MSC World America 7-Day Eastern Caribbean Cruise – Day 1

MSC for Me Wristband

One little piece of onboard tech worth mentioning is the MSC For Me wristband. MSC sells these in the Photo Gallery on Deck 7 for $15, although the price can come down if you’re buying multiple wristbands. If you’re sailing in the Yacht Club, they’re included at no additional charge.

The wristband can be used around the ship to open your stateroom door, book theater shows, order drinks, make purchases and handle many of the same everyday functions you’d normally use your cruise card for. It’s also waterproof and works on Ocean Cay, so you don’t have to worry about taking it off at the pool or beach. You do still need your physical cruise card when getting off the ship in ports.

It’s convenient, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t want to carry a card around all day, but I wouldn’t put it in the same category as Princess Cruises’ Medallion. The Princess Medallion is much more deeply integrated into the onboard experience and does quite a bit more behind the scenes. MSC’s wristband is useful, but it feels more like a convenient replacement for carrying your cruise card than a truly “smart” device.

For $15, though, I can see the appeal, especially on a seven-day cruise where you’re constantly going in and out of the cabin, ordering drinks and moving around the ship. And if you’re in Yacht Club and getting one for free, there’s really no reason not to use it.

Deluxe Balcony Stateroom 11283 on MSC World America

Stateroom time.  On MSC, you can go to your room as soon as you arrive on the ship and drop off your carry-on luggage, but the rooms are not ready.  So they ask that you do a drop and go!  The all clear was given at 2pm, so it was time to go and check out my digs for the week.

For this cruise, I’m in Fantastica Deluxe Balcony stateroom 11283 on Deck 11 aft. If you’re not familiar with the way MSC sells its cabins, you’re not just choosing a stateroom category. In many cases, you’re also choosing an “experience,” with Bella at the bottom, Fantastica in the middle and Aurea above that.  Check out this article I wrote that explains all that.

Bella is essentially the basic option and is sold as a guaranteed stateroom, meaning MSC decides where you ultimately end up. Fantastica gives you more control by allowing you to choose your stateroom and location, plus you get one free cruise change and free delivery for continental breakfast and 24-hour room service. Aurea takes things another step with perks including anytime dining, access to the thermal area, access to the Top Exclusive Solarium, priority boarding and luggage drop-off, a welcome package and discounts on spa treatments.

For me, Fantastica works perfectly well on this sailing because what I really wanted was to pick my exact room, since I do not like staying in connecting staterooms.

On my previous cruises aboard MSC World America, I’ve stayed in balcony cabins that had both an ocean view and a view down into the World Promenade on Deck 8. The World Promenade is essentially MSC’s answer to the Boardwalk neighborhood on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships. Those cabins can actually be pretty entertaining because you can sit outside and people-watch while still having a view out toward the ocean.

The tradeoff is noise.

There’s a lot happening down on the promenade during the day, so while those balconies are fun, they aren’t necessarily peaceful. This time around I was looking forward to trading the people-watching for a balcony that gives me 100% ocean views, and that’s exactly what I have back here on Deck 11.

Take a tour of Deluxe Balcony Stateroom 11283 on MSC Cruises World America!

Video Tour of Stateroom 11283 on MSC World America

As for the room itself, this is a pretty standard balcony cabin. There’s nothing particularly flashy or unusual about it, but the layout works. You have two twin beds that convert into one larger bed, a television, a sofa that can convert into another bed, a closet and a decent amount of storage.

For two people, I think there’s enough storage without much trouble. Start putting three or four people in here, though, and you’re probably going to struggle finding room for all your crap. You could certainly sleep more than two people in the cabin, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’d want to live in here for a week with all their luggage.

The balcony is also your standard cruise ship balcony with two chairs and a small table. Nothing exciting, but it gets the job done, and I actually prefer this layout to the balcony I had a couple of weeks ago aboard Regal Princess. There’s enough room to sit outside comfortably without feeling like you’re playing some kind of furniture Tetris every time you want to move around.

The bathroom is also straightforward with a glass shower door rather than a shower curtain. That alone earns points with me. There’s a standard sink, toilet, storage and a reasonably sized shower for this type of cabin.

