MSC World America Eastern Caribbean Cruise Review

Good morning from MSC World America, where today is our second sea day in a row and the final full day onboard before we arrive at Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve tomorrow morning.

This itinerary has been a little lighter on ports than some Eastern Caribbean cruises, with Puerto Plata on Day 3 and San Juan on Day 4 followed by two consecutive sea days. Sometimes St. Thomas gets worked into itineraries like this, but I’ll gladly trade a shorter call there for the 11:00 p.m. departure we had from San Juan. Now we’re slowly making our way toward the Bahamas, where we’re scheduled to spend a full day at Ocean Cay from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow.

After five days on the ship, there also wasn’t much left that I felt like I needed to accomplish today. I’ve been on World America three times now, so I’m not running around trying to see every venue or check things off a list. Today was more about wandering around the ship, revisiting a few things worth talking about, drinking an absolutely unreasonable amount of wine in the middle of the afternoon, heading back to Butcher’s Cut for dinner, and then finishing the night with three very healthy pours of Macallan.

So, basically, a perfectly normal sea day.

Breakfast or Brunch?

MSC was once again offering its sea day Tour de Brunch in the main dining room from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., while Yacht Club guests had breakfast in their private restaurant and the buffet was open from 6:30 until 11:30. The Tour de Brunch setup is a nice option on a sea day because you don’t have to drag yourself out of bed at 7:30 just to make a traditional breakfast seating, and you can avoid the chaos that develops in the buffet once everyone wakes up.

Available on: MSC World America

From the Bakery

Selection of Pastries

your choice: croissants, pan au chocolate, Danish, muffins

Toast

wheat, gluten free

Bagel

whipped cream cheese

English Muffin

butter, jam

Coffee and Juices

Fresh Pressed Orange Juice

$6.00

Cappuccino

$4.25

Espresso

$2.50

American Coffee

Tea

Iced Tea

Lemonade

Arnold Palmer

Juices

Cracked and Scrambled

Eggs Your Way

fried, scrambled poached, hard or soft-boiled

Build Your Own Omelet

choice of Cheddar, bacon, ham, mushrooms, bell peppers, tomatoes, onion (egg whites available on request)

Eggs Benedict

English muffin, hollandaise, choice of smoked salmon or ham

Lobster Benedict

English muffin, hollandaise, sauteed spinach

The Grand Tour

Steak, Egg and Chips

United Kingdom. patte fiat, two fried eggs, thick cut chips

Huevos Rancheros

Mexico. corn tortilla topped with chicken, fresh salsa, and a fried egg

Bucatini alla Carbonara

Italy. pancetta, cream, egg yolks, Parmesan cheese

Jumbo Cheeseburger

United States. 8-oz beef burger topped with brisket, onion rings, American cheddar and bacon on a brioche bun

Karaage Fried Chicken

Japan. stir-fried rice with bacon, jimmy egg

Chana Masala and Aloo Bhaji

India. chickpeas and curried potatoes, traditional fried bread

Pain Perdu

France. custard-dipped, thick-cut brioche with berries, whipped cream

Shakshuka

Tunisia. two eggs baked in a spicy tomato sauce with peppers, onions, garlic and spices

The Petite Tour - Lighter Fare

Cold Cereals

assorted dry cereals

Oatmeal

brown sugar, cinnamon

Granola

cinnamon, raisins

Tomato Soup

grilled cheese

Chia Coconut Pudding

fresh fruit salad

Yogurt Parfait

balsamic strawberry, homemade granola

Caesar Salad

add grilled chicken or salmon

Doremi Bites

French Toast Sticks

maple syrup

Chicken Nuggets

choice of dipping sauce

Mac and Cheese

in a creamy 5-cheese sauce

Mini Cheeseburger

Sides

Crispy Bacon

Breakfast Sausage

Grilled Ham

Corned Beef Hash

Hash Brown Potatoes

Fresh Fruit Salad

Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake

chantilly cream, fresh strawberries

West Indies Bread and Butter Pudding

toasted butter brioche bread in cardamom cream with caramelized banana

Brownie a la Mode

rich chocolate brownie, served warm with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream

