MSC Lirica Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Great time! We will make a new cruise, for sure. Everything was great and the staff very helpful and kind. We only had a little problem with a waiter, just because of our nationality. Well, one person doesn't represent all other awesome persons of the staff.

This was my second trip with MSC and had the 3rd immediately after with Sinfonia. Food was excellent, Lirica is a beautiful ship and staff wonderful BUT wifi too expensive and not reliable. Showers too small

Most cruisers were disappointed by the awful food. The meat was chewy and full of gristle. Most of the food lacked any flavour and was always cold. The waiting staff did not have much expertise. The bar staff were very busy and often brought the wrong drinks.

Just back from the Dubai cruise departed on Friday 8 Feb.. never been with msc and unfortunately won't be back. The food was poor with a very limited choice and the drinks package was awful with limited choice of drinks... in the restaurants at meal time you can get 1 choice of wine... we had purchased the drinks package before going. We were told changes had been recently made to the package and compared to NCL it was poor. We stayed on deck 10 we had picked deck 9 due to reviews of noise but then got upgraded ... the noise from above was bad at night and you could hear the chairs etc being moved around on the deck. On a sea day there is no where outside to sit except decks 11/12 if you want a quiet space then don't go there. Deck 6 lovely and quiet but no where to sit and read a book... missed opportunity... the pizza guy did make some great pizza... if not for this we would habe been really annoyed.... sorry msc but never again and it wasn't a cheap holiday either. Staff did their best and the entertainment was average. There are only so many ways you can put a set of stairs.....

Пока это лучший зимний круиз! Я рекомендую его всем!!!

Altogether was a nice cruise, we had luck with the weather. The preprint shuttle tickets are very comfortable...

After changing our initial honeymoon cruise with MSC to this belated honeymoon cruise due to bad weather, we only can say it’s a waste of our money. We’ve mentioned to the Spanish customer service by phone that it was our (belated) honeymoon and nothing was arranged for us. Very, very disappointing. We registered our debit card on board and MSC charged us double. So now we’re spending our days trying to get our money back.

The ship itself is small carrying less than 2000 people the main issues we found is that there is no functional space big enough to accommodate passengers wishing to watch the shows provided by the animation team. This resulted in even if you found a seat, passenger standing in front of you obscuring your view with a result that you too had to stand to watch the show. That said the ship is very clean. The Cabins as you would expect are of a good standard we were in the new section of the ship added in the past few years so ours was not as old some of the others. On the most part I did not hear anything bad about the cabins or the service of the attendants ours seem to speak very little English and did not truly make herself known to us to provide the one on one service that you come to expect when booking a cruise. The ship has good dining rooms and facilities. We only used the buffet restaurant once choosing to have all our meals in the main restaurants this we found to be a great option with a greater array of choice. Without the greater numbers of people the noise and the pushing, barging and lack of tables that we found on our one visit to the buffet restaurants. The restaurant staff were very good always polite happy and willing to serve. The only issue that we found was that they did not seem do you want to serve tea or coffee at the end of the meal the option was never offered. That said they were in no hurry to push you out of the restaurant. The dining overall was fair but it was noted that the same menus were offered this year as were offered last year with no variance so even though we had a choice it did seem a repetition and that you had been there before. Again as with our previous trip. It was noted that the level of competent staff seem to have dropped, this again can be attributed to the launch of the new MSC mega cruise ships. Again a few staff seem to have been moved into positions that they were struggling to provide the level of service required. When spending this kind of money you expect first class service at all times. The ship seems to mainly cater for the Italians who seem to make up the vast majority after passengers. This caused many issues with some passenger who had never sailed with MSC before who thought they were treated as second rate passengers and pushed to the back of the que where service was concerned. There was a great push for you to buy the on-board packages provided this was especially true with the drinks package, a few people who had brought the drink package mentioned and it was indeed the case that the service in the bars was very slow. People that we spoke to were of the opinion that this was so you drink less and therefore could not use the drinks package to its full potential. We did observe servers in the bars ignoring passengers who had recently arrived and were waiting to be served. I myself opted to go to the bar on more than one occasion to get served as this had happened to me. I did find the bar staff in most cases to be helpful but again I did notice passengers orders were being combined by the servers to be taken out at one time instead of being taken out when you order was completed this meant that some servers carrying as many as 10 to 15 drinks on a tray at one time. This resulted in some passengers waiting up to 30 minutes to get their drinks. Where two or three trips could have to have been made to better service the passengers and reduce just waiting time that so annoyed most passengers. I know of at least 4 groups of passengers who refused to pay the service charges mainly due the level of service they received in the bar areas of the ship. This cannot be a great thing for MSC. MSC need to realise that they are judged as a brand on all their fleet. The older and smaller cruise ships with lower standards of service affect how passengers and potential customers perceive the brand. Whilst talking to passengers a number stated that they would never use MSC again based solely on the experience of this Cruise. We have another cruise booked with MSC in May next year and I am hoping that there is a vast improvement in the level of service that we receive or that to maybe the last MSC cruise we undertake. The itinerary for the cruise looked wonderful with great destinations what we did find was that on closer investigation some of the stops were only 6 hours this resulted in rushed time ashore with the constant worry and an eye on the time you had to be back on the ship. That said it did not take away from the beautiful locations that were visited

