Since they are now operating out of Galveston, I thought I would solicit opinions from any that have sailed with them. What are the pros and cons of this cruise line?

Watching. I have a friend in Florida that says they are like first class for the same price as other cruise liners and they really like them.

I haven't sailed with them and most clients go for Royal/Celebrity or Norwegian, but MSC is a great value option if you're looking for modern ships, lively entertainment, and family-friendly amenities at a good price.

The ship sailing out of Galveston will be the MSC Seascape, one of their newer ships built in 2022, with tons of activities and a sleek, updated design.

Since Galveston is a new homeport for MSC, there may be a few growing pains as they get settled in. The Western Caribbean routes are pretty standard and may feel familiar to frequent cruisers, and because the ship is large, it can feel a bit crowded at times.

That said, their private island, Ocean Cay, is definitely a highlight and worth including in any itinerary.

Overall, I'd say they're a nice alternative to Royal Caribbeansimilar vibe, just with slightly more modern ships.

I've sold MSC cruise lines to a few folks. I definitely think they are coming a long way with their ships, they are a European Cruise line and so they have a little bit of a different feel to them as far as clientele. But their new ships are beautiful and are becoming closer to some of the other cruise lines as far as amenities.

I actually get to board the MSC Seascape tomorrow in Galveston and spend all day and night on her getting to see all of the amenities on board. I plan on starting a thread about it.

Happy to assist if you need any help.

Wanted to share some additional info.

While I physically have not been on them yet, in general, I have explained to clients that this is more of a budget cruise line and so food/some amenities may not be what you're used to if you used to cruising Carnival and Royal Caribbean. But the pricing usually reflects that too.

However, based on the newer ships and a lot of things, I do think they are really making good strides in this area. For that more of luxury feel you would want to get the MSC Yacht Club, which is their suites.

I'm really pumped to try them out tomorrow.

PlanoAg98 said:

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While I physically have not been on them yet, in general, I have explained to clients that this is more of a budget cruise line and so food/some amenities may not be what you're used to if you used to cruising Carnival and Royal Caribbean. But the pricing usually reflects that too.

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MSC is a budget cruise line compared to Carnival? I thought Carnival was the bottom of the barrel.

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My overall past impression, yes. I do think they are making strides. But generally they still price cheaper than Carnival or are similar pricing and include drinks/wifi (in some of their packages). It's been a few years since I've had anyone sail on them, but general feedback was mediocre to decent, but not great. I do think their new ships look pretty great. I also feel like the clientele is expanding as well. I am excited that they are coming to Galveston as I think they will do well!

Jana and Lauren, thanks for the feedback. My wife and I have cruised out of Galveston a few times but always on Royal Caribbean. We watched a video tour on YouTube this morning and the MSC Seascape looks like a beautiful ship. Looking forward to getting Jana's impressions after her overnight stay.

In general, we're not concerned about a cruise being "family friendly". We're both retired and prefer to cruise when most kids are in school. For us it's more about good food, good service, nice accommodations and facilities, plus good entertainment onboard. We've always had a good time on Royal Caribbean whether sailing out of Galveston or the one cruise out of Miami (Oasis of the Seas). On our Alaskan Inside Passage cruise on Holland America, we found the entertainment lacking by comparison. We still enjoyed our cruise but it could have been a little better. We've done the Western Caribbean but haven't stopped at Isla de Roatan. Costa Maya isn't worth getting off the ship other than for an excursion. Cozumel was OK but we were disappointed in the snorkeling. That being said, I'm sure be up for another Western Caribbean cruise just for the good food and good times onboard.

Norwegian may be another good option. I find it pricing really well in February and they usually have four port stops instead of three. I just quoted it today for another Texager.

My favorite out of all of the ports that the Western Caribbean goes to is Roatan. Some of the best snorkeling I've ever done.

JMac03 said:

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Norwegian may be another good option. I find it pricing really well in February and they usually have four port stops instead of three. I just quoted it today for another Texager.

My favorite out of all of the ports that the Western Caribbean goes to is Roatan. Some of the best snorkeling I've ever done.

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My wife and I love Norwegian. We've done Royal, Crystal, Celebrity, Carnival (not by choice) and Princess. We found that Norwegian was a really nice sweet spot for enough party atmosphere without being wild and mostly contained, good stuff for the kids, and good (but not Royal) levels of entertainment on board. The perks with the drink package, dining, wifi, etc. That are included in the cost is also nice. The food is definitely a step up from the Royal ones we've been on and on par with anything else short of Crystal. Decent number of adult only spaces. We haven't tried their ship within a ship Haven concept but have heard good things.

Curious about MSC but we usually don't port out of Galveston as we prefer Eastern or Southern Caribbean vs. Western.

JMac03 said:

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Norwegian may be another good option. I find it pricing really well in February and they usually have four port stops instead of three. I just quoted it today for another Texager.

