CruisingWalter

Thank you so much for your kind words about the review. The YC sailing will be on the Seashore or Seascape. I'd prefer to sail the EVO updated ships to see how the class has evolved. I have been told by others there are some 'lessons learned' from the first two ships applied to the EVO ships. Seashore is coming to Canaveral so that's probably the ship we'll go on, but we might go ahead and drive down to Miami for Seascape. No dates set yet, but probably before our November Valiant Lady sailing. 🙂

Go walk on the starboard Infinity Bridge. One complete panel of glass in the floor is shattered unless they replaced it during turnaround day at Port Canaveral. A vertical pane of glass was shattered at the back of Deck 8 and another pane of glass I think on Deck 7 or 6 looked like it had a bullet shot through it. 🙂

Omelette stations (there were 2) were fully stocked with about 8 ingredients. However I did create "The Wally" breakfast sandwich and it was delicious. 🙂 Mushroom, Cheese and Tomato Omelette 2 slices of rotisserie ham 2 slices of salami from the meat and cheese station 2 slices of provolone cheese from the meat and cheese station.

Absolutely, value is different things for different people. Some people feel $98,000 for one week in the "Ultimate Family Townhouse" for 7 nights on Icon of the Seas is a good value. I don't, but some people do. 🙂 I hope you didn't misconstrue my response, I wasn't trying to be snarky, just pointing out how your numbers would translate over to us. And I'm serious about that drinks package, you might want to re-evaluate whether it's really worth what you're paying vs. just paying for all your drinks ala carte. My guess is you're going to save a minimum $400 on that cruise. 🙂

I would eliminate that drinks package. You'll be hard pressed to drink $750 worth of alcohol/coffee and paid drinks over a 7 night cruise. I tell all of my friends, you do not need the drinks package, especially on RCCL where it's the most expensive of any cruise line. On NCL it's a no brainer because it's only $153/week for a 7 night cruise, but RCCL and even Carnival, it's too much. I don't know many people who actually make that drink package work in their favor and not just giving away money to RCCL. On Carnival we did the math and saved over $500 on our Mardi Gras cruise paying ala carte vs. the drinks package. For RCCL it was more $900 in savings for our Symphony OTS sailing I would not do the unlimited specialty dining either, we might do two dinners on any cruise, we did three on our most recent on the MSC Seaside because they had a three dinner package for $109 each or $218. So using your math, for the two of us it would be $3200 for that cabin (I would not choose Central Park either, I would choose the ocean or take an interior cabin to be honest.) $150 for one WiFi Package, 2 devices (yes that is an option for two people in the cabin, we did that in December on Symphony, both people sign in under the same account) $225 Estimate for specialty dining. $3575 total + $350 for cocktails and coffee or $3925. The Mayan Sol sailing on Oct 22, 2023 is $2204 for a Sea Terrace (5 nights) so if we extend that out two more nights it would be $3085 if that was a 7 night cruise. Yes you can say "there's more value in VV because of everything included" but there are also a lot of things RCCL provides that VV doesn't. Oasis class ships have a LOT of activities, shows and things to do that VV doesn't. I loved sailing on Symphony OTS and especially enjoyed relaxing in Central Park. They're two completely different experiences and it's hard to say one is providing more value than the other. Especially an Oasis class RCCL vs. VV. A Celebrity Solstice Class ship would be a closer comparison, I think Celebrity and VV match up pretty well.

We had the original Havana Nights cruise booked back in 2019. I was so looking forward to finally cruising to Cuba.

I'm sure we'll cross paths at some point if you're cruising that much. At the moment our Nov. 18 on Valiant is our next cruise booked but I fully expect we'll hop on another ship or two between now and then. We really want to try out the Yacht Club on MSC and trying to decide between the Seashore out of Canaveral or Seascape out of Miami. Canaveral is only an hour away but Seascape is the newest ship. Decisions, decisions.... 🙂

