MSC Poesia Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We selected this cruise because we liked the itinerary and the dates fitted in with our other holiday plans in Italy.
We had not cruised with MSC before and had reservations because of dining times being fixed and because some online reviews said food was not good, staff were not particularly pleasant, multi-language announcements were annoying, other guests and children were noisy, etc. We decided to book MSC's Aurea "experience" to ensure we could get away from the crowd a bit.
***
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
Our cabin was very attractively decorated with good use of space, albeit it was a bit smaller than our previous experience with Celebrity and Thomson.
It was impeccably clean.
The location was a quiet short corridor, convenient for Spa and Solarium.
Port Reviews
Venice
Venice is always worth a visit
Bari
Easy walk into town from the cruise port. Pleasant walks and undemanding buildings and sights to look at and appreciate, Only worth about 2-3 hours off the ship.
Katakolon (Olympia)
The post is a pleasant small town with some nice café/restaurants and surprisingly good shopping. A bit of research beforehand found that a modern air-conditioned train runs to Ancient Olympia for the very cheap fare of 10 euros return. The afternoon timetable is not set but seems to be flexible, responding to how many cruise ships are in part and at what times, so you may not find out what is possible until you get to the station, which is ten minutes walk from the cruise dock..
Mykonos
Very attractive town and surrounds with very upmarket shopping and attractive eating/drinking options. No need to buy MSC boat or bus transfers because a local company runs a very regular shuttle boat service to the town from beside where the ship for a very cheap two euros each way.
Athens (Piraeus)
Worth visiting for the history.
No need to take expansive excursions. The city hop-on hop-off bus tours leave from beside the port and go directly to the Acropolis for much cheaper.
There is a very pleasant bar-restaurant Dionysos semi-hidden among trees near the bus stop for the Acropolis where you can have a drink with a wonderful view of the Parthenon after your efforts in climbing up and down the hill.
Sarande
Shopping and food/drink very cheap and easy to take a swim from town beaches but nothing else to commend it.
Dubrovnik
Utterly beautiful city.
Taxis between port and city centre are 15 euros each way and vastly easier and more flexible than the MSC shuttle, for much the same price.