By Kam | April 30th, 2025
⭐️OVERALL⭐️
Is MSC a Good Cruise Line?
Is MSC a Good Cruise Line? All in all I would say yes. If you’re goal is to get on a cruise ship, have a good time, not break the bank and most importantly experience MSC’s crown jewel private island – Ocean Cay Marine Reserve… DO IT!
If you are an experienced cruiser, MSC might not be the best option for you. Sure you might be able to save money – lots of it at that. BUT the quality of vacation isn’t the best thing we have ever experienced in our 10 years of cruising.
If you are a Royal Caribbean cruiser – MSC offers affordability to keep cruising more than anything. A “stretch of your dollar” if you will. If you are a Carnival cruiser – MSC offers a chance at more calmness on the ship. If you are a Princess cruiser – MSC offers more amenities for less.
Is MSC the worst cruise line?
Is MSC the worst cruise line? If I had to answer with yes or no – my answer is no. If I can elaborate… MSC is definitely not the best cruise line. MSC has some major things going for them and an opportunity to break through the cruising scene!
Below you will see how much we LOVED Ocean Cay Marine Reserve! In our opinion – the best cruise line private island to date! Granted, we haven’t cruised on MSC’s flagship models (the “World America/World Europa) and I am sure those ships will give the top brands a run for their money.
But all in all, most sailors will be looking at the “Middle Tier” ships (if you can call them that) with the MSC Seashore, Seascape, Seaside & Seaview!
🔴3 Things I HATED🔴
Now to start, I understand hate is a strong word. Would I cruise MSC again? Absolutely! But these items wouldn’t have made this list had I felt MSC did a great job at them. In typical Cruise Down South fashion we are going to give the readers a no holds barred view on our experience on the MSC Seashore. Lets go!
🔴CONGESTION
Starting off the MSC Seashore has a lot of space to work with. The ship almost makes it to the top 10 list of largest ships in the world based on gross tonnage! So it’s not like MSC had little room to work with. We always felt crammed wherever we went. Whether we were at the Buffett, main dining room, swimming, heading to a show… or simply just relaxing on a random deck… I felt myself always excusing myself from accidentally running into someone.
Let me elaborate on the three major areas of congestion:
Pool – The pool area had to be one of the most congested of them all. I get it. There’s only so much space to work with when it comes to the pool areas but ALWAYS there was someones trash laying around. No matter if we were swimming in the early mornings or late evenings – there was always a jam pack of adults and kids running around.
At one point the life guard had to tell both of the hot tubs to empty out because there were WAY too many people in them (majority of them being kids). We tried to relax ourselves in the hot tub but kids splashing each other and jumping around in the tubs definitely turned us away. I understand there are LOTS of cruise lines that deal with this same issue when it comes to the pool areas – however this was the worst we ever saw it.
Buffet – The buffet was insanity in its own right. It NEVER calmed down when it was open. From 30+ people waiting in a single line (with 10 different lines in the buffet with similar amounts of people waiting) to complete chaos of management. At one point my wife and I saw two servers behind the counter arguing and not bringing out food with at least 10 people watching them argue about nonsense. The way the buffet was set up just continually ensued chaos. All I can say is if you like feeling like a Sardine in a can – go to the buffet.
Hallways – This one frustrated me the most because the first two can be a given sometimes. The hallways however? On a big ship like this? Almost always crammed? Now that was a new experience. Walking to our room, we always had to move to the side for a lot of people.
Going to the upper deck felt like we were going into the most popular concert of the century. And we prayed everywhere we went that an event wasn’t happening because if something was happening – the foot traffic was beyond comprehensible. In my ten years of cruising, I never felt a ship so packed and I have been on some huge ships!
🔴FOOD
When talking about food – I am speaking about the two complementary options which would be the buffet and the main dining room. Obviously the specialty dining restaurants are a step up from the buffet and dining room but most people don’t dine at the specialty dining options.
The buffet food quality always felt like cafeteria food I would eat back in middle school. Just good enough to be edible but never great. You eat it to get by. Have I been spoiled by Celebrity, Carnival and Virgin Voyages? Probably. But going into MSC I set my expectations low and the food still did not meet my expectations.
The carb options were bland. Most red meats came in limited portions and overcooked. Chicken options tasted stale and it was never fun waiting 15-20 minutes most of the time to get stale food. I was never a fan of the food my whole time on the trip. Overall the food looks ok…. but is almost always bland…
The Dining Room – What upset me most was the dining room was just an extension of what was at the buffet. The menu was 90-95% copy and paste of what was in the buffet.
Italian night for example was all of the same options in the buffet but they added Chicken Parmigiana to the main course and Shrimp Cocktail to the appetizers. Better than nothing? Absolutely. Did it taste the best? Not really. If you are a picky eater – be ready to spend money at the specialty dining options or power through your trip with the 2 free options you have. And yes… they over cook the steak. Every time….
