We picked this cruise because the price is reasonable/cheaper than Carnival. 1. The embarkation and disembarkation were smoothly. 2. Ship is new and clean 3. Cabin is small just like any cruise ship cabin. The shower area seems small. 4. Breakfast/ lunch is good. Formal dining at night is good (way better than Chili’s, TGI Friday’s, Applebee’s . Comparable to Red Lobster but fewer selection. 5. Entertainment is great. Quality of shows is excellent. 5 stars to Steve Young (director of entertainment). All of the family shows are great, Peter Punk, Butterfly, Michael Jackson. But all adults shows perform by a group of 4 person is just ok. Would like to have few standup comedians shows. 6. Service is good. 7. Port and shore excursions have good timing. Except Saint Martin 7am to 2pm. We would like to go again. MSC going to have new ships in 2022, definitely looking forward to this one Read Less

My husband and I decided to book a very spontaneous trip on MSC Magnifica four days before the ship was to set sail through Expedia. We were coming from Boston, USA and took a non-stop flight to Rome, then a smaller flight to Bari, Italy where we embarked. We read some of the negative reviews (mostly about smoking on the ship and staff being rude) but decided to risk the trip anyway. We are so happy we did!! We found most of the criticisms of MSC and the crew to be completely inaccurate. From the moment we boarded, the staff, crew and bartenders were fantastic and very responsive to any of our needs. We did not have to wait very long for drinks, everyone was friendly to us and the ship was gorgeous. The cabin was ready when we arrived with our bags already in the room. The cabin was nicely furnished, very clean, comfortable bed and a beautiful room with a balcony. The dining in the main dining room at night wasn't my favorite. The food was good but nothing blew me away with flavor. If you are what we call in the states "a foodie", this is probably not the cruise for you. The buffet for breakfast and lunch was good, however. Very nice salad bar, hamburgers, french fries, pasta, homemade pizzas, rice, Thai dishes and lots of other choices. We went on the cruise for the Ports of calls and a spontaneous adventure. The dining portion and food were a low priority for us. The Activities on the crew were fun, we danced, had drinks at the cool bars, sat in the sun, and attended many of the Broadway-style shows. They were cute shows with skilled dancers and singers and a nice way to end the night. The thing we loved the most was the amazing ports of call. Every Greek island and/or city (Venice, Montenegro, Bari) was outstanding. Too much to write but a trip of a lifetime. Everything and more that we had hoped for. I highly recommend this cruise. The only small difficulties were lots of Europeans do smoke, but only outside. Not many people spoke English so we were a little isolated (but my husband found that to be a positive lol), the initial Embarkment was a 2.5 hour wait to get on board, and lines were a bit confusing in the buffet area for breakfast and lunch. I recommend going to the buffet right when it opens to avoid the frenzy. The only people I found to complain were the Americans who didn't have a lot of travel experience. Their expectations were too high for some of the places they visited off the ship. We understood that traveling to these ancient cities there would be lines and confusion since they are not equipped for the influx of thousands of tourists descending on their infrastructure at one time. Some of the ports of calls would have 5 cruise ships show up at one time letting 4,000 people off per ship. One last thing, I do believe you need to be average to good shape to walk around these ports of call. I am in good shape (45 year old female) and found it to be moderate to above moderate exercise to get around with lots of cobblestone walkways and uneven terrain. I was grateful my 80 year old parents decided not to attend the cruise with us as I don't think they would have had the energy to walk around. Overall I would rate this an excellent trip and would do it again with my family in a heartbeat. Read Less

This was the only cruise that fit schedules for everyone in our family. We also thought maybe we should try new cruiseline after 5 cruises with the same company. Big mistake. The ship itself looks beautiful. Embarkation was fine. Excursions were fine. Cabin was fine except that some guests decided to smoke in their cabins so our cabin smelled smoky too. My cabin has “no smoking” sign inside not sure about others. Complained twice, nothing was done. The housekeeper even said he did not want to anger other guests. Bad smell aside, it’s for the ship safety. guess safety does not matter. Food was bad. Buffet breakfast was cold or overheated (rubbery) scramble eggs. Yogurt was in a big open bowl so gross that someone could easily spit on it. Buffet lunch or dinner was a collection of pasta and pizza, a little grilled chicken, grilled fish, nothing spectacular. Dinning room only went twice. Dining room did not serve any drink, not even regular tap water. You are forced to buy bottled water or wine. Definitely no coffee or tea after the meal. Meal was way below any cruise line standard. I could possibly do better at home in terms of taste and presentation! This cruise was 95% Italian focus. Shows were mostly in Italian and there was 1 in French. For my family, pure english speaking, no entertainment for the entire cruise. To be honest, the singing was ok, dance, acrobatics were below other cruise lines standard. Disembarkation was a disaster. 3 hours delay due to some event happening at Venice. We were expected to believe that this event was new and they knew nothing about it and did not think it would affect disembarkation. Really? According to our “daily program”, we should be out of the ship by 9:30 then changed to 10:30. We did not get off until 11:45. We missed our flight or many guests missed the flights or we had to scramble to look for alternatives paying extra. All we heard from the customer service, which probably more appropriate to call them customer no service, was that it was not their fault, there was nothing they could do. YES, you could do something and that was simply providing accurate information from the beginning! Being pure English speaking Asian from the North America, definitely minority in this trip, my family did not feel welcomed at all. No crew ever said a hello to us even if we walked right into each other. There was this lead Spanish officer, she was so cheerful and bubbly speaking in her language with her people but when she saw me, she took away the smile and simply looked and walked away. The worst I have ever been treated in my cruise experiences. MSC clearly is not ready to handle international guests in Europe, at least with this cruise and this crew. The whole cruise is tailored for Italian, Spanish or simply white. Going forward we will stick with more reputable cruise line, get our money worth. Read Less

