MSC Preziosa Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Some staff very inhospitable. Specialty restaurants non existent as compared to other cruise lines. Total chaos from checking in till checking out. Ques/lines to get on and off ship and god forbid you are not European and have to get your passport back. Main dining room food and staff excellent, buffet couldn't give a damm if you wanted anything. The worst part of this cruise and probably on any cruise line is how rude and nasty guests are to others

We have cruised with several cruise companies and have always felt we were so well looked after. We are on this cruise right now and have never encountered staff so unwilling to help you. My husband is disabled and gets extremely stressed if he has to eat on a table with lots of people. Our table request was not passed on, according to the Maitrede, by our travel agent and he was so unwilling and unhelpful we are now forced to eat in the buffet or pay for a meal. The only people we can quite honestly say have given fantastic service is the guys in Eatily. Recommend that restaurant. The weather has not been good and yesterday we were forced to stand on a very windy and wet dock whilst they allowed only four passengers onto the ship at a time as they were taking on new passengers at every port. Finally they allowed us to use the gang plank where the luggage was being put into the ship. When we got up onto the deck, remember it was pouring and freezing, they made us take our coats of on the outside deck to go through a security machine. Ridiculous. We still have five days to go so I hope they can improve on this poor performance.

We had a wonderful time on our cruise. Preziosa is a gorgeous ship. We sailed in Yacht Club which is worth every penny. The service is divine (Our butler, Harrison was THE BEST! He was also our butler on Divina and it was awesome to see him again.) and the food very good. Plus it is wonderful to have a private enclave to escape from everyone else on the ship. That said, It was a wonderful idea to change the policy to allow Yacht Club members to have free drinks throughout the ship because it got us out of our area and mingling with the other passengers more. We had sailed on Divina in the past and found ourselves pretty much staying in Yacht Club the whole time. I don't think I would do an European cruise again simply because there just isn't enough time in the ports. There is so much to see in Europe and we would have liked to be able to get out of the port areas more. Our itinerary changed a few times because of weather and a strike in Le Havre but there is nothing to be done about that so we didn't care. Better safe than sorry for sure. We will definitely cruise with MSC in the future but probably stick to the Caribbean where we can spend more time at the pool and not worry if we feel like staying on the ship in port. Definitely very excited to see their new and upcoming ships like Meraviglia and Seaside!

The ship is greatful, the trip in the container terminals is not to recommende. This was not a nice cruise for us, also because the organisation was sometimes terrible.

The route 'Metropoles des Nordens' is not recommended: all stops in container ports, steep ramps for leaving the ship, extremely long bustours, no access to Amsterdam, but 2 days in Zeebrugge. All in all not amazing. And the disembarkation was poorly organized. If you are older and walking badly, this is an ordeal, and an impertinence. The boat is great, the service and the food are good, the balcony cabins 'Bella' are small and have little cabinets for longer cruises. The glass doors at the shower are dense and so the showering is really fun. All in all not a amazing cruise, but a nice ship. We can not recommend this route, but the stay on the ship was okay. The immigration ceremonie through the British authorities was great, but a disaster in Zeebrugge by the Belgian police. And the MSC shuttles were poorly organized and expensive, as all trips from MSC. The photographers on board were really annoying. No go! So all in all not one of our highlights and not recommended.

Most of the crew friendly although an extreamly rude receptionist. Food - lots of bread if you are a bread eater. Rest... nothing great. Not Disabled friendly - i.e. with excursions they take you in a wheelchair to the bus. On return... NO ASSISTANCE YOU HAVE TO BEG FOR HELP. Excursions- Did not see much. The bus raced through the city and then stopped for three hours between nowhere and nothing

Bad communicatie gives al not pretty feeling over this nice en marvellous cruise. Rishi our waiter wasenormous. Olga of the goldenlobster desk was also very frendly

We booked this cruise because of the itneriary, We had always wanted to go to Iceland.  Although we made the best of it I would never book again on MSC!

The worst part of this whole cruise was the smoke! Smoking was allowed in the casino which as you might guess is located in the center of the ship and open to lounges and comman areas.  Plus many people smoke in their cabins and the enitre ship smelled of stale smoke.  I really sensitve to smoke and for that reason alone I would not book again on this cruise line. 

