amurray88

I've not...Royal Caribbean, NCL and MSC before

Hi all, Doing an Australia and New Zealand cruise later in the year on the Eclipse (14 night/2x7 B2B) What are your top tips? Thanks!

Yep, they are very deep. I was very surprised.

All pools on the Seaview were 1.9metres at all areas of the pool (I believe apart from the kiddy pool).

I thought that is the case. The casino tip definitely helped us withdraw €150 👌

I would agree to a certain extent. Of course it is personal responsibility to wash our hands but you should also expect MSC to do all in their power to make it impossible to enter without washing. It is lazy on their part and shows a lack of understanding that their negligence has a part to play in them being understaffed. I'm not sure what your second point is regarding but people should not need to book the YC to receive any level of service on board. Whilst we shouldn't expect MSC to move mountains for us we should expect them to treat customers with respect and, not for the first time, it looks like they haven't done this. Of course wearing a mask helps - but having heard the way this poster was treated I would think alot of people on board will have symptoms and simply not bother testing as they don't want to be treated like that - instead they will walk around sharing it with others.

I didn't know OBC would be refunded? I'm just off MSC Seaview and used the casino process to withdraw my money as cash.

Thank you 👌 don't get me wrong, if the price was right I definitely would sail again...I think earlier in the week I said I wouldn't sail again even if it was free but it did get better. But I think now I have my expectation level set and MSC would need to be ~30% cheaper than others before I would go with them again. It was the gala night that we went to the buffet for dinner so possibly they expected everyone to be at the MDR but their lunch was definitely much better.

Maybe my expectations were too high - I felt this was meant to be MSC's rival to Oasis class/Breakaway class ships but that they had started at the atrium, spent all the budget and quickly threw everything else together with little thought.

I was on Seaview last week (disembarked yesterday) and agree - we were not asked to wash our hands or sanitise at any restaurant/buffet. Surprise surprise. And like you - experienced awful service from those in management positions

It got better after the first few days (thank goodness) and I'm fairly sure that if it weren't for the first few days I'd have been sitting here saying they're not all that different from the others. Out of interest, have you sailed Seaview/Seaside etc? Did you feel there was alot of wasted space?

