2 night Poesia 13th - 15th May

[Garyorient]

I am a travel agent and I booked this two night break as I had never been on an MSC ship before, and I feel if you are selling a product you should really experience what you are selling to give an honest assessment.

 

We travelled down to Dover (UK) the day before the cruise departed, and I guess the biggest indictment of MSC Poesia is the fact that the meal we had in the local Chinese was vastly superior to anything we had on board (AND IT WAS SERVED APPRECIABLY HOTTER)

We embarked at lunchtime on the 13th. Embarkation was absolutely superb and utterly seamless. Smooth and efficient. We found our way to our cabin (balcony category 11). Clean and tidy, nice space, good balcony and reasonable bathroom, so that was all fine. The only problem was there was a considerable amount of relevent literature missing from the cabin which took an age for them to actually rectify.

We then went down to Guest Relations to register credit card, sort out all inclusive etc (which had been pre-booked and paid for) The lady on Guest Relations, whilst being perfectly pleasant had no idea about the packages, could not find out that we were on All Inclusive and I had to go back from deck 5, to my cabin on deck 11 to bring down the tickets as proof. Eventually after a period of faffing around it was sorted.

We decided on a visit to Il Palladino for lunch which was mediocre at the very best. We both had pasta type dishes which were luke warm, and quite frankly bland. Italian ship/Pasta/Bland..........not really what we were expecting or hoping for.

Ship exploration next. Always good fun and in truth the ship did not disappoint. It is lovely. Pools, pool area, bars, restaurants, in fact all the public areas are really nice. Clean bright, and each bar totally different in appearance and ambiance from the next. Casino was nice with plenty of tables and they actually have a separate poker room which is a nice touch.

Then we came to another disappointment. Both of us enjoy looking in shops. It is always a pleasant way of spending a couple of hours....... and a few dollars. Very disappointed to find out that the shops were all going to be closed for the duration of the cruise due to the fact that the ship was going into dry dock at the end of the cruise. They were doing us the favour of opening up the Duty Free for a couple of hours on the Thursday night between 1900 and 2200 (fundamentally no use whatsoever as it fell between the show and the second sitting meal). Whilst I reluctantly accept that they closed the shops, it would have been nice to know in advance of joining the cruise. We then decided to take in a Jacuzzi and relax for a while at the Aureo Spa. A lovely ambiance. Child free with 3 lovely indoor jacuzzi and not over crowded, but my goodness they could do with putting some heating in the general relaxation area. Once you get out of the jacuzzi it was so cold, which was surprising for an indoor area.

 

 

 

We went to the show on the Thursday night, and, although it was a trifle short, it was really very very good indeed. I am not normally a cruise-show person, although the person I was with is, and I would happily miss any cruise show. I am pleased we did not, as we both really enjoyed it and it provided a lovely pre-cursor to our dinner.

 

DINNER. Average, average, average.........and that is the best I can say about it. Five courses, three of which were at a level of mediocrity that I am not used to on cruises and the other two minimally better. The company on our table was wonderful, but that is not something that MSC can particularly take any credit for. It did, however make the meal palatable and enjoyable as an experience. The worst part of it all was the seemingly total inability for them to serve up any dish at a temerature appreciably better than luke warm.

A couple of little gripes dinner related (maybe a bit pedantic but hey ho!!) On Royal Caribbean/Celebrity/Princess etc cruises, if I order a bottle of wine, what I would expect to happen is that when the waiter saw that our glasses were getting low, he would ask and top up as required. Here, the bottle was just left on our table for us to pour as and when. I am not a snob by any means, it just isn't the way it should be. Also something as simple as cold water. With the above mentioned companies I would have my glass topped up from a jug by our waiter. Here it was a plastic bottle of water, left on our table to top up ourselves.

After dinner we went into a couple of the bars to try and work our way through the cocktail menu. This proved very enjoyable and great fun. THe Zebra Bar was our particular favourite but as I said earlier they were all nice.

Breakfast the following day was poor in so many respects. My companion had (and I use that word very carefully) a couple of slices of toast and a piece of waffle. The waffle was so hard that she found it virtually impossible to cut. We did think it may have been worth requesting a chisel to hack through it, but we felt our humour might fall on deaf ears. The toast was not appreciably better. The "hot" breakfast again should really have been done under the Trades Description Act. Yes it was a Breakfast. Not it was not hot, or even remotely close to that.

This day we decided to go to the buffet for lunch which, from the food point of view was tasty(ish) however I can only reiterate it was warm at best. I truly do not know what is so difficult about serving either buffet or main restaurant food at an acceptable temperature. Between the two of us, I guess we have been on some 25-30 ships varying from Celebrity, Azamara, Cunard at one end and Ocean Village and Island at the other and we have never known a ship to be so incapable. The final insult to injurry was when I attempted to pay my bill. This had come across from the US and our bill for the two days was in US Dollars. It came to $57. I only had sterling and was told that it would be £59. As I am sure you will appreciate this would have represented an exchange rate of 0.966 dollars to the pound against an exchange rate of 1.40 roughly available elsewhere. I argued this with the Accounts man who insisted that it was correct until finally someone else intervened and said that it should be £39 and not £59, but it was unnecessary and potentially unpleasant.

