It was our worst cruising experience ever. We were made to feel like we were not welcome, anywhere.
Crew was not properly trained and couldn't care less if the passengers were happy. There was almost zero activities and Gene, the cruise director has no business desling wit people.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
System down for 2.5 hours. Staff was amazing during this time. No fault to them.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Food, mostly tasty but cool. Dining room and buffet. Crew should have been trained better, especially when putting condiments on food. No one eats an entire table spoon of sugar on one bowl of oatmeal.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
There were only 4 or 5 trivia games, the entire cruise. Karaoke 1.5 hours each night. Other than shopping, there were no other activities. No pool games, nothing!
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The second show was amazing. It was put together beautifully and we knew the theme. The first show was all over the place. The singers that actually sang and did not lip sync, were good. The Bruno Mars and James Brown lip syncing, were ridiculous! The costumes were hedious and what was the theme? They were all over the place.
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
I have never been made to feel as unwelcome as I was on this ship. From not allowing me to have full soda that I paid for to removing my items from cabin refrigerator and locking it, 16.5 before end of cruise, to the condescending cruise director, Gene, this was, by far, our worst cruise in over 12 years. Using Covid as the excuse was a sad display of unprofessionalism. Telling us we couldn't sit in an area that the previous night was packed then 10 minutes after we left, others were allowed in those very same seats. Saying people were being kept off elevators together but seating strangers at six people tables, all in the name of Covid was complete and utter nonsense. There were more empty tables than full.
It seemed like the crew was just brought on without any training at all. None of them knew the layout of the ship, including Gene, the CD.
I purchased the non-alcoholic drink package because I was told shakes, juices and non-alcoholic mixed drinks were included. There were no milkshakes anywhere on the ship. When I tried to get juice, each time I was told there was none. It took over 24 hours from the purchase to find a bartender who would make a non-alcoholic drink. We had two each, the entire cruise. Approximately 10 sodas (only half a can each because "your package does not include the can" and one latte that was so bad, it wasn't fit to drink. That was one expensive drink package.
The overall atmosphere was so unwelcoming, mostly cried the entire weekend.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
Elevators don't match up. The layout of the ship overall is horrible.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
There was nothing wrong with our cabin. Smaller than I expected for a balcony but the comfort and cleaniness was great.
I still don't know why I was locked out of the refrigerator on the last full day of cruise. There was nothing in it but two bottles of water, to begin with. I paid for the use of it until 8 AM the following morning so it makes no sense.
Just one more thing making us feel like we didn't belong.
This was our first and last MSC cruise.
Nothing is ever perfect and we've always been able to get past hiccups. This was much more than a hiccup here and there. We were not wanted on that ship for some reason and they were certain to let us know.
No worries, we won't be back.
We had a similar experience on MSC Divina in January 2020, service was rubbish, food was absolutely awful quality and mostly cold (apart from the great pizza!), the ship layout is just terrible, particularly in the buffet. The staff were often rude, the spa (which free access to was part of our fare level) had noisy door slamming staff to whom you were just an inconvenience. Pre-covid the ship was so packed it was uncomfortable and loud, this combined with the total lack of nice ambience and all of the above lena we would never take another MSC cruise. We had a decent cabin level and perks but these did not make up for an abysmal experience, weāll stick to other cruise lines!
BeachDiva, we did meet a woman who was on MSC Meraviglia the week before and she absolutely loved it. I really thought most of our issues, except for the rudeness, was because this was the first sailing for Divina since the pandemic, until I read the reviews here.
I need to mention that the sail date is incorrect. We sailed on September 16 thru Sept 19, 2021. I don't know where that date above came from.
For the person who mentioned being locked out of the refrigerator not being a big deal, of course it wasn't a big deal, by itself. With that said, I did pay for the use of it until the next morning. Had there been a problem, maybe it should have been relayed to me.
I also forgot to mention that after watching the safety briefing video and checking in on our cabin phone, we had to go down seven flights of stairs to check in with our cards. Unless you were completely immobile, they would not allow you to use an elevator. Already having spinal injuries, compensating for those caused me to mess up my knee about halfway down. A man in front of us who obviously was in worse shape than me, almost fell, several times. This was one of the most irresponsible things I've ever seen, and the crew did not care.
None of the issues, except for the rudeness of the crew and cruise director, would have been a make or break thing for us; it was all of it that added up that made it a bad experience overall.
We sailed on the Divinia 4 times. On MSC a total of 11 times with 2 more booked. As to the pool not having activities you have to remember this is an Italian line and they don't go in for the hairy chest contest or belly flop contest. For us MSC means we will have very nice relaxing cruise which is what we prefer, very few announcements on the PA. So nice. So for you I guess just don't go on another MSC cruise.
Yup, I've been on over 50 cruises, MSC twice! I went the 2nd time just to give them the benefit of the doubt! Nope- never again!! They will not see me again!
MSC will never get our money. Too many disappointed customers on this app and good friends of ours also very unhappy with them. So sorry you were treated badly.
I'm sorry this was ur experience. I wish u cld have the same we have had all 3x on this ship. We love the crew each time and altho the food in yacht club is not always amazing... we find the experience makes it okay... I hope you can try it again bc maybe in a year things will be better and u can get the experience we have grown to enjoy and love over our last few times on her.
Nothing worse then a vacation memory that is a wasted vacation. Again. Sorry for u this happened.
Several years ago I sailed on that same MSC fiasco. I've been on nearly 100 cruises and that was by far the worst trip I have ever taken. A doctor that I met on board had so many problems it wasn't funny so by the end of the week it was a running joke and he bought me a MSC t-shirt because he knew I would never ever buy one of those for myself. MSC did prove me wrong though when people ask me what was my favorite cruise line or favorite ship my standard reply was it's not necessarily the ship but the people that you meet. In the case of MSC it was the ship and the staff the worst I've ever seen and I will never travel on that line no matter how inexpensive the cruise is.
I can't wait to sail on MSC in January so I can see if I fall in the love it or hate it group. I'm sure it would have to be pretty bad for me to hate it though. I would say if I liked one out of two shows, it was pretty good. I could care less if I couldn't put my bottle of water in the fridge on the last day... I'm probably going to love it.
Our first cruise on MSC, 6 years ago, also on Divina was our last and only. The service was terrible, poorly trained, negative attitudes, made it feel like the crew was doing us a favor instead of providing customer service. The troubles began before we got to the pier, their website was a complete joke, one of their telephone āTravel Advisors ā, could not answer any basic questions, and actually said āYes this website is not very good. I can send you to support but we close in 30 minutesā. This was four days before the cruise. We thought the food was awful, bland, presentation of the plates unappealing and everything was cold, Service in the dining rooms also badly trained, and bad attitudes. Also we thought the entertainment was pretty poor. The guest performers were not very good, some actually lip synced, YES lip synced, all sang with recorded music, no live band, very disappointing. The organization of the excursions was very chaotic, poorly planned. The one thing that saved this terrible experience was the itinerary was fabulous. We have discovered that MSC actually means Must Stay Clear.
MSC seems to be a very polarizing cruiseline; people either really love it or really hate it. I haven't sailed with them, I'm really on the fence about it. Sorry you had such a poor overall cruise experience.
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