The Aurea Experience on MSC Seashore

Port Canaveral

Booking a cruise with MSC is a little different than with other cruise lines. You choose one of three different “experiences” - Bella, Fantastica or Aurea. With the Bella experience, you select your cabin type, but your cabin number gets assigned to you. With Fantastica, you get to select your specific cabin. The Aurea experience not only allows you to select your cabin, but it comes with several other perks, like priority boarding, access to the thermal spa, an exclusive area on the pool deck, robes and slippers in the cabin, and most importantly, My Choice Dining. When we booked this cruise, we decided on an Aurea balcony cabin because I hate having a set dining time. It always seems to be an inconvenient time, like 5:30 or 9 o’clock or when we’re in the middle of doing other things. To me, it was worth paying for Aurea just to be able to eat when I wanted to eat.

When we arrived in Port Canaveral, there was construction going on, so it took almost half an hour just to get into the parking garage, but once we were inside the terminal, check-in was a breeze. Having priority boarding helped, but even the regular line didn’t look too bad. The first thing we did after we got onboard was stop by our cabin to pick up our Sign and Sail cards. The cabins wouldn’t be ready until later that afternoon, but we were able to drop off our luggage while we had lunch and explored the ship.

Seashore was a beautiful, huge ship. We were on Seaside, Seashore’s sister ship, last year, so we already knew the layout, but we still found ourselves walking around in circles a lot. :-)  Like Seaside, Seashore had a sparkling atrium with Swarovski crystal staircases, three pools, waterslides, and glass walkways along the sides and back of the ship. The ship had a New York theme, and many of the public spaces were named after famous places in the city, like the Long Island Pool and the Central Park Restaurant. In the center of the ship, there was a 10-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty rising out of the casino bar. There was even an entertainment area called Times Square with projection screens showing the New York City skyline.

the atrium

One of my favorite parts of the ship was the Danza del Mare (“dance of the sea”), a glass sculpture representing MSC’s commitment to protecting the oceans. The sculpture was made up of hundreds of blown-glass bubbles and fish spiraling upwards through three decks.

Danza del Mare

We watched the sail away from the Bridge of Sighs, the glass walkway at the back of the ship overlooking the infinity pool, and then headed to dinner. Seashore had four main dining rooms. Since we were Aurea guests, we were assigned to the 5th Avenue Restaurant where My Choice Dining was held. It was one of the smaller dining rooms but had the same menus as the other restaurants. I ordered the French onion soup, grilled salmon, and chocolate cake. My salmon was overcooked, but the French onion soup was delicious, and we really liked our wait team, Shyam and Jay and bar waiter, Sugi.

After dinner, we watched the bartending demonstration in the atrium and hung out in the casino. My Blackjack table was really slow because the other players kept talking and not paying attention to their cards, but that was ok. I played for a long time and ended up about $40 ahead for the night. From the casino, Ron and I could hear piano music coming from Time Square below us, so we stayed a while to listen. The piano duo, Duo Resolution, was playing music from the 90s and the millennium. I’m starting to appreciate the live music on cruises more and more. It's like getting a min-concert every night.

Nassau

I woke up early and snuck out of the cabin to watch the sunrise and get a latte from the Brooklyn Café. The café was serving fresh pastries, so I got a chocolate croissant too. A good start to the morning!

Bridge of Sighs

infinity pool

When Ron got up, we had breakfast at the buffet while we waited for our arrival in Nassau. We hadn’t booked any tours and planned to wander around on our own. I wanted to see the Queen’s Staircase because I hadn’t been there since 2009 when Mama and I did our DIY walking tour. We weren’t exactly sure how to get there, so we just started walking up the hill towards the water tower and ended up at Fort Fincastle. We took a minute to take in the views of Paradise Island and then walked through the little shopping stalls around the fort until we found the top of the staircase. The Queen’s Staircase was named after Queen Victoria and is sometimes called “the 66 steps”. The walkway and steps were hand-carved out of the limestone to provide a direct route to the top of Bennet’s Hill. It was hard to imagine the work that went into carving those towering walls. On one side of the stairs there was a waterfall, and trees lined the tops of the walls, their roots growing into the rock. It was a beautiful spot.

On our way back towards the port, we passed the pink octagonal building that was originally the old jail. It was built in 1797 but it became too crowded, so a new jail was built. The building was converted to a library in 1879, making it the oldest library in the Bahamas. There’s a lot of history to be discovered in Nassau. It always makes me sad that so many people don’t even bother getting off the ship to see it.

