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MSC Cruises

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Terrible

Very Good

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MSC Divina

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MSC Virtuosa

MSC Seaview

MSC Seascape

MSC Bellissima

MSC Seashore

MSC Grandiosa

MSC World Europa

MSC Euribia

Try to stay away

Monaco (Monte Carlo)

There are far too many passengers for the staff that are aboard .   The  boarding was over 4 hours late   

The staff were great when could get them they were so busy

The dining was hit and miss we had the early seating, but the staff were very limited portions were not that big, except for the prime rib, which was great

We had a person in a wheelchair with us  it’s very difficult to get an elevator there were too many people always everywhere you want it to be

Our biggest problem was, we weren’t made aware that if you had an early disembarkation you needed to keep your luggage with you in your room to take out on your own. We were not aware all we heard was make sure your bags were out by 11 in the night before so we did that we missed our flight home to Canada because of that because our bags were in the court until 10:30 AM at our flight left Orlando at 11 AM and it’s an hour away. We had to cancel our flight rebook stay in a hotel that’s not the cruise lines fault perhaps but it needs to be made more clear that’s what the process is. Should you have an early disembarkation 

When you book an excursion, and it says beach, check to make sure if it’s an actual weighted beach that you can walk into we went to ones that was absolutely beautiful. The food was great. The resort was wonderful in Cozumel but the beach had a retaining wall, that you had to walk down the steps or climb down a ladder into the water, which our girl wasn’t able to do. It’s not that it wasn’t nice. It was lovely, but it needs to be better described. 

Our trip was lovely, but we will not do MSC again simply because of the ratio of passengers to staff. I have not met one person on this cruise that says this was a great time everyone complained.

3000 too many people on this ship 

This review is to help those considering MSC Cruises to be fully informed and comes from our personal experience using MSC.

Day 1 - Embarkation -MSC Seashore

11/20/2023 to 11/26/2023

Elevators broken

Our check-time was 11:30 am.  We arrived early to find a room with 5k+ people in standing room only with no available seats waiting over two hours to board the ship due to late disembarkation from the previous cruise.

Our luggage was never delivered to our room.  Housekeeping was still delivering luggage at 12:00 midnight, and with a limited house keeping staff and 5k+ cruisers, we were patient that it would be at our door when we woke the next morning. 

Day 2

Elevators broken

We awoke to discover that housekeeping completed delivery of luggage, but our luggage was not delivered.  We went to guest services to stand in a line for 20+minutes to discover our luggage was in a storage closet with our tags missing from them.  We were just thankful we had our luggage and weren’t missing anything.

Day 3

Elevators broken

The MSC Seashore is a beautiful modern ship with a casino, game room for kids, shops, spa, multiple pools and bars, and water slides. 

Be advised that they overbook passengers than staff to handle them, so be prepared for long lines and wait times for everything.  

The staff are extremely helpful when they can get to you.  Our negative experience was never with staff but with the overall management and organization of the ship.

MSC owns a beautiful private island called Ocean Cay in the Bahamas that has a lighthouse.  They offer different excursions such as snorkeling and lighthouse tours with a lighthouse light show at night.  The beaches are very rocky, so it is not advised to go barefoot at these beaches.

Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner -  this ship offers a variety of restaurants.  You will most likely be assigned to a specific time at one restaurant that is included in your package.  There are other restaurant options, but are 100+ for a plate of food.  The atmosphere of the restaurant included in your package is quite elegant, but the food quality is not, so depending on the day you may rather stand in the long wait lines of the marketplace buffet.

The buffet has set times so it is advised to arrive prior to opening to avoid the rude chaos of people pushing their way through the lines.

There were mislabeled sandwiches and the temperatures of the hot food were questionable that they were at safe level.  If you have a food allergy you will want to make sure to always check your food prior to eating it.

There are smoking sections of the ship that are above the eating areas, so beware of blown ashes in your food.

Day 4

The excursions in Costa Maya and Cozumel are quite enjoyable, but aren’t long enough to enjoy the full experience.  We chose the Chichen Itza excursion in Cozumel, which is one of the seven wonders of the world.  We had an incredible tour guide and they included ear phones for the entire tour.  We never had any issues hearing them.  It took a 30 minute ferry and a 2.5 hr bus ride to and from the site to only have 1hr to tour the site before we had to leave.  They didn’t wait for you, so if you miss the bus then you will have to pay a $250+ fair to get back the ferry.

Day 5

If you choose to embark with MSC it is advised to try do activities in areas less traveled.  This cruise is more for party people and not so much for peace seekers.  You cannot relax on patio furniture on the decks at night because the ship crew puts the furniture away at night.  Don’t expect to be able to relax on your room deck either, because the crew is required to power wash the decks at night as well, so that’s what you will most likely hear instead of the peaceful sound of the quiet ocean.

