MSC Opera Reviews

This was my 10th cruise and it was disappointing to realize that MSC has a long way to go. The best part of it was the itinerary. Services at excursion desk were the worst. No one there knows what they are talking about. Tried to book the excursion with them in Turkey but they didn't have it in English just French and German. There would rather give you wrong information then say they don't know the answer. The ship is very plain. Bathroom was very small and the shower is tiny. Food is almost the same every day. No sandwiches just pizza 24 hours and it's the only place to get tea or coffe after 10 pm. Shows are just Ok. Dancers could be a lot better. Service in the restaurant was the best but the food could have a better variety. One thing that was nice no one was pushing to buy drinks at the pool and there were plenty of chairs for everyone. Overall it's the European line and it shows in their standards. People are not as friendly and they don't seem like they care. 

We tried MSC cruise line for the first time on a 10 day W.Europe cruise. Previously we had cruised with Royal C, Celebrity and Princess. Anyone who has cruised on these ships will be highly disappointed with MSC. Food at the buffett on floor #11 was the same thing each day. Mostly unwarm items. Very limited menus. Iced tea and ice cream not free. Juices only available in mornings. Hand sanitizers used sparingly and many times empty during meals. Our evening meal had bones in the fish on 5 of 8 times served fish. As many as 5 bones in one serving. I still think how easy it would have been to have swallowed them. After about two times I came t expect bones even though I wanted to try the fish menus. Risotti was greasy and the meats were grisily. The servers were so busy that they spent very little time talking with us. Never offered to help pepper/salt. No coffee served. On excursions when we had to tender at St. Peter port we stood in line for 2:40 minutes to exit the ship only allowing 1.25 minutes to explore the city. Not organized at all. Waited almost 50 minutes in line to go back to the ship. Pool chairs were the most uncomfortable chairs ever in that there was no head rest on them. Library time was limited as well as the books in it!

Every evening at the theather we had to listen to the cruise director talk in 4 different lanuages. That got annoying and took up quite a bit of time doing so. Entertainment was fine. Overall very disappointed in the complete lack of organization and downright bare bones service. I could go on but will spare you the time. Don't go MSC!

 

MSC has a long way to go to meet the standards of what experienced cruisers have come to expect from  Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess. Food on the Opera was poor quality and frequently poorly prepared. This included bones in the fish dishes on 5 of 8 orders. Coffee and tea was not even available during or after meals in the main dinning rooms, only at the buffet. Selection was also limited. The pizza kitchen was the only consistently good. The tendering process was very inefficient as it took 2 hours and 40 minutes finally get to shore and with a stop of only 4 hours, we were left with only 1 and one-half hours on shore. The library was a joke with approx. 20 books in each of 5 different languages, and it was only open for four hours per day. The entertainment was actually pretty good for this size ship. Overall, I would definitely not recommend this ship. MSC as a cruise line is still not ready for prime time.

1) Unable to purchse transfers from South Hampton to cruise, also told until 11 am I could get Transfers at Heathrow airport and pay onboard this was not true. 2) Purchased transfers from ship to Heathrow but was it was canceled by MSC. Because told not enough room. 3) Attempted to purchse and print personnel transfers from ships pirnter but it was not working as a result we we not able to verfiy purchase, also the different time change between England and ship time allowed on 40 minutes to leave ship, get a taxi, and reach couch terminal with out a ticket. The ship should have offered to call free or provide free Computer use. T4) The better starting point for use would have been Amsterdam but this option was never offered, I flight would have less expensive and the transfers to Ship cheaper. cc.Maxine_Con Yahoo.com

The food was the worst, and it was not even close, food I have had on the 13 cruises that I have been on that were a minimum of 7 days.

My wife, two youg daughters and I - we totally loved the MSC Opera. This was our first cruise ever. We are definitely going on another MSC cruise. We found every aspect of the cruise to be very good to superb: the food, service, entertaininment, stateroom cleanliness and comfort, cleanliness and smooth embarking/debarking and sailing of the ship.

Ship is starting to show signs of wear. We had mold in shower and lot of rust on balcony doors. Overdue for preventative maintenance? Buffet restaurant on Deck 11 is always overcrowded, noisy, and busing service is poor. Seems to be lack of supervision of the waiters. Food is kind of bland and pretty much unchanged entire cruise. The lack of attention is obvious . Sugar Free or Diabetic desserts almost non existent. . Charge for bottled water.

