Celebrity VS MSC?

[cobeck]

We love sailing with Celebrity but found an itenerary we would thoroughly enjoy being offered on MSC. We have never sailed nor chatted with anyone who has cruised MSC. Any insight into this Italian cruise line? (I did check out their forum and found very little that let me compare the two.)

[kevinyork]

I have not sailed MSC and based on reviews won't be doing so. Apparently the Yacht Club ship within a ship experience is very good but for the majority of cruisers the reviews suggest there is a big difference in service and food. For me, thousands of reviewers cannot be wrong. The reviews for Med cruises regularly include complaints about loud and pushy passengers that don't know how to wait their turn.

 

This reviews on this site has Celebrity-81% Loved it, MSC-53% Loved It. That's nearly a third more passengers loving Celebrity.

 

 

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[MixerDave]

We had a group of 125 people from our community who sailed on the Divina earlier this year - on a scale of 1-10 they gave it a 5, and they cancelled a cruise with them that was scheduled for next January. The switched to Holland America.

 

Reading reviews I would not go, even though they honor Captains Club status.

[cobeck]

We are wanting to take our son and daughter in law in their first cruise so really want them to have a good experience. While Celebrity is our cruise line of choice, I am thinking they would enjoy meeting some younger adults. (They are in their mid 30's). I think we will look at Royal Caribbean as we have sailed with them also and had no complaints. I am just not sure I can sail without a Cafe El Bacio! :D

[helen haywood]

I have sailed MSC Divina both in a regular balcony cabin and three times in Yacht Club. She is a stunningly beautiful ship. The food, IMHO, is wonderful, best pizza at sea. The shows were fantastic. I suggest you go to the MSC Boards and read the reviews of people who loved her....both in Yacht Club and not. I will say, Yacht Club is an unbelievable experience for much, much less than suites on Celebrity or NCL.

[crilski]

Recently, I cruised MSC Divina for a week, then immediately went on Celebrity the following week. I was cruising solo. I would rate the cleanliness of the ship the same. Food was different but both OK. The pizza on MSC didn't live up to the hype. I did not like the dining experience on MSC - how I was seated/treated as a solo - not a good experience with MSC. It felt crowded on MSC. I enjoyed the 'vibe' and the fellow passengers on Celebrity much more.

 

I did have a BAD cabin on MSC, (excessive noise which kept me from sleeping) They did move me when I explained the situation.

 

MSC had outstanding entertainment!!!!

 

I have a future cruise booked for Celebrity! And I have recently discovered Oceania - the best cruise I have ever taken. I also have another cruise booked on Oceania as well. I don't think I'll cruise MSC again. Not horrible, but prefer Celebrity and Oceania.

[funship freddy]

Cruised Divina and liked it. Good value.

7 nights for less than $100/nt. In an aft balcony. The balcony was huge. [emoji41]

 

 

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[ipomoeagirl@gmail.com]

We have cruised twice in the yacht club on Divina. The yacht club experience was great, but the rest of the ship seemed very crowded. We prefer the food on Celebrity. The canapes in the yacht club lounge are especially lacking. Service was excellent. Comparable to Celebrity.

We are booked next year on Seaside, again, in the yacht club. For us, I don't believe we would go if yacht club was not available. It is basically the suite experience on Celebrity, but at a much lower cost.

Also, be aware that they have a status match on MSC. We have elite plus status on Celebrity, and after filling out the paperwork prior to our first cruise with MSC, they made us black in their program. They also have a 10% discount for state/federal employees. That covers anyone with an employee id, not just the usual police/firefighter/military discount. Both nice perks. Just my two cents!

[geocruiser]

I have been on both line. I would choose Celebrity over MSC. We were on MSC Opera. For us never again on MSC.

[asctony]

MSC over X. MSC Divina vs Reflection

Entertainment MSC

Food MSC

Ship MSC

Value MSC

X is changing too much. After your money in every way possible with new cutnacks. Solstice class out dated, wasted areas and needs uodate.

Elite+ on X. JMHO!

[verodoodle]

Have been on the Divina twice and NOT in the YC.. Would not hesitate to go back. The service was very good, but not as good as celebrity, food was fine in both MDR and buffet, hands down best pizza at sea. Shows are very good with the Michael Jackson show one of the best i have seen. Ship is beautiful and very clean. They will status match loyalty program and for the value very hard to pass up.

