A good cruise if you're in the Yacht Club. Otherwise, lower your expectations of everything and you may have a good time.
Also, many people enjoy this cruise ship and itinerary because they are already from this area and deal with the rudeness on a daily basis. It's just reality.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Arrive before 8am and you'll walk straight in. Aurea and Diamond members have a fast track line "after security" regardless when you arrive. And Yacht Club members are personally escorted to the ship and never need to stand in line once the ship is open.
If you're doing Back to Back and you want to leave the ship and go to the World's Trade Center, for example,as I did, don't even think about returning to the ship until as late as possible or you'll end up in a crazy line. Back to Back passengers receive a card that can allow them to skip the line, leaving and returning, but that only works leaving as they will stick you in the main line to clear security when you return, so return later to avoid the madness.
I gave this rating a 5 because embarkation was a breeze. It was the staff who didn't explain the proper procedure for back to back or I wouldn't have had to wait in line forever returning to the ship. Just show up later and walk straight in.
Just as some background, I booked this cruise to maintain my status before it expires at the end of the year. That's was my primary motivation in going on this cruise.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
To be fair, I can only rate the food on the room service menu, buffet, Hola Tacos and Butcher Cut. I never tried the food in the MDR.
The best thing on the Room Service Menu is the SUPREME PIZZA! It's two meals for one person or one meal for two people. Just order it and I can safely say it's the best pizza you will eat on a cruise ship. The other pizza at the buffet is not as good at all, even though I ended up eating basically pizza and hamburgers the last week.
But supreme pizza for the win and that's an extra ⭐ on its own.
They had the same thing on the buffet day after and day and never added any Indian or Mexican foods for example like they have on their other ships. All they had was Chinese food.
Marketplace Buffet
3 out of 5
Same food everyday. Pizza, Hamburgers, Hot dogs is what I resorted to and eating dinner in Bermuda every night.This is when I wish I booked the Yacht Club just to get a decent meal.
Butcher's Cut
3 out of 5
Not very good. The meat had no flavor. The staff acted like they didn't want to be there. My meal was complimentary due to status. I would suggest like most people, and order the fillet mignon and not anything else. I regretted I didn't.
Edge Cocktail Bar
3 out of 5
Slow service.
Ocean Cay
4 out of 5
The BBQ ribs were good, so that's all I ate🤭 Wait staff at the drink stations were inattentive.
Hola! Tacos & Cantina
2 out of 5
The only thing I liked was some of their salsas. The food didn't taste anything like Mexican food. I was disappointed.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Duty Free Shop
2 out of 5
Their duty free shop had next to nothing in it compared to their other ships. I purchased nothing from there.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Most of the staff is new and have no clue what they are doing. About WiFi, about obtaining cash onboard, about disembarkation, locations of venues and anything else. But they're VERY eager to tell you to leave their name when you leave a review. NOT! Those are the exact employees I would leave a negative review for because you don't beg for tips or positive reviews.
My room steward who had been there only 2 weeks was a screw up from day one and didn't get any better. He even gave me a disembarkation luggage tag #25 the night before my departure when I was supposed to be issued a #4. And it took forever to get it replaced, so much so that I had to go to guest services myself.😕
Also, I only had vacuuming done every 3 days, as I didn't want him in my room with whatever he had, that caused him to cough 😷 my entire stay. His supervisor was made aware that unless he had a mask on he would not be coming in my room for anything and basically, I cleaned my own room, changed linens/towels.
Of all the staff members I ran across for this 14 day cruise, JONATHAN LOYOLA, the Assistant Bartender, South Atmosphere Bar next to the Ice Cream Bar, was the most Consistent, Friendliest and someone I would hire if I was operating a business.
What I found out on the second leg of my journey is the fact, even though some waiters ask you if you want a a drink, it's so you can give them extra tips or write a review. It's sad it's gotten to that point.
Well Jonathan was the only one I tipped cash the day before I disembarked, he never once hinted to me about a tip or mentioning his name, and all my drinks were served the same day after day.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Always clean. Or being cleaned.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Single Studio Cabin with Outdoor Monitor has to be the best interior cabin in my opinion. I've had regular interior but the live view is like having an ocean view room. I really enjoyed it.
