My husband and I have been travelling for over 30 years and this was the worst holiday we have ever had. The Staff and crew are disorganised and poorly trained in there jobs. They have no customer service skills at all. Most looked like they didn't want to be in the job and were reluctant to talk or smile and it came across as they were only there to get paid and tour the world. Not at all helpful in any way. From the time we arrived at the port with the embarkation disorganisation we hoped it would improve but sadly it got worse. When we finally got on the ship no one was there to tell us where our cabin was and we had difficulty finding it. When we made it to the room we were impressed by the cabin. It was clean and spacious. We requested early dining and even on our documentation we printed out before we left home it stated early dining at 5.30 pm ...only to find when we arrived we had been allocated 7.45 dining. We went to the restaurant and requested to change and was told there were no vacancies yet other members of our party were given the earlier time..no questioned asked. We were surprised that you had to pay for still water in dining rooms...Never had this before..surely for customer relations MSC could afford a glass of water with meals. On three occasions in the dining room the meal was not edible but if we went to buffet they closed at 8.30 and all that was available was pizza. My husband asked for french fries the second night of the cruise and every night he received fries no other vegetables even though we said no fries. Then they started giving me fries as well which I said no too but received them anyway.. Our cabin was cleaned daily, the bed made and bins emptied but the lid of the bin was dirty with spilt soft drink when we arrived and was still spotty on day 17 so not cleaned at all. Our balcony was only cleaned once during whole ship balcony cleaning. On other occasions the top decks were being cleaned and water was cascading down onto our balcony so we had to close the doors and stay inside. We were charged movie fees for movies which we didn't use and when we went to guest services and said we didn't use this facility and the girl , who was very rude, said we must have. We said we flicked through the titles but she insisted that we had confirmed the movies. WE know we didn't and then after much discussion she said she would delete it but next time we would have to pay no matter what...So we turned the TV off and didn't use it again. As for Zoe that was a complete waste of time. Very limited responses. There were no tissues available in the cabins which surprised us as with the amount of clients that had coughs and colds on board. The buffet was a nightmare there was no hygiene at the doors and people were coming in from toilets etc to food.unacceptable...The Europeans on board were terrible for picking up food with their fingers from the buffet and putting it on their plates then returning it to the buffet if they saw something they liked better further along the line. There was no one available to monitor the buffet lines.The buffet closed at 8-8.30 each night which was crazy considering there were over 4500 passengers on board..Surely it can be left open to say 10.00pm. The entertainment was average and it is the first time we have ever had to book and pay for the entertainment. On sea days there was nothing to do unlike other lines. The pool deck staff spoke in Spanish or Italian all the time and for us english only speaking we had no idea what was going on. MSC Tours...What can we say...very expensive for what was provided. Our introduction to Dubai tour was a shambles. We had a bus trip through some very ordinary streets ,Museum with about 500 people crammed into a confined space, a mosque which we were informed we couldn't go inside as MSC didn't have enough time to organise that component then a quick trip back to the ship. a 4-4.30 hour tour with us leaving the port at 3.30 and returning before 7 pm. We lined up at shore excursions for over 30 mins to complain and didnt get served so cut our losses and left. Others in our group got the hop on hop off bus outside the port and had all day for less cost. So make sure you check costs of outside tours before booking with MSC...most if not all ports had taxis and mini buses etc. Prices for all were about half the cost of MSC. The day before we left the ship I had Euros which I hadn't spent and went to guest services to pay off our account. At NO Time was I told that the account would be closed. The staff on the disembarking station were rude as well every time we left the ship and came back we were met with a very gruff grab of the card (snatching) and he would throw it back at us...it became a joke between the passengers as to how hard he could snatch and throw the cruise card at us......not good.... On leaving the ship on the 30th we got to the exit and my card brought up a RED screen and the person said I couldn't leave the ship until I had paid the Account...I was very embarrassed as he said it so loud and every one in the line heard but he didn't say that only 12.25 Euros that was owed. WE had signed a pre authorization form in our check in and assumed that this covered any balance owing when we left the