This was a much-anticipated cruise. A lot of new experiences with first trip to Europe, first Transatlantic voyage, new ship and all but two of the ports were new visits for me. I enjoyed all of the ports with Tenerife being my favorite. Having sailed MSC twice before I thought I knew what to expect. The ship and cabin did meet my expectations. The food variety and quality were well below par compared to my previous MSC cruises as was the entertainment. I was definitely not a big fan of the cruise director. Turns out it was his first voyage as CD. I'd suggest it also be his last. There were a couple of technical glitches that I personally had to work through. My Gold status was somehow forgotten, once I finally realized, it was fairly easy to fix but I had already missed some of the fun perks such as the welcome back party. Two of my prepaid excursions somehow were not properly linked to me and I spent probably an hour in multiple visits to the excursions desk to iron out the wrinkles. All in all, glad I took the trip, unfortunately some of the negatives have lowered my opinion of MSC overall.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Loved the new boarding pass in the MSC for Me app.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The variety/quality of food in both the MDR and buffet was less than I had previously experienced on MSC. Examples: no shrimp cocktail or surf & turf in MDR. Buffet had no omelet station and breakfast each morning was exactly the same although fried eggs were missing the last two days. Some nights in the MDR the food prep and presentation were fine and other nights very poor. In general, it felt like they had intentionally cheapened the food. I have no way of knowing if that is because it was TA, the voyage initiated in Europe, or is a problem happening fleetwide. It definitely has changed my opinion of MSC for the moment.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
I enjoyed the port presentations during the cruise. Trivia was interesting.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The production show crew apparently had just joined the vessel and offered only 3 shows. The first two were fabulous music presentations, the third was contortionists and some devil type music, I left. There were several shows where the ship imported entertainers like singers, musicians and magic. Some were great, others I left the theatre.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
All of my interactions with staff were professional and courteous. Room stewards and MDR waiters went out of their way to be helpful and provided excellent service.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was very well maintained (something I can say about all 3 of my MSC cruises). The decor was fine. One BIG ding on the design of the ship has to do with the atrium stages. In the evenings there are music shows playing from the various stage levels. The loudness of the music makes it very hard to interact with guest services and the excursions desk during that time period because they are immediately adjacent to the stages. I initially had a cabin adjacent to the atrium. After the first couple of nights of finding it hard to go to sleep because of the music noise in my cabin, I was finally moved to an area away from the music and to MSC's credit, they upgraded my accommodations.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
I was initially in a cabin very close to the atrium (9200) and found the music from the atrium too loud to remain asleep and after multiple complaints, MSC finally moved me away from the source of the music. I was then moved to a balcony and was extremely pleased with the size, layout, bed and shower facilities. The cabin was quiet and very comfortable. My steward kept the room clean and tidy twice a day.
Ship tip
Make sure your room is not close to the atrium, unless you like to party late.
An MSC excursion to the everglades and tour of Miami. The activity itself was great but sat on the bus after exiting the ship for at least half an hour waiting for issues with other passengers to be worked out. That was disappointing.
Took a post cruise MSC excursion to Kennedy Space Center. The excursion was great with the exception we sat on the bus for what seemed like half an hour waiting for a few stragglers. A bit annoying after making sure I was there at the stated time. The time waited was taking away from the amount of time to explore KSC.
Knowing the moving parts of disembarkation, I felt the excursions crew did their best to get us off the ship and to our excursion as quickly as possible.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
