r/MSCCruises

It honestly boggles my mind how bad of a rap MSC seems to get, especially with American cruisers. It's the same comments all the time: the food is bad, or the staff doesn't treat them well.

I truly wonder if we're sailing on the same ships and cruise line as some of these people. I suppose maybe different strokes for different folks, but I love the food on MSC. The buffet is my favorite at sea by far and I've cruised on Royal and NCL prior to MSC. The speciality dining is also phenomenal. Hola and Teppanyaki are always two that I really look forward to on my MSC cruises.

Does anyone else get frustrated by MSC constantly getting put down? Or maybe it'll help keep their affordable prices down. It just seems wild to me.

This advice is good in general, but more specific to the Sea class YC Interiors on deck 16. TL;DR: it’s in the title.

I made the mistake not searching my cabin before I booked. I always book my own cabin and boy, I really screwed up. Just retuned from my cruise on the Seashore- interior YC cabin 16019. I saw the warnings after I booked and tried to prepare as much as possible - ear plugs, zen music, changing my bedtime, etc.

Cabins were limited for upgrades and the price increased 3,200 for a balcony. We had every intention on bidding up but the minimum bid was $2,010. It didn’t seem worth the cost until the second night. I was willing to pay anything to get out of that cabin. YC was sold out before we embarked so not a chance. Heck, I would have taken a standard inside most anywhere on the ship just to get some rest, but we never complained to anyone. We’re seasoned cruisers and go with the flow - lesson learned. However, I believe this room (or any cabin like it) should come with a disclaimer and slight discount for your trouble (the noise is that bad, but no cruise line will ever do this.)

If you’re a heavy drinker and pass out every night on a cruise, you’ll be fine. Anyone else, DO NOT BOOK THIS CABIN! The noise during the day and early evening is not that annoying, but around midnight things get interesting. 16019 is directly below the galley, particularly the dishwashers. You get about three hours of quiet, midnight to about 3 am, maybe earlier, maybe later. Dishwashers start bright and early and the noise is constant until midnight. Side note: The annual sanitation inspection was scheduled on our debarkation day so the noise never stopped. Deep cleaning all night and morning until we left the room. It’s exhausting and the ear plugs didn’t help as much as I hoped. Just beware of the cabins on the seaside class. Still had a fabulous time on the Seashore!

I checked in for our cruise on the 31st May ages ago but still can’t access my boarding pass. How soon is it usually available?

Was bidding through the Bid Upgrade programme for an Aurea level suite when MSC counter offered with a Yacht Club Deluxe Suite for £1,200 - went for it and got accepted!

Looking at what we get extra, premium drinks extra package alone, is crazy for this price?!

Ended up with same overall price on World America Yacht Club as our trip cost last year on a standard balcony cabin on Star of the Seas, crazy!

Really looking forward to it now!

Does MSC not add gratuity on the front end? I have cruised with Royal and Princess, and on both lines you can prepay your gratuity. Is this not an option on MSC?

Went on my first MSC cruise (Seashore) and I had no idea that every single show was just singing/dancing. I wasn't expecting it to be like Royal, but where was the variety?

Is it like that on every MSC ship, even the World America?

Hello,

I don't want to pay for the exorbitantly priced Wi-Fi on MSC ships, and I was wondering if the televisions in the cabins are connected to the internet via Ethernet cable.

Thank you!

I just tried a short MSC cruise from the UK and it was great. Food great, entertainment amazing, ship was beautiful (but a bit crowded but this is to be expected from a mini cruise) and service was generally good.

I am also half Italian and love authentic Italian food (not the fake American version of Italian food) so not sure if that helped. I found the food to be really authentic Italian.

My boyfriend and I just disembarked from the MSC Seascape out of Galveston (April 26-May 3). His first cruise, my fourth, but first time as an adult. I wanted to do a post here and answer questions that I looked for but didn’t find.

We did the Western Caribbean route, ports of call being Costa Maya, Roatan and Cozumel.

Quick notes: We’re from Canada, so the USD to CAD conversion made everything more expensive on our end. We paid $420 CAD (310 USD) pp, Bella experience, inside cabin, no upgrade prior to the ship leaving. We *did not* purchase the drink package since the cheapest I saw it go was $484 CAD (350 USD) pp, and decided to go à la carte for drinks since we didn’t want to be drunk and didn’t want to pay more for drinks than the actual entire cruise cost.