ship..NO ...So we had to go back to guest services to pay the balance. We waited over 1/2 hour to be served( with all the new passengers the queues were very long)..We were served by a young boy who spoke very little english and had no idea and kept saying as we were new passengers we had to authorise our credit card. After getting very impatient trying to explain we were leaving the ship and had a pre authoration for our credit card to be debited with the balance owing...I asked to speak to someone else and then waited another 17 mins until someone else came. we were told that because we paid some of the balance in cash it had cancelled the pre authorisation. Why bother with pre authorisation if it doesn't work. I was told to pay balance but they wouldn't take Australian or American dollars which was all i had. After waiting more time finally someone in the office saw some sense and pressed a button and reactivated the pre authorisation of my credit card. We were told that we should have been told that this scenario would happen...again lack of staff training and customer service skills.Needless to say we missed our transfer and had extra costs with taxis etc... I am sure that there will be lots of negative feedback from this cruise as every one we spoke to had numerous complaints ..there was no atmosphere on board, the staff unhappy and rude, the MSC line was out to money grab on every opportunity available... All in all a horrible cruise and very disappointing as we were looking forward to it so much.. I would have like and expect MSC to compensate us for having to deal with all the problems we encountered but we will NOT hear from MSC again...They have our money..and don't care As for recommending MSC to our friends NO...we will be telling them the truth....For one bad experience the customer will tell ten people ...I will be telling my network which is extensive...through facebook , trip advisor and cruise critic as well a letter will be forwarded to MSC head office. We will not be cruising with MSC again... MSC NOT FOR ME Read Less

Having now completed 7 cruises over 8 years with MSC we continue to enjoy the multi national experience both on board and counties visited. This cruise will rank as one of our favorites great ship great food fantastic crew and many happy memories. Aurea experience anytime dinners great fun with food well presented attentive service by Rico our waiter and personally treated every night by one of the Restaurant managers Antonino from Sorrento. Buffet was good with a variety of foods available to suit all tastes cheeses cold cuts were all high quality with ethnic foods reflecting current port of call Speciality restaurants Butchers Cut magnificent ...went back twice French Restaurant great experience yummo Theatre only small for this size ship so getting to the free shows takes some advance planning Sky lounge after dinner is great as well as the Studio lounge Overall great experience with next MSC cruise booked for 2021 Read Less

We bought this as a package that included flights. We looked forward for over a year to a beautiful new ship and watched the progress of its construction. Sadly the anticipation was the best part. Bellissima is a huge ship that crams in as many cabins and people at the sacrifice of public areas. There are never enough seats in the public areas although there are tables available, the lack of seats makes it difficult to find a spot. The deck chairs around the main pool are crammed in and always seemed to be reserved even though this is supposed to be a no no. The main pool deck 15 has the smoking area so it stinks of cigarettes. There is always entertainment there, if you call it that, and games with only a dozen or so participants at all times. It’s very loud and in your face, so a quiet time around the pool is not possible. The other very small pool at the rear is better but again lacks seating. The music here is over loud speakers and could be softer. There’s a bar here but again lack of seating and also a smoking area. Bar staff overall on the ship are rude or indifferent, and lack the necessary skills to operate a bar. The bars are also lacking in seating, with so many guests onboard and nowhere to sit. The so called adults only bar was out of order at least twice when we tried that one, and one of the bars only had drinks above our drinks package. Now regarding the drinks package. We bought the easy package a year out from the cruise. We have friends who sailed earlier this year on another MSC ship who were able to have drinks up to €6.50......so they happily had Jameson’s on their cruise with no problem at any bar. MSC are very misleading in their description of the packages and describe a selection of spirits, cocktails and wines. We were aware that the beers included were Heineken and found also Amstel light, which is ok. The selection of spirits however is bottom shelf Bells whisky, Vodka, Gin and bottom shelf Rum. No bourbon, which is my drink. All of the decent drinks were €6.50 but our package was up to €6.00 and no exception. We can only assume that MSC have changed that between the time of our friends cruise and ours. The cocktails aren’t cocktails, they are mixers like G&T and Vodka and orange, but we did find a way