 

 

 

 

I will try and wrap this review up now. As a two night break we had a great time, however if I am making a genuine critique of the MSC experience I would conclude by saying the following:- 1) It purports to be 4* as does RCI/Princess etc. From a food perspective it cannot in anyway compete both in quality and presentation. 2) This is only an opinion. It appears to me that the staff to guest ration is unacceptably low as the inter-reaction with staff appears minimal and almost "fearful" 3) The language issues I have read about are unimportant and do not cause many delays or problems

Would I cruise with MSC. Maybe again on a short cruise up to 5 nights, but I would not cruise on 7 nights or longer. I feel that I go on holiday to relax and the food quality and presentation would remove the relaxation element of my holiday. I would rather pay the slightly (and I do mean slightly) higher charges from some of the other companies and receive the experience they have to offer.

[lousk]

You're post has been on here for a week with no replies. What does that tell you?

You come on for the last 2 days of a 19 day cruise on a ship that's going into drydock & expect it to be like the first 2 days? Get real.

I dont understand the food fetish & your particular idiosyncrasy with it's temperature. True, i dont like warm ice cream or cold steak. If it comes that way, i dont eat it.

And a room with no paperwork? It was taken by the people that lived in it the 17 days before you.

All i know is that i spent 19 wonderful days on a very clean ship. Met a lot of new friends from around the world, had great service fom all the crew, ate very good food, saw well done shows every night, went to excellent untroubled ports, & enjoyed every moment thoroughly.

If you really are a travel agent, then i'm glad you're not mine.

Lou

[Garyorient]

When you were at university, did you major in arrogance?

 

Is my money less valuable to me than yours is? (Yes, I paid full price for my cruise and consequently am entitled to give my honest opinion)

Does the fact that I was on the ship for two days invalidate my opinion?

 

As a Travel Agent I have been on in excess of 20 ships with 9 different cruise lines for varying lengths of time from 1 day ship visits up to 14 night cruises consequently I feel that my opinion has validity and creedance. MSC were quite frankly in the bottom two. I note that you are an experienced cruiser as well..............the difference between the two of us is the standards that we clearly find acceptable.

 

I actually do not care whether you "understand" my food fetish or temperature "idiosyncrasy". It is a fundamental requirement of any cruise I take that the food is palatable both in terms of taste and also in terms of temperature. Luke warm is not acceptable, to me at least.

 

I did not post this in order to get replies. I posted it to be informative. Perhaps you could guide me to your review so I can see your oh so interesting and informative perspective on the cruise, or are you just too lazy to do so?

 

I have praised certain aspects of the ship that I felt deserved praising..........or did you not bother to read those bits and only focused on the criticisms?............or are MSC above criticism in your blinkered eyes.? I note you make no comment regarding accounting incompetance regarding exchange rates, or was that perfectly ok as well?

 

All I can say is, if you are as unpleasant in reality as you are when acting as a keyboard warrior I am eternally grateful that I did not share a table with you, be it for 19 days, 2 days or even 1 meal.

 

You have much to learn about grace, and manners and also to comprehend the difference between criticising for the sake of it and actually being constructive and informative.

 

Get off your pedestal before you fall and hurt yourself.

[mafig]

Actually, even though no one replied quite a few people read

Garyorient's review.

 

I'm one of them who read it.

 

Thanks for posting it Garyorient.:)

[Garyorient]

Thank you.

I have no problem with anyone who disagrees with my opinion.........after all that is all it was........MY OPINION.

 

I just find rude and objectionable keyboard warriors a pain in the posterior.

 

It wasn't a fussy and biased review. It gave many positives, including cleanliness and quality of the ship, which Lousk omitted to point out, but hey, why should he let reality get in his way...............unless he actually works for MSC.

[mafig]

Really all he did was bump your review up so even more people could read it (well, I guess I just did that too;):p).

 

:)

[Garyorient]

Keep bumpin' baby!!!!;)

[Capricruiser]

When I first read the OP I discounted it since the review is of two nights at the tail end of a repositioning cruise. Whether negative or positive is not important, but I question whether the OP's review can be objective on such a short hop from Dover to Kiel(?) under those circumstances. The crew apparently was using this time to prepare the ship for it's new summer itinerary and it stands to reason it was not functioning at its best. I've never taken a two-day or mini cruise and don't intend to, and I don't suppose too many CC members have either. After a week or more on a regular itinerary you can adequately critique a ship or a cruise, but two days???

In any case, speaking of two days, I leave in two days for a 12 day North Europe cruise on the Poesia and I seriously doubt I'll have all the problems the OP had.

