MSC Seashore – Beautiful Ship with Some Warts
The MSC Seashore was repositioned to Port Canaveral a few weeks ago, bringing the state of the art ship, and low cruise prices to Central Florida for at least the next two years. Last week, we spent four days on the gigantic ship and left with mixed feelings. The ship was magnificent, but the food and service left much to be desired.
The itinerary for our quick four-night stay featured stops in Nassau and at Ocean Cay, MSC’s private island.
Built in 2021, the MSC Seashore still looks brand new. The ship is kept immaculately clean and features a great layout. She has 2,000+ cabins and the ability to accommodate 5,600 guests. The Seashore is a beautiful behemoth with a lot to offer. There are two separate pool areas – one on the 8th deck, and the other on the 16th. it’s a cool set-up.
(Check out our full review: MSC Seashore – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly on Youtube.)
The pool on the 8th floor is a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the back of the ship. The large pool is flanked nearby with spacious hot tubs providing infinity views both port and starboard. The pools at the top of the ship include a jungle-themed water park for the kids, and a nice selection of water slides for all. It was likely the best assortments of pools and water fun we’ve seen on a cruise ship.
There’s a large theatre forward and a sprawling two-story lounge aft. Both venues provide diverse entertainment options throughout the evenings. Cabaret Rouge was the aforementioned lounge and it turned out to be one of our favorite spots on board. The room just oozes coolness, and featured some fun, talented acts. In addition, the ship boasts a huge four story atrium that becomes the centerpiece for entertainment several times a day. On top of that, there are numerous other musical venues sprinkled throughout. There’s a lot to do.
The activities and entertainment were enjoyable throughout the cruise. We took a dance lesson, watched some team competitions, played trivia and watched most of the shows. We enjoyed a great comic, a magician, contortionist, several talented bands and thought the ship’s theater had solid talent – especially the dancers.
There were also a few cool surprises sprinkled throughout the ship. On the 16th deck, there’s a glass-bottomed bridge called the Bridge of Sighs. It was fun, and a little scary. We found similar structures on the 8th deck. There are also a handful of really cool places to chill out or snag selfies, highlighted by a hot air balloon in front of ever-changing backgrounds.
On the flip side, the food was mediocre at best. This was our ninth cruise ever, and the food on MSC Seashore was near the bottom of the list. We realize it is super-challenging to cook for thousands of guests and don’t expect gourmet, but what we sampled on the cruise just wasn’t very good. The highlight was the pizza which Jackie asserted was the best she’s ever had on a cruise. The pastas and sauces were good, too.
The biggest disappointment? The service. it was bad… pretty much everywhere. We didn’t meet one employee who left a favorable impression, and came across too many crew who were rude or indifferent. The worst experience was ordering drinks – it took a long time EVERYWHERE, whether there were lines or not. I think some of the delays were system or process related, so hopefully they get ironed out.
As an aside, we really enjoyed the day at Ocean Cay, MSC’s private island/nature reserve. It’s a recently revitalized area, and it’s just beautiful. We will have a review on that, but the quick summary is that it was a nice destination.
Bottom line: The cruises are inexpensive and for what we received, we both thought it was okay. MSC Seashore is a beautiful, modern ship in tiptop shape. There’s a lot going on and we enjoyed the activities and the spaces. The food is what it is (not very good), but the service needs to be much better.
Bob and Jackie
Sunshine Vagabonds
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