I’m not even sure my words can accurately describe just how amazing this entire trip was. Our vacation started in the beautiful port of Venice, Italy. Highly recommend flying in at least 2 days before embarkation so you can explore a bit in Venice. Stay at the Hilton Molino Stucky if you want beautiful views! We were first time MSC cruisers so unsure exactly what to expect, as we are American and the ship is dominantly Italian folks. Embarkation was a breeze. We were settled on the ship with our luggage within an hour of boarding. We had a balcony on deck 12 towards the back of the boat and loved the sizing and layout of the room! Our bed was a bit shaky, which we blamed on the engines (maybe?) but it was certainly bearable. More than enough room for 2 people in the basic balcony! We had the Fantastica experience, as we did not need any bells and whistles but did want a bit more than the “Bella”. The itinerary was simply phenomenal. Each day we got off the boat more in awe of where we were. We booked excursions in every island that required us to walk and move around a lot. This was not your typical ‘relaxing’ vacation. This itinerary is heavily culturally enriching. You will gain a lot of knowledge of the ports and the history surrounding them. I am not a history gal, but I was mesmerized by the history I learned. It was fascinating to learn from the tour guides who were so proud and excited to share their wealth of knowledge. Our itinerary break down was as followed: -Venice, Italy (visit San Marco) -Bari, Italy (visit Matera) -Katakolon, Greece (you have to see Olympia here) -Santorini, Greece (go visit the famous Oia) -Piraeus, Greece (you have to visit the Acropolis) -Corfu, Greece (must visit paradise beach) -Kotor, Montenegro (do a boat tour of the bay) The food on the Magnifica was SOOO good! We tried to keep our buffet time to breakfast only. Which was perfect for our early docked days. For dinner, we ate at the same table with 6 other folks and LOVED who we sat with. At first, this seems a bit ridiculous to have the same server with the same guests but we genuinely valued this time to unwind and reconnect at the end of a busy day! The entertainment was decent, but certainly have seen better. However, the dancing was great! MSC brought on aerialists that were excellent to watch! They were the highlight of most shows! The cruise staff was the absolute best staff we have ever been around. We have cruised several times but found this staff to be the BEST. So engaging, kind, and genuine. They wanted to really get to know you and help you have the most enjoyable time on board. It really says a lot when out of 2,500 rotating guests, they still remember your name! We were so sad to leave this crew, as they truly helped create many memories. The ONLY downside of our trip were the amount of children aimlessly running around, pushing and shoving. Luckily, we quickly learned how to avoid them and kept our distance. MSC is very family oriented, which is great! Just beware, you will certainly come across kids in mot public areas! Overall, this trip was epic. One of the best, if not, the best trips I have ever taken. Do not hesitate to book this trip. Hurry before it sells. You will love every second of it!!!!!!! Read Less

The ship is terrible - despite its enormous size, has very few things to do, no entertainment program on the main pool deck, only a few games to share among 5000 passengers, very low quality theater shows. Food is quite bad quality. Shore excursions are over priced, with mediocre guides with thick accents you cannot understand. Premium drinks are low quality (particularly wine). Kids programs are super boring - this is the first time my kids refused to go to the kids center and kept repeating how boring everything is. There are only 2 pools on the main deck!! - one indoor and one outdoor, and both are tiny so they are incredibly crowded at all times. Service across the ship is below mediocre. Casino manager is the least professional and disregarding you will ever encounter - don’t bother spending big money, you will get zero attention. Overall, a cheap look and feel and not worth any price you pay. STAY AWAY. Read Less

I always wanted to visit Norway and the fjords as I am intrigued by the history of Vikings and of the scenery. This was our first cruise , it was our 25th wedding anniversary and my husband 's 50th birthday .There were a couple of things that bothered us like the wait to get on board the ship on the departure date we got there at 13.00 PM and had to wait 3 hours in the queue , we were tired and hungry and thirsty and that was not the greatest way to start our holiday. Secondly a fault that we found on the ship the only one I would say is that there is no, do it yourself laundrett , a must on a ship that carries 4500 passengers and 1200 crew members.On a 11 day cruise one needs to wash his clothes, I did manually but the rules on the boat say that no clothes are allowed to be hanged in the balcony, so that was a problem and last but not least as we are still suffering from a severe backache, the mattress in our room was very uncomfortable it needs changing, I should have mentioned this to my room attended, but never got round to it. As for the rest everything was great from the food to the service and the crew were excellent starting from our room attendant John Lerry Cuyos, who cleaned and took so good care of us always making sure we had clean towels and sheets and making up our bed even twice a day , so friendly and kind he always started my day with a smile bless him, and than our two favorite waitress Elena Gonzalez Gonzalez and Italjani, and last but not least our personal waiter Maskurin from Indonesia, they were all even others exceptionally kind, good at their job and friendly, I recommend this Holiday and MSC Preziosa but please anyone of the administration that reads this please take note of my request, as I am sure that in future alot of people will comment on this. Thanks again for our fantastic holiday, Anthony and Fiona Borg. Read Less

