msc poesia walking track Archives - Northern Viking Explorer

Day 2 of our 7-night Alaska cruise aboard the MSC Poesia was our first full sea day as we continued north toward Alaska.

The morning actually started out beautiful. We had sunshine, fairly calm seas, and some great views outside. As the day went on, though, the ocean started getting a little rougher. The pool water was sloshing back and forth, and we even noticed seasickness bags appearing near some of the stairways.

We had plenty planned for the day, including breakfast in the main dining room, Alaska enrichment talks, some time relaxing around the ship, and of course Gala Night aboard MSC Poesia.

Watch our full Day 2 MSC Poesia Alaska cruise vlog here:

☕ Breakfast at Le Fontaine Restaurant

There were two main breakfast options that morning. The Villa Pompeiana Buffet was open from 6:00 until 11:00, while sit-down breakfast was available at Le Fontaine Restaurant from 7:30 until 9:30.

We decided to give Le Fontaine a try and arrived right around 7:30. It was already fairly busy, and by the time we left around 8:30 there was a lineup of people waiting to get in.

We asked for a table for two and ended up with a nice spot beside the window.

Some of the breakfast items we tried included the smoothie bowl with yogurt, banana, kiwi, and pineapple, steel-cut oatmeal, an omelette, French toast with bacon, and the All American Breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns.

There were also pastries and plenty of coffee, so it was a nice relaxed way to start our first full sea day.

🐋 Learning More About Alaska

After breakfast, we grabbed our coffee mugs and headed to Teatro Carlo Felice for the morning’s Alaska enrichment presentation.

The first talk was called North to Alaska and covered a little bit of everything we might experience during the cruise, including whales, wildlife, forests, fish, culture, and the different areas we would be visiting.

We especially enjoyed the information about the whales. One of the whales shown during the presentation appeared to be the same well-known whale we had seen on a previous Alaska whale-watching excursion, which was pretty neat to see again.

Alaska enrichment presentation aboard MSC Poesia with information about Icy Strait Point, wildlife, excursions, and things to do in port. — One of the Alaska enrichment presentations aboard MSC Poesia helped us learn more about the ports, wildlife, excursions, and things to see during our cruise.

Right after that was the Cruise and Travel Show, which went through the different ports and some of the excursions that were still available.

If you’re sailing on the MSC Poesia and are interested in the excursions, it may be worth showing up a little early because they also handed out raffle tickets and gave away an excursion for each port during the presentation.

There were more Alaska presentations happening later in the day as well, including one called Glaciers, Volcanoes, and Wildlife, so there were plenty of opportunities to learn more about Alaska while we were at sea.

🌮 Lunch at the Villa Pompeiana Buffet

By lunchtime, we were ready to head back to the Villa Pompeiana Buffet.

There was a good selection of the usual buffet options, including burgers, hot dogs, fries, breads, deli meats, cheeses, and salads. We also found a Mexican station that looked pretty good, so that ended up being part of our lunch.

The weather had changed again by this point. It had been sunny, then cloudy, and suddenly the sunshine was back, although the ship was still rocking quite a bit.

After lunch, we figured we should probably walk some of it off.

🚶 Walking Around Deck 14

Above the main pool area on Deck 14, there is space that MSC lists as a power walking track.

It isn’t really marked like a traditional running track, and parts of it can occasionally be obstructed, but it is still a great area to walk around, get some steps in, and enjoy the views.

We spent some time walking around before deciding that the rest of the afternoon was going to be a little more relaxing.

🛁 Hot Tubs, Our Aft Balcony & Ice Cream

There were lots of activities happening around the ship that afternoon, but we decided to take things a little slower.

We headed to the hot tubs and ended up sitting there for about an hour while chatting with some other passengers. The hot tubs aren’t particularly large, so they fill up pretty quickly, but it was a really nice way to spend part of the afternoon.

After that, we came back to our cabin and spent some time sitting on our aft balcony.

We were really enjoying having that view from the back of the ship. The sun was shining and it was a great place to sit and watch the ocean, even though the seas were getting fairly rocky.

By this point, the motion of the ship was definitely becoming more noticeable, so some seasickness medication came in handy.