I wanted to provide our unbiased overview of the MSC Seaside since there has been so much negativity of late on both the brand and that particular ship. I don’t have to remind this group that she's the one that scored 67 on the CDC Health and Safety inspection back in April. We've now sailed 9 cruise lines over the past 18 years so we have a decent yard stick to compare MSC. For our very first MSC sailing we purposely sailed 'regular' and not Yacht Club because for us it's important that the entire ship experience be a good one, not just the upper level. Plus we don’t mind saving money for our first cruise on any cruise line. 🙂 We sailed May 28 from Port Canaveral on a 7-night Western Caribbean. First off, the ship was very clean throughout as one would expect after that score. She's showing signs of wear and definitely in need of a drydock sooner than later. Multiple shattered panes of glass outside on deck 8 and even one of the floor panels on the starboard Infinity Bridge and more rust showing than there should be in the public areas like the deck 8 waterfront area. Carpeting throughout the ship needs to be replaced, video screens need to be replaced (especially the Garage Club) and other technical issues. But overall the ship looked really good, she just needs some TLC sooner than later. Boarding was a breeze in Port Canaveral. We had a 3pm boarding time and rolled up to the parking garage at 2pm. We were onboard the ship at 2:15 and had our bags dropped off the cabin immediately. We sailed with the Bella Balcony Experience and were assigned Balcony cabin 15070 on the starboard side along with a 9:45p dining time in the Ipanema dining room. We’ve never had a cabin quite that high on the ship and I was quite impressed with just how smooth the ride was the entire cruise. Food was a pleasant surprise given all the negativity we've seen in the reviews in the lead up to the cruise. Main Dining Room and Buffet were both better than Carnival and NCL in terms of selection and quality of food in our opinion. We felt the MDR was also better than Royal Caribbean. First night in the MDR I had possibly the best prime rib I've ever had on a cruise ship. Our second meal was ok, not great and I really appreciated our server’s sense of humor. She basically told us right from the start, “this is not the best meal of the week” and steered us towards what were the best items on the menu. The clam sauce is the most odd clam sauce I’ve ever tasted. Even with the inconsistency in the MDR it was still a better experience than the other 'family based' cruise lines who are not Disney. The 9:45p seating may have worked in our favor because the MDR was only 25 - 50% full so we never had an issue with our food being hot or coming out slowly. Oh did I mention bowling? The bowling alley was directly above our table. So if you have Table 718 assigned to you in the Ipanema Dining Room, you’ll be able to clearly hear the bowling going on above your head. It was far more amusing than it was annoying. I really want to meet the MSC designer who thought THAT was a good idea. “Hey you know what? Let’s put the bowling alley directly ABOVE the main dining room! Nobody will hear it!” I was trying to keep score based on the sound of the pins. 🙂 Pizza was great and it had amazing red sauce. That's the first time I've seen a true red sauce pizza at sea, just the sauce and spices, no cheese. It's not 'the best pizza at sea,' those honors go to Princess Alfredo's and Virgin's Pizza Place, but it's very good pizza and they make a nice variety of them. The homemade mozzarella and burrata were amazing on the buffet as were the sun-dried tomatoes and the ridiculous artichoke hearts. Yes the buffet can get repetitive, yes it has misses in terms of selection and flavors, but overall, it was a better buffet experience than Carnival and NCL in our opinion. The big negative on this particular sailing was the ice machines continually breaking down. One day there were literally no ice machines working anywhere in the buffet and they had to put out buckets of ice. This was another sign of a ship in need of drydock sooner than later. Specialty dining was great all three nights in the Asian Market Kitchen. We did a 3-dinner package that was Pan-Asian/Hawaii, Teppenyaki and then Sushi for our final night. Pan-Asian had an amazing filet that was among the best I’ve had at sea. And the little potato fritters that came with it had some nice heat. The sushi was also a really good dinner. Teppenyaki was good, but the NCL and Royal versions are better. Izumi Sushi on Royal is still the best we've had with Sushi on 5 on Celebrity a close second. But for our $109, 3-dinner package (each) it was a great value for specialty dining. And what a beautiful venue up on Deck 16, especially our first dinner overlooking the sunset on Ocean Cay. Venchi Chocolate shop makes the most ridiculous Affogato I've ever had and it's only $7. If you don't know an affogato is typically one scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato in a cup and you pour a shot of espresso over it. With Venchi it was the flavor of your choice, topped with whipped cream, nuts, chocolate sauce and chocolate drizzled inside the glass. For me it was the biggest win on the entire ship, that was so freakin’ good with hazelnut gelato. Cappuccinos were inconsistent across the ship but I identified two bartenders in Seaview Bar who made the best ones when the bar was slow. The shows were entertaining. Not the broadway-caliber entertainment we’ve seen on NCL, Royal and Princess, but they were entertaining. They really don’t put the same effort into the choreography, staging and sets like the aforementioned lines, but then we’re paying a lot less to sail MSC. The opening Rock Show was fun because we knew all the songs. It was nowhere near Rock Opera that we saw on Sky Princess, but then we paid a lot more for that cruise. Peter Punk was interesting with one of the tumbling acts being the show