Back from MSC Opera - Havana

I haven't had a chance to write a review yet but if anyone has questions, I will answer them.

Bring motion sickness pills - sailing out and into Havana was rough. We didn't use them but we certainly came close!! Have them just in case. We upgraded after 3 nights to a room with a window, cost us just under 300 Canadian. Walls in rooms are thin - you can hear your neighbors doing everything!!!

Excursions seemed organized. Leaving the ship the last day wasn't well organized from a ground point - groups left the ship every 15 minutes - we left at 3:00 pm, our bus was picking us up at 5:00 pm so we waited in the very hot terminal with many passengers for 2 hours after getting our luggage. Then when the busses showed up, our guides were outside, after they told us to remain in the building. I'm surprised people didn't get left behind!

We thought the food was very good and well presented with plenty of options. At the sit down dinner you could have a 5 course meal and more each night if you wanted to. We have been to 5 star, 6 diamond and Sandals resorts and thought the food was amazing on this cruise. Service for the drinks in the bars or by the pool was hit or miss. Our cruise came with the drink package but they hounded everyone to buy the package or upgrade their package but then their service lacked. You would have to flag down the servers for a drink and then they would come by to pick up your empty glass an hour later and not ask if you wanted anything else.

Excursions are pricey and in euros. We did the Tropicana, the Havana by classic cars and Stingray City in Grand Cayman. That with our daily service charges of tips and upgrading our room - our bill when we left was $841 euros.

I would recommend at least the Allegrissmo drink package as this includes, water, coffee, tea, beer, wine, liquor, gelato, sparkling wine and sparkling waters. You can keep tabs on what you order as you have to sign for all drinks you order. The price is on the receipt of what you would have spent. I think it was 9.60 euros for each draft beer. Almost 3.00 euros for a coffee. This was our first cruise. We chose it because of the price and the ports of call (we've been to all of these places except Cayman Islands) and wanted to enjoy the boat. On sea day it was very busy by the pools and deck. Hard pressed to get a lounger or chairs. Excursion days we had the pools to ourselves! That was really a nice treat.

Lots of the European smokers smoked in no smoking areas and didn't listen to the staff when they were asked to move. You can smell the smoke on decks 5 and 6 because they can smoke in one of the bars and the casinos on these levels. If we ever cruised again we would look for a non-smoking boat. Hope this helps and if you have questions, ask.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for the report.

How were you charged for tipping on drinks? Did you pay a tip for each individual drink, or did you pay the tip on the drink package?

Thanks for report. Nice to see a good report on mdr food. It wasn't that good on Divina. I'm surprised about the cigarette smoke problem but more that the crew didn't get security involved. The good news is that I haven't seen this on all of the U.S. based lines I've been on.

How were you charged for tipping on drinks? Did you pay a tip for each individual drink, or did you pay the tip on the drink package?

We didn't pay any extra for this for drinks. On our final bill at end of week our service charges of 9 euros pp per day we paid. Service for drinks for us wasn't great so we didn't tip extra. We did give our dinner waiter a tip at the end of the week and the gal at customer service who helped us with our room upgrade. Our drink package was included in the price of our cruise. With respect to the smoking, the staff did talk to the smokers and asked them to move but that didn't do much. We would opt fr a non smoking cruise next time.

HI, can you let me know what boarding was available from I've read somewhere it was 7pm is that correct? Thank you

Hi Isla we are doing this cruise on 18th Feb. Not sure whether to bother with the drinks package as we don't drink that much, and anyway the first 2 nights in Havana will probably be spent onshore. Do you know what the arrangements are for water in the restaurants/bars if you don't have a package and can you drink the tapwater in the cabins? Any tips for places to visit in Havana? We're Brits, what currency would you recommend we bring? We will be visiting all ports (but probably looking at booking our own excursions as the cruise line ones are expensive). many thanks, Kate :)

Thank you for your post. I am going on this cruise Feb. 11th along with my first time cruise parents. I am looking for information with regard to nightly entertainment. Also, I am flying in on a Saturday. Do you know if any banks will be open to convert money or will MSC convert to CUC for use in Havana?

Thanks in advance.