8-Day Mediterranean Cruise aboard MSC SEAVIEW

MSC Seaview Yacht Club – Excellent. Just Don’t Leave It.

We have just returned from 7 nights on MSC Seaview, embarking in Rome on 23 August in a Yacht Club balcony cabin.

I can summarise the entire cruise in one sentence:

Yacht Club is excellent. Whatever you do, don’t leave it.

Seriously, Yacht Club should come with a health warning: beyond these doors, the MSC experience may differ considerably.

Every time we ventured out to explore the ship, we returned fairly quickly, looked at each other and asked: “Why the hell did we leave?”

Yacht Club – 9/10

The Yacht Club staff were exceptional: charming, professional and incredibly attentive. Occasionally too attentive. Dinner conversations were constantly interrupted to tell us about tomorrow’s port or itinerary. At times I wanted to say, “I promise I’ll read the Daily Planner. Please let me finish my story.”

The food was OK but nothing memorable, often overcooked or over-seasoned. Our balcony cabin was good and embarkation and disembarkation were superb – probably the best Yacht Club benefit of all.

The sun deck was disappointing. There appeared to be a thriving community of towels enjoying the loungers while actual humans struggled to find somewhere to sit. When I mentioned it to the pool attendant, I was simply told, “They’re taken.”

Yes. By towels.

The cabanas were also filthy.

There were lots of small children taking over the pool and lounge, and we had a noisy family next door who were up very early. Obviously MSC cannot control who books, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Yacht Club to a couple expecting a peaceful, adults-style retreat.

Then we left Yacht Club…

And fell off a cliff.

The lifts were permanently packed. Waiting for one became a hobby. The doors would finally open, reveal what appeared to be the entire passenger manifest already inside, then close again.

The casino bar was even better.Three nights, three different systems. One night I was told to order at the other side of the bar. Another night I was told I could only order through a waiter – except nobody was coming to the tables to take orders or even offer water. Another night half the bar was closed.

I asked for Grey Goose, which I’d been drinking in Yacht Club, and was told they didn’t have time to get a bottle and I should choose something else.

The roulette tables could resemble a contact sport, with people pushing in and throwing chips onto the table

The Sports Bar

This probably summed up the service outside Yacht Club.

We arrived just after 5pm to watch a Premier League game and found the member of staff on a personal FaceTime call.

He eventually told us they weren’t open.

“What time do you open?”

“Five.”

It was already after five.

This didn’t appear to concern him and the FaceTime call continued until around 5.20.

After some persuasion, he eventually put the football on. I asked for sound and was told it didn’t work.

So we were in a Sports Bar that wasn’t showing sport, with a sound system that apparently couldn’t produce sound, while the member of staff was busy on FaceTime.

Ten minutes later, a miracle occurred. The sound worked.

Perhaps someone at the Vatican had intervened.

The problem throughout wasn’t just poor service. It was the attitude. On too many occasions we felt like an inconvenience.

We mentioned some of this to our Yacht Club butler. He apologised, but that was the end of it.

Would we sail MSC again?

Yes – but only in Yacht Club.

I even went to speak to the future cruise salesperson. Despite me effectively saying, “Hello, I’m considering giving MSC more money,” he was arrogant, uninterested in discussing prices and made virtually no effort to sell us another cruise.

It was quite an achievement.

Yacht Club does offer good value, particularly compared with Celebrity’s Retreat, and the service inside YC was generally excellent. But it isn’t perfect: average food, dirty cabanas, lounger hogging and lots of children meant it wasn’t quite the peaceful couples’ retreat we expected.

The biggest issue, though, was the extraordinary difference between Yacht Club and the rest of MSC Seaview.

Inside: calm, space and excellent service.

Outside: packed lifts, crowds, queues and some remarkably poor service.

By the end of the week we had learnt our lesson.

We’d leave Yacht Club. Something would happen. We’d look at each other and say:

“Why the hell did we leave?”

Final verdict: Yacht Club 9/10.

Would I sail MSC again? Yes, in Yacht Club.

Would I sail MSC without Yacht Club? Absolutely not.

Yacht Club should come with a health warning:

DON’T LEAVE YACHT CLUB.

