JCMAN

I can't speak for other cruise lines or their changes in post-COVID. My only other cruise before MSC on the Seashore earlier this month was on the Voyager of the Seas on RCL in November of 2005... way too long ago to reasonably compare. I have been to Europe, Germany as recently as 2016, Italy as recently to 2011. I am used to what some have dubbed "European tastes" (especially being lighter on salt) and I am fine with them... that's not the issue. I would consider the non-specialty restaurant food on MSC to be, in general, a letdown, and I plan to look elsewhere. Maybe Princess. Or if I solo travel without friends, maybe I'd be willing to try Yacht Club - but I've heard very mixed feedback on YC food quality, to the food being leaps and bounds better, to it being presented better. I only went on a four night cruise, so limited options to eat at the MDR. The night of departure, twelve of us ate in the MDR. We ordered different items - I ordered a steak with peppercorn sauce - and the appetizer was an antipasto plate. The antipasto plate was small, but fine. The peppercorn steak was medium rare but the searing was sad and the fat was not rendered. The sauce hid these deficiencies. The cheesecake was bland, but that's on me for being a New Yorker ordering New York style cheesecake on a cruise ship. An okay, but not amazing meal. Day 2 nobody ate at MDR, we wanted to get to Ocean Cay early, buffeted lunch after some time on the beach, went back to beach, and then the couples decided to have date night. Me being solo and not wanting to sit at a table with 12 empty chairs, I ate at Butcher's cut. The ribeye did not have all the fat rendered (this is not an issue of the ribeye being a fatty cut... if fat is rendered with correct temperature and cooking, then it is melt in your mouth delicious. Unrendered is like chewing cud) and they swapped it with a filet with little hesitation. Delicious, but $$$. Day 3 we were ambivalent about the MDR and most skipped it. A friend and his wife and I decided, hey, we'll give Caribbean night a try. I'm allergic to seafood which made the menu choices simple: chips and guac for appetizer, carne asada for dinner, and key lime pie for dessert. Yum! Or so I thought. I ordered chips and guac... this is what I received. Yes, three chips. Three entire chips. The chips were somewhat stale, which is surprising since embarkation was only three days prior. I ate the chips and due to the disparity between the chip and guac portions, there was still guac on the plate. When asked if I didn't like it I did and said to the waiter that I liked it and would finish the guac if given more chips. At that point the plate disappeared... never to be seen again. Now for dinner I received carne asada. "Carne asada". I put the quotes around this because it wasn't carne asada. Saying there were no spices is not exaggeration, or hyperbole, or to emphasize it was underseasoned. No spices detectable were there, much less the usual ones for carne asada. What did I receive, you might ask? I received pot roast. Cold, underseasoned, potroast with inedible unrendered fat. Why do I know this is pot roast, you may ask? Because I ate meals outside the MDR for breakfast and lunch. Lunch the same day they had pot roast at one of the buffet stations. I received a couple pieces and tried it. Lukewarm and not particularly flavorful, I ate one bite and left the rest on my plate in favor of other buffet food. I know that this was the same pot roast because it tasted identical. Note that I only apply "same pot roast" to the meat and recipe. While I will not assert "same" as the same exact meat that was on the counter at noon being in the MDR at 5:15PM, I would not be surprised if they took some pot roast that was still food safe at holding temp from the buffet later that day and called it "carne asada". It was completely inedible and disgusting, I had the faux pas of having to spit it out because I couldn't bear to swallow a single bite. The waiter apologized and asked me if I wanted something else...given the seafood heavy MDR menu leaving me no alternatives, I declined (giving that reason), said I'd eat at the buffet, but I'd still take the key lime pie. The key lime pie was small, but pretty decent. I also know that MSC can do mexican right... because Hola Tacos did it right, and not for a bad price either ($18/adult). I will end my diatribe on a positive note: I actually thought, on the whole, that the buffet was decent. As a New Yorker my pizza standards are high, and it is possible to get a bad slice of pizza (worst pizza I've had was at Kennedy Space Center - when a 12 year old kid and his siblings won't eat pizza, you know it's bad), but the buffet pizza was great by buffet pizza standards and being popular was often well turned over so you got a fresh slice. I also thought that the breakfast at the buffet was great, matching a typical breakfast assortment you'd get in hospitality (like hotels) in Europe. I didn't order a room service pizza but other passengers showed me pics and it looks every bit as good as the Neapolitan pizzas I cook myself in an Ooni pizza oven, and I'm sure if I ordered that I would have been quite pleased. But the MDR dragged on my entire experience of the cruise. The buffet did not have enough variety to enjoy consistent eating for several days. Sure there were a lot of options, but not a lot of options that changed daily (basically I only saw three trays in the buffet's international section). I could only imagine the dread of approaching the buffet to eat the same items towards the end of a weeklong cruise. When combined with other baffling policies (like not allowing drinks at hot tubs and closing all pools/hot tubs at 8PM), it left my friends and I agreeing that we had a good time overall, but would be looking elsewhere next time.

