Opera 1/14/06 Review Part 2

[donnaw]

1) Small aft deck on each of the passenger floors for a quiet place to watch the wake and relax.

 

The other side (keep in mind that we had developed some pre-conceptions based on experiences on other lines and information received about Opera’s first season.

1) Way too many passengers for the size of the ship. Many public rooms became impassable when entertainment was performing. The buffet at full operation had two lines running that went well out the door whereas the comparable Celebrity ship (passenger count) had 4 lines running.

2) Coffee. Coffee urns in Il Patio were emptied at 6:00 PM promptly. After that, (outside of dinner) you need to purchase coffee which started at $1.50 for the plain ordinary and went up from there. Coffee service was missing at the evening buffets also including the Pastry buffet.

3) Decaf is Sanka instant. I would have really enjoyed the coffee bar if they had real decaf to make the specialty coffees with but was not worth it with Sanka as a base.

4) Lack of included cold beverages other than water outside of meals. The included iced tea at poolside is gone and replaced by cans of iced tea at a charge. Juice is removed from passenger access and not replaced with tea/lemonade as on most cruiselines.

5) Cups – Extremely small coffee cups which are even bigger than the water glasses in Il Patio. Styrofoam cups in Il Patio. Fortunately, I had my Galaxy water bottle with and we were able to pick up travel mugs for coffee in San Juan.

6) Very limited breakfast hours. Both buffet and dining room stopped serving at 9:30. Croissants were available in several locations until noon when the Grill, Pizza Station, Dining Room and Buffet opened. This really put breakfast out of the question for those who enjoyed sleeping late.

7) Large gaps in snacks or light dining options with a very limited room service menu. An interesting aside was that the original Room Service Menu in our cabin (dated 11/05) had prices in it for everything other than continental breakfast. We found out that this was in error and our cabin steward corrected it with the right menu. The morning gap is followed by a gap after 6:00 PM until 11:30 when either waiters bring around snacks or a buffet is set up. Due to rough weather and times in port, many missed dinner and were left with very limited choices when they felt better or returned to the ship.

8) Very disorganized. Appears to be directly related to level of training. Cabin steward did not introduce herself or show the cabin amenities. The layout of the cabin is extremely close to that of Celebrity so we did not have a problem locating the safe. Others would have a difficult time. Wait staff in the dining room did not introduce themselves either. First two nights in dining room and could not get through that we wanted iced tea. Our waiter finally understood on the third night and actually found large glasses for it on the fifth night. There was not a single dining room meal where everyone at our table got everything they asked for. In some cases, we received more than we asked for. One night had some getting their salads first while other received their soup first. We received an invitation to a special cocktail party two hours prior to the party. We did not see until ½ hour after the party started since that is when we returned to our cabin to get ready for dinner. Our VIP friend was invited to a special cocktail party. When she got there she noticed that she was the only single female. She finally figured it out when she saw the picture of her and the captain with the “Happy Honeymoon” cake in front of them.

9) Confusing information. We were told that there was a 3% charge to get cash on your sea card and that it must be handled at the bank. After multiple attempts at the bank, we finally went to the casino. Not only was it not a problem but we increased the amount slightly and there was no surcharge.

10) Beef entrees – ok to not very good.

11) No wine steward available for those who preferred that method of ordering.

12) Time management. We went down to the duty free shop during their listed open hours and they said to come back later since they were re-stocking. We came back when they suggested and they told us to come back in another hour. This was during the hours that they were supposed to be open.

13) Things not happening as scheduled. A shop bazaar was scheduled for the last sea day but none of us ever found it. Sandwiches were scheduled after San Juan sail away but we finally went to bed after seeing no sight of them or waiters in any of the public lounges.

14) Lack of announcements when we were free to disembark in port. However, art auction and other announcements were often made.

15) Excursion Desk. We did not receive info on tours until embarkation. We went to the excursion desk to get information on available tours and transportation in La Ramona and it took 15 minutes and many questions to finally get a copy of a price listing for cabs since they had no information on the tours that they were offering.

16) Casino. Very small and few chairs for slot machines.

17) Drink prices. MSC went from possibly the lowest in the industry to very high with drink specials at $6.50. Number of drink specials were also cut back from multiple choices to 1 mixed cocktail choice per day or 1 Martini choice per day at $6.50 (This does include the tip). There were also a couple of days when Sangria was an additional special and a very big hit. One couple that we were with just got off Sea Princess where the same cocktail was 50% less.

