Everyone's tastes and expectations are different but for me, the low fare is not worth sacrificing all the little amenities and comforts that come with other cruise lines. Cruise lines can only sustain with brand loyalty and I can't see MSC gaining any footholds in the North American market without some major changes.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Not the nightmare that many experienced but still a bit confusing with respect to lines and instructions. All in all it took about 90 minutes from drop-off to drink in hand on deck so okay.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The food is as bad as other reviewers have stated. Only consistently good thing is the pizza. The buffet is a combination of the same staples each day mixed in with whatever is left over from the previous days in the dining room. The specialty restaurants are low end compared to other cruise lines both in selection and quality. Most were empty for entire trip. Even during days at sea you could walk right in without a reservation to any of the specialty restaurants. Also keep in mind that most of the specialty restaurants are ala carte versus the pay one fee and choose form a menu. Our bill for four in Butcher's Cut was a little under $400 without drinks for 2 courses with no appetizers or dessert.
Two bright spots: 1) Hola Tacos: very reasonable pricing and fantastic food; 2) our drink package was actually unlimited unlike other lines that claim to be but then set limits on the number of drinks per day or number of drinks at a time (i.e. no beer and shot at same time).
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Very minimal activities and most consisted of trivia or an extra fee activity like bingo. DO NOT waste your $ on the bowling alley - $40 for 30 minutes and $2 for shoes. The lane approach isn't smooth so the shoes don't slide - just keep your sneakers on. Also, unlike other ships, there are apparently no gyros for the lanes so you will throw a gutter balls a majority of time. We had two bowlers
with +170 averages - neither could break 50 over two games lol.
Also, too many of the daily activities listed revolve around shopping "sales" or paid activities.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Entertainers were so so compared to all my other cruises. We saw a pretty good juggler and a couple of decent solo singers. The comedian obviously ran out of material 30minutes into a 45 minute show so spent the last 15 minute telling us his favorite love songs??
One odd thing: you cannot get a drink or bring a drink into the theater. When I ask why I was told that they only have an hour in between shows and don't have time to clear any cups/glasses??
Children's Programs
We did notsail with children but the areas we saw looked okay
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
The majority of the staff are top notch and as good as any other line. Bartenders, food servers, help desk were all pleasant and helpful. Two odd things compared to other cruises 1) This is the first cruise where I do not have any idea of what the Cruise Director's name was. Never heard him over speakers or saw him - maybe they don't have one on MSC? Also no idea who my cabin steward was as he never introduced himself.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
The ship is beautiful and easy to navigate. My cabin and most of the public areas seem to be kept up okay but there were a few major red flags! Not once in 8 days did I see anyone wipe down a slot machine (probably why I left the ship with a cold); the plastic cups range from spotty to scratched to filthy and unusable (pic included); but most of all, some guests in the pools were literally coughing up phlegm and clearing their noses INTO the pool - and the staff never said a word, even when it was brought to their attention!! Thank God we noticed early on in the week so we knew to avoid using the pools.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
We got upgraded to balcony on deck 14 so that was nice. Room was always clean and roomy and my bed was remade every time used it - even after an occasional afternoon siesta. I did miss the towel animals that they do on other ships - i guess it's not an MSC thing - I sort of missed that. Also, the TV options are seriously lacking: about 7 channels (CNN, TCM, TLC, DSC, ESPN, FOOD, and CARTOON NET). You can watch a 2-3 year old movie on Demand but it will cost you ($10 for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny or Antman and Wasp LOL)
Ship tip
This is not the North American experience you will find on most cruise lines. Do not expect the little courtesies and conveniences you are accustomed to if you've cruised before. My brother summed it up like this, "It's like MSC designed a cruise line because they heard cruises were fun but none of the designers had ever actually cruised before".
Okay this is a strange one. Like all ships you get luggage tags the day before with a zone number to disembark (we were Zone 40). The tags come with two little stickers - one goes on your ship card and one goes on your shirt. They are easy to miss so be careful because you aren't getting off easily without them. Leave luggage out the night before like normal. On debarkation day you must leave your cabin by 7:00 am and go to any public space. The steward will throw you out so don't try to avoid it. Debarkation starts with those who carry their luggage off (around 7:30). They then started calling zone numbers around 9:00 (make sure you found a comfy place to wait!!) The odd part is that the Zones aren't called consecutively so you have no idea when your Zone is coming?! Here was our experience: "Now calling Zone 1". Ten minutes later: "Zones 2, 13 and 8". Ten minutes: "14, 15, 29"..."18, 3, 21"....."6, 32, 40". It was as if they were using the casino's bingo machine to pick the zones lol! Once we were called it was less that 15 minutes to exit, get luggage, and through customs. All in all it was a fairly fast debarkation but very, very confusing and the first time I've ever been asked to vacate my cabin so early. One final note: the port is far too small to handle the exiting passenger volume and there is only one road into the port so you will likely wait 1+ hours to get picked up. There are plenty of cabs waiting, but they will fleece you (Port to Penn Station on Uber on app was $41. Cabby holding a fake Uber sign quoted us $130)
Yikes! I had heard MSC had made some improvements but apparently not. Why would you pay $50 for each course in the speciality restaurant? I would have walked once I saw those prices. LOL, could the low bowling scores have any correlation with the unlimited drink package?
Thanks for your detailed review. I’ve heard there are contrasts being this is a European brand. Nevertheless, we all have our preferred experiences. Glad there were some highlights in the midst of hiccups.
Amazing! I dont know what all little amenities and comforts I miss on MSC. I know you mentioned the towel animals but what else? I never heard of gyros on bowling alleys, but Meraviglia is the only ship I've been on that has bowling. It's not competitive bowling, just a fun pasttime! Anyway, sorry your cruise was disappointing.
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