MSC Fantasia Review

MSC is Not a Good Choice

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on MSC Fantasia
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kalifornialady13
First Time Cruiser • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Sep 2010

My husband and I were on the Fantasia ship for a short cruise in September. This was our second MSC cruise so we thought we knew what to expect as we had taken one before with 10 family members in the Caribbean two years ago. That cruise was not so good but we thought we should give them an other chance. We are seasoned cruisers (20 or more cruises) and thought perhaps the first one was a new area for them and we should try their part of the country before we made up our minds. First, we completely agree with the review by AP23 who was on our cruise too. Never met them which is surprising since there couldn't have been more than 15 American couples on the whole ship.

Second, the crew overall was not the friendliest to Americans. They obviously prefer the Italians. I always smiled, thanked whomever, and never complained the whole time when I had so much to complain about. The crew working the breakfast buffet were especially rude. When asking for coffee one day, the gentleman who was serving it, kept telling me to get my own cup from a table. They were pretty much gone around our area and I reported that and he still insisted that I get one elsewhere (while there were some in his cabinet). I searched for 5 minutes all the way to the other side of the dining room and came back with one. Unbelievable. I am fairly spry and in good condition for my age but there were some older people that were never helped with their trays to the table. I helped some myself as I was concerned they would either fall or drop their trays as they were somewhat disabled.

The ship is absolutely beautiful and the rooms were great. The gentleman who was the porter for the rooms was good. Probably the only really nice one on the ship. I agreed that it was terrible to have to pay for coffee all the time. I have never been on a ship wherein they didn't provide ice tea and coffee for free during the lunch hour and dinner. I also resented paying the 15 Euros a piece for us to get to the port in the France port. We have paid 5 Euros before on a Princess to do the same distance. That was "highway" robbery.

Cabin Review

Can't remember the number but it was a balcony cabin on upper decks. The cabin was lovely. Quite well furnished. There wasn't enough space for everything especially usable drawers; balcony was nice, we had a great location near the elevators and close to everything. The beds were quite comfortable. TV was flat screen but only one channel in English (news). There were quite a few in Italian and Spanish. Felt a little discriminated against in this regard.

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