Splendida: Free Evening Buffet confirmed!!!!

[bigilla]

I contacted MSC and they confirmed that every evening, except on Gala nights, there is an alternative buffet onboard. It is free. Opening hours of the buffet will be announced on the daily bulletin.

 

Great news for families cruising the Mediterranean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[drblue]

Great news for families!

Thank you for the notice. I hope they also implement it on the MSC Magnifica.

[remi1au]

I contacted MSC and they confirmed that every evening, except on Gala nights, there is an alternative buffet onboard. It is free. Opening hours of the buffet will be announced on the daily bulletin.

 

Great news for families cruising the Mediterranean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

 

I wonder if this will be implemented across the fleet for all sailings ?

I hope so !

[camillu]

Sorry guys but I just returned yesterday from a cruise on MSC Splendida and the only free buffet is at the Bora Bora restaurant and only at lunch time. There was no free evening buffet .

 

Bora Bora was open in the evenings serving kebabs amongst other food but you had to pay for it.

 

Maybe they are introducing a free evening buffet on future cruises.

 

Here are my quick comments on the cruise.

 

Overall my impression of the cruise was basically not a 'WOW' but it was 'ok'. Good value for money.

 

To be fair its not a problem only on MSC cruises but of the cruise industry as a whole.

 

My first cruise was 14 years ago on a Royal Carribean ship. The quality of the food and the level of service were much better than what is given nowadays (including that of Royal Carribean). Dinner was silver service and we had a midnight buffer every night.

 

I guess cruises are now more popular than before and that's the way it should be. They are no longer linked to people of a certain age. Hence they are building bigger ships , reducing prices and cutting on costs.

 

I heard that the Japanese are building a crusie ship which will take 10,000 passnegers and 75 restaurants!! If this is true this is too much.

 

The food on the Splendida was ok but nothing special. If you want to eat really well or even have a good cup of of coffee or expresso you need to pay for it.

 

The shows again are average and nowhere compared to those I have seen on the Royal Carribean. Even carnival cruises offer better food and entertianment (at least up to about 5 years ago).

 

Bigger ships do not automatically mean better service or a better cruise.

 

Somwhere on this forum I think someone complianed of the vibrations. I can confirm this as my room was on Deck 12 and we did feel them especially when the ship was docking. We also felt the vibrations when we were were eating at the L'Olivio Restaurant on Deck 15.

 

The food at L'olivio restaurnat was excellent ans so was the service - but you need to pay for it.

 

What I found surprising was the very small size of the main pool. Altgough I do not expect an olympic size pool the main pool probably cannot take more than 30 people! They wasted too much space around the main pool which they coudl have utilised better.

 

 

Excursions: We did not take any excursions as we have alreday visited Taormina, Rome and I visited Barcellona so I knew a bit what to do.

 

However if you never been to (Messina) Taormina and Rome its worth taking the excursions. In rome you can also take the train. It will cost you €18 (return ticket) and you can use the same ticket for th metro,bus but be careful for delays.

 

Genoa: We took a boat trip to portofino for €20 (from the ship its costs more). It is defintely worth taking. You also have time to eat a good plate of pasta.

 

Marsailles: Nothing much to see so it might be worth taking an excurision.

 

Barcellona: We took a taxi (about €10) to La Rambla. We then decided to go and see La Sagrada Cathedral but was not really worth it.

 

Tunes: We stayed on board. We were there before and did not fancy being pestered by the locals.

 

 

On the whole it was an enjoyable cruise especially if you are going with friends or family.

[bigilla]

re evening free buffet: this is really strange!!! I contacted MSC and they confirmed and a member of this forum said he went on the Splendida 2 weeks ago and there was this free buffet. In fact he also uploaded the bulletin that is distributed in the cabins as proof. And the alternative buffet was there. I m getting confused. Anyway I will be sailing next Wednesday and I will report back.

[camillu]

Bigilla

 

don't worry. I will check the bullettins and will let yiu know if I find anything which is stating that there is a free evening buffet.

 

We might have been misinformed by the ship's staff!

[camillu]

Biggilla

 

I checked yej bulltins and there is nothing saying that there is a free evening buffet.

 

In fact not even that the BORA BORA restaurant will be open and offeriing food a at charge! so it is confusing but maybe you can check with your travel agent.

 

But again the staff who not all can speak decent englsih might have given us the wrong information becuase they could not express themselves correctly.

 

let me know if you do have a free evening buffet!

[PC168]

Thank you Camillu for your review.

 

Bigilla please report once you board the Spendida as we are looking forward for our upcoming cruises, if they offer FOC buffet, this helps alot as we don't want to pack too much for the MDR.

 

Happy sailing...

[bigilla]

This is the bulletin I told you about

 

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3346/img5204.jpg

 

Don t worry. I ll tell you what I found on my return. 5 days to go!!!!!

[camillu]

Biggilla

 

Yes according to the bullettin there is or was a free evening buffett.

 

I will check the bullettins I have at home and will reply later on.

[camillu]

Hi

 

Curiosity overcame me and I spoke to the travel agent and he said a free evening buffet is sometimes done when there is not enough space in the second sitting.

 

I also noticed that it was a gala evening night so maybe it was an alternative for people who do not want to go to the gala. I am sepculating.

 

In any case the gala night is no big deal. Most people were dressed up smart but there were also some in casual wear.

 

Discipline is not spledndia's strong point - children allowed in the Zen area, italains spending hours in the jacuzzi are other examples.

[bigilla]

Thanks Camillu. Where are you from? I m from Rabat but I m now living in Marsaxlokk.

[AmoMondo]

Discipline is not spledndia's strong point - children allowed in the Zen area, italains spending hours in the jacuzzi are other examples.

 

That is not unique to the Splendida. MSC generally don't enforce rules - maybe because they know they'd be wasting their breath if they were to try!

[kruzin2010]

I will be interested to hear from you once you get back....Just got off of Splendida on Friday, June 11th and there was NO evening buffet.

[Capricruiser]

There is no free evening (dinner time) buffet on any MSC ship, including the Splendida. The so-called "midnight buffet" which actually begins at 23.30 is free however, but aside from the end-of-cruise "buffet magnifico," they only serve little snack and pastry items to keep you going until breakfast.

[Zignewt]

I just returned from the Spendida on Friday June 18 and there was not an alternative dinner buffet.

 

We were delayed at sea for 2 hours one night which also delayed the return time of excursions. On that night only they did set up a buffet for those returning later than the 7:30 first dinner seating. The food in the buffet in no way compared to the excellent food we had been experiencing in the restaurant so we were thoroughly disappointed.

[hat776]

If any one is worrying about packing 'gala' clothes - there is no need. As long as you don't wear ultra casual clothes you'll be fine.

Regarding the eur 18 train ticket to Rome - I presume that's for two. We paid eur 9 each and that covered all transport in Rome.

We were in Marseille on a Sunday. We took the shuttle into Marseille. The bay was pretty with lots of people about. There were fishermen and cafes and bars. It's a relaxing walk round the bay and fort. There was also a tourist train up to the church Our Lady of the Guard. The views were lovely and you can see your ship.

We were expecting it to be so drab that we were pleasantly surprised. The entrance to Marseille is depressing.

[flossyflossy]

Hi. I've just returned from a cruise in the med aboard the Splendida. There is no such buffet. Sorry.

Floss