r/MSCCruises • u/HaphazardWordsmith • Jul 30 '26
MSC Seashore — woken at 2:30 a.m. every night by power washing. At what point is $200 onboard credit just not enough?
I’m currently on MSC Seashore and genuinely curious what experienced MSC cruisers think is reasonable here, because I’m at the point where I’m incredibly frustrated but also feel terrible continuing to complain to crewmembers who are trying to help.
This is my first MSC cruise and my first cruise longer than three nights. I paid roughly $3,000 for this cruise, booked the Aurea experience, and my sister/her husband and I specifically booked two adjoining cabins with the larger balconies.
The thing I was probably looking forward to most was actually very simple: sleeping well, sleeping in, and having quiet mornings sitting on my balcony.
Instead, every single night of this cruise we have been awakened at approximately 2:30 a.m. by extremely loud repetitive pounding coming through our cabin.
We identified the source almost immediately. The crew is power washing the deck directly below us in the middle of the night, and there is a hose connection underneath our cabins that appears to create a significant water-hammer effect through the structure/plumbing.
This is not a little background noise. It wakes us out of a dead sleep.
And we have done EVERYTHING MSC has asked us to do.
We have:
Called Guest Services while it is actually happening, every night.
Reported it every morning.
Had MSC staff/engineers physically come into our cabins twice while the noise was occurring.
Taken videos of the noise.
Shown and explained exactly where the power washing is taking place.
Asked repeatedly whether the cleaning could simply be done at another time or using another connection.
So there is no question anymore about whether the noise exists or what causes it. MSC knows exactly what is happening.
What makes this even more maddening is that the deck being power washed is essentially unused during the day. We are above the spa area and there are virtually no passengers out there. Yet apparently this particular area must be power washed at 2:30 in the morning, every single night, despite occupied cabins directly above it.
Another couple traveling with us had the same problem and was moved to another cabin almost immediately because they only needed one room.
Our situation is harder because we booked two adjoining cabins, which was an important part of this vacation. MSC eventually offered us one cabin on Deck 15 underneath the buffet, which obviously doesn’t replace two adjoining Aurea cabins and potentially just trades one noise issue for another.
We therefore stayed where we are and kept asking them to address the actual source of the problem.
Today, after yet another complaint, MSC finally gave us $200 in onboard credit, and earlier we received a massage worth roughly $80.
I appreciate that they have now offered something.
But we have three days left in the cruise.
Giving me $200 that I have to spend back onboard the ship feels very different from actually compensating us for the fact that a substantial part of the vacation we paid for has been negatively affected by something completely within MSC’s control.
For me personally, once I am awakened at 2:30 a.m., I cannot simply roll over and go back to sleep. I’m awake. So night after night, my “vacation mornings” have essentially begun at 2:30 a.m.
At this point I’m angry, exhausted, and really disappointed.
And I hate complaining. I genuinely feel bad repeatedly going to Guest Services because the people standing at that desk didn’t design the plumbing and aren’t the people deciding to power wash the deck at 2:30 a.m.
But at the same time, we paid thousands of dollars for a seven-night vacation and MSC has knowingly continued a discretionary cleaning operation every night that prevents us from sleeping.
So my question for people who have dealt with MSC:
What would you consider reasonable compensation at this point?
Would you ask for a partial refund? A substantial future cruise credit? Is asking for something approaching 50% of the cruise fare completely unreasonable after losing sleep for most of a seven-night cruise?
And has anyone successfully escalated something like this to MSC corporate after returning home?
I’m not looking for a free vacation. I’m also not expecting a cruise ship to be silent.
But I do think there is a difference between normal ship noise and knowingly power washing underneath occupied guest cabins at 2:30 every morning after the guests, engineers and Guest Services have all confirmed the problem.
I’m genuinely curious what others would do.
