Beautiful new ship copying some things from Royal Oasis and Quantum classes, but with more adult decore like Celebrity and a great outdoor movie set up like princess. Great entertainment, though not at the Royal Oasis or Celebrity Edge levels, but better than their older ships.
You'd think it would be perfect, but amount of smokers in europe and smoking areas made most of the ship inaccessible to me. Packed elevetators with people who just smoked, the outdoor promenade was a smoke party after theatres let out and had smokers to avoid at all times. Some great venues couldnt be accessed without walking through clouds of smoke. All the nice areas to explore are completely lined with paid venues and the very average included food with poor variety seems intended to get you in said paid venues. Service excellent. Ship sparking and beautiful.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
No hickups, but some untrained staff pointing us in the wrong directions.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Decent, but very dissapointing for what I thought to be MSC upping their game. Same old MSC food as cheaper ships. The food is adequate. Poor variety and weak on flavour at the buffet. Really bland pastas with alluring labelling showing off lots of tasty ingredients!
Dining room taste was better, but very low on variety, no lobster tail night, no steak, salmon only once.
Seafood pastas, they actually cut up tiny pieces of shrimp in it to it.
So many specialty restaurants and bars line the galleria and promenade. They really try to get you to keep paying! Sushi rolls were sub par.. mostly rice and the tiniest embarrasing bit of salmon inside.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Many activities available on par with Royal. Bumper cars are not free though. Roller skating, interactive disco dancing, of course visual trivias etc, you name it. Great for all ages.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Very impressed with the quality and quantity of shows.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
All exceeded expectations based on others comments about MSC. They weren't as enguaging as most other lines, a euro style cruise, but service was friendly, professional, prompt in all aspects. There was no feeling that they are unhappy, underpaid, or understaffed. There were small issues at guest services where their English wasn't good enough to understand my requests. As soon as I noticed, I rephrased and it was okay.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Perfecto!
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The inside cabins are ideal size, new and beautiful. 16551 however is a location they shouldnt be a allowed to sell. A nightmare between crew common room, crew metal stairs and below the buffet kitchen. Banging and chairs and tables sliding noises all night long. It was a full ship but they finally could move us after 2 nights and the new room was great.
Ship tip
Stay away if you are allergic to or dislike smoke smells like me. The beautiful back of the ship, like the Oasis class boarwalk area, is filled with smokers everywhere instead of a place for fresh air. The back theatre, like a lesser 270 from Quantum class, you have to go through a large intense smoking casino to get to it.
Wonderful city. Annoying they try to get you on to their 10 dollar shuttle, which drops you at their hop on hop off bus, not city centre! Instead, take the cruise public bus right beside the shuttle bus for 4.50 return ticket.
Ugh. We are thinking of reserving the yacht club duplex suite on deck 16 but smelling smoke and not being able to avoid it sounds horrible! What deck were you on?
We just got of the world europe. We live in Europe and do not smoke. We even had people in the cabin next to us smoking (infinity window). My husband 's t-shirt has a hole in it from a sigarette. They smoke all over the ship 😒. So many rules like no drinks near a pool or hottub but smoking is allowed everywhere.
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