It’s our first full day aboard MSC World America and a fresh chance to shake off some of those less-than-stellar first impressions from embarkation day, which I covered in the day 1 report.
And it definitely started off with a bang.
I got up early to catch the sunrise, taking a stroll around the various pool areas to snap a few pictures before settling in on the sun deck for a much-needed morning jolt of caffeine.
Today’s focus was reconnaissance—specifically the Solarium Pool, Main Pool, Aurea Pool Deck, and the Yacht Club Sun Decks. Each of these spaces is located between Decks 18 and 22 and offers varying levels of access depending on your room category.
The main pool—Mar Azul on Deck 18 midship—is a decent-sized family pool area with plenty of seating around it, plus even more loungers overlooking it from Deck 19. It’s designed in a way that looks like two pools connected in the middle, with a long, shallow wading area joining them. This center section is only about one foot deep, creating a perfect spot for kiddos to splash or adults to wade and lounge without having to be fully submerged.
Located at the aft end of the pool is the so-called giant screen that shows movies throughout the day—or acts as a glorified screen saver while music blasts. Now, that’s their word—giant—not mine. Personally, I’d argue that my projector at home is nearly the same size.
Of all the ships we’ve either sailed on or pulled alongside, this has to be the smallest “Funnel Vision” screen I’ve seen. On a ship this new and extravagant, it feels like a miss—especially when you consider the really nice theater-style tiered viewing areas at the forward section of the Azul Pool. There’s seating built for prime movie watching… just not a screen worthy of it.
If there’s one thing that definitely stands out, it’s that there’s no shortage of hot tubs spread throughout the ship. I’d wager the total gallonage ratio of pools to hot tubs is about 3:2. We all know how much Scott loves a good soak in the hot tub while sailing, so I’m sure he’s already planning another cruise to try them all out!
Also located on Deck 18 forward is the Botanic Garden Pool, complete with a retractable roof! While that sounds great in theory, when the roof is closed, the space quickly turns into a steam room—and the strong chlorine aroma permeates into the nearby elevator lobby and even down the hallway toward the staterooms.
The theming here is meant to evoke a tropical rainforest, and I’ll give them credit—they definitely nailed the humidity factor. With even more hot tubs scattered around the deck, plus some comfy-looking loungers and swing beds, the space has decent appeal—as long as the roof is open at least partway to allow for airflow.
Overlooking the pool deck, you’ll also find a few ping pong and foosball tables, perfect for challenging your shipmates to a little friendly competition.
Tour the Pools on Deck 18 of MSC World America
One thing Scott noticed missing during his time on World America was the ship’s signature Swarovski Crystal staircase. But don’t worry—they didn’t skimp out. They just decided to reserve it exclusively for the Yacht Club, where it connects the Top Sail Lounge and the Yacht Club dining room between Decks 19 and 20.
Initial Impressions of MSC World America
Enough exploring for now—it’s time for a latte and a lounger on the sun deck! Embarkation day had an early start and was not very relaxing yesterday, so I took full advantage of the sea day and camped out until mid-afternoon. This was a good time to reflect on complete first impressions of not only the MSC World America but MSC in general.
The embarkation process and initial excitement of sailing away from everyday life can often be overwhelming. This was that on heroin. With all the newness and unfamiliarity, it seemed like everything was rushed. Even with the added assistance of the Yacht Club concierge and butlers, it had its challenges.
Getting signed into the Wi-Fi, which was included in our package, took multiple attempts and required restarting our phones. It didn’t help that about 5,000 other guests were doing the same thing, so we all kept getting disconnected, or the app would freeze up. Thankfully, that cleared up today and has not been much of an issue, so we’ll chalk it up to server overload.
One of the mistakes we made was waiting for assistance to make specialty dining and show reservations. We pre-purchased a dining package to enjoy some of the upcharge venues, but these can’t be booked until you’re connected to the ship’s Wi-Fi, either onboard or while waiting in the terminal. As this isn’t something we’re accustomed to needing to do, we didn’t have a strategy as to which restaurant we wanted to target on specific nights. Further complicating this was trying to bounce between screens in the app—from restaurant availability to show schedules scattered throughout the week in multiple different theaters. Oh, and certain theaters didn’t require reservations as they have pre-reserved sections for Yacht Club members, while others did.
Confused yet? So were we.
Making it even more challenging was that simply choosing the “back” button within the app didn’t return you to your previous screen, as one would expect—it returned you to the home screen. Ugh. So let’s go through three extra screens just to get between reservation times and show times—very frustrating. It got to the point where one of us stayed within the show menu times while the other viewed dining options. Since we were already late to the party, we quickly realized all the prime times were taken. We did the best we could, but it definitely felt like an unnecessary scramble to plan everything out on the fly.
WARNING: Incoming Disney Cruise Line Comparison!
On Disney Cruise Line (DCL), there are only two specialty dining options, and both are adults-only fine dining. The main dining rooms (MDRs) are assigned on a rotating basis, so you move between the three nightly and the menus don’t repeat. The booking window for adult dining opens up months prior to embarkation (exact timeframe is determined by Castaway Club status). In the MDRs, you either have early (5:45) or late (8:15) dining times. The premier shows are scheduled opposite of your dining time—6:30 show for late dining and 8:30 show for early dining. They never schedule marquee shows or featured entertainers simultaneously. The concept of having to make reservations simply doesn’t exist once onboard. Anything that does require one is available to book long before you ever step foot on the gangway.
Case in point: we have a DCL cruise booked for mid-November. I received a notification that our booking window opened literally as I was working on this review. I switched apps and secured our Palo brunch and dinner reservations in less than two minutes.