Ice Cream

daily assortment

Drinks Around the World - Smoothies

Strawberry Yogurt

$14.00

yogurt, pineapple, vanilla, strawberries

Watermelon

$14.00

watermelon, cantaloupe, banana, yogurt milk, lime

Drinks Around the World - Mimosas

Classic Mimosa

$14.00

orange juice, bubbles

Tiffany Mimosa

$14.00

Blue Curacao, Sprite, bubbles

Drinks Around the World - Spritz

Hugo Spritz

$14.00

elderflower, bubbles

Strawberry Basil Spritz

$14.00

strawberry, basil, bubbles

Drinks Around the World - Bloody Marys

Bloody Mary

$14.00

Mr and Mrs T, vodka

Spicy Bloody Mary

$14.00

Mr and Mrs T, gin, celery salt, chili, bacon

Drinks Around the World - Martini

Espresso Martini

vodka, dark creme de cacao, espresso, coffee liqueur, simple syrup

⬇ Download PDF All MSC Restaurant Menus All MSC Bar Menus

🖼️ Menu Images

That flexibility is one of the things I like about sea days. Nobody is waiting for you at the bottom of the gangway, there’s no excursion bus leaving without you, and the only real schedule is whatever reservations you’ve managed to make for yourself.

Mine included wine.

A lot of wine.

Hexagon Restaurant (one main dining room) on MSC World America

The World Wine Tour on MSC World America

At 12:30 p.m., it was time for the World Wine Tour, and this remains an incredible value if you like wine and want to sip a couple hours sway!

The setup is very casual, but if you’re expecting a sommelier talking for 15 minutes about the soil composition of a hillside in France before letting you to take a sip, this isn’t for you. You get a tasting list, the bar staff circulates through the room, and they pour each wine as you work through them at your own pace.

This time there were 10 wines on the list: Gavi di Gavi, Mer Soleil Chardonnay, Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, Conundrum White, Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling, Errazuriz Carmenere, Duckhorn, Chateau Rahoul, No Name, and Whispering Angel. They also put out a small spread of fruit and cheeses, which becomes VERY useful once you realize these aren’t tiny pours.

The whole thing lasted for more than two hours. I ended up sitting and talking with a young couple from the Netherlands, and we basically spent the afternoon drinking wine, working our way through the list, and wondering who’s going to surrender first.

I made it through wine number eight.

That was enough.

For $30, though, this is an excellent value. You’re getting up to 10 wines, generous pours, some cheese and fruit, and more than enough time to sit and enjoy it. On my previous World America cruise, the format was almost identical, although the lineup consisted of 11 wines, so the specific bottles can change from sailing to sailing.

The best description I can give it is that this is less of a formal wine tasting and more of a “show up and drink a hell of a lot of wine” event.

There are worse ways to spend a sea day.

Where’s Deck 17?

Here’s one of those random things you might notice after spending a week going up and down elevators and stairs: MSC World America has no Deck 13, which probably doesn’t surprise anyone, but it also has no Deck 17.

Skipping 13 is familiar to most Americans because of the superstition surrounding the number. Plenty of hotels and buildings skip it, so seeing the numbers jump from 12 to 14 doesn’t exactly seem strange. The missing Deck 17 is where MSC’s Italian roots come into play.

In Italy, 17 is traditionally considered unlucky, and one of the explanations goes back to Roman numerals. Seventeen is written as XVII, which can be rearranged to VIXI, a Latin phrase that translates roughly to “I have lived.” The implication is that if you have lived, your life is over, which probably isn’t the message an Italian cruise line wants passengers pondering while looking for their stateroom.

So on World America, you go from Deck 12 to 14 and then from Deck 16 to 18. The ship may have been designed around the North American market, but little things like that are reminders that MSC is still very much an Italian cruise line.

Smoking on MSC

While wandering around the ship this morning, I was reminded of something that continues to bother me on MSC more than it does on most of the other cruise lines I sail – cigarette smoke. Yes, when you’re on Carnival you are probably going to smell weed wherever you go outside, but on MSC it’s a different story.

MSC has a much more international passenger mix than a line such as Carnival, and smoking is still more common in parts of Europe than it is in the United States. I’m not saying every European passenger is walking around with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth, because obviously they aren’t, but there is a noticeable difference in how common smoking remains in outdoor cafés, bars, and public spaces in many European countries. That carries over somewhat to the passenger mix onboard.

MSC has designated smoking areas, and smoking is absolutely not permitted in staterooms or on balconies. The problem is that an amazing number of people seem to give zero fu%$s about whether they’re actually standing in one of those designated areas before lighting up.

I’ve sat on my balcony and smelled cigarette smoke drifting over from somewhere nearby. I’ve walked through outdoor spaces where smoking wasn’t permitted and suddenly gotten hit with it, and I’ve smelled it around the outside seating near the Champagne Bar, where it’s also not permitted. On another MSC ship, I watched someone smoking while walking through the interior of the vessel, and nobody said a word.

