We previously have not had good experiences with MSC Cruises. Check out my MSC Meraviglia post from 2019 and our experience with MSC and our booked Divina cruise where MSC added $1000 to our fair after we had booked. Of course we cancelled that one. But after we retired, and I became a Travel Agent, I found a Travel Agent fair too good to pass up. Read on to see if anything has improved, or if things are still the same.

Editing to Also add another cruise with a friend in February 2024 on the MSC Seashore

Since the rest of this article I also cruised MSC Seashore with a friend. I did find a few differences in the ship for this second cruise on her. Embarkation and Disembarkation were still pretty good and fast. The cabin was the same as last time, except with a glass balcony barrier. Food was pretty much the same, lots of dishes that I had no idea what they were and had to look them up. The meatloaf is still not good, I’d avoid that. Pasta is okay. I preferred the food in the buffet, but it wasn’t kept warm enough. There was no iced tea in the buffet, only water and juices.

Entertainment was the same as last time, except that they showed the Super Bowl on ESPN in a few venues and also the cabin. The elevators were much better last time. You have to input the floor that you want to go to outside the elevators and you will be assigned an elevator. Last time in December this system worked much more efficiently than this time. This time we had to wait 10 minutes for an elevator a lot of the time, and sometimes when it arrived, it was stuffed full of people and we’d have to wait for a second elevator. This was the most frustrating part of the ship for me.

Basically, I still don’t like MSC for various reasons and won’t sail on MSC again. Some people love it though because tastes are different. Let me know in the comments below how you like or dislike MSC.

First off, a word about Space Coast Hotel in Titusville, Florida

The only thing that I can say about this hotel on Cheney Highway in Titusville is to avoid it at all costs! It used to be a Ramada, and the reviews weren’t too bad when I booked it. All I can say is that the reviews were fake. You will love this hotel if you love the smell of Marijuana, and that’s about it. The rooms are run down, the TV doesn’t work, and the smell is awful. We actually decided to leave the hotel after a couple of hours because we were getting sick, without being able to get a refund. We found another hotel nearby. We’re still working on getting a refund, but since this hotel isn’t affiliated with a chain, I’m not counting on it. I just want to save others from this nightmare hotel.

Embarkation and Debarkation

Embarkation in Port Canaveral for MSC is so much better than it was in Miami for the Meraviglia. The port was very organized, and things moved along smoothly. This was definitely a better experience for us. Debarkation was equally seamless. We had carry-on luggage only. We had to be out of our cabin by 7 am. We went for breakfast just after 6 am, then came back to get our luggage. After that, we just pretty much walked off the ship. We were back to Port Canaveral Parking on Courteney Causeway and on our way home by 8 am. So yes, this was an improvement.

Our Cabin

We were in Deluxe Balcony Cabin 12011. I don’t really recommend this cabin because it’s an obstructed balcony. Instead of glass on the balcony, it’s solid metal. You can’t see through to the ocean if you’re seated, you have to stand up to watch. Plus, it’s on the side of the ship that cannot see the light show on Ocean Cay. But it is roomy enough, and most other balcony cabins have the glass insert instead of the metal.

The bathrooms on this ship seemed to be smaller than usual for a ship. The shower does have a glass door instead of a shower curtain, which is nice. There is a magnifying makeup mirror, and liquid soap at the sink and in the shower. There is enough storage, but not enough leg room at the toilet. The shower is small. We’re not big, but I found the shower to have less than enough room.

The beds were comfortable enough, along with the pillows. You can have one queen bed or two twins. There is also a sofa. The TV is bigger than most ship cabins. The closet is big enough, and there are enough drawers for storage. The safe is small, not big enough for a laptop, and uses a 4 digit code. The cabin was very nice and quiet, and our room steward was good. He never did get to know us though, or call us by name. I’d say that the cabin experience was about the same as in 1999.

Food

I’m sorry to say that the food has not improved on MSC, at least it hasn’t improved on the Seashore. We were seated in the Tribeca restaurant, which is one of the complimentary main dining rooms. It was much smaller than our restaurant on the Meraviglia, which made it quieter, thankfully. But the food was not to our taste at all. My first night I played it safe and got the meatloaf. However, the meatloaf seemed like the meat had been pressed together and precooked, then sliced and warmed on the ship. It was not tasty, and had hardly any vegetables at all. The second night I got a seafood dish with Calamari and cod. I have to admit that I did not expect one huge piece of boiled calimari, yuck, and the cod was a strange texture. I guess I’m used to deep fried calimari. After that, we decided to use the buffet all the time.

The buffet was just okay, along with the food. You could always find a table, but the lines at the buffet were long because they only opened one section at a time, even though they had multiple sections. They did have a kids buffet, but I saw many adults getting their food there instead of waiting in line. They also have multiple drink stations, but not all were always open. The food was okay, but not a lot of variety. They have soft serve ice cream but only for about an hour a day, towards the back of the buffet.

The Tribeca Dining room was small, and it was much easier to hear your tablemates on the Seashore. I did like this option. I remember the Meraviglia dining room as being quite noisy. Also, the waiters were better on the Seashore than on the Meraviglia.

We did not eat at any of the upcharge restaurants, I assume that MSC is trying to get more people to pay for upcharge by keeping the rest of the food mediocre.

Entertainment

The entertainment on MSC has improved since we sailed the Meraviglia. There was absolutely no Opera singing, which is fine with me. Plus, the announcements are no longer given in 7 or 8 different languages. On our cruise, everything was in English. Being a ship sailing from the US, I felt that was appropriate. The entertainment was mostly song and dance numbers, and the entertainers were good.

The Casino

One thing that I liked about the Casino is that it was non-smoking. There is a small room with a door with the slot machines in it for smokers. That was so nice. You could walk around the ship without the odor of smoke inside. There are smoking areas outside on deck 8.

Ocean Cay

I really did like Ocean Cay, MSC’s private island. We were supposed to stop there on our first MSC cruise, but didn’t. It’s very large, and you can find different areas to suit your style. The snorkeling area is supposedly best by the lighthouse, but the seats were not comfortable and there were no lounge chairs. We walked around the beach a ways, and found a nice and quiet beach with shade trees and lounge chairs. There is also a buffet that we did not use, and food trucks that are included. You can use your wifi if you paid for it, on the island. I think that this is my second favorite cruise private island. Plus, there is a lighthouse show at night. See the slideshow below to see how beautiful it is.

Here are a few pictures of the MSC Seashore.