New to MSC

[Giantfan13]

We are booked on the Sinfonia, out of Barcelona Nov 27, 2018. It is our first cruise on MSC. We have an inside cabin and also bought the

 

Fantastica Experience as that was what was available.

We are Americans and never cruised another line that did not cater towards Americans, but we wanted a new experience and we are so looking forward to it. We are very experienced cruisers, just not on European cruise lines.

I have heard all sorts of stories and they are probably just that, stories, so I come to the source, what can we expect on this cruise>

Do most of the crew speak and understand English?

Will most of the passengers speak English?

Some one told us that we will be paying for water at dinner, is this so?

We are non meat eaters, will this be any sort of problem?

Is most of the food geared towards Italians or whatever?

Are the shows in English?

How is the ship, small, large, old refurbished?

Sorry if these may seem like silly questions, but we are really in the dark about these things.

 

Now, we rarely drink alcohol, so what does the Fantastica experience get us? And if we did want to drink does that effect it?

Would appreciate any help with these questions?

 

Cheers

Len

[BlueBear4Travel]

Hi Len,

we´re going on our third cruise with MSC this year and I will try answering some of your questions:

 

Do most of the crew speak and understand English?

Yes, I´d say most of them do at least understand a little bit.

Will most of the passengers speak English?

 

Most likely you will encounter more spanish speaking people and italians. But most Europeans do speak a little english.

Some one told us that we will be paying for water at dinner, is this so?

As a german we have to pay for our water. However, a while ago I found a note stating that americans would not have to pay for the water in the main dining room. At the buffet water is always free. Better ask your travel agent or inquire at MSC.

Basically what we do is buy a water package so we can have a bottle of water for dinner. If you buy any drinks package in advance (before going on the cruise or the day you get on the ship you will pay no service charge, which means 15% less).

We are non meat eaters, will this be any sort of problem?

You will have to let MSC know so at the main dining room they can give you a special menu for vegetarians. At the buffet you can always find something you like.

Is most of the food geared towards Italians or whatever?

I´d say yes. Or at least geared towards europeans.

Are the shows in English?

This is a european cruise line with people from france, spain, germany, italy, sometimes russia,... they try to make the shows without much talk. You will e.g. have no comedian but very good jugglers, dancers,.... Also all announcements will be made in several languages.

How is the ship, small, large, old refurbished?

No idea. I have not sailed on this one.

Now, we rarely drink alcohol, so what does the Fantastica experience get us?

Did you buy an all-inclusive drinks package? Meaning you pay e.g. 23€ oer day and have all the drinks free on the cruise?

The fantastica experience itself does not include any drinks other than free water, tea and coffee which you can grab at the buffet restaurant. You can buy a softdrinks package (don´t remember the price right now) for let´s say 43€ and have 20 softdrink you can then drink / oder in the restaurants and bars.

Again, buy before you board the ship or at the day of embarkation to save another 15% (service charge).

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions,

Barbara

[rikitikitavii]

We are booked on the Sinfonia, out of Barcelona Nov 27, 2018. It is our first cruise on MSC. We have an inside cabin and also bought the

 

 

Fantastica Experience as that was what was available.

We are Americans and never cruised another line that did not cater towards Americans, but we wanted a new experience and we are so looking forward to it. We are very experienced cruisers, just not on European cruise lines.

I have heard all sorts of stories and they are probably just that, stories, so I come to the source, what can we expect on this cruise>

Do most of the crew speak and understand English?

Will most of the passengers speak English?

Some one told us that we will be paying for water at dinner, is this so?

We are non meat eaters, will this be any sort of problem?

Is most of the food geared towards Italians or whatever?

Are the shows in English?

How is the ship, small, large, old refurbished?

Sorry if these may seem like silly questions, but we are really in the dark about these things.

 

Now, we rarely drink alcohol, so what does the Fantastica experience get us? And if we did want to drink does that effect it?

Would appreciate any help with these questions?

 

Cheers

Len

Giantfan, we are booked on Sinfonia in April 2019. I am expecting many Europeans on the cruise, but expect to have a fantastic time. Sinfonia was built in 2002, and is about 65,000 tons, so she is a relatively small ship by today's standards.

Look to see if there is a roll call for the date you are sailing. Create one if not. There may be other English speaking guests on board.

[Beamafar]

Sinfonia was "stretched" a few years ago (we sailed on her in 2016 soon after the refurbishment - so, maybe around 2015). You will have to book for the theatre as it can no longer cater for the extra numbers due to the added cabins. She's a small ship (still) but that lends itself to a more intimate atmosphere onboard. There is a smoking section in the Irish pub, Sheelagh's House, on deck 5 (for those who care about this - be it smokers or virulent anti-smokers).

