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MSC Splendida

MSC Sinfonia

MSC Opera

MSC Preziosa

MSC Magnifica

Nevis

Complaints: 1) Even before the cruise started, upon booking at the said price, 30% of the cruise price was added on as taxes. That was a surprise to me - I never found out who got that tax money, or what it was used for. €300 wasted? Time wasted trying to find out, unsuccessfully, what it was about. 

2) Before I even got on the cruise there was chaos. Despite reading all paperwork - I was not informed that I need a negative Corona test. I would have got one done in Austria for free on the spot if I had have known - however, one failed to inform me, saying only “a vaccination is sufficient for travel”. Then, I was made to get one at Genoa, pay €45 and wait 90 minutes (standing in a queue, which turns out to be a trademark of MSC Splendida). Understaffed and very mismanaged here. €45 lost and 90 minutes. 

3) Wrong advice: Saudi Visa link. I did as instructed, submitted. Waited for weeks, using the link MSC ‘provided’ us with. Pending. Always pending. Spoke with other guests using the link - all highly frustrated that they were pending with no visas as well. Finally spoke with another traveller who advised me he submitted from the main Visit Saudi website (after also waiting weeks for the visa link). His new visa was submitted same day. I used his link, received that visa same day. Money wasted: €40 visa fees and 1 hour submitting forms in Arabic language website. 

4) “Compulsory Visa visits” to Theatre (when I had already organised my own.  Herded like cattle. Unnecessary - chaos. Ordered to go there. Queued. Told to go to reception. Queued. Told to go to Sky Lounge. Queued. Told to go to The Library. Told to go back to reception. Queued and told I had to buy an internet package (to email the e-visa from my phone to reception). Hadn’t been instructed in advance that it was necessary to print the visa. Total time: 2 hours wasted. The nice Irish couple on the table with me at dinner: It cost them 4 hours (each) = 8 hours. This ship is full of fuming people.This leads nicely to the next point: 

5) Internet package. The reason why I couldn’t email from my phone was because the package I bought wouldn’t let me use my phone. Only my laptop. I’m used to it being ‘one device at a time’ on cruise ships which is fair because one can’t hack the system by using multiple devices or drain the internet by using multiple things simultaneously… I wanted to use my phone for a few seconds to email the visa (whilst of course not using my laptop). 

6) Tried to complain - was told I can’t complain and I need to wait for the customer satisfaction email to be sent post cruise, where I might receive feedback for my complaints. Can’t even make a complaint? Terrible. Couldn’t even get a phone number or the correct email address after queuing at reception to send a complaint to. 

7) Reception = Disaster area, full of angry people - all times of day (yes, I walked past it 30 times, 10 of which I didn’t even bother queuing because they were too long). The other 20 reception visits had an average of 20 minute queues to see someone (even for something as trivial as needing to collect my room card that the attendants still had from my meeting with them 5 minutes earlier). The list of examples is exhaustive. There was NEVER somebody waiting to answer a customer. 400 minutes wasted. 

8) Excursion desk. Lack of people that can speak reasonable English. Took me 20 minutes to get the third representative there to even understand me - and then the rest of the time in discussion (after having queued). They have minimal to no knowledge about the trips. Only there to take payments blindly. Awful experience.

Worst Cruise Experience Ever.  Avoid!

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

A floating palace

This was our first cruise experience - £599 including flights for 7 nights flying from Gatwick for a cabin with balcony.
Long delay with British Airways but once we arrived at Genoa all went smoothly
The ship is HUGE and orientating yourself about the ship isn't easy
It is however spotlessly clean and staff are continually cleaning - day and night
The food was disappointing - Luke warm and a bit samey, expected much better
Very few british passengers on board but all staff are multi lingual and accommodating
Trying to get drinks in the restaurants was a nightmare - but much easier in the bars on board - we bought the drinks package which saved us €300 so was well worth it
Would I go again - probably not, not really my thing.

First Cruise

Kids Zone: 
MSC is not a kid friendly cruise for English speaking passengers. Last summer we took a Royal Caribbean cruise and my kids loved the kid's club so much that we could barely drag them out; however, this is not the case with the MSC cruise line. The staff keep the children in one small room playing the same movie over and over again in "Italian only". If the kids do not want to watch the movie, the only other option is to either play table soccer (only one table) or the Wii (only one Wii console). This makes for a very boring few hours. My children begged me not to go back after just one experience.  

