BosoxI

I took my first Princess cruise back in 1986 out of Sydney and for years afterwards it was my first choice, having tried four or five other lines including Celebrity. Then I discovered how easy it was to become Elite on Celebrity at the time, so DW and I switched over to take advantage of that. We were pleased to find that Celebrity's food and dining room service had improved markedly since our first cruises with X in the early 1990s.

At that point we switched from Princess and I'm not really sure why. Princess' itineraries always suited us better and to this day their food is better than X's. My wife really likes the Solstice class ships but we both have spent many days on the Pacific Princess which provides such a classic experience. We are now about even on the number of cruises we've taken on both-25 or so on each. But I love Cunard and we recently took a cruise on MSC in their Yacht Club and if the price were right, I think we'd quickly jump ship for MSC but only in the YC. It's nice to be so easily pleased.

That's good information. Thank you very much!

Be careful. I saw a woman turned away at lunch because she was wearing a bathing suit under her wrap.

Your son will have to learn that growing up can be a problem sometimes. Can he pass for 8 or is he shaving.?:D

How times have changed. When I was young, shorts were for little boys and long pants were the mark of growing up. I couldn't wait to shed the shorts

I am not surprised that the OP found the food lacking. I am surprised that an Italian ship can provide such a mediocre product.

I returned from Italy two days ago in business class on Delta Airlines. I ordered a chicken dish closely resembling cacciatore, served with yellow polenta. It was absolutely delicious and at least the equal of anything I ate in Le Muse on Divina.

We had an anniversary and the next night my wife celebrated her birthday. We received a very nice looking cake both nights and we very much appreciated the gesture. I had advised the MSC booking agent of the two events when I made the reservations. As I spoke to no one about it on the ship, I was impressed that the word sifted down.

And how do you pronounce that Mike, so I don't sound like an idiot ordering it..:D:D:D

Very simple CHALK-o COKE-o PLU-ca but don't worry about Italian. Your waiter will more likely be from Madagascar than Italy.

But remember the cheese is MO-zarella, not MA-zarella. This one makes me cringe. :eek:

Disgusting meal!!! Actually was the last straw that turned us off of MSC!

C'mon, Kath. You can't leave us hanging. "Disgusting" puts a meal into a whole new category.

I know food is very subjective but I am toying with the idea of one night in Eataly when aboard in November.

 

For those who have eaten there did you enjoy it? Was it in your opinion worth it? and did you prepay or just decide when you were on board?

 

Paying before we go with online booking seems like a good deal to me.

We only ate there once and off a set menu, so I can't say except to note the high quality of our meal. We also ate in Galaxy, a much lighter meal but the view out the plate glass windows was fantastic. Check it out first

My problem on any ship in having a cabin at an exit door would be the noise from that door's closing regularly. I didn't notice any great noise on the Divina when the door to the Top Sail closed, but I wasn't staying in 15001.

I hope you love every minute of your cruise. There are many reasons why you will. As I said, to each his own and I'll add another original: One man's meat is another man's poison :)

That's very disappointing, guess it's b/c we weren't on your cruise :p

 

Seriously though, when you say you were "less impressed", may I ask what you're referring to? Was it just the décor or the crew or the food...? Just wondering since we aren't in YC for our first MSC cruise so....

 

BTW those things aren't especially important to me/us... the décor, hey it's for a week, on a cruise, on a, what most feel will be a beautiful ship, with enough food we won't starve even it's not Swiss Chalet (j/k)

 

Anyway, guess it'll be what it'll be or what we make be :p

I've written a number of opinions scattered around recent threads, so I don't want to be repetitive. I will say this: Italians are masters of design and cuisine. To my surprise, both were lacking on the Divina.

The public areas are confining, ceilings usually 8' or lower, colors are dark and outdated, windows lacking. There were some exceptions but I am used to open, bright public areas; I like my man cave in my basement, not on a cruise ship.

I have been told the food in the MDR is pretty much on a par with the food in Le Muse. If true, good for the non-YC cruisers but don't get your hopes too high. Le Muse provided very average food; we dined there lunch and dinner perhaps eleven times and I can recall only four or five items that were memorable and most of them were appetizers.

All other aspects of the cruise were fine, and once behind the doors of the YC, the experience was outstanding. To each his own, but I would not recommend MSC to a friend unless he could swing YC.

We loved the YC and won't consider MSC unless we are in it. Absolutely, a wonderful experience, but once we left its friendly confines, we were less impressed with the MSC experience.

Valency, thanks for the excellent pictures, but some of them reminded me of what I didn't like, the 1970s color scheme, for example.

