Would Not Cruise with MSC Again

MSC Lirica Cruise Review to Caribbean

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 47

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
MSC Lirica

Sail date: December 01, 2007

Ship: MSC Lirica

Cabin type: Inside

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 16 years ago

Review summary

The ship was clean yet poorly laid out with bars and lounges spread across 5 different floors in no particular manner. The pools were small and limited to two. Room service - only if you're sick in bed and otherwise you have to pay for it.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Food choices were horrible, the food itself left a lot to be desired. There were several meals that I skipped because there was nothing that I would eat. The pizza was gross and the hot dogs and hamburgers were even worst. Don't touch the scrabbled eggs either. The dining times were inconvenient if you slept in or arrived back onto the ship late. Once the meal times were over that's it. Not a bit of food available for you. My Mom asked for a banana 5 minutes after the cafeteria closed and the staff member grabbed his privats and said "I'll give you a banana." Too bad I wasn't with her when he said that.....too bad my 4 year old daughter was. Our formal dining room staff was excellent, but the rest of the public area staff members were rude and often not helpful.

Entertainment

1 out of 5
Other than the nightly show which borderlined on poor to fair in quality - there was NOTHING to do on this ship for adults or kids. The kids club was barely open and definitely was not well organized or staffed for a full boat of 2000 people. The activities were definitely here and there, never announced and certainly nothing to write home about. I'm not a sunbather so days at sea were really boring.

Children's Programs

1 out of 5
Staff yelled at the kids on a regular basis. The club was not open on a regular basis. There was a 12 to 1 staff ratio at the bare minimum. They did not have any regular or planned activities for the kids so the kids were running around in a small room like mad animals. They did not keep track of the kids or know their names. Anyone could have "picked up" your child from the room and they wouldn't have known they were gone. If there was an issue with your child they had no way to track you down. Very poor in terms of safety and security of the children.

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
Some were nice, some were awfully rude and should not be employed in any hospitality field. The Maitre'D is one of them. My father was ill with a herniated disc in his back. He was room bound for 4 of the 7 days and when we requested a decent meal from the dining room be sent to him (as it stated could be done in the guest service in room book) the Maitre'D said no way - I'll send you a sandwich. They definitely did not go above and beyond in our case, so we made due and brought food from the cafeteria for him. I witnessed an older gentleman trying to disembark to one of the islands tip over in his wheelchair. He was pinned against the floor, and wall and was bleeded badly. Not one ship staff helped him - it was the people in line that got him upright and to the doctors for stitches!! Just another example of poor staff quality.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
The ship is considerable smaller than most other lines. The layout was a poor design with bars and lounges under and above guest rooms, (ours being one of them), thus keeping our kids up with the loud music until midnight every night. The boat was maintained well and clean. The rooms are standard size with nothing overly special about them. Certainly the pools were small and became very over crowded on sunny at sea days.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Nothing special about the room to mention. We had two kids and ourselves in a room with 2 bunks and two twins put together. Not a lot of space left over with 4 suitcases....so we avoided any extra time in our room. It was clean and well maintained. Location was interior and convenient to the elevators.

Pros: Stopping in Key West, Cozumel, Montego Bay and Grand Cayman

Cons: Poor Staff quality & service, horrible food, tender service took 4 hours or more to get onto shore,

Recommends MSC Lirica? No.

Was this review helpful? 47

1 Comment

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.