We travelled as a couple on an 11 night transatlantic from Salvador to Barcelona. We primarily travel on Royal Caribbean and this was our first time on MSC. As such this review will be comparing the two. Good Points - Great Cabin Explained in the cabin review - Almost Great Designed Ships The ship was designed beautiful and designed exceptionally with every detail almost thought out. The ship was kept meticulously clean - Great In-house Entertainment The in-house shows were very good although were 35 mins each. Costumes, make up, lighting were superior to RC. - Slightly Cheaper Drinks We don’t drink much so don’t purchase packages. Drinks were about 20% cheaper than RC and tended to be a similar size. Nice touches in the Sports Bar was providing nachos and dips with drinks. The drink alcohol measures also tended to be large. - Always Available Sun Loungers There was sun loungers always available even when very busy - An Affordable Ship Tour At $45 for a three hour tour of behind the scenes of the ship this felt like good value compared to RC price which on Oasis was around $80-90 (which we didn’t take up). Now to the negatives - there is a few: - Some Design Flaws Whilst the ship is beautiful they made some mistakes; The theatre has 934 seats - on a ship with a capacity of 5300. This means that the performers are forced to do 3 x 35 minute performances a night. Whilst these didn’t always sell out (as booking is required) I feel the theatre should have had more capacity to reduce this to two maybe slightly longer performances. The seating is also very tight on leg room. The pools are all 6ft deep with no shallow sections (with the exception of the kids play park) The dinning rooms are too small. This cruise wasn’t full but heard previously of issues with not having enough tables in the restaurant. This results in some very closely configured tables which almost resemble banqueting halls where your almost sharing tables with your neighbour. This didn’t happen to us but it could be pot luck whether you land one of these tables. I’m also not sure if this is down to the table situation but they tend to run 4 dinner sessions 6pm, 7pm, 8pm and 9pm - there is also a my choice dining option. If you aren’t in within 15 minutes of that time then the restaurant closes. This policy leads to everyone arriving in a 15 minute window. Servers maybe with 6 tables or more each then need to take orders, serve drinks, bread and food. Not staggering tables affects quality of service and also I’m sure has an effect on the kitchen staff as well. Very open venues. Many of the entertainment areas aren’t intimate or open and have limited seating - so often what happens is a performer is playing to people who are not there to see the act but people who are just there taking a seat. Often the venues are also corridors to other places which then has the effect of major background noise. - The food was very hit or miss The food in the buffet and main dining at breakfast was to a similar standard to RC although with possibly slightly less choice Lunch in the buffet offered less variety than RC and the one time we had lunch in main dining it was ok. Again they seemed to seat people in one waiters section meaning they had immediately 8 tables to serve in quick time. We had dinner in the main dining each night and it was very hit or miss. Some dishes were surprisingly good others were just ok. Portions tended to be smaller than RC - which I think is a good thing - as often RC portions can vary and tend to be large. We developed a system to ensure we got alright food on MSC - we found they tended to be better at seafood and fish dishes than other meat types. For desserts their ice cream and ice cream sundaes were actually very good. They were also very good at pizza and (crisp) fries at the buffet. - Water At dinner service we were entitled to complimentary bottled water - which seemed to be rationed with one bottle coming out at a time. I’m not sure why they don’t just serve water - I actually would prefer a big jug of iced water from the tap than create more plastic to be recycled. - Sanitisation Whilst cleanliness was very good on board hygenie such as hand sanitisation was more an optional occurrence. There was hand sanitiser stations and even hand washing stations in the buffet but many just didn’t bother. By the end of the cruise a large number of people seemed to have a cough. - Disembarkation at some ports was a nightmare We stopped at Tenerife and Malaga on this trip. Tenerife was actually very smooth. However Malaga was slightly dangerous. Due to three medical evacuations by air and bad weather the disembarkation time was understandably changed to 2:30pm. People queued from 2pm with no staff to manage queues these quickly got out of hand with no real queuing system, people joining the lines as they come down the stairs or out of lifts. Some of the queue were then sent to the crew exit to alleviate this. But that was somewhat a bottleneck > with again people coming down stairs and lifts and joining in a mass. - Lack of Activities On board there was somewhat limited daytime activities. On RC we enjoy attending the trivia which is up to seven