Recent week on MSC preziosa

Loved it! Happy to answer any questions. Have submitted a review too.

Where's the review located (URL).

It will be on the review tab

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=696

But I'd say it will take 24 hours to be published.

All in all I just loved the ship, the service, everything.

The only thing I found a bit 'wearing" by the end of the week was the noise levels. And I avoided the casino area as it was so smoky.

Loved it! Happy to answer any questions. Have submitted a review too.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Glad you enjoyed it

Would love to hear what you did at each port. Whether on your own or excursion from the ship

Thank you

Hi Sandi

Did our own thing.

Civitavecchiadid laundry at local self service wash n dry haha

Sicily- booked walking food tour http://www.streatpalermo.it/en fantastic highly recommend about $30euro ea

Malta- used hop on hop off bus ($10 euro ea) to go to Blue Grotto and took a boat ($10 euro each)out to it. Then toured Lascaris War Rooms http://www.lascariswarrooms.com/

Valencia- free walking tour https://freetourvalencia.com/en/ (tipped 20euro each) This was after paying about $15 euro each to get transfer out of port.

Marseilles- refused to pay transfer out of port so walked and caught local bus at gate. Took petit train tour.

Adele

Hi Adelen

Thank you for the information

I can't seem to find your review

Me neither! Have no idea why it didn't publish. I'll post it here instead

MSC Preziosa

We loved this cruise. Excellent value for money. We were Fantasicia class.

Our room: 11189, balcony port side.

Spacious, modern, well designed. Comfy beds, large couch, 2 big mirrors, ample space. The bathroom was excellent with great water pressure, lots of storage. Our room attendant Larysa from Ukraine was fabulous and very efficient. Clean towels morning and night. Bed made every morning and turned down every night. Next day’s programme delivered at 9pm.

The food: We didn’t eat in any specialty restaurants just the Golden Lobster and buffet. You are allocated (on your cruise card) either Golden Lobster or L’Arabesque. And a set table where you eat every night. And a set time- either 7pm or 9.30pm. If you decide not to go, and go buffet or specialty instead you just don’t turn up. Doors are shut 15 minutes after the service begins. The menu is limited but the food is fine. I was worried as I’d read reviews the food was inedible. Dishes I enjoyed the most were: King prawns, duck a la orange, Shrimp cocktail, escargot pie, fish served with prawns.

The buffet is HUGE. Normally we are not a fan of buffets but the lunch and breakfast in the a la carte restaurants are essentially buffets anyway but more cramped. So although we ate a la carte every evening, we did most breakfasts and lunches at the buffet. I suggest before you even try to navigate it you wander around a familiarize yourself with the layout. We established a set “area” we’d meet in once retrieving our food. Buffet is not our preferred style of eating but there was nothing to complain about here. So much choice, and a lot of really delicious options. We would grab buffet breakfast on sea days (as we slept in past breakfast in Golden Lobster) and buffet lunch on returning to the ship port days.

The Bars: So so many and yes at times they got busy and you had to wait a while for service, but never too long. We had the Allergrisomo package and it was fantastic value! Great range of about 20 cocktails available free, 2 red and 2 white wines, lots of after dinner drinks (Baileys, Lemoncello etc), water, smoothies, ice creams. They would even let you take a bottle of juice/water/beer unopened back to our room.

The Pools: Wow! 3 pools in different areas meant the crowds are spread but with 4500 passengers it still gets busy. I preferred the infinity pool and if you got there early enough in the morning it was a quiet time. The outside pool was very noisy with lots of loud music. Inside pool with retractable roof was also great, and there must be about 12 spa pools spread around different areas. About 6 in main pool area, 3 at inside pool, and more by the area where you enter the water slide. The only thing was the pools shut at 8pm and I’d probably have had a swim later if they were open. However they did drain the pools and clean every night so I understand that takes time. The water slide was so much fun! I went down it twice and loved it.

Wifi: Bought a very cheap social media package for the cruise. About 20 euro for the whole week. It dropped in and out a lot but worked for what I needed and was good value.

The people: Fabulous mix of people from all around the world. Some cultural differences but that is to be expected if you choose to go in an MSC cruise. Most staff spoke excellent English. Our waiter Irwan was wonderful. Really really excellent.

Organisation: Wonderful, hardly ever had to queue to get off or on at ports. The ship is huge and so well designed. We boarded at Genoa and just walked straight on at 12.15pm. No one waiting! Awesome. We had our cards (on our beds in cabin) and a drink in the first ten minutes. Never had to queue to rejoin the boat after port days. Really efficient streamlined system.

Ports: We got on and off at Genoa on a Saturday for a 7 day loop. People can get on/off at any of the stops on this cruise.

Civitacechia: Free shuttle to centre of town. Easy to wander around. Most people did tours to Rome but we just did our washing in a self service Laundromat in Civitacechia!

Sicily: A busy town. We walked to the centre and met a pre-booked (non-ship) StrEAT eats walking tour at 30 euro each. It was great. Tour Guide Nadia shared lots of city history and we sampled authentic Sicilian food. Very hot, felt sorry for the poor horses pulling carts everywhere.

Malta: Great! An incredibly clean, well signposted town where everyone speaks English and are super friendly and welcoming. Dock right in town and you can walk to the city. Hop on Hop off bus is only 10euro pp. We went to blue grotto on it and took a little boat out to the caves (8 euro each). Also went up the elevator (1 euro each) to Upper Basillica Gardens and toured the Larcaris War Rooms (8 euro each).

Valencia: The ship ports a long way from town (about 15 minutes) and charges $13 euro pp return to transfer you in. We had to be there by 10.30 for a pre booked (non-ship) tour so we used the transfer option. It would be possible to use a public bus with a bit of a walk though if you weren’t in a hurry. We booked Valencia “Free” walking tour. It’s not actually free, you pay a donation at the end. Well worth it. We paid 25 euro, then went and had a sangria in a local bar, used the wifi and restrooms b4 returning to the ship.

Marseille: Again the ship ports a long way from town (about 30 minutes) and charges $15 euro pp return to transfer you in. We ended up walking to the gates of the port and taking a public bus. The we used the petit train to do a tour and walked around a lot.

Would I recommend MSC or do it again? In a heartbeat!!

Great review!!!! Sounds like MSC is a winner!!!