I'm not sure where you got that, as I didn't list it as a negative and listed it as "no verdict/informational" towards the very end. MSC, at least on the Seashore, seemingly has employed more aggressive device fingerprinting that checks to make sure each device is actually device, and not a shared Wi-Fi router connection, that isn't necessarily in place on other ships. (Somebody who recently was on the Virtuosa reported zero issues with use of a travel router). I haven't seen anybody report on the Seashore blocking travel routers, so I was just reporting an experience that I qualified with "Since this is what MSC intends in selling Wi-Fi I ain't upset, just game recognize game." The lack of ability to use a travel router encouraged me to buy a second device connection, which I benefited from. However, it made the price difference between a Yacht Club upgrade offer and the premium drink package + single wifi connection I pre-bought for a standard room even less, and I expressed remorse for not taking the upgrade offer given the quality of the food in MDR/Buffet and other YC perks, given that the YC upgrade included two devices of WiFi connection and prem drink package.

I've heard mixed things on this on these boards and elsewhere. For their part, current MSC USA website material seems to point to the included Wi-Fi being browse and stream: HIGH-SPEED INTERNET Stay connected with a premium internet package from anywhere on board, an exclusive benefit for guests. Unlimited Wi-Fi allows you to browse and stream on up to two devices. A lot of other material points to just the browse package. Either way, even if the exact dollar amount varied slightly, I still regret not going for the Yacht Club upgrade counter. They were offering me the room for Basically $1280 ($500 cruise fare + $880 upgrade counter) at a time they were trying to sell it for $2,978 (double occupancy).

So I've only ever cruised once before, many years ago (2005) on Royal Caribbean. Some friends of mine decided to book on MSC. As a solo traveler I booked my own cabin about a month out, spending $390 + $110 port expenses and fees = $500. I was upgraded from an interior room to a deluxe balcony. I was also offered the opportunity to bid on an upgrade. I bid, and was countered a deluxe Yacht Club suite for $440pp at double occupancy despite being solo = $880 additional. I accepted, then cancelled the bid, then regretted it and tried to get it back. No dice, so I sailed in a balcony with the standard Bella experience. The cruise was fun, but overall I wouldn't plan to travel on MSC again based on my experience. The good The ship itself is big and beautiful. Nice varied design throughout. The ship is well maintained and clean. Occasionally there was something like a soap dispenser running out of soap or an elevator call screen being out, but the ship is well maintained. There was no obvious sign of wear in my cabin either with the exception of a slight Crack at the base of my balcony light switch. Wifi on the stream package was overall reliable and usable for video calls. YouTube is gonna buffer a bit particularly on the at-sea day but it's still impressive to be connected at sea. All of the staff are extremely polite and friendly. Many places to get alcohol on board to keep the party going. You're basically tripping over bars, so if you get a drink package you can get your money's worth. Ocean Cay is a great stop, not too big, internet and drink packages work ashore. Water and beach/land were very clean. Breakfast buffet was great. Pizza at buffet was far better than I expected and was actually good. I found both butchers cut and hola tacos to be worth the price of admission. If you're a solo traveler and go to butchers cut, they will still serve you the meal for two if you purchase the package. Appetizer, 20oz ribeye, dessert and wine. The bad The buffet is not varied. There is a wide variety but by day three I felt like i was running out of options. Only one small section of three trays really changed day to day for international food. Having only one buffet even though it's large it gets extremely crowded at peak meal times.Bar at the buffet is limited. The MSC for Me wristband isn't worth an optional purchase. It worked for my room but not at most bars. I asked for re-encoding and then it didnt work anywhere. I asked for a refund and was declined as it was "merchandise". They replaced it on the last night and then it worked. They were apologetic, but said company policy prohibited them from giving me a refund. MSC for me app is semi functional but not intuitive. Expect app crashes and to need to force close the app when chat freezes. There is nowhere to purchase pain reliever on board. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen both reduce fever, so I suspect this is a ploy to make sick people go to medical however, if you go to medical, they state they will charge you $180 for evaluation. So if you just have a headache from a hangover and forgot to pack pain reliever, you’re basically out of luck without spending an exorbitant amount of money. Some bars go to 1am, but all pools and hot tubs close at 8pm, which is ridiculously early on such a beautiful ship. The ugly People who say the food on MSC is bad aren’t joking. They sat the twelve of us at the same dining room table at the 5th Ave dining room. The only time all of us ate there was dinner the first evening. We were so underwhelmed. None of the food was good enough to take pictures of. Steak cooked medium rare was proper done inside but very small very thin and fat was not rendered and chewy. Plates are small. Three of us went back for a second dinner in MDR were similarly underwhelmed. To underscore how bad the food is, I ordered carne asada in MDR and received this. it was completely unseasoned, cold, and… Tasted identical to the pot roast that was served at the buffet for lunch. So cold that I’m convinced that it was the same pot roast served from lunch and brought to the dining room. A friend got sick after eating at the buffet on departure day and after six hours was violently ill. Medical seemed adversarial and threatened to charge $180 before they realized how ill she truly was. She was quarantined for 24hrs as a precaution if it was contagious illness. The quarantine isn't the issue, it's how MSC handled it. She was quarantined for 24hrs. Her roommate in an interior room wasn't... So what was the point of quarantine again? Friend asked if can get another cabin sorry fully booked. When quarantine ended she had to call medical to verify, they said she's fine. Nobody proactively checked on her, which is not great when you're sick on a cruise ship. The quarantine was not properly removed from her cruise ID, but this didn't reflect anywhere on the ship except at embarkation/disembarkation. They didn't clear her from quarantine on the computer. So she got stopped while the security people checked with medical at Nassau, and was delayed exiting the ship upon return to Port Canaveral. In essence this means if you're sick you're basically on your own. If someone is potentially contagiously ill and selfishly values their own fun over not spreading disease to other people there's nothing preventing them using all shipboard facilities. If you are quarantined and get over it, it will continue to inconvenience you for the entire vacation. No verdict/informational MSC has (as their peers have apparently done) enhanced their network detection to thwart travel routers repeating wifi, at least on the Seashore. Expect to purchase wifi on a per device basis. Since this is what MSC intends in selling Wi-Fi I ain't upset, just game recognize game. I wish I had purchased the yacht club upgrade counter as they offered a deluxe suite upgrade at $440pp double occupancy. I hesitated as a solo traveler, but given how grim the food was in MDR and that premium drinks plus two device stream wifi was $550+ it would have been worthwhile I feel. MSC matches hotel status which is bizarre but a status match is only available once ever and hilton ranks map way higher in msc voyager club so time it right. You have to do this at least two weeks before sailing. Bottom line Good but not great cruise with MSC. Will be looking elsewhere next time.

