MSC Testing Complimentary Breakfast in Specialty Restaurants
One of the biggest tips I offer to cruisers is to seek out alternate venues for breakfast and lunch. Especially on newer ships, you can often avoid the main buffet and dining room entirely and go to other venues. They often provide a much less chaotic experience, and in some cases, unique options. MSC has been testing opening two of their specialty restaurants for breakfast for a complimentary meal, and it’s definitely worth checking out.
Breakfast at Hola! Tacos and Cantina
Hola! Tacos and Cantina is the specialty Tex-Mex restaurant available on nine different MSC ships. Typically, guests can choose an all-you-can-eat taco option for $25 per person or pay a la carte for delicious tacos or burritos.
For breakfast on select ships, Hola! Tacos and Cantina now opens up for a complimentary breakfast. Guests can try Tex-Mex-inspired dishes like a breakfast burrito, huevos rancheros, and even finish them off with a delicious churro.
Times may vary, but on the MSC Seashore, the first week of October, it was open from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM.
Breakfast at Butcher’s Cut
If Tex-Mex doesn’t strike your fancy for breakfast, you can stop by Butcher’s Cut. This restaurant is MSC’s take on a traditional steakhouse, offering starters like Crab Cakes and Oysters Rockefeller, and for lunch, prime cuts of beef, including Wagyu steaks. It’s a specialty restaurant costing $44 – $55 per person.
Now, on select ships, you can dine here for breakfast as well and for no extra cost. For breakfast, you can order a Bagel and Lox, assorted cereals, a western omelet, and biscuits and gravy, among other things. You can also order sides like hash browns, baked beans, and bacon.
Again, which specific times may vary, but on the Seashore, it was open 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM.
Not All Ships Are Offering Breakfast
According to guests’ reports we’ve received, you won’t find this breakfast available on every ship. We can confirm it has been offered on:
Most notably missing are MSC’s largest flagships, MSC World Europa and MSC World America. Since these ships already have a secondary buffet, it might not be as necessary.
According to one guest we spoke to, they said the staff said this would be rolled out, if successful, to other ships in the fleet.
My Take: A Great Move to Ease Congestion
Breakfast on a sea day can be one of the most trying times on a cruise ship. Everyone is flocking to the buffet or main dining room, and you have long lines and crowds, especially on older ships. Adding more options goes a long way to help ease this congestion and is a relatively low cost to the cruise line; they already have the space, they just need to staff it. This is especially important to MSC ships, which carry more guests per ton onboard than most competing lines. It gives people an option for a much more relaxed breakfast experience, and even better, at no additional cost.
No matter the ship, you should always look at the cruise schedule to see which options are available that you might not have thought about.
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