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@WAAAYTOOO you see this?! Now they are both trying to suck up and get into @Matt's good graces! Sorry, @twangster, I think this photo of Joe is one up on your balcony shot lol ?

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!! Disclaimer - @SaltyNavyCruiser15 started a live blog a few weeks ago but out of respect I'm trying to avoid taking over his post and starting this. I'm hoping they continue to blog as it will be an interesting comparison having different users providing perspective of the same sailing. Their blog is here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5849-30-mar-09-apr-southern-caribbean-cruise-on-serenade/ This week has been a busy week for me. Between business trips and my flight to reach Serenade there were four flights to her the day before sailing (an unexpected business trip had me flying over 6,000 miles this week). From my 3am ET start to the day to landing in Fort Lauderdale at 1:44am ET on the day of the cruise I would have been up for 24 hours by the time I reached my hotel if it were not for sleeping on the MD88, 767, 757 and 737 it took to arrive here. Someone today asked me what class of ship Serenade is and I drew a blank, I couldn't even remember half the classes. Yeah I'm tired. A cruise starting with two sea days is perfect right now. Itinerary Sea Day, Sea Day, St Thomas, St Croix, Martinique, St Kitts, St Maarten, Sea Day, Sea Day Excursions (booked during a recent sail event:) Skipping St. Croix excursion due to work requirements. I'm familiar with St. Croix from having done some work there so once conference calls are over I'll wander around a bit on my own. Fun fact - St Croix is home to the Eastern most point of the United States (excluding the main land). Fort Lauderdale - Port Everglades I called my hotel twice throughout the day to make sure they wouldn't give away my room as a no-show given my 2am arrival. It was nearly 3am when I crashed into the hotel bed. I woke at 8am to re-arrange my luggage and inventory what I missed since packing for the cruise a week ago. I did pretty good and double packed some items. Lyft was $12 and I arrived at terminal 19 at 10:10am. Apparently they were doing work on some terminals so we couldn't use terminal 18 or 29. I haven't used terminal 19 since a cruise on another line in 2013. It hasn't changed much (still small). The terminal contractors seemed to like it as much as I did. Suites/Pinnacle boarded at 10:30, Diamond Plus at 10:40-ish and a few minutes later they called Diamond - the escalator can only take so many at a time so they regulate flow. Not bad - just over 30 minutes from my early terminal arrival to boarding. Pretty painless. BTW - terminal 19 also has free wifi. Lunch in the WJ. Honey Stung Chicken and Curry and a few other things and before I knew I it my plate looked like food coma. I need a nap. Cabins opened right at 1pm as offered. Cabin and dinner pictures tomorrow once I've slept.

"Twang-bot"

I think that, of all the new sights, sounds, and smells from my first cruise in '15 on Freedom, it was exactly the color of the ocean that made the longest-lasting impact on me. All of the water around here, ocean, river, and freshwater lakes is that murky, booger-colored green. Then when I saw all of that gorgeous, deep blue, I was mesmerized! Keep havin' fun, y'all!

Took a couple of minutes to stand in our balcony and take in the view. It’s truly breathtaking. I am SO glad I invested in these add-on lenses, as they’re helping me take photos that capture the memories so much better than the plain camera. As you can see, we’re almost exactly in the middle between the bridge wing and the whirlpool on deck 11. I’ve never seen the ocean such a cobalt blue. It makes me pause every time I see it, just to take it in. Being a New Jerseyan, the Atlantic has always been more of a greenish tint whenever I’d go to a beach. I just assumed you had to get to a Caribbean island to see blues like this.

I won! Woohoo! At the CC Meet & Mingle they had a raffle for "stuff you'd never buy" and I won an RC backpack. Our ship representative warned us several times they tend to fall apart but knew exactly how they could be fixed by sewing them up with dental floss. Things you make you go "hmmm". I should have brought my dental floss needle, but heck it's free and I won it (I never win anything). Enjoying my balcony today... how else? I thought I'd test out wifi calling given that this is a non-O3b ship. I called my agent to save $400 on a December cruise. Not bad, the call broke up a few times but in the end I saved $400 so I'll take it! As I sat there I spotted a celebrity approaching. Using my bot-like vision I discovered it's the Celebrity Silhouette. Soon after some birds came along. At first I wasn't sure what they were doing out here but then it became obvious. Success! Flying fish being taught a lesson by a flying bird - better to stay in the water.

