MSC Poesia - very disappointing

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 10

Review summary

Review cruise MSC Poesia April 21st to April 30th. I would say disappointing... Me and my husband went on our first MSC cruise for 10 days, we are 32 and 39 years old and took our baby with 9 months. We had already cruised twice with Royal Caribbean. In spite of some bad reviews, we decided to give a chance and book with MSC, due to the itinerary, since it left from Lisbon, so we didn't had to took a plane with the baby. It started bad right before leaving: I've sent 2 emails via website with some doubts about the shore excursions, and I didn't receive any answer. The embarkation was very easy and fast, but no accompaniment and no information what so ever, we had to get in and find our way for ourselves, if we were first time cruisers we wouldn't know how to get around the ship and find the cabin and would have to call some crew member to assist... The ship is recent and with all the amenities one can expect. The staff is friendly and helpful, but its an Italian company, so there are many Italian, and we know that Italians can be a bit "difficult"... We also had some problems with the food... we really thought some of the critics could have been a little picky, but the fact is that this is not the kind, or even quality of food we were used to in the other cruises we have done with Royal Caribbean. In the first day we rejected immediately the food in the buffet style restaurant "Vila Pompeiana", and had all our meals in the main restaurant - Breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food wasn't excellent were either, but better than in the buffet, and we could have more to choose from. We had an Indonesian waiter: Suadnyana, that was very nice, and the head waiter was Croatian: Tomislav. They tried their best to provide us with the menu best dishes, but sometimes, it was really difficult... We had some bad meals and some good ones, we couldn't tell why there were some ups and downs, but we were really glad in the "bright days of the kitchen staff". The ice cream and the coffee were Italians and were excellent. Some days we didn't even bother to try the deserts, ice cream is always a safe choice. The other main problem we had, and its why we say "MSC never again", was the noise outside our cabin, a constant banging that started every day at 7:00 am, what a lousy daily wakening! I tried to know right in the first morning (Sunday) from our cabin attendant what was going on, and he said that he thought it were some maintenance work, that it should be finished in 2 or 3 days... But it didn't!. Wednesday I went to the reception complaining and they sent an officer to the cabin and hear/confirm the noise and said that they would try to find out the source. It continued every day, and Friday my husband went again to the reception to complain and another person came to the cabin to hear... We were very upset with this, including the fact that we had a nine months baby, with all the stress and that... Only Saturday we were offered to change cabins (we were leaving Monday) - and we had one last morning of peaceful wakening. And we received a call from the "supposed" guest relations manager (Italian), asking if everything was ok now... (!!??!) - they think that for offering a new cabin in the last day of our stay, that we were very happy, forgetting all the complaining we had, and all the different persons we had to talk to, and every day waking up with that awful noise...! - Of course things were not ok, and we were not happy with the way things happened and how we were treated... Anyway... Problems apart we manage to have a nice family vacation, and rest from work days. Looking forward for the next cruise but not on MSC

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Pros: Italian coffee and italian ice cream

Cons: The food and the noise in the cabin

Recommends MSC Poesia? No.