Secondly the food was bad and got worse throughout the cruise.  I understand the menus are geared toward Europeans but even the Pizza was terrible.  I think Dominos has better pizza.  I would have thought that Italians could handle pizza.  

The service was very inconsistent.  Our cabin attendant was great.  The rest of the service was most times terrible.  Many times we would just wait on ourselves.  Other times in the main dinner room during lunch we would just get up and leave because we could not get served.  The service in the evenings was much better. 

Fine and steady vessel. Fine shore excursions. Cobh interesting maritime history

concerning last port of Call for TITANIC in 1912 and the funeral of the people lost in the sinking of the LUSITANIA in 1915. A little confusion about time and meeting point for the excurtions. Vessel steady in rough weather.

Navio muito bom e novo. Serviço de animação ótimo. Comida média a boa. Bebidas ótimas. Bastante opção a bordo. Quartos amplos e limpos. Muitas bandas e peças de teatro.

Magnificent ship but just a bit too many passengers for my liking.. The ports we visited were wonderful especially Malta and Marseille. Food was just ok and service average. Our balcony cabin was excellent and coming into the ports of Malta Marseille and Genoa the views were magnificent. Overall a brilliant ship but we will be looking for smaller ships in future with less than 2500 passengers.

I was reading all the negative reviews and couldn't believe it. I almost didn't select  this company based on the reviews and I am glad I did. Everything was great, the food was amazing, I can't believe someone would complain about that.. Itinerary was good as well. If I can fit anything negative, I would not select Palermo and Genoa as my next destinations, very poor.  Overall the ship was very clean, very new and very modern.  There were very few Americans,  99% European. All the crew speaks english as well as few other European languages. We took this trip as a present for my parent's wedding anniversary and no one had any complains.  We've been to a few cruises and never had the fastest and easiest disembarkation. I am shocked how many bad reviews this ship got and just needed to fit one good one for these who is considering taking it.

The staff was really kind and the services really good, the ship was really nice and I had a nice trip on it. I suggest this ship for a Mediterranean cruise

We had previously done royal Caribbean cruise and kind of compared it to this cruise, once we stopped comparing and got our heads around the fact it’s not RC we enjoyed it a lot more, the food Was lovely and best pizza at sea, loads of verity, there is room for massive improvements with msc that most people would agree with and don’t get me wrong I love Msc cruise but better bar service, staff were a bit rude at times and others were lovely, entertainment was not great and music was the same throughout the ship.

My Fiancé and I decided to take this cruise last minute while we were travelling to Rome.  We were on this ship from June 19-26.  Got on the Civitavecchia port in Rome.  We booked this cruise for our Birthdays, and boy were in for a surprise.  After paying an arm and a leg to be on this cruise, you would think to get treated like royalty.  If you wanted a vacation filled with excitement, fun and relaxation, this is not the cruise ship for you.  The food was mediocre, Service was horrible, Ports were not the best and the activities on the ship lacked fun.  Let me start off with the food, as eating is one of my favourite things to do on vacation.  Each bite I took off my plate felt like I was eating a spoon full of salt.  The food was tasteless and way to salty for my taste buds. Even the cakes were so salty.  Service on the other hand was even more terrible than the food.  All the workers had a frown on their face.  It was just so depressing to look at.  Every worker on the ship tried to sell a package to us.  This was getting so irritating because we already had an all-inclusive drink package.  When we sat down at the bar, the bartender would not serve us because he had too many drinks to make.  It took thirty minutes to get a drink.  When I went to guest services to see what could be done about this, the answer they gave me was that the ship had too many people (4500) therefore, I could not receive the service I am looking for.  Seriously, I did not pay so much to be on a ship and get treated so badly.  They should not be boarding that many people, when they cannot accommodate their guests. The ports we docked on had extra cost to get to land.  Shuttles were not included.  If you had excursions booked, shuttles were not included in with the prices for the excursion, which was definitely a rip off.  There were a few activities on the ship, and I felt like I was being harassed to participate.  I wanted to sit down enjoy a drink, read my book and relax.  Instead, I was being harassed/forced to join the group of people who wanted to participate.  It should be up to the person to join or not.  Finally, on our last day, we requested to have our luggages picked up early, due to having an early flight.  After guest services promised us that we were on the first priority list, come the day when we received our tickets for disembarkation, we were the last to be out.  I had lost all hope on this ship, and decided that this will be the last MSC cruise we ever take.  By the end of the cruise, I was so stressed out, irritated and just really wanted to get out of the ship.

