I’m just back today from a cruise on the MSC SEAVIEW. I’ve never written a review on anything before so excuse my punctuation
Brief history of my experience on cruising. Firstly I worked on RCCL monarch,Legend,majesty,Rhapsody,Enchantment,voyager and Exploer on Cunard CE2 HAL Osterdam, Carnival Destiny Princess Golden and I have cruised on P&O Oriana and Oceania this summer and this summer on Independance of the seas. I had no experience whatsoever with MSC so I read all the reviews and they seemed very mixed indeed especially around food and service
Our experience started when our taxi pulled up at the port and we were greeted by our Butler who took us to the Yacht club check in lounge where we were given champagne and snacks and once the ship was ready for guests we were escorted to the Yacht club lounge and were explained all the amenities available and then led to our yacht club suite which was amazing. It was very big with a fantastic large balcony well stock complementary minibar and fantastic bathroom and a very comfortable bed. The minibar was replenished twice a day with no additional cost.
We eat once at the buffet where we found the food to be of a very high quality and they had a button that you pressed for bar service which was convenient. The wine at the buffet along with all the bars was included in our package. The pizza at the buffet was the best we ever had and all the my wife and our two boys all found many items they liked.
The next 6 night we eat at the yacht club restaurant where a special shout out to Giovanni from Sorento was fantastic. 12 years ago he had been our waiter for our wedding meal in ristorante Caruso owned by his uncle Paulo Esposito in the heart of Sorrento,our wedding party still talk about this restaurant to this day. But back to the Yacht club restaurant, I can truly say amazing both in service and in quality of food and wines recommended some of our favorites Lobster the pasta with truffles Pasta with seafood and the Tiramisu just to name a few. Dinner service was 2 hours roughly and was an amazing atmosphere.
Topsail Lounge
We went most nights to the topsail lounge where again the nightly entertainment was great and the drinks service was out of this world from the butlers on duty each night, no drink was too much hassle and the kids loved the non alco cocktails along with the fact all minerals were served in cans and not from a fountain and again 20 hours a day there was coffee and snacks available in the lounge. Coffee was fantastic we loved our cappachinos and expressos
The nightlife on the ship was so much fun with the bars and casino buzzing until the wee hours. We usually went to a bar or two then the 10.15 show ( again a great idea as there are 3 shows each night which meant we could go to dinner when we pleases and pick a show that suited ) we thought the shows were great we went to four and we found them very entertaining for both kids and adults
I went to the casino on four nights and I can not recommend the staff more and the wait staff also. After the first night when I came in they knew what drinks I liked and the dealers allways had a warm welcome unfortunately I cannot remember names after all the wine but I have never felt more accommodated in a casino before by managers and staff. Games available were slots ( about 100 I think) Blackjack 5 to 300 euro.texas against the house 5 to 100 euro Punto banko 25 to 500. Caribbean stud ( no progressive ) and four roulette 2 double zero and two single zero, min chip on double zero was 1 euro and two euro on the single zero, max on number straight up was 50 I asked about raising the limits but this needs to be requested pre cruise. Broke Evan 2 nights list 2 k on 3 rd night but won 10k in the last night so I was happy
overall I have to say the ship is stunning the service amazing the casino superb the staff so friendly and accommodating ( nothing was a problem ) I can’t wait for another trip on MSC , I’m booked on the new ship through urcomped on 14 April call Balisimo and also trying to fit one in December
I will say upgrading to Yacht club is a hell of an experience
I apologize for picture quality as wasn’t expecting to be posting but with the experience being this good I just had to
Paul