For someone who smokes, none of this may be a big deal. For someone who specifically booked a balcony because they want to sit outside and enjoy the ocean without getting a side order of secondhand Marlboro, it can become incredibly annoying. It isn’t enough for MSC to have smoking areas if passengers ignore them and the rules aren’t enforced consistently.

The Harbour

If you’re sailing World America with kids or teenagers, there’s a very good chance you’ll spend part of your cruise in The Harbour, the big family activity area spread across the upper decks.

This is where MSC packed in the Adventure Trail ropes course, water slides, the Jaw Drop dry slide, Cliffhanger, and several other attractions designed to keep younger passengers occupied while their parents try to remember what relaxing used to feel like. Many of the attractions require a digital waiver, and you handle that at a kiosk MSC very creatively named The Kiosk.

My advice is the same now as it was when World America launched – get that waiver signed on embarkation day when the line is going to be short. Don’t wait until a sea day when every family onboard suddenly realizes they need to do the exact same thing. The line can get long, and there’s no reason to burn vacation time standing there when you can knock it out before everyone figures out where The Harbour is.

Adventure Trail is the free ropes course on Deck 20, while Twin Racer lets two riders race side-by-side down a water slide and U Drop gives you the near-vertical drop experience. There’s also a VR water slide, and Jaw Drop @ The Spiral is the giant dry slide that starts on Deck 20 and twists down through 11 decks before dumping you into the World Promenade.

Adventure Trail ropes course on MSC World America

Then there’s Cliffhanger.

Cliffhanger – Swinging 160 Feet Above the Ocean

Cliffhanger is probably the attraction that gets the most attention in The Harbour because MSC markets it as the world’s only over-water swing ride at sea.

I rode it back on the inaugural sailing in April 2025, and despite how it looks from below, it really isn’t that terrifying unless heights bother you. The ride uses four seats mounted on powered arms that lift you up and out over the side of the ship before swinging you back and forth roughly 160 feet above the ocean.

The part that messes with your head isn’t the swinging itself. It’s when the arm pushes you off the side of the ship and suddenly there’s nothing under your feet except water. You know perfectly well you’re strapped into a machine designed to do exactly this, but your brain still spends a few seconds asking whether voluntarily dangling off the side of a cruise ship was your smartest decision of the week.

Cliffhanger costs $10 per ride, which isn’t included in your cruise fare, and the experience is fairly quick.

Specialty Dining Packages

By Day 6, I had eaten my way through World America’s specialty dining lineup, with the exception of Paxos which I saved for the final night, so this a good point to talk about the dining packages.

At the time of this cruise, individual pricing was $60 for Butcher’s Cut, $55 for Eataly, $55 for Kaito Teppanyaki, $45 for Paxos, $40 for Kaito Sushi, and $24.99 for the all-you-can-eat option at Hola! Tacos & Cantina. MSC was also selling packages of two specialty meals for $99, three for $144, and four for $179.

On the surface, the package sounds like an automatic deal. It isn’t.

If you’re using your credits at Butcher’s Cut, Eataly, or Kaito Teppanyaki, the numbers can work in your favor. If you burn one of those credits at Hola!, where the all-you-can-eat dinner is only about $25 on its own, you’re basically throwing away that credit. My advice is to decide where you actually want to eat first and then do the math instead of buying a package just because the crew member pitching it tells you how much money you’re supposedly saving.

Another thing to remember is that the package doesn’t give you unrestricted access to every item on the regular menu. You’re generally working from the package structure, and premium items carry an additional charge. At Kaito Teppanyaki, for example, I paid another $20 to add the Japanese wagyu and lobster to my dinner. At Eataly, when I asked for a small salad in addition to my appetizer, that would have been another $8.

Italian Night & 70s/80s Night!

Tonight was Italian Night in the main dining rooms and Yacht Club Restaurant, which is the fit for MSC given the line’s Italian heritage. The main dining room menu included Italian standards such as pasta dishes along with the regular always-available items. Side note, I haven’t eaten in the main dining room once on this cruise, which wasn’t intentional when I booked it but is simply how the week worked out.

MSC World America Main Dining Room Dinner Menu - Italian Night 6

Available on: MSC World America

Starters - Daily Specials

Caprese Salad

sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil pesto

Fried Calamari and Zucchini

homemade marinara

Italian Antipasto

assorted Italian cold cuts, grilled vegetables, grissini

Minestrone Genovese

fresh seasonal vegetables, pesto

Starters