Not a Memorable Trip

There is a mixed message in the whole experience with MSC.

This is also my personal opinion, and based on my expectations.

The ship is really nice, and the decor contemporary, as well as the whole web checkin, pre-cruise emails, notifications were very good.

On that note, the drinks package bought earlier, I did not get much details, and was a bit sad to see onboard the same package would come with a complimentary glass, and for a similar (if not cheaper) pricing.

Now, there are few constructive feedback to provide about the experience. The staff did not seem much motivated, and they were trying to hard sell drinks packages, upsell dinner, etc. A soft sell is expected, a hard sell (almost a hassle) is not. I saw the same comment by other customers on forums, but did not expect to be true. Unfortunately, it is.

The room service and the maitre were very good, but the remaining staff were “ok”. So a bit of attention to the customer service excellence training could make some improvement.

Additionally, I felt that the food quality was not the premium, many diverse sourced food, e.g. butter from Germany, margarine from the Nethelands (?).. I was hoping for more Italian produce. The buffet was spread and diverse (which is good), but also not too practical, as you had to walk around the whole buffet to get the whole picture..

For the dinner, the first main I got was the pork Milanese (breaded pork) with chips.. it did look a bit simple and the lack of presentation made the first dinner feel cheap. On the positive note, the bakery were excellent. Really nice and tasty breads, pastries and pizzas. The fresh fruit bar and the sugarfree desserts were a great touch!

Overall, if you are not fussed about food, enjoy breads and ‘either buy all the packages possible upfront’ or ‘don’t mind people pushing services that you did not select originally’.. you may love it.