Well, this cruise is quickly coming to an end, and day number six finds us at sea, and that means it’s going to be a busy (and crowded) day onboard the MSC Seascape. At double occupancy, she can accommodate 4,540 passengers, but that’s never really the case as there are many who book three and four in a room, so maximum capacity for this ship is 5,877. For this sailing, we’ve been told there are roughly 5,100 people onboard from all around the world.
With this being our second sea day of the cruise, let’s talk about one of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from other passengers based on our first sea day. You can probably guess what it is. Yep, “chair hogs” and the lack of loungers. While there are signs posted around all the ship’s three pools that reserving loungers is not allowed, many plop their stuff on them first thing in the morning and those loungers sit empty most of the day. The crew is “supposed” to go around and remove belongings from chairs that are left unattended for X number of minutes, this rarely happens on any cruise line. They simply don’t want to have negative interactions with guests.
It’s common courtesy not to be a “chair hog” but it happens on cruises, at resorts, at hotels, etc. Enforcement can lead to altercations with guests, especially when alcohol is involved, and no crew member wants to be yelled and screamed at, so unfortunately the “chair hogs” always win.
While there is plenty of space to lay out at various locations, the most coveted spots are close to the pool, so they go quickly. Wandering around, most all the outdoor spaces were packed with people enjoying the beautiful weather, but seating was at a premium wherever you went. Another issue is the lack of shade. While there are a very few shady spots to sit outside, they are few and far between and have just a few chairs.
As I mentioned in another daily report, smokers have a very large area to smoke on deck 8 and there is another fairly large area on deck 18.
MSC Seascape Buffet
The buffet is obviously going to be very busy on a sea day with people heading out for breakfast, lunch and bites throughout the day. Like every morning, there is a full breakfast offering with a variety of hot and cold items, including bacon every day (Carnival take note). When it comes time for lunch, there are various stations serving up hot entrees, plus there are burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, and that delicious pizza. Now at dinner time, only half of the buffet stations are open as most people choose to dine in one of the ship’s restaurants.
Both of our sea days saw the buffet lines at breakfast and lunch to be a disorganized mess. There is no clear direction as to where a line starts or where it ends. Many people will just jump in front of you while you’re in line and not think twice about it. Traffic around the various stations can be a challenge as well with people walking all over the place aimlessly, sometimes playing a game of chicken with you to see which of you is going to let the other pass. Finding a spot to sit and eat during peak times can be a challenge as well, with many people getting frustrated because they can’t find a spot to sit and eat.
For beverage service, there are self-service coffee/tea stations and staff are walking around constantly clearing tables and asking if you’d like something to drink. There are also buttons on each table you can press to summon someone to come over and take your drink order.
As far as food on the buffet is concerned – and food on MSC has always garnished the biggest complaints – it wasn’t bad! You won’t find a better pizza and you can’t really screw up breakfast food, so let’s rule those out. I sampled some of the food at lunch and dinner time and I will say that it has improved dramatically over the years with more “Americanized” things now being offered by this Italian cruise line. While the buffet food is not near the quality of what you’ll find on Holland America, it can easily be compared in quality and variety to that of Carnival or Royal Caribbean – which means it’s not great, but it’s good.
MSC Seascape Sea Day Entertainment
There were plenty of things to do throughout the day to keep people entertained, both inside and outside. For those travelling with children, and there weren’t too many, the kid’s club had a full schedule of events, shopping events were going on (of course), the casino was open and was quite busy, but there was one big thing missing during the afternoon hours.
Music!
Several people I’ve spoken with have expressed very strong opinions about the lack of entertainment and games around the pool, especially music. Now, MSC is not really an all-day party cruise like Carnival, but I do agree that there could be more outdoor “action” during the day – especially when we’re at sea. No pool games, no DJ with dance music at the pool, nothing really. While there was a DJ a few times, the music was not loud, there was no interaction with the guests, no dancing, etc.
Inside the ship, the lounges didn’t have any live music until the evening at which time you’ll find plenty of entertainment all around the ship, in almost every bar/lounge, in the atrium, and at one of the evening deck parties at the pool.
So while there’s plenty of entertainment at night, there could definitely be more to keep a somewhat vacation vibe going during the day. I hate to say it, but it was almost Holland America-esque during the day with it so quiet around the pools.
Tonight, in the ship’s main theater, a solo vocalist was the evening’s headline entertainer, which I skipped and opt for just bar/lounge hopping checking out the various musical acts around the ship.
Dinner Time
As a Diamond-level cruiser on MSC, one of the benefits is one free dinner for you and one cabin mate, in one of the ship’s specialty restaurants where you get to choose from the Dining Experience menu, which is the same menu for those who purchased one of the dining packages. On MSC Seascape, the restaurants this can be used at include Butcher’s Cut Steakhouse, Ocean Cay Seafood, and Hola! Tacos. Now, you don’t want to use this perk at Hola! as the all-you-can eat option is priced at $17.99, so to get the most bang for your buck you’ll want to use it either at Butcher’s Cut where the value is $59, or Ocean Cay where it’s $60.
Now, since I’m not a seafood person and there are no non-seafood options on the menu at Ocean Cay, I didn’t want to let this go unused. So even though I already ate at the steakhouse twice, I went again to take advantage of the free dinner (which wasn’t free, but read on).
The Diamond “tasting menu” which it’s technically called, like I said is just the Dining Experience menu where you get to choose one appetizer, one main, one side, and one dessert. If you want an additional appetizer, main, side, or dessert, you can purchase it for the full ala carte price, or if you want to upgrade to a different main course that’s not included as part of the package, you can at half the ala carte price.
Once again, I started off with the shrimp cocktail. As I previously mentioned, the first night of the cruise when I came here for dinner, the shrimp were small. Subsequent visits have found these shrimp to be huge, not to mention delicious. They are served with sliced jalapeños and both Louis and cocktail sauces for dipping.
For my main course, I upgraded to the 20oz ribeye. I asked my server, “is this a bone-in ribeye?” which he said it was, however it was not. I asked for it cooked medium rare, which it was, and it lived up to its 20oz as it was quite a large steak. Now, it goes for $68 if you were to order it ala carte. Was it worth $68? No. In fact, I’d find it hard to find any ribeye worth a $68 price, but since it only cost $34 with the discount, that made it easier to swallow.
When it came time for dessert, I skipped. There simply wasn’t any room left after all that meat!
Once again, service was exceptional. The restaurant manager and the chef both visited my table, which tonight was a window seat, to check and make sure all was well. All three visits to Butcher’s Cut were great.
I needed to walk all that off, so I made my rounds around the ship, checking out some of the entertainment. Tonight, the atrium was less crowded because all the action was up at the pool for a deck party featuring a DJ.
Before heading off to bed, I stopped at the Venchi Chocolate Bar for some liquid dessert. This bar is a specialty cocktail bar where the majority of drinks aren’t included in your drink package, so be forewarned, although the crew does let you know before you order. The specialty drinks all feature some of the rich, delicious Italian chocolate that’s made on the ship, and all I’ve tried have been winners packed full of calories! Some even come with some delicious chocolate treats as well.
We’re currently sailing towards Nassau, Bahamas, where we’ll spend the last day of the cruise. In tomorrow’s report, I’ll give you a look around the new port of Nassau and my final overall thoughts about this 7-day cruise on the MSC Seascape.
As always, thanks for following along!