Good cruise overall

MSC Armonia Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 46

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
MSC Armonia

7 Night Western Caribbean Holiday (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 23, 2019

Ship: MSC Armonia

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 8101

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

what we liked about cruise 1.Shows were awesome. The entertainment team or the dream team was really good as well. Liked that different dance lessons were made available and taught by a very good team 2.Kids club(mini and junior) worked well. Love the fact they are open later compared to some other cruiselines. Like the fact that we could leave the kids in Kids club and take an excursion with a peace of mind. 3.Ocean cay was nice. Liked that the Kids Club team were also planning some activities for the kids on the beach. We ate from the food trucks and omg! The burgers were simply awesome. 4.Service at marco polo dining room was really nice- Lewis Ricky brought special indian food from kitchen without even asking. He very quickly understood what we wanted and needed and provided it to us which made us order from indian menu next few days. Goan fish curry from indian menu was awesome. The Indian Appetizers were really good. 5.Santa coming and giving presents to each and every kid was a nice gesture. 6. Our rooms & bathroom gets cleaned so fast that we simply love coming back to a nicely made room. Great thanks to Edwin Moreira. 7. Pillows and mattress were really comfortable. Sheets are soft and clean. What we didnt like 1.Buffet was repetitive. Breakfast buffet was the same every day. No variety at all. Omelette station never added salt and didn't add salt even on request. There were only 1 waffle machine which made 4 waffles. Waffle is a favorite among kids and adults. It would be great if there were more waffle machines. The food did not get replenish fast enough, and tables did not get cleaned fast enough to make them available. We always struggled to find seating in buffet area. Looks like ship was not used to running full capacity, because we did not experience this in other cruise line. 2.Italian food in dining room like pasta lacked salt and seasoning on multiple occasions. 3. Last day was open seating in the restaurants. Our new waiter was no even aware of the separate Indian menu available. That got me thinking, if we got this waiter for the duration, would we have enjoyed the awesome indian food? We may not know there were any available. Aren't all your waiters briefed on what's available? 4.Timing in cayman island didn't work.When you are going to use tender boat, where we wasted so much time waiting for our turn to get on and transported, and especially when we did not dock in George town, now travel time to the 7 mile beach was much longer. you need to spend longer time on that island compared to others but ship spent longer time on other islands and cayman was too short. I felt so rushed and my wife didn't even bother to swim because it's all so rush and as soon as we get in, we would need to get out to head back to the ship. What's the point of going to one of the best beaches and not able to enjoy it? 5.Bathroom in my oceanview cabin looked smaller than some of the interior bathrooms i have seen in some other cruiselines. The shower curtain sticks to us while in the shower and it is suck a yucky feeling. 6. We always had to ask for pool/beach towels.It never got refilled on time since they were always running short of those.We heard multiple complaints about this and we too complained. .We were told by the steward it was like "Gold" .Again it looked like ship was not equipped to run full capacity. 7.There should be a common / shared drier or ironing area like some other cruise lines. Last day on Ocean Cay and not enough time to dry our swimming clothes we had to pack our wet clothes and by the time we got home it was nasty. 8. I understand Ocean Cay is new. But people who worked there seems uptight, irritable, impatient and rude with an attitude especially the drivers of the buggy that took us. We were at the presentation of Ocean Cay by our cruise director the day before we arrived and i think more information should have been informed to us. (For example, from where to where the buggy picks up and drops when we asked, the driver seemed irritated. We just let him take us and got off) Ocean Cay is very windy. Maybe better planning with plates and cutlery could be planned as the light paper plates i was carry got flipped and food on the ground in seconds.

Embarkation

4 out of 5
embarking in miami was super fast, no line.we got in by 11:30 .. embarking in cayman was a pain since we had to get into tender boat , had long lines in hot sun. ocean cay was their private island but we had to stand in a line to get back which was a little annoying.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Service at marco polo dining room was really nice- Lewis Ricky brought special indian food from kitchen without even asking. He very quickly understood what we wanted and needed and provided it to us which made us order from indian menu next few days. Goan fish curry from indian menu was awesome. The Indian Appetizers were really good. .Buffet was repetitive. Breakfast buffet was the same every day. No variety at all. Omelette station never added salt and didn't add salt even on request. There were only 1 waffle machine which made 4 waffles. Waffle is a favorite among kids and adults. It would be great if there were more waffle machines. The food did not get replenish fast enough, and tables did not get cleaned fast enough to make them available. We always struggled to find seating in buffet area. Looks like ship was not used to running full capacity, because we did not experience this in other cruise line. Italian food in dining room like pasta lacked salt and seasoning on multiple occasions.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Shows were awesome. The entertainment team or the dream team was really good as well. Liked that different dance lessons were made available and taught by a very good team Kids club(mini and junior) worked well. Love the fact they are open later compared to some other cruiselines. Like the fact that we could leave the kids in Kids club and take an excursion with a peace of mind.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Shows were awesome. The entertainment team or the dream team was really good as well. Liked that different dance lessons were made available and taught by a very good team Kids club(mini and junior) worked well. Love the fact they are open later compared to some other cruiselines. Like the fact that we could leave the kids in Kids club and take an excursion with a peace of mind.Santa coming and giving presents to each and every kid was a nice gesture.

Children's Programs

5 out of 5
Kids club(mini and junior) worked well. Love the fact they are open later compared to some other cruiselines. Like the fact that we could leave the kids in Kids club and take an excursion with a peace of mind.Santa coming and giving presents to each and every kid was a nice gesture.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
Lewis Ricky brought special indian food from kitchen without even asking.Our rooms & bathroom gets cleaned so fast that we simply love coming back to a nicely made room. Great thanks to Edwin Moreira.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
Our rooms & bathroom gets cleaned so fast that we simply love coming back to a nicely made room. Great thanks to Edwin Moreira. Pillows and mattress were really comfortable. Sheets are soft and clean. Bathroom in my oceanview cabin looked smaller than some of the interior bathrooms i have seen in some other cruiselines. The shower curtain sticks to us while in the shower and it is suck a yucky feeling. 6. We always had to ask for pool/beach towels.It never got refilled on time since they were always running short of those.We heard multiple complaints about this and we too complained. .We were told by the steward it was like "Gold" .Again it looked like ship was not equipped to run full capacity. There should be a common / shared drier or ironing area like some other cruise lines. Last day on Ocean Cay and not enough time to dry our swimming clothes we had to pack our wet clothes and by the time we got home it was nasty.

Ship tip

travel during off season

Ports of call

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

4 out of 5
we did scenic ocho rios, jkonoko falls excursion but it was just OK.. nothing too great.

George Town, Grand Cayman

3 out of 5
stayed too short and even cut short by delay in tender boat. ship should stay longer here

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

4 out of 5
we took a cab to blue kay and had a good time. port was commercialized and full of sales people.

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

4 out of 5
like the privacy..good beaches.. still way to go since not enough facilites and most part of island still closed.. but enjoyed overall

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
it was ok.. not much delay.
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