around it. If you are stuck on the easy drinks buy your non alcoholic cocktails and a shot of rum etc with the mixer separate and just mix it in! When we questioned the drinks package all they were interested in is upgrading your package for an exorbitant amount of money. We would’ve been better off paying as we go. Bar manager Tafseer Said did his best to rectify our issues with the bar and whenever he saw us he always checked that things were ok. Chocolate bar a huge waste of space that could be better accommodated with, say a lounge area, as lots of chocolate on display but no one in here buying. The massive casino is just another attempt at making money and could’ve been a quarter of the size as hardly anyone using it. Obviously an indoor smoking area which was offensive. Again that would’ve given more nice public area. No library or place to have a quiet read. Cirque Du Soleil was a amateurish performance and the so called cocktails were a choice of non alcoholic mai tai, gin and tonic or rum and something. NOT COCKTAILS as described and they were awful with most people not drinking them. Dining.....we didn’t eat in the animal farm buffet although did a walk through a couple of times. As a Coeliac I needed to eat in the main restaurants. A plus is that this is a Coeliac certified ship with a Gluten Free kitchen. I was served only by the head waiter at all times and every effort was made to accommodate this without exception. Yoseph in the the main dining and Marcelo at breakfast. I usually skipped lunch but on one occasion did use the restaurant for lunch. We found the service slow here and they charged for a bottle of wine rather than a glass on our package. My advice is to keep track of the charges as there were a few mistakes made and other guests had the same issue. The evening meals were nice but towards the latter part of the trip they became mundane. Service however by Greisy Maria in the main dining room was excellent. If you are Coeliac you will have no worries here. My only issue is that the buffet could have some dry pre packaged crackers gluten free so that a light lunch with, say cheese and lettuce could be had. On the Hurtigruten line this was accomodated. I do carry my own rice crackers however and I would recommend doing this. The cabins are a little smaller than the MSC Poesia which we have sailed on before, but quite comfortable. It’s strange but on a new ship things like the lounge looked really old and I can’t help but wonder that it may have been fitted out with things from another ship, maybe having a refurb? Bathroom a little small esp for larger people but quite adequate. Shower was nice and hot with a good amount of pressure, . We are both small so it wasn’t any great issue for us.The cabin boy was warm friendly but needs more training. Lots of dust that wasn’t attended to both in the cabin and bathroom and on a few occasions I had to leave a note to replenish the soap. No big issue though. Beds were always well made and comfortable. We were on deck 11 in a balcony room and had a little verandah with two chairs. One major bone is that they don’t provide Kleenex tissues in the room!!!! Now this may seem mundane but when you have to waste your time in ports looking for a supermarket to buy tissues then it’s an issue. Even a lowly two star hotel motel provides tissues, so a beautiful new ship not providing them is ridiculous. Is this their way of cost cutting? The cabins are built with a slot for them and there were many complaints about it. We had to use toilet paper when we ran out of our own......really poor! The entertainment in the theatre was, for the most part, quite good except for Daniel mime! I’m sorry for the artist but it was terrible. A children’s matinee would’ve been more professional. Lots of people walked out, including us. We gave him a second chance another night but it was equally awful. I felt embarrassed for him. The opera was boring as the songs weren’t known songs as expected. Most of the shows we’re pretty good though. Again the lack of public areas was an issue after the show there was nowhere that you could get a seat for a drink. Very crowded and few seats. This ship is very poorly designed and this view was shared by many guests of more than one nationality. One English lady said “For a beautiful new ship how do they get it so wrong?” That sums it up. There were long queues at guest reception at all times. Unfortunately we had occasion to complain about several issues including returning to our cabin one night to find someone’s luggage in our room. This was met flippantly with a ....it’s not your luggage question..... when my husband went to reception about it there was a very distressed Italian man gesticulating about his lost luggage and when my husband approached, the staff member gave him the hand and said he’s busy, upon which my husband said if this is about luggage, then I have it! The public area toilets weren’t serviced well with a lack of soap and toilet paper. Hand sanitizer wasn’t enforced esp when entering food areas. I remember on the Poesia there were staff at the entries making sure this was done. Had occasion to speak to the Voyagers club woman. What a rude pig of a woman she is. Excursions were disorganised with us