We went to Norway in May 2024 with the brand new MSC Euribia ship. The locations and route to them were amazing. However, the first thing we noticed is that some employees, mainly at the cabin areas, were really friendly and helpful, while others did not even look at us. We did not feel very welcome when coming aboard. For some employees, it was more important to look at their phone than say 'Hi'. It was really nice that the suitcases were transported to our cabin so fastly; a really good embarkation process.
The ship is very beautiful and well decorated. The foyer, aka Atrium, is quite small, but a nice area to be in. The Bamboo pool is also quite nice and there are multiple in- and outdoor hot tubs. We had the Easy Drink package, which we recommend to all. If you don't buy one of the drink packages, you'll pay immensely high prices for drinks, so the package is worth it. Noticeably, drinks taste way better at the back of the ship compared to the front. For instance, the Carousel lounge is lovely and we enjoyed the Big Band at sea several nights there. Staff was friendly and drinks were well made. You should be early to get a seat, because there are not enough seats for everyone interested in attending the show. Drinks at the outside pool were not that great. We worry about the seating in the high seasons. Theatre shows were very amateurish.
The complimentary restaurants are not worth your time. The menu for each complimentary restaurant is similar on the same day. Even worse: The food looks served from the market place. It's not worth your time, you'd be better off going to the market place in the first place, where's there's more food to choose from, but is still quite mediocre. We had dinner at extra costs at the speciality restaurant The Grill two times, which was really nice and worth it. Great hospitality and great steak!! There was a Gala Night once, but as a consequence, breakfast was served only at the market place, which caused it to be way too crowded there. We missed more typical theme nights.
We were really annoyed by the extra costs on this ship. The upselling on this ship is in your face: Every little thing you want to do, you have to pay for. For instance, when you want to go to the arcade hall, go bowling, eat ice cream, watch a movie on demand, you have to pay extra (1 hour of bowling is €45, redicilously expensive). Not to speak about the pushy photo service. If you say 'No thank you', you are asked why not. It is inappropriate. And they are everywhere, even on shore....
Next up are the excursions. Be warned by redicilously high prices, which are simply not worth it when booking on board. We paid €350 for an excursion (for 2 people), which was nothing special. The people at the excursion were really nice, but it was a simple kayak trip of 1,5 hour at the sight of the fjord, with nothing special to see (we had the same view from the ship). Really disappointing for that amount of money. We complained about the excursion to the excursion desk. At first, they took it really well and we would hear back from them about a solution. We also cancelled the next excursion due to the bad experience, without calcellation fee. Two days later, we hadn't heard anything and went back to them. They closed the ticket themselves and the solution was we wouldn't have to pay a cancellation fee for the other excursion. However, this wasn't discussed with us and it was already made clear before we did not have to pay a fee anyway. So how on earth is this a solution?! We obviously didn't agree, but they did not care. And be warned, we booked it on Monday, cancelled it on Tuesday, and they told us there's a 48h cancellation fee of 50%. We have never heard of something like this before and trust us, they make a lot of money when you book on board. Better take a look online and book yourself, which saves more than 50% of money and you'll have way more options and a better experience. (As an example, we booked an activity ourselves at the last port Flam: trainride, zipline, and a bike ride of 2 hours for only 290€ in total for 2 persons! If you'd booked the trainride on the ship it would have been 402€ for 2 people and you'd have waited in line when coming ashore. Be ashamed of yourself MSC!) The excursion desk manager Samantha did not even took the time to hear our story and explain it to us, even though we went there multiple times. All we heard were rules and that the ticket was closed, so they could not do anything for us. Talk about customer satisfaction... They do not care at all, just about your money.
Some staff members at the security check were nice and funny, while others were very rude. When walking, by mistake, with a watch on through the scanner, a staff member rudely said we walked through with the watch on. We responded by saying he could have just asked to take it off beforehand, but he answered we were restricting him from doing his job and we should remember his name for making a complaint. So inappropriate.. Hence, we obviously did file a complaint about him. The people at the reception were kind and felt sorry for us. However, the damage was already done. Another staff member at the security was also rude when we accidentally forgot one of our cruise cards and rudely asked/screamed: "WHY?!?!". This issue was fastly solved by one of the other colleagues and she apologized for his behavior. We talked to the chief of security and the hotel manager about these incidents. They invited us themselves and took it very seriously. This was a very good thing, but unfortunately, the damage was already done. The hotel manager gifted us a bag with MSC goodies as a nice gesture, but you may understand that we were not really happy with that. A good effort, but we explained them this was the last time we'd ever go on an MSC cruise again, so it kind of missed the point (even though the intention was good). People from the Guest Service were nice and felt sorry for us, but again had to follow the MSC rules as they were told from the managers (the arrogance..).
To conclude, MSC has a lot to learn regarding hospitality. Some staff members were nice and talkative, while others prefer to dodge you. Food at market place is fine, but avoid the complementary restaurants. Excursions are way too expensive. Ship is nice to look at, but it is all glamour without style. There aren't enough (free) activities to do on board for multiple sea days or when it's raining and the ship is not ready for full capacity. Staff at the cabin halls are kind and helpful. Our advice is to book a cruise with another agency. Seeing I've sailed with multiple lines, I know that on every line there is a seperate lounge in case you booked a suite etc. This is called the Yacht Club at MSC. At other lines, this means a deck, mostly the top one, for only those members, which is understandable. At MSC Euribia, the whole front of the ship is not accessible, unless you booked the most expensive option. I have never seen that before and it baffled me. There is no way you can see the front of the ship in real life because it has all been sealed off....
I would rather pay a couple of hundreds extra for the experience which you are promised, because this is disappointing in so many ways that the good won't outright the wrong.
So in short from someone who sailed with Norwegian, Costa and Royal Caribean (which were all excellent experiences!), MSC clearly is missing the boat with such a big ship. It looks like this is a testing phase. I can't even imagine how I would feel if the ship was fully booked.... There is just not enough room/activities.
To add a positive note, the route to Norway is really great. However, MSC itself.. God how I'd have wished I just drove there.. What a sad company. What was supposed to be a holiday turned out to be just one big disappointment and no one who could do something about it even cared.
