Anyone cruised on other cruise ships Msc Costa Princess

[boomonster]

Me and the hubby are looking to cruise in January. We are looking to book pretty last minute to hopefully get a great deal. It doesnt really matter the dates or the ports but would like at least a 6 or 7 night. I have seen some deals on other cruise lines but thought I would ask here about any experiences on MSC, Costa, Princess, Holland good or bad. I know everyone has their own opinions ,yadda yadda yadda , but thought some insight is better than no insight. Cause if it's a great deal I want to be able to snag it right away. Hubby is a food junkie and I am just out for relaxation. No need for to much entertaiment to keep me happy.Clean ,somewhat helpful staff , and nice atmosphere is all I ask. Thanks

[boomonster]

Sorry looking at the Caribbean for cruises if that helps.And yes I looked at other boards, (knock on wood) you guys havent steered me wrong yet

[cambio]

I took the Costa Fortuna out of Fort Lauderdale last January. I thought they did a good job with lamb and veal, but other dishes were not to my liking.

 

The ship itself is similar to Carnival, but if smoking bothers you I would not take Costa.

 

We loooved the entertainment staff on the Fortuna. They made our cruise.

[caribbeanboy]

I took the Costa Fortuna out of Fort Lauderdale last January. I thought they did a good job with lamb and veal, but other dishes were not to my liking.

 

The ship itself is similar to Carnival, but if smoking bothers you I would not take Costa.

 

We loooved the entertainment staff on the Fortuna. They made our cruise.

 

I took the Fortuna in March and thought that their food was better than Carnival. Very true about the entertainment staff btw.

[Forchunut1]

I was on the MSC Orchestra in February of 2009. It was a VERY clean and sparkling ship! The MDR food wasn't as good as Carnival or RCCL, but the buffet food was comparable and more diverse. There weren't as many of the staff who spoke English since they had all come from Europe and had been doing European sailings. But, that didn't affect service at all.

 

The evening shows were spectacular! Not the typical Carnival song and dance routines, but more European in flavor. Think going out for the evening to a theatre where men are in tuxes and ladies are in evening gowns. Of course, that's not what people were wearing, but that's the feeling you got. Definitely a few steps above Carnival or RCCL.

 

The port times on our cruise were really bad (late arrivals and early departures) which would be the only thing to keep me from sailing on that ship again. If that has been fixed, I would definitely recommend it.

[TaraLynne]

I've been on Disney, RCI and Princess...personally I feel that RCI was a step above Carnival and Princess for both food and service...but nowadays their itineraries and prices don't appeal to me. Disney was way overpriced unless you have little kids...not surprising. And the food and service on Princess was on par with Carnival, but their prices are usually much higher. Good luck finding the perfect cruise!

[luckycruzer]

HAL..Noordam TA this summer..was fab..food, service. Variety of guests boarding in Ft Laud. The 7 day MED Costa..great entertainment, good food, service Euro type..the guests were stinky, and the staff did in no way enforce their own rules. I would not even take money to go on it again. But of course it was Spain boarding and not alot of USA-ers. Stateside cruzing may be very different

[sarge98]

The wife and I went on the Cribbean Princess last Feb, liked it better than carnival. Cabins about same size, balcony was larger, Buffet open 24/7, What they called the International Cafe had a speciality coffee shop (extra) free snacks,pastries etc. Few of our picks.

[tmt218]

I have sailed both Carnival and Princess twice. I loved all my cruises. When I want fun and take my DD 9 I cruise Carnival. When I want a little bit more up scale and more adult I cruise Princess. They have an adults only Serenity area. The international cafe serves great coffees, pastries, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. The cookies are a great bedtime/midnight snack. Yummy! I want some right now. They also have a wine bar with numerous wine selections.

[buddylover]

Been on CCL, Disney and Princess....food on CCL is the best by far. Disney is great if you have children, but we were very disappointed in Princess. Food just fair, ship was boring, much smaller auditorium and most things go on simultaneously with the main show as the theatre doesn't hold too many pax. The ship was dead after 10 am, not impressed. It wasn't more elegant to us, just vanilla decor and boring atmosphere attempting to be more upscale.

[amistad]

I have been on CCL, RCCL, MSC, HAL, Princess and Celebrity. CCL, RCCL and Princess all pretty comparable in my opinion, HAL and Celebrity have a better passenger to crew ratio so a little better service a food in MDR, MSC would be my last choice. To clarify though my experience with MSC was a Greek Isles cruise, ship was very nice, ports were great, food was not good and the MDR service was the worst we have ever had. I am not saying MSC was terrible, it just was not what we are used to. I don't care too much about entertainment, I cruise more for the ports.

[mowb07]

Hi! I don't know if someone has already mentioned this, but Costa and Princess are both owned by Carnival Corp so your experiences on either of those won't be the same as on Carnival but would be more similar than on other lines in my humble opinion.

 

That said, I have been on Carnival, Costa, Princess and MSC (the last 2 were not in the Caribbean though).

 

Carnival definitely lives up to the "fun ship" reputation it strives for with Costa being the most similar. I loved MSC for the beauty of the ship and its elegance, the wonderful staff and the delicious food (except for the proteins/entrees which were good but not great). Princess is the line I most recently sailed and it was awesome! The entertainment was typical cruise ship stuff, the food was excellent, the ship was understated and lovely but the only negative was that the age of the passengers are definitely older than on the other lines so it gets a bit quiet after 10pm. Please understand I am not being "ageist" just stating a fact...or maybe a statistic. I just feel it is worth mentioning in case you were wondering. This may not be true in the Caribbean though and it never took away from our enjoyment as we had fun with our friends and the staff as well. So I guess it is not really a "negative" just something worth mentioning.

 

Based on the fact that your hubby is a foodie and you are looking for relaxation, I would recommend Princess - but again - just my humble opinion! :)

 

I'm sure whichever one you choose you will have an awesome time! Especially if you get a great deal haha :)

[CLE-B]

Me and the hubby are looking to cruise in January. We are looking to book pretty last minute to hopefully get a great deal. It doesnt really matter the dates or the ports but would like at least a 6 or 7 night. I have seen some deals on other cruise lines but thought I would ask here about any experiences on MSC, Costa, Princess, Holland good or bad. I know everyone has their own opinions ,yadda yadda yadda , but thought some insight is better than no insight. Cause if it's a great deal I want to be able to snag it right away. Hubby is a food junkie and I am just out for relaxation. No need for to much entertaiment to keep me happy.Clean ,somewhat helpful staff , and nice atmosphere is all I ask. Thanks

 

As you can tell from my signature. We do enjoy all the cruise lines we have sailed. We don't have a total favorite but lately more of our cruises have been with Carnival, because we have felt that we have gotten the most for the $. We just sailed with HAL last month and tell you the truth their food wasn't really better than Carnival....if food is important.

It was a nice cruise but very quiet. We do prefer the atmosphere on Carnival and we are in our mid 50's. Our first Princess cruise was fantastic, probablly the best food we have ever had on a cruise, but our last cruise with Princess the food was just okay. All that being said I would not hesitate to sail both HAL or Princess again...just depends on the value comparing them against each other. (cabin choice/itinerary/port time/flights)

We can usually get a balcony for the price of an inside on Princess, that tends to be a deal breaker for me! HAL does have some nice last minute deals but we don't usually cruise last minute. We are also now limited to 7/8 day cruises verses 10/12 day cruises we once were able to take. Just some ramdon thoughts. Have a great cruise with whichever line you decide on!

 

Mary