finding ourselves on mixed language buses even thought we were at the meeting point well before time. Other English speaking were on English speaking buses so we looked like we were the leftovers. Annoying. Also the timing was ridiculous with our bus always last even though all guests were onboard. In Muscat we were half hour past the time of the Mosque being open because of this. Rome Baroque tour was good with a good guide. We didn’t see Marseille as apparently weather didn’t permit docking although the weather appeared fine and sunny. We docked at Toulon instead which is a little village. Nice enough but not Marseilles. Some people had booked independent tours in Marseilles so they forfeited. Whilst the MSC excursions are more expensive and not always fantastic, we felt that it’s a safer option as if there are any issues like this the MSC are liable. Khasab is a total waste of a day. There is nothing here except a few shops all with the same stuff, and all run by Indians. It’s a grotty little nothing. Don’t know why they even dock here. We had a long stop and yet a port like Heraklion we only had four hours. The queue to re board at Khasab was two hours standing in the sun as they only had three tenders operating for five thousand people. Tempers were frazzled to say the least. Unfortunately for us we are booked on MSC again next year but only seven days. We traveled on MSC Poesia in 2011 and this was a good experience compared to Bellissima. On the basis of this cruise, had we not already booked, we will never use MSC again. Read Less

the date and itinary we wanted to spend christmas in dubai,you could not fault a single thing the ship is magnificent and the staff wre wonderful, hubert and jean the pool attendants smiling and only to willing to help at 6.30 in the morning, manuela from rumania in the early breakfast at 6 and surbessa from cape town and all of them on early brekfast smiling happy could not do enough for you,all of reception alice juliio andrea lilly to many to mention osama grm,could not fault givanni the maitre di, we did eat in the main restaurant a few times but 9.pm. is a bit late for us and 6 is to early so ate in the buffet which was incredible, and ate in the butchers cut superb, the animation team were incredible and the dace teachers wonderful dancers i know what i am talking about i was a dancer, there was something for everybody the only drawback ignorant greedy rude passengers of every single nationality, what the crew have to put up with with some of these passengers is disgusting i felt sorry for the crew most people need a lesson in manners will definately cruise with msc again and hope to cross paths with every single member of the crewxx Read Less

My wife and I sailed on the Costa NeoRiviera on November From Savona to Dubai. We flew from NY to Istambul and spent three glorious days before heading to Genoa to embark on our cruise. We arrived in Genoa went to the Best Western City Hotel checked in an took a taxi to Portofino for the afetrnnon.. Next day took a taxi to Savona for $120.00 Euros. Savona cruise terminal is about half hour from Genoa and check in was very quick. NeoRiviera is a new concept from Costa, longer stays on ports, better food, more intimate and oprn seating. This was our first Costa's cruise after more than 80 cruises taken on Celebrity, RCCL, Carnival, Princess, NCL, Cunard, Holland and Renaissance. Since this was a repositioning cruise the concept was not applicable, only the food was much better than other Costa cruise according to other Costa's passenger we asked. Food on the MDR is eatable but not much selection, food on the buffet is good but also limited, the pizza is bad. Costa will nickle and dime on everything, pizza is free from noon to 3 pm and small fee there after. Coffee and water is only available during dining hours, water and coffee in MDR is not free. Room service very limited and small fee is charge, in cabin breakfast is also very limited and also small fee is apply. We usually have breakfast in our cabin but only had it twice on this cruise. The itinerary was the best part of this cruise, we stopped in Rome we took Rome on your own since we been to Rome before, visited Reggio Calabria took a cruise tour and enjoyed it very much. Heraklion was a short stop, took an independent tour and visited Knossos Palace and had lunch in the city. Cruise line had to cancel visit to Haifa Israel due to security concerns, everybody was very dissapointed, stop in Port Said to visit Cairo was also cancelled for same reason, but we stopped Eillat, Israel and took a cruiseship tour to Masada and the Dead Sea. Luxor was a long ride from Port but we liked it. One of the highlights was Petra in Jordan, was everything we expected and more, amazing to see it in person, awesome. We stopped in three Oman' s ports and not much to see. Abu Dhabi was added to compensate for cancelled ports and we took and independent tour, visited the city and went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque, very beautiful and interesting. Finally we got to Dubai, what a great city we arranged with Great Adventure Tours to pick us up for a city tour, a Desert Safari tour and we loved it. Dubai is a most city to visit, we stayed three extra days and had the time of our lives.. Costa's NeoRiviera had some good things but failed on many others, the shore excurtions desk was baddly run, we found out our excursion was cancelled night before and no one cared to let us know. Entertainment was mediocre at best and cruise director had to apoligized due to a noshow from a local act, the theater was packed with passengers. We know Costa is an Italian cruise line and is a little different than other cruise lines, we did not like it and we are more than sure if we have a choice we will not cruise with them again. The ship looks good and is very well kept, nice and clean. Cabin are on the small side.   Read Less

