside offers, including specialty dining & Yacht Club.
Although, this ship did have 2 buffets. The main one on deck 8 and a smaller one on deck 16 so that did help some and I appreciated it!
I wasn’t overly impressed with most things in the buffet. They had less variety compared to other lines IMO for a ship this new. I did still always find something I wanted to eat and it was good but not great.
Buffet stand outs:
The standouts I had for food in the buffet were 2 breakfast items- banana bread and pan un chocolat those were both SO good. The baked goods really did stand out on this cruise.
The other stand out in the buffet was the pizza. MSC has the best pizza at sea. It is so so good and really does top the charts.
When it came to the main dining room I will say my food was either REALLY good or extremely average, there was no in between.
I was very disappointed with the gala night where they had steak & lobster because both lacked any flavor.
However, other nights I had fantastic entrees. You really just have to try to find something you like and if you don’t, be sure to let your waiter know so they can get you something else.
It’s important to note though that unlike other cruise lines, MSC does charge you $5 for a second entree. You can get as many as you want of the appetizers and desserts though!
I also want to say that as someone who isn’t a vegetarian, when I did order the vegetarian options on MSC they were actually delicious. Definitely put a lot of flavor into those.
Main dining stand outs:
- The desserts on MSC were so so good! I usually order 2 desserts every single night and they did not disappoint. Can’t recommend trying them enough
- For breakfast on a sea day I ended up getting the eggs benedict and it was actually the best one I have had on a cruise! Usually they’re just okay but this really had a good flavor.
Review:
While I can see why some people would be upset with the food, I was completely fine with it. It’s common for me on a cruise to have some things I didn’t like and some things I absolutely loved.
The food would not be a reason I wouldn’t cruise with MSC again and if you end up going, try ALLLL of the pizza!
CABINS
Since this is a new ish ship, built in 2016 the staterooms were very nice!
I can’t speak for all rooms since I did not view them all (really just Yacht Club & suites) but I was very happy with my cabin.
I had booked just a standard interior room but ended up getting a slight upgrade to a physically challenged room.
This was an upgrade because the wheelchair accessibility made it a good bit larger than your typical interior room. The bathroom was also larger because of this & the shower I will miss on every other cruise when I have the standard small circle shower.
I have heard of other cruisers commonly being upgraded to a balcony room at no additional cost, which is a nice perk.
The rooms on MSC are like the rest of the ship. Modern, classy, simple yet nice. Definitely not dated.
There wasn’t any glaring stains in my room, nothing torn or worn out.
If you want to have an over the top experience I would suggest looking into MSC Yacht Club. It comes with tons of perks and private sections of the ship as well.
Review:
I liked the room style on Seaside and thought they were very nice rooms and well maintained.
PRICE
I can’t speak for everywhere MSC sails from or other countries sites but when it comes to sailing on MSC from the US site I was extremely impressed with the prices they were offering!
It’s no secret that after the pandemic cruise travel as been in HIGH demand. The cruise lines are trying to make up money that they lost and people for years now have been back to spending money on travel.
That being said, I have noticed a huge uptick in the pricing of other top players in the cruise industry out of the US.
MSC however among others who have done nothing but up their pricing, has been offering amazing deals for cruises out of the US.
Every time I look to book a cruise I always compare pricing across a few lines to see what the best deal is and MSC has had the best price every time.
When I booked this week long cruise not only did I book it relatively last minute (just a couple months out) but it also ended up being HALF the cost as a comparable cruise on Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Two cruise lines that are usually known to be very budget friendly.
MSC also offers a promotion that not every line does, their “free drinks and wifi”.
It’s important to note that this promotion is not actually free. It is just an extremely discounted price on the drink package & wifi that you can receive if you add the promotion while booking instead of waiting to purchase those options after your cruise is booked.
For our week long cruise this add on only cost $180/person additionally. When you compare the cost of other cruise lines drink package, MSC blows them out of the water for value.
Review:
For the price, MSC absolutely cannot be beat. They offer so much, the ships are great, the drink package add on price was insanely low. They truly are unmatched in the US right now when it comes to cruising on a budget and will continue to make a name for themselves.
DRINK PACKAGE
MSC has 5 different types of drink packages
If you end up booking the “free drinks and wifi” promo it comes with the Easy Plus package.
This drink package really is an insane value. Even if you booked it after your cruise as an add on the price was less than other lines from what I’ve seen.
Since there are different levels you do need to ask if the drink you want isn’t on the menu if it’s covered by your specific package so you aren’t stuck paying anything additional if you don’t want to.
I had no problems getting any drink I wanted with the Easy Plus package so I was very happy with it. Not only was there a lot of variety, the drinks also always tasted great! I especially loved any of the martinis on this ship.
My favorites were the blueberry martinis and espresso martinis.
As far as non alcoholic drinks, these were good as well. I got several specialty coffees while on my cruise and they were all made well and delicious.
I also appreciated the size of the water bottles you could get on MSC. Not only could you get a regular 16 oz bottle, they also would give you large liter bottles.
As someone who likes to drink a lot of water, always have some in my room & take them off the ship, I appreciated this.
A couple drinks I didn’t personally love as much as other lines were the Pina Colada and Strawberry daiquiri. They weren’t bad and you may love them, I just didn’t think they were as good in comparison.
Review:
I 10/10 recommend the drink package for MSC. You can’t beat the promotions, prices, options and execution of these drinks.
They also had tons of bars on this ship, making it easy to get a drink and find your favorite bar tenders.
WIFI
I just had the basic wifi on MSC that came with the “free drinks and wifi” promo. I didn’t want to spend the money to upgrade since I don’t use the wifi much.
The basic package wasn’t supposed to be able to load streaming but I had several times I could watch Netflix & play YouTube as well so I was impressed by that.
I didn’t have any issues with the wifi. It worked pretty well & was a pretty standard price.
One thing I don’t love about wifi on MSC is once you log into a device you are locked in and cannot switch to another device like you can on other cruise lines.
This wasn’t a big deal to me but if you wanted to have wifi on a phone and laptop you’d have to buy multiple devices.
Review:
Overall I was very happy with the wifi on MSC Seaside. Especially with the promotion they offered making it a no brainer. It worked well and I didn’t have any issues.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I absolutely loved my cruise on MSC Seaside and would definitely recommend it to those who want to try an MSC cruise or even those who love MSC and are looking to book another adventure.
It’s a great sized ship that has so much to offer.
You will definitely not be bored on MSC seaside and will appreciate its sleek and classy decor.
Seaside is a great choice for all ages.
If you’re wanting to try an MSC cruise but have been scared off based on the reviews I challenge you to try it out and form your own opinion.
You never know when you’ll find your new favorite cruise line.
This post was all about MSC Seaside.
