Currently on Fantasia

I am currently on the Fantasia (7 day round trip from Barcelona). It is my first time on MSC and so far I have found it...weird.

Our cruise documents (which we only downloaded two days before) said an 11pm departure, with boarding from 7pm. So we show up at 7pm and the place is deserted. The staff see us and are screaming at us in Spanish to hurry. We are made to RUN the entire way to the ship. Once onboard we were berated in three languages for being LATE!?!?! WT??? As soon as we board the ship starts to move. Turns out they brought the sailing forward (something to do with tides) but forgot to tell some of the guests! It was crazy. No apology for all the yelling (given we thought we were early), nothing.

Our security briefing was during the dinner service and they told us after we were late for dinner so had to go to the buffet (no late admission, even if doing the safety briefing) and because there are passengers embarking every day we end up having the safety briefing broadcast and all ship services stopped every afternoon. It is right during nap/cocktail hour. I know the briefing is important but it is frustrating to have to go throw it every day for a handful of new arrivals (today they had plenty of time to do it whilst the rest of us were in port, but opted to wait til we all started coming back, clogging the stairs).

I've cruised before, but this just seems so...disorganised...

I am currently on the Fantasia (7 day round trip from Barcelona). It is my first time on MSC and so far I have found it...weird.

 

Our cruise documents (which we only downloaded two days before) said an 11pm departure, with boarding from 7pm. So we show up at 7pm and the place is deserted. The staff see us and are screaming at us in Spanish to hurry. We are made to RUN the entire way to the ship. Once onboard we were berated in three languages for being LATE!?!?! WT??? As soon as we board the ship starts to move. Turns out they brought the sailing forward (something to do with tides) but forgot to tell some of the guests! It was crazy. No apology for all the yelling (given we thought we were early), nothing.

 

Our security briefing was during the dinner service and they told us after we were late for dinner so had to go to the buffet (no late admission, even if doing the safety briefing) and because there are passengers embarking every day we end up having the safety briefing broadcast and all ship services stopped every afternoon. It is right during nap/cocktail hour. I know the briefing is important but it is frustrating to have to go throw it every day for a handful of new arrivals (today they had plenty of time to do it whilst the rest of us were in port, but opted to wait til we all started coming back, clogging the stairs).

 

I've cruised before, but this just seems so...disorganised...

That's just bad a experience, I agree.

As for the picking people up in every port, I think that's common on European cruise lines or so I've heard, but yes, it would annoy the living poop out of me if they were to hold the safety drill every day of a cruise :o

Try to fend away the negative vibes and focus on the fact you're on an an awesome trip and have fun with it.

Having done that cruise in the Med - I am perplexed.

Yes we had embarkation every day but we didn't have announcements and shut down during safety drill. The passengers who embarked at that port, that day were the only ones aware of it.

As for missing dinner - I would have gone to dinner and missed the drill - IMO if you miss it you get to do it the next day.

thats strange that safety briefing was broadcast over whole ship each time. When we sailed on the Armonia in 2013 most people embarked in Venice but some the following day. The safety briefing for those people was held in the theatre so rest of ship wasn't disrupted.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise and things improve!

And luckily, our travel agent called us to warn about the anticipated sailing, and we were there with time to spare.

And we also found it ridiculous that they would setup the emergency drill at dinner time, so we just skipped it (and were told to do it the next day).

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this cruise and this company, but my family loved it. I am preparing my review to post about it.