[Garyorient]

When I first read the OP I discounted it since the review is of two nights at the tail end of a repositioning cruise. Whether negative or positive is not important, but I question whether the OP's review can be objective on such a short hop from Dover to Kiel(?) under those circumstances. The crew apparently was using this time to prepare the ship for it's new summer itinerary and it stands to reason it was not functioning at its best. I've never taken a two-day or mini cruise and don't intend to, and I don't suppose too many CC members have either. After a week or more on a regular itinerary you can adequately critique a ship or a cruise, but two days???

In any case, speaking of two days, I leave in two days for a 12 day North Europe cruise on the Poesia and I seriously doubt I'll have all the problems the OP had.

 

Just to correct you.

Thr crew was not preparing for anything other than going home, as the ship was going into dry dock the following day.

 

I have no problem with your reasoned discussion, although I disagree inasmuch as a 2 night cruise (of which I have taken many both paid, and free is an excellent way of seeing whether you feel the cruise line would be suited to your own requirements without a major outlay in either time or money.

 

It was actaully a 2 night mini cruise that introduced the joy of cruising to my wife.

[Debbie-in-florida]

I found your review balanced. I too, was careful to note the positives in my review as well as the negatives, and I too had really nasty attacks from the cheerleaders. I don't agree at all about the 2-days being an excuse. If it was not up to par due to planned dry dock, they should not have sold it...or they should have explained that up front and offered a huge discount. And as to 2 days being insufficient to even post a valid review, I have never had to wait a few of my days on any other cruise line to give them a chance to improve. I have never had a bad day on any other cruise line. And, no, Carnival is NOT my favorite.

[Garyorient]

I found your review balanced. I too, was careful to note the positives in my review as well as the negatives, and I too had really nasty attacks from the cheerleaders. I don't agree at all about the 2-days being an excuse. If it was not up to par due to planned dry dock, they should not have sold it...or they should have explained that up front and offered a huge discount. And as to 2 days being insufficient to even post a valid review, I have never had to wait a few of my days on any other cruise line to give them a chance to improve. I have never had a bad day on any other cruise line. And, no, Carnival is NOT my favorite.

 

 

I think I have found my soul mate.

Debbie, everything you say I agree with...............will you marry me?;):p

[Debbie-in-florida]

Why sure!

[Garyorient]

Why sure!

 

54 years old and all my own teeth.;)

No hair:(

Financially utterly insecure:(

[Debbie-in-florida]

Be still my heart.

[mafig]

Lol!:d

[mrw1906]

If you are a travel agent you should know that short FAM cruises are shake downs for new crew members and you do not get the same service as paying passengers. I too am a travel agent but would never say anything bad on a site like this. I too am a travel agent but too professional to post negative comments that would discourage anyone from taking a cruise on any line. I find the food on MSC to be great. I am Italian and know what real Italian food tastes like. Please no more negative posts.

[MMDown Under]

If you are a travel agent you should know that short FAM cruises are shake downs for new crew members and you do not get the same service as paying passengers. I too am a travel agent but would never say anything bad on a site like this. I too am a travel agent but too professional to post negative comments that would discourage anyone from taking a cruise on any line. I find the food on MSC to be great. I am Italian and know what real Italian food tastes like. Please no more negative posts.

 

I travelled throughout northern italy, pre and post, my TA cruise with MSC Lirica.

 

MSC food didn't taste like real Italian food, with a few exceptions. However, as I shared a table with a real Italian, I was able to make informed choices, so ate well. Soup, pasta and pizza were always reliable choices.

 

As desserts were hit and miss, I learnt not to eagerly anticipate any dessert I was familiar with!

 

I am looking forward to my next TA on MSC Poesia in September.

[Garyorient]

If you are a travel agent you should know that short FAM cruises are shake downs for new crew members and you do not get the same service as paying passengers. I too am a travel agent but would never say anything bad on a site like this. I too am a travel agent but too professional to post negative comments that would discourage anyone from taking a cruise on any line. I find the food on MSC to be great. I am Italian and know what real Italian food tastes like. Please no more negative posts.

 

What an arrogant statement.

Do NOT under any circumstances tell me how to post.

You are unprofessional enough to draw assumptions that are fundamentally incorrect. If you would have been professional you would have known that this was a cruise that was available to the general public (including two couples who were on our table)

This was not a FAM cruise, this was an advertised an generally available to the general public cruise and all the staff were going on holiday as the ship was staying in Hamburg in dry dock........... this does not minimise the fact that as a full paying customer I am entitled to acceptable levels of service.

 

You would have made far less a fool of yourself if you would have messaged me privately and I could have educated you in everything you needed to know.

I paid for this cruise and consequently am absolutely entitled to my opinion.

[Deckhandoug]

If you are a travel agent you should know that short FAM cruises are shake downs for new crew members and you do not get the same service as paying passengers. I too am a travel agent but would never say anything bad on a site like this. I too am a travel agent but too professional to post negative comments that would discourage anyone from taking a cruise on any line. I find the food on MSC to be great. I am Italian and know what real Italian food tastes like. Please no more negative posts.

 

 

I appreciate a travel agent that posts his views, part of his job isn't it?