bigalex72

Based on the 5 cruises with MSC and 2 cruises on the NCL:

Shows:

MSC is an absolute winner - all the shows are spectacular!

NCL shows look high school- level amateur

Buffet:

MSC - sufficient, but not elaborate

NCL - sometimes is even better quality comparing to the main dining room. Excellent!

Website:

MSC - needs an immediate upgrade, especially the self- booking portion.

NCL - excellent, intuitive, inclusive

Ship

MSC - extremely well maintained, sparkling clean, very modern

NCL - well maintained. more classic

Room and bed

MSC - pillows and bedding feels cheap. Pillows are extremely uncomfortable, even in the suites (not YC)

NCL - excellent bedding, nice pillows. That was a single biggest differnce for us.

Kids clubs:

both were good

Food

MSC - we enjoyed themed nights, and most of the main courses. Salads were consistently not very good. Deserts were great!

NCL - excellent food. A bit more calories though.

Service

Quoting my spouse: it feels that on the NCL same high quality service is being provided, but with much less effort. Clearly, employees looked happier. On the MSC we frequently saw officers using more "sticks" then "carrots"...

Overall, the experience is comparable - the price is king!

Interesting, I don't think they even have all these packages, and solo options for the US market. Main great option, which attracted us to the MSC is that "kids sail free". That makes significant difference for us with 2 kids... Nevertheless, other companies are catching up with that offer. Upgrade was a significant incentive for us to stay with MSC, but I don't want to be stuck in a small room for 4 of us, based on all the feedback...

It is very true about various cabin availability, based on the country. I was trying to book Fantasia for the next year, and same 4 cabins were available for 10 different cruises/cycles... The agent kept saying that all the other ones are booked...right...

Pre-dinner one hour reception in all the bars. They serve unlimited free champagne, and 2 types of martini. Nice touch...

Coffee is around $3

Wine, overall, I think, is a strong side of MSC. Other cruise lines we sailed with had wine at the starting point of $35-40 a bottle. On the MSC it starts at $19-22, with VERY decent wines. The wine package at the MDR is $150 for 7 bottles of wine (which was enough for me for the entire 19 day cruise). Selection is limited to about 20 wines with the price range of $29-32 a bottle, so it is a 30% discount. I found it of a great value. Try Barolo - it was the best. Remember, there are 4 formal nights with free drinks. I did not purchase an Allegrissimo package, as I am not drinking more then 1-2 drinks a day. BTW, if you did not like the cocktail at the bar - they usually re-do it for free, which was nice.

AmoMondo,

overall, that is not a true statement that the cruise was not English speaking. Most of the announcements, Portuguese was a 3rd or 4th language. We found this as an opportunity to learn more about Brasil, and learn some language...

thank you, AmoMondo!

This is discouraging, given your record... So, every time they were telling you that the ship is full, I assume.

I see you sailed a lot on the Lirica class ships. Did you find them comparable with the Fantasia-class? I was quite reluctant to sail on them, as they seem small and a bit outdated. Hope this will change with the renaissance program upgrade.

Dear Black Card members, being a new addition to the circle, I am wondering how realistic is it to get an upgrade? What would you say is a probability - 40%, 80%, etc?

Any tips you can share? Anyone got upgraded to the suite? Can you influence the upgrade before the cruise?

Thank you in advance!

Honestly, we did not watch much of a TV - that is something I can do at home :-)

That said, I truly enjoyed NOT to have Internet connection for 5 days. It is a luxury to be fully disconnected from work, and recharge your batteries. That's why I like those days at sea...

No, it's $8

Yes, I read that review. The guy is simply ignorant. It is an "English-speaking cruise", as well as German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French speaking. It is a common knowledge that MSC is offering an International experience, and you have to appreciate it to be there. It was a great opportunity to talk with all kinds of people, as well as immerse into Brazilian culture on board. We made some very good friends. Yes, many Brazilians do not speak English, but many do.

The only annoying thing for us (he is right about this) was that the second show has been moved back for an hour. With little kids - it was too late for us. So, we adjusted our schedule to eat dinner within an hour, and see an 8pm show. Not a big deal.

Personnel is international, somewhat more Indonesians this time. Everyone spoke English, some better then the others. I am amazed how they all were able to speak 7 languages...

