Get ready to be nickel-and-dime'd
MSC Preziosa Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean
7 Night Western Mediterranean (Rome Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 16, 2015
Ship: MSC Preziosa
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
Need to use WIFI? They will charge you €16.50 per hour. Need a soda or juice with your meal? You will need to pay for it. Only thing you get to drink with meal is water or very bad coffee/tea. There are no towels in any of the pool or water play areas. You need to bring your towels from the room. If you lose any towels, that will cost you €20 per towel. MSC will attach €8.50 per person per day to your bill as a "Service Charge". You can have it removed by going to guest services. Kids want to play games - you can at a cost of €2 per game. Pretty much no useful TV channels. Of course you can pay for a movie instead, at least €7.99 Sub-standard food and entertainment.Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Below average
Ports of call
Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands
7 Comments
tjarv 9 years ago
Hampy 9 years ago
We have never had to pay for pool towels on Royal Caribbean as stated above, as long as they are returned. Sodas, wifi and arcade games are additional as stated in the cruise information. I do appreciate your review as I like to hear the good, the bad and the ugly to help plan for future cruises.
JusMe 9 years ago
Sorry your cruise did not go as you thought it would. The service charge, internet charges, soda and juice charges and the towel charges are all pretty standard on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, NCL, Princess and Celebrity that I have been on. These are standard things on the standard Cruise lines in the last 20 years I have been cruising.
You Cruised on MSC, it is a bargain line and not known for the food. I have read some reviews that like the food on MSC and others that say it is bad, Same as reviews on NCL and Carnival. When you book a cheap cruise you should not have expectations set to high.
Before you do another cruise I would suggest you do some research on the cruise lines web site, on cruise review sites like this one and ask your travel agent a lot of questions so you know what your in for. I would also recommend that you do some research on your ports so you know what you want to do in each port. Try the Ship Mate app for your smart phone and there you can go the the forum to chat with guest that have been on that line before. It also has an area with non-ship excursions and a area where travelers recommend restaurants, stores to shop in and places to go and see.
With some research you can have a great cruise vacation.
I do not have any vested interest in any cruise line so you can not say that to me as you said in your above comment to others. I actually would prefer cruising to not be so popular so I could get lower rates and better cabins.
idiedric 9 years ago
People need to know what they are getting themselves into even though what we experienced here is "standard". Just because you have a vested interest in manipulating the perceptions of this cruise/cruise line does not mean nickel/diming, substandard service, or food needs to be accepted. At minimum, people need to know what they are getting into. And the towel thing - you've got to admit that is poor customer service at the very least. There were two other families who were on the same cruise as we were and they experienced the exact same thing. I've been to a small number of cruises in the Americas a few years ago and had much better experiences.
glomarrone 9 years ago
If you have been on those 2 - 3 previous cruises fairly recently, then you know that all the charges that you mentioned are ones that all cruise lines now charge. At least, the quality of the ship and the Destinations/Excursions were good. Funny, you didn't rate the ports of call too highly except for Marseille and Genoa. I hope that your future cruises are less disappointing to you now that you know about these extra charges.
CrusinTim 9 years ago
Not really sure what other "2-3" cruises/lines you have sailed before but the majority of those extra charges are common on most cruise lines!! The 8.50 is for GRATUITIES, not "Service Charges" and is a common charge (it's tips spread among the crew, why would you want to remove them ?) . WiFi is not free on most ships. Soda is not free on any cruise I have been on unless you have a soda package. T.V. channels usually always stink onboard. How would you lose your towel?