MSC Seascape

Hello Adventurers, Kelsey & Karley here with another trip recap for you. We sailed on the brand new MSC Seascape on December 11th!

The ship just arrived from its inaugural sailing from Europe, with its new home port of Miami, Florida. We did 7 nights through the Bahamas & Caribbean. This was the first sailing out of Miami!

This was our 45th cruise across all lines (Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Norwegian, MSC, and Orient Cruise Lines).

MSC offers a program where you can status match from other cruise lines. We are both Elite on Princess, so we were able to move right to the top with MSC! This was our 4th sailing on MSC Cruise Lines.

MSC perks of being diamond: welcome bottle of champagne and dessert, private party with drinks, welcome gift, priority boarding and disembarkation, a free picture taken in the dining room. You also receive a free meal at one of the specialty restaurants including a plus one. We chose the Steakhouse for our dining experience, later in the blog we will share our experience and menu.

This MSC ship has many unique features you will only see on the Seascape! Just to name a few: Snow room in the spa area, Robotron, Infinity bridge and the Jungle Pool!

Boarding:

Since we were the first sailing out of Miami we were able to board the ship early. The check-in and boarding process was the easiest and smoothest process we have seen for a ship of this size.  With nearly 5,000 passengers the entire process took us about 15-20 minutes for check-in, security screening and boarding. We were on board by 11am! Cabins were ready as soon as we boarded the ship.

Cabin Size:

We booked the interior cabin for 3 people. The bedding consisted of 2 lower beds and 1 bunk bed. There was a huge full length mirror on the wall which was amazing for getting ready. There was plenty of bright lighting and closet storage. The bathroom was nice and had a glass shower door! For those of you that have cruised on some of the older ships you will know what a luxury it is to not have the shower curtain stick to you. If you have mobility issues I suggest reserving a larger cabin, because while the shower doors were nice to have they are very small! The room had plenty of outlets plus USB outlets.

Someone in our party had an accessible interior cabin, it was very spacious and accommodating! photos below:

DINING & DRINKS

There are some changes fleet wide. They are changing to paperless menus for dinner and drinks.  We have heard mixed reviews about using your cell phone to scan your dinner menu vs a paper menu.  They have done away with the traditional dinner menus.  They now use QR codes to scan for all menus on the ship, so don’t forget your phone when out and about.

Each morning we would stop by the restaurant to scan the QR code so we could plan what we were going to order that night.

Drinks: When booking we added the drink package and WIFI to our booking. This is an absolute must! We had the easy plus package which includes drinks for $9. We did not have any issues finding drinks that were not included. Something different on MSC they do not serve glasses of water in the dining room or at the bar. You have to request a glas of water.  They have still or sparkling water included in the drink package. Since MSC is primarily in Europe and the servers are used to serving many cultures. Something that comes from that is they never bring ice, but don’t be shy to ask for it.

Personal Favorite drink: They have fresh bananas at the bar. When ordering your Pina colada add 1 fresh banana! I promise this will only elevate your typical pool side drink.

Main Restaurant:

We opted for the 7:30pm dining time. There is another seating right after at 9:30pm. It may feel a little rushed since you only have 2 hours. We would try to arrive early every night (they opened the dining room at 7:15pm). Different from the traditional formal nights, they had one formal night and one Italian night (semi formal). We ordered 2-3 appetizers each night, a main course & dessert and we’re usually out by 9:15pm.

Buffet:

The buffet was separated into sections and each section offers a different variety of food. We did not realize this until the 2nd day. We definitely got our steps in walking around.

Pro tip: Before you start getting your food, choose a table or section and make that your section for the week. This is so much easier finding friends and family because the area is so big.  

Butchers Cut Steak House:

Reservations fill up very quickly. As soon as you board the ship go straight to the restaurant to make a reservation. We made reservations for the 2nd to last night of the cruise. We did not have high hopes for the steakhouse after speaking with someone earlier in the week, but they were wrong! This was one of the better steakhouses we have tried. We did the dining experience, which included 1 appetizer, 1 entree and 1 dessert. Your drink package also works at the steak house! The entire experience will take about 2 1/2-3 hours. The food was amazing! We ordered the shrimp cocktail, blueberry and Brie and House Salad for the appetizers. The main course we had was the New York Strip and Veal and for dessert we ordered the Lava Cake.

Entertainment: The shows on the Seascape were very entertaining. They are on the smaller side, but keep your attention. The shows require a reservation so make sure to pre- book! You don’t want to miss out on these, they are only 30 – 45 minutes long.

The deck parties are unlike any cruise we have been on. Everyone is participating in the themes and they are very fun. The party never stops! The deck parties go until 12:30am and then they all head to the disco to dance the night away.

PORTS OF CALL:

Ocean Cay, Bahamas (MSC Private Island)

Nassau, Bahamas

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Ocean Cay-

Ocean Cay is now one of our favorite ports of call. This island is owned by MSC, so it is your private oasis for the day. Once on the island there is a free shuttle that will take you around the island. If you are up for the walk, it is a nice paved walkway including signage directing you to the beaches. There are free lounge chairs in the cove area, and it is close to all the main action happening such as the bars and food.

If you have the drink package, it works on the island at all bars or you can use your ship card to purchase anything additional. They have food trucks around the island and a lunch buffet included free of charge. 

Nassau-

This was probably our 20th time at this port of call so we decided to just walk around the town and go shopping. Little did we know the port is under construction and there is one way in and out. It was very hectic and overwhelming since the port was under renovation. We would highly suggest pre-booking a tour with the cruise ship to avoid the chaos.

San Juan-

The ship docks right in Old San Juan and we were able to walk right off into the city! It was very hot so make sure you wear light clothing and bring sunscreen.

Restaurant recommendation: Deaverdura- If you are interested in trying authentic Puerto Rican food check this place out! We ordered the fish, pork, chicken and the sweet and salty plantains. Everything was so delicious. There was a line wrapped around the building that was very long so I arrived early.

Puerto Plata-

This was our first time to this port. We did not book an excursion on this day but the port had so much to offer. The port has a large pool with lounge chairs, cabanas, pool floats and water chairs you can use free of charge. After we spent some time relaxing by the pool we walked into town which took about 8-10 minutes! If you love to take pictures make sure to stop by the Pink Street and Umbrella Street.

Overall we loved the Seascape and would love to sail on MSC again soon. If you have any specific questions about our experience or the ship, please email us at Adventurestine@gmail.com