MSC World America Eastern Caribbean Cruise Review – Day 6

Specialty Dining Packages on MSC World America

Specialty dining on MSC World America can add up pretty quick if you start booking restaurants one at a time, but you can save a bit by buying a specialty dining package either pre-cruise or on board.  There’s no need to do it ahead of time, as the price is the same, and once you board on embarkation day, the crew will be ALL OVER THE SHIP pitching the packages.

If you dine at the restaurants individually without a package, current pricing as of this cruise has Butcher’s Cut at $60, Eataly at $55, Kaito Teppanyaki at $55, Paxos at $45, Kaito Sushi at $40, and Hola! Tacos & Cantina at $24.99 for the all-you-can-eat option. 

Then there are the dining packages. Right now, MSC is offering 2 specialty dining meals for $99, 3 meals for $144, and 4 meals for $179 per person.

That works out to about $49.50 per meal with the two-meal package, $48 per meal with three, and just under $45 per meal with four.

So whether the package is a good deal really depends on where you plan to eat.

If you’re using it for places like Butcher’s Cut, Eataly or Kaito Teppanyaki, you can come out ahead. If one of your choices is Hola!, which is only $24.99 on its own, you’re probably better off paying for that separately and saving the package credits for the more expensive restaurants.

One other thing to keep in mind is that specialty dining packages come with a strict three-courses at each restaurant rather than simply giving you unrestricted access to everything on the regular menu. When I used my package at Eataly the other night, I asked for a small salad (which would have been a second appetizer) and they were going to charge me an additional $8, which I declined. 

Certain premium items come with an additional charge, such as the $20 to upgrade to the option with Japanese wagyu and lobster at Kaito Teppanyaki last night.

My advice is to look at the restaurants you actually want to eat at before blindly buying a package because “package” doesn’t automatically mean “deal.”

For me, Hola! remains the best straight-up value onboard at $25 all-you-can-eat, while a dining package makes the most sense if you’re planning several of the $45 to $60 restaurants anyway.

Cliffhanger

Speaking of The Harbour, one of the attractions that gets the most attention is Cliffhanger, which MSC bills as the world’s only over-water swing ride at sea. I first rode it on the inaugural sailing of World America back in April 2025 and it’s really not as scary as one would think it is… unless you’re afraid of heights!  

The ride has four seats mounted on powered arms that lift riders up and out over the side of the ship before swinging them back and forth about 160 feet above the ocean. That “out over the side” part is what makes it a bit crazy as you’re swinging out over the water on a moving ship.

Cliffhanger is located in The Harbour on Deck 20 and costs $10 per ride. It’s a very quick experience, but then again, I’m not sure many would want to spend 20 minutes dangling over the side of a cruise ship anyway.

The Harbour Family Activity Area

If you’re cruising MSC World America with kids, there’s a very good chance you’re going to spend a lot of time in The Harbour, the family activity area spread across the upper decks.

This is where MSC packed in the waterslides, a ropes course, the Cliffhanger swing, and the giant dry slide. One thing to know before everyone starts riding things is that many attractions require a digital waiver. You handle that right at The Harbour at the desk called, very creatively, The Kiosk. Do it on Day 1 and get it out of the way, because the line can get long.

The main attractions include:

• Adventure Trail: Free high ropes course on Deck 20, around 20 minutes, with height and weight requirements.
• Cliffhanger: The over-water swing about 50 meters above the ocean. $10 per ride.
• Jaw Drop @ The Spiral: Free dry slide starting on Deck 20 and twisting down 11 decks through the World Promenade.
• Twin Racer Slide: Free racing water slide on Deck 22 for ages 7+.
• U Drop Slide: Free near-vertical drop slide for ages 12+ and riders at least 140 cm tall.
• VR Slide: Free water slide with VR glasses and a 360-degree experience, for ages 7+.

If your kids need constant action, they can spend a good chunk of the day here.

Again, stop at The Kiosk on Day 1, sign the waiver, and be done with it. Waiting until the first sea day when everyone else has the same idea is just asking for punishment.

Smoking

Smoking is always an interesting topic to bring up on MSC because the passenger mix is very different from what you’ll find on a lot of U.S.-based cruise lines.

MSC’s roots are firmly planted in Europe, and even on a ship sailing from Miami, you’re getting a very international crowd. Smoking in parts of Europe is much higher than in the United States, and smoking is pretty much part of everyday life, and in outdoor dining areas, cafés, bars and public spaces. That doesn’t mean every European passenger smokes, but it’s still more common than here in the U.S.

And you notice that onboard.

Quickly.

Smoking is absolutely not permitted inside staterooms or on balconies, and MSC does have designated smoking areas around the ship. But in reality, there are always people who decide those rules don’t apply to them.

You can sit on your balcony and smell cigarette smoke drifting over from somewhere nearby. You can be outside in areas where smoking isn’t supposed to be happening and suddenly get hit with it. Sit outside near the Champagne Bar and there’s a good chance at some point you’ll smell cigarettes.  On another MSC ship, I saw someone smoking while walking THRU the ship, and no one said a word.

It’s just one of those things that seems to be more noticeable on MSC than on some other lines.

The problem isn’t that there aren’t smoking areas. There are. The problem is that an unbelievable number of people seem to give zero fu%$s about whether they’re actually in one of them before lighting up.

And balcony smoking is probably the worst of it because there’s really nowhere for the smoke to go except sideways into someone else’s space. You may have paid for that balcony specifically to sit outside and enjoy the ocean, and instead you’re getting secondhand Marlboro.

For some cruisers, this won’t be a big deal. For others, especially anyone sensitive to cigarette smoke, it can absolutely become one of the more annoying parts of the MSC experience.

Breakfast & Brunch Menus

Let’s kick things off this morning with a look at what’s being served for breakfast around the ship!  Over in the main dining room, it’s the Tour de Brunch that’s being offered from 8am – 1pm.  Yacht Club guests can have breakfast in the Yacht Club Restaurant from 7:30am – 9:30am, while the buffet is open from 6:30am – 11:30am.