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hjrell

By hjrell,
in MSC Cruises

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hjrell

hjrell

Posted
Posted

Ok, maybe I have been living under a rock, but I've never heard of this cruise line until today. We have cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess - balcony room - 7 cruises total. How does MSC compare to any of these?

It doesn't appear that they do any time dining. Is that correct?

We would be doing the Caribbean itinerary.

Are the ships very small?

Any comparisons would be appreciated. Just hesitant to book on a line I have never heard of!

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long cruiser

long cruiser

Posted
Posted

We have sailed on msc 4 times in the last two years.Twice on the divina and twice on the poesia .The poesia now sails out of europe.

the cruise line has 12 ships to date.

The shows in the theater are terrific.

The divina is almost 150,000 tons,same size as the queen mary11.

We have never had a bad meal on the cruise line.

long cruiser

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Iluvcruising2

Iluvcruising2

Posted
Posted
Ok, maybe I have been living under a rock, but I've never heard of this cruise line until today. We have cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess - balcony room - 7 cruises total. How does MSC compare to any of these?

It doesn't appear that they do any time dining. Is that correct?

We would be doing the Caribbean itinerary.

Are the ships very small?

Any comparisons would be appreciated. Just hesitant to book on a line I have never heard of!

 

Like you, we didn't hear of MSC until about 2 years ago, after sailing many times on other cruise lines especially Royal. Until we read a review on MSC and were so intrigued that we tried their Yacht Club product last December, on the MSC Preziosa out of Genoa.

 

It was fabulous. Why don't you check out my review here - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2288693

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Iluvcruising2

Iluvcruising2

Posted
Posted

We would be doing the Caribbean itinerary.

Are the ships very small?

Any comparisons would be appreciated. Just hesitant to book on a line I have never heard of!

 

I believe it is the MSC Divina that sails to the Caribbean? Or which MSC ship? Their largest class of ships (Fantasia class, which the Divina belongs to) is almost 140,000GT, slightly bigger than the Voyager Class of Royal Caribbean.

 

This video shows you our boarding experience on the MSC Preziosa (same class as Fantasia and Divina). These are modern large cruise ships, no doubt about that.

[YOUTUBE]QYM1lHmhqS4[/YOUTUBE]

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Anytime dinning is available to suite guests. Meaning if you chose a balcony with aurea experience you should have anytime dinning between 19h and 21:30 ( as per the daily of my last sailling)

So if you are not a suite guest, then would you have traditional (fixed early or late) dining?

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AmoMondo

AmoMondo

Posted
Posted
Is this a fairly new cruise line?

I guess we are more Priness to Celebrity cruisers than Carnival...where does this cruise line fall in comparison?

 

No not new, just European which is why you may not have heard of them. They have been sailing out of the US for at least 12 years although probably only started targeting US passengers in the past 5 or so.

 

The certainly have a very new fleet compared to many lines having disposed of their old ships several yeRs ago. They also have several very large new builds under way.

 

So whilst they are trying to grab some market share in the US, Europe and Europeans are ther. Read and butter. It is very over the top Italian although they dumb it down a bit to suit the US market on the Divina sailings.

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MazzyKn

MazzyKn

Posted
Posted

Hi Hjrell

 

Have cruised twice with MSC and the biggest difference is that there is definitely a European feel to the food and entertainment on board. We recently sailed on the MSC Orchestra from Barbados and there were only approximately 100 English speaking guests. The majority of guests embarked in Guadeloupe and Martinique and were either from France or were Island natives, not what we were expecting. When we sailed on the Divina 2 years ago there was a large mix of nationalities, however there were large groups of Italians who always got preferential service. I would read the reviews, yes they offer great deals but service is lacking, and I don't think I would use MSC again.

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Skier52

Skier52

Posted
Posted (edited)
Ok, maybe I have been living under a rock, but I've never heard of this cruise line until today. We have cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess - balcony room - 7 cruises total. How does MSC compare to any of these?

It doesn't appear that they do any time dining. Is that correct?

We would be doing the Caribbean itinerary.

Are the ships very small?

Any comparisons would be appreciated. Just hesitant to book on a line I have never heard of!

 

They currently have 3 classes of ship with 4 ships in each class

 

Lirica Class 60,000 - 65,000 tonnes

 

Musica Class 92,000 - 95,000 tonnes

 

Fantasia Class 138,000 - 139,000 tonnes

 

2 new classes of ship are currently being built with one from each class due for delivery in 2017.

 

Seaside Class 154,000 tonnes

 

Vista class 167,000 tonnes and a future 177,000 tonnes

 

Essentially they were a small operator in the cruise market during the 1980s and 90s and started to expand in 2003 with the acquisition of the first 2 Lirica class ships and take up of the options of 2 further ships of this class.

 

They moved their product on in 2008 with the "ship within a ship" concept of the "Yacht Club" on the largest class of ships and one of the middle sized ships (MSC Magnifica) although this has been removed from her now.

