Avoid at all cost

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 3

Review summary

To begin with, we were in our cabins for the first several hours without power because no one told us we needed to put our room key in the wall to get power. The crew during the emergency drill didn't know what the wall slot was for either. A little sticker, message on the app, video on the tv, or one of the MANY PA announcements would have been helpful as we were not the only first-time guests who did not know. However, even with power our cabins never got below 78°. We found out from other guests our entire floor & side of the ship lost the a/c. Others were offered to move but we were not. Then I found out from crew members that it was a widespread issue throughout the ship that had been ongoing for a few sailings. The only "compensation" offered was to remove our gratuity charges, which i still ended up leaving in cash in our room because the steward worked HARD for that money delivering all those damn ice buckets throughout the day. Unacceptable! Our connecting rooms were not ready for us when we arrived despite the check-in agent confirming they were. We had to tell our steward to please open the door in between the rooms & balconies, to bring a crib for the baby, bring the robes & slippers with our Aurea package, and to split the king bed in our kids' cabin so my 7 year old & 21 year old didn't have to share a bed. All requests I made when I booked in March and over the phone with an MSC agent. I was told by my agent & MSC customer service during my couple phone calls that there is a water slide for older kids & baby care so we could have one child-free dinner... both are false. I was also told they would decorate my son's cabin for hours 21st birthday on our Second day, but when I asked the on board crew they said that is never an option & I should do it myself apparently with my own supplies which I obviously did not bring since I was promised it would be provided. They then suggested I buy him a cake, again to make MSC more money. Speaking of child care, there is ZERO helpful signage to even find the kids club areas except for the baby play area where parents play in a less than inviting loud metal room filled with half broken toys and no way to sanitize them from the other babies. I called the reception and they were not helpful in finding the kids area. After 43 minutes of searching, I finally find the area & am told there is no baby care the first day because parents must register the baby the day before AND the hours they do offer it (9-11 am & 5-7 am) are completely inconvenient since that is when most babies under 3 either eat or sleep but they will not feed them and there is no quiet napping area for them. My 7 year old was bored & didn't want to stay longer than an hour because they were just watching movies on a TV despite all the planned events according to the sheet given to us. Additionally, the food was abysmal. I've had better tasting food with faster service at a hospital cafeteria. Despite the servers at Quattro Venti being very kind, patient, polite, and great with our kids the kitchen was so slow that dinner took almost 2 hours without dessert. Imagine how much fun that was with a 15 month old baby! My kids were incredibly sad they could only have ice cream during the lunch hours & that the buffet was not open with pizza or snacks during the evening while my 7 year old was still awake between 9-11 pm. They had entirely too many PA announcements of nonsense & then on our morning in the Bahamas they had crew only drills over the in cabin PA system for almost an hour, naturally around nap time. I was most appalled at the lack of customer service at the reception desk. First, no one would help my 21 year old put his credit card on his room key to shop. They only told him to use the machine so they could continue their chat with each other. Second, my husband and I were told we would receive $65 back in cash from our room charges because of the "inconvenience of the a/c not working" but we were told the morning of disembarking that we would not & we should have spent that money on the ship somehow. With the exception of a select few crew members, the crew made us feel like we were bothering them & it wasn't their problem. I just wanted to disconnect from tech (which is the only way to get an actual ship map or menus), take a weekend cruise to see my two youngest would do, give my older kids some autonomy to do what they each enjoy, have one child-free meal with my husband, and read a book on my breezy balcony while the baby napped. This wasn't a cheap event with two cabins, upgraded Aurea experience (still not sure what that benefit was), & the drink package. I thought Carnival was the bottom of the cruise barrel, but clearly it's MSC.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Key West, Florida

Nassau, Bahamas

Disembarkation