MSC Fantasia Review

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Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on MSC Fantasia
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Neapolis
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Dec 2011
Traveled with children

My wife, son (7 yrs old) and I just returned from an 11 day cruise on MSC's Fantasia. We boarded in Civitavecchia, Italy on 27 December 2011 and disembarked 7 January 2012. Overall we were treated poorly during our trip and have a low opinion of MSC, Fantasia and its managing crew. They were unprofessional and treated us rudely. We will never again cruise with MSC. If you are in the planning stages, my highest recommendation is to avoid MSC if at all possible. I'm including a brief description of our vacation and few tips if you decide to go with MSC. For those who have already purchased cruise tickets, ask your travel agent if you can buy drink packages before your cruise begins. All drink packages MSC pushes from the moment you prepare to board to when you're on board is more expensive than if purchased in advance. The soft drink, ice cream shake package we brought for our son, 26€ for 10 drinks was worthwhile although the drinks tasted like ice water rather than milk shakes. Not sure what kind, if any ice cream was actually used.

Civitavecchia-the train station by which we arrived from Rome is about 400 meters away from the port. It is an easy walk to the port's entrance. Once you reach the port's entrance, you'll find free shuttle buses that transport you to your ship. These shuttle buses are within the port's gates and are different than the city buses and are run by the port of Civitavecchia. Try to arrive early to avoid long lines during check-in. Our cruise tickets said check-in was 1630 but checked in at 1330 with only a small wait. Once aboard, our luggage arrived to our room within an hour. During that first hour, we had lunch at their buffet. As we had read in previous reviews, the Europeans were pushy and their personal space was much smaller than that of Americans, which we are. The food was not very good as one would expect from an Italian ship. Their main hot foods were hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, meatloaf and pizza. Their other dishes were disappointing and bland. Lots of salads though, which was a thumbs up.

MSC Fantasia has a buffet restaurant and two general sit-down restaurants with wait staff and both have two seatings each. Although the menu is the same in each restaurant at either seating, the tables are large where you must sit with other families. We purchased our cruise tickets 4 months prior to our cruise and had requested the first seating having a young son. We were only given the first seating after two requests and during our second day of cruising. The times of the seatings were 6pm and 8:30pm. The quality of the dinners gradually improved during our cruise but it started off bland and very salty. Meanwhile, water is not free at these restaurants during lunch or dinner and must be purchased in bottles. Cost is 2.20€ per liter. The buffet on the other hand always has free water, from the water dispenser. Coffee, tea, water and ice is available free of extra charges at any time in the self-service buffet area only. Juices were only free during breakfast, which was also true in the restaurants.

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