I have been on 8 cruises and was just on the Disney Wonder earlier this year and wanted to go on my 9th cruise with a different cruise line as part of my Italy trip back in June.  I saw a great deal on a 7 night cruise sailing from Rome (Civitavecchia) to 5 different port stops on the MSC Seashore that included an onboard credit, free drinks and wifi and had to book it.

The Ship

MSC Seashore had its maiden voyage in June 2021 so it is a pretty new ship.  With 2270 staterooms, there is room for 5632 passengers, all up to deck 20.  There is no deck 17 since that number is considered unlucky in Italy.  The Seashore is the first ship of 2 that will make up the Seaside-EVO class.

There are 11 different food areas with 3 main restaurants, 19 bars and lounges and several pools.  The ship also features a New York City theme with venue names, public areas and designs and decor.  There is even a 10 foot replica Statue of Liberty complete with LED lights to make it look like Times Square.

Getting There

From Hotel Charter which was in downtown Rome, we took a regular taxi to Civitavecchia Cruise Terminal which was about a 75 minute drive.  It was a bit tight with all our belongs but we made it fit. The cost was 150 euros for the trip.

After we got dropped off at the cruise terminal, we were brought to the front of the line to board a shuttle bus that takes us to Civitavecchia Port of Rome.  When the accessible big shuttle bus did come, we were surprised the bus driver only loaded my friend and I and our luggage even though there was room for almost a hundred passengers.

At the port, we got to skip the lines again to get our sail key cards and to drop our luggage.  We got on the ramped gangway and boarded the ship.  Since our cabins were not ready yet, we explored the ship for a bit and got some alcoholic drinks since we had that included with our fare package.  We then went to Marketplace Restaurant to get our buffet lunch.

Cabin Rooms

We got an interior cabin room since it was the cheapest, and got room 5154 on deck 5.  We were initially given 1 king bed which the cabin steward later reconfigured it to 2 single beds.  There was no push button on the cabin door.  Basic wifi was a bit spotty in our cabin and throughout the ship.

The room was still quite spacious for my wheelchair to roll around and have space for my friend to transfer me.  There was also a small desk with chair, TV, closet with a safe with extra drawers for clothes.

The bathroom did not have a push button either but it was quite spacious too.  There was a roll under sink, a toilet with a good height with a few grab bars, and a roll in shower with a flip up shower bench and with a removable hand held shower head and grab bars.  The bathroom was perfect for my needs.

Accessibility

Getting around the ship was quite accessible.  Public areas like the hallways, lounges, pool decks were all flat and easy to wheel around.  There are many elevators around but during peak times like dinner and show times where they can be quite busy and crowded.  When using the elevators, you pick what deck you want to go to, then are assigned which elevator car to get in.

Tables at restaurants and at the buffet areas were all easy to wheel under so I was able to sit comfortably to feed myself.  There were several accessible bathrooms located throughout the ship so I didn’t have to go back to our cabin every time.

My favorite part of the ship was the 2 glass floor areas.  There was the Bridge of Sighs which arcs out at the back of the ship and is a glass bottom bridge which gives beautiful views of the ocean and the south pool deck below.  The Infinity Bridge also had the glass floor but gave a side view of the ocean and the deck below.

Port Stops

Our 7 night cruise had 5 port stops: Palermo (Italy), Ibiza (Spain), Valencia (Spain), Marseille (France) and Genoa (Italy).  We only had 1 sea day which we used to explore the ship more and my friend got to go on the water slides while I just relaxed on the pool deck and got some sun.

All 5 of our port stops were all docked so we didn’t need to board any tender boats.  It was easier and faster to just wheel off the ramped gangway to get on the dock.  We just had to go to the employees area to use the accessible ramp though.  We did not do any of the excursions as we just explored each port on our own.

I wrote about the whole experience separately and in more detail here.

Food and Drink

MSC Seashore has three main dining rooms: Tribeca, Central Park and Manhattan Restaurant.  All the restaurants have the same menu and passengers dine at the same restaurant at the same table with the same wait staff for the entire cruise.  5th Avenue Restaurant are just for Aurea Experience guests, while Yacht Club guests have their own area.

There were 3 different dining times and we chose the 6 PM early dining time so we could make it to the 7.30 PM nightly entertainment.  Our meals would always start off with a basket of bread and whatever drinks we wanted up to 9 euros since we had the Easy Plus Package.  This includes sodas, juices, coffees, energy drinks, cocktails, beers and wines.

Even though, it was a sit down restaurant, we could eat as much as we wanted and sometimes each of us would order 2 appetizers, entrees, or even desserts.  I really enjoyed the food at our assigned main dining room: Tribeca.  Throughout the 7 nights, entrees included veal, beef filet, roasted sea bass, lamb chops and short ribs.

There were 5 specialty restaurants that were an additional cost which we never did: Kaito Teppanaki, Ocean Cay, Butchers Cut, Kaito Sushi and Hola Tacos & Cantina.  There was also Venchi 1878 Chocolate Bar where we did buy a few chocolate pieces to eat.  Soft serve ice cream is only included in the non alcoholic drink package while gelato was an added cost.

We did eat at Marketplace Buffet for a few breakfasts and lunches.  The food was quite good and I would sit at a table while my friend goes to the buffet serving stations to bring back food for us.  Breakfast had items like scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, muffins, cereal, fruit and more.  Lunch had burgers, pizza, deli meats, past, sandwiches and more.

There were also a few times where we went to Central Park Restaurant for a sit down breakfast and lunch.  It was just nice to sit down and relax and have our waiter take our food order and serve us.  Plus it seems to have a better menu than the same buffet items everyday.

Entertainment

We really enjoyed the theater performances nightly at Chora Theater and went to all 7 shows: Gravity, Coast To Coast, French Follies, Paz, Fantasy Woods, Allegro and Beautiful.  There were 3 time slots each night and we mostly went to the 7.30 PM show.  They were about 35 minutes each and were Broadway style shows with acrobatics, singing and dancing.

Every time we wanted to watch a show at the theater, we always had to go really early because able bodied passengers would sit at the accessible seating area.  There was no staff member monitoring or caring either as I have spoken up about it.

There were also lounges, piano bars, karaoke nights throughout the ship.  We would sometimes go to Le Cabaret Rouge to see smaller type shows like singers, dancers or comedy shows.  This is also where they had the silent DJ Party where we all get headsets for the music.

Disembarkation

Just like other cruise lines, we had to have whatever luggage we didn’t want to take with us when we disembark tagged and set out in front of our cabin the night before.  After having a nice sit down breakfast, getting off the ship wasn’t too bad.  We left a bit later since our flight wasn’t until 2.15 PM.

We got our luggage and then had to pay 75 euros each for a non accessible shuttle to take us back to the airport.  I previously phoned and emailed MSC about booking an accessible shuttle to the airport but no one got back to me so we didn’t get the cheaper pre cruise price.

Final Thoughts

I actually really enjoyed my first ever cruise with MSC Cruises.  The Seashore was very modern and sleek looking and was quite wheelchair accessible and easy to get around on the ship.  The food, entertainment and the value makes me want to book with MSC again.