This was my first MSC cruise experience. It was ok. It was affordable and family friendly so no major complaints. I will just state the comparisons I noticed (and remember) to my other cruises in this summary. One difference is the cruise card activation stations, that's new to me and they were smaller than I had imagined or perhaps seen on a video clip. Another difference is there is only one beverage service at main dining and no coffee to eat with dessert (after dinner). When I asked for a second drink, it was with a bit of pushback but I persisted. I did not purchase a beverage package since I'm a travel agent and took advantage of a promotion for included beverages as a promotion. A waitress at one of their bars told us if they didn't want to get us another drink, get their name and let them know. Overall, the staff just seems new. They don't seem to know much about cruising. The ones I asked stated they had about 2 more months on their 10-month contract and I would think after 8 months, they would get the hang of it. The dining staff had a clear head waiter and assistant but the assistant wasn't prioritizing our drinks and helping the main waiter with our food; it was more brown-nosing. For example, on RCCL I am use to my table being manicured throughout dinner. I took a photo of my un-manicured table (see below). This happened once at a lunch dining. One of the elevators mid-ship did not go on the 8th floor, my floor. So we would ride up to 9 and walk down to 8 but this was only a few times so not a huge deal. The spray park would close with windy weather, but I had to seek out the lifeguards under the tarp of the hot tubs to ask why. They never walked around or paid very close attention to guests in the water/pool area. Their lounge chairs are awesome as you can fold them over your face so as not to get sun in your eyes. This was quite a lovely feature! The baby club had posted times with a side note that times could change at any time. When it did cancel, they didn't update the door, we just waited outside 20 minutes and realized they weren't going to be showing up. The baby club was only 1 hour and with the registration only 1 employee, you maybe got 40 minutes before you needed to head back for pick up. They have a pager they give to parents and they page you if the child isn't adjusting or they need you to come back so that is a nice feature. The kids under age 12 receive an identifying bracelet via barcode at embarkation; another nice feature. Some of the staff also had pagers, like our housekeeper, Luc. He was great, but once he found out I spoke his native language, his English got worse; how convenient. :) The Internet is not unlimited like RCCL. And if you don't buy more BEFORE it runs out, the price quadruples so buy it before it ends. Guest services told me to buy it once it ends, big mistake and lesson learned. The spa was quite pushy. My mom took advantage of a massage and a hairdo on day 2 and by day 3 or 4 they were offering discounts on spa services. Now, I understand why they were so pushy. Hold off and get a deal if you're interested in the spa. It's very European, the food, the people so go with it. There is a presence of prepubescent girls topless and topless tanning. This doesn't bother me, but it may some so be aware. Although storage was fully adequate for us, we learned of additional storage in the room (shelves behind the mirror over the desk, including the safe). It was on an angle, don't know why we didn't think to look behind the mirror. There was also a shelf above the mini-bar that my toddler discovered about day 4 or 5. It was on her level, so she used it. I did have an issue with the photo shop. They have a no return policy unless a defect. I had a defect and they said that they would just reprint. So it's actually a no return policy. What makes me comment on this is that when I pointed it out to the manager, he became clearly upset with me and threw the reprint pictures at me in front of my daughter and elderly mom. Guest services had no interest in my complaint either. But this incident involved 2 employees (photo manager and senior guest service rep, both of Italy), so I won't let it deter my entire viewpoint of MSC. As far as the status match on the voyager program, it's great but I didn't notice any special treatment and most of the staff didn't know what it was really. I was a Silver member on this cruise and I met up with a Black member with his family and there was really no difference, maybe aside from embarkation. I just expected it to be a bit different. But I will try a different class of ship by MSC before I make a decision on the brand. My next MSC ships are Poesia then Meraviglia and Grandiosa. After 4 MSCs, I will know if I can continue cruising with them but so far so good!