AM: Adventure OTS – Daniel Dornas until April. (no replacement known yet) Allure OTS – Grant Martin returned January 21 for 4 months. Anthem OTS – Caroline Peters started February 9 until April 7, then Tanya Yates Tongue (aka Tornado Tanya) takes over April 7 for 4 months, followed by Flavio Maeda in August for 2 months. Brilliance OTS – Enzo Matijaca started early April. Empress OTS – Mickey Martin started late February/early March. Enchantment OTS – Assata Young-Mayers returned in December for 4 months. Explorer OTS – Current AM unknown, as of last week. Aysy Sadrislamova will likely return in June. Freedom OTS – Alexander Schmidt started early December until mid April, then Margot Van Erck takes over mid April until June. Grandeur OTS – Cecy Del Razo started February 10 for 4 months. Harmony OTS – Jerry Kubli returned February 3rd until late-May. Independence OTS – Elizabeth Hackett started mid-January until May 20. Mark Rous returns May 20 for 2 months. Jewel OTS – Daniel Klophaus started in November for 4 months. He may be on vacation now, but replacement is currently unknown. Liberty OTS – Katrina Blair started January 14 for 4 months, then Alex Green takes over May 27 until July 22, followed by Katrina again July 22 for 4 months. Majesty OTS – Mosese (Moe) Vatuloka started in September, although Geoffrey Jones from the Cruise Director's Staff has stepped up to AM on a number of occasions since. Unsure of who is currently there. Mariner OTS – Renato Arana started early April for 4 months. Navigator OTS – Mark Rous returned March 1 until May 20, then Daniel Edward returns May 20. Oasis OTS – Tresha Robb started February 11 until mid-June, then Flavio Maeda for 2 months. Ovation OTS – Angelle Rutten Van Hemert started late-January for the rest of the Australian season. An Asian AM will likely take over soon. Quantum OTS – Bonnie Bai was onboard in December, although unknown if she is still there. Radiance OTS – Alex Green started mid-March for 2 months. Rhapsody OTS – Eric Lopez returned late-February for 4 months. Serenade OTS – Alison Hasler started January 26 for 4 months. Symphony OTS – Katy McCullagh joined March 31 for 4 months. Amy Tripp is also onboard, likely to assist while the ship is still in her first few sailings. Vision OTS – Currently unknown. Possibly Talita Leoni? Voyager OTS – Claire Booth started late-January, although is due for vacation soon.

I am providing a CD & AM update. The AM List on CC is never updated, and I already do the CD List there so can paste that into here. CD: Adventure OTS - Mercedes LaFuentes took over February 27 for 6 weeks. (then who?) Allure OTS - Jimmy Rhodes returns March 11 for 4 months, then Mitch Meruccireturns mid-July for 2 months. Anthem OTS - Clo O'Connor early March until May 13, then Dennis Charles returns May 13 for 4 months. Brilliance OTS - Abe Hughes started March 31 until early-July, then Clo O'Connor will be CD from July until September. (exact dates needed) Empress OTS - Hugo Arenas began November 10 for 4 months. (then who?) Enchantment OTS - Michelle Pimentinha Oliveira returned December 15 for 4 months, then Bobby Broughton returns late-April. (need handover date) Explorer OTS - Graham Seymour returned February 9 (until when?). Topi Ylönenreturns June 8 until July 27. Graham is wanted to be kept on Explorer by the HD, so may be regular CD again for the rest of 2018. Freedom OTS - Drew Devine starts March 17 until July 28, then Topi Ylönen returns July 28 until September 29, followed by Drew September 29 for 4 months. Grandeur OTS - Bob Leininger began November 30 until mid-April, then Mike Szwajkowski for 2 months, then Bob returns mid-June until October 6, then Mitch Merucci from October 6 until December 1, followed by Bob starting December 1 for another 4 month contract. Harmony OTS - Marc Walker begins February 3 until April 21, then Dru Pavlov returns April 21 until August 4, then Marc returns again from August 4 until October 6. Independence OTS - Tim Connor started March 15 until May 28, then Joff Eatonreturns May 28 for the Summer season for 4 months. Jewel OTS - Andrea Olivieri started February 25. (for 4 months?) Liberty OTS - John Blair took over January 14 until May 27, and returns July 22 for 4 months. Majesty OTS - Susan Adams took over February 26. (for 4 months?) Mariner OTS - Ricky Matthews is said to have taken over for the repositioning, dry dock and start of the Miami cruises. (Will Carlos Torres also be working on Mariner later this year, as initially reported?) Navigator OTS - Simona Ferraiuolo took over March 16 for 2 months. (then who?). Cuddy Cudworth returns in August after a contract on Radiance. Oasis OTS - Jeff Arpin returned early March for 2 months, followed by Dan Whitney early May for 4 months. (need dates) Ovation OTS - Mike Hunnerup returned March 23 (for 4 months?). Quantum OTS - Chris Brown returned mid November for 4 months, then Paul Rutterstarts in March for 2 months and again from September for 3 months. (need handover date) Radiance OTS - Mitch Merucci started March 18 until April 18. Cuddy Cudworth is joining Radiance for his next contract. (dates unknown) Rhapsody OTS - Elvis Pinto returned early February for 4 months. (then who?)Serenade OTS - Carly Boileau returns February 5 (until when? then who?)Symphony OTS - Michele Scarpato and Bobby Brown are the launch CD's, sharing duties. Current dates are unknown, but Michele will be CD in early-July, and Bobby for the TA. Marc Walker takes over November 9 in Miami until February 16. (He joins Oct 23 for a 17 day handover) Vision OTS - Ken Jones returned February 9 for 2 months, then Steve Davis returns April 6 until August 11. Voyager OTS - Carlos Torres began late-January until late-May.

Twang-bot, do they have the cinema on board Serenade ? I don't recall whether all of the R class ships still have a cinema or not !!

Day 3 - Sea Day MDR Dinner Menu I actually ate in the Windjammer where I was pleased to find the Duck À L'Orange among other selections. Some late afternoon and sunset pictures. Viking Crown Lounge As I was sitting in the pub this was dropped off at my table.