Starting off with Service. 0 star rating. Service doesn’t even exist on this ship. If you want a drink, be prepared to wait up to 20 minutes and that’s standing at the bar!! Our longest wait was 20 min, the least was 5 min. Never going to be less. Unfortunately I’ve only been doing Caribbean cruises before and didn’t realize how spoiled I was. Totally different!! Dinner time, same service. You have to wait around to get the waiter to bring a drink. Zero attentiveness. Everything is extra on this ship, after breakfast you have to pay for coffee and filtered water!! 50 cents for glass and $1 for a bottle. I’ve never had to experience that on any other cruise ship.

Food is average. Bars are rarely open, just doesn’t make sense but it shows how much they make not having to keep the bars open.

Just avoid this ship all together, it’s not worth it at all

Having previously enjoyed outstanding Yacht Club experiences on MSC Fantasia and World Europa, we boarded MSC Seaview with high expectations. Unfortunately, while there were many positives, this cruise fell noticeably short of the standards we’ve come to expect from MSC’s premium offering.

Our experience began at the terminal. We arrived at 10am, having been advised that embarkation would begin at 11am, only to find the terminal wasn’t yet open. Guests were instead held in what appeared to be a temporary facility, which immediately felt less organised and polished than previous Yacht Club embarkations in Barcelona and Athens.

The Yacht Club arrival experience itself was somewhat disappointing. Rather than enjoying the usual seamless priority boarding, we were transported approximately 100 metres to the ship on a large coach shared with non-Yacht Club passengers. After waiting around 45 minutes for two coaches to fill up, it felt rather unnecessary considering we could have walked to the ship in under five minutes.

Once onboard and escorted to our Royal Suite, we were informed that the ceiling of our balcony terrace had literally just been painted. The smell was extremely strong, preventing us from using the outdoor space until it had properly dried.

A few smaller service oversights also occurred. No bathrobes had been provided in the suite, requiring us to request them. Then, on day two, we discovered that the complimentary Toblerone gift had already been opened and was half-eaten. Whether by the previous occupants or perhaps Seaview’s resident mouse, we’ll never know — but at least it gave us a good laugh.

To his credit, the Chief Concierge kindly gifted us a complimentary dinner at Butcher’s Cut following some of the earlier issues. However, after finishing our meal, restaurant staff informed us they had no knowledge of the arrangement and held us for around ten minutes while the matter was verified. Although eventually resolved, it was awkward and rather embarrassing.

One disappointment that particularly affected the Yacht Club experience was the absence of a sommelier. We were informed on the first day that the sommelier had been offloaded due to illness and no replacement had been arranged. While admittedly a very “first-world problem”, we do enjoy the wine pairings usually offered in the Yacht Club restaurant and felt their absence diminished the dining experience. We sincerely hope the gentleman in question made a full recovery.

On a positive note, when guests in the neighbouring cabin repeatedly smoked on their balcony, staff dealt with the matter professionally and satisfactorily.

Unfortunately, maintenance work became a recurring issue throughout the voyage. During our stay in Barcelona, we chose to remain onboard to relax around the Yacht Club pool area, only to be subjected to hours of extremely loud hammering, grinding and scraping from maintenance work taking place directly overhead. In Marseille, more maintenance followed, this time involving painting above the pool deck. The smell of paint fumes was overpowering, with many guests complaining of headaches.

Disembarkation provided a disappointing conclusion. Our butler had promised to escort us from the ship but failed to appear and did not even stop by to say goodbye. This was particularly unfortunate as we’d actually gone to the trouble of withdrawing cash from an ATM to thank him with a gratuity. Fortunately, we managed to spend it ourselves at the airport, so all was not lost.

It’s important to say that most of the staff aboard Seaview were genuinely lovely, helpful and charming throughout the cruise. Individual crew members worked hard and were often excellent. However, the overall Yacht Club experience felt inconsistent and lacked the attention to detail and customer service we’ve previously enjoyed on MSC Fantasia and World Europa, both of which rank among the best holidays we’ve ever taken.

Would we sail on MSC Seaview again?

Sadly, no.