Day 6

Please be advised that MSC required you to link a credit or debit card to your account to freely charge and credit purchases to your account.  You may find a surprise of charges that you didn’t make, so you will need to stand in long lines at guest service that may or may not get resolved.  You will need to follow up, follow up and follow up.

Fully informed MSC Experience 

Terrible service 

No organization 

Food not the best

Going  back to Carnival 

No priority as promised with a grand suite aurea experience what a waste of money 

Long wait times for sit down dinner takes over 2 hours to get thru dinner waiting to be served. Had to hunt down someone to bring us water to table . Bar service never came around at dinner even after we requested it

Waiters not even knowing the menu. Ordered red snapper directly off the menu the waiter Ordered shrimp and said its fish 

Have a family member that needs a paper menu and had to argue to get one.

Damaged destroyed luggage. 

At sea day only one buffet open for lunch

Ordered room service nevercame 

Requested mini bar to be filled they said they would and never did 

No waters available in rooms to purchase 

Booked an umbrella rental at Ocean cay and told to come back after an hour and must set up yourself just didn't expect that. 

Embarkation was not given priority as promised. Not given my  choice dining as a suite guest as promised with aurea experience booking

Worst experience 

The cruise was good, I will highlight some hits and misses from my perspective.  This is our 23rd cruise, 1st MSC and Yacht Club.  20 Nov 2023.  Cape Canaveral - Ocean Cay, Porta Maya, Cozumel.

The ship itself is new and beautiful.  20 decks tall and miami condo looking stern make it a visual stunner.  The inside is chrome, mirrors, with contemporary details.  Lots of attention to detail and really attractive elements.  One of the nicest ships I have been on.  The bed was comfy, easy temperature adjustment, the bathroom was very small, and there were no outlets by the bed...It should be mandatory to have electric and perhaps usb ports by each bed for device charging.

The MSC website, MSC app, communication to guests, and ship wifi are poor, and inferior to Celebrity, RCCL, Carnival, etc.  Account charges are commonly mis-identified and grouped making it difficult to understand what charges are.  The wifi drops constantly.  We did not see any mention of themed evenings or parties (for example the "white clothes" night").  Communication to guests about events and processes are poor.

The general embarkation process was a disaster, due to late clearance from the Port Canaveral Harbor Master.  As yacht club guests, we walked right on at 3:00 pm.  The normal wait time was about 3 to 4 hrs. Disembarkation as YC guest was easy.  We were driving home at 9:00 am.  I think other guests were closer to 11:00 am departure times.

On entry, we were dropped off at the yacht club lounge and told to wait for our butler to show us to our room.  After an hour, we walked without escort to our room and watched the safety video and called the safety registration  telephone number.  Then we went to our muster station to check in, and we had completed the required safety training.   I think not having an initial orientation/introduction by the butler was a real crappy start to an overall poor experience with the Yacht Club.

The yacht club dining room is beautiful, overlooking the YC lounge.  Full bow and side views with floor to ceiling windows made for a beautiful view.  The dining took 2 hours from being seated to having desert presented. (This is too long unless you are offered wine or water refills which we were not).  The food itself was standard cruise/banquet fare. Celebrity and new Carnival ships standard dining was better in food quality and service than the MSC YC.   MSC believes the YC dining room is a 5 star experience, but it is not. 

MSC sells the YC experience as upscale and elegant, but it is neither.  This cruise had 100+ of YC guests identified as children, so the dining room and pool/hot tubs had crying babies, loud kids, and generally a chuck-e-cheese vibe.  This was one of the worst parts of the cruise for us as empty nesters.  At no point did the adults outnumber the kids in the YC pool or hot tubs.  The dining guests were very casual, with some guests in baseball hats, jean shorts, and sports jerseys. One family actually had their huge poodle in the YC lounge identified as a "service" dog.  

The wine offerings as part of the YC dining were standard grocery store $20 bottles.  Nothing special, and not what I would think YC guests would prefer.  I think a premium wine package was available, but it was not offered.  I would have paid to have better wine with dinner. Drink service at dinner was slow, I ended up going to the YC lounge and getting wine and bringing it back to our table every evening.  Other cruise lines are far superior at wine and dinner drinks.

The ship has excellent kids areas and adult only areas, but not in the YC.  The kids pirate water play area is wonderful.  Best in class.

Pizza was great, offered in main buffet deck 16.  Buffet food was fine. Best pizza on any cruise ship.

The sauna/thermal area is not attended/maintained and was overly crowded.  The snow room is interesting and fun.  Other ships have much superior thermal areas.  YC guests have access to the thermal area, but you have to make an appointment, a fact we were not informed of until we tried to enter...

Ocean cay YC beach house is a nice corner of the island, but there are not enough bathrooms and the beach is gravel, not sand.  45 minute wait for the tram to take you to the YC beach. It was about a 15 minute walk, and you had to dodge the golf carts and trams.  The "service" dog was a real nuisance on the YC beach.  I could have done without constant dog barking. I suggest after lunch and a drink you go to a better beach on the island.  The other beaches are wonderful.

The Mexican ports were great, with pier service and lots of tourist stuff and good shore excursion options.  We had great weather and lots of fun.

Overall, the YC experience was a big disappointment, but the ship and cruise in general were very good.  The convenience of YC priority embark/disembark was great, the YC poolside buffet was good, and YC bar/coffee service were good if you placed the order yourself.  I did not see anyone walking around taking drink orders.  The large number of kids and the lack of adults only areas in the YC made for unpleasant dinner and pool experiences.  We should have left the YC and spent our relaxation time elsewhere.

We have booked a 29 Dec 2023 cruise on the Seashore, this time not in YC.  I think we will be able to have a better time with more reasonable expectations.

1st time MSC, Yacht Club experience is a mixed bag - manage your expectations

We booked this cruise to try out MSC after being very let down by NCL on 2 consecutive cruises and unwilling to pay double for an equivalent Royal cruise. We researched MSC and knew what we were getting in to. Understand that you get what you pay for and have clear expectations and this cruise is 110% worth it. 

My wife and I have cruised on all the major US lines, and it will be a long time before we go back after just trying out MSC. This is definitely more a European model of service. You will have to flag them down, they will not try to be your best friend, and it will be slower. Just be proactive in ordering, and you’ll always have a drink in front of you. Will this change eventually once they realize Americans just want to go on these cruises to get drunk? Possibly, but that’s not the culture in Europe (which is how they’re trained) and the pace of service reflects that. We had a very similar level of service on our last two NCL cruises that were nearly double the price, but we would expect better service from NCL.  

Ship was immaculate. Never had an issue finding a seat in any of the lounges. Shows were generic singing and dance shows, but were still good. Bands in the venues and lounges were great. Since the buffet is the only free option, it was a little crowded at times. We had no issues adjusting our schedule and going on “off” times and never had an issue waiting in line or finding a table. The food, both in the buffet and in the main dining room, was great. No complaints. Had lunch at Hola’s on the sea day and that food was amazing and worth the upcharge. 

Main complaints: Strange muster drill… lots of unnecessary steps which caused the cruise to start out a little stressful. Then disembarkation was indeed an unorganized mess. My guess is everyone took them up on the express walk off option since they told everyone to be out of their rooms by 8:30. We got lucky due to where our room was located and how we got funneled into line and it only took us an hour, but I can see why it took longer for everyone else. 

When put into perspective with the cost of the cruise and what you’re getting, it is more than worth it, especially if you go in with realistic expectations on service. We already booked our next MSC cruise.

You get what you pay for, and that is perfectly ok!

We were excited to take our first MSC cruise on the Seashore but unfortunately it was over all a less than desirable experience. We understood the itinerary was changed due to weather and safety concerns which is a top priority. Once getting to the island getting food was once again a hassle. All excursions were called off for weather ( which safety is a top priority) and renting an umbrella was encountering a rude member because he seemed to not want to be there. I said hello and thank you and he stayed silent.

The ship I can say was beautiful and the entertainment was great, however we learned from a manager that the staff 
was 70 percent new and the service was overall awful. 

With booking, packages and purchases, we spent about $4,000 and came home regretting doing so.

There was very limited communication and instruction. We found our photos on a kiosk and asked a crew member how to use the kiosk and he said we should wait in the long line. I ended up figuring the kiosk out myself to get my pictures.

We didnt know that there's apparently a secret to getting electricity turned on in the cabin that we had to figure out the trick from other passengers. There was no instruction whatsoever for this feature.  We thought the box  was a smoke detector 

We ordered room service on two occasions that never showed up the first time and was late and incomplete  the second time.

Reason for room service was because trying to get food at the buffett was a hassle.Buffett lines were long and they were always out of food and tables stayed un bussed awhile. While in line they pulled the curtains down to shut down buffet lines in many occasions leaving us to find other food sources.

Waited for food for over and hour at Hola Tacos while other patrons walked out angry. When food came out it was wrong and not complete.

Went to guest services to join more unhappy guests in line. The manager was great and took care of the Hola Taco issue.

Tried steak on two occasions and they were inedible. Our waiter barely spoke to us and immediately wanted our food order before asking for drinks. 

We did hibachi but the portions were small and both chicken and steak were tough. Even the sushi was pretty much not edible.

Disembarkation took over 3 hours and never heard them call one number because they had music blasting instead but even on the line that serpentined around furniture on the the whole 6th floor we never heard a number called.  There were no crew members around to assist or answer questions.

Most passengers we spoke to stated they will never sail again.