Ending with with our overall impressions, some random thoughts and going back to my original concerns. Overall, Harmony is a great ship and we’d be thrilled to go on it again. Food: Very good. Breakfast we ate in Mini Bites all week for made to order omelets and eggs. Great selection in the buffet too. I thought it was a mini Windjammer…not quite the selection but had what we’d typically eat without the crowds. Lunch was always at Park Cafe. D6 didn’t like it but we’d ride the Ultimate Abyss to the Boardwalk for a hot dog and carry it up to the Park Cafe to eat with everyone else. I enjoyed the salad and sandwich selection. For dinner, we ate in the MDR every night. Except for the first night, dinners took about an hour..this was quicker than MTD on Liberty. We had some great dishes..the prime rib & lamb were our favorites. I know food is subjective but it is quite good considering they are trying to feed about 2000 people at once. There were no or at least very few specialty dining reservations available after day 3. Grade: Very Good Entertainment: We made it to all the main shows: Grease, Fine Line (only done during the day due to weather), Headliner (ventriloquist Ronn Lucas), Columbus and comedy show. MIL found comedian too edgy but we enjoyed them. We all enjoyed the family comedy show the last evening. A mixed review of Columbus..didn’t love it but I liked how they made fun of themselves. Grade: Good Daytime activities: D6 is finally tall enough for slides. Most of our sea days were spent in the pools and slides. Loved Ultimate Abyss and the water slides. Older 2 kids tried zip lining the first day and thought it was ok...wouldn’t wait for it. Didn’t try the rock wall or ice skating. MIL had several massages which she loved. I had one too but MIL made a reservation for 50 minute massage but I ended up with 75 minutes. I loved it but was surprised and I was not happy with extra cost. Biggest problem was there was too much to do and not enough time. Adventure Ocean: S15 had a friend from school on the ship so he didn’t attend the teen club as much as he has in the past. D6 only went in the evening...slides were her daytime activity. S11 loved the Voyagers club, made a few friends and he routinely checked himself in and out during the day. He always went in the evening. This is different than the past on Liberty where I had to make him go in the evenings. Random things: MDR Dress: The most casual cruise we’ve ever taken. No more smart casual. The cruise compass lists dress as casual and people took advantage. I’d say a good portion of men where in nice shorts and polos on casual nights. Even on formal night, saw several t-shirts and shorts. Mass and Passover services: It is the week before Easter, there was a Catholic priest on board and he held a Catholic Mass every day. On Good Friday, he held a Good Friday service. There was a Passover Service that you had to register for at Guest Services. The full price of drink package: Deluxe $63, Refreshment $26 and Soda $9.50. Bar Service: On Air was a great place to grab a quick drink to go. Also the Pub had a good selection of wine (On Liberty, I remember having to run to Vintages to get a glass of wine). Account Statements: I always check my statement on TV so was surprised to see the written one at the end of the cruise. A $100 pool towel charge on the last night. A quick trip to guest services and it was removed but I would have been stressed out if we had an early flight. Prepaying everything made for a light bill for us. Bookings and Sales: I booked MTD and the Beach Bungalows in September. The beach bungalows were never on sale. Drink package was booked in October during a sale for $47...cheapest I saw. Dragons Breath Flight Line was also on sale in October for $83. I did see it cheaper at $78 in February but the times were late and I didn’t want to lose my time slot to save $5. Going back to my original concerns:*DD18 just turned 18 a few weeks ago and worried about meeting other young adults without teen club.*Is the ship just too big?*Will the staterooms be too small? They will be the smallest (square footage) we’ve stayed in.*Is it worth the extra “surcharge” for this class ship? The price per person per night is significantly more than other cruises...even staying in a JS on Liberty last year the week before Easter. We’ll see if we feel it is worth the extra cost. 1. There were some meet and greets for 18-20 yo starting on Day 3 but they weren’t organized events and were not attended. D18 ended up hanging out with us which was very nice as in the past I didn’t feel like I’d see much of her during the cruise. 2. Yes it is big. Having been on other cruises, we could figure it out fairly quickly. My MIL had a tougher time and routinely was lost. There is no way to do everything in a week. 3. The staterooms are too small for us, especially if we had to sleep 4 in one. I’d probably book 2 connecting Junior Suites next time. 4. This is a tough one to answer. The price of one Spring Break cruise on Harmony is the same as a 5 night cruise over Thanksgiving in a JS AND a week cruise in 3 staterooms on Adventure for Spring Break 2019. So would I rather have 2 cruises or one? In 2020 and 2021, we’ll be back to one cruise a year and I would try for another Oasis class. I feel like this is a splurge, as we also like to do other vacations, but I may only have a few more years of cruising with all 6 of us. That's all from Harmony! Time to start planning our Independence cruise for Thanksgiving!

#balconylife #chillin #rcblogsupporter

Early risers get rewarded with a calm WJ lol. Unfortunately, that will never be me...

@JLMoran love seeing this through your "first timer" eyes too. I stopped a bit to reflect after reading your "ocean is so cobalt blue" comment. Such a good reminder to not take things for granted after many cruises. Every cruise and vacation is a blessing and a joy. Enjoy your day!

