4sallypat

14 hours ago, danny8826 said:

 

With T-Mobile, I have unlimited data and text too, but not on the cruise ship.  This is only for land use only anywhere around the world.

 

Yes, T Mobile does work in all of Europe only when the ship is close enough to land.

Make sure the roaming is turned off so that it does not connect to the maritime satellite network on board.

We used on our US iPhones: a T Mobile and wife had a Euro eSIM and was wonderful when we were cruising the Greek islands - lots of land connections.

But the Italy and Croatia areas were none because of sailing in the middle of the Adriatic sea.

10 hours ago, insidecabin said:

The issue with cruisemummy calculator is most people don't pay the package price they get the discounted deal at booking time.

 

UK we get premium extra, often under £25pppd.

 

 

For a US booking, we were offered pre-boarding price of $50 USD per day ($350 easy plus package for the week).

I could not drink that much plus my wife's allocation (she does not drink alcohol) per day.

I'd end up being in the infirmary for acute alcohol intoxication....

Just returned from eastern Mediterranean and we got the browse Internet Wifi.

5 Mbps download speed but almost 1 full second of ping time.

Those of you who game will note that 1000ms ping time is awful.

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

This is true of every cruise line. The drinks package rarely works out well for anyone unless they drink quite a few cocktails, wine and coffees per day. I always tell folks to 'do the math' because we saved over $500 on the Carnival Mardi Gras going without a drinks package and in the neighborhood of $400+ on MSC Seaside by going without a drinks package. Most folks are just giving away money to the cruise lines with drinks packages. Cool calculator, I'll have to look for that. 🙂

 

Just returned from my week long Mediterranean cruise - official review: https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=700930

Glad we did not buy the drink packages - would have paid over $1400USD for the 4 of us being able to dine at the same MDR table.

Paid $190USD onboard plus approx $100USD whilst on port days in various cities.

Here's the CruiseMummy drink calculator I used before the trip and glad to not have paid for the drinks package:

41 minutes ago, michelle028 said:

Thank you SO much for taking the time to post food pics! I find it difficult to find menus/food pics for MSC. Its my 1st time sailing with them, great tip about the Risotto I will definitely try it 🙂

 

"Ended up ordering 2 risottos each night!" -  Did you pay extra for this?

 

Also did you like any particular desserts?

You can order as many entrees, appetizers, deserts as you wish - no charge.

We did order extra plates as our table found some gems like the risottos.

As for desserts, they rotate them and change so my son loved their strawberry ice cream (made fresh on the ship) but only had it twice during our cruise.

I don't eat sweets so mine are after dinner drinks like Italian grappas or Greek Tsipouro digestives..

19 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I’d rather not drink. 

I don't drink much beer and really have no likes or dislikes - I am wine & Scotch / bourbon / grappa type of drinker.

Since my recent cruise, I was glad not to  have purchased a drinks package as it would have been very expensive ($360x4). 

I ended up paying a la carte for my drinks and racked up $190USD for a 7 day sailing.   Wife thought it was a lot, but actually not since I also drank whilst on land during port days.

MSC makes silly rules in my opinion - why not just charge for the person who drinks - not penalize by having 3 non drinkers buy the same package ???

You may want to check on what the original offer was for laundry.

We chose pre-paid laundry $76USD for 40 pieces before we left.

We had 42 pieces done without any quibbling...

Then at the end of the cruise, we saw an offer / flyer for $40USD for 40 pieces and it stated that splitting or going over the amount will cause an extra charge.

12 hours ago, WindinmySails said:

 I just read that vapes, e-cigs are not even allowed on board.  Would love to know more about this.  We vape as well, and just booked a 20 day cruise.  Darn...

https://www.cruisebooking.com/articles/msc-cruise-tips/what-is-not-allowed-on-msc-cruises

You can vape - as a matter of fact, we saw almost every European couple - female vaping while the male was smoking.

Being from California with strict smoking rules, I was not prepared for so much smoke almost everywhere.

Smoke even made it's way into the elevators, main dining room, buffet, and stateroom hall ways. 

Got a sinus infection halfway thru our cruise as a result and avoided interior casino / bar / lounge decks.

I get sinus infections whenever I travel to Las Vegas even passing thru their casinos laden with thick heavy smoke.

Just recovering from the infection after getting antibiotics from my doctor as soon as I returned home.

1 hour ago, michelle028 said:

Sailing out of Trieste in July on MSC Splendida - could you please post food pics and MDR menus? Your dinner looks amazing btw!

Yours sounds like a great cruise on a much newer ship!

With the addition of speciality restaurants, you will probably find so many more choices than our cruise.

Dining in the MDR for 5 nights was a treat for us as they did vary their menus and focused on different themes (white night, gala evening, mediterranean, casual, italian, etc).

