All Things New
Embarkation Day- April 5, 2026
Galveston, TX
We are excited to try something new and see what MSC Seascape has to offer!
Morning
It's cruise day and that means our excitement is through the roof! Plus, this time it is a NEW CRUISE line so we are even more excited. We were out the door before 8AM and on our way to the Kolache Factory near our house. Traffic was minimal for Easter Sunday and after a brief stop at Buc-ee's in Texas City, we were at Galveston Cruise Terminal 16 dropping off our luggage.
IYKYK... This sign makes me SO HAPPY!
This new Terminal 16 is so pretty and VERY well laid out!
Great job, MSC Cruise Line!
Luggage drop off was not necessarily organized but it did not take too long. We opted to park at an off-site parking lot to save a little money. The Terminal 16 Parking Garage has parking for approximately $230/ week but with as many cruises as we are taking this year, we wanted to save where we could so we opted to park elsewhere. We parked at Park 2 Cruise on 13th street just a few blocks away from both Cruise Terminal 16 (MSC) and Cruise Terminal 10 (Royal Caribbean). The parking lot was not paved but it was secure with a gate and the people were very friendly and helpful. We were able to park here for $116 for the week and it was only a short 8-10 minute walk to the MSC Terminal. I do think I would stay with our traditional North Parking Lot when sailing with Royal Caribbean as it is worth it's weight in gold! We arrived at Terminal 16 from our Parking Spot immediately as it was right at 10Am. Check in was a breeze & so very simple and then we sat in arrival order in the terminal to wait for the Coast Guard to finish their inspection so we could board the ship.
Immediately upon entry, this Terminal 16 is breathtaking!
This was the wait and line at 10:05AM when we arrived!
We are excited to try something new and see what MSC has to offer!
We were called to board the MSC Seascape at 10:40AM and heard our first "ding" at 10:53AM. TIP- it is a VERY LONG gangway- The longest I have every seen in fact. One of the best things we experienced on the MSC Seascape was the ability to drop off luggage and really ANYTHING at your stateroom the minute you board the ship. Even as early as we were on board, we were still able to access our stateroom and drop off everything. This is a complete game changer in my opinion. By 11AM we were in our balcony stateroom #14314 and dropping off our carry-on luggage. Even before we could leave the room both of our checked suitcases were dropped off. That was the most incredible feeling and huge props to MSC and their crew.
Deluxe Balcony Deck 14- #14134
Afternoon
After we got all of our luggage, we went to our Muster Station to get checked in and watch the safety video. This was fairly easy and took approximately 5 minutes. Then I went to Times Square on Deck 6 Forward to speak to someone about our Dining Time in the Main Dining Room (MDR). We booked this cruise last minute so we had to take what was given to us, which was a 5PM dinner time. We called 3 days prior to sailing to request 7pm but upon arrival we noticed our cards said 9PM dining, which is is just too late so we tried to get that changed. MSC had 2 maître'd taking concerns but you had to take a number and wait to be called. This felt like a lot at the time as I was anxiously waiting to get my cruise officially started. I was able to meet a dining room manager and asked for a 7PM dining time and a table for 2 only. TIP- MSC is known for placing parties of 2-4 at larger tables with strangers and that is not how we wanted to spend our cruise. I explained that Chris has severe anxiety and we needed a table alone and away from others and he was able to accommodate. Luckily we avoided another frustration like we had on Harmony of the Seas this past February.
Once the dinner reservations were complete, I met Chris at the The Shine Bar and we were able to officially get the cruise started. HUGE TIP- MSC offers a Premium Beverage Package that allows 15 alcoholic drinks per day; however, we learned that they do not start counting the drinks until you reach international waters. This allowed us to try some new drinks that we may not have tried before. We loved the The Shine Bar atmosphere and the bartenders were fantastic.
That first drink feeling... Nothing like it!
We made our way to Deck 16 to the Marketplace Buffet for lunch and it was HUGE. We literally got lost on this first meal just trying to figure it all out. However, the seating was very expansive and we never had any issue finding seats at this buffet unlike sister cruise lines. The food was a surprise, despite having researched it and known it was not going to be a strong suit for MSC. The buffet offered literally almost anything you could want but it was very bland and tasteless. The traditional pizza was in fact good... but not great in our opinion. I do, however, think it was the best food offered on the ship as a whole but I am not sure if I would say it is the best pizza at seas. Princess pizza has a lot for flavor, more texture and overall taste so I will continue to label Princess as "the best pizza at sea".
Cheers to Cruise #29 and our 20th Wedding Anniversary!
In 29 cruises, I have NEVER seen the Easter Bunny on a cruise ship!
I was excited!
This gorgeous display reminded me of "the good ol' days" and our first cruise on the Carnival Conquest 2006.
Another gorgeous fruit display!
These deli salads (chicken, tuna and egg) could rival a Jewish bakery in New York City! Seriously- this may have been the very best thing I had all week!
The Marketplace Buffet Hours on Embarkation Day!
After lunch we tried to tour the upper decks and landed at the Jungle Pool Bar for some more drinks. It is here we found the one and only Fresh Orange Juice machine. We made use of this immediately despite it being after 1PM and continued to use countless times during the cruise. We then found some very comfortable loungers in the Jungle Pool area in the shade and took naps while the ship continued to fill up.
DO NOT miss this awesome feature on MSC Seascape... The Bridge of SIGHS!
Deck 16 AFT
Roxane Water- Never heard of it!
Hello from Deck 16 and the Sky Bar!
These liquors... Albeit we were still in Galveston and the "good stuff" didn't come out until International Waters but this left MUCH to be desired!