How can MSC fix their food problem? – Our most recent cruises include the Carnival Jubilee, Virgin Valiant Lady and the Celebrity Reflection. Let’s take the Carnival Jubilee for example. The buffet wasn’t my favorite most of the days. Was the food good? Yes it was decent in my opinion. But the options at the buffet lacked a lot of those days.
What was Carnivals solution? OPTIONS! If I did not like it OR if my wife and kids were enjoying lunch already at the buffet – I can make my way over to Shaq’s Big Chicken, Guy’s Burgers, Blue Iguana Cantina or Guy’s Pig & Anchor! Or in Celebrity’s case – the food was almost always great!
The solution for MSC is to add MORE OPTIONS! I understand the world doesn’t revolve around me and some will say the food at the buffet is good. But at least give us one or two more free options. In my opinion they were lacking a “Pool side grill” and a “Hot off the press” style snack bar like what Virgin has.
🔴NAVIGATION/ELEVATORS
Navigation – When on a hug ship like the MSC Seashore, it is normal to be confused on where to go. If you are on a 7 night Itinerary you usually don’t start “getting used” to where you are going until around night 3 or 4. But I have to say – trying to read the navigation posters was like trying to read hieroglyphics.
Every single thing listed was the smallest print possible and my eyesight is fine. Multiple times a day we can see people standing in front of these posters for minutes on end struggling to read or figure out where they are going. A lot of people would opt to speak to a worker instead of stand there and try and read the board.
One of the biggest factors to making the board confusing was it listed the decks and what was on those decks instead of listing what you were looking for (In alphabetical order) and then telling you which deck to go to.
Elevators – Let me start by saying – most cruise lines that have “Mega” ships will have Elevators that take forever to reach you if it is busy enough. But the system MSC Seashore uses was frustrating. You click on a tablet attached to the wall which floor you would like to go to. That tablet will then tell you which elevator to go to and how long the wait is.
What’s the problem you might ask? Well lets start with the wait times were almost never correct AND if you clicked on the deck you want to go to again (because you have been waiting for 5 minutes for an elevator) – it would assign you a new elevator! THEN as you are waiting for the new elevator, your original assigned elevator shows up BUT it is now going to a different deck! If you get on it then off to the wrong deck you go! All I can say is – waiting for the elevators? GOOD LUCK!
🔴(BONUS) SHOWS – “Music Through the Decades”
We were only able to see one show and it was “Music Through the Decades” and all I can say is it was pretty corny and not any decent production or effort put into it. It felt like MSC went to the drawing board and realized they needed to stick a show somewhere as “Entertainment”.
The show reminded me of being at one of our favorite Resorts in Tulum – The shows are there to fill in time. Nothing more nothing less. MSC would have been better off doing a movie schedule and stream movies throughout the sailing. I am sure the World America will be fixing this problem but for now, the one show we saw did not make us excited to see the rest of the shows.
✅3 THINGS I LOVED✅
MSC really shocked us with how good the following was. “You get what you pay for” is a common saying and yet MSC seemed to be able to transcend a few things in our experience. So much so that we are already booked on 2 more sailings with MSC in 2025 & 2026!
✅OCEAN CAY MARINE RESERVE – MSC’s PRIVATE ISLAND
Where do I start with Ocean Cay? In my opinion, this is the Crown Jewel of MSC. We have experienced Great Day at CocoCay (Royal Caribbean), Beach Club at Bimini (Virgin Voyages), Great Strirrup Cay (Norwegian) & Half Moon Cay (Carnival). And in our opinion – Half Moon Cay was hands down absolutely our favorite!
From the cleanliness, to the space, to the food options to the availability of beach chairs and space…. We were completely shocked at how much fun we had there!
To be fully transparent, our expectations for Ocean Cay was pretty low. We didn’t want to be disappointed. So much so that we didn’t even set an alarm to wake up early. If you have been on any cruise before you know that waking up late almost always guarantees that you won’t find any beach chairs together for a group of 13 people! (Yes it was a huge family trip).
Not only did we find beach chairs all together and so much space – We walked around all of Ocean Cay and found chairs to relax in multiple areas! If we didn’t like a specific part of the beach – we got up and moved to another area with no worries!
As of right now MSC does not allow more than one ship at port. BRAVO MSC! Every cruise line with a private Island should follow suit!
Ocean Cay Lagoon – The man made lagoon in the middle of Ocean Cay is called the Ocean Cay Lagoon! This lagoon was our favorite spot to be in since the waves on the outskirts of the island were a bit rough that day and our party consisted of 5 little kids. The water is ALWAYS calm due to the fact that the lagoon is nestled in the middle of the island with no waves crashing in.
SECRET TIP: When you get to the lagoon, walk around the bridge and face the ship! There is less people on the other side of the lagoon (North Beach) since most people think you have to pay to be on the other side! “South Beach” is the first entrance to the lagoon – just walk around to “North Beach”!