The best dish I found was their risotto - whether it was a vegetarian, vegan, seafood, veal, etc...

Ended up ordering 2 risottos each night!

We did not pre-purchase the photo package as we didn't know how many we will have to select from.

On board, the MSC photographers are hit/miss in terms of catching them.

We saw them on our embarkation day and the last night (formal / gala).

We saw many photos publicly posted at ports but we never saw them.

At the end of the cruise, we chose 3 photos for 30€ and thought it was a good deal since most of the photos were not taken very well.

They do special price package offers for 149€ and 229€ but they required a lot of photos and they try to push them all on you.

2 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Wonderful review, congrats!...

 

Permit me perhaps a silly question, but again, just because I have some friends booked on that ship. Once the Sinfonia is one of the older ships in MSC's fleet, was her sort of showing her age, or was the ship really well maintained?

 

Thanks in advance and have a wonderful day!...

Yes, for a 20+ year old ship, the maintenance was amazing.  

There were maintenance teams working every day inside and out - painting, refinishing, and polishing everything. 

Felt very much newer than I had expected for their first gen mid sized cruise ship.

Their senior engineering team that visited my cabin the morning after the noisy kitchen overnight mess was amazing - they diagnosed that the kitchen had defective cooling fans in their food prep and thanked me for making the report as it affects food safety.

The only things missing on this old ship are the current features like a race track, water slides, speciality restaurants, etc...

But with the smaller number of cruisers (under 2000), it made for easier socialization and crew member faces & names. 

The lounge bartenders remember what you had how you like your drinks but that does not apply to the pool and outside bars where the drinks are weak, watered down, and not consistent....

Bourbon w/ chips in lounge:

3 hours ago, ChattTenn said:

Enjoyed your review.  We had been on MSC in the Caribbean only and will need to check out the Europe/Mediterranean.

The picture of dinner, is it from the MDR or a specialty restaurant?. Look good (yum).  Over 50+ we had a T-bone steak dinner once on Carnival (many years ago).  We like MSC and their food ok.

Is MDR menu in Europe the same as USA sailing?.

How did you get to port?.  Does MSC has a transfer service?.

 

The T bone steak dinner is an optional upgrade for 18€ in the MDR.

Otherwise everything else was free and you can order as many dishes as you want.

I do not know what the US sailing menu compares but their Mediterranean menu is quite varied - Italian, French, Greek, Sicilian, Turkish, Moroccan, etc...

MSC Europe sailings allow for flexible on boarding at any of their ports of call.

We started ours in Athens, Greece but others joined/disembarked at: Split, Croatia - Venice, Italy - Brindisi, Italy  and Mykonos, Greece. 

Some days we had half capacity (Croatia), other days were full depending on which port was more popular (Italy).

Transfer service is an option that MSC provides at every port for those that need connections to their airport or high speed trains. 

The most difficult port: Venice Italy where that port required passport entry for everyone (day visitors & disembarkation).

Venice had the most number of new embarkations but also the strictest customs & immigration like an international airport w/ screenings, visa controls, etc...

It may have something to do with the massive numbers of illegal immigration happening in the eastern Mediterranean.

Venice required 2 tender boats to leave / return to the ship which took about an hour each way.

53 minutes ago, 20165 said:

Thank you and thats the one we are looking at.  Can you tell me how it worked?  Special bag, credit on your onboard account, etc?  Im trying to spend a little time in guest services as possible and it seems the more stuff i prebook, the more time i get to spend with them straightening things out.  We have had bad luck prepurchasing things on other cruise lines so just wondering how MSC does with prepurchases. thx

If you pre-pay attach the voucher to the laundry list.

Your room steward will provide the bags.

We put in 42 pieces and they didn't quibble about the overage.

If you use their special offer, then they will add that to your room charges.

Next time I will not pre-pay.

I'll wait for the offer on board.

We had filled out these forms and upon embarkation, we were told that the forms are not needed.

Ended up tossing it in the trash.

MSC Sinfonia 5/25-6/1/23.

We got our end of cruise statement at the end of our cruise and satisfied with all the charges, but after 2 days we are getting additional charges to card. 

Will be following up with MSC....

We did the pre-paid and would not do it again.

We paid $76 USD for 40 pieces before our cruise on our credit card.

They did a good job laundering, folding and hanging our clothes but the price is not a bargain.

After boarding, near the end of the cruise, we received a special offer for $40 for 40 pieces of laundry.

When we inquired at Guest Services, they could not adjust what we paid for vs the offer on board.

Don't know if the offer is standard with all MSC cruises, but we felt like we were taken to the cleaners, as they say..

