Considering MSC Seashore out of Miami instead of Celebrity Millennium I have a couple of questions

[dis2cruise]

1.  With our booking we will receive a promotion for free drink, wifi & GTY paid.  Does anyone know if this is the premium pkg?  If not, can we upgrade?  What happens after we upgrade and the drink is more then the package allows…do we pay the difference ?

 

2.  Main dining room…in general how the does the food compare to Celebrity’s main dining room food??

 

3. shows… entertaining ?  I did go on a MSC a cruise many years ago their shows were very good with Cirque du Soleil  shows.  
 

thanks for any info you can share!!

[zackarykeef]

2 hours ago, dis2cruise said:

1.  With our booking we will receive a promotion for free drink, wifi & GTY paid.  Does anyone know if this is the premium pkg?  If not, can we upgrade?  What happens after we upgrade and the drink is more then the package allows…do we pay the difference ?

 

On both X and MSC, the wifi and drink packages are the basic, not the premium (unless you pay extra for the Elevate package on X). You can pay the difference on both lines to upgrade. On X, for any drink over your package limit, you get charged the difference. On MSC, drinks over the package limit are charged full price.

 

2 hours ago, dis2cruise said:

 

2.  Main dining room…in general how the does the food compare to Celebrity’s main dining room food??

 

I can’t comment on this too much, as I’ve only ever been in YC on MSC. I just got off X, and I thought the MDR food was good to very good. I thought the MSC YC restaurant was very good to excellent. I can’t comment personally on the MSC MDR food, but from what I’ve read on these boards, it’s nothing mind-blowing (hence our YC decision).

 

2 hours ago, dis2cruise said:

 

3. shows… entertaining ?  I did go on a MSC a cruise many years ago their shows were very good with Cirque du Soleil  shows.  
 

thanks for any info you can share!!

 

Again, I can’t comment. I haven’t attended any shows in either line.

[perakcruiser]

2. Meat and fish are better on Celebrity, pasta is better on MSC. Overall celebrity deserves a higher rating, but this is certainly reflecting the price difference between the lines.

 

3. Depends on the specific cruise. CdS has been substituted with another brand many years already, have not seen these shows, people seem to like it. Not predictable if your specific MSC cruise will provide high quality opera/classical music. 

[deliver42]

Cirq is no longer available. The shows i the theater are good. The food comparisons are non exsistant. Celebrity hands down. Unlike everyone else, if your drink cost more than your package limit, you pay the full drink price plus gratuity.

[dis2cruise]

Thanks everyone for all your responses!  We will be considering MSC!  

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, dis2cruise said:

Thanks everyone for all your responses!  We will be considering MSC!  

Celebrity has been our go-to line for many years but we are trying MSC at the end of the month because their prices are just so much better than Celebrity.  We booked a YC deluxe suite for less money than a Celebrity, entry level sky suite.  To me, that alone is reason enough to settle for food that may not be exactly on par with Celebrity.  I have to say though, the menus I've looked at lately seem to be fish-centric and my hope is that being an Italian based company, MSC will be able to make my not-so-favorite menu item taste delicious.

[Homosassa]

On X, you need to check what beverage package is included at the the time of booking. The premium package was included on our recent Millennium cruise.

 

I find the food on MSC and Celebrity to be equal. However, I do not eat the quasi Italian offering on Celebrity (pasta,  pizza, other "Italian" offering  ).  MSC is a shock to some because the Italian offering are prepared as they would be in certain regions of Italy (Campania for example) and is not the stuff of Olive Garden and Pizza Hut.

 

 

[wcook]

Usually on MSC if you get a drinks/WiFi included package it’s the middle tier drink package and the low tier WiFi. You can pay to upgrade ahead of time, but as mentioned you pay full price + 15% for any drink above the package cutoff. 

[cellfree]

7 hours ago, dis2cruise said:

Thanks everyone for all your responses!  We will be considering MSC!  

 

4 hours ago, wcook said:

Usually on MSC if you get a drinks/WiFi included package it’s the middle tier drink package and the low tier WiFi. You can pay to upgrade ahead of time, but as mentioned you pay full price + 15% for any drink above the package cutoff. 

It is typically “easy plus” these days when booking All In. Your. Booking should say “easy plus” somewhere. Ours is listed in the Booking Details of our Booking Confirmation.

[mowogo]

6 hours ago, Homosassa said:

On X, you need to check what beverage package is included at the the time of booking. The premium package was included on our recent Millennium cruise.

 

I find the food on MSC and Celebrity to be equal. However, I do not eat the quasi Italian offering on Celebrity (pasta,  pizza, other "Italian" offering  ).  MSC is a shock to some because the Italian offering are prepared as they would be in certain regions of Italy (Campania for example) and is not the stuff of Olive Garden and Pizza Hut.

