Category: Traveling With A Preschooler

MSC Seaside Pools & Slides

4/3/2018

The Seaside has multiple pools. Some are restricted, like the Yacht Club pool is only for Yacht Club guests, and the South Beach pool is adults only. But the Miami Beach pool & Jungle pool are open to all guests. They are all nearly 6 feet deep, so don't plan on standing around in them! Some have a small shelf for kids to stand and others to sit/lay. Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them. Overall I was happy with the pool & slide experience on this cruise.

Waterfall at the Miami Beach Pool

Miami Beach Pool

I would consider this the "main pool" onboard. Located on deck 16 aft, this is the one with the big screen near it. It's where the pool deck events happen. It has the most space with lounge chairs. It was also, unfortunately, poorly designed. There was a large round stage-like thing between the pool and the big screen. So it blocked the line of vision for anyone seated on the pool side. I don't know if they intended on using that for a stage or what... In reality, the cruise staff used the small rectangular stage beneath the big screen for hosted events. These lounge chairs are usually "claimed" before the sun comes up. MSC doesn't have a policy or enforcement on reserving chairs on the deck. So, a lot of people lay out their stuff at the crack of dawn and then come back after they have breakfast.

South Beach Pool

The South Beach pool is on deck six aft. This is an adults only location. I've included a photo of the pool deck as well as the view up from there. The Aft Aurea Suites overlook this pool. Some people refer to these rooms as the "condo suites." The aft Infinity Bridge, The Bridge of Sighs, also overlooks this pool. The pool is surrounded by tables, chairs, and the Venchi creperie & of course more gelato. We did not frequent here because he had children in tow.

Jungle Pool

This pool is what I would call the family pool. There were more kids in this one than the Miami Beach pool. I think because of it's proximity to the Forest AquaVenture Park and it having the magrodome (sliding roof) that was closed on a few occasions to beat the hot sun. This pool also has game tables like ping pong and foosball. Funky seating elements made it attractive to families who wanted to seek shade and still have fun in a pool. We did not use this pool either but walked through here numerous times. There is a bar and gelato location in here too!

Forest Aquaventure Park

This is the water park, with four full-sized slides. My five-year-old was excited because he was finally tall enough to ride the slides! The minimum height for the double blue slides and the brown slide is 40". He's 41". The minimum for the Slideboarding one was 42". An interesting note... The KIDS water slide on the Harmony of the Seas had a minimum of 42," and that one is pretty tame when you compare it to the slides on the Seaside, which were like authentic water park slides. In the center of the park was a small pool with sprayers, waterfalls, and a giant dump bucket! Can't forget about the mini slide for the little ones. The Forest Aquaventure park was a lot of fun, and my family frequented here on every sea day. Surprisingly, it never felt too crowded, and the lines for the slides were very reasonable!

Baby & Toddler Playground

Directly next to the Aqua Venture park was a covered and enclosed area meant for toddlers and babies to play in. The apparatus were similar to those you'd find in your local mall's play area. Soft- plastic coated slides and animals to climb on. We used this for our little one a few times. It was very well shaded, with windows on one side so that it didn't feel claustrophobic. Occasionally a tween would come in thinking it was a place they could act wild, but the parents watching their little ones would quickly ask them to leave.

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MSC Seaside Fantastica Balcony

4/2/2018

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Fantastica Balcony 11209

MSC has different "experiences" Bella is the basic room, a good value if you don't need a lot of add-ons. Currently, Fantastica comes with 12 drink vouchers per person (except babies), better room location, and room service included. Although rumor is, after March 2019, the drink vouchers are no longer available. Aurea includes the best room locations; some with unique features like a whirlpool on the balcony or an aft wrap balcony; classic drink package, two spa treatments, and more. When booking we opted for the Fantastica package because we aren't huge drinkers and we are okay with a regular room. We were in room 11209. About four rooms away from the elevators and two rooms from one of the fancy Aurea whirlpool suites. My husband, at one point, asked why I didn't book us in one of those! I had debated it at one point but decided to save the extra money and go with the Fantastica package and room.

What I liked

The room was just the right size for us. About the same as a regular balcony room on any other cruise line we've experienced.