Windjammer Breakfast Located deck 11 aft Two egg stations, one for fried eggs and one for omelettes. That's Kristen, my assistant wait staff during dinner in the MDR. The egg stations use a ticket system unlike from what I''ve seen on other ships. You place your order and are handed a ticket with a two digit number. You are free to wander around and gather other food then come back when your number is up and collect your order. It works quite well. Mmmm, bacon. Several flavors of pancakes kept warm under cover. Lots of fresh fruit. Smoked Mackerel and Smoked Salmon. Al Fresco Seating with aft views If you've ever eaten in a Windjammer on any ship, you'll quickly feel at home on Serenade with the added bonus of outdoor seating.

Embarkation Day recap... We checked out of the hotel about 10:20 and hailed a Lyft. The experience was not nearly as smooth this time; the first assigned driver mysteriously changed the ride to “in progress” without ever showing up, and I had to cancel that one and hail another (thankfully with no penalty applied). The second driver we got showed up earlier than predicted, but clearly didn’t know the area fully as he was blindly following Lyft’s GPS directions and I could see it was taking him in a crazy route compared to where the port was. It eventually got us there, and we made our way to Terminal 29, the very last one in the port. As we made our way through, we passed Harmony of the Seas, Carnival Conquest, and HAL Nieuw Amsterdam. It was indeed a busy day in the port! We arrived about 11:10, and there was already a good line of cars forming for drop-off. We checked our bags with a porter and I tipped $10 for our 8 bags (four big suitcases and four carry-ons that we wanted to check, while keeping the essentials in our backpacks and handbags). I was openly gawking at the ship and the sheer size of her, now that I could see her up close. I kind of pissed off the port workers as I failed to quickly follow their directions to GTFO and go into security, and just stood there for a minute debating whether to take a picture (I didn’t). From there we quickly went through security, and ship check-in was relatively fast as well comparing to other times I’ve seen reported here. We boarded Freedom around 11:50, so a 40 minute turnaround. Considering the large crowd already there when we arrived, and the time I “wasted” ogling her from outside the terminal building, I’d consider that pretty good. Sadly, our t-shirts advertising our 20th anniversary got us no love from any attendants, and we had to take the “no status” line. Here’s a shot of the crowd at the checkin counter, plus a panoramic showing it wasn’t actually that crowded. We boarded on deck 4, and went straight to the gym and spa so my wife could find out about those unlimited classes. Unfortunately, this resulted in us getting the guided spa tour, which none of us wanted but we got roped into as we didn’t see the way into the gym that bypassed the spa. We realized afterward that we should have gotten off at deck 11 instead of 12. My wife ended up not signing on to the unlimited classes in the gym, deciding she’ll be fine just using the complimentary equipment. But she did sign up for the free pampering session they had on offer, and the girls signed up for the teen version (though they might skip it). After this, we went outside to the pool deck, and had our first split up of the day, with the girls wandering off to explore the ship. I got right down to business, and sat down in a lounger in the shade with my first beverage — a lava flow! It was good, at least when the rum wasn’t settled to the bottom and overwhelming the flavor. My wife stayed with me and had a taste, agreed it was good. We got up and explored the rest of the deck, enjoying the view of the surrounding area. I had a moment looking over the railing where it really hit me that I was on a cruise ship, about to embark on a helluva trip, and I laughed out loud. This is what I was looking at. From the other side of the ship, we could see Harmony and Carnival Conquest, sharing the port with us. We made our way to the Promenade, and once again I had to take a few moments to just absorb it all and realize I was somewhere I’d only seen in pictures up to this point. Where to start?!? But, it was 1:10 and the announcement came out that rooms were now open. So, off we went to see what our balcony rooms were like. In two words, very nice! We were a little nervous when we saw how narrow the door was, but breathed a sigh of relief when we walked in and saw the actual space. No photos right now, my wife was adamant that I not do a photo tour set the second we got in. And happy wife does indeed equal happy life! She did not, however, say anything about taking photos of our view, so I give you one fisheye and one telephoto pic that sums it up. Our luggage arrived not long after, around 1:30. Most of it... Oddly, we got every piece except my wife’s carry-on; maybe because it was more like a very large handbag than a suitcase? That didn’t show up until a little after muster. Before muster, after unpacking our luggage, my wife and I went to the MDR to see where our table was and if we got the really big table we’d hoped for. We didn’t, but from what I could see there really weren’t any apart from a half dozen in the center. Our table is on Deck 3, #356, located to the right of the central staircase. We left the MDR and wandered around deck 4, making our way to Studio B and the ice rink. It is cold in there! By the time we were done taking in the MDR and ice rink, it was about time for muster. Muster itself was uneventful, but a little surprising. I was sure we were going to be outside, so I had all of us put on sunscreen... and then we had muster in the Star Lounge! It was over pretty quickly, and then D14 and I got Down to our post-muster goal — a margarita for me to have with sailaway, and a mocktail for her. She went back to the room to enjoy sailaway from her balcony (favorite spot #4, per @Matt, IIRC), and I made my way to the helicopter deck (favorite spot #1) by way of the “secret path” through the Star Lounge. Here I did my first ever Periscope, which was... well, let’s say I have a lot to learn on this front. ? I really enjoyed sailaway. The weather at this point was perfect, not too much sun, comfortable temperature, and a refreshing breeze blowing in. Once we cleared the channel and got into the open ocean, I took a few pics of the receding coastline and the helipad. I made my way all the way aft to take in the view of the wake. Doing that walk really made clear how long the ship is! But it was worth it, as I caught this view that was absolutely striking. After this, I met up with everyone back at the cabin. We got changed for dinner, then saw the welcome aboard show. I got my second margarita of the day before the show started. We got to meet our cruise director, Drew. He was very funny and engaging, so this bodes well; I found out later from the staff at Vintages that he just transferred (from Liberty?) last week. As for the main acts, there was a pair of artistic dancers who opened up the show and were really impressive, with good choreography and some jaw dropping moves. After them was a comedian who was hit and miss for me, mostly because of some his subject matter that has become a sensitive subject for me. No photos as photography was not allowed and we were sitting in the back of the theater. After that, we had our 8 PM dinner (not 8:30 as I’d originally posted) in the MDR. Menus are the same as posted earlier by @LetsTryThisPlace in his live blog, so I didn’t take pictures. Also didn’t take pics of our food as I was too engaged with the family and our table mates, a mother and son from Michigan who happen to know @mpoole3 and have cruised with him a couple times! Small world, indeed! I tried the escargot, not expecting to like them, and was very pleasantly surprised! D14 had asked to try one if I liked them, so I passed over the plate. I have to quote her here, because it kind of sums up my own experience: ”I’m kind of nervous about this...” ::eats the piece, and a moment later her face simultaneously lights up and gets confused:: “This is wrong, why does this taste so good?!?” She said she’d have it for sure tomorrow, assuming it’s offered. The rest of our meals were very good. In addition to the escargot, I had the wild mushroom soup, the horseradish crusted salmon, and creme brûlée for dessert. My wife had the Caesar salad, spaghetti bolognese, and royal chocolate cake. D14 had the crispy calamari, prime rib, and hazelnut chocolate. And D17 had the French onion soup, salmon, and fruit for dessert. D14 and I both got a cappuccino with our dessert, which is why I’m posting a novella at 1 AM instead of sleeping; lesson learned! After dinner, I went to the pub and spent some time listening to guitar player James Brown from Canada for a while, while I enjoyed a Paulaner Salvator double bock. I Periscoped some of his set before my battery got too low, and my wife joined me after a while. We tried to go back to the helipad to see the stars, but the moon is full and the wind from the bow so strong that we couldn’t even make it all the way up there! We decided to call it a day and went back to our cabin, where I started working on this. She fell asleep about midnight, but I was still wired and decided to finish this post. So there you have it! Future posts may be broken up more or they may also be novellas, but that’s the writer in me for you. I hope I conveyed how amazing this first day was for all of us, me especially. Just want to wrap up with a couple items: - Drink package tally: 1 lava flow, 2 reposado margaritas, 1 cappuccino, and 1 craft beer; I think I got my money’s worth today, given the $43/night rate I paid. - I stopped in the casino briefly and spoke with the gent at the craps table; minimum is $5 all day, and you get single odds for that bet, however if you bet $25 you get double odds; betting $50 gives you 3x/4x/5x odds, depending on what number you rolled. So serious craps players can actually get Vegas casino level odds on their pass line play.

