Quick MSC Seashore Review Dec 10-17, 2023

[CruisingWalter]

As we continue to ride north towards Port Canaveral on our extended cruise thanks to the Florida storms, here's a few thoughts on our cruise onboard the MSC Seashore this past week. Quick background, we've been cruising since 2006 on 9 different cruise lines, this was our second MSC cruise with the Seaside being our first this past May. Both times we have sailed as standard sailors, this time in a Fantastica deluxe balcony on Deck 12. 

 

Let's just start with the really bad and rip off the band-aid, the elevators. As with Seaside this ship as the Smart Elevator system with absolutely no instructions on how to properly use them. On the Seaside they were an annoyance, on the Seashore they are so bad someone punched out one of the control pads in frustration. Waiting 5 to 10 minutes or longer is not uncommon during peak times with elevators that either never arrive or arrive packed to the walls. Smart elevators might work well in the 'real world' but on a cruise ship, when you don't tell people the proper way to call them, they just don't work. If you are mobility challenged or use a scooter and require the use of an elevator, I would honestly avoid this ship. Unless you're in the Yacht Club. 

 

Entertainment was far superior on this ship than the Seaside. Divas and Encore were both great cruise ship shows with much better singers and dancers. The music throughout the ship was hit or miss, I think the best ship music were the dual pianos in Times Square. But what a weird venue to listen to music. I guess they set that up as a dance floor, but the audience sits so far away, it's not a great venue to enjoy music. Le Cabaret Rouge in the back is a really cool venue. We enjoyed the Variety show that runs as a continuous 3 1/2 hour show with a variety of acts. You can drop in as you please and you don't know who might be performing. That's pretty cool and the jazz band was especially good.

 

Venchi Affogato was a disappointment for me after the amazing version I had on Seaside. It was Ok, but was missing the nuts, chocolate drizzle and chocolate square from Seaside. First world problems I know. 🙂

 

MDR was adequate, nothing to write home about, but not horrible either. I opted for the filet on Gala Night and am glad I did. The free lobster was the smaller langostino size and didn't look like a great overall entree. If you really want Lobster in the MDR, spring for the $19.99 version. French onion soup was decent, the papardelle with wild mushroom was good. Desserts were meh except one chocolate layered thing that was kind of like a chocolate tiramisu. You won't go hungry in the MDR but you won't be all that excited either.  Buffet was decent with a few good things each day. For dinner they only open the middle section so my advice is to wait at least 45 minutes into service so you're not in the 40 person line waiting on the hot food. Come in later and you'll have smaller lines. The buffet basically repeats every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner so you'll have plenty of chances to try dishes. The pizza was good, but better on the Seaside. They were running out of items on the buffet by the 5th night. Lettuce started disappearing from the salad bar at night and dressings were just about gone by the final night. Again, you won't go hungry but you won't be raving about the food either. You're paying a McDonald's rate to be on the ship so you can't expect the included food to be Ruth's Chris Steak House.

 

Kaito Sushi was fun, a conveyor belt sushi joint. I recommend the $39 all you can eat. There is a time limit of 45 minutes but our servers told us to ignore that. They are very small plates, we had 8 or 10 each. It's a lot of fun and decent sushi. 

 

Cocktails were not well made so I stopped after one pina colada. Usually I get an Old Fashioned, but looking at the cocktails that were coming from the bars I opted for coffee instead. Cappuccinos were awesome all week no matter where I ordered them. 

 

Sports Bar was crazy with the addition of the slots. If you're a sports fan, I don't know that there are better ships out there than the Seaside / Seashore with these massive sports bars.

 

The cabin was awesome. We had a kick out balcony with an extended cabin and it was huge. More like the Junior Suites on Royal Caribbean but not as wide. We spent more time on this balcony that we have on our recent cruises, it was a great view looking aft. Closet is a bit small but it worked for our needs. Shower had good water pressure and was plenty hot for me. Bed was hard and was a bit uncomfortable through the night, but more an annoyance than a problem. 

 

Ocean Cay was another fun day, though it was incredibly blustery with the weather in the area. The beach party was called off for good reason but the lightshow still happened on the lighthouse. 

 

Pools are still some of our favorite parts about these ships and again, the Jungle Pool was our favorite. It was especially fun during the downpours looking up at the glass ceiling. 