This was the worse cruise I have ever been on. The food was horrible. The service is horrible. The housekeeping was mediocre. The only good part was the kids club. My son was treated well and he met so many other children from different countries. The cruise was just like it was not organized. Several people had things stolen out of their luggage and no one was responsible. Customer service was really nasty and demeaning. one couple paid for an excursion and they are not from the US. The customer service told them that they did not pay for it. After a few days after we left that island they found out that they did pay for it and they were not accommodating. They wanted to pay the couple in US dollars and they were from Britain.It was just ridiculous The ship shook like the engine was going out. I could feel the vibration of the engine. It sounded like the carburetor was going out. I will never ever use this cruise line and I am going to tell everyone else not to use it. Read Less

I love MSC, I am number 1 fan of this cruise line. The crew members are adorable, friendly, professionals and very helpful. Embarkation and disembarkation are just perfect. The Seaside is a beautiful and elegant Ship. The Spa is so amazing. They have to have more Latin Food, Caribbean Food, variety. The Casino spectacular and the Waiters at bars and restaurants excellent. I am not to happy with The ports of calls since they are the same since MSC Cruise came in 2014, so we are so tired of the same ones already. They are more ports like Puerto Plata, La Romana, Dominican Republic, More of Aruba, Curacao, etc. Also the entertainment actives are great. Thank God they are having more latin DJs. The most beatiful thing are the shoes, The Broadways styles shows, they are amazing. The Welcome back to the ship in some of the ports are so great! Read Less

Have cruised carnival, royal, princess and others mostly larger boats like meraviglia. Cost was higher than most but we expected a matching experience. We booked this boat specifically because of the ports of call in the Baltic (vs typical Caribbean destinations we have done 7 times). Bad service from the beginning. Employees look and act mostly clueless. You have to get irate to get a manager. Cabin is ridiculously small. We had 2 cabins for 3 people, the room was basically big enough for 2 with a wardrobe for 1 (on royal everybody gets their own wardrobe). There was NO space for luggage so it had to be left in the middle of the floor and you had to crawl over. I happen to look into a 4 person cabin and it was identical to the 3 but the couch has a bunk attached to it (royals and carnivals cabins are actually built for the number of passengers). No outlets near bed, you, cabin service was sporadic and steward was not friendly (our kids have literally taken pics with stewards on some boats they were so friendly). Also, dont expect wash cloths. Buffet, to put it mildly was a non stop chaotic mess. Food quality was poor and food choices were abysmal. I could go on for paragraphs, but buffet was indescribably bad. Dinner was okay, our table staff was the best experience we had. We got lucky there, many reviews talk about how bad it was. It was a shock that no dinner night offered a steak or lobster option (it was an upgrade), every other cruise we've been on always had one night with steak and lobster. Drink packages were ridiculously complicated and hard to use ( yes, they were also costly so we made sure to use them :-) so cost per drink wasnt bad). But, be aware, if you want a drink package, you are requires to buy a comparable package for everybody in your cabin. Wait, what if one is a child and one doesn't drink. Well, deal with it cause you're buying package for all. But dont worry about it, if your kids want ice cream, the only way to get it is a drink package (or you pay per scoop)- again royal and carnival have unlimited ice cream for kids. Btw, we found out after day 3 we weren't supposed to be able to use the drink package in the british pub, its considered a specialty restaurant and thus doesn't accept the drink package. Luckily the wait staff in the pub was enjoyable and never registered the drinks. Amenities: on the oasis of the seas (royal), which is comparable in size, you never felt crowded. On msc, you felt absolutely crowded everywhere you went. Elevators were claustrophobic, tiny pools and pool decks, sports area is cramped, gym incredibly small for this many people. Also, soooooo much of the amenities are add ons. Dont expect to bowl, f1 race, vr expeirence, there are 3 board games that are actually composites of like 6 different versions of each game across multiple languages...good luck. Also, dont expect towel service on the pool deck, only blankets. You have to bring pool towels from your cabin. There are at least 20 other situations like this involving stupid or uncommuncated policies, long lines, poor service personnel and bad food. I did send a detailed letter to MSC and have received no feedback. Funny thing, we spoke to several other families (who we didn't know) and they had similar experiences. But I will say the ports of call were amazing. Read Less

This cruise was chosen for its itinerary. The ship is a fancy barge where you pay extra for anything you may need. We were expected to pay for a glass of tap water in the formal restaurant. They do not provided any facial tissues in the balcony stateroom. They allow open smoking in several areas inside the ship which permeayes the showroom and other bars! There are over 21 points for improvement with this cruise company. The entertainment us cheap, appears unrehearsed and karaoke like most nights. Embarkmemt required showing proof you were a real person I've 3 times and queuING each time. If you are a first timer cruiser this cruise may be good for you as you would not know how low a standard MSC is. Of course you may like to pay to have open dining but other crise companies have all the above plus more included in their offer Read Less