Done.
While I’ll place part of the blame on the learning curve of a different operating process, it definitely made us feel rushed and stressed out—which is the exact opposite of what you want on a cruise.
Every perspective improves when you have blue sky over an open ocean with calm seas ahead. After enjoying breakfast in the dining room, we reacquired our lounge chairs under a screened overhang. This provided partial shade without completely blocking out the sun and made for a very enjoyable spot to relax.
Normally when we cruise, Becca, my daughter, takes off after breakfast, and we don’t see her again until dinner time on sea days. She always seems to meet friends quickly, and the parentals become an afterthought. This time, though, the unfamiliarity of the ship has her more cautious and not quite as eager to venture out on her own.
After explaining that it was going to be very difficult to meet anyone while hiding in our shadows all week, we quite literally dropped her off at the tweens club and told her to hang out with the counselors until she met someone to talk to. With some reluctance, she agreed.
Back on the sun deck, another couple had taken up position in the row next to us, and they also had a tween daughter. I chuckled to myself as I overheard the dad having almost the exact same conversation we had just had—about making friends and encouraging independence.
After a few minutes, I asked about their daughter’s age, as she looked like she was in Becca’s range. Perfect—exact same age. We started talking, and I admitted we were in the same boat (yup, I said it). I texted Becca to come over by us, and we made the fatherly agreement that they were now friends. We even told them they could bond over how embarrassing their dads are.
Whatever it takes—just go off and have fun. Forced friendship for the win!
Don’t worry—they hit it off right away and even started a chat group with half a dozen other tween girls. Mission accomplished.
With attendants constantly patrolling the deck, the only real reason to get out of the lounge chair was to take a quick dip in the pool to cool off. Beverage service was readily available, and they even had a lunch menu with sandwich options if you didn’t feel like moving a muscle.
It doesn’t seem that MSC wants anyone outside on the pool decks in the evenings as by 6pm they had already started to stack up the lounge chairs and clear the area. While they didn’t kick anyone out they were not very discreet as they grabbed the furniture surrounding you. We checked the app and found out that most pools close by 8pm!
Tour the Yacht Club Sun Deck and Pool on MSC World America
Gala Night on MSC World America
There are a few themed nights throughout the week, and the most anticipated is always Gala Night, or formal night. Time to put on your best evening gown and tux—if that’s your thing. We prefer to keep it casual, but I did at least trade in my preferred golf shorts for a pair of slacks. That counts for something, right?
For me, this night is all about one thing: surf and turf for dinner.
Primas, our butler, assured us that the best menu of the week would be featured in the Yacht Club dining room, and we took him at his word. And he wasn’t wrong.
Arguably the best lobster tail I’ve had in years, paired with a smallish cut of filet mignon. Both Angie and Becca skipped the lobster and went straight for the filet, and from the looks of it, their cuts were bigger—which I took as a clear underestimation of my plate-cleaning abilities.
No matter—it was scrumptious.
It was lacking in the dessert department, though—the choices were rather uninspiring. I actually contemplated ordering another lobster tail instead of a slice of cheesecake, but ultimately decided to save some room for a late-night snack.
Side note: one thing that threatened to ruin the meal was when the piano player providing ambiance decided it would be a good idea to turn “The Final Countdown” into elevator music.
Um, sorry, but—don’t do that.
A little funny, a little flat
Due to our dinner running a few minutes long, we missed our reservation for the comedy club, and by the time we got there, it was already full. I ended up waiting in the standby line for the later show and was able to get in.
As a single, I was seated next to another solo observer who quickly offered to share his nuts with me. He was holding up the bowl of bar snacks, but as he kept trying to engage in conversation, I started to wonder if there was a double entendre in play here. I almost had to pull out one of Scott’s famous fake career backgrounds to shut things down.
Latte, the MC, thankfully saved the day by getting the show going.
There were two comedians, each doing about a 20-minute set. The first made me think that missing the early show was actually a blessing. The material was stale, the timing was off, and his delivery was flat. He tried some crowd work, but it didn’t land. Most of his prepared jokes centered on self-deprecation and divorce—which, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly original material at this point.
There were only a few scattered chuckles in the room, and he even commented on how low-energy the audience was. Sorry, but the audience feeds off the performer—take the hint and exit stage left.
Luckily, the next act, who had been observing from the bar, came in with great energy and immediately turned the room around. Flip Schultz picked up on what wasn’t working and got the crowd engaged. His material was decent, he earned some solid laughs, and his delivery had the confidence the first guy was missing. As I left the show, I overheard several people sharing comments that echoed my exact thoughts—definitely a tale of two comics.
While I was in the comedy club, Angie was trying to get Becca set up for the silent disco, which she and some of her new friends wanted to do. As a minor, she needed a parent to sign off on a damage consent form for the headphones. No big deal.
Except—Angie was informed that the expectation was not just to sign the form, but to stick around for the duration of the party until the headphones were returned. WTH? That was definitely not the plan, as she was intending to head back to the room.
She said the attendant was pretty rude and pushy while explaining the policy, so they pulled the plug and started to leave. On their way out, they bumped into the other family we’d met earlier and explained the situation. That’s when it was clarified: no, parents didn’t actually have to stay. They just needed to sign off, and a sticker would be placed on the kid’s stateroom card—which wouldn’t be removed until the headphones were returned.
Another negative mark for MSC—unclear policies and inconsistent communication.
It was a full day, but just enough time left to hit the tables before bed.
The jury is still out, but so far, it’s been a pretty even balance of positives and negatives.
Tomorrow, we visit Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic—our first time on the island. Looking forward to seeing what it has in store.
Daily Planner for Day 2