stopper, they were amazing. Starmaker (whatever the Michael Jackson show is) we had to leave after 10 minutes because of the one negative about the theater shows. The shows were too loud for the size of the venue and they consistently got louder as the show went on. We had to leave the final night, Michael Jackson show, because the bass was simply overdriving and the sound was painful for us. But overall, the shows and the musicians throughout the ship were entertaining. The venues are quite small for a ship this size, including the theater. I was told by some staff that the Divina actually has a larger theater and larger public spaces and she's a much smaller ship. BIG props to the merch team for including an inflatable ship in the store. I LOVE inflatable ships and my fleet now stands at 3 inflatables (Princess, MSC, Celebrity), 1 plushy ship (NCL) and two small plastic ships (Virgin, MSC). This one was only $5.50!! A super fun souvenir from the ship. 🙂 Service was exactly what we would expect on a cruise. Attentive, friendly, plenty of staff in the buffet bussing tables which is really important on a family based cruise line when you have a lot of people and a lot of kids. That was a major fail when we sailed Mardi Gras last year. I’ve seen some people on here complain about long lines at some of the pool bars. I did see that and my advice is to simply go inside to the Seaview bar or one of the inside bars. There were literally no lines inside, you can go to those bars and get back to the pool in less time than standing out there waiting. Ocean Cay Marine Reserve was the biggest and most pleasant surprise. From the photos and videos it looks rough and ragged. But once on the island, it's quite lovely. MSC is purposely leaving most of it natural as they continue to reclaim the island and surrounding areas from their former home as an industrial site. You must have water shoes to utilize most of the shore as it's rocky and uneven, but quite beautiful. There are two really nice sandy beaches in the lagoon area, but I honestly prefer the shores. The overnight experience is truly unique to MSC and one that will bring me back again. It's such a unique experience to be on the island at 10:00pm looking back at the beautiful ship lit up at night. Then waking up the next morning to sunrise over the island for another full day. It was on day two I found the rock garden and loved it. My biggest tip for Ocean Cay is to skip lunch at the island food hall, Seakers, and go back to the ship for lunch. The food hall looked even less inspiring than Marketplace Buffet and I counted over 200 people waiting in two lines to get food. But unlike Castaway Cay and CocoCay where the ships are long walk away from the beach, the MSC Seaside is docked right there alongside the island. My wife has bad knees so we have to walk at a fairly slow pace and it took us 5 minutes to walk from Seakers to the ship. We left our stuff on the island, walked to the ship, had a really nice buffet lunch and then walked back out to the island. So easy, I highly recommend it vs that island food line. The pools are nice and deep with the Jungle Lounge Pool being our favorite since it offers the most shade and it’s fun that it’s salt water. I also love how they tint the pool green to go with the ‘jungle motif.’ It’s nice to have 6 foot deep pools, you don’t see that all that much anymore from modern ships. I did the Zip Line and the F1 Simulator and enjoyed both. That zip is much longer than you think it is and quite lovely. Big tip for F1, feather the throttle. Don’t jam it down because you will lose control within 20 seconds. 🙂 I met multiple large multi-gen families from 10 to 21+ guests who all said they looked at Carnival, Royal and NCL but MSC was such a great deal for the large group. I can totally see that now that I've sailed and it was interesting to see an actual table for 14 set up in the main dining room. Not something just pushed together, but a permanent large table. The Yacht Club is what everyone pushed us to book, but I'm so glad we did the 'regular experience' because while we will sail Yacht Club next time, we know we don't need to in order to have a good vacation on this cruise line. Now there are some ‘dumb things’ I would not mind if MSC addressed, the most glaring being the WiFi device use. I work from home and really need to have both my phone and laptop connected to high speed WiFi. On any other ship I would simply disconnect the phone when I needed the laptop online. But MSC’s policy of one device per package meant I had to buy two packages. The wearable bracelets are great when the readers work. MSC App kept kicking us out about every 12 hours and would not always accept our username/password. No weekly schedule in the app, we could only see today's schedule, not even tomorrow's until late at night. No extra towels by any of the pools except the Miami Beach pool from time to time. The small arcade I've ever seen I think anywhere. All of those are annoyances but not dealbreakers by any means. For overall cruise experience we give MSC Seaside a solid 7 and for Value we give it an 8.5. There are trade-offs to sailing MSC and expectations need to be set to sail this cruise line. If you book MSC and expect it to be just like “fill in the blank” you’ll be disappointed. MSC is MSC and if you accept how they operate and what they offer, you should have a good time. If you have been hesitant to book MSC (like us) because of all the negativity in social media, you really need to get on one of these ships to experience it for yourself. Go in with no expectations, and look at the overall cruise experience objectively against the price of the cruise fare. No cruise line is perfect, they all have their cons. But for what it is, MSC is a solid cruise line, a really affordable family cruise line and they have our new favorite private island. Virgin’s Bimini Beach is still my favorite cruise resort, but it’s not an island. 🙂