[Beamafar]

buy before you board the ship or at the day of embarkation to save another 15% (service charge)

 

You will pay 15% on the day of embarkation. You only avoid the service charge when booked before you cruise and it must be done at least 4 days beforehand.

[rikitikitavii]

You will pay 15% on the day of embarkation. You only avoid the service charge when booked before you cruise and it must be done at least 4 days beforehand.

Bea,

Judging from your past cruise history, you must really like MSC!!. We are doing Seaside (Bella Balcony) in August, Sinfonia Suite in April and Seaside YC in December 2019. We are new to MSC and hope we enjoy as much as we have other cruise lines.

[Beamafar]

Bea,

Judging from your past cruise history, you must really like MSC!!. We are doing Seaside (Bella Balcony) in August, Sinfonia Suite in April and Seaside YC in December 2019. We are new to MSC and hope we enjoy as much as we have other cruise lines.

 

We've 4 more booked, bringing us up to Nov 2019 ... our next 3 will be first time on - Poesia, Armonia and Seaview.

 

I'm not an MSC cheerleader as I'm fully aware of, and accept, the downsides with the company. For example, I would agree that food onboard can be fairly hit and miss at times; also their organisational skills can be sorely lacking.

 

However, I think it's a great value product and, anytime we look to try something different, we realise we're not going to get the same bang for our buck. (We tried a Sky Suite on Celebrity once - came nowhere near the YC experience on MSC).

 

We also love to see familiar crew members each time we're onboard.

[robc1972]

Just did Poesia not too long ago, first time on MSC.

Embarkation was a lot different and time consuming from what Carnival and RC do, check paperwork many times, pictures taken when on board and at some point you have to go to a kiosk to enter a credit card. Just seemed to go from one line to another waiting longer in each line.

 

Fantastica gets you free bottled water either flat or bubbly in the dining room. We got as much as we wanted. Also a coupon book for 12 free drinks from bar.

 

Food was very good, mostly European with smaller portions. Actually didnt gain any weight on this cruise.

Many different languages spoken, all announcements started with English and repeated in a couple different languages.

Ship itself was very nice. Actually liked it better than most Carnival and RCL I have been on.

Balcony cabin was a bit smaller than expected.

Overall good cruise, good food, all staff needed much more training (was like it was everybodies first cruise), wouldnt go out of my way to book them again mostly due to the staff issues.

[Giantfan13]

Thank you all so much for the great comments and suggestions. Didn't know about having to reserve in the theater so I will definitely get on that.

 

Our minds have been eased very much.

 

All I know is we wanted the Bella Experience, but that was already sold out so we went the next step which was the Fantasica and I wasn't even sure what that fully entailed. I thought I read some where that we can use that for Gelato during the cruise and that will make my DW very happy, if so.

 

Ourselves, we don't care too much about the ship itself, if the price is right, we cruise. We do like the smaller ships though. We tried our first mega ship, the NCL Breakaway this January and felt lost among so many people, all trying to do everything, all at the same time.

 

As for our roll call, I have never started a roll call before. Well I started one, it took 4 months before some one finally posted and that has been it since. Not very active would be putting it mildly.

 

Again, thanks for all the great comments.

 

Cheers

Len

[Giantfan13]

Sinfonia was "stretched" a few years ago (we sailed on her in 2016 soon after the refurbishment - so, maybe around 2015). You will have to book for the theatre as it can no longer cater for the extra numbers due to the added cabins. She's a small ship (still) but that lends itself to a more intimate atmosphere onboard. There is a smoking section in the Irish pub, Sheelagh's House, on deck 5 (for those who care about this - be it smokers or virulent anti-smokers).

 

Thanks for the heads up on show reservations. Can you do this online ahead of time, or must it be done once you are on the ship?

Is this for ALL shows or only for production shows?

 

Again, thanks for the info.

 

Cheers

Len

[NYHartChapp]

Thanks for the heads up on show reservations. Can you do this online ahead of time, or must it be done once you are on the ship?

 

 

Again, thanks for the info.

 

 

Cheers

Len

 

Once you're on the ship.

[Beamafar]

Thanks for the heads up on show reservations. Can you do this online ahead of time, or must it be done once you are on the ship?

Is this for ALL shows or only for production shows?

Again, thanks for the info.

Cheers Len

 

You can only book when onboard. There are screens around the ship and it's easy to do. IIRC, you could only book the show on the day that it was on (though I may be mistaken on that detail - it's been a while!) This would be for all the shows.

 

Another tip about Sinfonia - if you go up to deck 12 where the cabins are and walk the length of the corridor (either on port or starboard side - doesn't matter) there's a door at the end facing you (beside cabin #1201 or #1202) which brings you right out onto the front of the ship, which is a wonderful place for sailaways if weather permits. Please do not try to go out there when at sea if it's any way windy - it's dangerous. They usually hang a chain across it in those circumstances.

