I think MSC are a cut above a lot of the rest. This is my 3rd cruise with them and envisage doing more. Evening entertainment was wonderful, service was great - the nightly parties were really fun, the ship itself was beautiful, cabin was spacious - and plenty of time in each port of call! Highly recommend them!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
they had to board 6000 people so it was impressive how quickly the process moved along and was completed without stress
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Our main restaurant Waves, too noisy and hot with that low ceiling, the other dining rooms are better - the food however was good! We ate in specialty restaurants Butcher's Cut & Ocean Cay - had wonderful dining experiences at both, great food and service and our Sommelier Nemad Mihalovic (sorry for the spelling!) from Serbia was very sweet and professional - he helped us find the wines we wanted at an amazing price!! We bought the dining package onboard but should have pre-purchased it because it was even better value at that time! Had the dining experience menu been available for viewing pre-cruise we would have done so but I was afraid the set menu might not be good - but it was excellent in both venues!! The dinner & Cirque show combo was fun - food wasn't as good as in restaurants but it was still a great value and experience for the price as part of the dining package - go for it!!! Buffet restaurant food was pretty good but mostly quite repetitive each day - as expected!
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We were completely lazy and did no activities other than walking around the huge ship & climbing stairs which was quite a work out in itself!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
the evening theater shows were fantastic and seemed to get better each evening, the abridged version of La Boheme was terrific the tenor and Sapprano were amazing! Actually all of the vocalists were really strong performers with so much talent - the dances were spot on - so professional and really together in their performances!! We also thoroughly enjoyed Entertainment Director Gene Young's afternoon show, he is an amazing singing talent and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to listen to him and to learn a little about his very interesting life story!
Children's Programs
No kids
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our cabin steward John was very helpful and sweet. It was a pleasure to see Maitre D Anton Velez again - he helped me and my mom in May on Seaside and again my husband and I on this cruise - our Sommelier Nemad Mihalovic (sorry probably spelled that wrong) from Serbia was wonderful, very helpful & looked after us both in Butchers Cut and Ocean Cay getting us the wines we wanted. Our servers in both of those venues were first class also.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It was a beautiful ship, kept clean and spotless! Though we did find that having all the shops, specialty restaurants and theater in the same area caused big congestion in that area once the theater shows let out especially on nights where they also did a street party in that area. Made it really easy to find everything though on the plus side! Also the sanitizing stations seemed not to be so visible at some of the entrances to the buffet restaurant as they have been on other ships so a lot of people were entering without sanitizing, though at times there were staff present with bottles catching people as they entered, so that was a bit of a concern.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
It was kept very clean and neat, usually our ice bucket was filled each day but wasn't this time, only on entry and last night. It was very nice that the champagne I'd ordered for sail away was already in our room when we arrived.
Ship tip
Definitely pre-purchase the specialty dining package - it was great value to get before sailing - still good value on board but much better price in advance!
The port was nice but typical crazy mix of overcrowded pools, shops and bars - but was easy to get transport out to downtown and walk the beach front Melacon - not a whole lot to see but easy access to beaches and facilities for a low cost ride via taxi or shuttle.
We didn't do an excursion, and if the weather had been looking more promising we would have done because getting anywhere worthwhile by yourself isn't easy or cheap - so just hung around the port facilities for a couple of hours which was fine.
We booked an independent excursion to Banana bay Resort which was fine and well handled by the operators - because I'd looked online at the port and knew there wasn't much going on there - the Mahogany Bay Port looked much better , again weather wasn't good but nothing could be done about that, the West End beach area was very crowded even in bad weather but nice enough - apart from the beach vendors constantly harassing everyone but you get numb to them after a while :o)))
It's a beautiful Island, it needs to grow into itself as vegetation is obviously all still very much in it's infancy as we were some of the first people on there. The beach areas were lovely with plenty of seating and not all on top of each other, you're spoiled for choice of where to relax - even with 6000 people onboard!! The Kayak excursion was fun and the sunset beach picnic was lovely - we were so lucky with the weather that day which enabled us to really enjoy the Island facilities. Liked the beach bars, the food pavilion and food trucks were a good idea, the junkanoo and the fire pits in the evening for the laser show were superb - wonderful being able to stay so long and make a full day of it - really looking forward to the opportunity to go back there in the future and seeing it complete!!!!
I love MSC ,I’ve only sailed with this cruise line love love love them, the price is also great compared to other cruise line.
I guess it depends on what a person is looking for but I sailed in November for 2 weeks on Meraviglia and January 2021 for 24 days on The Davina❤️
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