Never again 

We went with a group of 6 parties, this is our 3rd cruise together. We all had different venues and seating times for the dining room & they could not accommodate putting us all together & were very rude about it. It took about 2 hours for dinner in the main dining room, we went twice. The first time the food was ok, the 2nd time it was terrible, tough little steaks that were well done. We sent it back & ordered something else, but left out of frustration before they came. The buffet is chaos, mediocre & repetitive food, no clean tables to sit at & nowhere to put dirty dishes or trash anywhere on the ship. They had iced tea for about 1 day, it ran out & I don't think they ever refilled it.

They can't make common cocktails, my husband ordered an old fashioned & it came blended. Another guy ordered an iced coffee, guess what? Also blended, lol. Service was slow, but they did let us order 4 beers at a time to cut down on trips to the bar.

The ship & cabin were nice. The private island is beautiful, but the service was even worse there.

No cruise director, no entertainment to speak of, no communication & nothing special about the theme nights. The live music for the early white night "party" at the pool was awful. 

The muster activity was a disorganized mess & disembarkation was even worse.

We had a good time because of the group, but will never choose MSC again.

Terrible Food & Service

I dont think it was as bad as a lot of the reviews say but MSC do have some work to do. I know and understand that every cruise is what you make of it. The food quality does need to improve. The elevator system defiantly needs to change for faster service. I do believe that once MSC get on track it will be an awesome cruise line to go on. MSC should definitely look into hiring more staff to accommodate the amount of guest that they book for cruises. I also feel in my overall opinion that i have had better experiences on other ships but i also was on ships worst than this. Would this be my first pick to go on (NO) but in the future the prices will go up and they will bump a lot of cruises out the way for a wonderful vacation. I say give it a try and get your own thoughts of MSC Seashore.

Beautiful ship

Booked for a family reunion.  This was a very disorganized cruise line, couldn’t link our reservations together for a dining time so got stuck at 930 PM.  Website made booking and adding packages very difficult.  Clearly very understaffed—Bar service was EXTREMELY slow and often had to wait 20+ minutes for each drink.  Buffet food was the same every day and the only place to get breakfast and lunch, so was always jam packed with long lines.  Could not get snack food anywhere or at any bar.  Dining food was also bad and very small portions.  I woke up in the middle of the night hungry every day.  They advertised that a continental breakfast could be delivered to room but it NEVER came, so we gave up on it.   Also had to wait in a 4+ hour line to disembark.  They made a line divider out of tables and lounge chairs.  Would NOT RECOMMEND.

Bad 

Where do we start???

1. Upon arrival to the room, there was one bag.

The other one... Took us three hours of wandering around the ship as the baggage crew could not locate it and left us to fend for ourselves. 

It had been delivered to the wrong room and no one on the ship kindly thought to deliver it back to our room.

2. When we arrived to the buffet... Imagine 5000 people in one area literally fighting over food. The food was crap. Tables were covered in plates, no where to sit. Ran out of food. Shocking.

3. After we stayed in port overnight, we were notified of a change, but still given our excursion tickets, just with date changes.

4. We purchased the the non alcoholic package.

I will be asking for a refund. We had to go and get tea and coffee from the buffet as we gave up trying to get a latte from the bar or bar service. 

This was included anyway without the add on packages.

On numerous occasions we had to leave because we waited over 45 mins for a drink.

Fresh fruit juices... No sorry you will have to go to another bar.

When we managed to get to the bar we just ordered three cans of pop each and took them back to the room so we could enjoy a drink without queing each time! 

5. When we arrived at Cove Cay, we had a excursion booked at 3pm. At 2pm we went to check if it was still going ahead. We were told by a sarcastic shoulder shrug and to go back at 3pm when in fact the excursions were cancelled in the morning and no one told us.

We went back at 3pm and I was told that there would be no excursions (by the island crew, not the boat crew).

6. We paid for two day passes at Atlantis in the Bahamas as we were due to spend the entire day there. (8am - 7pm) we had to be back on the boat at 1.45pm!!

We waited 40 mins to get on the boat!

The day passes were 190 dollars each!

7. The staff. Some hard working and never stopped while some were extremely rude and did not work as a team. 

8. Disembarking…this was the biggest nightmare.We left the room at 8.30am for express leave as we just wanted to get off the ship!!!

TOTAL CHAOS!!!

No organisation.

5400 people trying to get off at once. 

I had a anxiety attack. I was being pushed down the staircase... There were elderly guests seated on the floor! The staff had no idea what was going on. Passengers and babies needed help but no crew members were around.

People were jumping over posts it was just horrendous.

9. Our table for the evening meal was booked at 9.15pm even though we asked for a early table.

We are most nights at 11pm.

Apparently the kitchen staff couldn't keep up.

I have been on cruises before and they have been fantastic but I am totally scarred and will never be going anywhere near MSC again.

0/10 WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.

Total Chaos.

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