Are MSC excursions good?

In the past, we have never done ship excursions on Carnival or Celebrity, choosing to do our own. But with some of our ports being a few hours ride from the ship (each way), I would prefer the peace of mind of being on an MSC excursion. But not if they're bad!!!

Am I worried over nothing? Aside from my usual concern of ship excursions (large buses of 40-50 take a long time to do even basic restroom stops and get in the way of good photo ops sometimes), is there anything about MSC that affects the tours, such as poor vendors or poor organization? Do they all insist on the shopping stops like American-based lines do?

It looks like tours listed are in English, which is reassuring as an English speaker going on an Italian line, but when I board will it still be true? Or might my tour get cancelled due to attendance? There are a few tours that I can't miss (highlights of the itinerary) and with a few months to go I would have to start booking private tours if I am going that route.

Thanks for the advice.

In the past, we have never done ship excursions on Carnival or Celebrity, choosing to do our own. But with some of our ports being a few hours ride from the ship (each way), I would prefer the peace of mind of being on an MSC excursion. But not if they're bad!!!

 

Am I worried over nothing? Aside from my usual concern of ship excursions (large buses of 40-50 take a long time to do even basic restroom stops and get in the way of good photo ops sometimes), is there anything about MSC that affects the tours, such as poor vendors or poor organization? Do they all insist on the shopping stops like American-based lines do?

 

It looks like tours listed are in English, which is reassuring as an English speaker going on an Italian line, but when I board will it still be true? Or might my tour get cancelled due to attendance? There are a few tours that I can't miss (highlights of the itinerary) and with a few months to go I would have to start booking private tours if I am going that route.

 

Thanks for the advice.

On my Cruise last year to Greece and Croatia, I did an MSC excursion on EVERY port! I loved it and I would recommend it! Specially if you are going somewhere that you don't speak the language and have never been before, I felt very safe and there were only 20 people tops in the most popular excursion to Santorini, the other ports was always around 15 people.

Just keep in mind that the english speakers always share the bus with another 'language', for us we usually shared with Italians or germans.

Have fun!

The excursions at the various ports are organized by local tour operators which provide this service to all cruise lines so if you opt for Excursion A with MSC and then land at the same port another day on Carnival or RCI you'll get exactly the same tour and guide. MSC gets a commission on the sales. I usually always take the MSC excursions that interest me and rarely have had (minor) problems.

Be aware, though, that if there aren't enough booked on an excursion in your chosen language and they can't facilitate you in another group, it can be cancelled. So you need to have a Plan B in place. You won't know 'til last minute, either, as the Excursion office will be selling places right up to the evening beforehand onboard.

English speakers tend to be in a minority on MSC ships in the Med so you can end up with a group of Germans (usually) or others which means the guide having to switch constantly from one language to another. It can be tiresome on a long bus journey! We did an MSC excursion to Marrakesh for the very reason you have - a long journey to and from Casablanca so we wanted the peace of mind that we'd make it back to the ship. Never again! The guide loved the sound of his voice so much, he never let up on the bus, there or back! The lunch offering was very poor, with no options, just (dried, overcooked) chicken with couscous served on large platters placed in the middle of the table for everyone to share! I complained about this at the Excursion desk the next day but was met with indifference. Not even a note made or a name and cabin number taken.

There are many reputable companies out there which you can book and are often cheaper than cruise ship excursions. Some even guarantee that they'll get you to the next port if they don't get you back to the ship on time. Check out some roll calls for your ports of call for ideas - even on other forums. I've found some great info on some of them.

On our excursions we got a mixed bus once with Italians and the tour went through with both languages. Much better than being cancelled, it depends on what cruise you are doing really though for the number of English speaking passengers.

In the past, we have never done ship excursions on Carnival or Celebrity, choosing to do our own. But with some of our ports being a few hours ride from the ship (each way), I would prefer the peace of mind of being on an MSC excursion. But not if they're bad!!!

 

Am I worried over nothing? Aside from my usual concern of ship excursions (large buses of 40-50 take a long time to do even basic restroom stops and get in the way of good photo ops sometimes), is there anything about MSC that affects the tours, such as poor vendors or poor organization? Do they all insist on the shopping stops like American-based lines do?

 

It looks like tours listed are in English, which is reassuring as an English speaker going on an Italian line, but when I board will it still be true? Or might my tour get cancelled due to attendance? There are a few tours that I can't miss (highlights of the itinerary) and with a few months to go I would have to start booking private tours if I am going that route.

 

Thanks for the advice.

MSC excursions same as any other line excursions. They all use same providers in ports.

We just got home from MSC Musica -- Venice/Greece cruise. We booked excursions for all the stops. While some where better than others, I have no complaints and in fact the excursions to these wonderful places were the best part of the trip.

I do want to add that English was by far the minority language and none of our English speaking excursions were cancelled. They were often combined with another language (German, French and Italian) but that was a minor inconvenience. It's always best to have alternate plans just in case but we didn't have this problem.