Where to start: First, we have sailed nineteen times and experienced an array of American AND European cruise products from RCCL, Princess, Costa, P&O, NCL, Holland America etc. The experiences of these diverse products have collectively informed my opinion of our MSC experience. MSC is NOT for the American market share rather, this European line is clearly after the sustainability of the European market share. American products by and large, do not charge a consistently high price for the cruise and then, charge clients for water while on board. Yes... MSC does this. Not even Costa does this. We paid over 3k for our cruise (similar and consistent to what we have paid for with other products like RCCL, Costa, Princess etc.) but while on board the MSC product we were charged for water.... we were amazed, perplexed and terribly disappointed. Its also important to note -what MSC USA sold us was not what we experienced onboard. When we pointed out the discrepancies on board we were told to take it up with MSC USA when we got home. We did, they did nothing to satisfy or settle our issue. We purchased the Fantastica experience, were told drink packages were included - then they somehow were not included. When we argued they were - we were told we had to buy a drink package which we did for our two children (non alcoholic package) and 1 adult alcoholic package. Only to get on board and be told we shouldn't have done that in fact it was included in our package and when we asked to have the initial prepaid packages we purchased refunded they said - sorry it wasn't included... The only thing which we felt was consistent was the inconsistency between what was sold and what we expected to what we actually experienced onboard. Other things we felt were important to note. The excursions - expensive but of little to no substance; again, representing to us an imbalance between what we paid for and what we actually experienced. We purchased several excursions through MSC - and quickly spent MORE TIME transiting to the excursions than we actually did enjoying the place we were visiting. This happend to us in both Arles France and Portofino. In Arles, we spent 3 hours on a bus to experience the town for only an hour. While in Portofino, same things - we paid a fortune to go to Portofino and spent three hours transiting there only to spend an hour IN Portofino... Very little value for money. Similarly, MSC twice docked at a port which they charged a fee to go from the Port facility to the town.... We were left shaking our heads and again, having the experience of other lines, this was an anomaly we felt was important to note for others who are considering this line. The ship itself was clean, comparatively clean to other lines and with cabins which were much larger than the typical stateroom found on other lines. That was about the only two bonuses on this line. Our experience of the ship was in one word -- exhausting. Terribly overcrowded and with clearly overwhelmed staff who continually treated us with discourtesy and disregard. The staff appeared as exhausted of the overcrowded conditions as we were. This was consistent from the bar staff to the dinning staff -- totally overwhelmed and continually discourteous and seemed exhausted..... The common centers on the ship were jammed daily elbow to elbow with people and loud music - wasn't a quiet spot on the ship to be found... ever. The smoking is an experience not commonly found with American products, on European lines - smoking is everywhere and something we found terribly intrusive and distasteful. Imagine placing the ONLY soft serve ice cream station for kids on the ship in the smoking section of the ship... kids actually have to endure cigarette smoke while waiting for their ice cream (which was eventually closed down due to being broken). This careless disregard for children - alone, made us not want to return to this product... ever. We have sailed many ships (19 cruises to date) and several of those other European products. First time we were ever on a ship and product we couldn't wait to leave... first time. The cost of this product comparatively is similar to other lines - RCCL, Princess Holland America - but what you get for your money is wholly inconsistent and as a result, we could not in good conscience recommend this product, especially for families. While MSC is trying desperately to break into the American marketshare, we believe this is going to be extremely difficult as people with experiences such as ours, share our impressions with others. This was an honest and unbiased account of our experience. We hope it is taken seriously so the product may be improved for others going forward. For us, we will not use or recommend this product in the future. Read Less

We loved the msc seaside! We had a fantastica balcony and enjoyed the size and location of it. The food was good and we never went hungry. Trivia was lots of fun. We don’t drink and didn’t have a drink package. It was exactly the kind of vacation we planned on having. Embarkation was legit the best we’ve ever had. We thought our Disney cruise was decent for embarkation, but now compared to msc Disney needs to step it up. The entertainment was good. We loved most of the shows. We weren’t huge into the musicals but the acrobatics was jaw dropping amazing. We would easily go back on the seaside again. The ship was gorgeous and never once felt crowded. Even the port we had to tender in it wasn’t crowded. Our kids loved the kids clubs and miss them so much. Wish we woulda booked a 14 day cruise. Read Less

We did a Baltic Capitals Cruise on the MSC Meraviglia with our 24 months old. The experience was amazing for the three of us. The ship is decorated with taste - in fact it was the most beautiful ship we’ve been on. The buffet food is amazing: lots of tasty options all day long and the best pizza at sea! The evening seated dinner is also great - although there is a limited option to choose from. Nice staff, clean spaces, enough things to do on board. There’s a baby care program for under 3s but we didn’t use it, although we made use of the baby room which had plenty of toys and was really clean. The only thing we didn’t like was that they had the TV on all the time - and even when we were in the baby room alone they couldn’t turn it off - we went to the baby room to play, if I wanted my son to watch TV I would stay in our room. Read Less