*IN GENERAL*: Was very impressed by the service. The customer service was astounding. Staff was happy to see you, greeted you, something was constantly being cleaned or mopped or swept, especially in the buffet. They were on top of things. The ship felt very clean and cared for.

The food was okay. The buffet got a bit boring by the end, but it certainly wasn’t inedible. Dinner meals were good too, always an option and also themed nights (Italian, french, caribbean) so they kept it fresh most nights. The buffet itself was confusing and weirdly laid out, could make for an overwhelming experience trying to find things. The cups they use as well are tiny; bring a refillable waterbottle if you want actual adult portions of beverages.

*PORTS OF CALL*: Costa Maya is indeed a dump. I was reading reviews before going “Damn, people are so negative. It can’t be that bad.” Um, it was. Get off and see for yourself, i guess, but i’d recommend just booking an excursion so you at least have something to do. We went to the Krazy Lobster and it was okay but the beach was kinda yucky and we felt upcharged for everything. Maybe in a few years when it’s developed a bit more it’ll be worth another visit. We felt very hustled as well by shopkeepers etc.

Roatan was beautiful. We booked a whole excursion and had the time of our lives horseback riding, snorkelling, and seeing monkeys. Bring a lot of $1’s and $5’s for tips. I wish we could have tipped more. If you don’t believe in tipping in general stay on the boat; all folks in these ports need tips to live and it made me sad to see groups of 8+ people giving the guide $3 for all of them. Like come on….not the time or place to be cheap. If you can afford the cruise you can afford an extra $20-30 for tips throughout the day

Cozumel was okay, been 3x and we went to a beach club. $80 USD but $40 of that went to drinks, so we enjoyed it. Plus $40 total for the cabs there and back, so like $120 USD. Not much else to say other than the port is obviously the most developed and super vibrant.

*EXTRAS*: Stage shows were entertaining, mostly jukebox musicals of pop/rock/movie songs. Just average but fun. Trivia nights and karaoke were hosted by awesome staff (Success and Mars were their names, great dudes). We had the most fun at those.

Didn’t pay for any extras just the odd beers. No extra dining experiences but they looked decent! Cocktails were 50% off in some of the lounges between 7-9PM so we saved a ton of money there, so nice. All the lounges and bar staff were especially fantastic in all the areas

That’s all I can think of for now. Definitely great value for a cheap fun vacation. Saved a lot more than we would have going to an all inclusive!

We are looking at flights to go back home after our cruise on August 8th. We always disembark ourselves, and have usually been off the boats we’ve been on at around 8-8:30am. However we’ve never been on WA and also aren’t familiar with Miami. Only sailed out of Port Canaveral and NYC.

If we have a flight for 1:40pm out of FLL (Fort Lauderdale airport), would that be enough time for us to get there and clear customs (going back to Canada)? I feel the answer to this is yes, but just want some input from people who have been there to be sure.

Hi I’m travelling on Euribia in January on a round trip from Barcelona. This will be my first ever fly cruise and plan to do express disembarkation to save time. My flight is at 13:30 hours and the ship is due to arrive at 08:00 hours. How far is the airport from the cruise terminal and will this be enough time? After seeing the news of the recent queues for the new automated passport controls I’m hoping I’ve given myself enough time.

Anyone going on the world America out of port Canaveral this summer. Ive never been on this ship and had some questions about the speak easy bar. How to get in or get this coin they talk about.

My family and I just booked the Aurea experience on the World America in August! We are all adults (21+), and are really looking forward to this trip!

What were / are your favourite things on the World America? What should we make sure to check out?

We’re also doing the itinerary that goes to Honduras, Costa Maya and Cozumel. We’ve been to Costa Maya and Cozumel before, but I’m still interested to hear what your favourite things were there if you’ve been, and if there’s something you thought would’ve been better than it was.

I’m wondering if any Diamond members have received an automatic cabin upgrade in YC, based on availability? For example, booked a YC interior and upgraded to a YC deluxe or grand balcony.