The personnel who took care of my situation (lost luggage) were worried to follow the rules, not please the customer. As my two pieces of luggage did not arrive (my wife and mine), we spend the first three days in a very poor way. Charging fees were more important than calming us. It is amazing how many fees there were on this ship. Even to disembark we had to pay for transportation. First and last time with MSC!!!

I've cruised on many sizes of ships with Norwegian and Carnival in the Caribbean and Central America. This is my first cruise in the Med with MSC. I loved it! The size of the ship was not overwhelming (about 2,000 passenger capacity). The ports of call were just outstanding, The ship's European sophistication of the decor was mature and refreshing. The cabin price for what we received was hard to beat. Be warned however - this is not a typical Caribbean cruise experience. The passengers were mostly mature Italians and Italian families with children. English speakers and people in their 20s and 30s were a tiny minority. But language was NEVER an issue as every ship staffer we interacted with knew enough English to communicate effectively! If you are looking for the typical boozing, reveling and gluttony found on Stateside cruises stay in the Caribbean with Carnival and the like. But if you want to try a more refined , family-friendly (kids sail free!) experience with an eye-opening Western cultural and historical experience then go for it!

Nice not new ship but clean and easy to walk and found area's like bars, restaurant . Crew excellent especial they animatie One thing shower in cabin hhhha smalllll. But for 8 days oke we survive

This was our first cruise so haven’t got anything to compare it too. We were a bit worried after we booked as all the reviews we read had been so bad. Also we couldn’t really find any reviews after 2015!!! We weren’t disappointed though! The cabin was clean and very comfortable with lots of storage space. The staff were all really welcoming and friendly, especially the young man who was always in and out of our cabin daily. The food was lovely and there was plenty to choose from. We were in the dining area on level 5 La Bussola Restaurant. The only negatives were the portions were quite small and the service was a little slow at times. The waiters could have been more attentive. We were often calling them over for more drinks or bread rolls. The service did improve mid week when one of our fellow diners called the maître d over to complain. Our waiters were always smiling and friendly though. On deck 11 at La pergola and Le bistrot you could get food all day/night. Buffet breakfast/lunch, cakes/pastries, snacks, pizzas, burgers, and other things from the grill. You really couldn’t go hungry on this cruise. (This pleased my husband immensely) Overall entertainment was ok. Would have been nice to have had a few comedians though instead of just singing, dancing and bad magic shows! You have to prebook your seats in the theatre. Lastly we thought the excursions were quite expensive. I had used my Viator app and booked my own tours cheaper in advance. It’s safe to say that our overall cruise experience was fab and we’ve definitely got the cruise bug! Looking forward to trying more cruise ships in the future, and exploring more beautiful countries.

