Brief Summary on MSC Orchestra Cruise

[Podie]

I'll do a longer review in the next couple of days, but after our seven day cruise which left Livorno, Italy on April 15th (and returned today), I have to summarize like this:

 

MSC Orchestra is beautiful, the cabins are lovely, our cabin steward and restaurant waiter were both fantastic, every single crewmember I encountered spoke excellent English and tried hard to make us happy, and our incredibly low price (less than $900 each for a balcony on deck 10) was less than half of our European cruise on Celebrity Equinox two years ago.

 

However, their port times are way too short and at terrible times. All the stores in Valencia were closed in the afternoon while we were there. The ticket and tender operation were so poorly done and our hours in Villefranche were so short that we couldn't even go to Nice. We arrived each port early or on time but it's obvious they want you to stay on the ship and spend money, or take one of their excursions so you're sure to get where you want.

 

The food in the buffet was not hot (or even warm) even when we got there the very second they opened. The food in the restaurant was sometimes good or even very good, but never excellent.

 

All of the announcements were done in English first. Many of the passengers spoke some English, but we also experienced plenty of the no waiting in line (with people pushing their way to the front) which is prevalent in parts of Italy. It was also hard to get on or off an elevator when often no one would move. I've met plenty of impolite people on Carnival but the elevator thing really got to me at times.

 

Disembarkation wa not done well - but I'll save that for the big review. Would I go on MSC again? Only if the ports weren't that important!

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

Thank you for this quick review while we wait for the longer one:) Did you solve the cark parking issue in Livorno?

[Podie]

Yes, it cost 80 euros to park in the MSC lot.