I have only been on one other cruise, that was Carnival, so that is the only comparison I have. First, the good thing... The entertainment was great. The people in the show do a wonderful job. Most of the staff are nice enough. The ship is clean and beautiful. There are many nice pools and hot tubs, so they were not crowded (yet they close them all down early which is irritating). The bed was comfortable and the room quiet. The food in the buffet was just okay (deserts were good), better than Carnival, but the food in the dining room was much worse than carnival. And now I move on to the bad things... Eating in the dining room on Carnival was a great experience we looked forward to every night, but on MSC it felt like a punishment. Usually the food was not good and the waiters also made us feel uncomfortable and unwanted. They do not have "anytime dining" like other ships, you have to pick 6 PM, 8 PM or 10 PM. They kick you out after an hour or so to get ready for the next crowd. They are always rushing around in a hurry yet take forever to bring the food. We waited an hour for our first course one time, then had 15 minutes to eat the rest and get out. It is loud and there is constant banging from the dumbwaiter bringing down food. We asked to be switched to a different time and got a better waiter and location after the switch. I cannot believe they charge you for water in the dining room! Water was free on Carnival. Which is my next complaint, they are constantly after more money. They pester you all the time to buy the drink and food packages. The drink package would have cost $700 for the two of us ($40 a day). If you're drinking $700 in alcohol in one week you have a problem. We spent $80 on drinks, that's it. The food package would have cost around $260 for 3 meals for the two of us. That's seems high for mediocre food. The worst experience by far were the excursions! DO NOT book a tour. Have them bus you and walk around on your own. The tour company they use in Italy is a nightmare! We were not given all the things promised in Pisa and Rome. In Rome they lost an elderly man and left him there. Don't know if he ever made it back to the ship. I did not listen to the tour guides speak, they are hard to understand. Our English speaking guide hardly said anything anyway. The guides have deals with shops to take you there so you will buy things, like the "Pearl Factory" they said we needed a ticket to get into. It was a jewelry store! Nothing more, and it is free to go in. They wasted my time with this stuff. I felt very ripped off over the excursions. The internet was poor, and we had a router right outside our room. The zip-line cost $12 a person and is boring. It should be free! The constant up-selling is just a nightmare. We have decided not to go on MSC again because of these issues. Read Less

I Chose this boat because of all the ports it went to. First of all they give you like a 6 hr window for each island, but I said let me just go for it anyways. Embarking was smooth and pretty easy but to disembark it was a hassle. First of all the ship got to Miami like at 7am which everyone typically is sleeping or just waking up and all you hear is the loud speaker already telling you the process of leaving the boat and what color tags goes first ( I would have liked to wake up to a nice announcement of the typically thank you for choosing us and blah blah) but they basically are rushing you out. The boat on some floor smells like a wet rag like moldy.. My bathroom smelled like sewer or maybe the pikes were old. Overall the cabin was okay and my housekeeper was "GREAT". The food SUCKED, Your best bet was the pizza, hamburger, and hot dogs on the ship. I had the basic beverage package which included some alcoholic bevs but not all the ones I wanted to so I upgraded and they charged me a extra 15% service fee for it apart from the service fee that they charge at the end of your stay. For the drinks I had to say please put enough alcohol in it because u can tell the alcohol was watered down or idk but it just tasted like juice to me (I am not a heavy drinker) but everyone who came with me on the cruise said the same thing. Without exaggerating maybe 80% of the staff was pretty rude or maybe they just didn't like working there. A good handful of the staff that stood out just because they were so attentive and nice. (Deck 11 by the pool, Deck 5 the Bacardi bar, some of the waiters in the "Marco polo") On Sunday morning the crew members had a fire drill exercise and ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL of the announcements were made in the passengers cabins which was VERYYYYYYYYYYYYY annoying. I could keep going on about complaints but I think I've pretty much covered all the things that bothered me the most. Hope this is helpful for people who are considering Armonia. Read Less