I'll jump in on this one since it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle.

 

. You don't even need a jacket or tie for dinner, but people did dress "casual chic" for dinners. :)

They had better dress chicly for Le Muse or they won't be allowed in. A woman in a bathing suit was turned away at lunch one day.

Omg Debra.....your pictures and review are

 

AMAZING.

 

I am now thinking of changing our suite to a suite in the YC. The two reasons I did not do it originally, was.....your drink package cannot be used on the regular part of the ship and the other reason....the balcony is much bigger on the other part of the ship. What to do...what to do.

 

LOVING YOUR REVIEW:):):):

We're just off the 5/14 cruise in YC. I know what I would do:D:D:D

MSC has signs at the bathroom doors telling people to use a towel to open the door. Touching that handle negates all the hand washing.

We delayed going to Qsine because it seemed too trendy, but one night for lack of anything better to do, we gave it a whirl. To my complete surprise, we actually enjoyed it very much. Our problem that time was that we had no idea of the quantity of food being ordered and by the last serving, we had reached our breaking point. Fortunately, neither of us exploded. People talk as though the portions are small, but they're not really tiny, so watch yourself. I'm sure you can adjust your order up or down as necessary, once you see how full you are..

Just wanted to mention that you are right about the Neapolitan food onboard MSC - the founder Gianluigi Aponte was born in Sant'Agnello (just outside of Sorrento) and founded MSC in Naples in 1970, hence the Neapolitan cuisine of Campania is ever present on MSC.

I can attest to the Southern Italian heritage of MSC. The first night in Le Muse the maître d'hôtel asked if there was anything special I might like. I replied that I would appreciate polenta and gorgonzola, which I consider staples of the Northern Italian diet. Not available, he said Actually, on the last night, polenta appeared on the menu, but it was orange :eek: and not to my liking at all. There was plenty of risotto offered though. In fact most, but not all, of the food was .disappointing. On an Italian ship, that was hard to accept for me..

I was driving myself crazy late one night, trying to gat a screen shot attached to the MSC form. I finally succeeded but then the form would not let me check one of the boxes which had to be checked. It was maddening because I had spent so much time getting to that point and now MSC was working against me.

Then a little light dawned, and I went to the Celebrity site where both my wife and I show as Elite+. I took a picture of the pages showing our X status, attached them to an email, and sent them off to MSC with a note of explanation as to why I had to do it in this fashion. I added that we understood the MSC rules and agreed with them and sent it off.

Around 9:30 the next morning, I received an email from a nice woman at MSC saying we were approved at the Black level and giving us our membership numbers.

Eight days later we boarded the Divina and were handed our black cards. So easy. As the Pennsylvania Dutch say "Too soon old, too late smart"

If you're concerned what people make, don't ever buy anything that is Made in China, including Apple products. :eek:

I try not to, but it's difficult.

BTW it's not just cruise lines. My golf club in Florida adds 21% ot the tab on food and wine AND tax

No hidden storage in our cabin, but what a perfect place for me to leave stuff when I disembark :)

They change every day, but we're not talking Grand Cru

Anybody know what beer they have on tap in the YC these days? This is my one critical question before our cruise on June 4th!

Innteresting question. On the few occasions I wanted a beer I asked for a Beck or Heineken, and while neither came in a bottle, I don't know if they were draft. I'll be interested to learn what they were, as I am not fussy, as you can probably tell. Canned Guiness was in the refrigerator.

Thin $9 million is bad. Look at NCL. $32 Million. You have to be kidding me.

I am a capitalist to the core, but greed is greed. I just heard of a professional golfer who has made $80 million in prize money over his very successful career. It is estimated that he has made twice that in endorsements. If accurate, that $240 million.

He is now caught up in an insider trading scandal which, if true, got him $1,000,000 Sick.

$32 million sounds like it should be NCL's profit for the year, not it's CEO salary

Does MSC allow you to apply onboard credit towards the added gratuities?

If added gratuities means the $12 per day charge, yes, MSC allows it,

The glasses are smaller and they don't even fill them to the top. Back when they first had the martini bars on the M Class ships the glasses were bigger, they filled them and they left the shaker with you for what was left it that.

 

We never have had a drink package either.

I do notice that on land or at sea there is a tendency for bartenders to shake the hell out a drink, melting the ice, and giving the appearance of a larger drink, an illusion quickly destroyed with the first sip. Sure enough, I read an article on how restaurants are cutting costs, and one of the ways is to have the drinks diluted by excessive shaking.