The sofa can turn in to a bunk bed with two beds. We didn't use it as such because we only needed one bed space. Our younger son slept in the pack n play they provided.
The curtains by the balcony were very thick, which helped keep the room nice and dark for nap time. It also helped my family sleep in every morning! Win!
Child lock on the balcony that was above my own head. So unless your child is Spidergirl or Spiderman, they won't be able to undo the child lock!
Our particular room was classified as ambulatory accessible. There were no handrails or anything extra that made it seem more accessible than a normal room. But we did have a doorbell. That was kinda nice! There was an orange light on our ceiling that would light up, followed by a ding.

The drink vouchers were nice. My husband and I received 12 each that were good for any drink under $8 in value. Alcohol or not. My five year old received the equivalent 12 coupon vouchers but non-alcoholic version. The baby, at 15 months, did not receive vouchers. They were also able to be used on gelato.

What could be improved

Storage was tighter than normal. The closet was small, but it accommodated everything for my husband and myself. The only drawers were located IN the closet, nothing under the desk like on other lines. We knew about this going into the trip, so I brought heavy-duty magnet hooks and a hanging closet organizer that I found on Amazon. We kept the boys' clothes in there. This one was nice because it had the days of the week and even a few side pockets for underwear and socks!
The setup of our room had the bed right next to the closet which made getting into the closet difficult. Not impossible though. We had to sit on the bed to access the hanging section.
No built-in divider curtain. Some cruise lines have a divider curtain in rooms that accommodate more than two people. Fear not, I had my hand dandy travel shower curtain. Paired with a few more heavy duty magnet hooks and we had the divider set so the kids could nap and sleep while we watched some TV.
The giant pack n play. Like seriously giant! My five-year-old fit in it with extra room. I don't know if they just make them bigger in Italy or what?!? It was Chicco brand. Clean and new. It even came with a nice thick pad for the bottom to make it comfier. But keep this in mind because for those of you who typically bring your own crib/pack n play sheets. They won't fit this thing! It definitely took up any/all of the floor space between the sofabed and desk!

None of these are deal breakers for me. As you can see I arrived prepared for the situation and we made it work. It was just a cozy week sailing the Caribbean ;)

Shower Curtain with Magnet Hooks

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MSC Seaside Kids Club

3/24/2018

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Things to note about the kids club-

There were over 1,100 kids on our sailing.
Happy Dinners need to be signed up for in advance, but daily. It does fill up!
The kids club is located on the same deck as the Forest Aquaventure Park, we'll call it kid-central!
Each child gets a red-silicone bracelet with a circular chip inside. This is used to scan in and out of the club, it also indicates muster station on the side, as well as GPS capability if you choose to pay for it. You have to return the chip on the last day before debarkation, before 4pm to prevent being charged for the chip.
To use the GPS locator embedded within the kid bracelet, you pay $18 for the duration of the cruise. It was not free.

Mini Club (ages 3-6)

The Mini Club room is Lego themed. I was unable to get a photo because on day one they were doing a charity event closed to the public and after that, they did not allow parents back into the age group rooms. The kids club doesn't stay in there all day. There are various times in the day in which the kids were all over the ship. Dance parties in the garage club, soccer clinics on the basketball court, etc. We arrived one night to be told that the kids were down in the atrium. They had plenty of staff, but it seemed pretty easy to slip away with a kid in these locations. One night we picked him up from the Garage Club and no one stopped us from taking him. I am a rule follower, so I found the lady with the laptop to properly sign him out, but no one would have stopped me if I just left with him that night.

Baby Care

We used Baby Care every night except the first night. This was the first ship I'd been on that provided it for free! Disney and Royal Caribbean charge per hour for this service. So having it provided was a nice touch. We sent our little guy on about half the days for lunch so we could use the waterslides together as a family, he's too small for the waterslides obviously.... We also had a steakhouse lunch one day, so we sent him then. It was good for exactly what we needed- lunch and dinner. The catch to it being free is that they don't change diapers, give bottles, cups, or food/snacks even if I sent it. Interestingly, someone else on the same cruise reported that the staff fed the baby snacks that she brought... There goes the inconsistency again...

