Stealthdog

Day 2 we went to Nassau. It was a beautiful day in port. I was able to watch our arrival from the balcony. 2 ships were already in port when we arrived - Disney Dream and NCL Sun (we have been on both ships, and it was fun seeing them). A Holland ship pulled in after us, making 4 ships in that port area. The MSC Seashore towered over the other ships, especially the Holland and NCL ships. We ended up not leaving the ship and enjoyed quiet time on board. I’ll provide thoughts on these later - MDR for breakfast, gym, and the Veteran celebration event.

Night 1 we did both the theater show and the Cabaret Rouge. Theater shows require reservations, which are very easy to do on the MSC App. We originally booked the 8pm show, but switched it to 630 because we finished dinner early. It was very simple to switch the reservations on the app. MSC has 3 seatings for the theater shows, so everyone has an opportunity to see it. When you arrive at the theater, they will scan you cabin key to make sure you have the reservation. The shows haven’t been filling up, so you should be able to see any show you want at any of the showing. The theater show on night one was called “Live From MSC” - it was a variety show with set pieces from the production team (singers and dancers), a juggler, acrobats, and a magician. Our favorites were the juggler and acrobats. In Cabaret Rogue they also had a Variety show, and you can come and go as you want. There were some singers, comedy, and a pair of dancers while we were there. One of the dancers was a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance (I think she said season 6). We actually found the entertainment in Cabaret Rogue to be better than the theater. And we really like the layout of the cabaret - it’s multistory and you can sit above and watch the show. If you sit on the stage floor, you may be called on to participate in an act…..so be careful there if you don’t want to participate. The night one theme party was also in Cabaret Rouge - Silent Party. For those unfamiliar, you will be given a headset that has 3 channels of music. You don’t need reservations - just need to show your cabin card for the headsets and then return them outside for the cabaret when you are done. You can adjust your headset to whichever channel you prefer (it’s 70s-80s, pop, and the third was Latin I think). It was well attended, but I think many were expecting a glow/florescent party because they wore neon colors and glow sticks.

Day 2 activities. Almost caught up with Day 1 - just entertainment left. Day 2 I’ll go over coffee, buffet, gym, and a few other topics, as well as post some of the bar/lounge menus.

Day 1 dinner in MDR. Had the French Onion Soup, Caesar Salad, NY Strip, and Chocolate Cheesecake. Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the MDR compared to other lines. It’s only a one meal comparison, but we normally do specialty dining restaurants because we typically are not happy with MDR food. The ceasar was ok - standard for a regular regular restaurant. No complaints. It wasn’t overly dressed. The French Onion soup wasn’t bad, but it was probably a little below what I am used to in land based and cruise restaurants. I loved that it wasn’t overly salty, which can happen, so that was great. The overall taste to me was just bland. The NY strip was a home run. Last year we are on a Princess ship and I had to return the NY strip 4 times back to the kitchen before I moved on to a different meal. The strip last night was of good meat quality and was cooked as asked (Princess had terrible meat quality and cooked it well done every time). It’s only a one time comparison, but the NY strip put my overall dinner last night in a very positive light. The cheesecake I could have done without (and only ate half of it). It was too light and not rich enough for me. Some people may prefer it that way though. Eric was having vegetarian/vegan options and I will roll all his food comments in one post about special diet options on board.

I’ll hold off on overall assessment of food until the end. So far I’m happy, but Eric less than happy. I’ll look for a menu with old fashioned. They have whiskeys priced at $10, so you can probably get a version of it with the lower packages.

Now for a negative review….. I don’t think I ever seen a more disorganized, hot mess of a muster of any of my ~ 15 cruises. This was hands down the worst muster I have ever taken part of…..and this includes the old musters where you had to physically show to your station, stand in rows, and get your safety brief in person. Everything about the muster was a sh*t show and MSC should really modernize how they do it. What was supposed to happen was you watch the safety video in your cabin, call a number on your cabin phone to let them know you watched, and then go check in at your muster station. The safety video wasn’t working on our TV - it was a frozen screen. We got the announcement for the phone code. We used the 3 digit number and got an error message. Then we dealt with 4000 thousand passengers all trying to go to their muster stations the same time only using the stairs. But the biggest problem was everyone who got to their muster stop to check in then tried to push their way up the stairs against the flow, presumably to try to get back to their room. Everything about the execution of the muster was just terrible and MSC should look at what the other lines are doing. MSC appears to have a better on board app than a couple of the other lines and should incorporate the app into their drill and let people check in to their muster station over a period of time to avoid massive congestion. if they were trying to run an exercise to induce massive confusion, frustration, and anger to reflect an actual emergency, I guess they succeeded. 😂

The room itself is fairly standard (balcony delux). There is plenty of space and closet space for 2 people, at least for a short cruise. The balcony is also decent size and we have definitely been using it. The bathroom is small - it’s a smaller space than other comparable rooms to other cruise lines we have been on recently. For larger people, there may be a challenge using the toilet and shower, so this category may not be the best choice for people who need more space in the bathrooms. Attached are photos of the room and bathroom. One usb charger by the bed. A series of outlets by the TV across from the bed. Also, one outlet plug in the barhroon.