My favorite out of all of the ports that the Western Caribbean goes to is Roatan. Some of the best snorkeling I've ever done.

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That sounds good! We might be looking to take a cruise in February. I'm waiting to find out when I can have knee replacement surgery, hopefully in December but won't know for a few weeks.

We love to snorkel but we've been disappointed a number of times with the numbers and variety of fish. I guess we got spoiled with the snorkeling we did in Hawaii on the Big Island. We went to several locations and it was all pretty fantastic! The absolute best was Kealakekua Bay, and specifically over by the Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park. Nothing else has come close.

The snorkeling we did was on Maya Key, it's a private island we did an excursion to.

And note, I don't have a ton to compare it to, but there was a nice reef, and we saw quite a few varieties of fish.

My wife and I have been checking out NCL's Norwegian Viva today. It's a very nice looking ship with some cool features. But we're finding too many negative reviews about the ship and its shortcomings. I think we're going to pass on that one.

I'm curious as to what the negatives you are finding? I just spent 10 days on Viva and loved it as a solo traveler. I'm loyal to RC but gave NCL a try and had a great experience.

hds said:

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I'm curious as to what the negatives you are finding? I just spent 10 days on Viva and loved it as a solo traveler. I'm loyal to RC but gave NCL a try and had a great experience.

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Multiple mentions of crowded spaces like assembling for tender disembarkation and excursions, small buffet area, mostly poor entertainment options in the theater, mixed opinions on food quality including specialty dining, mixed opinions on staff service quality and staffing levels. Very small main pool, etc. etc. Poor WiFi even after upgrading to "premium" service, plus very costly to upgrade onboard. Constant upselling pressure by the staff. Mentions of basics you would expect that are not included.

I will say the buffet area is awful! It is so crowded and small even when I went at 5am! Very poor design. I really enjoyed the Indulge Food Hall and ate there every day; I found the servers to be very friendly especially when I sat at the same table every day! The excursion meeting process was painful to me too. They could cut a step or two out and make it faster but of course when people don't follow directions it makes it even worse. In 10 days, I was never upsold one single time! Most of those points are valid but with that being said, I really did enjoy the Viva as it was nice to see something other than RC. My cruise was from Istanbul to Athens and going to go again in February out of Galveston.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm not 100% writing off Norwegian Viva, but Royal Caribbean has never disappointed.

Indulge looks pretty cool. What was your experience with main dining and any specialty restaurants? $20 per person for those sounds like a Helluva deal.

I like to have the same table and same server when I go to MDR but this is show up and sit where they put you. I ate at Hudson's three times and it was okay; not horrible but not amazing. I found it slow and not very personal. I did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants but the food looked good and might consider on next cruise. I don't know how hard it was to get a reservation but some (Mexican) always seemed empty!

After being onboard MSC for 10 hours, I would take NCL over this. And I've not been on NCL and have had a ton on NCL without complaints.

Some agents have met multiple times before are also on here and we had dinner together. They said out of Disney, Royal, Carnival, and Norwegian, they actually find food the best on Norwegian.

That's interesting. What was your dining experience? Main dining, buffet, specialty restaurants, etc?

Other than the comments from the other agents, what was it that would turn you away from MSC Seascape?

Also did the others have negative comments on other aspects of the ship or MSC Cruise Lines?

I will write up more later. I really wish we had more than one day because sometimes things just aren't perfect and a second day can completely turn that around.

Service was great. Ship is nice and beautiful, there are a few things that probably could be fixed like my couch has a stain on it. But honestly that's common for all the cruise lines.

I was hot yesterday. Like sweating for hours. Someone said that when you're at sea, it's not as bad but I mean like I was sweating the whole time during lunch yesterday in certain areas of the ship. But other places were fine.

They did have a large variety at lunch. I was kind of disappointed at first, but then realized they actually had two sections to the lunch buffet. The first was just kinda like your hamburgers and pizzas and honestly, I wasn't impressed with any of that. The second part had much more variety and I thought all of that was fine (not amazing, not bad).

I did walk around and they had like a little nibbles you could eat from each of the specialty dining. And I thought all of those were really good.

I think dinner is where they really got it wrong. There were five of us and nobody even came to our table for at least 25 minutes. After that, it didn't take too long to get drinks and stuff. We were at dinner a total of an hour and 45 minutes. And honestly, that is not my jam. I do not like long dinners.

All I ordered was two appetizers and dessert. My first appetizer was good, the second one was terrible. It was soup. I took one bite I didn't eat the rest. Dessert wasn't great.

I was still pretty hungry and we left dinner, so around 945. I went up to the buffet to get pizza. Our group had heard how great the pizza was. It looked good. I did not find it good. I ate two bites and I was done. So I actually went to bed hungry (which is fine - I could stand to miss a lot of meals).

I will say had I stayed around for a few more minutes I could've gotten other food from the buffet as it looked like they were gonna open that up at 10 PM.

