MSC Grandiosa
MSC Grandiosa Credit: Seth Kubersky

So you managed to survive yet another super-stressful Christmas season, and before your holiday shopping bills have even arrived, any residual celebratory spirit you’ve still got is iced over by cold fronts, both meteorological and metaphorical. If the frigid dumpster fires raging all around us have you dreaming of decamping for a desert island until a saner springtime arrives, maybe it’s time to mark a new season on your calendar: Wave Season. 

That’s what cruise industry marketeers have dubbed the traditionally slow months from January through March, when they now offer some of their most attractive discounts of the year. Since COVID, no cruise line has been more aggressive about expanding their Florida market share than the Italian family-owned line MSC, and I was fortunate enough to miss last weekend’s freeze due to a hosted media sailing aboard their Grandiosa, which recently repositioned to Port Canaveral for the winter. Here are some reasons why Grandiosa is my favorite of the five MSC ships I’ve sailed on in the past five years, along with a few weak points to beware of. 

With 181,000 gross tonnage and 2,421 staterooms, the MSC Grandiosa is significantly smaller than World America, which I reviewed last April, and it was positively dwarfed by the ginormous new Disney Adventure, which made a surprise appearance at our embarkation en route to Singapore. That’s a big plus in my book, as Grandiosa’s less grand scale means fewer confusing “can’t get there from here” moments while trying to navigate the deck plan. It’s also a thoughtfully designed environment, with both its fair share of flash and glitz — from the signature Swarovski staircases to an LED-covered promenade ceiling — but also serene spaces featuring artful touches. I especially appreciated the tributes to painters like Cezanne and Magritte in each elevator lobby. 

Artwork is also a key element of L’Atelier Bistrot, my favorite difference between MSC Grandiosa and her sister ship. Where the Meraviglia offers a seafood restaurant, Grandiosa serves classic French cuisine (including exquisite escargots and seared duck) inside a Belle Epoque brasserie straight out of Montmartre. One wall of the frame-filled venue is devoted to Damien Hirst, reportedly the U.K.’s wealthiest artist; thankfully, guests dine beneath his anodyne cherry blossom portraits, not a formaldehyde-soaked shark. 

Although MSC’s main dining rooms and buffets get middling reviews from many cruisers, I also enjoyed excellent meals at Kaito (where teppanyaki chefs deftly juggle eggs while searing A5 wagyu) as well as the exclusive dining room for guests staying in the Yacht Club “ship within a ship” section — which is the only way I recommend sailing with MSC. And the room service margherita with freshly made mozzarella gave my favorite local pizzeria a run for its money. Just don’t ever count on having a quick sit-down meal while on board; European-paced service means an average dinner takes two hours. 

You won’t find a roller coaster or robotic swing ride aboard the Grandiosa, but you will find just about every other known seaborne attraction for every demographic, from indoor pickleball for the boomers, to a water park with slides and a ropes course for zoomers (and aging Gen X-ers like myself). A simulator-stocked arcade offers a Triotech virtual reality Assassin’s Creed maze — invigoratingly vertigo-inducing but still somewhat janky, some seven years after I first demoed it at IAAPA — alongside old-fashioned Skee-Ball. And for the perpetually stressed, the ship’s best attraction is its cozy cave-like thermal spa, which features a snow chamber and human car-wash, in addition to the typical saunas and hot tubs. 

Entertainment aboard MSC’s ships is often a mixed bag, with many talented musicians performing in the lounges, and underwhelming productions on the mainstage. “Rouge,” an unauthorized homage to Moulin Rouge that also runs on other ships, is probably the best of Theatre La Comedie’s included offerings, which include a pitchy pastiche of 1980s pop hits with Solid Gold dancing and a birthday party-style magician with one nifty levitation trick and a shadow hand puppet finale. 

On the other hand, the Carousel theater at the ship’s other end hosts extra-cost acrobatic productions that compare with those I saw aboard Star Princess. This stunning circular venue, which is tricked out with video walls, turntables, and flying trapezes, was originally designed for Cirque du Soleil, and that company’s lingering influence is still obvious in the two shows presented here, even though the partnership ended. Both feature the same troupe of world-class aerialists and circus artists, but the candy-themed “Sweet” is the stronger of the two because it focuses on colorful eye candy and upbeat music, while “Strings” is slowed down by a self-serious lost-love storyline and sappy songs. It’s really a shame that neither showing I attended was more than a third full, while the lesser shows were packed; perhaps it’s time to reduce or remove the $18 cover charge and ditch the included pre-batched drinks. 

Last but far from least, the No. 1 reason I cruise with MSC is to visit Ocean Cay, their paradisaical private island. Another buffet and expansions to the Yacht Club area were added since my visit last year, and the baby coral I saw growing for their then-new reef restoration project has already been planted, as I learned from my Bahamian guide Marcus during an informative ecological tram tour around the island.

Ominously, an even larger land mass is currently under construction just off Ocean Cay’s shore, which is rumored to become an exclusive resort for Explora ships and Yacht Club guests. I’m only praying it doesn’t become another theme park full of screaming zip-liners, lest they disturb the inquisitive parakeets and dog-sized iguanas I made friends with during my stay; then I’ll have to start looking for my end-times atoll all over again.      

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This article appears in Jan. 21-27, 2026.