We also spent some time walking around the main public decks and discovered the soft-serve ice cream station outside the buffet. They had chocolate, vanilla, and swirl, with either waffle cones or cups.

Needless to say, that was a pretty good discovery.

✨ Getting Ready for Gala Night

That evening was Gala Night aboard the MSC Poesia, so we headed back to the cabin, got dressed up, and made our way to Il Palladio Restaurant on Deck 6.

One thing we noticed was that there was a really wide range of clothing around the ship.

We saw some men in suits, others wearing shirts and ties or collared shirts, and plenty of people dressed more casually. We even spotted one tuxedo. There were also some beautiful formal dresses, but you definitely didn’t have to dress extremely formal to take part in Gala Night.

It was really a mix of everything.

🥩 Gala Night Dinner at Il Palladio

Because we had the same assigned table every evening, we didn’t need to wait for anyone to seat us. We could simply walk into the dining room and head straight to our table.

There were quite a few tempting choices on the Gala Night menu.

For starters, we tried the lobster bisque, Alaska smoked salmon dip, and Caesar salad.

For our main courses, we both ordered the filet mignon with truffle-flavoured whipped potatoes, asparagus, and mushroom demi-glace.

We also ordered the Duo of Broiled Lobster Tail and Jumbo Shrimp to share. It came with asparagus and risotto and gave us a chance to try both the steak and seafood options from the Gala Night menu.

Duo of Broiled Lobster Tail and Jumbo Shrimp served during Gala Night aboard MSC Poesia. — We ordered the Duo of Broiled Lobster Tail and Jumbo Shrimp to share during Gala Night at Il Palladio Restaurant.

For dessert, we tried the Royal Cake, a rich dark chocolate mousse with crunchy praline and vanilla anglaise, along with the classic Baked Alaska.

It turned out to be a really enjoyable Gala Night dinner and one of the meals we had been looking forward to trying.

🎭 Club Disco at Teatro Carlo Felice

After dinner, we headed back to Teatro Carlo Felice for the evening production show.

The show was called Club Disco, but the evening started with the captain and senior officers presentation.

For roughly the first 15 minutes, the cruise director introduced the captain and some of the senior officers, along with a few interesting facts about what goes on behind the scenes aboard the ship.

Then the Club Disco production started.

Club Disco production show with singers and dancers performing in Teatro Carlo Felice aboard MSC Poesia. — The Club Disco production show brought colourful costumes, singing, dancing, and acrobatics to Teatro Carlo Felice during Gala Night.

The show had a fun 1970s theme with lots of singing, dancing, colourful costumes, and some acrobatics mixed in.

One of our favourite parts involved a performer using a large ring on stage. There were a few moments during the performance that definitely got a reaction from the audience.

The Club Disco portion lasted around half an hour and made for a fun way to finish off Gala Night.

🎺 Big Band at Sea

We weren’t quite finished with the entertainment yet.

After leaving the theater, we headed toward the lounge at the back of Deck 7 where Big Band at Sea was performing again.

We had seen some of the musicians the night before, but this time there was also a vocalist performing with them.

Between the brass instruments, vocals, and classic big-band style, it was a really nice place to sit and enjoy some live music before calling it a night.

There was plenty of other entertainment happening around the ship as well, including a saxophone player performing in the atrium.

🚢 Final Thoughts on Day 2

Our first full sea day aboard the MSC Poesia ended up having a little bit of everything.

We learned more about Alaska during the enrichment talks, tried breakfast at Le Fontaine, spent some time walking around the ship, relaxed in the hot tubs, enjoyed our aft balcony, found some afternoon ice cream, and finished everything off with Gala Night, dinner, a production show, and live music.

It was a great sea day, but we were especially excited about what was coming next.

Day 3 would take us to our first Alaska port of the cruise, Ketchikan.

Watch our full Day 2 MSC Poesia Alaska cruise vlog here: https://youtu.be/1A8VdAmL7_k

🧳 Could We Drop Off Our Bags in Our Cabin Right Away?

One of our first questions was whether we would need to carry our bags around until the cabins were officially ready. After boarding, we checked with Guest Services and were happy to learn that we could drop our bags off in the cabin and then leave again until the room was ready.

That made embarkation day much easier, especially when you want to start exploring the ship without carrying everything with you.