times a day. It is a great way to meet people as well as break up sea days. On MSC it tended to be dance classes with only three trivia sessions across 12 days. On one day they had 3 activities scheduled at one time and none for three hours. They also had a guest lecturer on board who we attended several talks and was quite interesting. On speaking to her she stated that she only does the transatlantic cruises - what would they have had if she wasn’t on board. There was a lot of entertainment staff even more than on other lines so felt they weren’t utilised as well as they could be. - Languages It became quite monotonous to hear every thing repeated in 6 languages. MSC is European, and I was shocked how seemingly few US customers were on board which make up a large proportion of RC guests regardless where they sail from. Unsurprisingly the majority were Brazilians meaning Portuguese was the main language. Being from the UK and having a little grasp of a few languages I would have struggled without English which was certainly a minority language on board. I’m not sure there is a solution to this problem. Although perhaps they could announce in one language and display subtitles in other languages on screens in places like the theatre. - Not the best imported shows The shows which are imported tend to be languageless or language light. These were a mime act (x2), singing act (x2) and a Ventriloquist using somewhat common words from multiple languages. In fact the best part of these shows was often the audience participation bits which were only a small part. Overall these certainly were not as good as guests performers on RC. - Service was not as friendly as RC I felt the staff were not as friendly as RC. They all did a good job but didn’t really talk. On RC servers of food and drink tend to be really bubbly, restaurant managers visit our table each night and most other staff great you in the corridors of all ranks. I felt this was in a minority on MSC. The staff were still good at their job and some were really friendly. For example a waitress at the chocolate shop remembered us for the rest of the cruise and greeted us each time we walked by, the maitre’d at main dining was very chatty and always acknowledged guests, deck staff cleaning the deck at 5am even gave out a strong good morning in Portuguese. Some other points; We had 3 air medical evacuations during this cruise and these were handled really professionally - it was good to see that if you need specialist medical help even 500km off the coast that attempts will will be made to get you that help. The Spanish Search & Rescue Service Salvamento Maritimo sent a Puma helicopter and an AirbusHeli plane to evacuate a staff member who was in labour with the baby in the breech position. An unusual announcement came over the tannoy in another language first and I picked up the words gynaecologist or obstetrician as they are very similar. The next day whilst at the buffet they made an announcement of “Mike Echo” over the tannoy and the evacuation was in full progress. MSC was the first cruise line to search my bags getting off at a port. As we were on holiday for 17 days we really needed to wash some clothes. I hadn’t preordered a washing package which were reasonable in advance. But per piece priced onboard. As we had washed clothes before off ship on our last transatlantic we thought we would do the same again. Last year on RC we carried off two rather large stuffed full weekender bags no questions asked. Even Spanish police and didn’t even look as we walked through with them. However MSC security were puzzled why I might be taking a weekender bag off the ship and wanted to know what was in it, scanned it and then did a quick visual search. This vigilance I believe is a good thing although what bag size is too big - I was shocked to have not been at least stopped last year with RC. On MSC others got off with backpacks no questions asked. Beware of the shuttle sale at Malaga. This has been mentioned by others before but MSC somewhat tried to sell a $10 shuttle to the city centre from Malaga cruise terminal stating it’s a 20-25 min bus ride away. In reality it’s about 25 minutes leisurely walk by the marina. A taxi would be about €6 each way, and if you wanted to do specific things may just save you a few minutes. Overall we left feeling we enjoyed a relaxing 11 nights on board. We would sail again with MSC possibly on their smaller ships (which we tend prefer) on itinerary rich sailings negating some of the activity issues although we have another two transatlantic sailings booked with RC for early next year so possibly not anytime soon. Read Less