Just got off MSC Seaview yesterday and wanted to give an honest review of our sailing... Embarking at Marseille - embarking was extremely easy, even given Covid restrictions. Free bus from city centre to boat and was onboard quite quickly. First steps on board - this was perhaps the poorest onboarding process we have experienced. We were taken aside as soon as we got on board (an area was cordoned off for those embarking) and we were sat down with a conveyer belt of staff trying to get us to upgrade packages. To be clear, we had easy plus drinks package which included all drinks up to €8 and an internet package. We were told the drinks package we had wasn't good enough and we would want to upgrade to the premium package then another staff member came and done the same with our internet package followed by yet another telling us we'd want to upgrade to speciality restaurants at least 3 nights of our cruise. We said no to all of these but they were extremely pushy (speciality chef said he'd automatically sign us up as we'd be missing out if we didn't. When I said no he asked if we really planned to be on the cruise and not use the speciality restaurants...) Into general categories - Our room - we were given a free upgrade to a balcony room. I have never had a balcony before on any of my cruises so this was a treat. We didn't use the balcony all that much but we loved having the door open pretty much the whole cruise. The bed was very comfortable and the maid/cleaner was efficient and looked after it well. The buffet - we visited the buffet most mornings and lunch times and also one evening for dinner. The food quality we found to be a very high standard (pizza was easily restaurant quality). The layout was awful and the service completely abysmal. All buffets are busy but this really was chaotic to say the least. I don't understand why they have cordoned off certain areas to push everyone into very tight corridors/pathways through the buffet which they then leave things in. It is almost impossible to move around. The service was the worst we've experienced. On day 1 we got a table, went to get food then tried to order a drink. What a mistake. Servers are not interested and actively walked away when people looked for them....this left us having finished our lunch before being served - having asked a waitress 3 times and a manager for service. On day 2 at breakfast we then thought we'd order our drinks before getting food. Again, no drinks arrived until after we finished our food. The drinks service was truly awful. Instinctively I then thought well I'm happy enough just to go to the bar and order for myself only to be told no, you can't do that and to be told to take a seat and wait. From this day onwards we went to a lounge/bar before going to the buffet, got a drink and took it in with us. It shouldn't be that hard. Last thing to note is I was extremely disappointed with the range of food the night we went for dinner...the range at lunch was far far superior. 75% of the buffet was closed during dinner. Bars/Lounges - the service here was excellent. The servers and bartenders could not have done enough and were very personable at all bars we went to. The range of cocktails and drinks was excellent and a lovely wee touch was the bowls of nibbles/crisps/nuts they gave. Main Dining Room - the main dining room was fine. Service by the waiter was average, nothing special but didn't do anything wrong. The food was very good quality although I would say the choice certainly challenged us on a couple of nights. We asked to change timing one night and there is a full post about that....the service we received from the MDR manager and supervisor is something I would not want to inflict on anyone. They were extremely rude and given that this happened so early on in the cruise it completely spoiled our experience of MSC. It probably took us until the last day before we recovered from the way we were treated and spoken to. I have written to MSC about this - it was shocking. Last thing - it was extremely annoying that during dinner they continuously tried to upsell. Every night they came round with a raw piece of meat on a plate trying to get you to upgrade to it...yes, even after you had finished your meal or eating dessert they still wouldn't leave you alone. One night we were finishing our dessert and I was asked to buy a T-Bone. I said no. The head waiter then asked why not? I said I've finished my dinner...and he kept going. "So you don't like steak?" "But you could have it after your dessert?" "Do you not want to feel like your on holiday?" I'm sorry but that is outrageous, get out my face and get away from my table. Obviously I didn't say this and was polite but it shouldn't be done like this.....every night. Entertainment - the entertainment definitely took a while to acclimatise to. The shows in the main theatre were actually very good.... different but good. The cast must have been shattered by the end, they do 3 performances of the same show every night....that's 21 shows a week these guys are doing. Outwith the main dining room I didn't think entertainment was good. Having recently sailed Symphony of the Seas (aquatheatre & ice rink shows) and NCL Epic (comedy club, circus tent shows) the MSC Seaview is a huge distance off. Outwith a 35min show in the theatre each night the entertainment was non-existent outwith a singer and guitar or a singer and a piano. The ship - the main atrium is beautiful. We felt the ship had a huge amount of potential but it wasn't utilised. On deck 8 they had patio seating with a sign for a French bistro. It looked lovely...but the French bistro didn't exist. It was just a sign. The garage nightclub was a large venue that was just a passageway 95% of the time, the bar wasn't open and no events happened in it at all during the day. The kids pool area looked amazing and we felt (we are 2 adults) that one of the other pools should have been make adult only. Both NCL and RCI have adult only areas but MSC didn't do this (that's just personal preference). All the areas just felt a bit blah, the lounges were just generic lounges you'd expect on a ferry. No real theming. We went to look round the speciality restaurants and these are all in the 1 areas too, you walk through the same front door to all of them. It just felt so generic. The one thing we really enjoyed was outdoor dining at the buffet and outdoor seating at bars. People onboard - I can't talk about this cruise without addressing the other passengers. I read about this beforehand, I just didn't think it would be this bad. They were by far the rudest set of people we have ever seen on holiday. Day 2 (first full day) we were at the pool deck. We had been there around 4 hours. A woman came up and started shouting at us telling us we had taken her sunbed (we hadn't). I said sorry but I think you must be mistaken, we've been here for hours etc. She took our towels and threw them in the pool and shouted at us. What. On. Earth? Now we didn't see anything as extreme as this but we continuously seen people fighting over sunloungers, throwing people's things off the beds and replacing them with their own. The buffet was another place to see people at their rudest. It really opened our eyes. The ports - the ports were the thing that attracted us to this sailing and they didn't disappoint. In order of preference - 1. Barcelona 2. Genoa (Santa Margherita) 3. Naples 4. Valletta 5. Messina... Marseille was where we embarked and we thought that was fine too. Evaluation - it felt like we were on a Ryanair cruise. Want an ice cream? You pay for it (yes even for the wee machines). Want to have dinner? You need to go through all their sales pitch first. Want good service? Well that's a hit or miss and tough if someone's having a bad day as you didn't pay for good service. Conclusion - the experience we had with the MDR managers was disgraceful. It ruined a bit part of our holiday and the very poor drinks service at the buffet was extremely disappointing. Both of these along with the rudeness of passengers has outweighed the positives for us. On the positive side - the service in bars/lounges was extremely good. The entertainment was very good and the choice of drinks was very good too. We paid $99 each for a drinks & internet package which was great value for money. The free upgrade to a balcony made this a very good value for money cruise. To be clear, we paid roughly the same price in April for 7 nights on Symphony of the Seas with a non-alc drinks package. If I was offered both again (note: Symphony left from Miami and therefore flights were far more expensive, this is simply based on the cost of the sailing) then it would be a no contest. Interior room on Symphony with non-alc drinks package would far be superior to balcony on Seaview with full drinks package with internet.