Well somehow this never posted this morning. So backtrack and pretend it’s 9:30 AM. In the Wind-jab-mehr right now, getting some late lunch (nothing worthwhile at Cafe Promenade). A gathering of angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this some of hope, and this is what they said: They said, COME SAIL AWAY! COME SAIL AWAY!! COME SAIL AWAY WITH ME!!! The day is finally here! Just another couple of hours and we’ll be on board. I was told by another couple we met on the hotel elevator that Harmony is also in port today, and between those two ships and the others in port there are going to be 17,000 people there. Very glad I learned the lesson to get there between 10:30 and 11, because I can’t imagine what the crowds are going to be like! I know it’s multiple terminals and it won’t be all 17,000 in one place, but that many people funneling through the port entrance and security checkpoint is going to be nuts! I’m going “dark” now, probably until after sail-away. I’ll be Periscoping during sail-away, so keep an eye out for me there. Periscope handle is the same as my handle here.

Early start to the day after getting a solid sleep. Walking through the solarium and around the pool deck before sunrise I observed the pool attendants at work Here is the solarium on Serenade

Here is a hyperlapse of the pool deck. I'm hoping to capture more of the ship in this way as it's a quick way to get a feel for a ship.

So how does the MSC Seaside stack up against Royal? Some background info: My family of 4 just returned from our weeklong spring break cruise on MSC Seaside. This is our 15th cruise, 8 with Royal and 6 with Disney. Our last 5 cruises in a row have all been Royal as Disney went from high priced to crazy priced. Additionally we really enjoy many aspects of Royal equal or better than Disney at this point. Every future booking that we currently have is on Royal so we are mostly drinking the Kool-Aid around here. I originally switched to this MSC sailing in place of an Oasis sailing as it was cheaper, a brand new ship, a better room, and better perks. We stayed in Room 11003 which was advertised pre-build as a 2 bedroom suite with a giant wrap around balcony. It actually ended up being a one bedroom suite with an above average but one sided balcony. Our travel agent was able to get us some OBC for this false advertising. Overall my thoughts below are mostly when comparing Seaside to Oasis class although I have been on Brilliance, Enchantment, and Indy. Let’s get to a bullet form of positives and negatives Here is a list of positives for Seaside as it compares to Royal: With our Aurea Package drinks and spa access is included on top of a cheaper room we easily saved $500 per person of additional cost from Royal. Doubles (and sometimes triples) drinks were no problem and sometimes encouraged by the bar staff. Mixed drinks were all from canned soda which is a better quality soda. Often they would give you the can with your drink. The cost of after hours kids club can be billed per night per kid and is less expensive than Royal. Their after hours pricing was $6 per hour, $10 for the night, and $50 for the week. The vibe of the adults only aft pool area was very cool. Overall I would rate the Seaside MDR slightly better than any of Royal’s that I’ve been in. Close but overall food quality I would score a bit better. PIZZA-No single item clearly dominates over Royal more than the nonstop fresh and quality New York style pizza. 50% of my weight gain on this cruise was directly from pizza I am sure of it. The kid’s water park was slightly better than any of the Royal splash pads. It was an enclosed and shaded area with 4 slides and a large splash pool and an additional toddler slide area. Room service was included with our Aurea package all day except from 11PM-5AM. A bowling alley, we bowled twice and really enjoyed this. Gelato and gelato ice cream bars are included with the Aurea package. The chocolate ice cream bar in particular was awesome. The main stairways are gorgeous in the atrium area. It is a beautiful ship for sure. Ocean views are everywhere. I told someone it reminded me of a Brilliance ship on crack. If Oasis class is called too inward facing this is certainly its foil. The value of our room size for what we paid was great; MSC is trying to buy some business of course since they are the new ship in town. The supporting team below the cruise director was very good. Tons of places to eat outside. All around the main buffet you could eat outside. The Jungle pool area was a hit for our family. It has a retractable roof that they usually had half closed. It created some warmth on the cooler days. It was similar to the Solarium but having it family friendly was a plus for us. Lots of shade too. The tipping was completely unexpected by the employees. I like to tip throughout my cruise on Royal but maybe because of the European origins of MSC, you couldn’t even add a tip to a bar item if you wanted to. From a cost perspective this is a positive but I actually like to tip so a mixed bag. Push buttons by your room entrance door that would put a color above your door so your cabin steward knew if you wanted privacy or wanted your room serviced. Plus they knew if you were in the room even if you didn’t ask for privacy since your room card had to be in the holder by the door. Way more roaming drink servers all around the ship than Royal. They did a better job with seating the theatre each night. Attendants would check every row and fill every seat and escort the last 50-100 people to the last seats available. Splitting parties as necessary. Very nice sports bar. The selection of the buffets was less than Royal but I thought the flow and food quality was slightly higher. The talk about tons of opera is completely unfounded. Across the 7 shows I doubt there was more than 10 minutes. There is some music from Phantom of the Opera and other musicals but Royal does entire productions so I think that’s a non-issue. The ocean views from many of the bars in the atrium were beautiful. Here is a list of negatives as it relates mostly to Royal: No kids club on day one, major bummer, it was only open for family time. As many have mentioned, it did have a faint sewage smell when we first entered. I don’t know if we just got used to it or if it improved throughout the week. The only place I continued to smell it all week was in the shower before I turned on the water. No Michelob Ultra on the