MSC vs Royal Vs Norwegian?

[Atlantamom3]

Hi all! Need some ship opinions. We are planning a senior HS spring break trip. My family has always sailed on Royal. Can I get some comparisons between Royal/MSC/Norwegian? Answer as if destination, ship size, and cabin costs are all about the same. Straight up - who is better? We will have kids with us from about 6 - 18 years old and adults that typically purchase the RCI alcohol packages.

Thanks!

[caroladdison]

We sailed MSC Divina last spring break. The ship is beautiful, spotless and nice size rooms. We paid for guaranteed ocean view and they upgraded us to balcony. We sailed in the Caribbean for 7 nights. That is about the only good things I can say about it. The food was ok at best. We paid for specialty dinning and we both got ill, we both were ill several times. The thing that struck me the most, we were treated so rudely by several members of the staff. My husband needed an extension cord for his cpap machine and distilled water and they couldn’t locate either. After three days on board he got a half bottle of opened distilled water and a $35 extension cord. They changed our seating time to 6 and we wanted 8:30. The main dinning room was a mess, too many people and not enough help. Go on utube and watch tours of the seaside, they said the service was bad on there also. And all the pools are 6ft deep, all the way across.. not child friendly. With children I would go RC, they have so much geared towards the kids. It’s a great balance for kids and adults. Norwegian is good too, but we find their state rooms rather small. RC is a class act. We are in our late 40’s and recent empty nesters so we like to cruise on Princess or Celebrity, but those aren’t children friendly at all. We took our kids on Carnival once, never again. Lol.

Good Luck!!

 

 

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[TrinaLC]

If your kids are into all the big ticket items on RCC like wave pools, rock climbing walls, ice skating then there is no comparison. Davina has nothing like that and seaside neither, though SS has fun slides and a zip line plus a very good water adventure park.

 

There are a lot more dining choices on NCL than MSC if that is important. We are big fans of NCL but the Haven pricing has gone through the roof. But still live breakaway/getaway/escape and have no doubt if the pricing is right your family will too.

 

Also, clearly the buffet dinners are better anywhere else than MSC if your family prefers buffet dining and expects it to be like the lines most USA cruisers are used to.

 

But I completely disagree with the prior poster as to MSC generally. They obviously had a bad experience and I don’t discount that but it is the opposite of what we and everyone I have spoken to on onboard two MSC cruises has experienced. The staff on Divina and SS have been lovely. We remember and were remembered by many from our earlier Divina trip who are now on SS. While I have no doubt that poster became ill, the implication that MSC food will make you sick is completely unfounded.

 

We have had a great cruise on both Seaside and Divina.

 

Having said that, again if your family really counts on RCC style extravagant entertainment and buffet dinners I would stick with that. Otherwise you can’t go wrong with msc or ncl.

 

 

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Edited March 13, 2018 by TrinaLC

[lcpagejr]

If your kids are into all the big ticket items on RCC like wave pools, rock climbing walls, ice skating then there is no comparison. Davina has nothing like that and seaside neither, though SS has fun slides and a zip line plus a very good water adventure park.

 

There are a lot more dining choices on NCL than MSC if that is important. We are big fans of NCL but the Haven pricing has gone through the roof. But still live breakaway/getaway/escape and have no doubt if the pricing is right your family will too.

 

Also, clearly the buffet dinners are better anywhere else than MSC if your family prefers buffet dining and expects it to be like the lines most USA cruisers are used to.

 

But I completely disagree with the prior poster as to MSC generally. They obviously had a bad experience and I don’t discount that but it is the opposite of what we and everyone I have spoken to on onboard two MSC cruises has experienced. The staff on Divina and SS have been lovely. We remember and were remembered by many from our earlier Divina trip who are now on SS. While I have no doubt that poster became ill, the implication that MSC food will make you sick is completely unfounded.

 

We have had a great cruise on both Seaside and Divina.

 

Having said that, again if your family really counts on RCC style extravagant entertainment and buffet dinners I would stick with that. Otherwise you can’t go wrong with msc or ncl.

 

 

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Completely agree with Trina. Based on age range of children...If they are active/like to stay busy and you want some peace and quiet (kids staying busy).... go RCL. If it was just you and your husband.... I would highly recommend the Yacht Club experience of MSC....based on price, perks/service and beauty of ship (Seaside)

[asctony]

If your kids are into all the big ticket items on RCC like wave pools, rock climbing walls, ice skating then there is no comparison. Davina has nothing like that and seaside neither, though SS has fun slides and a zip line plus a very good water adventure park.

 

There are a lot more dining choices on NCL than MSC if that is important. We are big fans of NCL but the Haven pricing has gone through the roof. But still live breakaway/getaway/escape and have no doubt if the pricing is right your family will too.

 

Also, clearly the buffet dinners are better anywhere else than MSC if your family prefers buffet dining and expects it to be like the lines most USA cruisers are used to.

 

But I completely disagree with the prior poster as to MSC generally. They obviously had a bad experience and I don’t discount that but it is the opposite of what we and everyone I have spoken to on onboard two MSC cruises has experienced. The staff on Divina and SS have been lovely. We remember and were remembered by many from our earlier Divina trip who are now on SS. While I have no doubt that poster became ill, the implication that MSC food will make you sick is completely unfounded.

