POESIA -March 13-20

[arf2005]

Really worn out but wanted to get some thoughts down while they were still fresh. Hope they make sense!

 

The Good:

 

Getting onboard - very smooth - if you are there by 10:30 or 11:00 you will be abl to board fairly quickly.

 

Beautiful ship - elevators and stairs well placed and numerous - seldom had to wait long for an elevator as they moved very quickly. There are people cleaning all over the ship (however if you look closely many aren't workly extremely hard - they are merely passing time). Love the positioning of the Zebra Lounge and it's central location v the big lounge in the back some of the ships use.

 

98.5% of the crew was delightful

 

Entertainment staff was so involved in so many activitives they became well recognized early on - in fact, many probably thought Richard was the cruise director! Other than hearing Anna's voice make announcements, I think I saw her a few times around the ship or on stage but she didn't have nearly the impact Richard did.

 

Photographers - several had a real eye for a good picture. They weren't pushy about picture taking and their prices were very reasonable with specials each day.

 

Michael Jackson tribute show

 

Design of the disco with it opening up to the back of the ship

 

Our room steward! (By the way, for those who have complained about the employees mixing with the passengers, the entertainment staff is paide to do just that. They go from one lounge to the next getting people involved in the dancing and other activities. It reminded me of reading about older cruise ships where they would hire gentlemen for the sole purpose of dancing with single ladies.)

 

The buffet manager who found us ice cream after the soft serve station had closed! The four year old with a hurt foot needed some!

 

The majority of passengers who were neither more nor less rude than any other cruise I've been on.

 

Vivene - part of the entertainment staff

 

The Not So Good

 

The 1.5% of the staff who caused (and are causing) this ship and it's staff to leave an impression in peoples mind (we remember the bad longer than the good unfortunately) that is negative enough to have customers removing the service charge.

EXAMPLES: (not all mine - but all examples from my group)

 

The waiter who rolled his eyes upon being asked for an extra dessert so we coud celebrate a 2 year old birthday. He made it obvioua he felt put upon by having to go get another piece.

 

The room steward who said we had to leave the rom in 5 minutes or it wouldn't be cleaned - excuse me - whose schedule are we on here?

 

The buffet drector who refused to open the breakfast buffett for about ten early birds about 5 minutes early (even though it was ready) and scolded severl for taking bread from off the line).

 

The buffet worker who scolded me for putting a spoon back in the wrong serving dish - was I wrong - yes - should be have spoken to me in that manner - absolutely not (and I almost removed the tips from my account after this incident).

 

The bartenders who upon several occassions ignored or were rude to customers

 

Closing the casino at about 1 or 1:30 each night. As one mother commentd - she spent all day and evening with her children and had hopes of an hour of adult time in the casino but they closed as she came in. They didn't seem to care how many people were playing.

 

Another casino issue - very tight machines, very few choices (mostly 25 cents). I've never seen such tight machines. If you have a payments over $100 the attendent has to come to pay you. They also pay out in coins - YUCK! They need to go to paper!

 

About to fall asleep at the computer - will finish tomorrow.

[familyof4cruising]

Thank you for the review.

 

Was it worth going on MSC for the kids free aspect? would you do it again? did the lunch buffet hours affect you? how was the food?

 

I am not sure of your cruise history...but compared to other cruises was it up to par?

 

Thanks

[arf2005]

Familyof4cruising - our history of cruising consists of 4 previous cruises all of which were with Carnival (as I dive below my computer waiting for the eggs to be thrown by all the MSC fans here!). I think it depends on the age of your children and the price you are able to get for your cruise. Would I go again - yes, if the price was right and the ports of call ones I haven't been to. However, I probably wouldn't return to them to repeat ports as I have with Carnival.

 

As for the food it was ok. With children, the lack of food items throughout the day was an issue (I didn't think it would be for me, but it was for the kids). When we couldn't find milk for a 2 and 4 year old at 10 in the morning, that's a bit of a problem (we began saving extra from breakfast and putting it in the room fridge). I also think with the kids go free advertisment, they should open the soft serve ice cream all day. It would make for a more kid friendly ship. We did have some concerns as to whether there would be food upon returning to the ship from some of our excursions and on occassion had to settle for pizza. Again, leaving the buffet open or else having a grill open all day with hamburgers and hotdogs with a salad bar would be much more kid friendly in my opinion.

 

The food was adequate. Not good, not bad, but ok. By Thursday I was bored with the selections and ready for something different. My biggest concern with the food issue was the dining room and again, if they are going to advertise as family friendly they are going to have to work on this one. I saw where some had good service so it must be hit and miss - ours was miss! You can't take 2-2 1/2 hours to serve dinner! On average we waited 40 minutes between our appetizer (when we were done) and when our main course arrived! If we ordered two of something - for example 2 appetizers - we never got both of them. By the third night we gave up and quit going. This was probably my biggest disappointment of the cruise because I love the formal dining times.

 

The Matre D tried to work out the issues a number of tables around us were having with our service in the dining room so I have to give him credit for trying. It just never worked.