🔌 What Outlets Are in the MSC Poesia Cabins?

Our aft balcony cabin had a good selection of charging options, although almost all of them were concentrated around the vanity.

We had two North American outlets, European outlets, USB-A and USB-C charging ports. There were no dedicated outlets on both sides of the bed, which is something we always like to know before sailing.

North American and European electrical outlets with USB-A and USB-C charging ports in an MSC Poesia cabin. — Our MSC Poesia cabin included North American and European outlets along with USB-A and USB-C charging ports.

🍽️ What Complimentary Food Is Available?

For complimentary meals, we used the buffet and the main dining rooms. The buffet served breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late-night snacks, and we especially appreciated the 24-hour beverage station.

The main dining rooms were also included and offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner at different times throughout our sailing.

We had originally been assigned a 7:15 p.m. dinner at a group table. After speaking with the dining staff, we were fortunate to be moved to a 5:00 p.m. dining time with a table for two. Changes are based on availability, but it was definitely worth asking.

🏊 Pool & Hot Tub Hours

This one surprised us. On our sailing, the outdoor pools were open from 8:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m., while the whirlpools were open from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.

Those were some of the earliest hot tub closing times we have experienced on a cruise, so it is worth checking the schedule if evening hot tubs are part of your cruise routine.

🚶 Is There a Walking Track?

Sort of!

There are outdoor areas where you can walk, including Deck 7, but you cannot walk completely around the ship there. Up on Deck 14, there is an area MSC identifies as a power walking track, although there were no painted track markings during our sailing and the area can sometimes be obstructed.

⚓ Our Juneau Tender Experience

We had a private excursion booked in Juneau and thought we had left plenty of time to get ashore. Unfortunately, the tender process took much longer than expected and we arrived onshore around 10 minutes after our excursion was scheduled to leave.

Thankfully, our excursion company was able to rearrange things for us, but others were dealing with the same problem. If your MSC Poesia sailing tenders in Juneau and you have a private excursion, we would definitely allow as much extra time as possible.

Is 4 Hours in Victoria Worth Getting Off the Ship?

For us, absolutely.

Our stop was scheduled from 7:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. Even with the limited time, we enjoyed walking toward Fisherman’s Wharf and downtown Victoria, seeing the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel, and simply enjoying the beautiful city.

We would recommend getting in line early to leave the ship so you can make the most of those four hours.

Welcome to Victoria Canada sign at the cruise terminal during our MSC Poesia Alaska cruise. — Even with only four hours in Victoria, we were glad we got off the MSC Poesia and explored the city.

💃 What’s the Difference Between the Two Dirty Dancing Shows?

MSC Poesia offered two very different Dirty Dancing experiences during our sailing.

Dirty Dancing in Concert featured the full movie along with a live band and production performers appearing during the musical and dance portions.

Later, Dirty Dancing: The Celebration was more like a traditional cruise production show, with live music, singing, and dancing but without the movie playing behind it.

They were different enough that we were glad we experienced both.

🌊 Are There Any Hidden Viewing Spots on MSC Poesia?

This was one of our favorite discoveries.

At the front of the ship on Decks 9, 10, 11, and 14, you can walk past the cabins and through the doors at the end of the hallway to reach small forward-facing outdoor viewing areas. Some have seating or more overhead coverage than others, and they can be wonderfully quiet.

There are also outdoor staircases and viewing areas around the aft of the ship, including spaces near the back of the buffet. These became some of our favorite places to enjoy the scenery without the crowds.

Scenic Alaska fjord and glacier views from a forward outdoor viewing area aboard MSC Poesia. — One of the quieter forward viewing areas aboard MSC Poesia gave us incredible scenery during glacier day.

⭐ 10 MSC Poesia Questions Answered

These were some of the questions we had before sailing, and several of the answers genuinely surprised us. If you are already booked on the MSC Poesia or researching the ship before choosing your cruise, we hope our experience helps make your planning a little easier.

🎥 Watch 10 Questions Before Sailing MSC Poesia (Answered!)
https://youtu.be/S4vWBFd5_Sg

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MSC Poesia Alaska Cruise Day 2: Sea Day & Gala Night 🚢