The first day was overly stressful because of bottlenecks we encountered when boarding. That changed as folks started meandering around the ship. I avoided the prime time for the buffet because it was too busy.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
The lines to get to Customer Service and Self Service kiosks were very long and the kiosks weren't well marked
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Most food was great!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The zip line was fun but slow (probably for safety reasons).
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Fun and interesting with a diverse selection of talented performers. The costumes were great. The emcee was funny. I'm giving it a 4 instead of 5 because the acts weren't "tight" like a well performed Broadway play. I liked that they lasted only 40 minutes and were age appropriate for all of my family members.
Children's Programs
2 out of 5
My granddaughter has spent time in the kids zone on three other cruises and MSC was her poorest experience thus far. She said some of the kids were picking on her while there. This program needs to be heavily supervised to ensure that there is no room for bullying and stopped immediately if it happens. The parents did speak with the staff, who told them they had a problem child. That child should have been pulled out at the first sign of trouble as the bullying impacted several children. The age group was 7-11. 11 year old boys can have too much power over the 7 and 8 year old children. Rethink this age spread and make it so that the kids are closer in age.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Most of the staff were wonderful but some servers and customer service people were curt and unhelpful
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The design was really pretty but not always very functional. The only way to know which floor you were on was to check a map at an elevator (found at each end of ship, so you could be very lost on the center of a floor) or the GPS on the MSC App. It would be easy to place large numbers in select areas on each level to help orient the guests.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
My cabin was the right size and out housekeeper kept everything clean and fresh!
Ship tip
Download the MSC App prior to boarding the ship. Once the ship leaves port, put your phone into airplane mode and use the ship's wi-fi to avoid excessive data charges.
We went on a cave dwelling excursion with a well-informed and funny tour guide and had a blast. He even took us off the main road to show us a local hospital, school and their statue of Christopher Columbus.
It took about 1.5 hours to get off the ship. Since the coastline is a coral reef, there is no port for the cruise ships. That meant that we all had to be transferred over by boats that held about 200 people at a time. With 4 other cruise ships also ferrying passengers over, it was a very long wait. MSC needs to rethink the most efficient way to get their guests to shore. By the time we arrived, we had only a couple of hours to get to and spend at the very beautiful beach.
My son and grandson went on the ATV/Snorkeling excursion and said it was the highlight of their trip. We girls stayed in the shops and were accosted by all sorts of shop keepers. At one point, we got off of the main street and walked a block back into the town which had several small local businesses which were more pleasant for shopping.
I enjoyed the beautiful coastline!! We didn't do an excursion. I like to shop for unique things but the shops at the 4 islands we visited were mostly the same at each port. Costa Maya did offer some variation, but I think I would have preferred an excursion.
Super easy. I elected to do a quick disembarkation with 2 suitcases. The line to disembark that was close to my room was so long that by the time I got to the end of it I found another open exit and walked right off. The path through customs was easy. I tried to book a shuttle to the airport while still on the ship but was told that they had been sold out (within like 2 hours of when they went up for sale). But when I got to the road, an MSC employee asked if I needed a ride to the airport. He charged me $16 to board a big bus with others from the cruise and they took me to the airport. It was fast and easy.
We never had any trouble knowing where we were. Yes you can not walk all the way across the 16th floor. So you figure out after a day or two and you are good.
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