Holiday cruises: could be better

Item: MSC Bellissima
Rating: 3.5
Author: laurencecruise

MSC Bellissima Cruise Review

laurencecruise

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 77

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5

14 Night Arabian Peninsula (Dubai Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 21, 2019

Ship: MSC Bellissima

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 10184

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Overall the cruise was nice but we had a lot of problems with excursions desk and others that I didn’t explain. Probably not going to cruise with MSC again unfortunately

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Embarkation was one of the fastest we’ve ever had, they asked us to arrive at 4pm, which we found kinda late so we arrive an hour early. From check-in to embarking the ship, it took 15-20 minutes which was really nice! Cabins were ready of course and we started exploring the ship

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Compared to our other cruises, food was very disappointing with MSC. MDR was ok but during our second week, it was all the same menus that were served during the first one. Buffet in the morning was great but always the same food every morning and for lunch too. We preferred eating around the pool at the grill or go to the MDR instead of the buffet. We tried 2 specialty restaurants: the Butcher’s cut with great services and GREAT food; you have to try the burrata and the tomahawk! We also met a waiter at L’Atelier Bistro that speak French like us and we became friend with him: Omar! Really nice guy, just like all the other waiters in the Bistro. We ate there 3 times; onion soup is amazing! For drinks, bars can be really crowded so a little tip: L’Atelier Bistro has a bar and is always kinda empty so you should definitely go and drink over there. In addition, there is a Happy Hour allmost every night if you don’t have the drink package

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

We didn’t really participate to the onboard activities except the New Year’s party! Live music, countdown on the big screen at the pool, it was a nice party!

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

Everyone was nice with service! However, we had a lot of problems with the excursions that we booked directly with MSC prior to our cruise. Usually, they bring the tickets directly to our room the first night of the cruise; but we were ready to go to sleep at 9pm due to jetlag and we were supposed to have an excursion the next day and we did NOT received any tickets so we didn’t know where we needed to meet and at what time the next day! We had to go to the reception and they made us copy, even though they were sure we LOST the tickets! It’s not fun to be accused when we didn’t received anything! Next morning we did not received them either(we received them during the day but only for the first week). First thing we know, during the 2nd week: THE SAME THING HAPPENED we didn’t received them and have to make lines to get them which is sad. We will probably not sail again with MSC because of all the problems we had

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

As a new ship, the design was AMAZING!! The big screen on the promenade is magnificent. Every thing is pretty and clean which we loved

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Cabin was pretty but not really useful! Bathroom is the prettiest we’ve ever had but there was not a lot of storage compared to other cruises! Overall, a nice cabin but could have a lot more storage