Fort Fincastle

water tower built in 1928

the old jail

When we got back to Bay Street, we boarded the bus to the Fish Fry. Then we sat for almost 20 minutes because the driver wouldn’t leave until every seat on the bus was full, including the jump seats. It was a hot, steamy August day, so when we finally made it to the Fish Fry, we decided to eat at Oh Andros because we knew they had air conditioning. And they had really good food too, of course. :-)  We both ordered fish sandwiches and Sky Juice, our favorite Bahamian drink made with gin and coconut water. After lunch, we took a taxi back to town but before heading to the ship, we stopped at the corner liquor store to buy a can of Island Queen coconut water so I could make Sky Juice at home. It never seems to come out the same when I make it with the coconut water you get in the States, but maybe it’s the location that makes the difference.

We spent the rest of the afternoon napping in our cabin and then watched a beautiful sunset as we sailed away from Nassau. After dinner, we went to the casino again and I gave back my winnings from the night before. Duo Resolution was playing “the hits of today” in Time Square so we listened to a few songs before we went to bed.

Duo Resolution in Times Square

Ocean Cay

Just before the trip, we watched a series on Tubi called “Building Paradise Island” about the development of Ocean Cay. It was amazing how MSC had transformed an abandoned sand excavation site into a beautiful private island. First, they’d had to remove 7500 tons of scrap metal, including a barge that was buried under the sand. They’d planted almost 5000 trees, carved out a lagoon to add more beachfront and started restoring the coral reefs around the island to create a marine reserve. It took three years. We visited Ocean Cay for the first time in February 2020, just a couple of months after it had opened for cruise passengers. It had still looked a little bare then but when we went back last year on our Seaside cruise, there was green grass and the trees had grown and filled in. I was excited to see what it looked like now.

We’d had so much fun on the jet ski tour last year that we’d decided to book it again. Our tour was scheduled for 8:45, but when we woke up, it was cloudy and windy. Noooo! I was sure the tour was going to be cancelled. When the ship docked at 8:30, we made our way onshore to the excursion hut where we found out that the tour was still on! Our guide Treyvon told us that instead of circling the whole island, we would stay on the west side, which was more protected from the winds, and the tour would be shortened, but we would receive a 30% refund. I could deal with that. Treyvon gave us a short briefing on how to operate a jet ski, and then we climbed onto a shuttle to Sunset Beach where the jet skis were waiting for us. We rode out single file with Treyvon in the lead and Nat bringing up the rear making sure we stayed a safe distance from each other. Since Ron and I were some of the faster riders, Treyvon put us in the second position. We launched over the waves with me clinging onto Ron’s life jacket and trying not to fly off the jet ski. It was rough but a lot of fun!

We’d planned to spend time at the Lighthouse Bar after the tour, but it turned out that Lighthouse Beach, including the lighthouse and bar, was closed. That was disappointing since it was my favorite part of the island. Instead, we had lunch at the island buffet and then hung out at Bimini Beach for an hour or so before heading back to the ship. I found out later that Lighthouse Beach would be closed for another month while they dredged the channel to make it large enough to accommodate MSC’s newest ship, World America, which goes into service in 2025.

Goodbye, Ocean Cay!

Before dinner, we went to the Cocktail Bar on Deck 8 for drinks. A few months ago, MSC standardized their drink menus so that all the bars served the same drinks. That was another disappointment to me since I like to try different drinks at different bars. Fortunately, the Cocktail Bar still had its own special menu with lots of interesting hand-crafted cocktails and a great bartender. Why didn’t we find this bar earlier in the cruise?? We always seem to discover the best stuff on the last day. 

It was Italian night that night, so the 5th Avenue Restaurant was decorated with the colors of the Italian flag. I ordered the Caprese salad, clam linguini and tiramisu. Of course, I had to have one last bowl of French onion soup, which wasn’t Italian but was still delicious. :-)

After dinner, we went back to the casino. Everyone was winning at my Blackjack table, and I ended up doubling my daily gambling allotment. Woohoo! It had been a while since I won in the casino. Fortunately, we had reservations for the theater show at 9:30, so we had to leave while I was still ahead. That night’s show was called “Rock Royalty”, and it was filled with rock songs from the 80s – Prince, Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, Heart. Ron and I sang along to all the music except for one song in the middle of the show that neither of us had ever heard before. I don’t think anyone else had either because there were more than a few puzzled looks in the audience. My favorite part of the show was the ending when the singers performed a set of Queen songs. It wasn’t as good as the Michael Jackson show on Seaside, but we loved the music.

In the atrium, the Sunshine Party was going on, and Duo Resolution was playing Elton John and Neil Diamond songs in Times Square. We listened for a while before going to the cabin to pack. I couldn’t believe the cruise was already over! I wished we had one more day to hang out on our balcony, try another drink at the Cocktail Bar and check out the thermal spa. It was such a short cruise that we hadn’t had time to take advantage of all the Aurea perks, but I was still glad we’d chosen Aurea. The My Choice Dining and great service in the 5th Avenue Restaurant had made the cruise fun and memorable, and the Aurea Bar was a good place to grab a mojito and escape the crowds. And now I have a pair of MSC slippers to remind me of another great Bahamas cruise.

Sunshine Party