Firstly this was our first cruise so we have nothing to completely judge against, however the things I will talk about was our experience. On arrival onto the ship we we’re badgered by staff wanting us to sign up to a drinks package which we had already sorted pre arrival. This also didn’t stop for a couple of days. ( by all means assist customers but make staff be seen but have customers approach staff ) We also were constantly bugged by the staff photographers constantly asking if we wanted our picture taken and even after a polite no they then pleaded ‘it will only take a few minutes ‘ whilst following us. My polite no’s were beginning to wear very thin towards the end. To add insult to injury the one time we gave in, we were then automatically charged £34.99 to our card before even seeing them. From the reception they told me it was down to me to say I didn’t want them to have the charge removed. So I was glad to keep an eye on my account on my tv in my cabin. Otherwise it would have been a shock on leaving. ( may be better for customers to say yes before charging). Each place we docked at we were badgered if we wanted taxi or sight seeing bus. All were stupid prices and you can do so much better sourcing your own public transport at great prices.... it got tiresome as they wouldn’t take no as an answer. I feel msc security/ dock security should monitor this and actively reduce this annoyance. Now the ship is an absolute beautiful design. Really took our breath away. The mid ship sky screen shows and displays were very good. The shows onboard were very very good and thoughly entertaining. And at 30 mins I feel it was too short but understand with time restrictions for the program it has to be that way. I had no issues with my premium drinks package and recommend this is purchased. The staff were all very friendly and pleasant and had no bad experiences in the dining room with food or waiting staff. The cabin ( we had a balcony) was a nice size and I would say it was a slightly smaller than the average Travelodge room but pretty much the same layout. Tv channels were slightly limited ( but who comes on holiday to watch tv ). The safe is quite tiny and we couldn’t put our iPads in it. But it was simple to use. The Bed was very comfortable with two pillows. Balcony size ok. Mini bar idea not so good. .... it is not covered on the drinks package. I think to enjoy the balcony it would be good to use from mini bar to save having to go to the bar for purchasing drinks to carry back. Most drinks in there can be from the bar anyway. ( just saves borrowing and restocking ourselves the next day early). The spa is amazing and well worth the visit. Spent most days in there for a couple of hours recovering from our days walking. However on the sea day it got very busy. Maybe it would be good if msc only allowed the package deal only people to access on sea days and offer no day pass. ( could earn more money for them and balance the numbers out for spa visitors). With the numerous relaxation areas jacuzzis and steam/ sauna rooms and ice room. Not forgetting the emotional showers there are plenty of places to relax and rest. Never gambled before and the casino was an awesome experience. Staff very friendly and when it was quiet we asked how to use tables and all was explained very well. There are serious gamblers there, and people like us who had fun with between 10-30 Euros per visit. We actually visited most nights and actually walked away with more Euro’s than we started with. The water slides were fun to use, and the pools were relaxing. And the external hot tubs on the deck were very nice also. Anyone in two minds about first time cruising, I think the ship will give you the experience that will help decide if it’s for you. And as for us......... we will stick with msc and look out for more locations this ship will visit and try out the other ships in the fleet. We have been converted to a life of cruising for sure. Read Less

I traveled with my fiance March 24th to the 30th aboard the Norwegian Pearl, a smaller but fully refurbished ship. Getting onto the ship did take some time, but it was well worth the wait! Once getting on to the ship we were greeted instantly by the friendly staff, and given a map of the ship. Our stateroom was 8113, an inside room with an additional third bed. We were happy to see that the two smaller beds when put together make a king-size bed. The stateroom had plenty of room for the two of us. Additionally, the hard working staff had our rooms ready for occupancy with in an hour of arriving on the ship. The cruise we selected left out of Tampa and sailed to Harvest Caye (Norwegian's private island) in Belize. The island was clean and perfect! From there we stopped in Costa Maya Mexico. The port was very clean and inviting, but didn't feel very authentic. My fiance and I did an excursion to Chacchoben, one of the Mayan Ruins! This really made the stop worth it! From there we sailed to Roatan Bay in Honduras. The port was small and was undergoing major construction while we were there. We didn't book any excursions and wanted to explore by foot. That was a mistake! As soon as we walked out of the port we were instantly inundated with locals trying to sell us this, that, and everything else. We managed to walk past the large group, but, we were followed by locals. While we never felt unsafe, something just didn't feel right. We went back to the port and enjoyed the many bars they had to offer, and let the bartender fill us in on the area. Finally, we had our last stop in George Town on Grand Cayman. This was by far the best stop we had. The island was clean, and the locals were amazing. We were able to walk all around and explore the many beaches, shops, and local watering holes! As for the quality of the on-board experience, we didn't have a bad meal or cocktail! We dined in the main dinning rooms (Indigo & Summer Palace), the staff were top-notch and so was the food. Overall, we were impressed by NCL and plan to take another cruise before the end of the year! Read Less

