The First Four Things To Do On Your MSC Cruise

You’ve just boarded the ship on your MSC cruise and you are ready for a great vacation!  There’s a couple things that you should think about when you first board.  Some of these are organizational and doing them early will help you avoid lines.  Others are helping you settle in for a fun vacation by exploring the right areas.

Make Your Reservations

As of writing of this article, MSC doesn’t have a way to book times for your specialty dinners or shows prior to arriving onboard.  This only applies to the specialty restaurants and paid shows that are offered on the ship, so if you are sticking to complimentary activities, you can skip this one.  So if you have any pre-paid reservations at a restaurant or show, get that taken care of when you first board.  We noticed that the later in the day it got, the longer the line to make these reservations was and the prime times were taken.  Fortunately, at least for the Meraviglia class ships, the opportunity to book shows and dinners is in the promenade area right when you board.  On the Meraviglia, the dinner reservations were made at Ocean Cay on Deck 6.  Show reservations were made at a kiosk in the promenade area on Deck 6.

Setup Your Payment

This one can be setup prior to yoru cruise, but we’ve also seen issues where this doesn’t transfer successfully to teh ship.  There are multiple kiosks around the ship where you can register your credit card to your room key. This can be handled ahead of time, but it’s worth a quick check to ensure you are correctly setup so there are no delays for making onboard purchases.  Grab the credit card you intend to register adn all of the room keys and find the nearest kiosk.  There usually isn’t a wait for these kiosks and there are 3-4 on every ship in public areas.

Grab a Slice

Everyone is hungry for their first meal and it seems like 95% of the hungry cruisers descend upon the buffet for their first meal.  While this isn’t a terrible idea, you can save a ton of time trying to find a seat by just grabbing and going.  MSC has the best pizza at sea, hands down.  You’ll likely be filling your stomach with pizza several times on your cruise, so why not start early?  And since pizza is easy to grab quick, you can get in and out with a plate of from delicious pizza.  Take that pizza to a deck chain on teh main deck or even enjoy it while walking around exploring.  

Get Out And Explore!

Now that you’ve got some organization completed and you’ve been fed, it’s time to explore the ship.  Here’s a couple suggestions on places to check out:

Pool Bar

Check out the sites around the boat while enjoying a drink.  There are several bars around the multiple pool areas to sit and enjoy an embarkation beverage.  On the Meraviglia class, we highly recommend the Horizon Pool Bar for its great location and atmosphere.

Pool and Hot Tubs

This ones take a little bit of prep, but if you board wearing something you can get wet, you can enjoy the pool and hot tub areas while they aren’t very busy.  Most people don’t think about enjoying these places right away, so they are much less crowded than on a sea day.  

Ropes Course and Water Slides

Just like the pool and hot tubs, on boats that have ropes courses adn water slides, head there to check it out while everyone is out checking out the ship.  

The Obvious Ones!

For those that are experienced cruising, you know that the first day is also the day you check out your cabin and take care of the Muster Drill.  On MSC ships, the cabins are usually available right after lunch between 1 and 2PM.  Muster drill, the mandatory safety drill for all passengers, is generally between 3PM and 4PM.  The process for the muster drill varies from ship to ship, so be sure to watch your TV or listen to the announcements to get instructions.

Now that you’ve got the first couple hours conquered, enjoy the rest of your week cruising!