[cobeck]

Thanks for all the input! Alway appreciate all the experiences shared! Happy Mothers's Day to all Mom's around the globe!

[awhcruiser]

Why?

I have been on both line. I would choose Celebrity over MSC. We were on MSC Opera. For us never again on MSC.

[Essiesmom]

I have been on Divina twice, and cancelled a third but only for medical reasons. Divina is and Italian ship trying to adapt to North American expectations, without losing it's European roots. But I understand MSC in Europe is a different experience. I would do it, if I didn't want to pay for air... We can't afford Yacht Club, have never sailed in a suite. We like good entertainment, and Divina delivers that. When yu try something new, you have to go with an open mind and make your own conclusions, not try to validate someone elses questionable experience. EM

[bigbeergut]

Please tell us if MSC has free burgers and hot dogs.

 

Thanks,

 

BBG

[NLH Arizona]

Friends tried MSC, but were disappointed, so they went back to Celebrity.

[miched]

I don't understand why people rate a ship according to pizza???

 

Why would you want pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers???

 

I want food that I normally don't have because I can't afford to dine in those 5 star restaurants.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[twoflyers]

Please tell us if MSC has free burgers and hot dogs.

 

Thanks,

 

BBG

 

They do, but in their buffet, not in a separate area like the Mast Bar.

[geocruiser]

Why?

 

 

Did not like a lot of the food. Waiters were rude.

[NLH Arizona]

Did not like a lot of the food. Waiters were rude.

That is exactly what my friends said.

[jhans24]

Here was my review of the MSC Orchestra . It is from 8 years ago so take it for what it is worth.

 

 

 

 

"While we had a good time, we would not cruise MSC again or recommend it. We have done both Princess and Celebrity and there is no comparison. We chose MSC because of the ports of call and the difference in price with the kids sail free option. Next time we will pay to take our 14 month old on a different line. It just wasn't worth it.

 

Embarkation and debarkation went extremely smoothly. We arrived at the ship around 12 and were inside and had our dinner table changed by 12:40 or so. They had put us on the first dinner seating even though we requested 2nd. As soon as we got on the ship we went to get it corrected and they were very accomadating. Embarkation and debarkation was a very fast and efficient system. If you have a tough flight to catch I recommend getting a porter to help you with your bags. Ours got us a cab as soon as we got out and there was a sea of people waiting for cabs.

 

On both of our previous cruises, Princess 10 day and Celebrity 11 day, we had normal balconies. This cruise we got an aft bacony, 8195. We did have concerns when booking the cruise with engine noise and being directly above the shaker lounge. We called MSC and talked to their reps and asked about noise from the engine and the lounge. they assured us that you would not hear either. Well they were partially right. The first three nights when the ship was traveling 20 knots we could not hear the lounge because of the engine noise and vibration. They were both nonstop. We had to open the closet doors partially, but not all the way, because of the rattling. You could not have any glass touching anyhthing, fruit bowl and plate etc. it was so loud when sitting out on our balcony you could not talk to each other in a normal voice, you couldn't hear each other. I have never experienced anything like that. The 4th night we were only traveling 80 miles and the boat was going half speed so there was no engine noise. Of course that meant at 10pm the shaker lounge speaker in our room was activated. Good lord. I apoligize to whomever was in 8197 sorry about the crying. Our 14 month old son was up from 11pm to 3am. To say the staff was useless that night, might be an insult to those that consider themself useless. It's always amazing how people can understand you until there is a problem, then there is a language barrier. And while I agree with others that the majority of the staff was very nice, I think just about every employee from italy was rude. It was amazing. My wife said she's not sure if she wants to go to Italy any more if everyone there is this rude. The next day they moved us to a different room but only had one available because a family had debarked in Antigua.

 

Our dinner server and waiter were very helpful and did an excellent job. Constantin and Carlo also did an excellent job talking and playing with our son. You just have to realize that you will have to ask for a water refill every time you want it. They were working their butts off because the ship was so full.

 

"Hunger is the best spice." I was amused the first time in my life I heard this phrase and laughed about how true it is. Well, it definitely applied to their food. Bland is the best way to describe the food. I don't think they used many spices at all. Very blah. The caprese salad was fantastic and our server got it for us on the final night even though it wasn't on the menu. I had a steak three different times and they were not good. Very mediocre cut of meat that was not tender. I am amazed at people who said the lobster was good, it was very low quality and not good. Your best option is to do the sit down lunch and breakfast vs the buffet. the quality is much better.

