POESIA Review 03.20.2010 General Impressions post-cruise

As most of you know, there have been some really bad reviews of MSC and the Poesia on this board. I booked knowing full well what kinds of things people were complaining about and at one point I seriously thought about cancelling our trip. I decided I would take this cruise and then come back and write the most honest review I could. This is what I have tried to do and I hope I have succeeded.

This line and this ship are not perfect. No cruise is perfect. But the Poesia offers a good product at a fair price and 99% of the things I feared never materialized.

There were very few rude passengers, Italian, French, or otherwise. Actually only a couple of minor transgressions noticed-things I probably wouldn't have even been aware of had I not heard so much about this issue on this board. No pushing, shoving, line-cutting to be found. Very little chair-hogging-people were usually sitting in their chairs or not absent long.

The staff was friendly, everyone we met smiled and said hello at the very least. The staff was polite and professional. If they weren't in-your-face buddy-buddy that's ok. They weren't aloof. They do a good job.

The food was hit or miss. The prime rib was good but the halibut was overcooked by about an hour. I had a pretty decent filet but the lobster was mediocre. The soups all appeared to have been made with the same base, which became a running joke with people ordering the soup just to see what changes had been made that night. But they tasted pretty good anyway. The vegetables were usually served luke warm and there wasn't much variety but at least they weren't overcooked. My family enjoyed most of the pasta dishes they tried. The desserts that I tasted were yummy and I was pleased to find that there was always a low-sugar or sugar-free option even if it was only sugar-free jello. Many times there was a low-sugar cake, which was very good. I now know my 10 y/o granddaughter can live for a week on nothing but gelato. I tried it and I think I could, too.

The breakfast buffet offers a lot of choices, from eggs, to fruit, to bacon and sausage to pancakes and waffles and more. The lunch buffet was pretty good-served a lot of leftovers from the night before it seemed, but that's fine with us. Dinner buffet often had many of the same entrees that were being served in the dining room. That's where I had some awsome ossobucco! I never thought to find it in a buffet line. It would be nice to see a few more items on the salad bar but it was adequate. Lots of nice fresh fruit available daily. The breads were fresh. They even had freshly made donuts. Good coffee. I really liked the coffee.

The buffet lines did get long at times, but no one seemed to mind too much. Other than the first day, with the line midway down the length of the ship, it moved pretty quickly. And we found the long line on day one ws actually caused by a surprise health inspection which delayed the opening and for which the Captain offerred an apology.

Overall I would say the food was comparable to our previous cruises. Not stellar, but certainly not bad. I'm diabetic and I could always find plenty to eat even though I have to follow a VERY low carb diet.

The ship is beautiful and well maintained. Very nicely decorated, everywhere. The Logo Shop could definitely use a bit more variety. And $10 for a tiny bottle of Hello Kitty nail polish was not likely to encourge sales.

There were few announcements, which I thought was good. We did overhear a few passengers complaining that they were missing activities because they weren't being announced but it's all printed in the Daily Program so all you need to do is read it. We found we enjoyed hearing the announcements in the different languges. The crew does a good job of that. They just flow from one tongue to the next. There was one trivia game being played where language proved to be a problem as the young lady reading the questions had such a heavy accent that none of the English-speaking pssengers could understand the question, but this was the only evidence I saw of this.

Embarkation and disembarkation both went smoothly. Not much line and no delays.

The shows were very good as were as the other activities. Not a lot of people participated but they were fun and well orgnized as far as I could see.

I did not notice many people complaining on this cruise. One woman I talked to did not care for the fact that there is a gap between lunch and dinner at which time there is no food available at the buffet but this wasn't a deal breaker for her. She just found it annoying and inconvenient.

Another was overheard to say she was never going on another cruise because it was too windy on deck. LOL

Overall everyone seemed pretty content.

I would definitely be willing to sail the MSC Poesia in the future and I have no reservtions about recommending it to my friends.

NOTE: I 'm still not sure how to correctly pronounce the name of this ship. I have heard it pronounced as Po-ee-SEE-a, Po-EE-see-a; Po-see-a and Poy-ZEE-a. And all these pronunciations were by Italian-speaking crew members!

Thanks for your review. Time did not permit me to take a longer cruise on the Poesia next month. We will be aboard for 3 nights in late April, the last cruise before the ship sails to New York, then across the Atlantic. We're looking forward to our cruise.

Thank you so much for your review and really happy that you enjoyed it so much. The ship sounds beautiful and we hope to be able to sail on her soon.

Beryl

The correct pronounciation of the name Poesia is: Po-a-SEE-ah. The letter "e" in Italian is pronounced as a long "a" and in this case the heavy accent is on that "si" in Poesia. The word means "poem."

We'll be going aboard her for the first time in a couple more months.

I am so thrilled that your cruise went well. I have been telling people for a long time on here not to worry and to go with a smile and just enjoy, since there is really so much to enjoy on the beautiful Poesia. Sorry your granddaughter had a major melt down .... at least you can give her back to the parents soon! Our kids are in the we hate you mode of living...teens!

.... at least you can give her back to the parents soon!

LOL :rolleyes: Nope-she lives with me!

Thanks so much for your review. We sail on her in 18 days! We have had a few people tell us how to pronounce her name even on these boards there is no agreement. We just tell people that we are going on the Italian Poem!