Excellent and succinct review. Thanks so much for this. I'm also hoping some of this new entertainment makes it way across the fleet. It'll be interesting to see what Valiant has when she comes back across the pond for our November sailing.

It's one drinking game at the beginning of the meal. If you don't want to drink the soju, ask for a 'shot' of water. That's what my wife does. After that game is over, the rest of the meal is pretty straightforward.

The Pizza Place has outdoor seating as part of that restaurant. Sun Cafe walk up counter on 16 is all outdoor seating as mentioned above. The Dock on the aft of Deck 7 is all outdoor seating. The very back of The Galley is outdoor seating. Grab and Go items are available just as you walk out onto the The Dock and up in The Galley. There can often be some great sandwiches, meat & cheese boards, desserts and light breakfast items. I love the meat and cheese boxes. Bento Box in The Galley is also Grab N Go. That's pretty much it. None of the main restaurants has al fresco dining ala NCL, Celebrity and a few other newer ships. The only restaurant with true outdoor seating is the Pizza Place. Room service has a limited menu but I love the way they deliver the food, great heavyweight bag and platters inside.

We've been on two Scarlet Lady so far and have an 8 night Valiant sailing over thanksgiving coming up. I'll say the food has been inconsistent on the two Scarlet sailings. The Wake was far better in July 2022 than it was this past April. This past April Razzle Dazzle was the star of the entire cruise for us. I would sail VV a lot more if they extended the itineraries for Scarlet. For the same price as a 4 or 5 night on Scarlet I can sail 7 nights or longer on other cruise lines. After cruising for 20 years, 4 and 5 nighters honestly don't appeal to me that much and creating a 9 night back-to-back on Scarlet can often equal a 14 night or longer cruise on another cruise line like Princess or Celebrity. Even with all the included food, etc.. I prefer being on a ship no less than 7 days and really like 10 to 14 day itineraries. As much as I love VV, I'm not going to continue to pay the premium prices for the shorter cruises, that's why we booked Valiant for 8 nights. Having just sailed the MSC Seaside out of Port Canaveral I like what they are doing with that ship. She sails continuous 3, 4 and 7 night itineraries. So you can sail 3, 4, 7, 10 or 11 nights depending on how you book it. And you can book the 10 and 11's as a single cruise, not back to back. I have given feedback to VV that I wish they would rotate in some longer itineraries from time to time for Scarlet to give us some fresher and longer options besides just when we have two ships in Miami. I honestly don't know how much more I'll sail Scarlet since it's the same itineraries over and over. I do want to fly down to San Juan and sail those itineraries either on Brilliant Lady or Jewel of the Seas. Overall we have over 20 cruises over 20 years on 9 different cruise lines.

What an awesome review. "Either the keyboard player was the best part or when it was over." I LIKE you! You are 'my people.' 😄 We have the same opinion of most of the original shows on any Celebrity Solstice class ship. They're awful but we always stop at the World Class Bar to pick up a drink. Go to the theater watch the first 5 minutes in the 'escape seats' along the back row of the theater. Laugh at the first few minutes and get up to leave without disturbing anyone else. LOVE the ships, but those original shows are like someone went to Cirque du Soleil and said "oh I can design a show like that." No, no you can't and you really shouldn't try. Thanks to your review, now I kind of hope I get the opportunity to see the beginning of this show live.... And first drink is on me if we ever have the opportunity to bump into each other on a ship. 😄

Our 'go-to' third party tour site of late is Shore Excursions Group. One thing that enticed us is their return to ship guarantee that's very similar to the cruise line guarantee. If you miss the ship due to their tour they will get you to the next port and pay you $1000 per person for the inconvenience. The website is super easy too, just enter the cruise line, ship and sail date. Your itinerary is automatically populated and you can see all available tours at each location. A private car option is usually there for each stop too. Beyond that, do research via the Ports of Call forum here on CC and the old stand by, Trip Advisor. 🙂

Ditto to @ociana. Have heard way too many reports of both carts breaking down and honestly the carts at the first stop look pretty beat up. There are also some reports of the rental folks literally taking the carts back while you're out and about. It would be nice to see VV actually step in and set up some direct rentals.

9am landing is fine so long as you have no delays. Final boarding is around 4 or 5pm. I always recommend folks fly in the day before, especially with the current airline situation of so many delays and cancellations. Unlike a hotel cruise ships will leave. 🙂 During Check In you will select your time to board. Do that as soon as possible. 10:30am is too early for a return flight if you have any issues at all with debarkation. We generally don't book before 12:30p to be safe. But if everything goes perfectly and you can actually walk off the ship at 7:30 you'll be fine. Restaurant reservations open 60 days out for Rock Stars and 45 days out for Sailors. You book your reservations through the app.

