MSC Seaside

We boarded the MSC Seaside on Sunday (06 April) and during the checkin process we experienced a mix of comedy and errors. It all began when we provided our bags to the porter at the cruise terminal. Precisely when were handing him a tip, a full load of bags stacked about 8 feel high on a cart tipped over and hit Julie on the hip. In the end it didn’t hurt her (too much), but it did freak the both of us out. We proceeded to the checkin counter and Joe had no clue how to properly look at camera going through security. They pulled him aside. It was actually a good thing because all they did was take a new picture, which replaced the death mask photo (eyes closed; somber face) that was previously uploaded.

We found our way to our stateroom. For MSC, you go to your room and your room keys (which are your cruise cards) are on the outside of your door. We arrived and there were no cards. Julie knocked on the door and an older couple answered. We informed them they were in our room. They were surprised. Apparently they didn’t take a close look at the key cards to see that they possessed our names. The wife asked if we could switch rooms — very bad idea — everything is linked to our room number. We called the steward and he directed them to their room (right next door). In the short time they were in our room, they appeared to have made themselves very comfortable — they used every towel in the room and laid on the bed. Eugene, our steward, kindly recommended we have a nice lunch and he would re-clean our room. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We explored the ship and saw a magic show that evening before retiring for the evening.