Yacht Club chic

Item: MSC Grandiosa
Rating: 4.7
Author: traveldoc2013

MSC Grandiosa Cruise Review

traveldoc2013

Contributor Level: Second Mate

8 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 8

Helpful Votes: 125

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 26, 2022

Ship: MSC Grandiosa

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

First time in MSC YC and would recommend this experience, particularly for adult couples. They do permit children but all the activities for kids are elsewhere on the ship. Covid did limit tour excursion options but that did not stop us arranging them in all but Rome (been there, done that so we stayed onboard). Beautiful ship and next time we will try out some speciality restaurants which looked amazing.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Boarded in Barcelona and not clearly highlighted where Yacht Club passengers go to board so we initially got held up by a long queue

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Cannot fault the food, particularly noticing a massive improvement from previous smaller MSC ships we have sailed on. YC includes premium plus drinks package so everything we wanted was included.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Show quality fantastic. The backing dancer skill was impressive. I enjoyed the aftershow dancing and displays in the Galleria Grandiosa corridor.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

YC very attentive. A few issues with attention to detail, for example our daily newspaper took 3 days to materialise! They did however make lots of efforts as we were celebrating a birthday. Bubbles all round!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

YC balcony. Wow!

Ship tip

This is a massive ship so take time on day 1 (before you start trying all the cocktails!) to get your bearings and make your spa bookings. Times can get booked up quite quickly.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Valletta, Malta

4 out of 5

Only panoramic bus tour permitted given COVID restrictions. Guide fantastic but would have loved to get off and walk around. Regatta day happened when there which we could watch from our balcony, but would have been nice to soak up some of the local atmosphere.

Thumbs Up 0

Palermo, Sicily

4 out of 5

Weather not great and guide on walking tour was poor. I would choose a different tour next time. We have previously done wine tasting on another part of the island which was fantastic.

Thumbs Up 1

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5

E-bike ship cycling tour recommended

Thumbs Up 1

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Genoa, Italy

5 out of 5

Walking tour provided a great overview.

Thumbs Up 0