Worst cruise line I have ever sailed with. Terrible service, stained bed linen, cold food in dining room.

When complaining to reception just ignored or lied to.

Booked a Fantastica cabin on a three week cruise and were given basic cabin on the lowest deck A total rip off, and when I wrote to complain was not given an adequate answer and no offer of a refund for the wrong cabin class.

I would not recommend this cruise line to any one.

The arrival and the embarkation had indeed a WOW factor. When the transfer bus stopped a butler was waiting for us already, he took care of our luggage and escort us to the special Yacht Club check-in area. A welcome buffet with some nibbles and Prosecco was waiting for us, the check-in formalities were quick and after that another butler escorted us straight to the ship passing all the lines and queues. We spend around 10 minutes in the Concierge area to have our credit card registered and we were escorted to the room. Our luggage was already there. From our arrival at the airport to entering the room we needed only 1h30minutes. Impressive and well done MSC!The arrival and the embarkation had indeed a WOW factor. When the transfer bus stopped a butler was waiting for us already, he took care of our luggage and escort us to the special Yacht Club check-in area. A welcome buffet with some nibbles and Prosecco was waiting for us, the check-in formalities were quick and after that another butler escorted us straight to the ship passing all the lines and queues. We spend around 10 minutes in the Concierge area to have our credit card registered and we were escorted to the room. Our luggage was already there. From our arrival at the airport to entering the room we needed only 1h30minutes. Impressive and well done MSC!

There are 20 bars, including the new Diamond Bar that's one of the quieter venues and two outside pool bars. Others include the Green Sax jazz bar, chic El Dorado piano bar and the large Safari Lounge that hosts smaller shows with a very annoying animation team and has a dance floor. Our favourite place was with no doubts Green Sax with nice deco and good music (especially the mix duo Romanian-Ukrainian); and of course an amazing Romanian bartender, Vlad, who’s cocktails very close to perfection in mixology.

BUT … MSC having a very cosmopolitan crowd on board all the announcements are done in 6 languages…even the safety ones (can you imagine if you speak Japanese you will be the last one to find that the ship is sinking…oops…sounds like Costa Concordia story). The annoying thing is that while you enjoy a lovely cocktail with some good music in the lounge the charm is destroyed by a Chinese man screaming on PA system something that’s sound like a menu in a Chinese Takeaway. Priceless moment(s)!

This is not a ship where the majority of passengers are running to bed before midnight. The main entertainment venue is the 1,600-seat two-story Platinum Theatre on Decks 6 and 7. The emphasis is on visual shows which supposed to appeal to an international audience. The theatre is, once again, like the entire ship impressive and has all the ads on to host amazing shows.

BUT… MSC definitely cut costs in the entertainment department because I never saw such a poor offer in my entire “cruiser career”. The cast, sets and costume are repetitive and the production are just a line-up of well-known songs with no concept or imagination. The dancer were quite good but looking at their performance you can realise the different background and training: ballroom, cabaret, street dance. It was a repetitive performance of how they couldn’t manage to synchronize their movements every night and lift their hands or legs in a random order, for sure not created by the choreographer. As I said the dancing was not so bad. What really made me leave the theatre before the end of the show were the two leading voices…Painful most of the time, far from being a duo when was a need for that, more interested in their stage pose than their vocal performance and managing to kill every song in a very personal and powerful way. Worse than the first pre-pre-pre-pre selection for XFactor in Margate! I wonder if MSC found that Italians invented big lavish TV entertainment on Canale5 or they host every year the high quality Festival San Remo ?

MSC Voyagers Club

Is the scheme for frequent travellers on board of MSC ships. All cruise lines offer a series of benefits depending the level that you have in the framework. MSC made a step forward, trying to encourage passengers from other lines to try MSC by offering them the equivalent status they have attained in their loyalty club in the MSC Voyagers Club. Genial marketing idea !