We were given a phone for them to reach us should something happen to our son. They called us nearly every time that he was crying. He's been in ship nurseries in the past, and this didn't happen. I don't know if it's his age or what.

The girl who was there each time would hold him until we got there to keep him calm, which was nice.

Happy Dinners

We signed our older son up for Happy Dinners on 5 of the seven nights. He's not a great eater, to begin with, so the dining room would be torture for him. He's better off eating in a social setting with other kids. So we sent him there. They had themed nights. Dinner was at 7 pm, which I found to be late for young kids. One night was a Hamburger party that I recall off the top of my head. But they served pizza, chicken fingers, french fries, and hamburgers to the kids. It's a cruise; I am not looking for my kid to have a plate full of vegetables. Each night we'd ask what he ate, and he would reply with "French Fries!" One night we picked them up from the buffet on deck 16- Biscayne Bay Buffet. It was closed to the public, so that was nice. They just had the kids in there. We saw trays of french fries! I can only assume it was the aftermath because they were passing out ice cream at that time.

We had an issue on Day 2. I had asked to sign my older son up for the Happy Dinners; the DoReMi staff member told me to come back at 5 pm to sign up. At 5 pm I showed up and was told it was full. I explained that the woman from earlier told me to come back at 5 pm. The lady in charge then argued with me that no one told me that and I was, essentially, making it up. I eventually got it resolved, and my son ate dinner with the club. We had another issue later in the week concerning dining, but it was basically another argument with the staff at the kids club.

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MSC Seaside

3/24/2018

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We're baaaaack! We just sailed on the brand new MSC Seaside. MSC has been around for many years as a shipping company, and now a cruise line as well. They recently decided to break in to the U.S. market a little more with a ship specifically designed to sail from Miami year round. I wanted to be one of the first on this state of the art new ship. It debuted in December, so I gave it 3 months to warm up to the "American" clientele. Before my cruise, reviews online were hit and miss. Everything from extreme disappointment to falling in love with the ship. It was shocking to read reviews of such disparity I know most people are wondering, how did it go? Would you go again? My answer is: we had fun. I would go again in the future as long as a few things change. Below is my "short" review. In the coming days, maybe weeks- depends on how busy I am, I will go through each category in separate blog posts.

Food

My husband said it was the best food he's had on a cruise that he can remember. I am a picky eater and found something every night that satisfied me. The breads are all fresh baked onboard and delicious. Butter was readily available despite earlier reports of "Buttergate" flying around social media. Pizza is also made fresh in pizza ovens a few minutes before it hits your mouth. It beats Princess pizza, which is pretty darn good! There are 4 Venchi Gelato shops onboard. Some just have gelato, others have yummy crepes, fresh made chocolate, and even coffee! We ate at Butcher's Cut Steakhouse and our meal was fabulous. Overall the food was a win for me.

Venchi Crepe

Stateroom

We had a Fantastica Balcony, basically a standard balcony for this ship. Aurea and Bella balcony rooms are the same size. It was a little tight, but that's because it had a smaller than average closet. Plus the pack n play they provided was massive. Like, so big that my 5 year old fit in it with extra room! I guess Chicco makes bigger ones in Italy? I loved the curtains. Super thick, which kept the light out, which made my family sleep in! <3 The bed was better than the ones on Harmony back in December. I liked the glass shower door opposed to curtains that some older ships have. The room was alright overall. Not better nor worse than past cruises unless you need tons of storage space.

Ship

The ship itself was beautiful. A lot of shiny metals, Swarovski Crystal steps, and more. Everything was clean. The elevator doors were mirrored metal and very rarely did I see finger prints. I saw crew members wiping and cleaning 24/7. There were definitely some design and layout issues though. There was a large round stage-like thing next to the Miami Beach pool that essentially blocked the big screen and stage where day time events occurred. I felt like I had to constantly zig-zag around the ship due to areas not open to the public or that did not allow direct pass throughs. Sometimes I had to go up and over a deck to get to something on the other side. Not a deal breaker, but annoying to say the least.

