The good...beautiful ship. The bad..the food choices were boring and repetitive. Specialty restaurants were insanely priced. The ugly..embarkation and disembarking was a total cluster. And the covid i bought home has had me in bed 4 days so far. If this strain is mild, I'm glad I didn't have the serious one. Vaxed and boosted didn't help. I don't blame them for the Covid. They took all reasonable precautions, its just the world we currently live in.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Got there right at our time but apparently they were having "issues". 2 hours in line outside then another 1.5 hours in line inside, packed in like sardines, and we were finally on board. Ship left late. It was a terrible start.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
MDR food was definitely the worse of any cruise line I've been on. Very limited choices and they started to repeat the same items by the third night. Great cruise to be on a diet. The specialty restaurants are CRAZY expensive. To reproduce the $39 steakhouse experience from Carnival would literally cost over $142. Buffet was adequate but uneventful at best.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Literally not one activity apart from the new years eve party was worth attending. Pools were good and uncrowded and beautiful. Thermal spa was ambitious but too crowded to be relaxing. New years party had a poor dj and technical issues. We actually did the countdown and celebration at 11:57. No big deal but kinda funny.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Excellent shows including the magician. Not crowded and fantastic talent. The tenor and soprano were magnificent.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
Not ready for a US crowd. Spoke to one of the managers at length one evening and he said they are actively trying to get crew from royal and carnival to teach the crew the American expectations. I had such a terrible interaction with the maitre de in the MDR at breakfast on the first morning that I had to laugh. Some great crew, but very inconsistent.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Such a beautiful ship. Head and shoulders above any we've seen. Classy, clean, stylish and well thought out.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Bump out balcony was fantastic. 3 times the size of the other balconies at no extra charge. Storage however was almost non existent compared to other lines cabins.
Ship tip
Expect to be impressed with the ship, but with nothing else.
They dock at a MUCH better port than carnival. Prices much cheaper, people nicer, and we went to a great little all inclusive del mar Latino for $28 that was laid back with great service.
Another disaster. Express walkout took an hour packed in together. Come to find out my wife and I already had covid at that time (symptoms and positive results started that afternoon) so no telling how many folks got that lovely parting gift. I don't blame them at all for the Covid, its just the world we live in now, but their issues probably increased the spread.
Thanks for the review. Hope you recover soon. It sounds like MSC could be a great experience with an improvement to their menu options and landside operations.
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