 

We have had a great cruise on both Seaside and Divina.

 

Having said that, again if your family really counts on RCC style extravagant entertainment and buffet dinners I would stick with that. Otherwise you can’t go wrong with msc or ncl.

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Totally agree with you!!! Last Nov 2017 we were on Harmony OTS, Divina and Escape B2B. Food was the biggest disappointment on Divina. Divina Specialty Restaurants food was good, but limited selection. We ate 2 meals on Divina in Nov 2017 and 7 meals on Divina Feb 2018. So, yes, we did sample all the menus.

Disagree with poster who said food was bad and they got sick. Out of 3 Divina cruises within 12 months in all the SRs, never got sick. Maybe they did and maybe they had some bad experiences. We did not!

JMHO!

[scottygirl]

Hi all! Need some ship opinions. We are planning a senior HS spring break trip. My family has always sailed on Royal. Can I get some comparisons between Royal/MSC/Norwegian? Answer as if destination, ship size, and cabin costs are all about the same. Straight up - who is better? We will have kids with us from about 6 - 18 years old and adults that typically purchase the RCI alcohol packages.

Thanks!

 

We just did a Spring Break cruise on the Seaside. Stick with Royal, my kids who are very active were bored at times. They missed the rock climbing, flow rider etc.

[Debde]

I have not sailed MSC yet but have done both Royal and NCL. Some plus and minus to both.

IMHO-

NCL-Any of the "away" ships;

-Plenty for the kids to do. The best water slides to date for me!! obstacle rope course-so much fun!

-Love that there is no formal dining times, eat when you want and no formal dress up nights! Big plus with kids. So many options for dinner-even ones that are complimentary.

-Main pool area can be crowded as I found the layout made it feel very crowded.

-Of course-if you are in Haven-hands down-better then any suite amenities Royal offers.

Royal

-Plenty for the kids to do.

-Hate the set times for dinner. Not as may complimentary options on Royal.

-Main pool area is a far better layout.

-Royal has no Haven or Yacht club [if you are looking for something like that]

MSC Seaside

I'll compare after my first sailing! ;) It does look as if it has plenty for the kids also.

 

Price can sway many so also compare that.

[BermudaBound2014]

I have sailed all three lines, twice, within the last two years so I feel reasonably current in making a comparison. I do enjoy MSC and feel that they provide an excellent value driven product. You mentioned that prices were the same? If that were the case, MSC would be last on my list, especially with an active family. In fact, I would need MSC to be priced at least 25% less than the competition for me to consider them based on my experience with Divina. Both times I have sailed with MSC their prices were significantly lower than the competition and I walked away a very happy cruiser. I think they did a very good job considering what I paid, but I did note cost cutting measures (food quality, staffing, etc...). There is absolutely no reason to think you would not enjoy MSC, but I think there are better choices for your group.

[SnowManBob]

Hi all! Need some ship opinions. We are planning a senior HS spring break trip. My family has always sailed on Royal. Can I get some comparisons between Royal/MSC/Norwegian? Answer as if destination, ship size, and cabin costs are all about the same. Straight up - who is better? We will have kids with us from about 6 - 18 years old and adults that typically purchase the RCI alcohol packages.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

My teenage daughters were not that impressed with the seaside in comparison to Royal Caribbean related to the levels of activities and fun geared toward their age group.

 

 

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[Tapi]

We sailed on the Divina out of Miami, in big part because we took advantage of promotions and discounts that brought the price of our cruise to, literally, a fraction of what it would’ve cost to sail on Royal. Between a kids sail free promotion, a 2 for 1 balcony promotion, and a loyalty match discount, we paid a little over $250pp for a Fantástica balcony stateroom on a 7 night cruise during the summer high season!! Can’t beat that.

 

With that said, and considering how much we paid, we had a fantastic time on that cruise. The ship was beautiful, the stage entertainment was great, and the kids enjoyed the activities (interestingly they preferred the children’s program over the one aboard the Disney Fantasy which was considerably more elaborate).

 

But MSC still felt a bit on the budget side. Cuisine, customer service, and general vibe feel more in tune with what one would expect aboard a budget minded cruise line. Cuisine in particular left a lot to be desired. I needed to remind myself about the dirt cheap prices that we’d paid for this cruise to bring things back into perspective.

 

I would place MSC one notch above Carnival but one notch below Royal. My opinion is that, if you can take advantage of promotions and considerably lower fares, MSC is totally worth it. But if pricing is close to what you’d pay to sail on Royal, then my choice would be Royal.

 

We are giving MSC another shot this fall, this time aboard the Meraviglia in the Mediterranean. And a big reason is, once again, price. In fact the Mediterranean was nowhere in our plans for 2018 until we realized that we could sail there for cheaper than the Caribbean, even after adding airfare. We have booked an Aurea Duplex Suite for about 1/4 of what similar accommodations on Royal in the Caribbean would cost. For that drastic difference in price, MSC is definitely our choice!

 

 

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Edited March 14, 2018 by Tapi