MSC crtuise line

[Rhonbru]

anyone been on a msc cruise line cruise....what are they like we have been on PO, carnival, princess and holland america

[Kamloops50]

Following as well

 

 

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[MicCanberra]

My brother has sailed MSC from Brazil to Venice and said that it is fine, the ship, food, service etc were all good albeit in another language which caused a few issues. English was the six language in the announcements and shows were all in languages other than English.

[Tara Jane]

We did a 10 night cruise from Genoa to Rome last September. The ship was lovely, food plentiful and good, entertainment excellent, rooms spacious we had a balcony for 3 and it was plenty big enough for us.

The downside was the passengers, lots of pushing, shoving, yelling, and kids running around at all hours of the day/night.. Several times were woken early hours of the morning 1 -2 am by kids and adults very noisily going back to their rooms.

Lots of extended family groups which resulted in the buffet area being used for family meals. Kids on tables unsupervised and adults on other tables.

Don't know if I would go again with MSC, perhaps if it was an essential itinerary I might be tempted but it would have to be at a ridiculously good price. The fact everything was spoken in several languages was not an issue with us guess we tended to just tune out.

I haven't been on Holland America but from those you listed I think Carnival would be the closest. Any cruise is better than no cruise but just be aware that manners vary from country to country and family to family. We had lots of Italians, Spanish, French and German, the balance taken up of many different nationalities.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Tara Jane

[Rassa]

We did a 10 night cruise from Genoa to Rome last September. The ship was lovely, food plentiful and good, entertainment excellent, rooms spacious we had a balcony for 3 and it was plenty big enough for us.

The downside was the passengers, lots of pushing, shoving, yelling, and kids running around at all hours of the day/night.. Several times were woken early hours of the morning 1 -2 am by kids and adults very noisily going back to their rooms.

Lots of extended family groups which resulted in the buffet area being used for family meals. Kids on tables unsupervised and adults on other tables.

Don't know if I would go again with MSC, perhaps if it was an essential itinerary I might be tempted but it would have to be at a ridiculously good price. The fact everything was spoken in several languages was not an issue with us guess we tended to just tune out.

I haven't been on Holland America but from those you listed I think Carnival would be the closest. Any cruise is better than no cruise but just be aware that manners vary from country to country and family to family. We had lots of Italians, Spanish, French and German, the balance taken up of many different nationalities.

 

I agree with you entirely and you could add the same comments for Costa.

 

These days I just feel like cruising with Royal Caribbean, Princess and Celebrity although I have a cruise coming up with P&O UK.

Rosie

[Tara Jane]

The reason we took the MSC was that we had time to fill between land travels visiting family in Malta for a village festival and a river cruise Amsterdam to Budapest. We did more land travels but the MSC fitted in well to have some down time and the departure and arrival cities worked well for our other plans.

We did Sydney to San Francisco last year 31 nights by memory on P & O UK

Aurora. We had a great time, met some really lovely people, I would compare it to Princess though we have only sailed on Diamond and the old Dawn.

Close enough to the Diamond Princess. Must be a Melbourne thing we rate our favourites as Celebrity, RC and Princess. Did Queen Mary 2 a couple of years ago, wouldn't rush to do that one again but hey been there done that at least we know what its like and no need to be envious of others about to cruise on her.

[Rassa]

Tara Jane we have more in common than the cruise lines we like and our home towns - I was born in Malta.

 

We are actually on Azura to Norway which fits in with a Princess cruise through the Suez. I am sure we will enjoy it. With Costa and MSC, the 7 language thing got to me and the Italian attitude in customer service when they say they have done something and in fact they have not. After over a decade of cruising, as many people have done, I just stick to cruises with Princess, RCCL and Celebrity now.

 

Rosie

[The_Big_M]

Sailed with them a few years back in Europe. There are some pros and cons, but broadly I felt them very comparable to RCL. Service is like Rassa mentioned, one of the cons. But the ship was excellent and the shows impressive so on the pros side.

 

Would be happy to sail them again.

[PJOZ]

We enjoyed our MSC cruise it was an amazing itinerary for a great price - worked out about $50 a night for our family of four in one balcony cabin including wine and beer with lunch and dinner and I do consider this in my opinion of them as it is by far the least we have paid for a cruise so not really fair to compare to a ship where you are paying more than twice that. They are especially good value for families because they don't charge for kids in the same cabin as parents. We were on the Splendida it was very glitzy, nice pools and the cabins were very spacious.