The Family Lagoon – The family lagoon was also awesome! The kids had a great time running around there. We felt really good with the lifeguards being there and extra seating. The only reason we didn’t stay is because we kept wanting to explore Ocean Cay! This Lagoon has a little bit of debris however.
Sunset & Paradise Sands Beach – At both of these beaches there was a common theme – Rocky but phenomenal water! Don’t get me wrong there wasn’t any “Bad” beach water at Ocean Cay! But you will definitely benefit from some Beach Shoes at these two beaches! Looking out – you see nothing but water and that my fiends, that is what life is about!
Food at Ocean Cay – Here is something that shocked me…. Food at Ocean Cay was actually GOOD! The buffet seemed MUCH more fresh than the food on the ship and honestly, I was hoping there was to-go boxes for me to take some food with me to the ship! My wife ended up ordering from the Beach Shack (Comes with a charge!) and just from taking a couple of bites from her food – we knew it was much better than the ship!
Even my 3.5 year old son said “Dad, I like this food”! So that should tell you something. MSC should use whatever vendor they do for Ocean Cay on the ship and if it is the same vendor, then they should really take on Ocean Cays processes for freshness and flavor!
✅AFFORDABILITY
MSC’s claim to fame is their affordability compared to most of the other cruise lines. In my opinion the only cruise line that comes close in cost would be Carnival or Norwegian when they have great sales but it seems like MSC has great rates year round.
To me… if Ocean Cay is on the itinerary & the sailing is competitive with the other cruise lines rates – DO IT! For what you get with any of the new MSC Ships (Seashore, Seascape, Seaview, Seaside or World America) the rates are truly amazing and one of the better value driven cruise lines!
✅CLEANLINESS
One things that shocked me with the MSC Seashore is its cleanliness. If you haven’t noticed by now I have been comparing MSC to Carnival and Royal Caribbean for the most part. Our experience with Royal has been nothing short than great. Carnival as well but we couldn’t help to notice that MSC Seashore was actually much more clean than the most recent Carnival ship we have been on – Carnivals flagship the Jubilee.
In all honesty I thought MSC was going to be rough when it came to how clean it was and to our surprise, the ship is very well maintained! If you have never been on a cruise ship before… you won’t know that a very common thing to do is people take food back to their rooms with them and when they are done they will leave trays, plates & cups outside the room to be picked up by the crew.
We saw a crew member ALWAYS patrolling our hallway for any pickups or trash. Same thing with the pool areas… no spot was left unnoticed for more then 5-10 minutes. Surprisingly we had the very opposite experience on Carnivals flagship and to our surprise, MSC was a bit faster at cleaning up messes than all of our Royal Caribbean experiences.
✅(BONUS) AMENITIES FOR KIDS
Even if you don’t have kids you might still want to read this section…
Kids amenities are important because they can take away a lot of kids from the public areas. If you are without kids and are trying to enjoy your vacation… having a kid whiz by you or scream can really ruin the mood (I would know I have 2 little rascals). MSC Seashore had great kids amenities to keep the kids occupied and take them away from a lot of the public areas. Does this mean you won’t see any kids at all? No. This just helps with the flow of children around the ship.
From “foozeball” tables to the Pirate pool area, the kids always woke up with a plan in mind on what they wanted to do! They had a blast constantly going down the water slides! They all loved hanging out at the arcade and playing some games together. They even had movie time at the kids camp and the kids LOVED it! They got to meet other kids and have fun watching a movie. All in all – MSC Seashore has been great for kids!
✅(BONUS #2) ENTERTAINMENT/WHITE PARTY
The All White Party was a blast! It was on the top deck next to the pool. We have had some “Ok” party experiences before and we were expecting this to be the same. We were WRONG! DJ played the best tunes, kept us from sitting down and it was a packed house! All 13 of us (Including the kids) didn’t want the party to end! If you are a party animal – get ready to have some fun!
How can MSC improve?
I really feel like MSC’s biggest downfall was the food. I can deal with everything else I mentioned before but the food really stuck out to me. If you ask me… once they improve the food they can really take off! I don’t mind paying more to get a better dining experience. I know it’s possible because Carnival for example is priced similar and they are able to offer TON’s of food options with most of those options being great!
Next, MSC really needs to push Ocean Cay! Take Royal for example, you won’t see one commercial without highlighting Perfect Day at CocoCay. I really feel like MSC doesn’t highlight enough what a phenomenal job they have done with their island – Ocean Cay Marine Reserve!
How can MSC “take over” the American Market?
They are headed in that direction in already. In talking to my clients every day – MSC gets brought up daily in most conversations. As they release phenomenal new ships, they need to continue improving on what their clients voice their concerns on. From talking to clients that have been on the original “bad” ships that MSC released decades ago… they agree with me that the newer ships have improved drastically.