This was our 9th cruise and we chose Seaside because of its design. We wanted as much outdoor space as possible. Tired of the old "Food Court" atrium designs. The outdoor seating for food and drink was beautiful. There was so much outdoor space the ship holds true to its motto, "Follows the Sun"! At times, we had difficulty finding shade, but no big deal. We upgraded to a larger cabin 14003 way up front on deck 14. Space was nice, balcony was disappointing. It was a full size balcony but only half available to look out due to the steel support wall for the corner of the ship. We were directly under the bridge so it was nice not having sunlight glaring in our eyes or camera lens for photos. My wife loved the complete privacy of it so I guess it has its pluses and minuses. The Mirror and chrome design was stunning. Absolutely gorgeous, especially the crystal stairs. People couldn't take enough pictures of them. However, due to all the mirrors, there is a place on deck 6 were we almost walk into them several times. The signage is very limited. When elevator doors open, its hard to see what deck you on on. We found out, after a couple of days, that the deck number is on the left post of each elevator door frame. But, because of the chrome, its hard to see. There are large deck numbers on the wall opposite elevators, but not always visible when doors open, and again in bright chrome. Yes, there is always the digital read out and voice in the elevator! The App is the true shinning star on this ship. Very well done. You have access to daily activities, you own personal list of things you checked and, easy show reservation as well as checking you account balance any time. Food was very good, especially in MDR. Appetizers and soups were hit or miss but main course was awesome every night. Contrary to what we have read, the buffet had many changes daily, pre-made sandwiches were different everyday and the carving station in the back was awesome. They were carving roast beef, lamb, pork, turkey, ham, etc.Yes, they had pizza and burgers everyday but what buffet doesn't? Broadway style shows were unbelievable, the best we have ever seen. Outsourcing to a theater company is definitive the way to go. The ships activities crew was top notch, they were everywhere and easily accessible. A really great bunch of kids. Service is probably the only place this ship falls flat. After being in the US for 15 months, you would think the service crew would have the understanding of "Where is the soda machine, toilet, towel exchange or can you make me this drink??" Boy, they do have a lot of teaching to do, not just because of the language barrier, which we were stunned as to how you do not understand simple words such as Coke or Ginger Ale or Sprite, but overall how many of the staff did not know where things were. Training, training, training is what is seriously lacking in this area. Our MDR waiter was difficult to communicate with the first few days, but by the end of the week, they knew exactly what we were looking for, this should have been the case by day 2. I had a bartender give me Scotch because he could not find the Seagram's 7, and he thought I would not notice. I have been drinking 7&7s ever since Tony got me started on "Saturday Nigh Fever". We did notified the Bar Manager and he assured me they would look into it. (not the movie, the problem). Management was always willing to listen and correct the situation, if possible. We wound up receiving Champagne and Chocolate covered strawberries (which we gave both to our neighbors) for one problem, and a tray of pastries for the bar debacle (also gave to the neighbors). Stop trying to put out fires guys and train your staff! We did manage to find an awesome bartender, Julius, at the Miami beach bar. He made the best Mudslides with ice cream, yes, they have a Gellato bar right in the middle of the pool bar. We also found Ron down on deck 5 at the Seaside bar. This is their flagship bar in the atrium. This is the place to go see and be seen. Ron was such a talented mixologist and always smiling. He was so willing to please and always went above and beyond. His section of the bar always had a crowd, I'm surprised the ship did not tilt in that direction. My wife was not feeling well and he made her the most fantastic hot chocolate ever! She kept going back for more. The Thermal Spa was, how does Scar in "Lion King" put it..."To Die For"! I'm sorry we did not opt for the weekly pass, instead we purchased a day pass with massages. This place is awesome, Jun the manager was the best. Jamaica was sad, Grand Cayman was beautiful and Cozumel, well, it's Cozumel. We spent the day in the spa while in port at Nassau. Would we sail MSC again? Probably, but not in the near future. I would prefer an Eastern Itinerary and lets see how well Management does their training. Read Less

