Just OK
MSC Magnifica Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Deck Hand
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 9
12 Night Mediterranean (Rome Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 26, 2018
Ship: MSC Magnifica
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
MSC is first and formost an Italian cruise company and this shows in everything they do. And this is my main fault with this cruise. The whole cruise it was like English speaking people were always an after thought. Everything we did involved people shoving and pushing you out of the way..from the buffet to the elevators. People really had no manners to the point they would not move to let others off the elevator. Daily disembarking at the ports were an absolute desaster. It will only be a matter of time before someone gets hurt in the crush and pushing and shoving as MSC does not seam to believe in queues. Everyone waits for the doors to open then everyone just pushes to get out. Its the same at the buffet. You wait to get what you want then others just shove infront of you and elbow you out of the way. Same at the bars. The bar tenders do not seam to care who was there first its the person who is the pushiest who gets served. There is a place on one of the decks that was the smoking area. It was disgusting with butts on the ground and ash everywhere. The whole deck recked of smoke. Even thought there was no smoking on the balconies it was not enforced!!! So had to contend with smoke while out on balcony. The drink package was a joke!!! drinks under E6 were covered but most drinks were over this!!! We could get coffee on the drinks package but not hot chocolate?? wwhhhaattt?? they cost the same and both were under E6 but nope no hot chocolate. Had to pay for that!! Even the staff were saying our package was a joke!! MSC really need to look at the way they deal with their customers onboard their ships. Their staff at customer service..wow I have never met ruder staff ever. Everything was "such" a hastle. Their first answer was always "no". Followed by "I do not understand what you are saying" Put staff who can speak English fluidly on customer service!! We had a red light flashing on our phone (all night lightling up the whole cabin on off on off) the whole cruise and apparently no one could "understand the problem" let alone fix it!! Oh and add into your costs the price of shuttles from the port to the city at nearly every stop even though this is not mentioned anywhere!! Lowest was E8 per person. *** Also do not pay to go to spa room daily as they do not limit the number of people buying this package so the "quiet" place is loud and you constantly had to wait to get into the spa as no staff were there making anyone get out so people just stayed in for hours at a time.Embarkation
As people were on and off at different ports we did not have to wait long to get on the ship
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food in the main dining room was quite varied day to day however the buffet food was bland and repetative. Burgers, hotdogs and chips everyday uugg...The pizza's were very ordinary and the base was never fully cooked..not sure why I kept on trying it. Pasta was bland and lacking in any ingredients other than tomato or cheese..even the "hot and spicey" sauce was bland
Onboard Activities
Only 1 very small outdoor pool and one very small indoor pool. Lucky it was cool or you would not have gotten in the pools. The same people hogged the hot tubs for hours at a time and were NOT asked to get out ever so due to the 6 person limit you could not get into them
Entertainment
It was the same crew of singers day in day out..Hardly anything was sung in English and when it was their accents were so thick as to make the songs unrecognisable. The Flamingo dancers were very good and it was the one night where I could not fault the show. The entertainment manager really eeds to slow down her speeches. I understand she has to go throught 6 languages but you really could not understand most of what she was saying in English.
Service and Staff
Waiters were generally uncaring except for Bethany who was always friendly and very efficient. There was also another woman with brown hair (sorry do not know her name) who was always working...while most of the other staff just fluffed around. There were never enough bar staff on so drinks took an age to come. Room workers were always friendly. As for the staff at customer service..wow I have never met ruder staff ever. Everything was "such" a hastle. Their first answer was always "no".
Ship Quality
The deck where the smokers were was always dirty with butts on the ground and ash everywhere
Cabin / Stateroom
Cabin was clean, balcony was a good size. Bathroom was functional.
Ports of call
Disembarkation
The fact we had to get off the ship at 8.50 but our booked pick up was not until 10.30 was very poor as wee booked it all in the same package. The port did not even have chairs to wait for our pick up. We were at a portable "hanger" and MSC did not care as we were "off their ship"
1 Comment
bruce318 5 years ago