ship, my wife’s drink of choice! My drink of choice Jack Daniels was not on the Aurea package. For $80 a person for the adults we both upgraded to the deluxe package so that I could have my drink of choice. Royal has Gentleman Jack as well which they don’t have. One plus to this was that the upgrade to deluxe gave us unlimited access to our room’s mini bar. It was stocked with 4 different beers, all of your major sodas, a few weird European juices, water, Pringles, a few hard liquors, and some other snacks. You would leave a form daily and your room attendant would reload it with no additional charge. We tried morning room service twice and it was late and very limited in selection. There was a special breakfast sandwich that you could pay $2 for but both times we ordered it they didn’t have it. One time our delivery guy went back and got us a few eggs Benedict instead which was nice of him. Overall though not much to get for breakfast by room service. The entertainment was good but not as good as Royal’s on Oasis class. They had a different 30 minute show every night. We went to all 7 shows so it was good but still what the Oasis ships offer can’t be matched at sea. The ceilings felt lower than some of the newer Royal ships in some areas. I have no data to back this up but being a tall guy I felt closer to the ceiling at times than on newer Royal ships. No hand washing was required for people that walked into the buffet. This was shocking after seeing Disney and Royal really push this. They had nice soap and water hand washing stations and sanitizer always available but many people just walked on by and there were no employees there to compel them to do the right thing. The service was good but as a whole I think I would rate it slightly lower than Royal’s. Not a single bar of soap anywhere, just pump stations in the showers and at the sink. Their towel policy was bizarre in that you could only trade them out at one spot on the whole ship. The main expectation was that they are kept and replenished in your room by your attendant. If you lose one supposedly it’s a $20 charge. Less vegan options at the buffets than with Royal. Essentially no arcade whatsoever. There were only 2 racing games and 1 air hockey table in the entire ship. Our kids love the arcade on Royal. Internet speed was good and 6 gigs to share for 4 people for $130 wasn’t a bad price but the no-worry nature of Voom can’t be beat. There are significantly less activities than on most Royal ships, especially on seas days. Our balcony wall was white so you couldn’t see anything from the chairs but white. The splash pad hours were poor. Closed the first day (and we had our suits) and on other days it closed pretty early. Water was everywhere in the kids pool area. No employees were using squeegees to keep it relatively dry. It made a shocking difference on a busy day and I think a few lawsuits and they will change this. Not enough covered hot tubs. Also the main pool area was totally devoid of shade for the most part. Embarkation was good but the first hour on the ship was very crowded and disorganized. We waited in places we didn’t need to wait because staff wasn’t directing well. No bar service in the theatre. Not enough room to eat breakfast outside on the balcony for the level room we had. Vegans don’t get offered dessert at dinner. No alcohol allowed near the pools or hot tubs. You can’t leave your drink behind the hot tub and sip it; you had to leave it by your chair. You could not get the same servers every day or the same table. In our dining room it was first come first serve. If we weren’t early we couldn’t get the server and table we wanted. Reservations are needed for the late night kids club (we never tested this room so not sure if it held up). Overall the kids clubs were nice but things appeared much more chaotic and we didn’t feel comfortable with our kids there to the same degree that we do on Royal and Disney. AdventureOcean staff really is great. The bowling is timed with no warning so we got shut out of our tenth frame. Kids weren’t allowed in the spa to tour even on the first day. Kids Club is closed and the Spa doesn’t allow kids, someone at MSC hasn’t connected the dots there. Let the families check it out the first day like they do on Royal. Essentially you can not use the spa on the first day if you have kids. While the pizza is amazing, they stop making it at midnight even though the buffet is open until 2am. Room service is the only way to get food for the really late hours when you shouldn’t be up anyway. Overall what is our final evaluation? I would say that we had a great time on this cruise. All in all I don’t think the Seaside or the American MSC experience is as good as the Royal experience but it’s not a landslide victory. I think if pricing or benefits drop the total cost of a Seaside cruise a fair amount lower than a cruise on one of Royal’s newer ships that it is worth checking out. We would sail on Seaside again but we didn’t rebook onboard and I am not looking at their website on a regular basis like Royals! If you fear the Carnival clientele I can say that the Seaside guests were similar to what I’d see on Royal except that there were many more foreigners as you would expect. I also saw numerous Disney Castaway Club Lanyards as previously loyal Disney cruisers look for a more reasonably priced cruise vacation. I think in the end Seaside is a great thing because it puts pressure on the big 3 and Disney in the Florida market. When there is competition and all of these companies keep trying to one up each other ultimately the consumer wins. I think the new sports bar on Symphony is a response to the sports bar on MSC Seaside and other ships as Royal has been lacking in that arena. Royal wouldn’t be dropping wheel barrels of money into Coco Cay if it didn’t feel the need to stay ahead of the competition. So if you can live with 7 days on a beautiful ship where you don’t earn any crown and anchor points this could be a ship for you to try if the stars align. I also think if you are a bigger ship person you might prefer this over many of the older Royal ships. However overall if you are a loyal to Royal type I don’t think it will convert you but you’ll enjoy the experience and probably enjoy jotting down all of the different nuances between the brands as my family did. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to answer them and thanks for reading if you made it this far!