The best thing on the edge was the four free dining rooms instead of one large one. And the food and service were outstanding. The single rooms were disappointing because they had no storage at all, whereas the regular cabins had a ton of storage. The bathrooms were great. The magic carpet was not magical. Just a nice deck. The infinity balcony was more like a larger room with a great horizontal open window, and no deck. Ship had a Beautiful design with lots of smaller spaces but not as cutting edge as the hype. Just very nice design. The upcharge for the specialty restaurants was $60. Too much. The crew service was great but they were not knowledgeable about the ports. They said I have never been there so I don’t know. Odd answer. The design was great but not sure it was high tech. Would have liked to leave messages for other cabins but could not. (The app did not work on my cruise. ) The internet worked great but very expensive. Much faster than other ships. The ship was beautiful and luxurious but not up to the hype. The entertainment was very good but the performance in the eden room was very creepy. Even though the room was very well designed. Read Less

We decided to splurge and get a suite on the Celebrity Edge. The room was smaller than we expected. It was very high tech, but operating some of the controls (lights, curtains) was challenging at times. We like to enjoy beverages in our room so having a bucket of ice at all times is a priority for us. On day 1, we gave a $10 tip to our cabin steward and asked him to keep the room stocked with ice throughout the cruise. To our surprise, the suite came with a butler and we also gave him a $10 tip in order to have the room stocked with ice. The ice was not forthcoming on days 2 and 3, so we had to track down the cabin attendant and the butler and beg for ice. On day 4, when once again the room had no fresh ice, we got fed up and complained to Passenger Services. Immediately, ice was brought to our suite. At that point, we thought the situation had been rectified for good. We were wrong. On day 5, once again, there was no ice in our room. So, it was back to Passenger Services to register another complaint. From that point onward, we did have fresh ice at all times. We have never been on a cruise where we've had to beg for such a basic service as ice in the room. Overall, the service in our fancy suite was a disgrace. The food in the ship's many restaurants was very good, but not great. On the other hand, service in the restaurants was outstanding. We were particularly impressed with one restaurant hostess who remembered our suite number after just one visit to the restaurant. We have been on over 20 cruises and, we have to say, the entertainment venue called The Club, which is on deck 4, is the worst entertainment venue that we have ever seen on any ship. It looks like it was slapped together without any thought about viewer comfort. it was next to impossible to watch the shows from the second floor. The view was obstructed with poles and assorted audiovisual equipment. We walked out of one show because neither one of us could see even a glimpse of the entertainer. The Retreat is a very nice venue for suite guests. Nobody bothered to tell us that all drinks were complementary until the very last day of the cruise. Celebrity could certainly have done a better job of communicating the advantages of booking a suite with those of us who shelled out the extra money for a suite. While the Edge had many innovative designs, going from point A to point B was often challenging. As an example, it is difficult to go from the front of the ship to the back of the ship on the deck used for disembarkation. Speaking of which, embarkation was a breeze, while disembarkation was a fairly lengthy process. On paper, the Magic Carpet may have seemed like a good idea. However, in practice, it was fairly useless and did not move throughout the week. One final thought, the color scheme of the ship's interior consisted of shades of gray. Overall, I would describe it as drab, drab, drab. Read Less

1) I chose this cruise as it was an Atlantis charter for gays & lesbians 2) Celebrity has had better food on other cruise I have taken with them. There were a few entrees that were not at their best on this cruise. I liked the 4 smaller dining rooms on this ship - there is no large grand dining room. My complaint on the traditional large dining rooms is that I always got my wine after the entree, in the smaller dining rooms on this ship I was served immediately (we dined at 6:30 pm when the dining room was opened). The strange thing about service is that the water is poured out of the pitcher from the side, not through the spout, which caused water to go onto the floor! Be sure the server is not near any valuables that need to be kept dry, like your camera! 