A couple things of note about the first day. First the positive - we love the concept of going to the room to get your room key once you enter the ship. Most other lines give you your card when you check in and the room is unavailable until mid afternoon. We didn’t even check our luggage (only 1 piece) with the porters at the pier. We carried our luggage on. We entered the ship on deck 4, so I had to carry it up 8 flights of stairs, but it was worth it. We had our luggage and backpacks in our room immediately which was a great feeling. We have been on cruises where the luggage can get lost or it gets to your room really late on the first day. For people flying who want to freshen up before dinner, that can be a pain. So great concept for MSC compared to other lines about letting people access to their rooms right away. The room was still being cleaned when dropped our stuff off but we just dropped our stuff off and didn’t go back until it was time to get ready for dinner.

Sports bar menu. They have a fairly wide menu of bottled beer and draft beer. Not sure the menu of draft beers matches what I see (photos attached). The sports bar was showing NCAA basketball last night and today, so there will most likely be the March Madness Tournament. Being with a UF Gator, we were devastated to see FSU get destroyed in the ACC tournament. Hahahaha.

there were people outside the terminal building directing people inside, but no one asked what our boarding time was or asked to see our boarding pass. The only time we showed it was at the security line and at the kiosks where you show passports where you get your photos done. The lines were short and moving quickly.

First impressions upon boarding yesterday was everything was great. The ship looks wonderful - modern and sleek. The design is traditional cruise ship and everything looks clean. The ship is beautiful. Embarking was a breeze yesterday. Our last 3 cruises out of Canaveral were very quick boarding, so it may be a Canaveral thing. Either way, a MSC cruise out of Canaveral should be really easy and quick boarding. The terminal for MSC at Canaveral is 10. As you are driving into the port, there are clearly designated signs of where to go, so you really can’t get lost. For those living in Florida, I heard the brightline intends to make Port Canaveral more accessible with the rail system, so that may be a longer term option as well. The parking garage is right across the street from terminal 10. It’s a standard multilevel garage that is covered (which is nice in unpredictable Florida weather), with some outdoor spaces as well. There was plenty of parking. The cost was $70something for the cruise, which they collect up front. We had the parking waived because we had a 100% disabled vet with us, and Florida provides free parking for those vets. I normally would have a few pictures, but from the time we parked and got on the ship was maybe 20 minutes. It was that quick. There are some elevators at the terminal for those with walking issues. Some don’t like this advice, but go to port early. If you have an afternoon boarding time, get there in the morning and get on the ship. It’s your vacation. No one asked what our boarding time was (1130) at any point. The garages don’t open until 1030, so that is really your only limitation if you are driving. (Note - most of my posts early will be steam of conscience. I’ll do some more organized rollups when I get home). I’ll get caught up with Day 1 thoughts by this afternoon.

My understanding of packages is they would charge you $3 for the drink because we are capped at $10. I didn’t get the ultimate Mai Tai yesterday, but they were pushing it at one of the bars. I’ll specifically ask today to see, but I’m not hopeful.

Day 1 Daily activity information. It was placed inside the room.

Welcome aboard sheet with Internet and other information.

And we are onboard already. Getting on board was a breeze - will post info about that later. First stop, obligatory first drink on board - Mimosa!!!

You got it!

I’m up and ready to go! Guess I’ll clean the refrigerator and take out the trash while I wait for Eric to get up. The cruise director (Endrigo) posts the theme nights on the Seashore Facebook page. If you haven’t signed up to it, may be worth it. It looks like he posts the theme nights in advance monthly. For us it is some kind of Glow Party, White Party, and 70s-80s/Flower Party. I’ll post the daily’s so you can see what times they start and what specific nights they are. Your cruise in March should have the same nights and order as our based on Endrigo’s Facebook posts. edit - here is a screen shot for March theme nights.

I’m on it!

