MY REVIEW OF THE MSC ARMONIA, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY.
I sailed on the MSC Armonia on December 16 through December 23, 2019. I took this particular voyage because the ports and dates were convenient for me. The ship’s passengers were made up of approximately 40% Americans 15% Canadians with the balance of passengers from everywhere else in the world including Chile, Brazil, Canada, Kazakhstan, and Russia. The Armonia is the oldest ship in the MSC fleet. In 2014 an insert was welded into it’s middle to add an additional 193 cabins.
The Good:
Evening meals were served in the main dining room (MDR) with the optional buffet. The dress code was not enforced in the MDR, and I like that. On the two dress-up nights I observed passengers in shorts, jeans, hats, flip flops and tee shirts along with passengers who were dressed in tuxes and gowns. I thought the food was fair and the service did take a little long. The MDR service was better than what I experienced on Norwegian Cruise Lines.
The poolside grill served great hamburgers. The patties were made from quality meat and not over cooked to where they became dried out hockey pucks. The pizza onboard was fantastic. You will probably not find better pizza on any other ship. Several different types were offered daily which included marinara, sausage, Hawaiian and vegetable. One of my breakfast favorites which is lox (smoked salmon) was served in the buffet several days during the week.
On the first night of the voyage the entertainment staff ran a game called King versus Queen where teams of contestants had to either name the Michael Jackson or Queen song within a certain amount of time or the opposing team could steal if not named in time. I thought that was a lot of fun and got all the passengers in the lounge area involved.
The bar service was good. Bartenders worked really hard to keep up with the amount of passengers onboard. I found the amount of bartenders were undermanned at times.
The cruise activities staff were all very friendly and eager to please. The young men from the entertainment staff always asked unaccompanied ladies to dance. That was something that I’ve never seen on any other cruise line. The entertainment staff was very good mixing it up the passengers and very energetic. The games that were run by the activities staff were fun and the activities staff was always very enthusiastic.
The newly developed private island Ocean Cay was very nice with lagoons, beaches, restaurants, bars and food trucks. Lunch was served on the private island, which consisted of burgers, hotdogs, corn on the cob, hamburgers, french fries, baked beans and salads. The food was very good. The private island had Wi-Fi available for those who paid for it.
THE BAD
Embarkation:
I thought embarkation took a little bit longer then I expected. They didn’t have enough agents to keep up with the amount of people checking in. Because of the insert of cabins into the middle of the ship, access to some cabins on deck 7 forward was a little tricky for those effected. Passengers had to walk up to deck 8 or down to deck 6, walk to the forward part of the ship and access deck 7 forward. The MSC pier agent upon check gave me a little map (see photo) to get to my cabin because she thought I was on deck 7 forward. It’s too bad that my cabin assignment was deck 7 aft. Thirty minutes later, I figured it out.
The Cabin:
Upon entering my cabin for my first look around I discovered that my cabin safe was not bolted to the wall. The shower stall in my cabin was way too small. Telephones in the cabins were 1970s technology without cabin voice mail. MSC forces you to muster outside for the drill and insists that you bring your stateroom life jacket. I have not done that on any ship since 2009. One night there was no hot water in the shower for anyone onboard. On day three I found a $29 unauthorized charge from the private island on my onboard account.
The cruise line/ship does not link a credit card to your onboard account either at online registration, or upon check-in at the pier. They advance you $300 in credit until you link your credit card to your onboard account at one of the various kiosks around the ship. If you don’t link your credit card and reach the $300 limit, your card is shut down. I found this out the hard way.
The daily announcements were in five languages and were made several times a day. That got a little monotonous but eventually I got used to it.
The Entertainment:
90% of the DJ music in either the disco, main lounge or deck parties was geared to 15-year-olds. The DJ played pounding euro-techno type of house music, which I detest. If you’re over 30 you didn’t hear any adult music. At 12:20 AM Sunday morning everything closed except for the casino, disco and late night pizza. The band in the main lounge was very good but usually finished at 11:45 PM. Other than the disco there was not much else to do on the ship.
There were no songbooks or computer to look up for songs at karaoke. The activity crewmember took your name and song that you wanted to sing. If it wasn’t in their database of songs found in the DJ booth in the rear of the karaoke lounge, you later found out that you were not put on the list to sing.
The production shows were all singing and dancing with no dialogue due to the numerous languages spoken onboard. They ran approximately 35 minutes. I would have liked to have seen some comedy or magic.
The ship had the worst silent disco I’ve ever attended on any ship. I tuned into the 80s music channel. The DJ played a 30 second sampling of 80s songs for an hour and twenty minutes. The sampling of songs is the new trend among kids and DJs but it’s not for me. I was disappointed that I never heard a full song.
The Food:
The buffet food temperature was sometimes cold and eating utensils were hard to find. The buffet tables were not cleaned fast enough. The area was much too small for the amount of people onboard. With the additional number of cabins put into the ship, the designers did not increase the size of the buffet, kitchen and seating area making it hard to find a seat especially in bad weather. I found the food served in the buffet pretty good but with few options.
The gelato bar was awesome but was undermanned having one employee, which resulted in long lines every day. The food portions in the MDR were sometimes small with the meats overcooked. One of my tablemates was served undercooked chicken.
The Ship Design:
I found the ship design to be very strange. On most ships the MDR is in the rear of the ship or off to the sides from the main promenade. The Armonia’s MDR is in the middle of the ship on decks 5 and 6. Thus you had passengers transiting the MDR during meals to get from one end of the ship to the other. There were no adult’s only areas on the ship.
The towel exchange was never open on pool deck. On most ships beach towels are in your cabin upon arrival and new ones replaced everyday. On the Armonia you had to ask your cabin steward for beach towels. The ships Lounge chairs were poorly and constructed of a European design from the 1970s (see photos).
Disembarkation from the ship started very early. You had to leave the ship by 9:30 AM. I was told that if I didn’t leave the ship at 9:30 AM security would be called.
I’ve spoken to other passengers who had laundry lists of complaints regarding the services onboard. Passengers that frequented Carnival, NCL and Celebrity were not very happy.
The UGLY
I came back to my cabin four days into the cruise and discovered large black specks of dust from the ceiling air vent on my bed (see photos). That was pretty gross. I couldn’t control the temperature in my cabin. My cabin temperature would not go below 68 degrees. The temperature in most public areas in the ship was way too warm. It’s almost as if when they put the insert with the additional cabins into the ship they didn’t increase the size HVAC system.
The MSC Armonia made the 2019 list of the worst cruise ships in the world. Being that this ship is so old, in my opinion it should have been taken out of service 10 years ago.
I would be very interested to sail on another more modern ship within their fleet like the MSC Seaside. When I sailed on the Armonia I truly felt that I was part of an international community, meeting great people from different countries and cultures.
Would I sail on the MSC Armonia again? The answer is …. soon.