Swarovski steps on MSC Seaside

Pools & Slides

The ship has three "public" pools. South Beach pool was adults only. Miami Beach pool was on deck 16 and was the "main" pool. The Jungle Pool was the magrodome/ enclosed pool. Deck chairs filled up quickly as they don't have a rule against chair hogs. So basically everyone woke up at the crack of dawn to reserve chairs. Pools were all very deep, 6 feet. So hard for smaller kids to really enjoy them. There was also the Yacht Club pool, exclusive to the Yacht Club guests.

The Forest Aquaventure Park was great. My older son loved it. Even my husband and I had fun on the features. There are 4 water slides, two mini slides within the splash area, and lots of water canons. It was closed on the final sea day due to water splashing in to the elevators nearby (another design flaw!) But overall the Aquaventure Park was another win for my family!

Entertainment

There was a different show every night. Which was nice. People could pick based on the type of shows that they wanted to see. There were three show times each night. Problem was, the descriptions did not fit the shows whatsoever! We saw two shows, the one on the 2nd night was The Dream. It was exactly like a dream. A lot of random things put together. The talent of the performers was impressive. The costumes were interesting at times and the acts ranged from funny, to "what was that", to unique talent. Overall I left entertained from that show. My friend and I were cracking up laughing at a few parts.

We also went to My Life in Music. My baby ended up getting sick during the show and we all took that as our cue to leave. It just wasn't our thing and so that was a blessing in disguise. I really wanted to see the Wizard, Perter Punk, and Timeless but never got around to it unfortunately.

Doremiland (Kids Club)

My son and his friend with the Doremi mascot.

This left me disappointed. I had high hopes for the kids club. Lego themed, it sounded like a perfect fit for my 5 year old. But sadly it just didn't live up to the hype. We were given wrong information on day two which turned in to an issue with the kids club staff that night. We also had a few safety/security concerns. This was one of the first cruises in which I had to beg my son to go (we wanted a few adult-only dinners). My 1 year old also used the nursery, which was nice, but not quite as good as Disney and Royal Caribbean's nursery program.

I will go in to more detail in my specific blog post about the kids club later.

Service

This is where the whole cruise can be made. Service is where it's at. Especially in the U.S. People expect certain things.

The best way I can describe the service on this ship was 50% friendly, warm, amazing staff/crew. The first night we had an awesome waiter who anticipated our every need. He was amazing, but we never had him again. The guy running the arcade was uber-nice to us.

The other 50% consisted of crew/staff that didn't know the answers to questions, but still answered anyway and crew/staff who flat out argued when they were wrong. It was frustrating at times to deal with because you never knew if the information was correct. Here are a few examples from the chocolate shop:
My friend and I ordered two identical coffee-chocolate drinks but specifically asked (multiple times) for one of them to be decaf. When the order was presented, she asked which is decaf. The manager was the one serving and turned to ask the guy who made them. He said they were both regular. My friend reiterated that she asked for decaf. The manager rolled her eyes and acted as though we were being unreasonable. Another friend also ordered coffee/chocolate drinks and were given drinks without the coffee. It was rather obvious based on the volume and consistency in the cup. The same manager, but this was on a different day, argued with them about it. Finally it was remade and it was the way it should have been initially.

I think service is something that can easily be improved upon and I will be sharing my experience with the higher ups in the company to help them provide a better experience to guests onboard. I had 8 other families, booked through me, traveling on the same cruise. So I was concerned that my own people were able to enjoy their trip.

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Harmony of the Seas- Adventure Ocean Programs

12/10/2017

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Adventure Ocean is the onboard program for kids between the ages 3-11. I have scanned the Kids Daily Planner for each day for anyone interested in seeing what types of activities offered. My, almost, 5 year old loved it and had a great time. He went to Adventure Dining (5-7pm) on 4 of the 7 nights which made our dinners slightly more peaceful! I highly recommend it. They serve them chicken nuggets, pizza, french fries plus a drink water or lemonade!

The pages are in order by day. On the left is the front side of the sheet and on the right are the images from the back side of the sheet. Aquanauts are on the front (left) and Explorers/Voyagers are on the back (right). I will write more about the experience in another post, this one will just serve as reference for the dailies.

*Click on the photos to enlarge!