I've actually had a lazy morning and I'm about to go down for breakfast in a few minutes.

Would I sail and sell on MSC, yes. Do I feel like Norwegian is a step up from this, yes.

I like another travel agent that I follow on social media, she like ranted and raved about our experience. So everyone's is different. Again, nothing has been bad other than the dinner service and the whole sweating thing. The agents I'm with, I think agreed about the food overall, and the dinner service just being lackluster. But I'm sure other people had fantastic dinner service.

MSC does have Coke products so I know that's a win for many.

JMac03 said:

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MSC does have Coke products so I know that's a win for many.

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LOL, I rarely drink sodas. Beer and mixed drinks is my jam when onboard.

Thanks for the details. My wife has been leaning towards an MSC cruise for our next adventure. But between your feedback and what I've read and seen online, I don't think that would be best for us.

hds said:

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I like to have the same table and same server when I go to MDR but this is show up and sit where they put you. I ate at Hudson's three times and it was okay; not horrible but not amazing. I found it slow and not very personal. I did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants but the food looked good and might consider on next cruise. I don't know how hard it was to get a reservation but some (Mexican) always seemed empty!

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That's one of the things we've enjoyed on Royal Caribbean. After our first dinner meal, the waiters greeted us by name, knew our drink preferences and really added to the dining experience.

I am a travel agent and had a chance to preview the new and improved Texas version of the Seascape with an overnight port visit. The ship has a European Texan Style from spicy margaritas served in a cowboy boot, smoked bbq and ribs, line dancing classes, and live country bands! The staff is even cowboyed up in boots and hats!! Too cute!! They have 11 dining venues, 19 bars and lounges, and a variety of entertainment options including shows, thrilling rides like ROBOTRON, multiple pools, and a dedicated kids' club partnered with Lego and separated by age. Even the preteens and teens are separated each having their own club with activities and games.
The ship also features numerous entertainment options such as a glass-floored Bridge of Sighs (a glass bridge on deck 16 that looks down into the pools on deck 6), a waterfront promenade, and a large MSC Yacht Club area.
I loved the destination elevators; you don't push up or down but let it know exactly which deck you want and it tells you which elevator to use.
Also, the key card was super cool allowing you to use a touch screen to make plans and reserve spots. Also, the app and QR codes allow them to save paper from menus by looking it up online.
They are the only cruise line with a private island, Ocean Cay Marine Reserve, is part of the Bimini chain of islands in the western Bahamas. And because they are considered the number 1 Mediterranean Shipping line, you will see a lot of Europeans cruising with you. We were in the Italian Chocolate shop today and a table was talking solely in Italian.
The food was amazing and tailored to so many different tastes, lifestyles, and health issues where "wellness meets indulgence."
I would suggest you purchase ahead of time at a discounted price the drink and Wi-Fi package, it is well worth it, and they have some yummy fancy mocktails and coffees.
If you have never sailed MSC they have a loyalty match program for cruise lines and hotels so you can earn perks from the beginning!!
The first official cruise out of Galveston is tomorrow (Sunday)!!

Mary K Yarbray
Independent Travel Agent
LuxRally Travel
713-838-5264
https://www.luxrallytravel.com/the-team/mary-yarbray

[url=https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1WSNgSpWja/?mibextid=wwXIfr][/url]

They have an amazing sports bar with SEC and NFL. The booths are private with their own TV. Did I mention the maple whiskey and bacon????

Mary K Yarbray TAMU'91
Independent Travel Agent
LuxRally Travel
713-838-5264
https://www.luxrallytravel.com/the-team/mary-yarbray

Thanks for your input Mary.

All you need to know about MSC:

• Remove your hat when you're on an MSC ship. Uncover!
• Also, the ships with putt putt courses are super challenging because you really need to stay off the turf!

Looking forward to your thread on the Seascape!

Mary.Yarbray said:

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I am a travel agent and had a chance to preview the new and improved Texas version of the Seascape with an overnight port visit.

[url=https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1WSNgSpWja/?mibextid=wwXIfr][/url]

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I got to do the same thing with the Celebrity Beyond when it first came to the US from the Mediterranean.

For now I am sticking to the Celebrity Edge Class ships. The Xcel is supposed to enter service this month with a final ship that should be delivered in 2028.

uujm said:

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The Xcel is supposed to enter service this month

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I board a week from tomorrow!

My family and I took a short cruise on the MSC Seaside out of Port Canaveral, and I won't be going back. The ship was nice, the pools were nice, but they were running with some of their generators offline for maintenance issues. That means load shedding and they shed the Air Conditioning! The upstairs buffet got so hot they had to close it, the rooms would barely cool, and the first class block had people sleeping in the common areas because their rooms quit cooling altogether.
I understand maintenance issues occur, but there was zero mention of the problem at all by the crew or cruise line. None. Maybe I could have raised a stink and got some sort of remuneration, but I decided to take my chances elsewhere next time.