 

Was it the best cruise we've ever had?  Not even close, but we still enjoyed ourselves on the ship. Especially our cabin and balcony. There are a lot of shortcomings that you have to accept when you pay these low cruise fares and sail with a company that is micromanaged by the Italian home office. So long as you fully understand what you're getting yourself into when you come onboard, you'll have a fun time. We'll be back at some point in 2024 or 25.

 

 

[dshroyer]

I am convinced that when it comes to food and drink they have allowances for each cruise.  That way they ensure that each cruise is profitable.  If they have big eaters or drinkers then they will just run out of stuff.  We were on a cruise when the ship ran out of butter.  And eggs.  I was on the Seashore a few weeks ago and the first day the yacht club was out of most wines.  No wine list for dinner.  In the yacht club!  This tells me they are allocating by cruise.  Just my opinion.  

[JT1962]

I’m glad you enjoyed most of it. I was on the Seashore Transatlantic in October / November and will be on her again in February. I agree with your comments regarding the food. It’s not five star, but I always found plenty of options to choose from and everything I had was good.
 

As a solo cruiser, I will continue to cruise with MSC, since the cost has been 40-70% cheaper than other mainstream lines charge for solos. If (when?) the fares get closer to other lines, I will then consider other options.

[Homosassa]

4 hours ago, dshroyer said:

I am convinced that when it comes to food and drink they have allowances for each cruise.  That way they ensure that each cruise is profitable.  If they have big eaters or drinkers then they will just run out of stuff.  

Ships order provisions based on what they project that they will use.

 

However, those projections can be skewed by the passengers on board.

 

I was on a high end luxury cruise line.  The ship ran out of cream for coffee by the third day because of a certain large party of passengers who would drink glasses of cream with each meal  and pour it in their muesli.

 

The ship managed to get a limited amount at the next port, but  the cream was available only upon request and served in 1 - 2 oz portions for coffee.

[CruisingWalter]

4 hours ago, dshroyer said:

I am convinced that when it comes to food and drink they have allowances for each cruise

 

And that's exactly how you would run a shipping company, but not a cruise line catering to guests. They can sure build ships, but they really have no idea how to cater to the public that literally has hundreds of options available. 

[CruisingWalter]

Ok UPDATE! The Debacle that was Disembarkation!  Wow I should have waited to write that review until I got home.

 

We knew Disembarkation was going to be a cluster due to the 3pm arrival instead of 7am. We always opt for self-disembarkation so we're among the first off the ship when the gangway opens. Well because of the late arrival, it looked like over 50% of the ship was walking off with their luggage. I've never seen so many people hauling 2 to 4 full sized pieces of luggage with self walk-off. Even the Yacht Club folks were all walking off with every piece of luggage.

 

Get out a deck plan of the Seashore and follow along with this. They would not allow us onto Deck 6 until Disembarkation started. Imagine nearly 1000 people queuing up on Deck 7 with well over 300 jammed into the hallway on Deck 6 behind the atrium. They had the doors closed so nobody could get to the Atrium. We stayed up on Deck 7 near the Champagne Bar.  

 

When the process started, first we had to snake our way down the stairs on Deck 7, with our luggage, to Deck 6. That took about 15-20 minutes to get to where the Atrium started on Deck 6. Then they proceeded to have us walk all the way through the Madison Theater at the very front of the ship, with our luggage. Then on the way back they created a crazy zig zag pattern to break up the line even more. It took no less than 45 minutes of pushing our luggage all the way from the atrium to the theater and back again.

 

To top it off, the Yacht Club Butlers were leading their guests the wrong way through our queue so we had to keep getting out of their way. They could easily brought them down backstage like they were doing for scooters and wheelchairs. What an absolute cluster. There are so many ways this could have been done better. 

 

If that had been my first MSC cruise, between the elevators and that cluster of a debarkation, I don't know that I would go back. How a company responds when things go sideways shows much more than when everything goes right. 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

@CruisingWalter  This is why we never self-disembark.  I'd prefer to just take my time and avoid the potential stress.  I have never figured out what, other than poor planning, would make people be in such a big hurry to leave the comfort of the ship.  

Then again, we have never experienced a cruise where the ship was 8 hours late arriving in port. 

 

[dshroyer]

1 hour ago, Homosassa said:

Ships order provisions based on what they project that they will use.

 

However, those projections can be skewed by the passengers on board.