MSC- Money Sucking Cruise When my friends invited me on a 8 night 7 day cruise (this being my first time ever going,) I was highly estatic and filled with excitement at the possibilities of seeing sights and enjoying myself on a beautiful ship. First off, some background info is due. I am a military vet and I also have around ten years of experience of clientel, service, sales, and management. From our first step on the boat my party was offered dinning and drinking packages, understandable it being the first day (we all received a basic drinkers package and 3gbs of wifi with our itinerary,) but the sales NEVER STOPPED. When I say never, they were trying to sell us packages on our last day while we were eating dinner! Putting salesmanship behind me, my party was very much looking forward to night swimming and enjoying ourselves when all the kids were in bed. Negative. MSC closes their pools 6pm regardless if the sun is still up. Don't ask me why or how, but if they are lacking night time lifeguards they can sure use those salesmen offering us stupid packages! Which brings me to my next point: if you want to be served at the bar, expect those "free" 14 alcoholic drinks (which are limited basically to gin and coke, mosquitos, and long islands ONLY,) expect them to come in little fake plastic glass cups, be warm and roughly 30 minutes late. Don't like the drink? My friend MSC has your back! Go to another bar and it'll be served completely different and also in a different sized cup. First stop, the wonderful and beautiful streets of Pureto-Rico. We landed roughly around 6:30 and we were due back around 12 am...guess we are drinking again tonight fellas because everything else was closed! The majority of the food? Required reservations ahead of time (if you do find yourselves in the happy lands of heat and music, please order a Mofongo from your boy, thank me later). Our first day at sea in my opinion was a wonderful experience...thats only if you enjoy pools (that close at six mind you!) and sun. The waters were warm and I believe from the ocean since they were salty (I prefer cold water to refresh me when I swim personally,) and we found ourselves multiple times searching for a spot to sit and raise a flag for it was crowded. Beware of the main pool on deck 16! Looks like a giant pool but half of it is ankle deep? What?! When the sun became bothersome I found myself in the wonderful MSC casino..if you are a gambler like me, I hope you enjoy one blackjack table and one table of 3 card poker against dealer...besides that there are slots... enjoy! Oh and no smoking unless you enjoy facing the corner wall!!! Our other stops (St. Thomas, Bahamas, Virgin Isles,) I highly recommend you walk off port and find your own "extersion" we hired a driver for 20 dollars a person and received a 3 hour tour of one of the isles and it was wonderful. In comparison I paid 89 dollars to touch a sting Ray for five minutes then sat on the beach on one of the Bahamas islands...you do the math. Now we get to some juice, put on your reading glasses folks (if you haven't already, sorry for the long review!) because here is where it gets good in the third act. You. Will. Be. Charged. 87 dollars and 50 cents for room service. Even if you don't use them / call them / need them (like my party,) not in the paperwork you say? Say no more! Step on board and welcome to MSC! May I offer you one of our wonderful and expensive food packages while you are enjoying your dinner with your family? Please note, all of the above was told to 3 staff members and one manager who ended our conversation with "If you have any problems call customer service" and literally ran away to hide from me without wishing me a good day or sorry for my troubles (I spoke sival, lucid, and clear where the manager clearly didn't speak English.... properly.) Money Sucking Cruise gets one fat star for the beauty, the music at the nightlife (after 11pm the Disco room behind the arcade that is NEVER used is the place to be (25 dollars for 30 minutes of bowling what?!)) and they also get one star for a wonderful server and waitress who provided 5 star performance at dinner (buffett only had hot dogs and burgers from 11-5pm what?!) before their manager told them to stop socializing with us (which we resented him for) So please don't choose MSC...please don't... Read Less

Please do not waste your money, you will be very disappointed. The cruise ship itself is beautiful, but they are constantly charging extra for even the smallest things (Zipline, Gelato ice cream, a decent meal, etc) Our balcony cabin was very small and we had no hot water in the tiny shower. Asked for it to be fixed, it never was. Housekeeping was terrible. We were having to ask every day for fresh towels, and they do not provide bar soap.. only a terrible body wash. At the bar we waitied sometimes 45 min to get a drink. They are very under Staffed. The buffet food was disgusting, and they had no variety. If you wanted a decent mal you had to pay a fortune to go to the speciality restaraunts, and even if you bought the "dining Experience" package, you were left with 2-3 choices, and no opportunity to upgrade the meal unless you wanted to fork over another couple hundred dollars. Poolside on the 7th floor they refused to play any fun music they played elevator music, when I asked for more festive music and to turn up the volume a lttle, I was ignored. I left the ship in tears after saving for this "luxury Cruise" you are better off to book Carnival! The food is better and the ships are well staffed. I had planned on booking the MSC to Italy next year for my husbands birthday, but I now will NEVER Cruise with MSC again. Horrible experience Read Less

I was offered a deal for this trip which included alcohol and some beverages. The price was not to bad. With that said, here are the bullet points. I will list the bad first so we can end this on a good note for MSC. I had heard that getting on and off the ship was quite difficult. We didn't have to much trouble except they had two men double booked into our room with my fiancé and I. They didn't take them off but just said not to worry about it. We kept seeing their names of everything we did for about 3 days and then were removed from the list. At most ports they only had one person doing disembarkations even when there were 3 stations. We did see them use 3 people twice and when we left the ship on the last day. The first thing that happened which was not the way to set the mood was that I went to the bar and asked for a glass of prosecco or champagne (our drink package included all beer and wine and bottom shelf cocktails up to $6) and was told quite rudely that it wasn't included in my package. After paying for a glass I went to a different bar and was told the same thing. At dinner they brought the wine list and there was champagne for $6. I asked and the waiter said, of course its included, with a very nice smile. This continued for the next few days with one bartender saying yet and one saying no. At the CC cocktail event I asked to speak to the bar manager. A not so very pleasant individual who said there must be a lack of understanding and communication and walked away. Not sure if he said anything to the staff but I didn't have that problem again. The room was clean and well furnished but with only a chair in the room and two small draws like sock draws there was no place to put our clothes. We had to live out of our luggage for 8 days which we had to put on the chair and the two small nightstands we had to bring around for that purpose. Food, While I wasn't impressed with the food it wasn't terrible. Not what I would expect from a European cruise line, especially the Italian items. The tiramisu was nothing but sponge cake with not lady finger to be found. The chicken parm, I don't even know what to say about that. We left dinner without eating and went to the buffet, on ITALIAN NIGHT, on an Italian cruise line!! I am posting some pictures to show some of these things as well. WE did pay for the upgrade to two dinners. What is called the duo. We chose the steak restaurant and the Asian restaurant. We didn't really see anything on the menu that came in the package but was told that if we want to upgrade we would only pay half of the listed price, remember, on top of what we paid which was about $35 a person per meal. We upgraded to a tomahawk steak for two and two main lobster tails (see picture of tails and menu). these were not Maine lobsters but warm water tails. The steak was cooked almost to perfection but wasn't seasoned to much. Kind of bland. The tails ( we ordered 2) were quite small. When the bill came they had charged us full price for the tails and half price for the steak. They said that only one item would be reduced, of course. The bill was about $159 plus what we paid already and we were about $230. Little steep in my book Entertainment reviews were not very good. Complaining that there was a lot of opera. Not on this cruise. Entertainment wasn't bad. Not a big as other lines I've been on but ok. Its not a very big theatre so not very big shows. Mostly circus type theatre. Acrobatics on the stage with singing. I do not understand why they put a platform in the middle of the pool deck. I see the big H (helicopter) on it so it may have been required by law but to cut your pool deck by more than half was a mistake. It was very hard to find a lounge chair and if you went up to the other levels they allow smoking, including cigar smoking. We had to move quite a few times. The itinerary for the ports was done poorly. We got to Puerto Rico at 5 PM and left at 11:30pm. Not much you can do or see at night. St. Thomas was full day and our best port. St. Marteen was another half day from 11:30-5:30. Nassau was also a half day. Maybe loose a port and stay longer. For the first 4-5 days there are people trying to sell you upgrades to both dinners and drinks. It was a little much after the first day. With all that negativity here are some pluses. Our cabin steward was awesome. Always there and if we had a request he was right on it. The ship was clean and neat, if not laid out to get from one end to the other without changing floors. The food in the buffet was decent, not great, but not bad. At the Cruise Critic cocktail event the captain honestly told us the reason for the cocktails and cake was so we would all write wonderful reviews. I'm glad for his honesty but that's a little much. Read Less

