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Mad About MSC Seashore — and not in a good way
MSC announces changes to MSC Seashore Dining
MSC announced on Facebook this week about two new additions to its complimentary dining options on the MSC Seashore. Passengers will now be able to find chicken tenders, fries, and barbeque options from the two grill spaces on the pool deck.
The Chicken Man, with chicken tenders and fries, and Red Cactus BBQ & Ribs are open now on board MSC Seashore.
Introducing MSC Seashore, version 2026
The MSC Seashore completed her first mandatory dry dock at the Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport, Bahamas, on April 19, 2026, and she has since resumed her Caribbean sailings out of Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida.
The 18-day scheduled maintenance brought some notable aesthetic updates. Passengers will find updated carpeting, refreshed furniture, and renovated cabins. Changes were also made to upgrade the wifi and install on-demand in-cabin entertainment.
More relevant to our discussion on this page, MSC converted the grill spaces near the pool into two themed fast food counters.
The Chicken Man will serve chicken tenders, fried chicken sandwiches, and french fries, while Red Cactus BBQ & Ribs will serve burritos at breakfast and 18-hour smoked pulled pork and Texas-style ribs at lunch. The new BBQ counter will also have cookie pecan pie and banana pudding for dessert.
The Chicken Man
Cruisers looking for chicken fingers can now stop by The Chicken Man.
Red Cactus BBQ & Ribs
The new barbeque counter will have favorites like ribs, pulled pork, macaroni & cheese, and cornbread.
MSC's Struggle with American Food
Since the MSC Divina began sailing the Caribbean seas in the mid 2010’s, MSC has struggled with negative comments about its food. You can easily find hundreds of old comments on Cruise Critic from early cruisers who complained about bland, uninteresting food.
So when I booked my first MSC cruise, shortly before the pandemic, I braced myself for abysmal food.
On board, I found exactly what I was looking for. Lots of fresh pasta, flaky croissants, platters of European cheeses and meats, lightly-seasoned dishes, and lots of fish. Bacon was “wimpy,” and the scrambled eggs wet. Desserts were delicately sweet, and the ice cream straight from Italy. Oh, my, the bread… Bread aplenty! It was fantastic.
My voice was in the minority, because all I saw online were complaints from American cruisers.
The main complaint about food onboard MSC ships was that it was too “European.” No spice, no flavor. One passenger wrote “MSC’s food is fine if you’re not expecting great food.” I read this as chefs put focus on the ingredients rather than over-seasoning it.
I have to applaud MSC on being quick to pivot and improve, and over the years, the dishes served in the main dining room and on the buffet have changed to meet the American palate. Dishes are now seasoned with spices, taco stations are standard now on most ships, and bagels are available at breakfast.
Not all the changes have been good, though. Pastry chefs started making extravagant desserts, like doughnuts covered in sugar icing and topped with whipped frosting and candy. I’ve seen biscuits go from rocks to almost edible (but now they’re back to rocks).
You can’t please everyone, but MSC was like an over-eager teenager lacking direction.
Why the Changes
Americans are hooked on really bad fast food. It’s what we’ve been trained to eat by the fast food chains. Hamburgers, fried chicken tenders, bbq…
Not a sailing goes by on MSC that I don’t hear someone complaining that there aren’t chicken fingers on the buffet. On a recent crossing on the MSC Grandiosa, I saw a 20-something couple at the kids section begging for chicken fingers. Online, a young couple video’ed themselves on their balcony complaining all they could eat was dry sourdough bread.
Even on a Virgin Voyages sailing a few months ago, I stood behind a couple who were saying how the husband only eats chicken fingers and wasn’t finding anything onboard to eat. Virgin’s CEO mentioned in 2025 that the line would start serving chicken fingers in the Galley, and people loved the news.
Americans eat crappy food, and our waistbands show it. Europeans apparently want to come to America and try our “great” food options.
And I’m not stupid. I understand why MSC added these American staples to its lineup. MSC has made it a priority to collect cruisers from other lines. The Voyagers Match program has given cruisers who have higher status on other lines equally high status with MSC.
Obviously adding the foods Americans want would bet better for the company’s financial report. Americans ultimately don’t want fine dining, they don’t want to try new foods.
Why I don't Like this
I started cruising on MSC for the European vibe, to get away from Carnival and Royal Caribbean. To get away from mainstream America.
Like most Americans, I can get bbq from about ten places within an hours’ drive. But unlike most Americans, apparently, I don’t want to eat crappy American food while on vacation.
What’s funny to me, though, is that MSC decided to add more American food instead of fixing and improving the American staples it already serves, like the burgers and biscuits.
Burgers on the buffet line are literally the worst at sea, lol. At one time they had a great vegetarian burger that was made on board and had bits of veggies in the patty, but now it’s some crappy fake meat. Double yuck.
And the biscuits. I’ll have to write another post on how MSC bakers are able to make the best carrot cake but can’t seem to make a southern biscuit.
Lots of people on Facebook have written positive comments to say how excited they are to try out the new restaurants on their upcoming cruises. And that’s great for MSC. But for me, these venues are a move in the opposite direction I want to go when sailing.
Overall...
MSC brought Seashore out of dry dock with two new counter-service restaurants on the pool deck, and passengers will now find chicken fingers and bbq ribs every day. Passengers new to MSC — most of whom are coming from Carnival and Royal — will likely love the new restaurants, but my opinion? MSC is quickly going from classy to trashy.
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Jenny Claire is an award-winning educational materials writer, travel journalist, and food critic, formerly based in New York City and Taiwan. She calls a cute cabin in the woods of rural North Central Florida home, but lately she’s been spending most of her time cruising and traveling. She also was a secret travel critic and writer — but her lips are sealed on those details!
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