I really wanted to give this ship 5 stars. I had read all the bad reviews and I decided that the complaints were mostly things that did not matter too much to me. So I went with a lot of optimism and an open mind. Unfortunately there were a series of unfortunate issues that prevented us from enjoying our cruise to the fullest. I'll try to be as objective as possible because my intention is not to rant, but to inform other people that are considering this ship of what they are going to find. The Good: All the ports we visited were great, specially Croatia. Embarkation was easy. We were traveling with our toddler son and they gave us priority access, which was a nice touch. The atmosphere in the ship is more laid back and calmer than in other ships. This might not be a plus for some people, but for us it definitely is. We dislike "party ships" where everybody's purpose seems to be to get drunk and the pool area is always crowded and noisy. We prefer a more serene cruise experience. The Bad: My husband's iPhone was lost at the ship's security checkpoint when returning from the first port we visited. Long story short, he gave the phone to the security staff, we never got it back, they were not able to find it and did not have cameras pointing to the check point area. We felt they were at fault for losing the phone. We tried to bounce back from this setback and still enjoy the cruise, but then more things kept happening. From day one we noticed the carpet in our room in front of the bathroom was wet, at first we thought they had shampooed the carpet and would dry out in time, but when by the 2nd or 3rd day it was still wet, and even the cabin steward mentioned it, we realized there was something wrong. The bathroom also started to smell like a sewer, and it was getting worse by the day. The plumber was sent in, and they dried the carpet with a big fan, but the smell would not go away, so the customer service manager decided to upgrade us to a suite.  We appreciated that, and thought it was a nice gesture and that we might finally bounce back from all the inconveniences and start relaxing and enjoying our vacation. But even though the suite was nicer, we were not able to sleep that night. LISTEN TO THIS! Specially if you are considering booking a suite -The suites are right below the pool/cafeteria deck and they spent all night moving furniture right on top of us. The racket was such that we thought we were being punked or punished or something. It was unreal. It was not the normal noise of people moving around, there were no passengers on this deck at that time. Finally at 4am my husband got dressed and went up to see what was going on and we found out it was the crew cleaning the deck at night and moving and tossing the furniture without a regard for the guests trying to sleep just a floor below. Next morning we complained -again- and they promised to tell the crew not to make noise at night anymore (like that is something that needs to be said, isn't that like hospitality 101?) And they didn't. For the remaining 3 nights we had on the ship they did not do it again, but by then our experience aboard the ship was already ruined. It did not help either that the people in the cabin next to us smoked in the balcony, even though it is strictly prohibited. So every time we opened the balcony doors, the smell would get into our room...agh!

The ugly: The ship is old, and it is showing its age. The black out curtains in both the oceanview and the suite had rips on them, the furniture upholstery and the coverlets are faded and/or stained, the buttons on the elevators are falling off. These are only some of the things that I remember now, off the top of my head. Our overall impression was old and outdated.  

Was my first cruise and was a brilliant experience and certainly gave me the bug. Could not fault the crew or ship in any way. Loved the pool deck bar and was a great place for a pre-dinner drink.

A nice small vessel with fine cabins. The crew was friendly and willing to make your cruise according your wishes. Excellent restaurants and food. Chapeau!!!!

As already stated by many others the food was not great. We have taken several cruises in the past and this has been the worst one yet.

BEAUTIFUL SHIP AND ALTHOUGH THE SHIP IS ITALIAN MOST OF THE CREW WERE MULTI-LINGUAL AND KNOWLEDGEABLE, PROFESSIONAL,AND VERY CLEAN. NEVER RUDE AND ALWAYS HELPFULL

The ship itself was immaculately clean and beautiful. The lower level staff were as polite and respectful as anyone could expect. The upper management were rude and disrespectful to the majority of American passengers. The lady in charge of the fitness center was remarkably rude and stared at larger guests with disgust. The matrad's which greeted guests at the finer restaurants treated me as a princess, but disregarded my mother and left her at the door when seating me. This went on for several days until I avoided them at all costs. The rudest of the staff were all Italian. The best of the staff were from the Dominican Republic and around the world and they treated all of the holiday vacationers with the highest of respect and Roberto even took time to dance with me each evening so that I would not be left without a dancing partner as I was traveling with my mother. The nurse and doctor were very cordial when I broke my finger and were willing to answer all of my questions without making me feel like I was taking up their time unnecessarily. The bands were ok for the most part. The mariachi band was very good, but way too loud. Pools were small. The wait staff and room staff were amazing and so super polite to us that we went and paid their tips directly to ensure they were treated fairly. I had to go to the accounting desk and request that specific crew members not receive tips as they were rude and deserved nothing. This required paperwork to accomplish my intentions.

The beginning was not so good. After arrival to the port - the luggage handling people was rude and asking for money to handle your lugage to the ship. If they do not get it they throw lugages to make damage to them and they were visibly mad. That make us feel uncomfortable and even unsafe. I can (and always will) give some tips but it should be my decision. That has not been our first cruise and I have to say that it was excelent cruise. The ship was very clean and always you could see somebody working and cleaning. The swiming pool area - excelent. Entertainment - so far the best from the other cruises. First time we can really dance to the sound of good music and excelent singing band (Antonella, Stefano) in the ship lounge. The wonderfull entertainment team - good job guys. Theatre shows - excelent, dancers wonderfull and magician one of the best I have ever seen. Restaurants nice and clean, staff very helpfull, and the most important - the food very good and tasty.