Great cruise if you can put up with Germans and Italians.

MSC Poesia Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 88

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
MSC Poesia

7 Night Adriatic & Eastern Mediterranean (Venice Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 09, 2015

Ship: MSC Poesia

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 8130

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

Great ports of call and shore excursions. Main dining room is excellent with fine dining menu changing every night. Bars and lounges are tastefully decorated with great musicians and vocalists.  Breakfasts and lunches at the main cafeteria is a nightmare, an eating frenzy with insufficient tables and have to wait in line for food and dodging on-coming crowd. Beverage stations are always either "out of order" or empty of hot water, or something. Majority of passengers are Europeans with Germans and Italians making up more than 50% of the entire load, which resulted in stiff, poker face unfriendly people. There are also quite a handful of families with young kids, babies in strollers and noisy toddlers running around during the busy breakfast and lunch hour. Shows are mediocre in 5 out of 7. Overall service by the crew is excellent except for a few overworked individuals. 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Food is great at the main dining room but mediocre in the buffet.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Mediocre and amateur for some, great for 2 - 3 shows.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Nathalia at the Travel/Tour desk. A genuinely friendly person - unpretentious.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Pretty impressive with the size.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Although we didn't really have much of a view, it was clean and comfortable.

Ship tip

Not too bad if you can put up with kids and Europeans with a mixed bag of different languages and attitudes. Service is great compensating for some of the flaws and annoyances. The ship itself is awesome with great interiors.

Ports of call

Venice, Italy

5 out of 5
Relatively easy to find and move around.

Bari, Italy

3 out of 5
Small port without any significant attractions.

Katakolon (Olympia), Greece

5 out of 5
Great knowledgeable tour guide and site.

Izmir, Turkey

3 out of 5
Not much to offer.

Istanbul, Turkey

5 out of 5
Great history and culture.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

5 out of 5
Medieval and historical.
Was this review helpful? 88

1 Comment

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.