Hey cruise friends! We are leaving tomorrow for a quick 3 night cruise on the MSC Seashore out of Port Canaveral. This is our first time on MSC, and our shortest cruise we have taken, so really looking forward to a new experience. I saw most of the recent reviews of the Seashore was for the Yacht Club. We are in a regular (deluxe) balcony on the 12th deck, so this will focus on the non-yacht club experience. This is our first sailing of the year. Last year we did a Majestic Princess Cruise Tour to Alaska and Denali National Park in June and a back-to-back on the NCL Escape and December. We are still finalizing our travel for July and December this year. I did the status-match for MSC before COVID hit because we were going to check it out, but COVID ruined all those plans. Was surprised to see the status level still there - Silver. We have the Easy Plus Drink and Browse 1-Device packages that came with the booking, so not seeing anything in status of interest except the $50 OBC (will be curious to see if this hits the account). But the status-match was a nice gesture from MSC. We typically go mostly to specialty dining restaurants on cruises because we don't like the MDR or buffet much (for different reasons). But, because we are traveling with the large group, we will be checking out both the MDR and buffet this cruise on the Seashore. The itinerary for this sailing is: Day 1 - Port Canaveral Day 2 - Nassau Day 3 - Ocean Cay Day 4 - Port Canaveral We have been to Nassau several times on cruises and a couple of times on land trips to Paradise Island, so we don't anticipate getting of the ship in Nassau. We haven't been to Ocean Cay before and I love the private islands, so we will probably spend most of Day 3 off the ship. For tomorrow, we got an 1130 check-in time at Port Canaveral, so we will be leaving Orlando around 1000, which should get us to the parking garage a little after 1100. I'll post some things when we get to the port tomorrow and then start my live review throughout the day, assuming there are no hiccups with the wifi/internet package. If anyone has any questions or want me to check something out, go ahead and post away and I'll do my best to track down answers!

This is the end of my review. It took a little longer than I expected to get the post cruise part complete and am sorry it wasn’t more timely. If anyone has further questions, keep asking! One thing I wanted to highlight for any NCL cruise you go on (other lines have similar cards) is make sure you fill out these “Vacation Hero” cards to recognize staff members who did an outstanding job. It doesn’t cost anything to do and takes 5-10 minutes to fill out and drop off at guest services. These cards make a huge impact on staff - not only recognition for their services, but also reportedly leads to bonuses, time off at ports, and other perks to the staff. Our next planned cruise is the MSC Seashore in March for a quick 3 night cruise with a group of about 100. We are planning our summer trip to Europe and are leaning towards a free Princess casino cruise to the Baltic, but also considering Celebrity, NCL, or a River Cruise. We did pick up 2 more cruise next certificates on board, so will be on another NCL cruise soon. Thanks to everyone who joined us virtually (and in person). I hope this was useful or fun information for people who haven’t been on the Escape and are considering or planning a cruise. This cruise critic community is awesome. Until March!!!!!

Glad this was helpful. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

The overall ship. I love the overall ship design, deck plans, and layout of the Escape. Everything (with one small exception) just made sense. One concern I always have with the bigger ships is that it will feel like it had 6,000 people on it (Pax + crew). It never felt overcrowded on board (the pool area always looked packed though) and that is because of the ship's design. There are several areas outside the theater that hold 60-200 people which greatly helps in distributing people across the ship, particularly at night. The way Decks 6, 7, and 8 are designed is great - multiple bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues helped manage the flow of people. The only location (outside the Pour House the first cruise), where the space didn't seem big enough was the Atrium. Having the overlook from the 7th deck into the atrium was nice, but for some of the popular events held in the atrium, the space in Deck 6 and Deck 7 above seemed too small for the number of passengers on board. I'm a big fan of the Waterfront concept. Typically on cruise ships, the only access outside the ship like that is the pool deck(s) and the track. Its nice having an outside space that wraps around the whole ship where people can sit and enjoy cruising, especially for people in interior or oceanview cabins. There was always space available and it was a nice quiet area. This is a feature that future cruise ships to look to integrate. The one exception to the flow of the ship I didn't like was the Garden Cafe on Deck 16. The problem with the Garden Cafe is the stairs/elevators in the aft of the ship takes you into the Garden Cafe on Deck 16, and to get to the pool area, spa, or gym you have to walk through the cafe from that end. That made no sense to me and I didn't like having to walk through there every time I took the aft stairs. It also adds more people into an already busy area that leads to congestion. Overall, the Escape is my 3rd favorite ship I have been on after 1) RCL Symphony of the Seas and 2) Celebrity Beyond. Its a great ship and recommend it to anyone looking for a cruise.