We were impressed by the exceptional cleanliness, the layout of the ship, the homeyness's of the cabin (fresh fruits daily) and the extraordinary service of the crew . The food itself is rather dedicated for the European tongue! The breakfast buffet was "uninspired" (eggs / toast were sometimes only lukewarm) - therefore we went to the restaurant and the breakfast served there was much better. The Lunch-buffets were better - good variety of the hot dishes, but the salad part of the buffet offered always the same. The dinner served in the restaurant was a seven course meal. The pasta course was always the best! Quality of fish and meat has room for improvement - it seemed not to be fresh and was often prepared the same way. We liked the magnificent shows in the evening. Exceptional artists!!! Every age group had there "room for entertainement" (the disco for the younger people, the loungers for people our age where we could enjoy dancing too . I missed coffee, ice tea or pizza sometimes during the day. We were also impressed that they still offer midnight buffets - very seldom today on other cruise ships. These buffets were exceptional!!!!!! We had 3 formal events, 6 informal evenings and only 2 causual nights all of which we enjoyed (fortunaley we had brought enough clothes for all the events)

We were impressed by the cleanliness, the roominess of the cabin, the exceptional service of the crew and the layout of the ship. The breakfast served in the restaurant was very good, the buffet could have been better (eggs / toast were sometimes only lukewarm). The Lunch-buffet was better - good variety of the hot dishes, but the salad part was always the same. The dinner served in the restaurant was a seven course meal. The pasta was always the best (quality of fish and meat has room for improvement - should buy them in the States). We also liked the magnificent shows in the evening, but had to adjust to the fact that they were sometimes before dinner. Exceptional artists!!! Besides the disco for the younger people we could enjoy dancing too (hits for the 70s, 80s and 90s). The casino was very small compared to American cruise lines. Sometimes during the day there was no coffee, ice tea or pizza available. We were also impressed that they still offer midnight buffets - very seldom today on other cruise ships. These buffets were exceptional!!!!!!

Beautiful, clean ship.Friendly sincere service. Grown up & funny entertainment & entertainers. No one hunts you down to sell you something, e.g. drinks. The pace is very relaxed. Amazing Ports, especially the Dominican Republic & Barbados.

This was my 7th cruise and it has to be my favorite. Amazing Ports. A spotless ship. Exciting Entertainment. Friendly, sincere service and very interesting food made this trip almost perfect.

the cruise was directed toward foreigners even though 70 % were american. all the entertainment had english as a second language. every announcement was made in five languages. (gets old) the workout room was too small, the ships library was very inefficient and limited. The ship pool was way undersized, especially the two four man jacuzzi,s But a lack of a stabilizer was the sorest point on the ship

ship was very clean,the rest was okey (fashion etc) very plain no frillis

We went on this cruise because of the destinations(Panama Canal). The ship was very clean and we enjoyed the cruise. The shows at night were very, very good. Our only negative was the Quality of food at the evening(Diner) meal.

This ship is nice but was of a lesser class than some of the newer ones in the Royal Caribbean line.

I have been on many cruises on different cruise lines but I have never been on one this bad.  Staff at the reception desk, not very helpful.  My wife and I watched the reception desk from where we had a drink every afternoon and I could not beleive the amount of guests that had arguments with the desk personnel.  

When you order a drink in any of the lounges, as soon as it arrives you should order another, because you will be finished with your first and be trying to get the attention of a waiter for quite sometime,  There seemed to be a "rudeness" attitude coming from the staff and when I brought this up at dinner everyone seemed to agree.  

The food either on the 11th floor cafeteria or in the dining room was poorly cooked.  Fish was way over cooked.  Breakfast was always the same, boring breakfast every morning.

Entertainment was poor.  We ended up leaving most nights before half way through.

I was really up beat and looking forward to this cruise but was very disappointed with it over all.

Seriously, even if MSC said, here are two totally free tickets, try it again, I would not even consider for a second taking the tickets.  I was never so glad to get off a ship in all my cruising days.

I have a long list of complaints but I hope that you get the picture.

Cruise 14 september 2016 to 28 september 2016 from Copenhagen to Genua calling at Warnemuende, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Le Havre, La Coruña (instead of Ferrol which was closed by fog), Lissabon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Palma de Mallorca and Genua with bus transfer to Milan with nice stay there before flying to Copenhagen with SAS in the evening. Fine Cruise with fine food and excellent ports of call. The Fish and food market in Cadiz is very interesting. Very fine excursion from La Coruña to Santiago de Compostella with very experienced german lady as guide.

Fine Cruise from Copenhagen to Bergen, Hellesylt, Geiranger, Flaam and Copenhagen. A lot of rain in Bergen, so remained on board the fine ship with good facilities and food. 30 July to 6 August 2016. Tender service in Geiranger as the new Sea Walk was not built at that time.

If you're an experienced cruiser, you will be greatly disappointed. If its your first cruise, you will be unfairly turned off. If you are expecting great food, excellent service, outstanding entertainment.....don't choose European MSC. They are a HUGE disappointment. Food is cold, bland, poorly cooked/served in buffet. Seated meals are VERY slow, as in 45 min one day to get breakfast. Took 20+ min to flag someone/anyone down for drinks and another 20 to actually receive. If you go to bar to get drinks (due to lack of service) you get poor attitudes. Entertainment is very poor...one duo the male played polka music on a elec keyboard while the female played mariachi?? WHAT?

The MSC Opera is a lovely cruise liner. The balcony room is very nice, but the shower is really small. The staff on the pool deck was excellent. The entertainment team and singers/bands spoke or sang mainly in Italian. It was sometimes difficult to follow what was going on.