MSC Magnifica Cruise Reviews - Reviews

My favorite part of the cruise was making new friends. I was very disappointed with the amount of selling of items on the ship; not at stores but tables that were set up everywhere all time time! Morning noon and night.  I am upset that I had pre bought a cocktail package and was told that vodka tonic is not a cocktail and that I had to choose from what they consider cocktails to be!  The shore excursions were especially in Morocco very disappointing. It seemed as if we spent all day going to the shops where kickbacks were given   Shopping time and pharmacy time was to be in the excursion but we were brought to a little shop where it seemed the guide would be getting something out of it.  I heard so many good things about Msc and I would most probably not be returning. 

we had requested table for two. We checked with head of restaurant  Instead of being polite and say don't have he went on:-   have to  build ship twice as big and on and on----. The are are many courteous ways to say no. This ship stops at different ports and several hundred embark and disembark and if they tried they could have accommodated or have three small table in the same area.We decided to eat at cafeteria , I had special diet request but it could not be met but they call me how I am doing?. How is my diet. This was funny. I learn my lesson:  stick with American Cruises: you will be better off.

Barco excelente, Personal sumamente amable. Itinerario de lujo. Camarote confortable. Organizacion insuperable. Buenas excursions. Sin duda alguna recomendaria MSC para una excelente estancia a bordo.

we were blessed wiht good weather apart form the last day - grey and raining in venice.

the embarkation process was a complete shambles - 6 queues before we could get on board - much too much security. Appalling, and terrible first impressions.

i felt the ship was too big with too many people for my liking, often had queues for breakfast // lunch etc.

however food was good, but breakfast room had either bacon OR sausage, not both. scrambled egg was wondeful. always lots of fresh fruit to chose from.

comfortable cabin with small side balcony, and great service, though hardly saw the 'cabin boy'. the theatre shows were mainly average. two swimming pools. useful gym. the main restaurant we were in was noisy and service was slow - we had to complain at the time, though not the waiters fault - he had too much to do. the resorts visited were super (Olympia the least exciting and Dubrovnik the best, in my view). Resort dis-Embarkation not so chaotic. did not agree with MSC policy that any alcolhol brought in resorts could not be  drunk onboard - obviously going to affeect their sales, but creates a monopoly. it wasn't possible to drink 14 bottles of water in 7 days despite my best efforts, so not a good deal. asian fusian restaurant was great - quiet and super food, but had to pay extra for this.Luggage delivery was fine. enjoyed the cruise apart from too many others onboard, but don't think I'll travel with MSC again.

The MSC Magnifica  honors its name.  The ship is beautiful, very clean, and its staff very well trained.  On our day at sea we encountered a thunderstorm which lasted a long time, but the ship was smooth as glass. The itinerary was very good, only one day at sea, which was a big plus for us.

The passengers were from all over, but a very large majority were from Italy and there were a lot of children that had the run of the ship.  This was mostly evident in the buffet restaurant and the pool area where they seemed to be unchaperoned.  After a very hectic experience at the buffet restaurant, we went to all our meals at the sit down restaurant, adjusting our days to their opening hours.  This experience was shared by all the passengers at hour table, avoiding the 13th deck at all cost.

Next time I will make sure that schools are back in session before I book our trip.

A big disappointment.

Having recently been on cruises with Celebrity and Holland  America, MSC are a distant 3rd on accommodation, service and food!

Venice is a poor port to embark/disembark from.......will advise all friends to avoid.

The food is not of a high standard and the "smash and grab" buffet was a disaster.

I have to be honest and say "never again MSC".

My husband, my kids and I used to go cruise 2 times per year. We tired many cruise lines like, Norwegian, Celebrity, Royal Caribean, Princes, and etc. We tried most of them, and we are very happy. We tried your MSC for the first but we are very disappointed. The boat is quite good, but, the Customer Service is the worst service I ever experience, all the staff do not speak Engish, they do not know even how to greet the guest .They never smile specially in the Front Desk and all the Manager had an attitude. The food are the same every single day, The worst food ever, there no presentations. The both manager in Quatro Viento Restaurant and other restaurant in 5th floor are so rude. We went to your cruise to celebrate my birthday, instead I will feel relax cursing, I got  a lot of stress in your boat. One of the thing that I do not like also, is your excursion is too short. We do not even have time to shop around. I will never ever recommend MSC Cruise Line to all the people that I know. it will be my first and last in your Cruise Line. It is the worst cruise line ever.