 

I was on a high end luxury cruise line.  The ship ran out of cream for coffee by the third day because of a certain large party of passengers who would drink glasses of cream with each meal  and pour it in their muesli.

 

The ship managed to get a limited amount at the next port, but  the cream was available only upon request and served in 1 - 2 oz portions for coffee.

I would agree with your statement for other cruise lines.  But MSC is continually out of inventory.  If you read the comments like "On day 5 the salad bar had no lettuce or salad dressing".  Or "On day 4 the bars ran out of vodka and Coke Zero".  Those are not perishable items.  I think they purposefully limit the safety stock so that each cruise is profitable.  Stock Bar A with one good bottle of Bourbon X and then when it is out do not stock another one until the next cruise.  Meanwhile they have their "elite drink package" money from you.  

[CruisingWalter]

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

This is why we never self-disembark.  I'd prefer to just take my time and avoid the potential stress.

 

When the ship is on time, it's not stressful at all. You just walk off the ship when the gangway opens. We live in the Orlando area, just one hour from the port. When the cruise is over, we're ready to just walk off the ship and go home. Had we known how they were going to string us all out, and walk the entire ship twice, we would have waited until after the initial rush. 

[CruisingWalter]

14 hours ago, JT1962 said:

As a solo cruiser, I will continue to cruise with MSC, since the cost has been 40-70% cheaper than other mainstream lines charge for solos. If (when?) the fares get closer to other lines, I will then consider other options.

 

Always remember that the straight cruise fare is not everything. Virgin Voyages is an amazing solo cruse line as well with most everything included except the alcohol and specialty coffees. It's more expensive, but the quality of the two cruise lines is night and day for food, service & entertainment. The big knock against VV is that very tiny pool. 

[JT1962]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

Always remember that the straight cruise fare is not everything. Virgin Voyages is an amazing solo cruse line as well with most everything included except the alcohol and specialty coffees. It's more expensive, but the quality of the two cruise lines is night and day for food, service & entertainment. The big knock against VV is that very tiny pool. 

Yes. It depends on what is important to each individual. I have considered Virgin, but each time I price them, the cost for solo has been $ 250 - $ 300 per day. I have been averaging $ 60 - $ 80 per day, including all fees / gratuities, on MSC. As MSC continues to raise their solo supplement, the difference will get smaller, but still not close to the same cost. At this point, I prefer 3-4 cruises on MSC vs one on Virgin. 

[CruisingWalter]

3 hours ago, JT1962 said:

Yes. It depends on what is important to each individual. I have considered Virgin, but each time I price them, the cost for solo has been $ 250 - $ 300 per day. I have been averaging $ 60 - $ 80 per day, including all fees / gratuities, on MSC. As MSC continues to raise their solo supplement, the difference will get smaller, but still not close to the same cost. At this point, I prefer 3-4 cruises on MSC vs one on Virgin. 

 

Personally for the quality of the service and every restaurant being included along with the WiFi and Soft Drinks, I'm taking VV over MSC moving forward. I really want to like MSC, but there's just no effort on customer service including F&B. 

[L1211]

21 hours ago, dshroyer said:

I would agree with your statement for other cruise lines.  But MSC is continually out of inventory.  If you read the comments like "On day 5 the salad bar had no lettuce or salad dressing".  Or "On day 4 the bars ran out of vodka and Coke Zero".  Those are not perishable items.  I think they purposefully limit the safety stock so that each cruise is profitable.  Stock Bar A with one good bottle of Bourbon X and then when it is out do not stock another one until the next cruise.  Meanwhile they have their "elite drink package" money from you.  

Exactly this- even in YC!  Frustrating…

[steveknj]

We will be on the Seashore in January.  Thanks for the review.  Just a note on the elevators.   Some of the newer Carnival ships have similar type elevators.  I was on the Horizon a few years ago and it was similar to what you encountered, long waits and crowded elevators when they did arrive.  But, we were on the Venizia this past summer and with similar elevators, i don't think we ever waited more than a minute or two, and the elevators were only crowded a couple of times and those were after a show let out from the theater.   So the system CAN work on a cruise ship if implemented correctly.  Perhaps MSC needs to look at the issue and figure out how to make it work.  In theory it should work, but often times people forget to hit their floor one time for each passenger (i.e if you are there with 3 people, hit the button 3x.).  