I will soon be travelling in an Aurea Suite on MSC Sinfonia and I still have a few questions:

Is there a separate restaurant on board exclusively for Aurea guests?

Is cabin cleaning provided twice a day?

Is access to the exclusive Top Sun Deck monitored, or could anyone simply claim to be an Aurea guest?

How does priority boarding in Bari work, and how does priority tendering work?

Two weeks ago when I got the notice gratuities were going up, I called to prepay my next two booked MSC Cruises. One of those is my first Yacht Club cruise, in an interior room. When they charged me gratuities for that cruise, it was the $16 per day, per guest, price (non Yacht Club rate). I questioned that knowing it should be $20 per day, but was told that's their only option in their system, so I let it go.

I just called again today because I don't want to be charged extra when I actually go on this cruise. I told the MSC guest service person that I was charged the $16 price and again I was told that is the only option they are seeing in their system for me to pay for this cruise. They even confirmed it shows on their end that I'm in the Yacht Club.

I mean, if it's a mistake on their end, it saves me a little bit of money, yay. But I don't want to end up going on this cruise thinking I'm good to go and they charge me the new price for gratuities ($23 per day) because I only paid the non-Yacht Club gratuities.

Suggestions? What to do/how to handle? Gratuities go up in two days.

EDITED TO ADD: I guess I'm confused. I thought this would be a fairly simple question to get some help with. MSC, as of now, is okay with charging me less, and I'm actually trying to pay more. I'm not sure why people have a problem with me trying to pay the current gratuity rate and not just being happy with spending the upcoming increase in gratuity rate. I guess I'm sorry for asking for help on how to resolve this?

Going on the Seascape next month for the first time, are juices and teas free during the day, outside of breakfast and dinner?

Doing a cruise; Cagliari, Rome, Genoa, Marseille, Valencia, and Ibiza.

We got the Aurea package, balcony.

We are doing an MSC excursion in Genoa, not doing anything in Rome. (Doing stuff before the cruise)

Planned on doing things around the ports at other spots.

What should I be aware of, avoid, etc.

Thank you!

Hey all, bit of a long read on our recent 5 day trip on the MSC Virtuosa.

**Ship:**MSC Virtuosa 

Dates and Embarkation: Monday 4th May --> Saturday 9th May.  We stopped down in Southampton from the Saturday and make it a long weekend.  Arriving the day before would have been ample.  Even though the Southampton marathon was on the same weekend, there was plenty of reasonably priced hotel's.  On the Monday, we had the cruise fever and arrived a little earlier than we should have done.  The que to get into the cruise terminal looked pretty big.  That said, it was very well organised.  Dropped off at 11.00 through security, checked in and on board for lunch for 12.10. All in all a very good experience.  The first thing that strikes you when you are getting on board Virtuosa was the sheer size of her.  Apparently we was at 90% capacity when leaving port.

Also this time around, the safety video could be viewed in the MSC app and then you click to confirm we had both watched it.  Last year we had to goto a muster station, then back to our room to watch a video and dial a number.  This was much slicker.

​Cabin Type:  We were located on deck 10 in a fantastica cabin that had a balcony.  Safe to say this cabin was a lot more modern compared to last years journey on Splendida.  In total we had 4 plug sockets, and 4x USB ports.  All ample for charging many devices.  Lot's of storage space, given the time of year, we packed for pretty much every weather type.  Balcony was spacious with two chairs and foot stool.  Our Cabin Manager was attentive and always on hand and ensured our room was cleaned at least once per day.

​What's on Board / Entertainment / Meal's

First things first, the Buffett restaurant located on deck 15.  Huge Kitchens, serving stations Huge choice, lot's of seating even at a busy breakfast time.  Virtuosa had many entertainment venue's on board from Champagne Bar's (Prob spent a bit TOO much time here ;)to a Traditional English Pub with live sport and singers as we'll as everything in between.  The promenade inside was really something special and given the weather, was quite busy but not over busy after dinner.

Last year we tried Butcher's cut and being a bit of BBQ guy all year round, we found that it was nothing special.  We tried Hola Tacos! which I think was around £25.00 per head.  When we arrived at the restaurant they told us it was all you can eat for 2 hours.  The waiter talked us through the menu, asking for our preferred level of spice.  Have to say this was a much better experience.  Good value for money and could not finish the final round 😄. Highly recommended for service and quality.