This was our 5th cruise but our first MSC. We chose this cruise because it was a new ship and had many activities for our 2 boys (11&13). But did not know that there was an extra cost for zip lining, bowling or arcade room! We had the Aurea pkg, which was a higher end pkg that they do not provide any longer so there was a lot of confusion on board. From the moment we stepped onto the ship we encountered small issues but were annoying. Staff was very pushy as we took our first steps on board in regards to specialty dining and drink pkgs! and continued through out the week. Ship was very understaffed, private functions constantly held at the sports bar and we could not enter. sports bar only had 4 draft beer out of a list of 17!!! Some staff were rude, if you spoke Spanish or were European you were treated and served quickly. Ship was very crowded, poor service at bars. My boys were turned away at captains dinner night because they were not in long pants(nice dress shorts and button up dress shirt) we later found out people were at dinner wearing shorts and jeans! My boys were last ones served at bar for ordering pop because they were kids, only served quickly when I was present. We were on 14th floor with balcony, nice room but very small bathroom especially shower. Entertainment was a mishmash of dancing, singing and acrobatics...no real theme. Michael Jackson night was better. We witnessed someone in a scooter be denied access off ship because too difficult to visit Island....so wrong! as well they have no priority disembarkation protocol for wheel chairs, people just pushed forward to get off. Thermal spa was fantastic. Embarkation & disembarkation was quick only because we had priority in both. MSC you are a beautiful ship but boy do you have a lot of learning to do!!! we have decided to take a break from cruising and once we return it will Be ROYAL CARRIBEAN. Read Less

Myself , My Partner & My Parents Done a Back to Back 8 day cruise on 22nd April 2018. We arrived at Southampton and joined the ship very easily our rooms where ready and all our details where checked very well. We had a easy Drinks package and was surprised of the lack of choice on this package included however I did include the drink my partner mainly drank that was until half way through the cruise and they changed what we where allowed so our drinks package was a waste of time after this Food was always cold in the buffet restaurant no matter where time we actually went to eat, we changed our eating time over the cruise but this didn’t matter , at the al la carte restaurant the menu was limited and portions very small Entertainment was not the Best compared to other cruises it was very amateur and some of the show themes just didn’t make any sense. The only think that made this cruise enjoyable was the staff , they are one of the best we have experienced and they can’t do enough for you, always smiling and asking are we ok and telling us to enjoy our day, Read Less

This was our second voyage on the seaside within the last year. MSC Cruise lines was kind enough to give us discount credits since we were on the divina during hurricane Irma. I didn't care where the ship was going, I live in South Florida and Hawaii so I get my full share of palm trees! The seaside is an absolutely beautiful ship and very very well kept. The staff has come to understanding how to work on that ship and things flow very nicely. The drink packages and Internet packages that are offered by the cruise line are hard to beat. Even the easy drink package which doesn't give you top shelf liquor will do the job and get you all the soda, quality coffees, and sparkling water that you want. The best part of the cruise for my wife and I were at the dance classes and activities. Every morning on sea days there was an aerobics class and several dance classes available all the way into the evening hours. Also a highlight are the production shows. They are not your typical production show song and dance popular songs. They are elaborately costumed events involving singing dancing music and circus. I would say it is similar to a Cirque du Soleil with a different theme every night. And there is the Opera, it is shown in the afternoon during a sea day so if you're one of those that wants to oil yourself up and be shoulder-to-shoulder with a thousand other people on the pool deck you are more than welcome. However if you want something totally different that is extremely emotional and beautiful, go to see the Opera. The only thing that was disappointing throughout the entire cruise was the dining experience. The marketplace buffet is absolutely boring. It reminded me of my days in the Navy seeing hamburgers hot dogs and Pizza with overcooked meats every day over and over. There was always a mystery white fish available and some sort of sauce but it was always hard as a rock and tasting just like one also. The experience in the restaurants was a bit better. The foods were served up timely and presentation was very nice, however there was nothing ever really exciting about it. There was never that food item that said "I want to try that"! All in all it was adequate and it was put together pretty well, but it was not really a memorable experience. Overall for the price point it is very difficult to beat the MSC experience. I would only hope that they would liven up the food venues a little bit more so that it isn't so boring. Read Less