There are alot of things that could cause chaos on a cruise ship but it doesn't happen. If everyone showed up to dinner and ordered the same dish I'm sure it would cause chaos but it doesn't happen, in the same way that they know there will only be one or two people who would like to change on any given night. To be clear, I was never given a choice by MSC on my dining time. If I was to take a video of the service in bar areas compared to the sales pitch at dinner every night you would think I was on 2 different ships. You say the crux of the issue is someone wanted special treatment - being able to get a drink at breakfast or lunch at the same time as eating in my humble opinion should not be special treatment. Being passed from pillar to post and then told it's no issue to change dinner time for it then to be an issue is not special treatment (albeit the original request was asking for flexibility) and being able to go on a cruise ship without being sat down and told your drinks package isn't good enough should also not be special treatment. Only my opinion but I do think there's alot that I've spoken about that isn't me being dramatic or wanting unrealistic service

I agree...that's definitely how it feels. Here's hoping it gets better...will see how dinner goes tonight. I can also understand what some are saying - imagine if everyone wanted to change dinner time. I understand what you're saying 👌 but there's a way to do it...and a way to speak to passengers. At the moment I don't feel like I'm on holiday when I'm on the ship, I feel like I've signed up to a week long sales pitch. That's not the way I want it to be on holiday 😢 I want to love the ship and the staff but at the moment that is just not happening.

I read the reviews beforehand and always thought that there's people that will find problems no matter what and it must just be people who look for issues...but I couldn't agree with you more. "That's not my job", "that's not my area" is a common phrase from the staff and realistically we got our dinner last night but it didn't have to be like that. The upselling is unbelievable and like someone else said it's worthy of getting rid of the service charges. I just can't help but feel that those who are causing the issues are not necessarily the ones that would be hurt by taking off the service charge if that makes sense. Anyway, we are going to go and enjoy the holiday and full report to follow for those who want it after our holiday 🙈

Hi, I'm not sure it's fair to say I messed dinner time up. I was assigned to 6:15, not given an option. On the whole we're happy with that - we can work round it. But when the ship doesn't arrive into port til 1pm and stays in port til 7pm I do feel they should be flexible. I agree, 5pm is not the best time to sort it but that is why we tried several times in the morning to sort it. I'll be honest, it felt like a fight... and that's not the way I want to be on holiday (don't get me wrong I'm sure I've grumbled at small things in the past as we all will from time to time). It really felt like it was me against the restaurant which was bizarre. I didn't mention this last night but when guest services said to go at 8pm we turned up and the assistant manager argued with the manager that we should be told to come back at 10pm even though the manager wanted to sort it. It wasn't a nice experience. Sitting having dinner and a supervisor (white shirt) is walking around telling waiters "that isn't how you serve tables". It's just bizarre. The staff seem to be almost fighting within themselves. However, the service at bars is the absolute opposite. They are attentive, friendly, funny...and I don't just mean one bar...we've not had anything other than a warm reception in any bar we've been to. So strange