Although i enjoyed the cruise on Lirica I would have to state MSC is a budget line and so what you would expect from Cunard is not what you get on the Lirica. The embarkation procedures leave a to to be desired with being pushed form one area to another and then having people shoving packages for drinks etc in your face. Why do Aussies have their passport confiscated for the entire trip? It is demanded you hand over your passport only to discover they have no security with keeping them safe.They get shoved in a drawer. i am security conscious and to not have my passport on me is not what I would call safe. it is hammered by Australian authorities that passports should be kept safe at all times not matter where you are and from what I saw the MSC policy is not caring about safety.Then to have the passport delivered to my cabin by the cabin steward on the last day and dumped on the bed is ridiculous to say the least. I wonder how many people got the wrong passport? The meals were adequate but often not hot. The first night I had mussels and they were stone motherless cold. Yuk! I was seated at a table for two with a non English speaking person and so was not impressed at being sat behind a pole. The waiter for this table was rude and arrogant and his service manner was terrible. Eventually after gluggy risotto i complained and demanded to be shifted to a larger table for the remainder of the trip. I have to praise the head waiter Luigi for being sympathetic to my needs and realising that the service I had been given on the first day was totally inadequate. I was reseated for the remainder of the trip and he went out of his way to ensure I was getting the proper service. The meals were of European style and adequate. Many of the meals were lukewarm and the time between courses varied until at the finish were rushed through and had finished all courses within an hour. The meals lacked style and I will never order risotto again - do not like gluggy rice. The buffet was adequate but once again the hot food was lukewarm and the fried eggs at 6.45am were already cold and with runny whites. Considering the buffet opens at 6.30 this was not good enough. The head waiter here was on the ball and kept his staff on their toes. If he heard a complaint he was right on it. Salads were great and the array of sweet dishes was amazing. Fruit was there for the taking and I would grab a couple of pieces to munch on if I was going on an excursion. It was like a Coles lineup for the food but if people were disciplined in line everything was ok. My cabin was an Ocean view and was decorated nicely. It is adequate for one person but should be squashy for two. The showers were hot and good pressure but do not try to bend or move around much as the shower curtain wrapped around you and you banged elbows on the walls. the TV was an old one and it had trouble changing stations with the remote. Often we could not get the BBC, the only English Channel which gave news of happenings around the world. Then there was no reception at all and we could only get the movies which were a rehash of movies from at least 4 years ago. I initially had trouble with the daily communications being delivered in Deutsch so after the 4th time of complaining I became tetchy and this was immediately rectified. It should not have happened that many times. If you made a complaint it was not followed through especially when one of my friends was bodily tipped off a deck lounge by a German man who objected to her sitting there and then threw her handbag across the deck, and the white dressed officer did nothing when told about it and said her to complain to Reception. Really! What if she had been injured from this altercation? And as for the policy about towels. This was never followed through and I counted 30 towels left out overnight on one occasion, and not collected. This is slack and happened time and time again. Most of the staff were delightful and tried to sort out any queries.There were one or two girls on Reception who need to learn public relations skills and it seemed to be my bad luck to get one of them if I had a query. The Excursions desk personnel were lovely and helpful and Alina came on many of the excursions I was on so she could familiarise herself with tours. The complaint I would raise with excursions was that the ship need to be up to date with what is happening on shore with events. In Piraeus we did not see all of the things listed on our tour because of a marathon being run in the city. Surely there is a way of knowing what is happening beforehand so the guests are not