Any DCL cruisers try MSC?

[dreamer17555]

So I am looking at a potential 4 night May cruise as a graduation gift to my kiddos and with one of them being over 21, was considering a cruise line with a drink package. We all did DCL in Jan on a b2b on the Dream and while it was great, it was not cheap.

I had a friend recommend looking at MSC and wow, talk about a price difference. I can put 3 of us in a balcony Aurea room (I think it has some sort of private deck space, dining room, and thermal spa access) with their premium drink package for under $2100. I can't even get us on DCL for that price in an inside room

Has anyone else sailed MSC Seashore? Thoughts?

 

[photoguytjb]

So I am looking at a potential 4 night May cruise as a graduation gift to my kiddos and with one of them being over 21, was considering a cruise line with a drink package. We all did DCL in Jan on a b2b on the Dream and while it was great, it was not cheap.

I had a friend recommend looking at MSC and wow, talk about a price difference. I can put 3 of us in a balcony Aurea room (I think it has some sort of private deck space, dining room, and thermal spa access) with their premium drink package for under $2100. I can't even get us on DCL for that price in an inside room

Has anyone else sailed MSC Seashore? Thoughts?

We have done two MSC cruises. There are certainly pro's and con's and it's not at all in the same class as Disney, BUT the price is a massive difference, too, as you've seen.

Con's
The Seaside/Seashore ships are pretty horribly laid out and not well designed. Lot's of dead ends, floors that aren't connected. Weird layout.
A very "party" vibe in the adult area.
Because they push so many people towards drink packages, expect very long lines for drinks.
Lackluster food and service in the MDR.
Very little for teens to do outside of major shows and the water park - the teen club was terrible.
Service is mostly poor (but our stateroom host was great).
The non-italian food at the buffets and MDR was just flat-out bad.

Pro's
Ships are new-ish and very polished, looking pretty nice.
Onboard water park is great.
We loved the 4-D theater - but the F1 simulator was not well calibrated.
Anything Italian (or generally european) was delish - the Pizza - omg - best pizza at sea. Same with the burrata, mozzerella, charcuterie, and the bread.
Specitaly restaurants have all been very good and reasonably priced.
The island is beautiful, massive, tons of seating, and we did an itinerary that overnighted at the island with a late-night beach party and bon fire which was so much fun.
The shows were not Disney qualtiy but were much better than expected (and better than competing ships).

Overall we would consider another MSC cruise, but not on the Seaside/Seashore ships (seriously, the design and layout of those is just so poor and so frustrating). I really liked the Meriviglia and would do that ship again in a heartbeat, and I'm looking forward to the World America.

 

[imbelle]

Last month I chatted with a seasoned MSC couple who were on their first Disney cruise. They specifically mentioned how bad the MSC food was, saying that on their last MSC cruise they subsisted on pizza. There was also apparently a problem with MSC cancelling the two future cruises that they had booked so they used the refund to book the DCL cruise. They were loving the DCL cruise but for them it was basically a matter of "you get what you pay for" regarding MSC vs DCL.

 

[mousehouse23]

I thought the food on MSC was good, and the buffet comparable to Cabanas. Plenty of fruit and veggies, and multiple stations to suit every taste/need. Our daughter loved the pay-for gelato place, too.

We enjoyed our MSC cruise...no, it's not as premium of an experience as DCL, but the savings are hard to argue with, and we still had a great time. We did go on the Seaside, though, and not the Seashore.

 

[Sabres431]

Our first Disney cruise is in August but I have done both the MSC Divina and MSC Seascape. If you can swing it look at the Yacht Club. Absolutely amazing!. A lot of people complain about their food but we've never had any issues with it. Their ships are absolutely beautiful and we've always had a good time with reasonable prices.

 

[tidefan]

Anything Italian (or generally european) was delish - the Pizza - omg - best pizza at sea.

Better than Alfredo's on Princess??? This I may have to try...

 

[John VN]

DW and I are MSC Blue Diamond and are Yacht Club cruisers. DCL verandah and Concierge 1BR and will never go back UNLESS price comes way-WAY DOWN.