3) The shops, to name some, are very upmarket - Bulgari, Tiffany & more. We were invited to look at a man's watch priced at $12,000 as an example. Clothing in the shop was also very expensive. I stay away from the "art" gallery auctions on cruise ships as I don't think they are the best place to buy art. 4) I enjoyed the crew show in Eden. I recommend going with the flow & enjoy it. It is a very strange experience but don't leave too soon & you might really enjoy it. 5) The theater is quite an experience with the room almost completely wired with lights. I particularly enjoyed the live band. This is not the usual stage veteran cruisers are used to. 6) I visited the spa for a massage in the hope of relieving back pain. The massage was quite vigorous (the masseur asked as to how much pressure I wanted). It was a full body massage. Unfortunately there was some hard sell after the massage to get me to buy products to take home - a big turn-off for me. 7) I did not take a shore excursion as I have been to the ports previously. My cabin mate was pleased with the excursions that he took Read Less

The cruise ship was very smoky. The food was ok. The ship layout caused lots of traffic issues and had no where to relax quietly. And the service... While I don’t regret this cruise, I don’t think I’ll ever go on a Norwegian Cruise again. The service was awful including changes in our stateroom attendant, catching a bartender in a lie (cause he didn’t want to make the drink I asked for), interrupting several meals by management to question me why I didn’t like my service (not after the meal, while I had an entree on my fork), and then when I did complain i was handed a paper to write my greivances and then ignored. I didn’t feel heard at all. But... the hardest pill to swallow, I felt that several crew members went out of their way to ignore that fact that we are a gay couple. From pulling out chairs across from eachother (all the other couples around us were diagonal), asking questions when I asked to put the beds together, and ignoring our anniversary. The entertainment was as expected. Not fantastic but entertaining certainly. The howl at the moon dueling pianos was by far my favorite entertainment. Water slides and ropes course was fun but not open much. We only dined at the complementary restaurants which were good but rarely remarkable and the food was never served hot. Bread was stale the whole week. The private island far exceeded my expectations (though the food was terrible). Super clean and plenty of chairs for us early birds. The rendering process was incredibly frustrating especially as we had to sit in the theatre for over and hour and then several people were allowed to jump the line without the wait. Makes no sense. Nassau was disappointing. We went on the seahorse catamaran and snorkel which was fun. Very cheap snorkels that didn’t work but after we decided to just ditch the equipment we did enjoy our swim in the clear blue water. The town part was super shady. I was offered drugs twice in the first ten minutes on the island, had two separate instances of attempted cons, was totally ripped off by the lunch spot, and the shops were full of scammers and over aggressive salespeople. Read Less

To cruise on new ship is like driving a new car: Everything is new, shiny and works. There were very few issues on board that I encountered. Embarkation was fast and easy and we were on board in under 10 minutes. I had a concierge class stateroom on deck 11 mid ship. Very spacious, although with limited closet space. We had to store suitcases under the bed. Our steward was very attentive and took good care of the morning and evening service to room. I like the towel animal art sometimes, but I didn't get that from this steward on Edge. Restaurants are above average - the four standard dining rooms each have a different flair - French, Greek, Italian, and Contemporary - and nightly specialty menus for the receptive dining room. I enjoyed the Normandie and Tuscany rooms the best. I did the Le Petit Chef dinner and it was ok. I though the portions were small, but the animation was fun. The Raw on 5 sushi restaurant was good, but I'm not sure it was worth the $50 per person premium surcharge. The only thing that i didn't like was an occasional long wait for elevators on the ship. While the Edge is a great ship, I thought the hype prior to the cruise about how amazing the ship is, was a bit overdone. It's a cruise ship. Its target audience is probably not families, but more sophisticated couples. Not a lot of the extra fun stuff like on some Royal Caribbean ships. Read Less

First off the food wasn't good period. Our first cruise with Royal Caribbean was much better. This cruise screwed up my girlfriend's dessert after making her order a special gluten free meal for her allergy. The final day we both got food poisoning from eggs Benedict and ruined the last day of our trip. We were sick in our room the rest of the day. They had the Grease show which was pretty good but the staff were very unorganized with keeping the guests waiting in an organized manner, making some wait at the top of the stairs while others lined up at the doors below in a separate line making people frustrated. The last part of the show had to stop due to technical difficulties so we left. The highlight of our trip was our Izumi sushi class and the Savannah Jack concert. There could have been more shows going on also as there was not much to choose from. Read Less