MSC not long for US market

MSC Orchestra Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 61

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
MSC Orchestra

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 28, 2009

Ship: MSC Orchestra

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 14 years ago

Review summary

A beautiful ship with a very attentive staff -great potential. But who wants to snorkel on St John at 10:30 PM? or hit the beach in Nassau from 7AM to noon? We never saw the Dominican Republic - we were stuck on a private island with hard, mildewed beach chairs - no pads- and the Barbeque was pay as you go - $7 for a hamburger, $5 for a small plastic cup of beer. Food on board was even worse and one paid extra for cappacino even in the dining room, or for ice cream during the day. No terry robes in balcony rooms and no turn down chocolates on the pillow. Finally disembarkation was unnecessarily difficult because ship returned to pier 19 when it had left from pier 4 - cars were not nearby and since I use a mobility scooter I could not take the shuttle easily to the garage to retrieve my car. Better planning is definitely required.

Ports of call

Samana, Dominican Republic

1 out of 5
absolutely nothing to see. Beach chairs definitely sub-standard and no umbrellas - not that we had any sun to worry about.

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

1 out of 5
Great port - shame we didn't dock at the decent pier so we could just walk off and enjoy a little time at the beach. Had to tender in and sea was extremely rough.

Nassau, Bahamas

1 out of 5
Again - 7AM is too early for the beach - it is still cold! how about some beach time during the middle of the day??????

St. John's, Antigua

1 out of 5
Docked at 4:30pm. By the time we disembarked everything was closing up and who wants to swim or snorkey in the dark? Left at 10:30. A total waste!
Don't Miss: daylight!

Pros: beautiful ship, good entertainment

Cons: last minute changes in itinerary, food, amenities

Recommends MSC Orchestra? No.

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1 Comment

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

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