MSC Musica 28 October 2006

My husband and I have just signed up for this 11 nt cruise. I cruised with MSC last July on the Melody (my £10 Daily Express cruise). The Melody was a small ship but I believe the Musica is a brand new ship so that should be exciting.

We got a deal (I think) - Balcony cabin for £1,049 each. We are on the Sea Princess in April for 2 weeks transatlantic then on the Legend of the Seas in August for a week with my sister & her 13 year old son.

That means 3 cruises this year! Woopee. We only have an inside cabin on the Legend & the Sea Princess so we will really looking forward to the balcony in Oct.

Has anyone else booked this cruise? If so, it would be great to hear from you.

Hi Lesleyfb, thats a good deal for a balcony cabin for 11 nights! Where did you get it from?

I too am a DE cruiser (Armonia and Melody):)

The same travel agent often offers good value singles rates on MSC. ;)

This thread has been lying dormant so I've brought it back to life as its not that long now till the cruise.

I have heard there are 2 dining rooms on the Magica; Le Maxim and l'Oleandra.

Can you pick which one you want to eat in or are they assigned beforehand?

Which is the best dining room? I have heard comments about noise in one of them because of the low ceiling - can't remember which.

Has anybody looked at the excursions on line yet? Has anybody booked an excursion yet.

Hi from a fellow Daily Express £10 cruiser (Opera 10 Sep'06). Like you I have also now booked a second MSC cruise and can't wait to be back onboard. this time I am sailing on the Armonia. I am envious of you on your Musica balcony though!

This thread has been lying dormant so I've brought it back to life as its not that long now till the cruise.

 

I have heard there are 2 dining rooms on the Magica; Le Maxim and l'Oleandra.

Can you pick which one you want to eat in or are they assigned beforehand?

 

Which is the best dining room? I have heard comments about noise in one of them because of the low ceiling - can't remember which.

 

Has anybody looked at the excursions on line yet? Has anybody booked an excursion yet.

Don't confuse the Musica of MSC with the Magica of Costa. You have the dining room names right but the name of ship wrong. I am disappointed that none of the chairs in the dining rooms have arms. Considering how much time is spent sitting in them I think it is a very unfortunate omission:(

Its because we went on the Costa Magica last year. We are looking forward to the MSC Musica though. I just need to find out more info re the dining rooms. Can anyone help?

Hi there

My husband and I have just returned from a week on MSC Musica. We had a fantastic time (it was our honeymoon!).

We had our evening meal in Le Maxim restaurant. We were assigned the table and restaurant at the beginning of the week by the Maitre d'hotel. We are English and were seated with 2 other english speaking couples.

We were not aware of alot of noise in the restaurant. The service was excellent and the food was also very good.

We hope yopu enjoy yourselves as much as we did. Please let me know if you have any further questions

We also were assigned to Le Maxim for dinner when we cruised on the Musica earlier in the month. We had lunch a couple of times in the L'Oleandro and did find it slightly noisier than the Maxim at lunch times, but only slightly.

We had a balcony cabin on deck 12, which was well worth the money. Hopefully you will be on the left side of the ship (I still can't tell my port from my starboard after 5 cruises!) as you will have the best views of St Mark's Square as you leave Venice and head out to sea.

On the issue of excursions, we took the half day trip to Ephesus, a full day tour of Istanbul and the walking trip around Dubrovnik. As with all excursions they are not cheap as doing it yourself but the guides are excellent and you are placed with other english speakers where the numbers allow it.

Thanks for the info. I've asked my TA to request Le Maxim for dinner - a large table, preferably with English speakers.

I also remember PORT is left - they each have 4 letters. Easy eh.

Can I ask a question to people who've been on Musica this summer, please? I've got an MSC brochure for this summer, and when I was looking at the Musica itinerary it seemed that some of the stays in port were for quite short periods of time, and perhaps awkward times as well.

How did it work out in practice?

Hi Tom

I was on the Musica in September. We found the time in each port about right really. We chose not to do the tours and found our own way around which we found more exciting (and less expensive!)

The stop in Bari (about 3 - 4 hours) was adequate as the shops were closed (being a Sunday). We walked along the top of the beach, found a cafe and just enjoyed the lovely weather. We stopped off at a small fish market which was interesting with all the local fisherman selling their octopus etc! We returned to the ship before the departure time.

Katakolon was also about right. Some people did the Coach trip to Olympia, but there are also taxis on the dock offering to take you there.

Apparently this is very interesting but alot of walking. We again chose to stroll around the local area, mainly one street with some lovely little shops/ cafes. There are also some nice bars facing the port with a good view of the ship for photos! We had a nice relaxing stop here with plenty of time. (approx 4 hours).

Izmir we found a bit disappointing. We decided to walk from the ship to explore the area and walked for miles! We found the small Bazaar which was nothing exciting and had a beer in a nice bar/restaurant at the end of the pier. Some people did the tour to Ephesus which was supposed to be lovely, so we wish we had done this now! It was a good experience though, again with adequate time.

Istanbul was fascinating. Plenty of taxis queued outside the docks offering to give you a tour, but watch the prices because they can charge what they like. We turned left out of the dock and walked to the first Tram stop. From here we got on a blue line tram directly to the Blue Mosque area (about 15 - 20 mins) and from here explored the area. The grand Bazaar was brilliant. We actually walked back to the ship by following the tram line. This was such a long way but we really enjoyed the walk and felt we soaked up the atmosphere and took in lots by soing this. The Blue Mosque was beautiful. Plenty of time here ( about 7 hours).

Finally Dubrovnik was lovely. The ship docked just outside the old walls and the ships tenders ferried passengers to and fro. This was well organised and very quick. Again adequate time to walk around the walls or around the streets of the old town as there isn't a great deal there really, although very beautiful.

I hope I have answered your question! We found the times more than adequate really.

We got our documents this morning. Can't wait to be sitting on our balcony with a long cool drink in hand. Fantastic.

Does anyone know when the Italian school kids are on half term?