Very very poor experience executed by MSC

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 13

Review summary

I really hate to leave a bad review of anything but I feel it is warranted. This was my 17th cruise - I’ve been on Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Celebrity, HAL, Cunard, Oceania, Carnival and Viking Ocean, this was my first cruise with MSC - and without comparison the worst cruise I’ve ever had. I’d heard mixed things about MSC so I set what I thought was basically bottom barrel expectations - and MSC failed to even meet those. The entire experience - both the “hard product” and the “soft product” - were unforgivably bad. The ship is not well maintained - dirty carpets, missing paint on the balcony, rust, dirty windows and tables, etc. The buffet was extremely overcrowded at breakfast, which isn’t unheard of but was worse than I’ve ever seen before. The service was typically friendly, but dinner service was slow, bar service was slow, and expectations that you set cruising with any other line - like that dirty plates will be taken away at dinner after you’re done - were not met. The food was fine, I had no problem with it, but when you have to push and shove for a table in a crowded buffet or spend 2.5(!) hours at dinner from seating until dessert, it really doesn’t matter how good the food is. I felt like the staff were trying their best but had not been trained in the same way that other cruise lines do. Most passengers were international, though nearly all were polite and respectful. The very few passengers of any nationality who were not acting appropriately were not asked to quiet down, behave themselves, etc. We were traveling in a group of couples, about half of whom had never cruised before, and I had to explain to my friends multiple times that this was (almost hilariously) worse than any other cruise line. When you’re with good friends, you can have a fun time anywhere, and we did - but I cannot possibly recommend MSC, at least not Magnifica, to anyone. You sometimes hear people say that 3 night “booze cruises” are hugely different from longer voyages, and that’s true, but beyond that, the service and ship maintenance were just awful. If you’ve ever stayed in a 2-star hotel off a highway exit that clearly hasn’t been renovated since 2008, with a staff that clearly hasn’t been trained, you’ll get a sense of what MSC Magnifica is like. Will not cruise with MSC again and I cannot recommend it to anyone!

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

Key West, Florida

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

Disembarkation

Other reviews of this sailing