So I learned the hard way on counters: They are one time. If you get an upgrade offer you can modify or cancel it, but the counter can only be accepted once. If you cancel a counter, then it's gone for good. The minimum bid amount for the YC Deluxe ($570, odds marked "poor") is more than the counter offer ($440pp, $880 charging for double occupancy on upgrade bid despite being a solo traveler). I think for me at $880 extra the economics don't work - I can purchase the premium drinks package for $352 (or go down to easy plus for less) and faster wifi is $80 for one device. Hope springs eternal on my original bid for the YC Interior room, which is still marked as "strong" despite no interior rooms being available... EDIT: Looks like 2 YC deluxe suites and 1 YC deluxe grand suite remain. Not bullish on the upgrade odds...

Perhaps. Hard to say. Online inventory only seems to suggest only four YC1 rooms and two YCP rooms are available... looks pretty packed. The upgrade counter offer for YC1 is hurt by it being double occupancy, but they're trying to sell the rooms for around $1500 a head for ~$3000 for the trip, versus the upgrade counter offer being around ~$1400 (with the upgrade billed as double occupancy, plus the original cost of the cruise. (The bid on the YCI room is $230pp = $460 with it being double occupancy). Trying to figure out if I should keep my feet strong or succumb to the temptation to upgrade. EDIT: Of course, inventory for rooms is less on MSC's own website for both, and the possibility remains that they've blocked rooms for selection at third party travel agencies but that they aren't actually booked...

Hello all, going on my first cruise with MSC, and second cruise ever... I booked an interior room on the MSC Seashore for Dec 3rd and was upgraded to a deluxe balcony. Nice little perk. Nov 6th emailed offering for upgrade bids. I put in an amount determined "Strong" for YC Interior. Nov 15th they counter saying YC Deluxe suite for $XYZ amount... unfortunately for me, that dollar amount doesn't make sense as a solo traveler that would have to pay double occupancy on an upgrade. I've slightly raised my YC interior bid, still registering "strong" despite MSC telling me that they don't think they're gonna be able to do a YCI upgrade. One question, why are they soliciting bids for sold out cabin classes (like Yacht Club interior)- data harvesting? Hopes that other upgrades clear and slot me into YC? Last minute cancellation? Also, I've read mixed reports on the letter vs spirit of the law in terms of refunds on drink packages/wifi. I recognize that de facto the terms say if your bid clears, then no refunds on the drink packages / wifi already purchased if your new cabin experience level includes it, but how flexible is MSC on this in reality? Thanks for any and all insight. Trying to decide if I keep my bid and if/when I purchase a drink package discounted with >48hrs before sailing.