When we sailed in April DBE included a $10 credit per day for specialty coffee. I picked up 3 coffees per day at the Grounds Club in The Galley and down on Deck 7 and was never charged because they were $9 total. According to the website they are still included and while I'm seeing conflicting information in this thread, it does appear the $10 per day offer is still there. At the moment we don't sail again until November, though we may run down to Miami at some point and hop back on Scarlet before then.

Oh man the Butter Chicken from Razzle Dazzle on our latest Scarlet Lady sailing in April was unbelievable. One of the best things I've ever eaten on a cruise ship and it was totally different than any butter chicken I've ever had. Our second time on the ship, but first time for dinner at Razzle Dazzle. That's my absolute favorite thing about cruising and why we sail so many different cruise lines, the variety of food experiences. 🙂

The perfect sentiment. No cruise or cruise line is perfect, but if you have a bad cruise, that generally means you worked pretty hard at it. (unless something actually happened to the ship). We're very interested to see what happens next week, what we like and what we could do without. As with all the cruise lines we've sailed, it won't be perfect but it should be fun.

Sailing in the Yacht Club is ridiculously cheap compared to the other cruise lines that have 'exclusive areas,' that's why so many people do it. We've seen the Inside Yacht Club Suite starting around $1200/pp for a one week cruise, that's less than a balcony on Royal Caribbean ships. Entry level Haven suites on NCL often start between $5500 - $8500 for 2 even in the Caribbean. So sailing 'exclusively' in the Yacht Club is not "saying you're rich" compared to those who sail exclusively in The Haven on NCL or even The Retreat on Celebrity. The Loft Suites on the Celebrity Edge series are the ones we drool over. 🙂 With 85 - 90% of the guests sailing 'standard' on any cruise ship, NCL and Celebrity provide excellent experiences for all of their guests. And we've had excellent experiences on Royal Caribbean, Disney, Carnival, Virgin Voyages, Princess and HAL sailing as 'standard guests.' The only suites we've booked so far in our 20 years of cruising were the Junior Suite on 2 Royal Caribbean sailings which offers a larger cabin and a coffee maker, and the Cheeky Corner Suite on Virgin Voyages which is the most amazing balcony cabin I will ever have. The next sailing we booked a standard Sea Terrace and our experience both times was exactly the same, but then VV is an almost all-inclusive cruise line. The Yacht Club looks awesome and we might try it in the future. But if you MUST sail in the Yacht Club in order to enjoy MSC, that's a problem long term for the cruise line. You can't sustain your operation with only 10% of the ship. We're cautiously optimistic for our sailing next week on Seaside despite the reviews we've read about her of late and of course that CDC inspection.

And this is the main reason I've held off on booking MSC for so long. NCL has the Haven that's even more expensive than the Yacht Club. But you can sail as a standard passenger and have an amazing time. We've really enjoyed our sailings on NCL and have yet to book a Haven. All of my friends have insisted we have to sail Yacht Club if we want to enjoy an MSC sailing. We're sailing MSC Seaside in a week and we purposely chose a standard balcony cabin. I'm extremely curious to see if MSC can provide an experience for standard guests that's at least on par with what we received on the other 8 cruise lines we've sailed. NCL will be our main comparison since both cruise lines have basically the same 'ship within a ship' concept.

I guess another way MSC is different than the other cruise lines. The MDR is often our lunch of choice on a ship to avoid the big crowds in the buffets. Good to know, thanks!

That's way up in the front, you may or may not have a hammock. Your TA can change your cabin easily if you'd like. I personally would pass on the XL and take a cabin further back on the ship. Those XL's just give you a bigger bathroom, but not all have hammocks due to the design of the ship up front. I much prefer mid to aft on the Ladyships.

The best part of being a Sea Rover is the priority boarding to be honest. The $10 / day in coffee benefits was awesome for me, I was enjoying three cups a day using that. 🙂

Considering not every cruise line offers a matching program, I really appreciate that VV even offers anything. With Virgin it's $10 for the coffee per day and I was enjoying my 3 cups per day using that plan. It'd be nice if all the cruise lines matched others, but Royal doesn't offer anything for anyone other than matching their sister brand Celebrity. What you DO get with Virgin Voyages that you don't get with anyone else, other than the ultra high end lines, all meals, gratuities, soft drinks and wi-fi included. If Royal Caribbean ever started offering those items included with the cruise fares, then they would finally be 'matching' the basics of VV. 🙂