Even though people rave about the "Interior' Yacht Club Cabins, they still don't have any views and I'm not in to having to want to be on the lounge deck with other people to get a view. I would only book a balcony YachtClub cabin.
Ship tip
Do the Bermuda Itinerary. If it involves other ports just stay on the ship.
It's ok, but again most of the staff is rude and inattentive. And they start shutting everything down at 3pm, even the ship doesn't leave until later that night.
I actually enjoyed the "Sir Bani Yas" Natural Island near Abu Dhabi and think it's better, at least for me. The food and staff is better too.
Only place on this 14 day cruise that I can say I enjoyed and will return without a doubt.
Didn't run across any rude residents or passengers. The only thing rude was the "rude awakening" to the prices 😅and auto added on gratuities at most places. But, the food was very good each evening and beat anything on the ship👍
Even though I was in group #4 to get off the ship, I stood in line very early with the express group and left at 7:00am. I wasn't going to take a chance.
@1cruisegram
If you were on the last leg of my cruise, I doubt you ran into many rude passengers or staff, because the first leg was terrible. They brought on a bunch of new staff for the Bermuda and New England cruise. So you were lucky. There were still some staff from the first leg, but lots of new Buffet staff and general cleaning staff for instance.
I was on the 2nd part of your cruise. I’ll add the MDR had terrible service. We went twice and that was enough. I enjoyed the shows. If you’re thinking of booking the 2 shows that you have to pay for, just book one of them. They are similar. The Conjurors shows were really good. The gelato was good. The inside pool area was really nice. The desserts at the buffet were excellent. I didn’t find the staff to be rude, just not engaging. I thought the layout of the ship was good. I was able to figure it out quickly. There wasn’t that much for kids to do. There were water slides and an arcade but nothing exciting. Overall we had a good time. We really lucked out with the weather.
Also my mini-fridge hovered at about 45 degrees farenheit. I used an infrared thermometer. I had no problem storing pizza and food stuffs like that, but I wouldn't recommend storing anything like rare cooked pork roast or anything with real mayonnaise.
For those who have any concerns of catching covid on this ship, you actually don't have much to worry about if you stay out of really packed venues or use some temporary precautions.
I took my carbon dioxide meter into several venues and the meter hovered around 650 which is actually good. I did not test the MDR but I can guess it would be a lot higher. Probably higher than the Buffet. The buffet was hovering around 1000 in the middle of a large group of people.
All the open air decks with restaurants, shops were actually very low at night even with large groups of people including the open bars off the promenade.
You would catch a cold or the flu easier, because I saw some very unhygienic events. SO MANY people licking food from their fingers, or even picking their nose standing in line then using that same hand to serve themselves their next helping. I personally never touched any serving utensils and used gloves, threw them away immediately and washed my hands and not just with gel that may be diluted. Many people didn't wash their hands or use any sanitizer at all. I actually saw a staff member sitting at one of the bar tables inside the Hola Taco restaurant that sneeze twice into his hands and wiped it on the table.
But overall the ship is very well ventilated compared to many hotels I've traveled.
Thanks for your detailed review. I’ve only ever done one MSC cruise and agree with your review of the food. We would always have to visit the buffet after not eating our meal in the MDR, and after getting fed up of burgers and hot dogs in the buffet we also ended up paying for some speciality which apart from the Teppanyaki wasn’t special at all. And we are really not fussy eaters or food snobs! I was willing to put it down to a blip though and wouldn’t tell anyone else not to try MSC even though it’s not the line for us. You make a good point in that everyone who goes Yacht Club seems to say the food there is great.
I also wanted to add that the day before my disembarkation MSC cancelled my excursion that included to be dropped off at JFK. They still offered one, but it was an up sell, TWICE as much. So be careful on any excursions you book.
So, last minute I had to put together an easy way to get to the JFK. When it was all said and done, in the pouring rain 🌧️. I took two buses, two trains, and the Air train and 6 hours later I arrived at JFK.😅
There was a marathon being held that morning, so Uber, Taxis etc were delayed too, just trying to make it out of the Red Hook area was a disaster. Thank you MSC. You never cease to disappoint 🥹
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