1. Picked up cruise at Athens, Greece in Piraeus port - 12 noon check in - very easy & fast check-in, luggage tags already provided (no need to pre-print) and delivered luggage before ship sailed at 5pm.  So glad we planned to arrive into Athens 2 days prior because we had a British Airways flight cancellation which caused a day delay to arrive.  Now filing EU 261 compensation for 4 of us...
2. First MDR of the evening was very good - had joined 2 stateroom bookings into one table which allowed all of us first seating dining time. Glad we chose the Fantastica package that allowed us to choose dining time and get bottled mineral water.
3. First evening in the stateroom was a VERY BAD experience - was booked underneath the kitchen of buffet and after midnight they cleaned heavily so the noises were awful - also confirmed by our neighbors. Lodged a formal report complaint with chief of boat officer who had visited our room at 3am to confirm.
4. First port of call: Split Croatia which was fantastic - great to see they now use Euros instead of their local currency of recent change.
5. Guest services complaint from first night turned into a change of cabins to a deck underneath and upgraded cabin type.
6. Second night was quiet and peaceful. The next day Guest Services delivered canapes and a bottle of sparkling wine for the previous night's issue with an apology card.
7. Remaining days at port and sea were excellent - no complaints at all.  The water was so calm and glassy that I never needed to use any motion sickness meds that I was prepared for.
8. Only time ship was 100% full was the stop at Venice Italy when a huge group of Europeans, mostly Italians & Russians boarded and caused issues with queues and waiting their turn.  Many times they would cut in front of us at the bars, lounges, guest services, excursions, boat tenders, elevators, etc... Apart from US and UK folks, I learned most Europeans don't queue.
9. Drinks package - none.  Since I am the only drinker out of our group of 4, I went ala carte and paid a total of $190USD whilst a drink package would have easily cost us $1440 USD ($360 x 4).
10. Overall, an excellent cruise experience and will be looking forward to another MSC cruise in the Western Mediterranean or Middle east cruise.... Thanks to everyone on this forum for your help & knowledge.

Same here - took my portable HEPA fan / filter without any hassle from either TSA or cruise ship security.  Kept my dust allergies to a minimum for our 2 week trip to Europe and a week on the MSC Sinfonia. 

That is why I tipped my room steward and MDR waiter for their wonderful service in Euros on our last day.

On 5/21/2023 at 9:30 AM, skipsaur said:

 

We'll be Aurea. That's great about the bottled water, thanks for the info! We were hoping for some bottles for the stateroom, for middle of the night, etc. Would love to hear if the waitstaff can help you out! 

You should have no issue getting bottled water from your steward.

We booked a Fantastica room and got as many bottled waters we wanted from our room steward and waiter at the MDR. 

Of course we tipped the room steward for going the extra mile!

Our dining waitstaff was excellent and made sure we had bottled mineral water every time!

On 5/21/2023 at 1:35 PM, Oceansaway17 said:

Any cruise line that tells me I can’t sit with friends or family because they drink and I don’t, then that cruise line would never get my business.

perhaps drink package should go away and everyone pay as they go with a program to give discounts once you have had 20th drink .

Just got off the MSC Sinfonia and did not get a drinks package as I am the only moderate drinker.

Paid ala carte for my drinks and after 7 days, paid $190 USD which was a lot less than paying $360 x 4 ($1440) for 4 people to be able to dine at the same MDR table.

Guest services did however send a bottle of chilled sparkling wine w/ canapes as a gesture of apology after our first night underneath the buffet kitchen when it got loud due to heavy cleaning.

On 5/21/2023 at 11:39 AM, fluffybunny22 said:

If you call right when they open there's not really a long hold time.

You were 100% correct - called when they opened and got an MSC rep immediately.

Got 5% cruise credit applied to my OBC.

Thank you.

On 5/22/2023 at 7:34 PM, perakcruiser said:

Yes, MDR will be open as many others have boarded the days before at other ports. 

 

But technically you are not allowed to use the MDR for lunch on your embarkation day. Before they were very strict on this, checking all cruise card at the entrance and sending the "newcomers" to the buffet. I have a feeling that it is not so strict anymore. 

 

By the way, also in the Caribbean the MDR can be open, just depends if it is a cruise with many embarkation ports or a close loop from the USA. 

You were correct!

Our first day on embarkation day in Greece, they did not have MDR open for lunch.

At dinner time they were open and had a very good meal indeed.

MDR dining spoiled me from dining in the buffet because of the service, bottled mineral water, creative desserts, and upscale plated food.

Only time we used the buffet was for late nite pizzas, early morning port day boat tenders, etc...

11 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

Great info! Do you have the internet? If so, is it any good?

We are boarding in 3 days so will report back.

Purchased 4 device Internet browse package for $150USD for 7 days - quite pricey compared to a 20GB Euro eSIM for 2 weeks while on land...

Not to hijack this thread - how about European cruises ?

MDR available on embarkation day ?

Will find out in 2 days - sailing out of Athens Greece....