Msc splendida

[Caterina50]

We booked this Mediterranean cruise for July 2017 and I am getting many mixed reviews and I am sort of regretting my decision going with MSC. I am Canadian and have travelled with Norwegian and RCCL in the past, should I expect to be totally disappointed? My boyfriend has never cruised before.

 

Very concerned....

[Deanaboy]

Hello, I will be boarding this ship next week. I plan to take many pictures and post a report as soon as I return. I will also drop by and leave a few post a few nights during my cruise. I will try to answer as many questions as I can. I never cruised with MSC, but I am excited to try them out. Search this websites, there are plenty of good reviews and recent cruiser who posted about their experiences on board. Good luck

[Caterina50]

Thanks for the reply and looking forward to hearing about your experience with MSC. The only advantage I guess I have is that I speak Italian, so maybe a good thing. Have a wonderful trip and enjoy. I guess just being on vacation is GREAT!!!

[stealthy]

Speaking Italian would only be an advantage. You will love it. Don't read too much of people's negative reviews, because the person/s next to them will say they had a wonderful time and can't wait to go again. It's all in the way you make it. Have fun!

[hummer2407]

I am from the US and just got back from the Med on the Splendida. I have cruised on Celebrity, Princess, Disney, and MSC. I had 2 10 year old boys, my wife, my 70 year old mother, and an aunt with me. We had balcony cabins. We ate in the main dining room 3 times and the buffet the rest. We only made it to one show because we were tired from the great ports of call. Cruising is all about expectations. I didnt go expecting the food from Celebrity and the kids activities from Disney. I knew from the Divina what MSC had as a product. It is very good for the money. The kids love the kids club and wanted to go everyday. The food in the main dining room isnt the best, but it was ok. Its not Ruth Chris, more like Ponderosa with flare. It is classy and service is good but the food isnt quite there. The buffet has enough choices to find something good. The pizza is always good. I wouldnt go on MSC for the food, but I wouldnt avoid it because of the food either. The rooms are very nice and always cleaned when we returned. The show we saw was good. We had the drink package which was worth it for us. Not only for the alcohol but for the water and softdrinks too. Your only free drink choice at meals is water. I posted a review last night describing our trip. There were plenty of english speakers on the boat, I even shared the hot tub with 2 couples from Toronto. Keep in mind that you are in another region of the world and cultures and practices are a little different but thats what makes it fun. Some people cut in line, didnt say thank you when you held a door, looked at you weird when you ordered a diet coke instead of a coke light. But that wasnt everyone. It was a little frustraiting, but we laughed about it and smiled and more often than not the people would end up saying have a nice day in whatever language they spoke. That was part of the fun. You have to roll with it, enjoy your vacation. It might take a day or two to figure out how to work your way through the buffet, but once you find out how to sneak in and grab what you want you are fine. I found that if you are quiet and sit back and wait in what you think is a line you will end up hungry or thirsty. You have to just dive in and get what you want. As for the bars....dont wait for the waitress or bartender to get your order without you grabbing their attention first. Post up next to the cash register and the waitress will get your order for you. Always post up by the cash register or you could be there for a while. This isnt a dig on MSC or even a "con," this is just how it is done in europe. You are lucky, you will know this in advance and not have to figure this out like I did. Again, we laughed about it and didnt let this ruin our trip.

This is an awesome cruise with amazing ports. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have told all my friends to do this cruise. Feel free to contact me I will show you some pictures and give you some more advice. I was nervous before the cruise myself, but loved it. This is an amazing cruise for the money. Dont go into the cruise thinking about what it should have been, go into the cruise thinking about how lucky you are to be able to cruise europe while someone else drives the ship, cooks the free food, and cleans up after you.

Relax You will have a great time

[Caterina50]

Thank you kindly for the information. Wow nicely detailed and mostly helpful, greatly appreciated.

[hawkeyetlse]

If you speak Italian, you either are Italian or you are at least familiar with Italian culture, so you should really ignore most of the negative reviews referring to "rude Europeans" etc. To be honest most of these come from North American/British/Australian passengers with limited experience sharing a ship with non-English speaking people. It's not just a language thing, but it starts with that. So please don't worry about that.

 

Second, your boyfriend will probably love it, if it's his first cruise, as long as you're not constantly telling him how everything was better on NCL or RCI. (Even if it's true.)

 

For example, the food is not great in the dining room, IMO. If you get a bad dish, you can either be sad about it and let it ruin your evening, or leave it, and have an extra dessert, or go for a snack later (pizza until midnight!)

 

What else has made you doubt your choice? Lots of people have somehow managed to have a nice time on Splendida. Maybe they were all fooling themselves into thinking they were enjoying themselves, but you can also fool yourself into hating everything about your vacation, and if you don't mind me saying this, you seem to be going in that direction, and that's kind of a shame!