1, 3 - Everything that @WAAAYTOOO said. 2. I personally love Jamie's (but it is more casual so you might not want that for a celebration dinner). I have heard really good things about Chops and also 150 Central Park. Food is really subjective though. I find that the best thing to do is actually look at the menus and decide what suits the tastes of your family best.

We booked the May 18th sailing out of NJ on adventure and we got an spacious ocean view balcony GTY. We were assigned room 1670, pretty far aft directly under the WJ. I’m not too worried about the noise from the wj, I am however a little worried about being that far aft as I’ve heard we may feel vibrations and any potential rocking is worse in the back of the ship. We rolled the dice to save (which was around $300 total for our family of 4) so we’ll see if we’re happy or not. We did receive our room assignment about 2 months in advance. Also this is my first cruise as Emerald so I’m excited for that too.

Thanks ! I love those cinemas. They are so great - especially on long cruises where you really look for something to do on multiple sea days. I hope they NEVER get rid of them !

So Joe, Now that you're settling in --- Question: Was it exactly what you were anticipating? Any surprises (you were imagining things being a certain way only for them to be the complete opposite)? As I read this, I, like many others are smiling from ear to ear -- remembering our first cruises. It truly is a unique experience and once you do it, you're hooked for life. Mark

Yes. Right in front of the pub. They've had at least 3 different movies playing so far.

It's been much too long since I've been on a Radiance Class ship. They are so elegant.

I've heard nothing. No email. Nothing. Fake news again ?

Good for them !! SOOOOO happy that you're having a good time. We all remember our first. ....cruise, that is.... The beginning of an obsession.

Not sure, but I thought it was complimentary

Just back from the marquee show, and I’m way too tired to summarize (narrate?) the day. Will do that tomorrow, since we have one more sea day before the port storm begins. Also, tomorrow I’m doing chef’s table and I’m going to do my darnedest to remember to grab a photo of each course and note what wine was served with it. Have a good night, all!

