Trip Report - Seashore to Nassau and Ocean Cay

[CruisinCrow]

We were on the August 15, 3-day sailing on Seashore and I just posted my review.  I hope you enjoy the pictures!

https://susancrow.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-aurea-experience-on-msc-seashore.html

 

I also posted the daily activity schedules here:

https://susancrow.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

 

 

Additional comments:

We had the Easy Plus package and Wifi included with our booking.  The Easy Plus package covered most of our drinks and for the few that cost more than $10, we only had to pay the difference.  The bartenders always let us know that there would be an additional cost.  I was disappointed with the new, limited drink menus because all the bars had the same drinks.  But we did find the Cocktail Bar on the last night and it still has its own menu and great cocktails.

 

I loved eating in the 5th Avenue restaurant. It was small and we were seated at the same table every night and got lots of personal service.  Having My Choice Dining was worth the extra cost of Aurea.

 

Most of the food was good, not great.  My favorites were the French onion soup at dinner (they have it every night), pizza at the buffet, chocolate croissants in the morning. The regular coffee is good and you can also get lattes and special coffees at most of the bars (included with the drink package).

 

I thought the casino was supposed to be completely non-smoking but it was smoky in one area of the slot machines.  Fortunately, the tables were smoke free. 

 

Our cabin was comfortable.  Not much counter space in the bathroom but otherwise, the storage was fine.  It seemed like the balcony door let in a lot of heat so we kept our curtains closed when we weren't in the cabin.  We didn't see much of our cabin steward, but he did his job and brought towels and ice, which is all we needed.  We did ask for Kleenex because it's not automatically supplied.  You have to leave one of your room keys in the slot by the door for the lights to work.

 

The layout of the buffet is confusing.  Make sure you do a full walk around or you will miss stuff.

 

No problems getting a reservation for the Rock Royalty show.  We were able to do it 24 hours in advance using the app.

 

We did the express debarkation and it went smoothly.  We were in our car in about 20 minutes.  Port Canaveral uses facial recognition for passport holders which helps keep thing moving.

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer.

 

Happy cruising!

[mcmomny]

Thank you for your review! Very helpful!

 

I am an MSC newbie and we are sailing in October on The Seashore with our son and his family, two connecting Fantastica experience balcony cabins.

 

We start online check-in on Oct 6th, but my husband and I will still be on our NCL cruise, how important is it to do the on line check in on the 6th? Can it wait till we get home on the 8th?

 

We were already assigned check in times when we booked.

 

Thank you!

 

[CruisinCrow]

34 minutes ago, mcmomny said:

We start online check-in on Oct 6th, but my husband and I will still be on our NCL cruise, how important is it to do the on line check in on the 6th? Can it wait till we get home on the 8th?

 

 

Not important at all, especially if you already have a check-in time.  You can do it when you get back.

 

Have a great cruise!

[mcmomny]

Thank you!

[Two Wheels Only]

4 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

Booking a cruise with MSC is a little different than with other cruise lines. You choose one of three different “experiences” - Bella, Fantastica or Aurea.

 

I really enjoyed your review but you forgot to mention one other "experience". 😉

[GA Dave]

My son, DIL, daughter, and SIL were on your cruise in Yacht Club while I stayed home and babysat my three granddaughters (6, 3 & 10-months). They said they had a wonderful time.

[CruisinCrow]

Here are a few more pictures that I didn't include in the review.

 

Aurea balcony

 

Prosecco and chocolate

 

Mojito at the Aurea lounge

 

 

 

[CruisinCrow]

Hola Tacos

 

Rock Royalty show

 

espresso martini

[CruisinCrow]

16 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I really enjoyed your review but you forgot to mention one other "experience". 😉

 

I'll have to figure out how to add in a mention of Yacht Club.  I guess I consider it in an entirely different category. 🙂

[CruisinCrow]

A couple more comments:

 

For the muster drill, we had to check in at our muster station and watch a safety video on the cabin TV and then call a number from the cabin phone to verify that we'd watched.  There wasn't a set time that we had to check in so we just did it at our convenience.  Our safety video was in German and we couldn't figure out how to switch it to English but we got the gist. 😄

 

We booked last minute so the only Aurea cabins available were on Deck 9.  It was very quiet, but I would recommend another deck, if possible.  Deck 9 overlooks the walking area on Deck 8.  We were over the spa so we didn't have an issue with noise or privacy but our view was somewhat blocked.  The balcony was very large, which was nice, but people from Deck 10 could look down at us.  That didn't bother us but it might bother some people. 

[noshoobie]

3 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

rea on Deck 8.  We were over the spa so we didn't have an issue with noise or privacy but our view was somewhat blocked.  The balcony was very large, which was nice, but people from Deck 10 could look down at us.  That didn't bother us but it might bother some people. 

We sailed on the Seashore last year and were also on deck 9 above the spa. We loved that it was so quiet and the deck was so big but we were also a little freaked out that not only could deck 10 look down upon you but every deck could look down upon you! I kept thinking someone was going to fall on me. lol. For those considering deck 9 I would caution you not to stay on deck 9 at the rear of the ship. The people we sat next to at dinner were on deck 9 in the back above the infinity pool and said that sometimes it was loud. 

[TheBeardedCruiser]

On 8/27/2024 at 11:29 AM, CruisinCrow said:

Most of the food was good, not great.  My favorites were the French onion soup at dinner (they have it every night), pizza at the buffet, chocolate croissants in the morning.

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer.

 

Happy cruising!

Thanks for your review and pictures. I really enjoyed them!

 

I hope that you were serious about answering questions... I have thousands. JK

I just have one. I want to know what your favorite pizza topping/toppings were.

 

My flavorite (yes, I spelled it that way intentionally) pizzas were the specialty cheese (the one with like three different cheeses), the margarita with cheese and without cheese, and the pizza that just came out of the oven and was still piping hot, no matter the topping. Basically, I love their pizza; I especially love it that they have a pizza oven on the pool deck!

[CruisinCrow]

7 hours ago, TheBeardedCruiser said:

My flavorite (yes, I spelled it that way intentionally) pizzas were the specialty cheese (the one with like three different cheeses), the margarita with cheese and without cheese, and the pizza that just came out of the oven and was still piping hot, no matter the topping. Basically, I love their pizza; I especially love it that they have a pizza oven on the pool deck!

 

They had pizza on the pool deck??  How did I miss that?  It was such a short cruise that we never really got to the pools.

 

We just ate the pepperoni.  Make sure you make a full lap around the buffet.  I saw the square pizza first and almost got that but was glad I kept going and found the slices.

[TheBeardedCruiser]

3 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

They had pizza on the pool deck??  How did I miss that?  It was such a short cruise that we never really got to the pools.

 

We just ate the pepperoni.  Make sure you make a full lap around the buffet.  I saw the square pizza first and almost got that but was glad I kept going and found the slices.

This is my fault! Sorry! I misread which ship you were on. There is pizza on the pool deck on the Meraviglia. I don't know about the Seashore. I've never sailed on that ship.

 

I ate a piece of the square pizza during my embarkation lunch in the buffet and was disappointed. Then I found the real slices and never looked back 😄🥳🍕🎉😁 Months later I'm still craving those slices of pizza!!!

Edited August 29 by TheBeardedCruiser