One reason I choose to Cruise was to have fun and try out new experiences, how is it like to be in a titanic a 5 star moving hotel. The first time you enter the ship the ship smells 5 star and looks 5 star all the way, the decorations inside are amazing you even forget That you are inside a ship. The embarkation que is horrible, you can't wait for a while before entering the ship, and didn't like the fact that they only open few service desk during embarkation. The stuff members are super great and friendly especially the man responsible for our deck 8, even when most of them didn't know how to communicate in English but they tried. MSC is one hygienic cruise hotel I ever seen, every corner you turn there is sanitation thats what I loved. The food is super Healthy and they don't compromise on taste, everything I ate I could taste that it's quality food. The dinning areas I loved them because you get the opportunity to dress up and be fine and finned, only problem is you have to buy soft drinks all the time, I don't mind them selling alcohols wish they could have gave us maybe complimentary soft drink for every fine dinning meal or 5 drinks per Cruz then the rest you purchase. I loved Eric the voice from above the program director all his shows were fun and entertaining. The parties organized by stuff were super great problem they only last for an hour. Deck 13 buffet area was home to most cruises and would like to give blow to the stuff there at deck 13 because they are forever working, especially the pizza guy 24 hours pizza. Our cabin was in front so every wave the ship cut through we felt it, and you couldnt stand straight which resulted in sea sickness, so would advice you to book balcony center cabin. The excursions on the island were expensive hence did not do them. I hated the fact that we did not go to Pomene Island and they could not take us to a different island like Maputo instead of Portuguese Island which had nothing to see the second day and the waters were unclean to swim at them. Pomene has been giving them a problem why don't they start looking for an alternative to island or take it out on your markets because when I booked I saw two island and wanted to visit two not one island. The disembarking program failed them a bit, stuff was not properly assigned to guide people were they should go,whuch made things to go slower. The photo package is expensive and it would be nice if the price could go down or be included as our take home package because we got nothing as complementary everything you have to buy. Despite all the negatives would still go and advice people to go is an experience you don't want to miss. Read Less

It was our first cruise experience and we enjoyed it through out. We did not have enough time to even look all parts of the ship. Its huge. They have lots of entertainments to keep us busy. Rooms are very neat and compact, cleaning service is 100% perfect. Issues are resolved soon. Only suggestion is to have some difference in break fast, every day it was same menu repeated. We did easy on board, highly recommended, you dont have to wait for long. I would even prefer easy off boarding during disembarkation. Go earlier for breakfast, otherwise it is going to be crowded. We did not have chances to enjoy the lunch, we were busy with various other activities. You will have other food always like pizza, bread, salads etc. Food is not only provided at buffet area, there are other restaurants supply the same food during breakfast and lunch. Dining alone food menu is different between restaurant and buffet area. For fine dining, they say strict, but its actually not that strict, I have seen people dining in shorts. Read Less

We enjoyed the places of Port the cruise took, our cabin had a balcony and it was a very nice room, the food was poor and so was the service very unfriendly staff, made the ship experience very unpleasant. Having been on other cruise lines this was the worst experience as it is the service that plays a huge part of the cruising experience. Other than the places of Port i wouldn't taken this line. The only staff members that was pleasant were the cruise director Petra, she is wonderfully talented and the guest entertainer with the magic show was good. Service needs serious improvement especially guest relations they were quick to answer without hearing our questions. On board entertainment was very poor. My partner and i requested a board game and most of the pieces were missing. There is not much to do on a sea day onboard. We had someone do a lecture on upcoming ports it was honestly pathetic!! She showed us pictures and knew nothing about any port, most guests walked out while she spoke, the master chef quiz after her was very nice. Read Less

Organization was chaotic, service generally poor! Staff gave misinformation all the time, on one occasion, because of desinformation, we had to go theough multiple queues and run around the ship for 90 mins to rent a stroller! The opening hours of the kids club were nonsense and hectic, not plannable! Weird that parents did not have access and insight to the room where we were supposed to leave our kids. Also it was seriously understaffed, there was mayhem and queing all the time. Consequently staff was overwhealmed and RUDE, exacerbated by poor English skills. The ship is nice but totally not child friedly. The buffet restaurants were way too crowded, understaffed and running under capacity, resulting in extremely bad dining experience. Food in the restaurants was variable quality, so not impressed at all. Wines we ordered were repeatedly and constantly out of stock. Bars were understaffed hence service was extremely slow and cumbersome. Despite we had Aurea and all incusive, we ran around thirsty all the time because of the slow service (had to wait up to 30 mins for a coffee etc) Our whole family was very disappointed and we definitely don't plan to come back to any of the MSC ships. Read Less