We travelled on a 30 day “Grand Voyage” from Cape Town to Venice on the MSC Sinfonia in March/April 2023. This is a 3.5 star vessel, and the onboard experience met or slightly exceeded expectations at that price point. The ship is well maintained, and the food entertainment and service are normally good. Note, this ship was cut in two and more cabins inserted. This put a strain on the facilities in the buffet, pool deck and theatre which can get very busy at peak times. We had a suite, and the cabin was large and comfortable. You need to budget for the compulsory service fee (effectively just an increase in the cruise price) and the fact that drinks and everything else are extras. Pre-purchased drink packages are reasonable value. Note: feedback from those who took the MSC excursions has been very negative.

Now for the bad news.

As far as we can tell, senior MSC management have little interest in customer satisfaction. Communication is extremely poor. In the words of a fellow traveller “they treat you like a shipping container”. This is especially true for those who want to arrange private excursions. Read more