BUT…in reality is a little bit different. We are Diamond on Cunard and Platinum on NCL so we got an equivalent Black level on MSC. A statement from the line said: "As with the previous MSC Club, members qualify for a whole range of benefits and extras which increase as they rise up the membership tiers. Gold and Black members will now receive additional tier benefits as standard. The only benefits that you will get is a Welcome back cocktail, Complimentary basket of fresh fruit in cabin, Complimentary MSC Voyagers club photo, Complimentary speciality restaurant dinner (no beverages), MSC Voyagers Club black party, MSC Voyagers Club chocolate ship, Complimentary dancing class sounds more like budget scheme the a loyalty one. And don’t expect to get all of this without asking. In two weeks we manage to get the party invitation, the chocolate ships and the free dinners. Actually, quite sad, the person who supposed to be your Voyagers Club host and the one who can make you to book another cruise with MSC, the Cruise Consultant, was the rudest and unprofessional person on board. When we try to speak with Melanie about another booking she push her hand in our faces and shout at us to wait because she was busy! If she’s working on commission for sure she lost a lot and she needs some training in customer service. And reading the online reviews the changes in their benefits for Voyagers Club members is not very popular.

I should have listened to the other reviewers who gave this cruise mediocre reviews but unfortunately this was the only cruise with dates that would fit our schedule. We boarded in Barcelona for a one week cruise to Marseille, Genoa, Civitavecchia, Palermo and Malta.  We booked our own excursions through Viator which were great- electric biking in Marseille and a private tour with Domenico in Rome and explored the other ports on our own since I had read that the cruise excursion packages were not very good.  It was nice to wake up to a new port each morning.  However the entertainment on the boat was very limited as was the swimming and non existent multi-purpose/basketball court that I had read in the cruise description, plus the two lane bowling alley was a miniature of a real one.  On top of that, the food and service at the sit down dinners were horrible.  By the second night, everyone opted to do the buffet, not that the food was better but that we can just eat and be done with it.  It was not an enjoyable dining experience that you would look forward to, unlike on other cruises that we have gone on. We ended up doing three nights at the specialty restaurants, two at Galaxy and one a Italia.  The food and service were better but at a premium. The one unexpected bonus from the trip were the photo portraits that were taken.  We got many wonderful family and individual photos taken by professional photographers and the prices were beautiful and very reasonably priced.  We bought 25 and they gave you a special price of $199 for all of them which included the photos and the digital files.  Overall the cruise was fine but I would not recommend MSC if you can find another cruise line.

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. 

A review of MSC PREZOSIA we had to fly from gatwick as there were no manchester flights. Cost £699 including flights. Firstly Gatwick was far better for clearing security. One at Genoa collecting bags and clearing security was simple Transfer to ship only took 5/10 minutes Check in was painless. On board in 10 minutes Once on board we were pleasantly surprised by the ship(even if it was a bit too blingy for our taste! Too many mirrors and sparkles) Cabin was a good size for an inside. And spotlessly clean. The ship is big and very busy around the pool A lot of hustle and bustle, it reminded me of a busy Spanish or Italian beach at sea. They do have a rather pushy nature about them, but not intentionally rude, just their nature and needs a bit of understanding. Loved the endless pool and bar at the back of the ship. Entertainment was a bit eurovisiony The bars were well separated and I liked the il cappuccino bar for coffees was nice for a coffee or after dinner drink The food was IMO Very good Breakfast was plentiful in the buffet(never did the restaurant,but others who did, said it was good). Lunch was great lots of pizzas and pastas Carvery section ,salad bar, bread cheeses and lots of fruit and veg. Dinner consisted of starter/salad /soup /pasta course/main course and dessert. With choice of two starters two soups one salad two past dishes 3/4 main courses and 3/4 dessert. Main course lacked vegetables but lots to eat over the 6 courses. Personally loved the evening meals, not everybody would agree with me. Very good buffet and late buffet pizzas were fab!!! Service was good but not always great. Then there was the allegressimo drinks package! £22 a day!! Well this is a must!! Coffees and croissant available in the morning Different Coffees available all day! Free water, soft drinks Beer wine cocktails shorts(ie bacardi gordons beefeater not bombay) Worth every penny. Not the same as P&O' or celebrity But a lively change Something I would do again! but not every year. Overall £853 plus €60 tips for 7 days great value for a fun lively cruise