:)

We were on the same cruise with a great experience also. Another problem with the buffet on the first day was that people waited in line not knowing they could go on back to the next room and their was a repeat of the buffet with no line.

Meant no disrespect about the grandkids!

Anyone thinking of doing Poesia again for the 10 night in Nov? It is doing a unique route.... Cozumel( yes they changed it from PDC), Panama, Costa rica, Columbia, and Jamaica! If you need any info pls email. I have done SO much research on each port for tours.

We were on the same cruise with a great experience also. Another problem with the buffet on the first day was that people waited in line not knowing they could go on back to the next room and their was a repeat of the buffet with no line.

We were on the same cruise and also on the Orchestra last year so we knew about the aft buffet. We didn't board until 1:30, so we dropped our carryons in the room and went straight to the buffet. The line was backed up on both sides past the first pool area. No problem, we know this secret that most don't know, so we headed to the back buffet. It wasn't open yet, so we settled on salad, which was very scarce, and listened to everyone complain. Not a very good start for MSC. We couldn't understand what was going on because we never ran into anything like this last year. Eventually, the back buffets opened up on both sides while we were eating salads, so we got some real food. About an hour later there was an announcement apologizing for the confusion. They said the Health Dept. had boarded for an inspection and they couldn't serve food until the inspection was over. And they said they scored 100 on the inspection.

Meant no disrespect about the grandkids!

Oh, I didn't think you did! :)

You did it again vi. Excellent summary. I read all of your daily reviews & enjoyed every one. Dw & i are on the 4/27 t/a to germany. Looking forward to it more now then ever.

We've been on over 60 cruises over 23 yrs & most were very good & some not so good but had a good time on all. You cant expect perfection in an imperfect world. The crew members work very long & very hard to make you comfortable. I might be a wierdo because i love it when things go wrong. It adds some excitement to it & i love to sit back & watch how the people react to it. Not well in most cases. Every cruise is a new adventure, so enjoy it.

I also dont understand the infatuation with food. How much can one eat & why do you have to have food between meals? All the food i've seen is edible & filling. Half the time dw & i skip dinner by having a late breakfast & lunch. There's always room service.

Anyway, thanks for the nice reviews.

Lightenup folks.

I also dont understand the infatuation with food. All the food i've seen is edible & filling.

:D I've often wondered the same thing. A number of years go I was involved in a discussion with someone on another board who was complaining about the food on their cruise. From what I can recall it was something along the lines of the filet was medium, not medium rare or the escargot portions were too small or some such issue. Silly stuff. Anyway, at the time I was reading the post I just had to wonder what some people eat on a daily basis. I happened to be eating tuna casserole that night. . .;)

I figure when I'm on a cruise I don't have to cook or clean up, my dinner is served to me by a relatively genial waitperson in a nicely appointed dining room, and all I have to do is sit there and enjoy it.

I have had things to eat while cruising that I loved, some that I didn't like at all, and nothing that was unfit to eat. It's all good. A bad meal on a cruise ship is better than a gourmet lunch at work.:)

Lol. Amen vi!!!

Double Amen!!!

The food was definitely better than my food at home. It was served to me, and I didn't have to do dishes. The weather was much better than at home also!! So much fun!!!

Hi - Thank you for your review, we are due to sail on the Poesia TransAtlantic cruise in 3 weeks time. We have cruised with MSC before and have had mixed experiences, (3 good and one not so good cruise) however I agree with you that on the whole they do provide a value for money product. It was great to read the many positive comments you made about the Poesia and this has helped to make me feel a lot more confident about our forthcoming cruise. I note from one of your posts that you stayed in an Aft cabin. We are booked into one of these aft cabins. I have read on some other posts that these aft cabins can be subject to vibration noises and this has concerned me. Can you tell me if you experienced any vibration from the engine.

Irene

I note from one of your posts that you stayed in an Aft cabin. We are booked into one of these aft cabins. I have read on some other posts that these aft cabins can be subject to vibration noises and this has concerned me. Can you tell me if you experienced any vibration from the engine.

Irene

Yes, there is some vibration. There always is when you have a cabin in this location, more noticeable on some ships than on others. My husband felt he was more aware of the vibration on the Poesia than when we sailed the NCL Star in the same location. I would not call it a "noise" however-it's more of a feeling as as opposed to any actual sound. It was not disturbing at any time. Of course, we were expecting it and it doesn't bother us so others may feel differently.

Hi irene

why dont you come over & join us on the rc for the t/a? I assume you're going on the 4/27 trip.

Lou

Hi - Thank you for your review, we are due to sail on the Poesia TransAtlantic cruise in 3 weeks time. We have cruised with MSC before and have had mixed experiences, (3 good and one not so good cruise) however I agree with you that on the whole they do provide a value for money product. It was great to read the many positive comments you made about the Poesia and this has helped to make me feel a lot more confident about our forthcoming cruise. I note from one of your posts that you stayed in an Aft cabin. We are booked into one of these aft cabins. I have read on some other posts that these aft cabins can be subject to vibration noises and this has concerned me. Can you tell me if you experienced any vibration from the engine.

Irene

There are some MAJOR vibration problems with this ship, VERY noticeable at times, not necessarily when applying a lot of power to the engines.

You can really feel it at times all over the ship.

Never felt them like this on a cruise ship before.