Random thoughts on Poesia 1/16-23 cruise

[jetboy1]

Getting on the ship was easy. The line was never long and kept moving. First impression of the ship was very good, clean and shiny. And you always saw people cleaning areas of the ship all the time.

 

Room was nice, not big but big enough. Our cabin steward was very good at keeping things tidy and always had a happy smile and "Hello!" for us.

 

I heard various people grumble about the food, but I liked it. I think some people are just afraid to try new stuff. I did prefer the laid back dining room for lunch and dinner rather than the long lines at the buffet. But the buffet food was good too. The Midnight Buffet had tons of yummy deserts, I probably good give up food for a week to make up for how I gorged.

 

We didn't try the specialty restaurants, partly because we don't care for sushi and the food was interesting enough in the dining room. Also, I might be just a little bit of a tightwad to spend extra money when it's 'free' in the dining room. Biggest disappointment was the lobster. Didn't know you could ruin lobster but I guess you can. Weirdest thing at dinner was a table mate who ordered a salad and got a half a bowl of sugar with some lettuce on top.:( But they did bring the table a bottle of wine to make up for it.:D Our waiter told us this was his first day on the job. We kind of wondered if he tells that to everyone. :) He was nice enough but it took till Friday before he brought my wife her iced tea and me my coffee that we asked for every night.

 

The entertainment was pretty good. I must say I've enjoyed having comedians do an act on other cruise ships but I understand that may be

a little difficult with so many countries and languages involved.

 

Marco and the lady that announced the shows were very attractive people. My wife says make that: "Marco was hot!" And I'll throw in that the lady was; how do you say it in Italian? "Mama Mia that's a spicy meatball!"

 

 

Being a baseball fan I enjoyed the meet and greet with the retired baseball players. Johnny Romano, Ken Griffey, Stan Bahnsen, Jeff Torberg and Cookie Rojas were all very nice to talk to. We didn't book the cruise because of this but it was a unique experience.

 

Something the entertainment staff could have done was have delayed the earthquake on Grand Cayman till we got there.:D Yes there was a 5.8 quake on the island just before we got there. All it did was shake things for 15 seconds or so and no more damage than a couple of broken windows.

I did talk to a couple of locals about it to hear what it was like. I even had someone from the BBC want to interview me.

 

I did like the lack of interruptions with announcements all day long. I'm perfectly able to read the program and remember what events I want to attend.

 

Getting off the ship went smoothly too. With a 4:30 flight we were in no rush to leave.

 

The big question; would I cruise on MSC again? I have to be honest and say I'm not sure. One of the things I like on Norwegian is the free style dining. MSC dinner times of 5:30 and 8:00 is like goldie locks and the three bears. 5:30 is TOO early and 8:00pm is TOO late.

[arf2005]

Wow - Cookie Rojas - Go Kansas City Royals! Those were the fun days when the Royals were beginning to win and we could name all the players!

 

Thanks for the review. Could you tell me if you stopped in Playa or if they went into Cozumel instead?

[jetboy1]

Wow - Cookie Rojas - Go Kansas City Royals! Those were the fun days when the Royals were beginning to win and we could name all the players!

 

Thanks for the review. Could you tell me if you stopped in Playa or if they went into Cozumel instead?

 

Playa del Carmen was scheduled but they went to Cozumel instead because of wind or currents or something. That didn't bother me, I like Cozumel. For anyone going there I suggest stopping by the Flamingo Hotel for an inexpensive drink in a nice local atmosphere.

[jetboy1]

Another random thought:

 

We had an annoying squeak in our room. It must have bugged others also because when I looked to see what the problem was I saw folded up pieces of paper stuck in where the ceiling and wall meet near the balcony. It was worst on the first night otherwise I would have called in to have it taken care of.

[jetboy1]

More about the entertainment:

 

The main singer was quite talented. I especially like her rendition of a Witney Houston song. I thought it was cute hearing Italian accent sneak into the song occaisionally.

 

I found the tenor very pleasing. I wouldn't know a good tenor from a bad one but he had what I would consider a strong voice. I also liked how he smiled while he sang. It just made him seem very likeable.

 

The two guy gumnasts were incredible. The thing they did where the one guy stood up and the other was upside down and shoulder to shoulder was impossible, but still they did it.

 

The balance beam thing the russian girl (I'm just assuming she was russian) did was amazing too. My wife was afraid to look as her partners sprung her higher and higher into the air.

[camofwilliamsburg]

WE were on the 10 night Poesia in Nov 30 - Dec 10 and we had similar entertainment. The girl on the beam was amazing... she slipped and caught herself on her butt on the beam. After that she stood there for about 45 sec recomposing herself and then did a perfect double. We covered our eyes and peeked out....

Yes Marco is quite the eye candy for us..... hey the dancers are for the guys to ooggle over! LOL! WE thought the food was wonderful too finding many superior dishes to any other cruise line. Our lobster was not done well either...way too dry... but other stuff made up for it. Did you try to baked alaska? That was the best we ever had with the pistachio ice cream and the cake part was very good.

MSC does a really nice job on entertainment and I am glad you enjoyed yourself too. The more people coming onto CC and reporting back such positive info really helps to negate the poor ones. Sounds like you were open to differences and you enjoyed it. My friends are on the cruise now in the Caribbean and I cannot wait to talk to them when they return.