Entertainment:
I was surprised to find out that MSC offers very few activities throughout the day (both sea days or at port). If you like to do something other than a 30 minute dance lesson, then choose a different cruise line. Although I have to say that at least two of the 6 night shows were very captivating. 

Food:
The breakfast and lunch buffet were fantastic. They offered a variety of foods that both my kids and I really enjoyed. Dinner on the other hand was very lacking both in choices and flavor. Voyager of the Seas -Royal Caribbean had such tasty meals EVERY night that I looked forward to dinner on MSC Splendida, only to be let down night after night. I could probably name only a handful of dishes on MSC that were actually appetizing.

Cruising with kids: Don't book MSC- book Royal Caribbean

The ship was very clean, staff was good, cabins better than average.  The food was 60% poor, 30% ok and 10% really good.  You were fine if you filled up on the pasta which was good most of the time.  The seafood was always over cooked and dry.  The meat very thin and covered in gravy to hide the lack of flavor.  One night I ordered Osa Buca and I got a bone the size of a saucer with one bite of meat.  I asked for some with meat AND THEY GOT IT FOR ME.  THEY TRIED TO CHARGE FOR WATER.I insisted that my table was not going to pay for water that was free on the buffet.  I said I would take our glasses upstairs and fill them if necessary.  The head guy who asked if we were American and then said we could have free water. 

The ship charged for the use of the sauna and the steam room. The hot tubs were never hot, only like warm.  People had babies and toddlers in the hot tubs with no swim diapers on.

The pillows were very lumpy.  We kept asking for better ones but after 8 no luck.  I would not ask my dog to sleep on a pillow that bad.

The entertainment was rather unique.  I liked it.  They had a mine, a man that did shadow hand puppets, acrobats, and dancers and singers.  

The cruise was less money so I guess you get what you pay for.

MSC Maybe

MSC Slendidi 11 nights from 13/11/2011-24/11/2011 embarkation port "Genoa"

My wife and I have cruised with MCS in the past 2 years aho on MSC Musica so we both kind of expected what was coming, but had some hope that MSC would have improved their stand on many issues within the 2 years we'd last cruised with them, sadly this was not the case. 
We had a balcony room, nice enough room, but the furniture was torn on the edges and threadbare in many places. The bed was very uncomfortable I slept on the couch through most of the cruise as the bed just made my back ache. 
Our cabin porter spoke very limited English and communicating with him was difficult to say the least, nice enough guy, but forget understanding a word he said. 

My wife and I did not use the dinning rooms as we had booked reserved seating, when we went to go to the dinning room we were told the reserved seating was only for the evenings and that all other times we would be sharing a table, though we did request a table for 2 when we booked our cruise. The food in the Bora bora food hall situated at the back of the ship on deck 14 provided always much the same offering of pizza, burger and chips, though there were other ethnic dishes most days, but on the whole always the same kind of food and deserts. 

Initially the cruise was priced very well roughly half the cost of most other cruis lines offered, but what is not mentioned is that you will pay extortionate prices for everything on the ship from drink prices right down to ice cream teas and coffees. If you like a pint of beer be prepared to pay almost Â£9 a pint that of course includes the 15% cabin charge MCS add to all prices on ANYTHING you buy on the ship (Duty free excluded). 
Of course we know drinks on board ship are going to be more expensive than on land or in the ports and that all cruise lines charge higher for drinks, but MSC have taken it to a new level

Fortunately we did not have children on the ship, even the ice cremes were between Â£2.50/Â£4.50, a bottle of water Â£2.50.
We did not bother with any of the evening shows as it was mostly acrobatics or mime or some guy with a bird puppet, again little if any English spoken during the shows. DON'T pay the shore excursion prices MSC offer, they are a complete rip off, simply go ashore and do all the same things with local tours, it's often less than half the cost. Our cruise was kind of ruined and we felt very restricted by MCS charging so much for anything and everything on the ship, we had very few drinks on board as we just felt ripped off at the cost of trying to enjoy ourselves while on the ship. 

The ports visited were all very nice, good choice of ports. Genoa, Katacolen, Hiraklion, Marmaris, Athens, Izmere and Rome.
All said and done we enjoyed our holiday though more so when we were off the ship as we did not feel ripped of when buying beer or gifts. If MSC were a little more realistic and fair with their on board prices we would have spent more time and spent more money on the ship and enjoyed the whole of our holiday.
I'm hoping sooner or later MSC will realise just how much revenue they are loosing by over pricing everything on board, the money grab does not work, passengers simply spend their money off the ship. Most every passenger we spoke to complained of the same issues regarding pricing of drinks.


