Restaurants

The best places on the ship are the restaurants. The Ipanema (Deck 6) and Seashore (Deck 5) Restaurants serve amazing meals for dinner every day. Secret Tip: Check the daily schedule for breakfast in the Seashore Restaurant. It is not crowded, and you can have a delightful meal there.

Buffet

The buffet has a wide variety of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is always a crowd in the buffets, so be prepared. Also, the types of food generally do not change day by day. There is the same types of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. You may get lucky one day and find tacos that you did not see there the previous day. Secret Tip: There is a buffet on level 16 of the ship that is less crowded than the level 8 buffet. It is a bit tricky to actually find, though. Only one set of elevators will reach that level, unless you walk up the stairs.

SPA Thermal Area

Another great part of the MSC Seaside is the Spa Thermal Area. Secret Tip: Buy a cruise-long Thermal Area Pass only before day of departure, you will not regret it. There are two hot saunas, a salt-water hot tub, miscellaneous hot/warm/cold breeze showers, two steam rooms with eucalyptus scent in the air, and a private deck with lounge chairs and a fresh-water hot tub. This is a great place to relax every day after you are tired from walking around in the port or taking an excursion. Unfortunately, during our cruise the "Snow Room" was out of order. We were told it would be fixed by the end of the cruise, but it never was. There was a piece of paper taped over the sign for that room, making me think it will be, and has been, closed for a long time, which was a big disappointment. If you book the cruise-long pass ahead of time you will save a lot of money.

Pools

Generally, the pools are very crowded. With such a large ship, most people are around the pool area. If you like loud music with a giant TV screen, head to the main pool. There is also a small, more quiet pool on the lower deck with two hot tubs. If you like to catch some rays in a more peaceful environment, get the spa pass and use their private deck.

Shows

The cruise shows are interesting. The first three nights the shows did not make any sense, and did not follow the theme of what that show was advertising to be. To enjoy the show, do not look at the name of it or the description, it will not make any sense. Instead, just go to the shows expecting a variety of acts - singing, dancing, acrobats, magic, juggling, costumes. Make sure you make reservations as soon as you get on the ship. We generally did the 8:30 show (the most common time), but also changed our reservation to the 7:15 show. The show times will become 'sold out', so make sure you book as soon as possible, especially for the Michael Jackson show, which is the last night on the ship. They will scan your ID as you enter the first night, and the last night.

Lounges

There are two really nice places on the ship that are quiet - the Sports Lounge and the Seaview Lounge. Both places have a relaxed environment and a bar. The Sports Lounge has many TVs with sports playing. The Seaview Lounge has daily activities, like a piano man, jazz music, a performance by the cruise director. Our group LOVED the piano man.

Wristband

The MSC Wristband is a great addition to your trip. For a cost of $5, you can add a large amount of convenience onboard MSC Seaside. You can use it to quickly debit your account when paying for a drink, or when booking shows on the digital displays, or locking your clothes when at the spa. Although not fashionable, it really gets the job done easily!

Excursions

Jamaica - Bobsled Jamaica & Falls

If you are looking for an adventure, this is the excursion for you. You will start off taking a short bus ride from the port to the Bobsled park. Here you will take a 15-minute ride up the mountain where you will wait in a (long) line to get into the bobsleds. These are actually just small single person roller coaster cars that you can double-up. You are able to control your own braking. It is an exhilarating 4-minute ride down the mountain through twists and turns. Because of the long line, you probably will not have time to take another ride, so get on the bus transportation to the falls. Here you will be connected with an outgoing guide which takes a large group (30 people) up the waterfalls. It is dangerous, so listen to your guide carefully. Be sure to bring water shoes too! This was an amazing excursion that I would recommend

Cayman Islands - Best of Cayman

A great city tour of the best of the Cayman Islands capitol. One thing that would make this excursion even better is a longer time at each destination. It seemed as if we were rushing from one point to the next. Also, the rum 'factory tour' was not a factory tour at all... it was a visit to a rum gift store. There was also no time to actually enjoy the beach, we were there for less than 10 minutes. You get to visit a little city and gift store in "Hell", where you could send a postcard from. It was very fun visiting the sea turtle farm. You could step in a large outdoor tank with some smaller sea turtles swimming around. You could also pick them up. This was a fun experience.

Cozumel Mexico - ATV's Adventure to Jade Cavern Cenote

Another great excursion in Mexico. The ATVs are two-person seaters, and only one person is allowed to drive. The ride is amazing, through the jungle, through fields. We also took a short drive in a small cave. Of course they have photographers at every point taking pictures of you and your group. Prepare to spend up to $100 for these pictures if you want them. This excursion was supposed to include an ancient 'ruin'. Unfortunately, this 'ruin' looked to be made a few years and was the size of a sand castle. The description was very misleading here. We did visit a Cenote, which was an amazing experience. The water smelled like rotten eggs, but most of the group dove in. It was great to swim in a cenote with bats flying above your head.