Restaurant wise we were assigned late dining in the Minuet restaurant.  The staff service and friendliness was 10/10.  Food wise I would prob give this a 7/10.  Still the same well cooked and presented dishes but each night 50% of the dishes were the same e.g. Pan Fried Salmon, Chicken breast with potatoes, Minute steak.  If I remember back to last year, there was more choice.  I know you can have as much or as little off the menu as you want.  More on that later....  We were also offered to upgrade one of our meals to a T Bone or Lobster dinner for £22.00.  I went for the T-Bone, very well cooked 😄

Show's there was the usual 'West End Style' shows.  A Michael Jackson tribute, which was quite good.  Dirty Dancing (90 Minute presentation) completely booked up.  There was also a paid for theatre show including cocktails for £18.00 a head.  Again not bad, glad we tried it.

​The pool area is much bigger and an increased number of jacuzzi's.  Even the out door pools were heated! 

Trips / Excursions

Me and the wife this time around decided that we wanted to do our own thing given that Virtuosa docked so close to each city.  Can only offer experience based off not taking and MSC Excursion

- Rotterdam.  Five minute walk from the terminal and we spent all day in the city.  Lot's to do for everyone if you like going off just to explore a new place at your own pace. We left the ship around 10.00 am after a short wait and returned just before 6.00pm, 15Km later.

- Cherbourg:  A much smaller place than Rotterdam.  Full City walk taking in all the tourist places and lunch, we had licked in about six hour's.  Plenty of time to get back on the boat and enjoy some sun, R & R

- Zeebrugge: Prob the worst of the bunch.  Again a short walk from the boat to the cruise terminal.  That said, Zeebrugge is an industrial port town.  Not a lot to do.  What made that worst was the picturesque beach about two miles away.  Nothing was open, wasted journey.  My advice, book an excursion or stay on the ship and enjoy the facilities.

Staff:  All staff we encountered were courteous, professional and friendly. Nothing was ever too much trouble and you are made to feel like a guest.

Guests: Compared to last year, it was clear that this cruise catered for a British crowd.  There was no announcement done every hour in English, Spanish, German, Italian etc.  Age profile went from first time cruisers in there 20's, young families, hen parties, middle aged couples, pensioners.  Despite the ship being at near capacity, never really had to wait for service.  

SOME Guest's was also a massive downside for me.  Quite a bunch of entitled over bearing self opinionated gammons really do know how to put a damper on things.

- One person complained on the Virtuosa Facebook group that it was a disgrace that their Buttler in Yacht Club forgot to take their breakfast order and would never book with MSC again as a result 

- Lady complained at breakfast that she had to wait for a Fresh Omelette. (Surely the clue is, it's cooked fresh i.e. not already cooked !!!!) 

- An American couple sat next to us on the first evening.  Both decided to order every single dish off the menu twice (One Each) on the basis that the little princess had quite the day and was super hungry.  Promptly took a few bites of each and let it all goto waste.  Just because you CAN order all of it you want, WHY if you are going to waste it.  Boils my p**s that kind thing.

- A British couple ordered the seafood platter at the champagne restaurant on the last night.  £80 dish full of Oysters, Crab, Lobster etc.  On arrival, refused to eat and pay because they said it was too big.  

- An American guy at breakfast  waiting for coffee with earphones on..  The server asking how his day  had started, what his plans were for today.  being quite talkative (as no doubt he has been trained to) and the guest said, 'dude not hear to talk, hurry up with my coffee'

- Lady in the jacuzzi moaned to anyone who would listen that this is her 5th cruise after sailing Royal Caribbean but MSC were not a patch on Royal Caribbean.

Conclusion's

​

All in all no complaint's.  Yes definitely a few pet peeve's like the restaurant menu could have had a little more variety. Could not connect to the bluetooth speaker in our room with any device.  Another pet peeve would be the TV in our room would not allow you to stream from another device or input via HDMI.  On the plus side, service great, value for money great, entertainment great, staff all 8/10.  Our fault that our last day onboard was a bit of a let down, but that's on us for not doing our research.

Once again MSC exceeded our expectations and can recommend this trip.