 

The rudeness of the guests was mind blowing as well. It is sad when a simple excuse me or thank you become so scarce. Their were so many loud and rude people it was disappointing. We had a couple large tables full of Italian Americans near us at dinner. It was as loud as a HS cafeteria the whole time.

 

The thing that impressed me most about the ship was the number of lounges that they had. It seemed like every 30 feet you walked you were in a new area with different music. From a live piano player to people dancing the selection was very wide and appealing. Plenty of places to sit down and relax.

 

St Maarten was our favorite stop and the definitely have the best duty free shopping of the four stops.

 

Overall we enjoyed ourselves but that was a product of our attitude, not this cruise. When reading all of the reviews prior to the cruise I kept a positive attitude and kept reassuring my wife. I told her it doesn't matter how the cruise is we can just sit out on our balcony and enjoy each other and the view. With our room we couldn't do that until last 3 days. There are just too many other options out there that are far superior for a little more money for us to do this line again. i've even read some people enjoyed the food which is mind blowing. I don't think there were two dishes that I would be proud to serve at my home. but that's the beauty of their being so many lines to choose from, something for everyone. I don't know if our blacony was so much louder because it was the lowest level of aft balcony or what. We will just stick with the normal balcony in the future and a different line.

 

Good luck to those of you about to head out and enjoy yourself. There will be plenty of people complaining about how bad it is because there will be many unhappy people. Be sure to avoid them and enjoy your time there. When everyone was debarking in Nassau we went out and walked the deck rather than wait in line with the complainers. It makes such a huge difference."

[geocruiser]

That is exactly what my friends said.

 

 

The best part was that the rude waiters did not know that my DH and his sister, that Italian was their first language. They don't have a accent because they came here USA at 6 & 7 years old. Buy the end of the cruise my sister -in- law got tired of hear the waiter make fun of Americans. So, that night at dinner she ordered her meal in her best Italian and only spoke Italian. You should have seen their faces.

We were six of us, besides us our other friends were French and English speaking. One of then is a Catholic priest, who at the time was in his late 80's. I did not like the way they treated him either.

I must say we did meet some very nice staff too. But after that, never again.

[DYKWIA]

This guy does fairly detailed reviews http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/ and compares Celebrity Silhouette with MSC Davina. Just one opinion, but quite a bit of information.

 

Friends of ours cruised with MSC after cruising with P and O and their observations on their cruise in Europe - main part of the ship (non yacht club) was very busy; people were embarking and disembarking at what seemed like every port, much more multi national set of passengers - most announcements multi lingual and stage entertainment was aimed at a multi lingual audience (i.e. no comics). They would cruise with MSC again BUT ONLY in the Yacht club

[asctony]

Like others have posted about their experiences years ago. We cruised MSC Lirica back in 2006 twice and thought it was OK, Food was poor, service very slow and entertainment very good. So, we waited until 2016, 10 years later and found the Divina excellent. Yes, many foreign languages during announcements. Mainly production shows, no comedians. However, as we all know: Food and entertainment subjective. We don't mind the various languages and enjoy meeting people from around the world.

We experienced the same with NCL for years and recently started cruising NCL.

We do many cruise lines each year to keep cruising fresh and see other menus, entertainment, etc.

Everyone has their favorite. Some don't like big ships, others don't like small ships. We don't have a favorite now since we do most of them and they all offer something different, but many things are the same, too.

Cruising is GREAT! Enjoy your favorite. What you don't like does not mean everyone else will not like it either. Opinions are free for all. LOL Happy Cruising!

[kevinyork]

This guy does fairly detailed reviews http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/ and compares Celebrity Silhouette with MSC Davina. Just one opinion, but quite a bit of information.

 

 

 

Friends of ours cruised with MSC after cruising with P and O and their observations on their cruise in Europe - main part of the ship (non yacht club) was very busy; people were embarking and disembarking at what seemed like every port, much more multi national set of passengers - most announcements multi lingual and stage entertainment was aimed at a multi lingual audience (i.e. no comics). They would cruise with MSC again BUT ONLY in the Yacht club

 

 

 

I like Gambees' reviews. He seems to always hit the nail on the head. His review of Oasis prompted us to try her earlier this year. His views of MSC seem to summarise the other reviews I've read.

 

Many seem to rave about the Yacht Club and how great it is but you pay quite an up charge for that so it's not a fair comparison to a regular cabin cruise on Celebrity.

 

 

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