Nice ship, friendly staff, great private island, less expensive than other lines. Food was good but not great, entertainment was just OK and not a lot of it.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Had an Aurea balcony which made embarkation smooth. Everyone at the port was friendly and helpful.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
MDR was good but not great. The staff was excellent, the service good but the food was inconsistent and not as good as the other cruise li es we have sailed on. We purchased the Asian experie ce dining which included 3 meals of Teppenyaki, Sushi, and a Asian Fusion menu. The Teppenyaki was good but the other 2 were outstanding. The service and staff were excellent everything. The buffet was interesting. Omelette station and breakfast pizza were great in the morning. The burgers and hotdogs were not good at all but the pizza was the best of any cruise we have been on hands down. The small bite size desserts were all decadent and delicious also. My wife particularly liked the mini doughnuts. Coffe was better than most and specialty coffees were available at a lot if the bars, which was included in the drink package. Witnessed a few concerning things that made me question how dedicated the crew was to food safety and NO ONE seemed to wash and/or sanitize their hands when entering, nor was there anyone making an effort to encourage them to do so. We talked to several people who got very sick during the cruise.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
There was not a whole lot of planned activities and some of the ones scheduled did not occur.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
A couple of the shows and the comedian was entertaining. Entertainment was no where to the level of NCL or Royal. There was a lot of random single or duo performers on various stages in the evening but it was more like back ground music rather than a show.
Children's Programs
No kids with us
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Crew was obviously understaffed but they were very friendly, professional and hard working.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Very glitzy ship, the effort it had to take to keep all that chrome and mirrored surfaces clean is impressive. The deck layouts were confusing and often you had to go up a deck or down a deck to get to an area that was on the same floor you were on.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
Smallest bathroom we have experienced, had to turn sideways if sitting on the toilet and if you had to bend over to pick something up in the shower, your butt was going to bump the door open everytime. Not a lot of storage in cabin compared to others.
Ship tip
Do the Asian Experience dining, their is a lot of value in the Auria experience. Go to see Peter Punk show, it was weird but entertaining.
Ship arrived late, we did the self assist disembarkation and it was total confusion, I think it may not be fair to use our experience as a gauge though as storms caused us to arrive late and the timing was screwed up.
MSC is a bit of a hit and miss alot of the time. Thank you for you review. Thinking next time I decide to go on an MSC ship, will try Yatch class. It's cheaper than other lines around that level, that's what I've seen.
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