 

That being said there were a few issues, mainly around getting on and off the ship there was not much organisation and a different approach to standing in line from many passengers you had to be very patient and not let it get to you but it was fairly chaotic. Also for 20 nights I did miss English entertainment a bit, would have liked there to be a few more movies etc, but if it was a shorter cruise it would not have mattered the shows were good just got a bit similar on a longer cruise. The announcements didn't bother us because on our cruise they had the announcements in English first, not sure why. Passengers were predominantly Brazilian and German, made for an interesting dynamic on board.

 

Happy to answer any questions but I do think the experience probably varies depending on if you are sailing in the Med, the Caribbean or on a "Grand Journey" as we were.

[Blue Elephant]

We were on a Costa cruise from Savona to Amsterdam from 19 to 31 May. Hardly a child insight. We had no difficulties with customer service either.

 

I suspect the absence of children was because it was the end of the school year and also because the itinerary was a repositioning cruise. We wer very happy with Costa. My husband enjoyed this cruise more than any of our previous cruises.

[MMDown Under]

We enjoyed our MSC cruise it was an amazing itinerary for a great price - worked out about $50 a night for our family of four in one balcony cabin including wine and beer with lunch and dinner and I do consider this in my opinion of them as it is by far the least we have paid for a cruise so not really fair to compare to a ship where you are paying more than twice that. They are especially good value for families because they don't charge for kids in the same cabin as parents. We were on the Splendida it was very glitzy, nice pools and the cabins were very spacious.

 

That being said there were a few issues, mainly around getting on and off the ship there was not much organisation and a different approach to standing in line from many passengers you had to be very patient and not let it get to you but it was fairly chaotic. Also for 20 nights I did miss English entertainment a bit, would have liked there to be a few more movies etc, but if it was a shorter cruise it would not have mattered the shows were good just got a bit similar on a longer cruise. The announcements didn't bother us because on our cruise they had the announcements in English first, not sure why. Passengers were predominantly Brazilian and German, made for an interesting dynamic on board.

 

Happy to answer any questions but I do think the experience probably varies depending on if you are sailing in the Med, the Caribbean or on a "Grand Journey" as we were.

 

I did two trans atlantic cruises with MSC, with great itineraries. Both ships were spotless, with quality entertainment.

 

On both ships English was last and we couldn't hear the messages because the majority talked after listening in their own languages.

 

I agree MSC is excellent value.

 

I would love to see one of the smaller MSC ships based in Australia, for a season. I think cruising on MSC would then be a totally different experience. After all, Australia has a large Italian migrant heritage.

[MicCanberra]

I did two trans atlantic cruises with MSC, with great itineraries. Both ships were spotless, with quality entertainment.

 

On both ships English was last and we couldn't hear the messages because the majority talked after listening in their own languages.

 

I agree MSC is excellent value.

 

I would love to see one of the smaller MSC ships based in Australia, for a season. I think cruising on MSC would then be a totally different experience. After all, Australia has a large Italian migrant heritage.

Not if they are from the south of Italy, they are quite short.;p

[vozzie]

I have done med cruises on both Costa and MSC. As stated above...they are good value ....but a little different, requiring a little bit more patience and understanding. You get used to the multiple announcements and you work around the roudy families and greater number of smokers. The shore excursions are generally well managed however the real pain is multi-lingual guides on the buses. The English version appears to be just a brief after thought. All in all though ...we'd probably go with them agin if the itinerary and price were right.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

If you google MSC cruises Australia , they have an office in Sydney and , you can sign on for their newsletter. They come out with some very very good bargains every now and again. Great value if you can tie a cruise in with your European trip.

[MMDown Under]

Not if they are from the south of Italy, they are quite short.;p

 

Oh, I know, I used to be a favourite ballroom dance partner by Italians, at Cloudland, as I'm also short.

[MicCanberra]

oh, i know, i used to be a favourite ballroom dance partner by italians, at cloudland, as i'm also short.

lol, :d

[NSWP]

Plenty Spaget, garlic and vino.:p