 

 

As I learned in Venice, tomato sauce is nowhere near as heavy handed for Italians as it is Americans.  

[kwokpot]

24 minutes ago, mowogo said:

As I learned in Venice, tomato sauce is nowhere near as heavy handed for Italians as it is Americans.  

Italian American food is totally different than Italian food in Italy, which is why many Americans have a problem with the food on MSC. I remember being on the Meraviglia, in Europe no less, and there was this American guy complaining that the pepperoni pizza had only a couple of slices of pepperoni. He wanted the whole thing to be covered in pepperoni, like in the US. I was on the Carnival Pride in May/June in Europe, and on our Livorno stop we had stayed local and went to a restaurant and sat outside for lunch. There were other people from our ship and other ships that day that were trying to have lunch in the same Square and they didn't like anything that was being served and felt it was all a tourist trap, which it wasn't.   

[mowogo]

6 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Italian American food is totally different than Italian food in Italy, which is why many Americans have a problem with the food on MSC. I remember being on the Meraviglia, in Europe no less, and there was this American guy complaining that the pepperoni pizza had only a couple of slices of pepperoni. He wanted the whole thing to be covered in pepperoni, like in the US. I was on the Carnival Pride in May/June in Europe, and on our Livorno stop we had stayed local and went to a restaurant and sat outside for lunch. There were other people from our ship and other ships that day that were trying to have lunch in the same Square and they didn't like anything that was being served and felt it was all a tourist trap, which it wasn't.   

It is a different flavor profile, and part of the reason why I am extremely excited to try MSC Labor Day weekend.  

 

I was fortunate to be visiting Venice with a friend who was living in Italy at the time so could actually get real recommendations from locals and his experience.  While Americans might feel more comfortable at an Italian snack pasta shop,

 

The full dinner lasagne would be a foreign meal despite most people claiming to be familiar with it.

It also applies to visits to other parts of the world, and for the most part Americans don’t experience it because even traveling there are so many different parts of the world to travel to that nobody really thinks about the actual differences much if they even get to travel to that country.  And because of this, MSC struggles with Americans because they are offering a European product in America.  I think NYC will actually be a great market for MSC because there is more desire for authentic European in NYC than Florida.  

[wcook]

Note: MSC has plenty of Americanized food if that’s what somebody is looking for. 

[CruisinPedsNurse]

20 hours ago, dis2cruise said:

1.  With our booking we will receive a promotion for free drink, wifi & GTY paid.  Does anyone know if this is the premium pkg?  If not, can we upgrade?  What happens after we upgrade and the drink is more then the package allows…do we pay the difference ?

 

2.  Main dining room…in general how the does the food compare to Celebrity’s main dining room food??

 

3. shows… entertaining ?  I did go on a MSC a cruise many years ago their shows were very good with Cirque du Soleil  shows.  
 

thanks for any info you can share!!

1. It’s the “easy plus” package and there is no limit! You can walk in to any bar and get as many drinks as you want. However, if you choose a drink over 9$. Then you pay the whole thing. I had no issues surviving on the East plus package except for if you want something from the chocolate bar. The drinks there start at $12. 
 

hope this helps 

[Gatordad1967]

1.  You can upgrade the drink package.

 

2.  Just got off Solstice, the food was ok.  I call the food a draw.  

 

3.  The shows are pretty equal on both.

 

4.  Did not like on Solstice that if you were hungry after 9pm, you had very limited options (like the buffet, but not a lot out there)

 

My conclusion,  I would sail Celebrity again, but only if the price was right.  Not worth a premium.

 

[Maria63]

One thing to keep in mind when reading MSC reviews is that the YC is a different world from the rest of the ship. So if you are not planning on booking YC, the YC reviews will not tell you what to expect.

 

My DH & I have done MSC both in the YC and non-YC. One thing to keep in mind is that YC takes up a significant chunk of the ship's available space, and if the ship is full it can get rather crowded in the non-YC areas.

[BoundForSea]

Sailed YC on MSC 7 times. Been on X Millie 4 times. Do yourself a favor.. Book the YC to get a similar experience. Trust me. Food, Service, Ambiance, Drinks, etc all equate from YC to Millie’s Main Experience. We’ve done Retreat on Millie as well and it’s a step above the YC in terms of food quality and in some cases (not all) service as well. Service has been consistently amazing on Millie, from my 7 YC sailings I’d say about 60% of the time it was consistently good, others it’s far from good. It’s just not consistent. 

 

Even YC to Aquaclass Blu is a step up in food quality for Blu in most cases. 

 

Sometimes, Non-YC experience can be very similar to a Carnival Cruise. This was the case on a couple of FL departures we were on. 