 

 

[CruisingWalter]

3 minutes ago, steveknj said:

  In theory it should work, but often times people forget to hit their floor one time for each passenger (i.e if you are there with 3 people, hit the button 3x.). 

 

There are zero instructions for the passengers, so nobody knows to hit the button more than one time. Nothing in the information in the room, no simple instructions with the keypads, nothing. We were the only couple pressing the button twice, the other passengers would look at us like we were nuts when we did it. It was a complete fail on our cruise and was marginally better on the Seaside. 

[steveknj]

45 minutes ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

There are zero instructions for the passengers, so nobody knows to hit the button more than one time. Nothing in the information in the room, no simple instructions with the keypads, nothing. We were the only couple pressing the button twice, the other passengers would look at us like we were nuts when we did it. It was a complete fail on our cruise and was marginally better on the Seaside. 

 

Exactly.  On the Venizia they have signs up on how to do it so perhaps MSC needs something similar. I know I'm going to mention it to people waiting on the Seashore how to do it correctly and maybe the word will spread 🙂  They should give me a free cruise for that!! (I keed, I keed!!)

[go.without.you]

On 12/17/2023 at 2:20 PM, dshroyer said:

I am convinced that when it comes to food and drink they have allowances for each cruise.  That way they ensure that each cruise is profitable.  If they have big eaters or drinkers then they will just run out of stuff.  We were on a cruise when the ship ran out of butter.  And eggs.  I was on the Seashore a few weeks ago and the first day the yacht club was out of most wines.  No wine list for dinner.  In the yacht club!  This tells me they are allocating by cruise.  Just my opinion.  

I sailed this ship for Thanksgiving and them not having Sav Blanc the 1st day was a huge red flag for the rest of the trip. I also asked for a wine list....I'm still waiting to see it.

[go.without.you]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:08 PM, CruisingWalter said:

To top it off, the Yacht Club Butlers were leading their guests the wrong way through our queue so we had to keep getting out of their way. They could easily brought them down backstage like they were doing for scooters and wheelchairs. What an absolute cluster. There are so many ways this could have been done better. 

 

If that had been my first MSC cruise, between the elevators and that cluster of a debarkation, I don't know that I would go back. How a company responds when things go sideways shows much more than when everything goes right. 

 

 

As one of the people being led upstream I can tell you it wasn't a picnic for us either. I'm convinced that was when I caught the bad head cold I came home with because that was the 1st time during the entire cruise that I was in the middle of a crowd.

 

After that experience I cancelled my 2 MSC cruises for next year. I lost money but I am not about to gamble a few thousand more for poor service and grocery store wine while paying YC rates. I'm doing Celebrity this week and if the expectations aren't met then I will have to stop cruising for a while. Its sad. This will be my 31st cruise on over 6 lines since 1988.

[CruisingWalter]

17 hours ago, go.without.you said:

I'm doing Celebrity this week and if the expectations aren't met then I will have to stop cruising for a while. Its sad. This will be my 31st cruise on over 6 lines since 1988.

 

Hopefully that's a good one for you. Celebrity has been a great cruise line. And if you have not sailed Virgin Voyages yet, you really should give that a go. We've done three so far, including an 8-night Thanksgiving Cruise with a group of 30 folks.  26 of them had never been on a VV cruise and the two things that stood out, beyond the amazing food and zero children. 

 

The ship was sold out but never felt like it. There's so much open space and there are no major gathering spots so everyone is spread out. 

 

The lack of barkers and sales pressure. Nobody trying to sell you a drinks package, a dining package, a WiFi package because there's no need. All the meals are included. You're spotted a starter Bar Tab. and the WiFi is included, along with soft drinks and gratuities. In fact there are no photographers onboard either. 

 

They were also surprised at how chill and relaxed VV is. The vloggers all concentrate on the Scarlet Night party (awesome!) and The Manor nightclub so folks think it's a big party ship when in reality, it's a very chill, mellow cruise line. If you can swing it, that 8 night Eastern Caribbean Antilles is their best itinerary from Miami, but if not, hop on one of their 5 nighters.  Good luck on Celebrity! We're about to sail Oceania for Christmas/New Year's. 

[go.without.you]

@CruisingWalter I'm definitely going to check them out. The problem is getting across the state the day before the cruise without taking off another day of work.