MSC YC DeLuxe Suite on 5/18 - 4 night priced $4,019.00 -- 269sq/ft + 86sq/ft Verandah (355sq/ft total) PLUS ALL INCLUSIVE PERKS

DL WISH Category 07A on 5/26 - 4 night priced $4,449.84 -- 243sq/ft with verandah

Above is just a comparison for 2 people, you can price out for more. WE NEVER found buffet anything other than GREAT. Have sailed Seaside, Seashore, Meraviglia, Davina and layouts are way different but no issues for us. Ocean Cay is very quiet (relaxing) because it is a Marine Preserve under STRICT Bahamian Rules.

We sail YC because the VALUE compared to other lines is far superior. AUREA provides special PERKS also and is very reasonably priced. Aurea has a section for dining unlike YC's Ship in a Ship Private restaurant. Our upcoming cruise in a couple of weeks has us in YC for the price of a WISH INTERIOR.

p.s. - and YES the pizza is simply mahvelous )

 

[tidefan]

DW and I are MSC Blue Diamond and are Yacht Club cruisers. DCL verandah and Concierge 1BR and will never go back UNLESS price comes way-WAY DOWN.

MSC YC DeLuxe Suite on 5/18 - 4 night priced $4,019.00 -- 269sq/ft + 86sq/ft Verandah (355sq/ft total) PLUS ALL INCLUSIVE PERKS

DL WISH Category 07A on 5/26 - 4 night priced $4,449.84 -- 243sq/ft with verandah

Above is just a comparison for 2 people, you can price out for more. WE NEVER found buffet anything other than GREAT. Have sailed Seaside, Seashore, Meraviglia, Davina and layouts are way different but no issues for us. Ocean Cay is very quiet (relaxing) because it is a Marine Preserve under STRICT Bahamian Rules.

We sail YC because the VALUE compared to other lines is far superior. AUREA provides special PERKS also and is very reasonably priced. Aurea has a section for dining unlike YC's Ship in a Ship Private restaurant. Our upcoming cruise in a couple of weeks has us in YC for the price of a WISH INTERIOR.

p.s. - and YES the pizza is simply mahvelous )

I need to try MSC to do a taste test

 

[peder]

DW and I are MSC Blue Diamond and are Yacht Club cruisers. DCL verandah and Concierge 1BR and will never go back UNLESS price comes way-WAY DOWN.

That's where we're at as well. We've been in a 1-bedroom Concierge on the Wish, and it was nice, but the DCL suite level doesn't compare to the YC at all. There's no Concierge pool, no dedicated restaurant, drink service is limited... I can't even get a "real" coffee in Concierge. These are things we value very highly and it's why we choose Yacht Club. And then it's sooo expensive to sail Concierge. For us it's about 4x more expensive compared to Yacht Club. "Kids Sail Free" on MSC is huge, and even though it doesn't quite apply to Yacht Club, it's still much cheaper than the equivalent Concierge pricing for kids.

We've also sailed Excel class on Carnival and I'm not sure they've really thought out that product. I think it's very likely Carnival will converge on the Yacht Club model, going with a full ship-within-a-ship approach before long.

The one DCL Concierge space I'm interested in is on the Adventure, but the lack of real ports meant we chose the Ovation of the Seas instead.

 

[lilsonicfan]

We sailed MSC Seaview in Europe in 2019 in Yacht Club and did have a kids sail free type deal so it came in around $5,500 for the five of us in a YC room. I would sail MSC again in YC for sure. Really great experience, really good service (if a bit European - in that it was less overtly friendly than you may get on some more American cruiselines), the food in the YC was excellent - it was fair to good in the buffet and we never tried the MDR.

 

[John VN]

We sailed MSC Seaview in Europe in 2019 in Yacht Club and did have a kids sail free type deal so it came in around $5,500 for the five of us in a YC room. I would sail MSC again in YC for sure. Really great experience, really good service (if a bit European - in that it was less overtly friendly than you may get on some more American cruiselines), the food in the YC was excellent - it was fair to good in the buffet and we never tried the MDR.

r.e. bold -- We sailed Seaside in YC out of Miami 2019 and had no feelings r.e. - Service like it was Italian or any part of *the other side of The POND. We do not care for Port Miami and as soon as PC was added we were on board, including sailings during COVID.

p.s. - never had an issue with any buffet offering.
p.p.s. - DCL would have to UP THEIR GAME and LOWER THE $$$$ just to gain entry into a YC Level cruise