MSC Sinfonia

I have taken more than 10 cruises in my life. This is my second European cruise, but from a European line. The food and entertainment was far superior than other lines like NCL or Royal Caribbean. Highly recommend MSC, but take note they do not make announcements for everything and anything so you must make sure to read your daily program.

I wouldn't recommend a cruise on the Sinfonia. We did the 7-day eastern Mediterranean cruise out of Venice. This ship is on the small side and the on board activities are limited, but we booked it because we were excited about the itinerary. Unfortunately the ship had mechanical issues so we missed the stop in Mykonos entirely (and it was only going to be a few hours anyway, the way the itinerary was advertised is misleading). Not only was this disappointing, but MSC was very reluctant to provide updates about what was happening, so we were stressed not knowing how much additional disruption to expect. But the biggest complaint would be the food. We booked the Aurea package, and despite reading some negative reviews about the food before we left, assumed that having the my choice dining in the Il Covo restaurant would get us access to a higher quality of dining. That was not the case. We got sick off the food our fist night on the ship, and a number of the dishes we were served throughout the cruise were simply inedible. After our dinners in Il Covo we would go to the buffet looking for other options, and what really floored us was that a number of the dishes served in Il Covo each evening were also served on the buffet. So all the Aurea dining package bought us was the same bad food as the buffet but plated and brought to us by a waiter. I wish I had taken the negative reviews of the food more seriously before I booked the cruise, it was really disappointing. I will give credit to the staff, who for the most part we found helpful and friendly. When the boat had mechanical problems, they were stuck in the same situation as us not knowing what was happening, and they tried their best to keep things positive. Overall, based on our experience, I wouldn't recommend a cruise on the Sinfonia.

I believe that by taking away the opportunity for the crew to gain tips for giving quick, efficient service with a smile (none of the staff smiled at passengers except for the wait staff in the My Choice Dinning room) may be one of the reasons most of the staff seemed to hate their jobs. This new policy regarding tips is the only thing I can think of that may have caused such a different experience with the staff on board this ship as compared to my experience 3-4 years ago on an MSC cruise out of Rome where the entire staff was always friendly and helpful.

The worst cruise experience ever, I have sailed over 20 cruises with Royal, Carnival, 1 Costa and 1 MSC prior to this MSC. We had a good experience on the Poesia from Ft. Louderdale and thought this will be the same. 1. The food is the worse from any cruise ship we have been on. No steak, no Lobster, smelly shrimps, salty fish. 2. Never heard of WATER packages before, to pay for tap water is insane. The first thing they bring you at the restaurant is a jug of water with ice. Here you have to pay for water or carry a bottle with you that you can fill on deck and walk with it to the restaurant. This is a NO on any cruise. If you want you can pay for bottled water but for tap water at a restaurant is unacceptable. 3. The toilet did not flush correctly for the first 3 days on board, fixed at least 2 and worked on the 3rd time. The cabin steward was amazing though. He did everything he could do and the room was always clean and tidy. 4. No towel kiosks at the pool, you stay with your wet soaking towel till the end. New towels brought in to the room every night. 5. We thought it was a mistake to be in Mykonos from 8 pm to 3 am in the morning, instead of splitting the day/night between Santorini and Mykonos, and half day in Dubrovnik. It made more sense to skip Ancona where there is nothing to do and spend 1 full day in Santorini, Mykonos and Dubrovnik. It's a Italian port city and few people embark there. Horrible port of call. 6. Each announcement is in 7+ languages and to listen and sit thru that is just horrible, everyone complained, usually it's English and the ships own language here Italian, maybe add Spanish but not to have all these languages. No more MSC for me for sure and won't recommend this ship and itinerary to any one I know.

The food and staff of the Sinfonia were very good. They remembered us and what we liked. The onboard activities were lacking for people our age. If we were able to go to all of our locations it probably would not have mattered but we had 2 days at sea that were not planed and did not get to Mykonos. The evening shows were really bad.