Service. The service overall on board was outstanding. There were a handful of memorable staff members who really made a difference in our cruise. The service in the specialty dining was generally better and faster than the MDR, which is expected. After the initial communication issue with the cabin, cabin and hotel service was outstanding. Bar service is bar service. It can be quick or you may have a line. There are enough bars on board that if service is slow, I just go to a different one. Entertainment Team. The Entertainment team on the Escape is among the best teams I have seen on a cruise ship. Starting from Jack, all the way to all the staff members on the team. Their activities were fun, they were always engaging, and they have slips where you get signatures for each activity you participate in (trivia, competitions, games, etc). At the end of the cruise, you turn your slip in at the library for NCL swag. We got a key chain and wine koozie thing. There were also T-shirts, bags, and a number of other items to choose from. Jack should be very proud of his entertainment team. Officers. Without hesitation, I will say that collectively, this is probably the best group of officers I have seen on a cruise ship. Captain Kate (Celebrity) is still my favorite captain, but everything was running smoothly: the food was great, the service was great, the activities were fun, guest services was always responsive, and that is reflective on the leadership. I wish I had the same Officers from the Escape on every ship I go in the future. They have a leadership challenge to figure out how to deal with balcony smokers (cigarettes and marijuana), which seemed to be a problem on both cruises.

Itinerary. Our favorite Caribbean itineraries are normally the Southern ones that do variations of Aruba, Bonnaire, Curacao (ABC), Barbados, and Cartagena. We chose this B2B because it did the East-West and had a few stops that we haven't been to. Because there were three cancelled port stops over the two weeks (Grand Cayman and the Private Island twice), we missed out experiencing some new stops for us. But, this experience has pushed me towards not booking another cruise with tender ports. East Itinerary: Puerto Plata, St Thomas, and Tortola. This was our first time at Tortola and we were pleasantly surprised. We had a blast and loved our excursion. Overall, the East Itinerary felt safe and without the hordes of aggressive vendors. NCL docks at the better dock in St Thomas closer to the downtown area (which is walkable from the ship). Taino Bay is also really nice in Puerto Plata and you can leave the ship and have plenty to do without doing an excursion. West Itinerary: Cozumel, Grand Cayman (cancelled), Ocho Rios, Nassau (added for GSC being cancelled). Grand Cayman was our only new stop we haven't been to. Cozumel is a very common port in Caribbean cruises. The little mini-mall at the port was new to us and it gives people the option to get off the ship and window shop a little if they want. In Ocho Rios we left the ship and were going to walk to the beachy areas until we reached the gauntlet of aggressive vendors, and decided to turn around and go back to the ship. Nassau is Nassau....and because it was such a late add and limited time in port, we didn't leave the ship. We love Atlantis on Paradise Island (been twice on 5-day stays) and would go there on a day pass, but there just wasn't enough time. Overall, I'd say I like the feeling of an East Itinerary better than a West Itinerary. It feels safer, quieter, and less stressful. If I had to pick between an East or West cruise and the ship/price were all the same, I'd go East.

The rest of our food experiences on board the Escape was ok. I'm not going to grade them because we really didn't spend much time there. I'll just highlight some things: O'Sheehans. It you like a sit down breakfast and don't want to go to the MDR, they have a decent breakfast menu. Yes, their chicken wings aren't that good anymore. But, for a free restaurant that is always open, its a nice place to go for breakfast-lunch or a snack. On previous cruises, its always been a must-go late night to get wings. I skipped those trips this time. MDR. There are three MDR restaurants. We only tried Taste and Savor for breakfast and one lunch. Service isn't the fastest, so if you are in a rush, don't go there. The menu for all three are always the same and it looked like there was a good variety on their dinner menus. The third MDR restaurant had a piano in it that looked interesting. The food was also decent, so no complaints. Buffet. We really didn't go very often. The one thing we did love was a pizza in the buffet. They do a really good job with thin crust pizzas....except the last day where they had tuna and onion pizzas which looked disgusting. 🤣 The American diner had a much more restrictive buffet style breakfast, but the place was always empty and its outside. So, if you don't like the amount of people in the buffet, you get your food at the Buffet and head out to the American Diner, or just get your food there. The Diner is now going to be complimentary for lunch and dinners, so that will be another option for dining on board. One thing we didn't see is a typical "grill" cafe/restaurant. Typically there is something like this near the pool deck, and maybe that is what they will be turning the American Diner into.