 

Hope that helps. 

[mscdivina2016]

On 8/12/2022 at 11:18 PM, dis2cruise said:

1.  With our booking we will receive a promotion for free drink, wifi & GTY paid.  Does anyone know if this is the premium pkg?  If not, can we upgrade?  What happens after we upgrade and the drink is more then the package allows…do we pay the difference ?

 

2.  Main dining room…in general how the does the food compare to Celebrity’s main dining room food??

 

3. shows… entertaining ?  I did go on a MSC a cruise many years ago their shows were very good with Cirque du Soleil  shows.  
 

thanks for any info you can share!!

Prepare to possibly be disappointed with MSC.

Use a TA only. No exceptions because when things go wrong which they seem to do constantly, customer service is no good.

 

[cellfree]

On 8/12/2022 at 11:18 PM, dis2cruise said:

1.  With our booking we will receive a promotion for free drink, wifi & GTY paid.  Does anyone know if this is the premium pkg?  If not, can we upgrade?  What happens after we upgrade and the drink is more then the package allows…do we pay the difference ?

 

2.  Main dining room…in general how the does the food compare to Celebrity’s main dining room food??

 

3. shows… entertaining ?  I did go on a MSC a cruise many years ago their shows were very good with Cirque du Soleil  shows.  
 

thanks for any info you can share!!

Reading some of the “not so positive comments,” we have cruised 5 MSC ships and some several times over and have never had a bad experience.

1) never used TA

2) cruised either Interior or Balcony, never experienced Yacht Club

3) cruised with and w/o beverage package

Trust your experience would be as enjoyable as ours. Next MSC, September 11 nights on Divina, again. 

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, cellfree said:

Reading some of the “not so positive comments,” we have cruised 5 MSC ships and some several times over and have never had a bad experience.

1) never used TA

2) cruised either Interior or Balcony, never experienced Yacht Club

3) cruised with and w/o beverage package

Trust your experience would be as enjoyable as ours. Next MSC, September 11 nights on Divina, again. 

I once had a friend who loved his old VW Beatle and thought it was the best, most luxurious, and most powerful car in the world!   Why?  Because he had never been in any other car.   Just saying.   There is a big difference between cruising in the Yacht Club vs outside the YC.  That is why MSC can charge a lot more money for the YC and still sell out the YC categories.   But just like some folks are happy with their VW Beatle, there are others who prefer their Rolls :).

 

In the interests of full disclosure, we will only cruise MSC if we are in the YC.  We do enjoy going outside the YC for the bars, entertainment, etc.  but then we love returning to our enclave with its expansive lounge (with amazing service), private restaurant, expansive pool deck (where the loungers are well spaced), etc.  From my perspective it is like being on two different ships where one can get the best of two cruise worlds.

 

Hank 

[iwtobek]

5 hours ago, cellfree said:

Reading some of the “not so positive comments,” we have cruised 5 MSC ships and some several times over and have never had a bad experience.

1) never used TA

2) cruised either Interior or Balcony, never experienced Yacht Club

3) cruised with and w/o beverage package

Trust your experience would be as enjoyable as ours. Next MSC, September 11 nights on Divina, again. 

My thoughts. Sailed Disney, have a lot of knowledge about DCL. Most would say “Disney has the most terrible IT in the cruise line industry but the nicest cast members”. Now interested in MSC. Folks here: “MSC has the most terrible IT in the cruise line industry but the nicest crew members”.

[cellfree]

Hank, glad you enjoy the Yacht Club, I have read many wonderful reviews of it.

In my response to the OP, I was simply summarizing our past positive cruise experiences with MSC as succinctly as I could. Some days when I go through the various threads there seems to be so much negativity.

BTW I do not drive an “old vw beetle” although it might be cool to!

[mowogo]

3 hours ago, iwtobek said:

My thoughts. Sailed Disney, have a lot of knowledge about DCL. Most would say “Disney has the most terrible IT in the cruise line industry but the nicest cast members”. Now interested in MSC. Folks here: “MSC has the most terrible IT in the cruise line industry but the nicest crew members”.

Disney in general has IT issues by trying to do too much.  MSC seems to have IT that struggles with the basics.  

[iwtobek]

20 hours ago, mowogo said:

Disney in general has IT issues by trying to do too much.  MSC seems to have IT that struggles with the basics.  

That's simply not true. Disney has IT issues by trying to do basic IT. Everything is messed up in any way possible. Your bookings, your port arrival time, your port adventures, your future cruise credits, anything that can go wrong will.

I'm not even kidding the slightest. Since I posted the post you replied to, my wife just told me (this morning) “honey I have to call Disney, I just found out they randomly added two letters to my last name, that won't match my legal documents.” Hum ok.