This is my 1st true cruise (other than day cruises to the Bahamas). I was with well-seasoned cruisers. My experience was better than theirs beciase I had nothing to compare it to. Here are my pros and cons:
Pros:
The ship is lovely. It is not a huge ship but large enough.
The staff was wonderful. We were especially grateful to our waiters, Wira and Eduardo, our maitre 'd, O'Neill, and ...
Was going to Norway with a car tour on my own but did not have time to plan it , so opted for a cruise at the last minute .
All in all , a nice experience with good memories , but the organization left much to be happy about . Beautiful scenery and good photo experiences IF the weather permits , about 50% of rainy days in Norway .
Some points of disappointment .
1) The cabin , Bella ...
This is our secund cruise with MSC Preziosa.
This time we cruised to Baltic. The tour of the cities is magical. My family was most thrilled with St. Petersburg and Tallin. Definitive recommendation for a mandatory visit. You will not see this kind of beauty anywhere. Do not forget to book a trip to Petersurg in advance because you do not pay an additional 15%, and you have to consider that ...
We chose this cruise because it was going to the places we wanted to visit,
The embarkation process was seamless and efficient.
the ship itself is a magnificent example of floating grandeur, beautiful furnishings, decor, everywhere spotlessly clean, cannot fault the ship in anyway.
The staff for the most part were lovely, helpful, although i did feel sorry for the waiters and especially ...
Chose the cruise on the recommendation of a travel agent (who I usually trust). Wanted to see the fjiords. The fjiords were a delight. However, once I entered the ship there is an onslought of people trying to sell you photos and all sorts of rubbish. This is uncalled for given that the cruise. We is paid for upfront. In addition, its a very tacky operation and you can hardly move with ...
The Preziosa is not maintained well. All big windows are not clean. The cables of room vacuum cleaners are worn and repaired by insulation tape.
The hand disinfection devices very often were empty. In one of the floors the floor number peeled and they didn't repair it at least 4 days.
The buffet is big but nobody manages it. So couples occupy 4 seats tables and it is very difficult to ...
This was our 4th MSC cruise, which I think is pretty rare for North Americans. We were early risk takers with MSC Fantasia when it first came out, then Poesia, Splendida and this last time with Preziosa. Although we are Americans, both my wife and I lived in Europe in the past and enjoy the experience of seeing Europe with fellow Europeans rather than exclusively with other Americans. This cruise ...
We chose a back to back itinerary with 7 days cruising towards Norway - 3 ports then 7 days in the Baltic. Norway was great and we had excellent weather for most of the 3 weeks.
The Baltic itinerary changed such that Stockholm was cancelled and we would now overnight in St Petersburg. At first glance this seemed really good but as we rarely use expensive ship excursions we were unable to ...
Check in was very slow and not enough staff Three counters to cater for many guests
Three different processes for checking in and the credit card for a/c payment was not done Self Service with that on a machine near Guest Services desk no one to help Security was very poor my wife used my card to disembark without any check and I was rejected with her card so much for a photo I.D. ...
After many ocean cruises (MSC and others) and many river cruises this is the first time I was looking forward to disembarking.
It was not a complete disaster, embarking/disembarking was as expected, the ship was nice, cabin was suitable, cabin steward was good and drink waiters were very good.
However, the dining and over 8 hours spent with disrespectful customer service during the cruise ...