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Sports Bar which very quickly became our favorite bar onboard. Ted, the bartender, was hilarious and quickly knew us and our drinks. TIP- This Sports Bar was HUGE and bigger than any other cruise ship we have sailed. It also housed smoke free slot machines near the bar area as well as small little "nooks" where small groups of people could watch sports. I also loved that they had games, times and schedules posted every day of what would be showing in the bar.
We made our way to our balcony for sail away and it was perfect as we sailed away in the shade. It had been several years and over 6 cruises since we have sailed in a balcony and we forgot how much we loved watching sail away from a balcony! The MSC Seascape set sail to Costa Maya around 4:50PM and we were excited for a great cruise.
A view of the SE tip of Galveston Island from our Balcony!
This Teal Green is the Park 2 Cruise Galveston Cruise Parking.
Chris did not really like the walk but I did not mind it to save over $100!
Balcony Selfie #1!
See you later TEXAS we are Caribbean bound!
Come Sail Away with ME... There is NOTHING better!
Evening
I did some unpacking for the week and while doing so we noticed the portable fan I brought with us was smoking in the room so we quickly unplugged it and put it on the balcony. A week on a ship without a fan for this peri-menopausal woman is going to be interesting!
We got changed into our dinner attire before making our way to the Shine Bar. TIP- We had read that MSC had more of an "upscale" vibe and we were highly encouraged to dress nice for the Main Dining Room. We traditionally wear our matching cruise shirts to dinner the first night, although having two teenagers has changed this a bit; in fact, we did not see very many matching cruise shirts AT ALL on this sailing! We opted to dress nicer than usual and it worked out well as many were also dressed up a bit more than our experience on Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines; however, this proved to disappear as the cruise went on. By night 6 and 7, it looked very much like Carnival casual night in the MDR and all over the ship!
We changed into "nicer" attire but we were still semi-casual with Slacks and a Polo for Chris and a sundress for me!
The Shine Bar was on Deck 6 in the atrium area and offered fantastic views of the atrium and a great spot to listen to the live music being played in the atrium. The bartenders were fantastic and we loved this area of the ship. TIP- One of the things we LOVED about this ship is EVERY bar had a deluxe espresso machine and were able to make ANY coffee we requested. This is a plus compared to RCCL Cafe Promenade or Carnival's Blue Java cafe.
The cappuccino was not terrible to be honest!
Every single bar had an espresso maker! This was a game changer!
A view of the Atrium from The Shine Bar! This is easily the most beautiful cruise ship atrium I have ever seen in my 29 cruises! The Swarovski Crystals were breathtaking!
We made our way to dinner at 7PM at the Green Wave Restaurant and manager Putu was waiting to take us to our table at the back in a corner just for the two of us. I was so grateful for Putu helping us and accommodating our needs as this really was a PERFECT table for the way we like to cruise in the MDR. The service this first night in the MDR was phenomenal and SO FAST. The food... was awful. My appetizer was served COLD and the main dish was just lukewarm and both needed a lot of SALT just to be edible. We were literally searching for our lost shaker of salt! #LostShakerofSalt
Our PERFECT MDR Table- I hope we can get this on our upcoming cruises as well! This was literally PERFECT!
The MSC Bread basket left much to be desired!
Every night the waiters brought us a 1 liter Ozark Water Bottle. This seemed off but I appreciated that we could refill our own waters!
The Stuffed Meatball
Chris- 3.5 & Kellie 1.5 (cold)
Tomato Soup
Kellie- 2.0
This was not blended well and lots of seeds were still present. It was not as thick or "bisque" like as I would prefer but the overall flavor was there.
Lasagna
Kellie- 2.5
The flavor was decent but the texture was not as I would have expected for an Italian cruise line. The noodles were still a bit firm. BUT... At least it was hot!
Banana Foster Cheesecake
Chris 3.0 & Kellie- 3.0
The flavor was very good!
We were in and out of the Main Dining Room within an hour which is unheard of in our experience, which was nice and semi made up for the lack of flavor and overall food vibes. We then went to the late show in the Main Theater. This was very crowded and since this ship had a more international passenger crowd, lots of people arrived very late and it was a distraction. The show itself was interesting... The singers did well but it was a lot of yelling into the microphones and the props were humorous and cheap looking. The acrobats were the clear winners of the show and made it all worthwhile. The show was mid-level at best but it was entertaining to us a bit.
The Main Theater itself was very small and felt claustophobic at times. But I really did like the screens they used for props and graphics!
The waving of the paper props in the aisles towards the end of the show as comical!
We ended the night in the Casino Bar meeting other guests from the ship. The Casino itself seemed a little small and honestly not packed at all for the first night. In fact, the entire ship seemed very quiet around 10:30PM- This was new to us as even on "non peak" travel weeks, most of our cruises have had a late night vibe which seemed to be missing this first night! We called it a night right before midnight.
A full list of all liquors onboard the MSC Seascape!
They had a few we really enjoy but we also missed a few key players in our rotations!
A view of Lady Liberty towering over the Casino Bar!
The Easter Set up near the Atrium of Angry Birds!
Overall it was a great embarkation day and the whole embarkation process was very smooth. The service of the waiters and bartenders was proving to be exceptional and the ship itself was absolutely gorgeous! The ship's main areas were very well kept and clean as well as our stateroom. The food was atrocious but we were hopeful for improvements as the days progressed.
Day #1 and "Let's Talk Ship"
Up Next- Sea Day #1
God is Good... ALL THE TIME!
Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas- March 2019
The Norwegian Breakaway- November 2018
Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas- 2018
Carnival Legend- ALASKA- 2016