This is my first cruise on MSC and we joined on Saturday. I have to say I am less than impressed...I do hope later in the cruise I'm able to come back and update this in a positive way. The good - the quality of the food and the service in bars. However, the service in the restaurants is absolutely appalling. As soon as we stepped on the boat we were ushered to a table where a waiter told us about all the speciality restaurants, gave us a sales pitch and then said "most guests go for the €115pp option so shall I get you signed up?" Eh no. First night in the dining room and I seen 2 waiters walking about with a sheet of paper. You guessed it...even at dinner they were asking you to upgrade. Fast forward to breakfast the next morning and we went to the buffet. I went to the bar to ask for a coffee and was told to sit down and someone would take my order. Well I had my breakfast, no-one in sight. So I went to the bar and said I'd like a coffee and I've now finished my breakfast and no-one has came. "Sit down sir and someone will come". 15 minutes later I left...with no coffee. At dinner that night once again, a waiter carried around a plate with a raw steak on it trying to get people to upgrade. They came to my table whilst I was having desert and asked me to upgrade to the steak. I said sorry, I've had my dinner and I'm just finishing dessert....but no that wasn't enough. "But you can still have steak sir". No thanks, I've had my dinner. "So you don't like steak?"...no I do like steak but I've just had my dinner. "Well you can have the steak too?".... seriously stop harassing me. Next day (today) we docked in Naples. We were in Naples until 7pm and our dinner time was 6:15 so I got up first thing to ask to change our dinner time. I went to the MDR and explained we were planning on being in Naples until 7pm could we change our dinner time (this was 8:30am). They sent us to the speciality restaurants which I thought was strange but ok...so went up there. Was told they can't change times for main dining room (but you guessed it....) But they could book us into speciality. I said no thanks I just want to change my time in the MDR. She sent me down to the MDR. I explained again to the staff and they said the restaurant manager will be here at 5pm, come then and it'll be no issue. (Let's leave that story there for the moment...) We then have lunch at 12 noon in the buffet to get off at 1pm in Naples. We sat down and asked a waiter for a drink. He said he doesn't take drinks orders but he'll get someone. We waited. And waited. Until the same waiter was walking about again so we said oh we were waiting on someone coming to take a drinks order. Again he said he would get someone. We finished our lunch and I seen the head waiter so I explained we had waited a long time but have not had a drinks order taken, we've now finished our lunch and realistically we shouldn't have to wait >20-25mins for an order to be taken having already asked several times. He said "well someone will take it now". I didn't want to be awkward or negative but explained that there are alot of staff around who are literally walking doing nothing and the same thing has happened at breakfast. He said to me "well you're getting your order taken now so what else do you want?"...wow. I have sailed on a good few ships in my time and have never been spoken to like this. If you don't want to serve people then at least let them go to the bar and order for themselves. Back to our dinner reservation. I said to my wife I'd go back onboard at 5pm to get dinner sorted...so jumped back on the ship and went to the MDR. Surprise surprise, doors closed and no-one to be seen. I went to guest services and they said not to worry, turn up when we want and go to the my time dining. We went at 7:45pm and said could we have a table for 2. "No, your table is 6:15 you need to go to the buffet". I said I had ran about several times today to try and change this and spoke with guest services who said for me to come whenever and you would help. The supervisor said no, we aren't aurea class so can't do this and we have to go to the buffet. I said I'd really prefer not to, I had tried everything I could to change times and thought we had sorted it with guest services. He said he would give us a table at 10pm which I really didn't want, plus we had a show booked for 10:30 so we would miss it. He said there's nothing he can do, it's our fault for missing our time. I went back to guest services and the woman phoned the restaurant who said they could take us if we go now....we went and had dinner. Why was it that hard? Not to mention they then came round AGAIN and tried to sell limoncello souvenir glasses. I've got to say, unless this gets significantly better I will not touch MSC again. It is horrific in the restaurants. I feel like I'm in a bar in a holiday resort with someone coming in every night trying to sell me stuff...I wouldn't be surprised if the head waiter brings up a bundle of watches and sunglasses tomorrow and asks us to buy it. It's desperate and really quite off putting.

I just paid for an guaranteed inside for Saturday and have been given a cracking balcony cabin.... With an unexpected £50 OBC on top too....I'm happy.

You don't need there's....BUT your insurance has to cover certain things (my wife and I got ours for £34 for the 2 of us) ....but your cover must explicitly state that X, Y and Z are covered.

Agreed...thank you!

Oh wow, wish the UK website would have the values as clear as this. Although, $25k seems so little, most of our insurance covers up to £15m in medical expenses (p.s. no idea what would actually cost £15m)

In short, the insurance (without all the T&C's states) Your policy includes cover for any medical claim due to Coronavirus while travelling. We include cover for cancellation due to you falling ill with Coronavirus* and being unable to travel or being required to self isolate, subject to medical certification or an official test result. We additionally include cover for curtailment due to the death of a close relative due to Coronavirus* We will not cover any cancellation due to government or other regulatory authority restriction on travel due to Coronavirus* or any future pandemic.

You're not sounding rude 👍 the insurance comes with a long list of things it covers you for with Covid....the problem is MSC don't give a full breakdown on exactly what they want. I'm going with this and if they make a fuss at the port I guess I'll need to go online and buy something else at that point

So...I purchased insurance. I'm 99% sure it ticks all the Covid boxes. I've attached their "Covid" document here, can someone please put me out my misery and tell me it covers me ok? Thank you! important-information-coronavirus-cover-latest (3) (1).pdf

👎 That's what I've heard now. I'm a numpty. Oh well, better hope for a negative then!