[ADVentive]

We were just on Sinfonia in June, so I will try to answer from my experience.

Do most of the crew speak and understand English?

Yes, we had no trouble with speaking English with the crew.

Will most of the passengers speak English?

While it might not have been their first language, many passengers spoke at least some English. I did not have any problems communicating with anyone on board.

Some one told us that we will be paying for water at dinner, is this so?

My understanding is that Americans get free water at dinner. We did.

We are non meat eaters, will this be any sort of problem?

I don't think so.

Is most of the food geared towards Italians or whatever?

I think it was. We had no issues with the food.

Are the shows in English?

Announcements before and after the show tended to be mostly in Italian, and then they would translate the key points into other languages including English. I don't think they translated everything because it seemed like it went on for a long while in Italian, and then we'd get a sentence or 2 in English, so I think we just got the important parts. There was a pre-show warm up act before the main show most nights, and that seemed to be completely in Italian. We didn't understand it at all. The main shows often had songs, most of which were sung in English and some in Italian. But most of the acts were things that didn't require language, such as acrobats or fancy dancing. We enjoyed the shows. You sign up for a show either on the same day or the day before on the ship either through the app or on touch screens on the wall. There were at least 2 and sometimes 3 different times to choose from.

How is the ship, small, large, old refurbished?

I don't have a lot to compare it to. It seemed big to us, but we haven't been on any of the really big ships for comparison.

[Beamafar]

You sign up for a show either on the same day or the day before on the ship either through the app or on touch screens on the wall. There were at least 2 and sometimes 3 different times to choose from.

 

The MSC for Me app does not include Sinfonia, so you can't book the shows with it.

[rikitikitavii]

We were just on Sinfonia in June, so I will try to answer from my experience.

 

 

Do most of the crew speak and understand English?

Yes, we had no trouble with speaking English with the crew.

Will most of the passengers speak English?

While it might not have been their first language, many passengers spoke at least some English. I did not have any problems communicating with anyone on board.

Some one told us that we will be paying for water at dinner, is this so?

My understanding is that Americans get free water at dinner. We did.

We are non meat eaters, will this be any sort of problem?

I don't think so.

Is most of the food geared towards Italians or whatever?

I think it was. We had no issues with the food.

Are the shows in English?

Announcements before and after the show tended to be mostly in Italian, and then they would translate the key points into other languages including English. I don't think they translated everything because it seemed like it went on for a long while in Italian, and then we'd get a sentence or 2 in English, so I think we just got the important parts. There was a pre-show warm up act before the main show most nights, and that seemed to be completely in Italian. We didn't understand it at all. The main shows often had songs, most of which were sung in English and some in Italian. But most of the acts were things that didn't require language, such as acrobats or fancy dancing. We enjoyed the shows. You sign up for a show either on the same day or the day before on the ship either through the app or on touch screens on the wall. There were at least 2 and sometimes 3 different times to choose from.

How is the ship, small, large, old refurbished?

I don't have a lot to compare it to. It seemed big to us, but we haven't been on any of the really big ships for comparison.

ADventive,

Thanks for the review, we are on Sinfonia in April, really looking forward to this cruise, which we booked in January 2017. We have been on the Sky several times, and tonnage wise, the Sky is a little larger than the Sinfonia.

[ADVentive]

The MSC for Me app does not include Sinfonia, so you can't book the shows with it.

 

I was on Sinfonia in June and used the app to book shows.

[Giantfan13]

Once again, a BIG thank you to all who took the time to answer my questions.

We are so looking forward to this cruise and all your help has been greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers

Len

[rikitikitavii]

Once again, a BIG thank you to all who took the time to answer my questions.

We are so looking forward to this cruise and all your help has been greatly appreciated.

 

 

Cheers

Len

Len, Let us know of your experience after the cruise. Most of all ENJOY!!!

[Giantfan13]

Len, Let us know of your experience after the cruise. Most of all ENJOY!!!

 

 

Most certainly WILL DO.

 

Cheers

Len

[Zephyr173]

We're rather new to cruising. Our first cruise was on Sinfonia and we absolutely fell in **love** with the ship, and were in fact impressed with the quality of the service. As read on many threads, MSC takes care of cleanliness all the time, and we saw that on Sinfonia.

 

For our part, we prefer the European crowd and vibe and enjoyed the people on board. There were many fine friends: Italians en masse, Brits, Germans, Japanese, a few Chinese (great dresses on formal nights!), Russians, and a few Americans. I don't recall any other Canadians. But all this meant for good times especially when mingling in the MDR for lunch, or at bars and poolside.

[phissy]

What you report is how a world traveler should approach cruising internationally. We also enjoy meeting many from other countries. Language does not seem to be a barrier, if you approach with an open heart . There is much we enjoy about learning about other cultures.