MSC questions for upcoming Seascape cruise

[Loyal To Royal]

 We will be sailing MSC for the first time and on the Seascape and have specific questions that are a bit vague so far even after watching MSC YouTube videos. We cruise nearly full time on RCL but this will be a new experience for us. Thanks in advance for answering our questions.

1. Do you really have to go to a kiosk onboard to register your credit card for expenses or can that be done on the app prior to sailing?

2. How and when do we select the preferred main dining dinner time along with a request for a table for two? Does that have to be done once onboard?

3. How is the service at dinner in main dining?

4. How good is the internet at sea?

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@Loyal To Royal I have been on MSC Seascape and really enjoyed it! Currently, it's MSC Cruises have been my preferred line to cruise. 

1. You can do it at the kiosks onboard really easily. I personally don't link my card and pay at the end. I do believe you can do it simply through the app. The app is very user-friendly. 

2. I'm not sure which package you booked with but you can see "early" or "late" dinner seating time on your booking confirmation. These details will also show if you link your booking to your app or through MSC Cruises' website guest portal. The table request for two will have to be done onboard at the MDR. 

3. I find the dinner service in the MDR to be exceptional. I love dining in the MDR and the food quality is great. Pasta is made fresh onboard. 

4. I opt out of internet at sea, but it works just fine. What internet package did you purchase? 

[Loyal To Royal]

Excellent replies and much appreciated. We booked their package deal where the fare includes the mid level drink package and basic internet for two. The cruse takes place when the Seascape starts up out of Galveston so we have plenty of time to do more research as well. Have watched many videos comparing RCL to MSC to get more info. Seems most compare the two pretty much the same. Pros and cons of each.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Loyal To Royal The basic internet for two package is decent service, but not super speed. It depends a lot on where you are located on the ship when you are browsing. The Easy Plus drink package included in that booking type is great! You will have a really good selection of beverages. Did you book the Bella or Fantastica package? If you book with the Fantastica package you will have more flexibility to change your dining preferences. I booked MSC Seascape out of Galveston in 2026. I can't wait to hear about whaat you think! I personally love MSC Cruises. It's more international. When is your date of embarkation? If you enjoy European food, you will really enjoy the food selection onboard the MSC Cruises' ships. 

[Loyal To Royal]

Fantastica package so good to know that. Galveston as well for us since we  live just a tad North of Houston so most of our cruises are out of Galveston. Booked a back to back on the Seascape April 2026. Unfortunately the same ports as we do all the time on RCL but looking forward to  trying a different cruise line especially since they status match.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Loyal To Royal You should be able to change your dining preferences without an issue if you have the Fantastica package. I have done it before many times without an issue but it must be done on the first day of the cruise itinerary. The MDR typically opens about 4:30pm, an hour before the first seating. This is the optimal time to go to the hostess station and change your dining time and make any specialty requests. Living in Houston makes cruising out of Galveston pretty practical. Back-to-back cruising would be so awesome! Even if it's the same ports of call you are going to enjoy and really love the ship. What status did they end up matching for you? I'm officially Dimond (the top tier) and it didn't take much time for me to get there with the loyalty match. MSC Cruises will be very different from RCL, but I think you will enjoy the experience overall. Since you have been to all those ports of call, is there one you are planning to explore one your own without an excursion? 

[Loyal To Royal]

Good to hear how their MDR works. The process will be new to us as on RCL You select either early late or my time right at the time of booking. We personally always select the late seating so as to not miss a lot of activities and cocktails right before that time. We are getting close to Pinnacle with RCL so they gave us Gold staus right away. Recently saw in the news a lot of cruise lines now are offering some sort of status match! Thanks for the good and positive insight.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Loyal To Royal Royal Caribbean Line is totally different than MSC Cruises. Every cruise line is so different though. The choose your dining time option is a good option, but waits can occur and be unpredictable. I enjoy having the same waiter/waitress at the same table, at the same time, everyday. The late dining time is pretty late with MSC Cruises, but everything happen to end really late on MSC Cruises, because it's a European Cruise Line. The fact that you are basically Pinnacle with RCL speaks volumes. Status match isn't that common, but it's gaining popularity particularly when it comes to brand reciprocity. RCL announced it will be offering brand reciprocity and that's huge! It's great news with your current RCL status. 

https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-launches-loyalty-status-match-program-across-brands/135767

Edited June 10 by Cruising Caribbean

[thorpemarlene]

Its my belief that you have to link your credit card onboard, which is very easy to do.  There is always one located by guest services plus others located throughout.  There will be a max of 250 downloaded onto your room key which they will credit back if not used.  As far as the food, we love it but remember this:  this is a European cruise line that is in the process of becoming Americanized.  What i mean by this is that you may not find the huge variety on this ship compared to RCL but it generally is very good. They make their own mozzeralla cheese every day (about 650 lbs) the pizza is fantastic, salad bars, cheeses, meats are all very good. The dining room menus are very similar to RCL,Norwegian etc.  I know some people have not been very happy with the food, but we enjoy it very much.  The waitstaff, room attendants, etc are all very good.  Boarding is excellant.  I know that you cannot please everyone and can pick apart every ship if you look hard enough, but we have totally switched to MSC.  and....the pricing does not hurt either.

