MSC Armonia Review

4.0 / 5.0
388 reviews

Terrible first-time cruise experience!! Don't waste your money.

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on MSC Armonia
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afelhofer
First Time Cruiser • Age 30s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Apr 2015
Traveled with children

I do have to give myself kudos for my logistical planning as far as arriving at the port and getting back home but our experience on board the Armonia was AWFUL. I read as much info/fine print as I could about the cruise and this ship but was sure that the bad reviews weren't accurate; I was wrong and wish I had saved our money to do a Disney cruise instead.

Children are free to stay and it certainly shows in the limited choices of children's activities on board. Our tickets were fairly cheap since I booked through a 3rd-person site which gives big/awesome discounts for military families. In all, mine and my husbands tickets were just under $700 which we thought was amazing for a cruise! I did read in the fine print that there were surcharges for services on board but I was NOT expecting to pay around 8euro every time we bought coffee, ice cream or had anyone hand us something that we couldn't get ourselves...on top of the price of whatever we bought.

I would highly suggest, if you do decide to use this particular cruise line, to do some research on your destinations and book your own excursions instead of booking through the ship. I researched our destinations (Marseille, Palma de Mallorca, Corsica) and wrote down the addresses and places we were interested in seeing. If you can help it, take a taxi versus using the transportation services provided by the ship. They charged almost 20euro for adults and 12euro for children to use the bus for transportation to and from the dock at every destination but we ended up paying way less by just paying for a taxi ride. Once inside the cities, utilize the hop-on/hop-off buses or the little tourist trains which are minimal in cost and you get to see all of the highlights of the place you're in. If you have business to attend online, the wifi charges are absurd. We bought one hour of time for almost 17euro to check our email periodically since that was the only line of communication with family/work. You can't honestly tell me it costs that much money to have wifi aboard a boat, especially at the prices they charge for everything.

Cabin Review

Cabin 9

Our room was fairly small but had two twin-sized beds that fold down on both sides of the room so there was enough room for 4 people, but it was only my husband and 5y/o son in the room with me. We got a room with a window but the window as so dirty, it was hard to see out which defeated the purpose of getting a room with a window. There were only a handful of channels on the TV and out of all of them, only one was in English and played the same movies every day. There was plenty of space to unpack our clothes and the mirror opened into a cabinet which had a safe to store our small electronics and wallets when we weren't in the room. The bathroom was small (expected) but the shower was exceptionally small, I had to leave the curtain (which sticks to your body) open to bathe. Luckily, there is another drain in the floor behind the toilet, which only flushes if you put the seat down. This made for a lot of loud slamming from a 5y/o every time he used it. Sink space is limited but 2 small shelves made it possible to unpack our toiletries. The hot water never ran out, which was great but they seriously need ventilation in the bathrooms. When we showered and opened the door, the hot air from the bathroom filled our room and took forever to cool down again. The minibar was just as expensive as if you walked to a bar and ordered a drink. I can say that housekeeping is superb and we always opened our door to a made-up bed, fresh towels and new beach/pool towels every day, sometimes twice a day they made up the bed (seemed a little much). The guy who did all this, Teddy, was a super sweet and very nice guy.

Port Reviews

Marseille

Very beautiful! We toured the Notre Dame Basilica and took lots of pictures. The water is beautiful and there are many points of interest. Many boat tours but our time ashore wasn't long enough to take one.

Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)

We wandered the streets and toured a beautiful cathedral/museum but were constantly harassed by the street vendors trying to hustle us into buying their crap. They kept handing my son candy/toys and wouldn't take them back but demanded money from us. We walked away a couple of times because they were behaving extremely ignorantly, while they were yelling about the balloon sword and candy they handed my son. Besides that, wonderful place to visit.

Corsica (Ajaccio)

We utilized the tourist train to see the Napoleon monument and rode along the coastline. The beaches are BEAUTIFUL and there are many restaurants along the water to choose from. They were too far to walk and we really didn't want to pay for a taxi that wouldn't be waiting for us after our meal, so we just waited to get back on the boat to have dinner at the buffet. I wasn't impressed with a lot of the tourist attractions as most didn't speak/offer materials in English. Napoleon's home was limited to touring the living room and an adjoining room containing his medals/paintings. This was a HUGE disappointment as it was the biggest point of interest for us on this stop. The real significance in this particular stop for me was the historical connection to the bible. The apostle Paul was stranded on this island for 3 months in Acts chapter 27. The best souvenir I got was a handful of sea glass and a few pretty rocks from the beach.

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