Initially a good priced cruise, but being nickel and dimed for everything while on board will more than double the cost of the cruise, so be warned what one dosen't pay on the front end will be added to the back end! 

When my bill was slid uder my door at about 3am on the morning we were disenbarking I noticed that a servise charge of 6 Euros for both myself and my wife add been added to my on board account, adding 12 Euros a day to my bill. This was done I was informed for... MY convenience???
As we were paying a 15% cabin charge for anything and everything we purchased on the ship I failed to see how they could then add yet another 12 Euros a day for tips? Why were we paying a 15% cabin charge on everything purchased? If that was not for the crew then who was it for?
As tipping is a person matter and at the descresion of the  passenger I was more than annoyed that this charge had been added to my on board account without even asking!.
I spoke to cusomer relations regarding this matter where I was  informed it was compulsary, in actual fact it is nothing of the sort and I had it removed from my on board account. I asked the customer relations person, why if I'm paying a 15% cabin charge on everything I purchase, am I being charged an additional 6 Euros a day. No answer was forthcoming.

One more thing, when you book your cruise you'd be well advised to book your own flights as MSC will fly you into Milan airport a good two and a half hour trip by coach to Genoa. Quite why they do this is beyond me, my guess would be that MSC have some kind of conssesion with Milan airport and the coaches and are making yet more money by using Milan airport and Milan based coaches to provide a good two and a half hour trip on a coach with no toiet facilities.
Genoa has a perfectly good airport and only a ten minuet cab ride to the port.
Do as we did and book your own flight into Genoa, it's far cheaper than MSC flights and a 10 minuet drive from the airport to the port. I wish you all luck and a happy holiday.

What you save on the front end you'll pay on the back end!

I booked this cruise for two reasons: because it was going to Alexandria (with the opportunity to visit the Pyramids)and because there was no single supplement.The BA flight from Heathrow got us to Milan in under two hours, but the coach journey from Malpensa airport to Genoa took about two and three-quarter hours.  We even had to queue at the port to get off.  I had checked in online, so followed the signs to the so-called Express check-in, which took longer than the ladies I had met on the plane who took the normal route.  I commented on this to a member of staff who were not at all interested.  I was impressed when I arrived on board to be greeted by a member of staff who escorted me to my cabin (Cunard's White Star service has something to learn from this).  The cabin was well furnished and comfortable, particularly for one.  My steward soon came to introduce himself and bring my suitcase.The clientelle is truly international.  It must have been school holiday time in Italy, as there were lots of Italian children aboard.  Other nationalities were French, German, Canadian, Norwegian, Swedish, Brazilian, etc.  I did not find this a problem, and preferred it to the 'middle class middle England' crowd on our Fred Olsen Christmas/New Year cruise.  However, it did mean that every announcement was in at least three languages.  Consequently the quizzes were rather long winded, and the Bingo must have been a nightmare!I ate in La Reggia restaurant every night.  The option was to pay extra for Mexican food or pizza in Pago Pago.  The food was certainly not Cordon Bleu, more three star Italian hotel fare.  Plenty to choose from as long as you like pasta and rissotto.  I don't drink wine, but there were wine packages available which others on my table took advantage of and enjoyed.The choice in the self-service restaurants Pago Pagoand Bora Bora was OK - plenty of choice but somewhat lukewarm from what I hard from others.  I tended to stick with salad at lunch time.  The waiters are so obsessed with clearing and cleaning that it was impossible as a solo eater to get up and get seconds or dessert, as you could come back in 30 seconds and find the place cleared!  I heard this from most of the single travellers I chatted to aboard.  Also difficult in these restaurants to get a drink.  One day I counted over 12 waiters within sight, but not one came over and asked if I would like something to drink.Oh yes drink!  The talk of the ship that you have to pay for every drop of water and can only get a tea or coffee without paying for it at breakfast or afternoon tea.  But let's face it this is a cheap shipand they've got to balance the books somehow.  I paid £70 a day and that included a scheduled BA flight, so I was not too upset by paying a couple of pounds for a large bottle of water.  The entertainment was very visual, as one would expect with an international audience.  The Brits got a bit snobby what the opera performances turned in 'al together clap along' sessions.  But of course the Italians treat opera very differently and it's much more a popular form of music for them. The soprano and tenor were excellent as were the dancers, but I got rather bored with the speciality acts.Some of the evening entertainment was of the Butlins style, but there were options, and the Splendida bar, the piano bar, and particularly the jazz bar offered good music throughout the evening.As on most cruise ships the photographers were a pain, but I did actually see one of them almost dragging one poor lady to pose for a picture.  When they were printed (in their thousands, what a waste!) they were poorly displayed so it was almost impossible find your photo.  We used to count the photographers as they packed up for the night while we sat in the jazz bar and there were more than a dozen of them.I did not take an organised excursion at every port of call, but really enjoyed the four I did at Ephesus, Athens, Mount Etna and Rome. The 'last night' was actually two nights before we got back to Genoa, as some people were disembarking at Rome.  But I felt on the last day that it was all over and didn't like the feeling I was being 'thrown out' before I was ready to go.  No show at all on the last evening. All in all a good value extra holiday on a beautiful ship which may have some design faults, but then so does the QM2! 

