Stateroom Tours Series: What An Obstructed Oceanview Stateroom Aboard MSC’S Poesia Is Really Like

You know you have been curious what the rooms aboard a cruise ship are like or maybe you are thinking about booking an Obstructed Oceanview with MSC, come see what my stateroom looks like.

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SHIP SPECS

• CRUISE LINE – SHIP (Line) : MSC Cruises – Poesia (Musica)
• YEARS OF SERVICE INFO: Built/launched: 2008 Last Refurbished: N/A *But the Poesia is set for a dry dock refurbishment in 2026
• SHIP STATS: The Poesia is 964 ft long, 92.7K ton cruise ship with 1,275 cabins and suites (including 17 accessible). Max capacity of 3,223 passengers with a crew of 1,039 people.  16 decks with 13 that are passenger accessible and 8 that have cabins
• Want to see more of this MSC ship? Read this for the full Poesia review

MSC POESIA OCEANVIEW – PARTIALLY OBSTRUCTED VIEW CABIN TOUR

STATEROOM SIZE / CONFIGURATION

When you walk in you notice that the view is 70% obstructed (this was identified as a partially obstructed) oceanview stateroom.

It is 172 Square feet / 16 square meters with a double bed that can be converted into two single beds with the two nightstands and lamps to the side of the bed (I never took any photos/videos after we switched the bed arrangement but we did split the beds).

There are two additional beds on the walls which makes the room feel a lot more cluttered and smaller even though they are Murphy/bunk style.

There’s a desk with a stool underneath that also serves as the beverage station.

I did not appreciate that the mini-fridge was pre-filled with snacks + drinks (which were not complimentary) which left very little room for personal items.

I also managed not to take a photo or video of the TV and armchair.

CLOSET CONFIGURATION

The closets were spacious with ample storage with both shelves and drawers in one closet and the other set up with hangers.  

So that this was a cruise that I took with one of my friends and we were able to comfortably split the the storage but I should note that I am #teamcarryon and I always use packing cubes minimalist that uses a Northface duffel I can squish under the bed + I kept everything in my packing cubes so I didn’t have to use as many shelves, drawers as she did. Now if there were two people traveling with large checked suitcases (she had to leave hers out in the room) or even three or four people, this would have been really tough to manage!

What I wished we would have packed? Magnetic hooks: Did you know that cruise cabin walls are metal? I find these to be really useful even if traveling solo – to keep wet jackets out of the closet and there are never enough towel hooks! They are even handier once you start sharing tiny cruise staterooms with others!

BATHROOM SIZE / CONFIGURATION

The bathroom had many drawbacks for me. First was with the lack of storage space – very limited and usable storage space with the glass/metal shelves and no under the counter spaces. One of the selling points for a cruise is that it offers convenience and ease when visiting many places – that you don’t have to unpack at every new port. Slightly annoying to need to haul things in and out to get ready in the morning or night.

And I absolutely detested the shower. Even though I am a tiny person, I felt cramped and thought that it was super teeny even for a cruise bathroom. A lot of it was due to the curtain – which would inevitably blow in and touch me during the shower. Plus the terrible design that water would inevitably leak during a shower (but to be fair, this is one of those design flaws that causes a fair amount of annoyance for me!)

BATHROOM AMENITIES / PRODUCTS

And last but certainly not least, what sent me was the quality (or really the lack of quality) for the shower products and MSC’s stinginess. Allow me to expand on this – I bring along conditioner but I can use hotel (and other cruise lines) products without any fanfare. Of course there might be a difference between them with some products I would opt to use at home, but this is one of the very rare occasions that I had to purchase shampoo, body wash and soap because what was provided was so useless (note that MSC only provides shampoo and body wash. I wish I would have known but I am here to help you out so plan accordingly by bringing your own.

And what is this stinginess that I speak of? That tissues/Kleenex are not included in the rooms! One of the friends we made on the ship said that when they asked for some, they were told that it would be an additional charge! We had the same room attendant so we never asked to confirm. And luckily I always pack some for my day pack but still…

STATEROOM LOCATION

The cabin was mid-ship and we were cruising the Baltic Sea so it was really smooth sailing – I don’t get seasick but my friend who I was traveling does and she was fine for the entire cruise. Directly below us on Deck 7 was Kaito, the sushi restaurant and staterooms above us Deck 9 so no issues with noise or smells. We were close to a lift/elevator so there was moderate noise there.

COMPARISON VS OTHER OCEANVIEWS ON MSC POESIA

MSC lists all oceanview rooms as “deluxe” on the Poesia with all cabins being the same size at 172 Square feet / 16 square meters. They all feature the same porthole design with the capacity to sleep 4. Those on the 5th deck will have clear, unobstructed sea views and will be distinguished price-wise as low deck location while those on deck 8 will either be labeled as ‘a medium deck deluxe oceanview’ = clear view or ‘a medium deck deluxe oceanview with obstructed view’ due location of life boats.

OVERALL RATING OF STATEROOM

My overall rating for this MSC Poesia stateroom is a 6.2 with the caveat that ranking is based on sharing the room with one other person. If there had been more, it would have definitely gone down as it would have been super tight with three and four seems crazy/impossible to me! The room felt cramped as we walked in and just felt smaller once we started settling in.

The other major downsides of the cabin are the bathroom with lack of space to store items and the shower. Seriously gave me the ick and when that is not a good look for what should be the place getting you clean and/or relaxed! While these can be viewed as merely quibbles, for me, it speaks to how MSC views design (or lack of thought/care about design) and whether the guest experience is taken into account plus that MSC has never refurbished the ships and it definitely showed. Note that the Poesia is slated for a major dry dock/refurbishment in 2026 – which should (hopefully) address some of the issues I had with the room!

But I will also add this caveat to these reviews, there is an element that makes it a little difficult for me to rate these as I struggle with whether giving this type of assessment + including a rating is the right thing to do. Should I just stick with doing a tour? If cruising on MSC is the only way that you will be able to see so many places and it saves you money to do so – then book the cabin! MSC tends to be a lot cheaper and they have more sailings in certain destinations so I don’t know if this should deter you.

Maybe it’s a go in with an idea of what to expect (and what to bring to make your cruise more enjoyable!) Because most importantly, I will end with: even with a middling score for my cabin (and MSC in general), I absolutely loved my trip and would do it again in a heartbeat. The itinerary was the biggest draw for me but I really don’t spend lots of time in a cabin so it wasn’t a big deal overall for me. I actually enjoyed the cruise and had a blast aboard.

For more on that trip, you can check out my trip overview that serves as the anchor post for my entire trip including cruise. PS I should note that this cruise was a casino comp for me but as you can clearly see, the fact that MSC comped the cruise fare and taxes/port fees, did not impact my very strong feelings on the stateroom – the trip overview does have links to the casino comp posts and my trip report (essentially the travel hacking breakdown including what I spent in cash/miles/points!