 

The most recent marketing move is the Pricing by "Experience" whereby the product is sold by cabin type( inside,OV, balcony, balcony suite and 3 types of yacht club suite) and service level. Currently there are 4 service levels

1) BELLA ( a cut down version of their old standard level of service):a

2) FANTASTICA ( basically the old standard service level);

3) AUREA ( a cut down version of other operators Suite service levels);

4) YACHT CLUB ( their exclusive, all inclusive, service level, using butlers and concierges, with approximately 5% of the ship available to less than 0.5 % of the guests)

 

Next year they are introducing a WELLNESS experience in both the Yacht Club and the rest of the ship.

 

"My time dining" is available to guests in Balcony Fantastica cabins (from April2016) and higher cabins and suites. (already in operation)

 

a major difference from cruise lines you listed is in the type of entertainment. In the theatre the shows are based on visual aspects and song and dance productions. Language is not an essential part of the requirement to enjoy the shows.

Live music is reserved for the many bars and lounges around the ship which can be up to about 8 venues operating at any one time.

 

Announcements , of which there are few are done in at least 4 languages and often 5.

 

The other difference is that service from crew is more discreet and less in your face, you may have to attract a waiter to come and take your drinks order rather than having to say, No, to the frequent question of "would you like another drink sir" that you get with the other lines.

 

shore based communications pre and post cruise can be an absolute nightmare, but the pricing points can so competitive that you have to put up with that to get a bargain

 

Example ;- I did a UK to Cape town 21 night repositioning cruise(in an OV cabin on the Fantastica experience) for £639 ($984) which include direct flights back to the UK; air fares were £550 ($770). so if you strip out the air fare the cruise cost £89 ($125) which was £4.24 per person per night ($10.14pppn) Difficult to beat that price. unless you take the offer, in the UK, 3 years ago which was the cruise would cost nothing ( a 14 night TA from Miami to Genoa) if you could get to Maimi in the three days left before it sailed. Direct flights were fully booked from UK to FLorida.

 

 

Hope that is an insight to the world of MSC. I've cruised with them 12 times since 2005 with 3 booked. the YC is fantastic

Edited by Skier52
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Skier52

Skier52

Posted
Posted (edited)
We prefer cruise casual dining. I would associate an Italian line with more dressy dinner atmosphere. Is MSC for us?

then you'd be wrong

Dress code is only advisory and not really adhered to on MSC ships.

on formal nights less than 5% will be in DJs, and less than half in suits. the rest will be casual / smart casual.

 

I think RCI are more formally dressed than MSC on formal nights.

Edited by Skier52
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Sunshine2U

Sunshine2U

Posted
Posted
then you'd be wrong

Dress code is only advisory and not really adhered to on MSC ships.

on formal nights less than 5% will be in DJs, and less than half in suits. the rest will be casual / smart casual.

 

I think RCI are more formally dressed than MSC on formal nights.

 

Good news, thanks.

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Mistizoom

Mistizoom

Posted
Posted
then you'd be wrong

Dress code is only advisory and not really adhered to on MSC ships.

on formal nights less than 5% will be in DJs, and less than half in suits. the rest will be casual / smart casual.

 

I think RCI are more formally dressed than MSC on formal nights.

I saw that MSC does not allow casual dress after 6 pm anywhere on the ship, is that correct? I can get my DH to wear pants to dinner but he would want to change back into shorts right afterwards, so if he can't be on public places in shorts after 6 pm MSC would not work for us.

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Skier52

Skier52

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I saw that MSC does not allow casual dress after 6 pm anywhere on the ship, is that correct? I can get my DH to wear pants to dinner but he would want to change back into shorts right afterwards, so if he can't be on public places in shorts after 6 pm MSC would not work for us.

 

He can't wear shorts in the restaurant at dinner after 6pm, but other than that dress code is advisory (suggested) and not compulsory.

 

 

 

msc%20dress%20code.jpg

 

 

 

 

Hope this corrects your mis-impression of the dress code of MSC.

 

 

Pete

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Byron_1978

Byron_1978

Posted
Posted
Is this a fairly new cruise line?

I guess we are more Priness to Celebrity cruisers than Carnival...where does this cruise line fall in comparison?

Not so new in fact.

It is very well known in Europe.

 

It started in 1987 when MSC (the mothercompany) bought another company that owned a cruise ship.

 

MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) itself started in 1970 and currently has 474 container ships. It is actually the 2nd largest container shipping company in the world.

 

With that being said, MSC cruises are more on the budget end of the scale.

I have not yet sailed with them, but have booked a cruse with them for September this year.

After that I will be able to compare them with NCL, RCCL and X :)

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dodger1964

dodger1964

Posted
Posted
He can't wear shorts in the restaurant at dinner after 6pm, but other than that dress code is advisory (suggested) and not compulsory.

 

 

 

msc%20dress%20code.jpg

 

 

 

 

Hope this corrects your mis-impression of the dress code of MSC.

Pete

 

Do they consider the buffet area a "restaurant"?

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