Where this room does particularly well is power and USB ports, which is one of the benefits of sailing on a newer ship. Each side of the bed has a USB-C port, so you don’t have to run charging cables across the cabin at night. Over at the desk and vanity there are two U.S. outlets, two European-style outlets, one USB-A port and another USB-C port. For the number of phones, watches, tablets and other things most of us travel with these days, there’s plenty of charging capacity without having to start unplugging things.

There is also a minibar refrigerator in the cabin stocked with soda, water and beer. One thing to remember is that those items come at an additional charge and are not included with your beverage package. If you’d rather use the refrigerator for your own water or something else you bring back to the room, you can ask your room steward to remove the minibar items.

Overall, it’s a comfortable, functional balcony cabin with plenty of charging options, and a good bathroom setup.

Brightline to PortMiami

For this cruise, I skipped the drive to Miami and took Brightline train from Boca Raton to downtown Miami instead, which continues to be one of my favorite ways to get to PortMiami if you’re cruising from South Florida.

Under normal conditions, the trip from the Boca Raton Brightline station to Miami takes about an hour, and once you arrive downtown, PortMiami is usually only about a 10- to 15-minute Uber ride away. Port Everglades is also easy to reach from Brightline, with the Fort Lauderdale station generally about 15 to 20 minutes from the cruise terminals by Uber.

The biggest advantage for me is simply avoiding I-95. Depending on traffic, driving from Boca to Miami can easily take longer than the train, and there’s none of the usual stress that comes with wondering what kind of mess you’re going to hit on the highway.

One tip if you’re traveling with a larger carry-on bag: take a close look at Brightline’s Premium fare before automatically booking their Smart coach ticket. Premium includes the oversized bag allowance, and once you add the baggage charge to a Smart ticket, the difference in price can sometimes disappear or even make Premium the better deal. Premium also gets you access to the station lounge, snacks and drinks onboard, larger seats and, in my experience, a noticeably less crowded train car.

Of course, those are the normal travel times. Today was a little different.

After arriving at Brightline’s Miami station, I requested an Uber and then watched absolutely nothing happen. The driver simply wasn’t moving. After about 20 minutes of staring at the little car icon sitting in the same place on the map, I gave up, canceled the ride and requested another driver.

Then came the fun part: standing there watching nearly everyone else who had gotten off my train climb into their rides while I continued to wait.

The second Uber eventually arrived, but what is normally a 10- to 15-minute trip to PortMiami took closer to 25 minutes because traffic around the port was a mess. PortMiami can be an absolute nightmare even on its best days, and it remains one of my least favorite ports to cruise from, right up there with Port Everglades when traffic and congestion are at their worst.

Today was a seven-ship day, which certainly didn’t help. Joining MSC World America in port were Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas, Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady, Norwegian Luna, Carnival Magic and Carnival Sunrise. Seven ships in PortMiami isn’t particularly unusual, but the amount of traffic today made it feel like everyone decided to show up at the same time.

Once I finally reached the MSC terminal, however, the experience completely changed.

Because I’m Diamond with MSC Cruises, I was able to bypass the normal queuing and boarding groups. After clearing security, I went through facial recognition and walked directly onto the ship. The entire process took less than five minutes.

MSC really does an excellent job with embarkation at its new PortMiami terminal. The facial recognition technology makes the process incredibly simple, and there’s very little fumbling around for documents. No printed boarding pass, no QR code to keep pulling up on your phone. I had my passport, cleared the checks, and was on my way.

Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas was also using MSC’s terminal today. Royal Caribbean is using the MSC facility for some sailings while its new Terminal G, the cruise line’s second major terminal at PortMiami, is under construction.

So, aside from the traffic getting there, embarkation itself was as smooth as a bus driver’s pants.

Then you actually step onto MSC World America, and I’m reminded of something I’ve said since my first sailing on this ship: boarding her is surprisingly anticlimactic.

You basically get deposited into a hallway and then make your way onto Deck 6. There’s no soaring atrium waiting for you, no dramatic first look at the ship and no real “wow” moment when you step aboard for the first time. It feels oddly sterile for a ship this large and elaborate, and it doesn’t really set the tone for what’s actually waiting elsewhere onboard.

To be fair, that’s largely a product of the ship’s design, and there probably isn’t much MSC can realistically do about it. World America has plenty of impressive spaces once you start exploring, but the first few minutes onboard certainly aren’t one of them.