Beautiful ship but staff need training in service

Having sailed on quite a few MSC cruises, it seems that overall service is deteriorating.



Are the services bad?

No

Are the services good?

No

It is just all average...no more no less!



It seems that management is only focused on a few things: 



1.MSC Yacht Club, sometimes more than 5 all dressed up butlers where greeting the Yacht club members in port!! I'm sure most of these customers got a little fed up with so much attention.



2.Tips, all gratuities or service charges as they call it now are mandatory, no adjustments are allowed. So tipping your waiter or room attendant extra becomes an expensive proposition. Thus resulting in unmotivated staff and just average service at best.



Overall beautiful ships, decent food, high school-like entertainment with uninspiring service and management not visible at all.



If the itinerary is good and the price is right...take it. Otherwise look further! 

MSC not so hot anymore.

This cruise was booked because of the price and the itinerary. We knew beforehand that we would probably be paying for everything except at foodtime. The Spendida was a lovely ship, and the number of ports visited were excellent. 9 ports in 11 days. We were only onboard ship for 2 sailing days and after visits to the different ports. 

There were some strange events happening aboard this ship. The clientel were truly multi national. 60% German, and the rest a mixture of Italian, French, Japanese, American, Australian, British and other Europeans. It was amazing that our table of 8 British had a waiter who could not stand a word of English. We were often being served our food at different times. Whilst we were wating for all the table to get their servings, our food was always getting cold, Some of us were served our main course with others who were having starters. When tea was bought for over 2 euro's a cup, you were only allowed 1 teabag, even though there was enough water in your pot for 3 cups. If I wanted another teabag, it was another 2 euros Lager was over 5 euros a glass (not even a pint). The entertainment was diabolical. Variety shows every night for half an hour and piano music in the bars. One of the main shows was duplicated one night to one we had seen only 8 days earlier.

There was little day time entertainment in the day except for bingo and aerobics. 

We enjoyed our time as we saw many countries, but I dread to think of going with MSC for a long haul cruise with not many stops. 

One tea bag

my husband and i cruised dec, 2010 to egypt, greece, malta, and italy on the msc splendida. great ship and great staff. everyone was very helpful and friendly. the itinerary was exactly what we were looking for. we had an interior cabin that was spacious and very clean. the bed was very comfortable and the bed linens were fantastic. very high thread count. the towels were oversized and wonderful.



several cruise reviews i've read slammed the food in the dining room. we thought most nights it was very good. there were a couple of misses there but nothing major. the ship decor was beautifully tasteful and the ship was easy to get around. the spa was fantastic! we bought a spa package so we spent quite a bit of time there. try the seashell massage. i was afraid it would be gimmicky but it was really good. i got the best pedicure ever in the beauty salon. 



it didn't take long to get ashore once we reached the ports and the staff was organized and helpful. 



we were surprised at the prices in the mexican restaurant and the minibar. they were really reasonable. a number of people were complaining because you had to buy water in the dining room. that wasn't a big deal to me. keep in mind if you are going on this cruiseline; you have to pay for water and budget accordingly, if that kind of thing is a big deal to you.



bottom line: i will definitely cruise with this line again. we thought it was a fantastic vacation.



my only complaint was that the christmas carols really got on my nerves after the first day or two. please, msc, add more variety to your music selection since you can't get away from it in the public areas of the ship. 

Loved the MSC splendida

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