We chose this cruise due to the very interesting itinerary from Amsterdam to North Cape. We liked the ship and its excellent facilities, our balcony stateroom, the good entertainment in the beautiful Royal Theatre, the itinerary and the ports visited and the excursions, particularly the full day excursion to the Briksdal glasier. We did not like the following: 1. Although a few staff members (e.g. Agoes Bachtiar and Heri Isankar) were very friendly and helpful, most of the staff had a serious communication problem. This can be resolved by training sessions. 2. The menus in the restaurants could be more imaginative regarding variety and tastiness. Some of the pasta dishes was not even properly cooked. We will only recommend the MSC Magnifica to friends and family once the staff is trained to COMMUNICATE better with passengers/guests.

We found MSC Cruises after doing a search of European cruises leaving Venice, Italy during spring break 2012. We had been on a Royal Caribbean Cruise in the same area in 2011, but wanted to see Venice but not be stuck in the city for 7 days, so we decided to cruise the Mediterranean and see a few ports we had missed in 2011. It was our 1st time aboard a MSC Cruise (long time RCL members), and we always found ourselves comparing MSC to RCL - as we have always found RCL to cater to our wants and needs very well. The cruise was nice, although we found that the time in the different ports seemed rushed (arrived in Croatia at 12:30 pm and had to be back on board at 4:30 pm, etc.). As I have seen in other reviews, the staff attitude was mixed. Some gave 110% throughout the cruise (great Mini Kid's Club staff), and others looked like they were sleepwalking their way through the entire cruise. Most of the wait staff in the cafeteria buffets did not really care to clean off tables of dishes so others could sit and eat unless asked to do so. With the number of people coming and going during the breakfast and lunch rush, you would think that they would help keep things moving. Unfortunately, they were only interested in getting you to order drinks that carried a charge such as premium coffees, orange juice and bottled water. It has ALWAYS amazed me that you could order and eat 3 dinner entrees at a seating, but you still have to pay 2.63 EURO for a liter of still water to eat with your meal... Now, the buffet lines on any cruise can be tough to navigate (people act they have never eaten and are starving), but I'm sorry to say that the European and Asian passengers on board have NO idea what a queue is for... They push and shove just about anywhere to get what THEY want, WHEN THEY WANT. After teaching our 7 year old to wait his turn in line and that it is only polite to do so, it's hard to explain to him why a family of 2 adults and 3 kids nearly knocked him over to get in front of everyone to get to the newly served "Pasta Station". This was our biggest complaint while on board -- it happened everywhere on the ship. There is really no reason to be rude on a cruise. There WILL be plenty of food for everyone, but obviously some people don't think so. Rude passengers are not the fault of the cruise line, but you would think that there could be SOMEONE in authority available around the different areas of the ship to keep people from jumping the queue and acting like hungry savages. All in all, the MSC Cruise was OK. They tried to do their best to meet everyone's needs and wants, but TOO much space on the boat was dedicated to lounges and bars. Just my personal opinion, but more space could be given to entertainment venues, rather than make everyone choose to drink or drink and smoke.

very nice ship. food was very good in the restaurant but we did not like the buffett. service there was somehow confused. anything else very good.

too many flaws to identify

Beautiful ship. The food was great. Staff were freindly.

Food was poor. Service was not good. Personnel was rude. Most announcements were in Italian which is understandable but they need English announcements that we can understand also. Ship was clean and the cabin was fine.

The decor of the ship was beautiful and very comfortable.

Food was unimaginative and unappetizing unless you like pizza and pasta. Meats were few and far between. Portions were small. Buffet was uninspiring. And, service staff acted like they could care less. This is unfortunate, as the ship, itself, is beautiful. Selection of tours was very limited. Very few activities. Makes Carnival look like Crystal!

Very nice crew Ports were all good Food was nice and very hot

Our experience, my wife and I was definitely positive, even though we had to disembark in Melbourne due to the coronavirus, in the middle of the cruise but in retrospect after all that the world as held for the last year we are grateful first to Captain Leotta for the wisdom to not allow us to go ashore in Hobart, next to us was the Ruby Princess and all the passengers were allowed to go ashore, definitely we all ask ourself why our captain was so adamant to held us on the ships, looking from the decks we all felt deprived of checking one of the most beautiful city in the world. However the next day we found out that the Ruby Princess closed to 850 passenger were infected with the coronavirus, That was a wake up call for all of us that our Captain display what was e “Passenger safety first attitude” Without a doubt that was why the Magnifica was able to arrive in Marseille after 2 more months without suffering any coronavirus cases. Thank you MSC MAGNIFICA, OFFICERfor Protect us.

Nice ship good cabin ,good food,polite staff, entertainment not to my liking, and found MSC badly organised generally

Food service excellent but organisation was not good

The terrible procedure of imbarkation in Bari - small trailers, lines, stood on the street in the pouring rain. The employee of terminals security check refused us to skip the line with the infant and threatened to call the police, although all passengers let us through. The liner is good, the staff is good, the ports are excellent!