 

The breakfast items were the same (exactly) each day. I know there is only so much you can do with breakfast but if the had an omelet station or could change up the way they cooked the potatoes it would at least give some variety.

 

The prime rib and snapper were excellent. Most other dishes served for dinner were mediocre. Some were served luke warm at best. Desserts are about the same as what you would get if you went to the frozen food section of the grocery store and bought some Sara Lee items. As for the baked Alaska talked about on here before. We never saw any. We were told we would have to wait for everyone in the dining room to finish their dinner before they would serve anyone dessert that night (they wanted to make a production of it). They told us it would be a 30 minute wait. We decided not to wait as the Michael Jackson tribute show was going to be starting soon. Thank goodness we didn't as others who waited finally left at 10:30 and the dessert still had not been served! Again, not family friendly if you consider all of the children on board and making them wait!

 

A lot was said on here about the rudeness of other guests. I didn't think it was any worse than any other cruise I had been on. As for the staff seen talking in lounges with customers. Those are members of the entertainment staff and it's part of their job to get people involved in the dancing, etc.

 

If MSC would tweek a few things (and it wouldn't take much) they could be a serious contender in the Caribbean market.

[Deckhandoug]

Thanks for posting.

 

Can you tell us about the ports and your excursions?

[arf2005]

I'm having trouble replying to posts today for some reason. In response to the ports we visited, since we knew it was likely, but not 100% sure, we decided to just do some sightseeing in Cozumel. We had been here before and been to Passion Island (loved it) and and all inclusive (Mr. Sanchos, I think - also enjoyed it) so decided to go to the back side of the island this time. We stopped at a small roadside bar to get some beer for the road and then moved on to the Coconuts Bar and Grill where the scenery was unbelieveable and had the best salsa I've ever had (and I make some of the best salsa if I may say so myself!)! We continued on to Bob Marley's from there where again the scenery was beautiful. We swam a little here and had another drink or two before heading back to town where we stopped at a little Mexican restaurant for some tacos and then shopped a little. The back side of the island is very different from the tourist side and I would recommend this to anyone who wants a change of pace. We paid so many taxi drivers over the course of the week I may have this wrong, but I believe we paid $15 a person for 4 hours of time (we had 6 adults with us).

 

In Grand Cayman we went to 7 mile beach for a few hours in the morning which is a $2.50 taxi ride each way and then we had 1:30 reservations for SNUBA which I would highly recommend. It's a combination snorkel/scuba dive and the cost (depending on # of people) is around $79. If you google SNUBA you will get their website, or let me know if you want more info and I will post the site for you.

 

In Jamaica we did the Calica white water rafting. I would not recommend this if you are going in the spring because we found out during our tour that the river is always low during March so we had more of a raft ride than a white water ride (Very pricey - $90 - for not getting what we thought we were suppose to get). July on the other hand is when the river is suppose to be high enough for rapids. The scenery was beautiful however. Since we had been rafting in Costa Rica last year and loved it we were a bit disappointed in this excursion. In a previous stop in Ocho Rios we did the Dunn Water Fall and if I were to recommend anything to passengers on the Poesia I would probably recommend that excrusion through the ship. It was resonably priced and you would get to see a lot of Jamaica along the way.

 

I forgot about Key West - just did sightseeing - Duval Street - Hemingways old haunts, Irish Kevin's for a shirt for my son, etc.

 

Bahamas - Took a taxi to Atlantis in the morning - $4 per person each way. You can walk around for free and see parts of the aquarium. Part of our group bought day passes and spent the day there. You then get full access to the grounds and apuarium ($110 - pricey). Rest of our group did a Booze Cruise through Island Marketing. Picked them up right by the ship ($60 person) and cruised around the area for 4 hours. Included snorkeling, lunch and unlimited (and strong) drinks the entire time (or after you had snorkeled if you were snorkeling). There were people on the booze cruise from 21 to 81 and the music was cranked up and the dancing was nonstop - a lot of fun and the scenery was to die for (of the Bahamas - not the boozers!).

 

We had a late flight out of Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday, so we took a 3 hour tour ((9:30 am) on the Jungle Queen that toured through all the rich and famous who live in the Lauderdale area. It was a lot of fun and a good way to pass the time. $18 for adults $13 for children.

[familyof4cruising]

Thank you for your reply.

[Deckhandoug]

Sounds like the ports were pretty good, thanks for posting.

[camofwilliamsburg]

I would stick to ship tours if taking a tour for Dunns River Falls since Montego Bay is a distance from Ocho Rios. There is a closer falls and tubing to do in the MOntego Bay area though which you could do with private tours since it is closer to the port area.

Also, doing Dunns River Falls with such a large group you will be herded through the falls. Our one regret doing that was with a ship tour when we first started cruising and it was a very different experience than doing it privately. I would suggest waiting for another cruise that docks in Ocho Rios and do that tour privately and stick to something wonderful closer to the port of Montego bay. There is a lot to pick from. jamaica is a port with a lot of things to do.