After the 3rd night, there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in my suite with a tag on the bottle saying it was from the casino. Another bottle appeared in my suite on the 6th night, but didn't have the casino tag on it -- but I presume it came from them. The $750 off was great, but I think the biggest savings came from calling the casino agent line to apply it. She caught a bunch of additional discounts I could use (I'd booked a cruise for this December via NextCruise while onboard). With the $750 cert and a bunch of other discounts it knocked my (solo occupancy) Grand Suite from $5258 down to $2295.

Day 2 Dinner - Formal Night My Time MDR, same table, same great service. My two appetizer pattern continued but tonight at my choosing. Shrimp Cocktail & Wedge Salad. Rack of Mary's Little Lamb for my main. I passed by the specialty coffee bar 'Latte-tudes' on my way back top my cabin after dinner, here is the menu: A quick change out of my formal wear and into shorts while I checked our position. Here is our progress: Next stop, the pub. Here is the beer menu: I was thinking there might be some pub music but having been totally buried with work this week I forgot it's Final Four weekend. It's packed in the pub! Apparently there are more Michigan fans on board. My excursion in St Thomas has changed from morning to afternoon. I'm hoping my former co-workers in St Thomas can adjust to accommodate and meet me in the morning.

Great photos! Which one is you?...

@twangster your pictures are magnificant! I feel like I'm right there, even with the poor fish that bit the dust! LOL

Staff isn't suppose to ask for good ratings and repercussions will follow if you select yes and name them.

Dinner in the MDR I ordered the Calamari and Prime Rib. Since I told my waiter I was going to skip dessert he brought me two Calamari

Cabin Tour! Deck 7 Standard Balcony 7028 On the Radiance class the deck 7 balconies are extended with the extension open to the sides and above. I don't plan to be on my balcony in my underwear so this isn't an issue for me but if you are seeking a more private balcony experience you may want to accept a smaller balcony on a higher deck.

Terminal 19 Photos: Small waiting area after check in:

This is my understanding also. I d not think it effects your ability to take advantage of any price drops either.

I considered walking out but stayed as I still liked L&M and was curious to see what else he had in store. A few funny moments but they were all canned and not spontaneous. He keeps going back to that awful "Brutally honest" line as he seems to know of no other way to get an honest answer out of a contestant or a crowd reaction. It's a bizarre L&M approach. The 4 couples may have worked in the 90's when he started as CD, but it is 2018 now. I thought we were becoming more gay friendly and that gender roles meant nothing (hence why men shouldn't have to stand and talk about how good their wife is at cooking). A complete contrast to Abe Hughes. This was from a sailing about 6 weeks prior to my B2B. Great CD and seems to actually have a rapport with the contestants.

Little French Key. https://www.littlefrenchkey.com/

I did a private full island tour with Victor Bodden (Not through the ship) and we ended up over at the West End, I would not recommend this if at all possible, when we got to the beach it looked like that is where the whole ship went to, you could barley walk around much less find a chair, we turned to our left and walked all the way down to the end of the beach, walked in to a restaurant/bar/resort (Don't truly remember) bought my wife a drink and the biggest bottle of water they had, they acted content to let us use the beach (Cannot remember if the beach here is public or private). To answer your question before we picked the Victor Bodden tour, I was looking at the Little French Key, which is directly next to Big French Cay, one of these two has or had a beach excursion you could book to as a destination. You might just visit, the below link, they were very professional, I don't remember what they had for beach tours. they also took us horse back riding on a beach and that was really cool. http://www.boddentours.com/

I went and picked up my new car today, and look what popped up on my instrument panel!

What a cute idea !

Hard to believe we are just finishing day 4 and half way done. Today we were in St Marteen. Took a private tour of St. Marten with Joyce Personal Services. We had a driver named Mack and he was quite good. We normally wouldn’t do an island tour but I chose it for my MIL. I do prefer a private tour with kids. It’s rebuilding slowly but they are quite happy to see tourists. Maho Beach was packed with tourist but Orient beach was very quiet. Here are some pics: My husband was fascinated by the Little League field We were amazed by the destruction of the lagoons and the mess still there. Orient bay. Ocerlooking Great Bay Beach and ship: Other random notes: Fine Line has been cancelled every evening due to swells. They rescheduled it during port times on every port (no swells in port). They claim this first time done during the day. We saw tonight’s 5:45 show. We all agreed it was very good and we would have loved to see it at night. The 5:45 show messed up dinner plans so I changed the reservation to 7:30. The show was over at 6:30 and no one wanted to wait an hour so the thinking was go to Windjammer however I think the entire audience was thinking the same thing. We made a detour to MTD and they had our table available. We were not the only ones in nice shorts (please don’t judge) and MTD was half empty. Super quick dinner of short rib which is one of my favorites. Now I never would go to dinner in shorts but it was a quick change of heart to avoid crowds and no one said a thing. Tomorrow we’ll be in San Juan and celebrating son’s 15th birthday.

Sorry to hear that. I actually stopped smoking with it TWICE. It was so easy the first time that I thought I could just be a "only smoke when I drink" smoker. That was folly, of course. So I did it again and the second time was permanent.

Here, let me fix that for you... "21 days to go until I will be able to enjoy the ship (and send A LOT of pictures)" We can't wait. Seriously, we can't.

I have found that if you frequent one bar (I like the Schooner) and tip a buck a drink, they tend to get a little heavy handed as time goes by and I usually get better service. They also remember what you drink and your name, which is nice.

Yeah, my muscles were definitely on display ?