inconvenienced. The classic answer to this was that they do not operate the tours. Not true as they use these operators exclusively so there should be liaison with them for the unexpected happening. This was my second visit to Piraeus and once agin I did not get to see what I wanted. Next time I am inclined to organise my own outings so I get value for money. Organisation on the MSC ships appears to be disjointed to say the least. I would have to say they could not organise their way out of a wet paper bag. Chaos reigned on excursion days and departments did not liaise with one another. Trying to get my club membership organised when I was already a member was horrific. Embarking and disembarking was hectic and crowded. The entertainment was ok but was often in another language so the English speaking people aboard did not know what was going on. The company on board was great but if not for the Cruise Critic members on board it could have been a boring cruise. The Aussie contingent made life interesting and i enjoyed their company talking about their past cruises and getting advice as to ports of call. Overall i would have to say the Lirica is a lovely clean ship decorated tastefully. However the owners need to aware of getting extra money from customers for hidden charges, drink packages and excursions, and I then discovered children really are not free as one parent was informing me of charges for children which are not advertised on any site. If you want a budget cruise line and are prepared for the European way of life on board then this is the cruise line for you.   Read Less

Charlie Mitchell said: Our cruise from Genoa to Durban, South Africa began with a 6 hour wait on the dock after a 3 hour coach trip from Turin (a last minute change to our original booking)for the ship to arrive, and be serviced. The embarkation process was absolutely shambolic with no information given by any MSC staff member. The fast track process the Company offered online to get you aboard more quickly was a total waste of time. Whether you did it or not made no difference. You just joined the queue like everybody else. The ship itself was fine, the waiters were on the whole very good, as were the bar staff. They seemed pleased to see anybody who could afford to buy a drink in any of the bars! My friends and I have been on many cruises in the past and this ship has got to be the most expensive ever, not only in the bars, but everywhere else on board and we organised our own shore excursions at a quarter of the cost of the same being offered by the ship. Come 11pm the ship was like the Marie Celeste, nearly everybody was in bed either through lack of adult entertainment or depression through not being able to afford a drink. The same applied to the Casino where you would expect a little action. The only people in there on most nights were the lonely croupiers and the odd couples playing the slot machines. They looked as bored as we were. This was probably due to the high minimum stakes at the tables. In the MSC brochure it states that for cruises in the Caribbean, North America and South Africa the currency onboard is the US dollar. We were being charged in Euros. One passenger checked his onboard account via a ships computer and found his bill was in dollars. Following his complaint to the head of accounts, these computers were unavailable for some 5 days through "technical problems". When they were activated it was not possible to use them to check accounts. Some 200 passengers were so angry about this that a petition was signed and 2 South Africans represented the group at meetings with the ships management. MSC argued that the cruise was originally due to sail along the East coast to South Africa, where the currency would have been dollars, but because of the possible dangers from Somali pirates it was re-routed along the West coast, where all prices were Euros. As a gesture of good will they promised a 5% discount off our bills, later amended to our bar bills, later amended not to include the very, very rare 2 for one drinks. This offer was derisory. Who said pirates were only in Somalia ! Entertainment in the theatre was good, but elsewhere it was spoilt by the childish loud antics of the ships animation team, who should all have walked the plank and given us all some peace. These people would be better suited to children's parties than their pathetic attempts of trying to entertain adults. Another rip off was the shuttle bus from the dock into Cape Town at 8 Euros each. We were advised to take this as it was "quite a distance" before you got out of the dock to any local transport, so 4 of us paid the 32 euros. The bus was full and we were told the next one was a 45 minute wait. A local dock worker said we could walk it in 10 minutes, which we did. Not having used our tickets we asked for a refund when we returned. The unhelpful and aggressive accounts office onboard refused and said we would have to write to head office in Naples. We later found out that a taxi for 4 would have cost £5. All in all a very disappointing and expensive time. The initials MSC would be better read as Money Syphoning Company. Would I travel with them again? About as much chance of me being elected the next Pope. Read Less