Galveston Welcomes the MSC Seascape cruise ship

Exploring the luxurious MSC Seascape

Earlier this month, we took a quick trip to Texas to celebrate the launch of the new MSC Cruises port in Galveston. This is a big milestone for the global cruise line as it continues to expand its operations in the United States.

The ship’s official first sailing from the new Galveston port was on Sunday, November 9th. However, we had the opportunity to join several travel and media guests for a special sneak peak of the ship.

Although we only spent one night aboard the luxurious MSC Seascape, it was enough time to get a feel for the ship and experience its many amenities.

MSC Seascape is a huge cruise ship. It has a maximum passenger capacity of 5,877 and it accommodates 4,540 passengers based on double occupancy.

It’s by far the biggest cruise ship we’ve be on.

Fortunately for us, we were able to experience the ship at only 10-15% capacity because it was a special night before officially welcoming passengers.

It was nice (and a little strange) to have so much free space on such a big ship. We did not have to wait in any lines and we had the swimming pools and hot tubs all to ourselves. This was certainly a first for us while on a cruise ship.

Watch this short reel about our time aboard MSC Seascape.

Convenient port for guests from the Pacific Northwest

We are excited that MSC Cruises are now departing from Galveston, Texas. It’s a much easier destination to reach from Vancouver, British Columbia and other west coast airports.

If you’re unfamiliar where Galveston is located on a map, it’s about an hour south of Houston.

Many Caribbean cruises depart from either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. However, there aren’t a lot of direct flights from Vancouver to Florida, which makes for a long travel day. In some cases, it’s actually faster to reach Europe than Miami (from Vancouver).

Vancouver has daily direct flights to Houston, so it’s much more convenient. And it’s only a 2 hour time zone change, compared to 3 hours in Florida.

It’s about a 1.5 hour drive from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Galveston, depending on traffic. We took an Uber from the airport to Galveston and it was about $110 USD.

During our visit, we learned that Galveston is one of the fastest-growing cruise ports in the United States. It’s already the 4th busiest port in the USA and it continues to see increased interest.

MSC Seascape will now offer year-round sailings from the new Galveston terminal. At the time of writing, the MSC Seascape itinerary incudes stops to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico, and Roatan, Honduras.

See the MSC Seascape cruise itineraries here.

Take a peak inside the MSC Seascape cruise ship

We had a great time exploring the ship and sampling a variety of food and drinks. It’s a beautiful ship.

We look forward to returning and spending a full week aboard the ship. I imagine it’s quite a different experience when the ship is at full capacity.

See more photos from our time aboard the MSC Seascape here.

This is the standard stateroom on MSC Seascape. We stayed in room 13081.

We like this room layout, where the bed is close to the balcony. And we like that the balcony has a sliding door.

The MSC Yacht Club on the MSC Seascape

This is a private area that’s exclusive to members, so it would not be available to passengers with standard packages. Because we were attending a special event, we had access to the MSC Yacht Club.

We enjoyed spending some time in this swanky part of ship. It’s very relaxing and upscale.

This luxurious living space is actually a part of one of the MSC Yacht Club suites.

Can you imagine having this much space while on a cruise ship?!

The Jungle Pool area on the MSC Seascape

This area has an indoor/outdoor pool lounge with a large, retractable glass roof that can be opened or closed. This feature allows it to be used in both indoor and outdoor settings, making it a popular spot regardless of the weather.

We really like this section and can see ourselves spending hours here.

Above – the Jungle Pool lit up at night.

Green Wave Restaurant on MSC Seascape

We dined at the Green Wave Restaurant during our visit. It had a limited menu that evening because of the special event.

I’m glad we had an opportunity to visit the main dining area. One of the things we love most about cruising is dining as a family. We like the buffets for lunch or quick snacks, but prefer the more formal dining environment.

Lobster tail and jumbo prawns served with risotto and root vegetables. Delicious!

Conveyor sushi belt at Kaito Sushi Bar.

Teppanyaki is a Specialty Dining restaurant on MSC Seascape.

The Sports Bar is very nice. It offers several of these private booths with a television that will show the game or event that interests you.

This is a really nice feature. I know I shouldn’t be watching sports while on vacation. BUT, I would love to hang out here and watch a game.

Where to next?!

There are maps at every elevator so you can determine where you and where you want to go next.

Le Cabaret Rouge features live performances, including singers, dancers, acrobats and more. It’s a fun place to visit after dinner.

Family Friendly activities onboard MSC Seascape

We are pleasantly surprised by all of the kid-friendly activities aboard MSC Seascape.

From water slides to swimming pools and arcades, it’s clear that MSC Cruises has put a lot of thought into satisfying the family demographic.

The Pirates Cove waterpark is incredible. It’s hard to believe that this on the top of a cruise ship!

Would you go down that water slide?

The Hall of Games arcade is part of the ship’s main entertainment area.

It’s a big games room that features various games, including a virtual reality arcade, the Formula Racer virtual simulator (picture below), and a few classics like basketball, motorcycle racing and air hockey.

The Robotron is the newest and most exciting thrill ride on the MSC Seascape. It’s one of the most unique rides available on any cruise ship.

We will post a video of the Robotron experience soon on our Instagram feed.

The outdoor basketball court can also convert into a pickleball court.

Final thoughts

I’m glad we made the trip down to Texas to experience the MSC Seascape. She’s an impressive cruise ship!

I’m sure we will visit again with our boys. They would love this ship and all of its kid-friendly amenities.

Prior to visiting, we had not considered Galveston as a departure point for a Caribbean cruise. I’m not sure why. We just always assumed that Caribbean cruises depart from south Florida.

We enjoyed our time in Galveston, too. There’s a lot of fun things to do in Galveston before and after your cruise (we will write a sperate post about Galveston soon). And its a much more convenient destination for us Pacific Northwest folks with direct flights.