[3Sisters]

@thorpemarlene I have heard you are supposed to link your card onboard, but I typically never do. You do have to pay everything before exiting the ship which of course requires you to link your card, but you can do that at any point before getting off the ship. You are also able to pay off that surplus on the app too. You don't be able to disembark without doing paying off all expenses spent! Any credit you get is great and MSC Cruises doesn't always but it in on board cruise credit sometimes it's just cash going back on your original form of payment. I love your food assessment. I find the food on MSC Cruises to be my favorite out of any other cruise line I have been on and it's basically because the food standards seem higher and fresher. The fact that each ship makes its own mozzarella and pasta onboard is amazing to me. I don't think any other cruise lines does that. If there is another that does that I would love to give it a try! It's quite rare for the line to have such an American presence while keeping its unique European integrity. I find the pricing to be excellent too on top of great service and amenities. If you appreciate other cultures outside of the US, you may find yourself falling in love with the line too!

[Cruising Caribbean]

@thorpemarlene I like your assessment of the cruise line. MSC Cruises is a really competitive line. It's rapid expansion has been pretty impressive. During the shut down the line did pretty well in comparison to other major lines. Since it's family owned and lots of shipping, MSC Cruises wasn't as severely impacted when cruises were no longer an option as a source of income. The price point for the line is also lower than most, attracting a very diverse crowd from places all over the world. 

[thorpemarlene]

We love MSC and everything about its ships and personnel.  The only complaint that i have is their booking system and trying to reach anyone, and it does not really matter whether its by phone or online, its really lacking.  I wish they would install a system similar to most lines in that you have a dedicated cruise consultant, someone you could understand clearly and could talk to each and every time.  I generally do not use a travel agent but for MSC i am thinking a may need to.

[3Sisters]

@thorpemarlene So, I partially agree here. The email communication with MSC Cruises is really lacking. I wish it was better. It takes forever to get a response. I happen to really have success on the phone for the most part! For more complex issues, the phone system doesn't really work, but for relatively simple fixed the representative can typically get it done. I wish I could get my issues resolved quickly with the line but there is typically an email involved to get things sorted out. I do get email responses, but the timing is certainly an issue.I have learned the hard way to get things done way in advanced. The response time should be better. A personal consultant would be the absolute best! Maybe that would happen at some point in the future. In the meantime, get all issues taken care of with lots of time before embarkation. 

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@thorpemarlene I happen to be waiting on an email back from MSC Cruises about an occupancy waiver. Now everything takes an elongated time for a response, but I still love cruising with the line. I agree the line could do much better with communication, but if this is how the line keeps costs lower for cruisers, I'm alright with it! One thing I have appreciated in the past is the occupancy waiver option for children under the age of two. I have used this waiver on a few occasions and found amazing rates for my larger family this way. The occupancy waiver process is a huge pain if I'm being honest, but it's worth the hassle with the amount of money it saves my family that cruises with young children.

[thorpemarlene]

I first posted this on august 5 about their no response, now its the 17th and still no response. I just emailed another letter about this, which i think is so disrespectful.  No matter what input i try (and i even had help to lead me through the process from a guest service member on the phone) it made no difference, all it kept saying was "error".  He said there is a problem and only Voyager club people could correct the computer issue. I have two cruises book for next year, but to me, dealing with them is not worth it, its unfortunate because we really like MSC but i am willing to pay a bit more for convenience.

[3Sisters]

@thorpemarlene There are some computer glitches on the US MSC Cruises site, and I have experienced those myself as well! That lag time has been typical for me as well. I see what you are saying about paying more for convenience. I guess the lower prices really are worth it to me, and I just do everything with them months in advanced due to these delays in response times. What other cruise line will you consider? If you continuously call, you will get a faster response time because they will mark your message as priority. It's annoying to have to call over and over again. I agree that's it's poor customer care. Which MSC Cruises' ships are you currently booked on?

[thorpemarlene]

MSC Voyager finally responded with a new website, that works!!  I always consider all cruise lines having been on a lot of different ones.  We have been on Norwegian for a few but they seem to have become more expensive, but i am not locked into anyone really.  We leave on a Norwegian in 6 days from Boston to Quebec. We have two next year on MSC, private isl. for 2 days and Greece, Italy and Turkey in the fall. Norwegian in the spring on 2026.   I am hoping MSC will get into the Alaska mkt. in the fall of 2026 or 2027, if not we are planning a Norway cruise on probally MSC at that time.  We think all the cruise lines are good, if you look hard enough you can pick apart anyone but overall they are good. 

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@thorpemarlene I'm so glad they responded! I finally got a response too. I was told I had to book a suite instead which is super frustrating. After looking at all my options I decided to book another itinerary instead. I spent many hours on the phone trying to make the best choice. The suite would have been an extra 3k and that was much more than I had planned to spend for that vacation. Now for my family of 6, I need to book two staterooms that don't join to fit it into my typical cruise budget. I hope I can find better options in the future for my family of 6. We will end up all staying in the same cabin regardless. I hear mixed things about NCL which is why I haven't tried cruising with them yet. A Boston to Quebec cruise sounds lovely! I love that you will get a Canadian experience. I would love for MSC Cruises to get into the Alaskan market, but unfortunately I don't foresee that in the coming years. You never know though! MSC Cruises has a European culture about it and I much prefer the food quality over the US-based lines! It's fresher to me.