MSC Seascape Cruise - August, 2024
Day 3 – MSC Seascape boarding
Saturday, August 3
On Saturday, I was wide awake by 5:30am, and from our balcony I caught the Seascape returning to port and turning around in the basin. We went downstairs at 6 to get breakfast, but Starbucks was the only thing open, so we grabbed coffee and strolled around outside by the marina.
We had a nice leisurely morning, then got ready for the brief trip over to PortMiami. Our boarding time in the MSC app was for 2pm, but since we were sailing in Yacht Club, we knew we could disregard the app and show up earlier.
We checked out of the DoubleTree at 10:00, and then got a Lyft over to the port. Our driver arrived almost immediately, and within 10 minutes we were unloading at Terminal C.
The Yacht Club bag drop is beyond the initial curb where you get dropped off and at the far right (seen here from the other side as we are standing at the entrance to the terminal).
This is the line for the regular check-in. A butler escorted us to another entrance and directly into the terminal.
After a brief wait (about 15 minutes), check-in was ready to begin. We were given our cards and Yacht Club wrist-bands and escorted upstairs to wait until the ship was cleared for boarding. The butlers circulated around with trays of champagne and there was a snack cart in the front of the room. It should be noted that Terminal C is a temporary home for MSC while their new terminal is being built. It's expected to open in 2025 when the MSC World America begins sailing from Miami. Terminal C is a little tired and dated, but we were only there for about an hour, so it didn't really matter.
Boarding began just a little after 11, and by 11:16 we were walking up the gang-way to the Seascape.
We were escorted through Deck 6 to the forward elevators and then up to Deck 16 to the Yacht Club.
For anyone not familiar with the Yacht Club, it's truly a ship-within-a-ship concept; state rooms, pool, hot tubs, buffet, restaurant, lounge, entertainment are all grouped together in one location at the top front of the ship. For the unadventurous, you could spend your entire cruise in the Yacht Club and never explore the rest of the ship.
We relaxed in the Top Sail Lounge for a few minutes and enjoyed some champagne and snacks.
At 11:30, we went to find our cabin. We opted for an Interior room, which is a great value because it is priced much lower than a balcony room, but still gets all of the Yacht Club amenities; butler service, exclusive venues, premium drink package, wi-fi, room service, etc. In doing research for this ship class (Seaside EVO), we found that some of the Yacht Club interior rooms were directly under kitchens or other areas that are VERY noisy at night or in the early morning. We carefully selected room 16039 and I am happy to report we encountered no noise issues at all.
Our luggage hadn't arrived yet, but we got settled in as much as we could, then walked to the outdoor area in the Top Sail Lounge, where we spotted Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship.
We headed upstairs to the Yacht Club Restaurant on Deck 18 to get lunch at about 12:30. We were seated immediately and quickly brought drinks, but then everything after that took forever. Twenty minutes to order, twenty minutes for the appetizer to arrive, another twenty for the main course; at least they were consistent with the 20 minutes! We aren't people who want to spend 2 hours for a meal, especially not lunch. We ended up leaving after about 90 minutes without our dessert ever making it to the table.
Final step count for Day 3:
