Overall a nice Holiday Cruise, the ship was fully booked and in winter which limited some of the usage of outdoor space and thus the indoor public spaces were crowded. I think my of the venues were too small for the number of people, and therefore became overloaded and service had a hard time keeping up. Also, they way the itinerary worked out Hamburg was on a Sunday when it is essentially closed. I would suggest future winter cruises in Europe try to be at sea on Sundays, as much of the cities are closed.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Quick and easy
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Main Dining room food was served nicely and was well rounded flavors and options. Service was friendly and efficient. Portions were somewhat small. Buffet had lots of variety, and was fresh and warm. As the week continued I felt the variety was stale, with simular items. Breakfast and Lunch were very busy and seating sometimes difficult to find. The service was mostly quick, and cheerful. Areas were clean. I was disappointed with The Speialty Restaurants. The venues are small, cramped areas, and booking were hard to come by. The Steak House was the biggest disappointment, The atmosphere was not special, tables were very close together which made for a noisy not remarkable experience. The Food was OK, bit the service was slow and overwhelmed. The dinner at Sushi Robataki was plentiful, and had lots of diverse options. The Tables were along a walkway thru the deck, not much privacy, and noisy. I don't know why MSC continues to advertise to utilize the specialty restaurants to the passengers when restaurant bookings are not available.I don't think the added costs were worth the price for the meal and experience.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Did not take part in many activities on board
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The quality of the entertainment was very high.
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Personnel was very hard working, friendly and helpful
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship is beautiful, clean and pleasing. I felt the design was nice, especially how the common area on deck 6 was utilized. However, I felt the venues were too small, and quickly became crowded and uncomfortable.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Cabin was clean, efficient and well kept. The space was utilized pretty well, but could have used more storage options, i.e.the ottoman/stool could have been used as storage if it's top could be taken off and things placed inside. Also, the minibar was wasted space for us that we could have used for another purpose
Ship tip
Visit the spa and dining g reservations early after you embark, to book the time most favorable to you. Otherwise they probably won't be available later.
The port and all shops and restaurants are closed on Sundays. Makes no sense to bring 6,000 passengers to a port with nothing for them to do or experience
Was the day after Christmas, and many places were closed. I did take advantage of the shuttle into Rotterdam Center and had a look around, I appreciated having the shuttle available.
I took the shuttle in the train station and got a train to Bruge. Nice train and town very picturesque and fun. The shuttle back to the ship at the end of the day was a bit chaotic, having to deboard at the terminal then reboard a shuttle to the ship, but that is the way the Port is set up, not MSC
Quick and efficient, partially due to the fact the entire ship does not disembark in the same port at the same time. One suggestion might be to have a tour for disembarking folks to London with a drop off there for transportation home, ie train station or airport.
We normally cruise with NCL, RC and Celebrity. In November we cruised for the first time with MSC (World Europe so a Med cruise). We found the bread, cheese, coffee, juice, pizza better on MSC. Less sugar. But we live in Europe so maybe that is the reason.
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