[rbelshaw]

On 12/17/2023 at 4:08 PM, CruisingWalter said:

If that had been my first MSC cruise, between the elevators and that cluster of a debarkation, I don't know that I would go back.

If you think the exit was bad, you should have stayed around to watch the embarkation that immediately followed. To make a long, long, story short, Port and MSC staff were unable to restrain the pushing, shoving mob attempting to board, and there were at least two injuries on the escalators which required shore - based medical assistance. I don't blame MSC for this debacle - although we were told not to arrive at the port before 1700, obviously a hopelessly optimistic time frame, it appears most folks missed that memo. Just a speed bump on an otherwise perfect trip - never mind the weather.

 

As for the elevators, the ship's system is the same simple one I use to get to my office, without the multiple jabs for the multiple passengers - a distinction I would not notice, as I always travel solo on both journeys. I cannot guess what important information that push - per- person requirement would impose, and as I am approaching fluffy status, wonder if I should be pushing for two.

[steveknj]

On 12/23/2023 at 7:57 PM, rbelshaw said:

As for the elevators, the ship's system is the same simple one I use to get to my office, without the multiple jabs for the multiple passengers - a distinction I would not notice, as I always travel solo on both journeys. I cannot guess what important information that push - per- person requirement would impose, and as I am approaching fluffy status, wonder if I should be pushing for two.

 

Think about it.  If you are waiting with 4 people and you push just once, and the person standing next to you has 4 people and pushes once, how does the elevator know you are 8 people or one person?   And that's why you get such overcrowding.  The elevator has no idea how many people to expect.  If you push it 4 times for 4 people, the "crowd control" that the elevator should control (because that's the point of elevators like that) knows how many button pushes and thus, how many people.  Otherwise an elevator designed like that doesn't work.

[Cruise8090]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:08 PM, CruisingWalter said:

How a company responds when things go sideways shows much more than when everything goes right. 

 

@CruisingWalter I was on the 12/17 embarkation side of the fiasco. Id say it took the crew a full 36 hours before they could get themselves together after all the 12/17 termoil. There was definitely no action/strategic planning or communications on the part of MSC, but IMO Port Canaveral is accountable for some of the fiasco too.

I can roll with a lot, but the constant barrage of conflicting information i was receiving from the port and MSC via email text and one robocall was almost enough to break me.  

Next, I paid for the Yacht Club benefits which included a personal butler. The service i received is far from Suite levels service received on Royal Caribbean. Because of the horrible start I didn't go screaming to concierge to have a manager talk to me...which I saw many do, but the service gap was very noticeable.  I did pay for upgraded service which I don't feel MSC achieved.

 

I'm sure MSC corporate is still getting slammed by cruisers on both sides of that date. While I take all remarks on a forum with a grain of salt, I'm sure there are significant complaints found there too. Personally, I'd like to see If MSC learned and improved from the 12/17 fiasco, so I will likely try them one more time.

[At Sea At Peace]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:58 PM, CruisingWalter said:

 

And that's exactly how you would run a shipping company, but not a cruise line catering to guests. They can sure build ships, but they really have no idea how to cater to the public that literally has hundreds of options available. 

 

The organization structure of the shipping magnate and the cruise line are mutually exclusive.  To assert that they are running the cruise company based upon shipping company management is, well, misplaced at best.  Do you think that they have grown to currently close in on usurping NCL of #3 in just a few short year because they treat customers like container freight?

 

Stunning thought process.

[CruisingWalter]

On 12/27/2023 at 4:54 PM, At Sea At Peace said:

The organization structure of the shipping magnate and the cruise line are mutually exclusive.  To assert that they are running the cruise company based upon shipping company management is, well, misplaced at best.  Do you think that they have grown to currently close in on usurping NCL of #3 in just a few short year because they treat customers like container freight?

 

Stunning thought process.

 

It's the micromanagement of the cruise line that I'm referring to. Literally every decision onboard the ship has to be approved by Italy HQ. Every decision by the North American offices in Miami have to be approved by Italy HQ. Management onboard the ships are not empowered to make financial decisions for guests as they are on other cruise lines. They are running the management of the cruise line like the shipping company. Not how they treat the customers. 

 

However, their hotel operations are severely lacking vs. all other cruise lines. They know how to build ships and build a lot of them, but customer service is subpar at best. It was better on our original MSC Seaside sailing, but this Seashore sailing was a whole different experience.