MSC makes big change to win Royal Caribbean, Carnival passengers

MSC has made some mistakes as it tries to challenge Royal Caribbean and Carnival a a major player in the family-friendly cruise space. 

On the positive side, the Italian cruise line has invested heavily in the market, bringing some of its best ships to Florida. One of those ships, MSC Seashore, showcases the best and worst of the cruise line.

Related: Carnival Cruise Line makes a controversial onboard-rule change

It's a larger ship that offers many of the bells and whistles of the newer Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships. It has countless bars, multiple pools, and some top-notch added-fee dining options. 

But, it also has a very confusing layout where each pool sits on a separate floor making it hard to know if you should leave the one you are at for a less crowded option. It's not that the pools aren't nice, but they're very apart, and the adults-only area lacks a hot tub, while the family-friendly hot tubs are teeming with kids.

MSC has also struggled to offer decent main dining room and buffet food, Its pasta was slightly better on Seashore than it was on older ships Meriviglia and Divina, but an Italian cruise line should be able to master pasta and other Italian specialties. 

That's not to say the cruise line does everything wrong. MSC offers an all-inclusive Wi-Fi and drink package option which makes it attractive to customers who might otherwise sail Royal Caribbean or Carnival. Generally, you can book MSC with drinks and internet for less than comparable sailings on its rivals without those things.

Now, the Italian cruise line wants to attract Royal Caribbean and Carnival by making a major change to a popular area of its ships.

MSC appears to ban casino smoking     

On Seashore in February, it was noticeable that there was no smoking in the main casino. There did not appear to be any obvious signage noting a ban, so I actually assumed it was just luck of the draw on a sailing where the casino was not crowded at all.

It turns out, however, that MSC has at least been experimenting with banning smoking in its casinos on some ships.

"According to onboard reports from social media, the MSC Signature Casino onboard the MSC Euribia and the Red Gem Casino onboard the MSC Virtuosa were turned into smoke-free areas on February 18, 2024," Cruise Industry News reported.

That appeared to be the case on Seashore during my Feb. 25-29 sailing, although there was a small casino extension on the floor above the casino that did allow people to smoke.

"A separate smoking casino was reportedly added to some of the vessels, including the MSC Seascape and the MSC Seashore, which received a new gambling area near their Sports Bars," the website reported.

Cruise ship casino smoking remains a hot topic

Smokers want cruise lines to allow smoking on cruise ships and cite that it's the last place on dry land where it's commonly allowed. Non-smokers point out the tight quarters and share that in a ship's casino, having a non-smoking section does little to prevent them from being exposed to smoke.

Royal Caribbean has dealt with this in two different ways. The company's Celebrity brand does not allow smoking in its casinos. Its namesake brand has added smoke-free casinos in the former "Jazz On 4" locations that are somewhat adjacent to the main casino on Oasis-class ships. 

That's not an ideal solution as the secondary casino is only being offered on Oasis-class ships, but the company has been very clear as to why it allows smoking.

"Every, I would say, every couple of years, we do test this and we take one or two or three ships and we ban smoking in the casino. And the result is less people go in the casino and that's the reality of it," Bayley explained.in Dec. 2023 on Ovation of the Seas during the President's Cruise, the Royal Caribbean Blog reported.