MSC Magnifica Review

MSC Magnifica from a North American point of view

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on MSC Magnifica
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lamchops
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
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Service
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Sail Date: Sep 2014

We have never been on cruise in which we've had a bad time. Cost & value is always a consideration for us and we rarely pay for any optional services or meals onboard. We treat the ship as a floating hotel and book based mainly on itinerary. When reading reviews I realize they are opinions and to decipher how they will affect us is sometimes difficult. When I was researching this cruise I found very few current reviews if any, on MCS cruises other than the Divinia’s Caribbean itinerary. I will write this review with the intention of helping North Americans decide whether the European style MSC is for you. Let me preface this review by stating that we went to London for 4 days and took Eurostar to Paris for 7 days pre-cruise so that may affect our value and cost ratings. I will also take into account the comments of my dining tables mates aged mid 30s to late 50s which we had great conversations with.

Cabin: We booked an “inside GTY” about 2 months out through the MSC USA website for $749us. We tried picking a room but it wouldn’t allow us so I rolled the dice! With airfares and hotels cost being so high, we needed this cruise to average out the costs while allowing me to “chill out” before going back to work. One week after our booking, I received an email with our cabin assignment. It was Panera Deck, cabin 9191 so I was happy as I was nervous about getting deck 5 as it’s below all the amenities and restaurants. Cabin 9191 was a balcony on deck 9 in the aft area and just happen to have an internet review so we got pretty excited about the upgrade. We were ecstatic upon arrival to the room as it was bigger than the hotel rooms of our London and Paris hotels and also any of the “inside cabins” on our previous cruise. The layout was excellent which may have added to the feeling of spaciousness. The steward always kept the cabin clean and tidy when we were not in. We kept odd hours with naps, afternoon showers, etc. but the room was always fixed when we returned to the cabin. The thing that surprised me was that we didn’t know who our steward was for the whole trip. We noticed 2 individuals working in the area and they gave us a general greeting but no “Mr. or Mrs.” type acknowledgement. It was like a well run hotel and we felt compelled to leave an additional small cash tip on the dresser on our last morning. There was a $1eu per person UNICEF donation added to the bill on the first night as MSC is a supporter. I left it as UNICEF is an organization that I’m comfortable with but I didn’t see anything about it in my research but it was mentioned on the onboard video/TV channels.

Embarkation: It was the smoothest embarkation process that we’ve ever encountered on any of our cruises. When we arrived at 2:00 we were the only people checking in. I believe it is due to that fact that MSC allows you to begin and end any 7 day cruise at any of its scheduled ports. My guess was that 25% of the guests boarded in Southampton, while 30% each boarded in Amsterdam and Hamburg, with the remainder in Zeebrugge or LeHavre. This is not noted on the USA website or I may have started the trip in LeHavre instead and spent more time in Paris and the French countryside as we’ve been to London before. We would have saved on the high cost of London and the Eurostar fare to visit Paris.

Cabin Review

Cabin 6

Cabin: We booked an “inside GTY” about 2 months out through the MSC USA website for $749us. We tried picking a room but it wouldn’t allow us so I rolled the dice! One week after our booking, I received an email with our cabin assignment. It was Panera Deck, cabin 9191 so I was happy as I was nervous about getting deck 5 as it’s below all the amenities and restaurants. Cabin 9191 was a balcony on deck 9 in the aft area and just happen to have an internet review so we got pretty excited about the upgrade. We were ecstatic upon arrival to the room as it was bigger than the hotel rooms of our London and Paris hotels and also any of the “inside cabins” on our previous cruise. The layout was excellent which may have added to the feeling of spaciousness. The steward always kept the cabin clean and tidy when we were not in. We kept odd hours with naps, afternoon showers, etc. but the room was always fixed when we returned to the cabin. The thing that surprised me was that we didn’t know who our steward was for the whole trip. We noticed 2 individuals working in the area and they gave us a general greeting but no “Mr. or Mrs.” type acknowledgement. It was like a well run hotel and we felt compelled to leave an additional small cash tip on the dresser on our last morning.

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