Days at sea were OK. Unfortunately, many activities were on the pool deck without the cover. Does not work with our skin... Nevertheless, there are plenty of things to do on the ship, and explore various areas. I tried to exercise more.

One day at sea is Baptizing by Neptune at Equator crossing - this is an event NOT TO MISS! Paint yourself, get messy, and get lots of pictures and a certificate to display!

I agree - one thing I love about MSC is that everything is much more affordable, comparing to other cruise lines.

Deals:

- Get the wine package right away! Excellent Italian wines for $22 a bottle for the dinner.

- Get larger Internet package (1 or 1.5 hours) - you will need it at sea.

- Spend half day at the excursion "Behind the scenes" of the ship. It was great

- If you have a haircut, as them to buy a product - the haircut is free then.

- Buy everything AFTER you'll leave Brazil. The prices will go down

- Movies are $8, so just upload some on your laptop, before going on the cruise

- if you have $10 - $200 voucher from the previous cruise, have a written confirmation that it was applied to your account. I have issues with it every time.

Very easy check-in process, every time

Sure, no problem.

Selection of beers on tap was limited to Heineken and Bud (I think). Not much... but they had plenty of bottled beers.

Yes, MSC made an adjustment to the US market, and regular water plus tea/coffee are served in MDR, as well as the buffet. Breakfast and lunch they have good selection of juices (variable quality though)

Laundry special was excellent - $25 for 20 pieces of laundry, including shirts. Amazing... I am paying more here, in the US.

I took the tour of the ship. The laundry room is very clean, and they separate various kinds of laundry.

As requested, here is a mini-review of our 19 day cruise from Miami to Rio on May 19, for those who will be sailing on the reverse cruise Rio to Miami July 14th.

That was our 5th cruise with MSC, and 3rd on the Divina. We sailed with 2 kids - 4 and 1 y/o in the Aurea suite. MSC Divina is a beautiful ship, we truly like it, and keep coming back. It is well reviewed here, so I will just give some highlights particular to the cruise.

- It is important to keep in mind how much you paid for the cruise... for us, with two kids sailing for free, price for the suite has been a great value proposal.

- There were 2000 Brazilians on the ship (probably, same on the reverse cruise), which is not typical, but brings unique flavor. Many of them use it as a shopping tour to the US. Things are incredibly expensive in Brazil.

- Embarkation in Miami was easy and smooth; disembarkation in Rio was a disaster. Tight, but incredibly disorganized security; luggage carriers did not prioritize the luggage, so we almost were late for our plane - the only way I got our "priority" luggage was by involving one of the officers.

- Standard shows were spectacular, as always. There are not enough of them for the longer cruise, so half of the nights they had to fill in with impromptu shows, which were a bit less spectacular, but still good.

- A lot of qualified staff left home for the period of this adventure, as they did not want to go to Brazil, so some services are weaker then before. DO NOT GO TO THE HAIRDRESSER!!! We had excellent experience before, but this time they are completely clueless... For the massage go with the blond girl from South Africa - she is excellent, other ones - not so much.

- Food: Buffet is much better then before, soups are WAY better then before, salads are still unimpressive. Service for breakfast and lunch improved significantly.

- it is a long cruise, so might want to check specialty restaurants. Eataly Steakhouse was good; brunch in Galaxy is a must!

- there were 4 formal nights, instead of 3 - nice!

- Internet was uneven, as expected...

- Impressive availability of the Captain. He is constantly rounding, and talking with the passengers about any concerns. I never saw anything like that.

- Despite common excitement, we were quite unimpressed with Brazil. It seems to be not clean, overpriced, relatively unsafe. People are great though - open, friendly and helpful.

- Kids club was excellent, as always.

- Overall, the cruise was a great value, relaxing and pleasant.

We sailed 3 times on the Divina and one time on the Poesia. Our latest cruise, we found that the quality of soups improved significantly; service at breakfast and lunchtime improved, as well. Salads are horrible, juices are still hit and miss. Buffet improved somewhat. I'd suggest to try brunch at the Galaxy. Service is unimpressive, but the food was great.

Interesting... our TA told us to work with the MSC.

Please keep this discussion going - how did the negotiations go?