18) No quiet location in the pool area for much of the day.

19) $12.00 per day auto tipping. This is the highest of the mass market tipping amounts. In this case, the question is whether many of those getting auto tips deserves them at all while those that do may be shortchanged due to the amount given to others.

20) The line is supposed to be Italian style but most of the staff that passengers interface with are not Italian and have very limited command of English.

Up until disembarkation all the above listed negatives were just nuisances which did not impact the enjoyment of our cruise and would not remove MSC from consideration when we booked our next cruise. In reality, we thought many of them amusing to downright funny. We were told by Brits that were on with us (having made the transatlantic crossing) that things dramatically improved when “we” Americans boarded the ship. The improvements, in their opinion, covered not only the quality of food but, even, the hours that it was available. It seems that the grill and pizza shut down at 2:30 every day during the crossing.

Disembarkation – this is where it alleviates MSC from our possible cruises. We were supposed to dock in FLL at 7:00 AM. None of us are sure of exactly what happened to change that. The official information from the bridge was that the harbormaster would not allow us in due to high cross winds. We did not reach the dock till close to 11:00 and were beaten in by Hal, Princess, Celebrity and Carnival that I could actually see. We had friends who had missed their early flights but we were still hoping to make our 12:40 flight at this point. Occasional announcements were made but didn’t do much to clear up the question that all of us had about when we would be able to disembark.

At 12:00, we realized that there was no chance that we would make our flight. Unfortunately, we had 3 cell phones and they were all dead. For some reason they did not charge correctly in the cabin. DH went down to the desk to ask to use a phone to contact our airline. He was told “NO”. He was told that there was a public phone for passenger use in the terminal, which he could use when we disembarked. A lengthy discussion did not change their minds and they still wouldn’t say when we would be able to disembark. He spotted a friend and was able to use their phone to notify our airline of the problem. The airline had seats available on the 1:45 and the 8:45 flights but we were advised to not do anything over the phone and to just see the rep at the airport. If we had not notified them in advance, we would have been out a considerable amount of money for a last minute booking. We were still on the ship when our original flight left and we made it to the airport 5 minutes too late to make the 1:45 flight. They booked us on the 8:45 at no extra charge and we ended up renting a car and going out to the Sawgrass Mills until it was time for our late flight.

We were in a similar situation with Royal Caribbean many years ago and the treatment was like night and day. Royal Caribbean handled everything even though we had booked our own air.

Did we enjoy our cruise? Yes, definitely! We were with great old friends and made some great new ones. We had a wonderful time! Most of the negatives were actually amusing as they were happening. Even taken as a whole, we would consider MSC again. However, after the disembarkation mess we will not consider them without a whole lot of very positive reports from others. Our biggest disappointment was that we were looking for some competition to Royal Caribbean and Carnival but this doesn’t seem to be at that point yet.

[deck chair]

Hi!

 

Thanks for the informative reveiw of the OPERA. I'll be sailing on the LIRICA on 2/4/06 for 11 days and now I'm wondering if I have made an error in judgement. I usually sail Cunard and HAL and was looking for a change. Your review reminds me that the grass is not always greener... I'm going with few expectations except to have a nice time away from the cold. I'll be sure to write a review upon my return to add to the literature regarding MSC. Thanks again for taking the time to write of your experiences.

 

Patrick

Baltimore

[seagulls]

I was on the same cruise as Donna and I have to say her review is a lot kinder than mine would have been. The biggest complainers onboard were the repeat cruisers who were so annoyed at how much this line has changed in just one short year. It is a shame, the ship is drop dead gorgeous and the entertainment the best I have ever encountered on a ship, but the service (probably due to overworked employees) and the penny pinching is a disgrace. I will not cruise on MSC again unless they improve radically.

[joeyanddavid]

Oh my ...First let me thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts on paper, I was horrified when I read your two part review.

I have no doubt that you are sincere in your observations Personally unless someone else can write a review that i can have confidence that things have change, we may pass MSC..

 

One question....

 

Did you feel this was limited to this vessel or did you get the feeling this was SOP for all of MSC ships!

[resistk]

TRUST ME, THE FOOD IS STILL UNRELIABLE...I WAS ON THE SAME CRUISE. The delays were not MSC's fault on disembarking, two other ships had been held back by the harbourmaster too.

[seagulls]

It looked like we were the last ship to get in port. If MSC had been smart they would have at least offered us some light refreshments. Also, for some reason people had trouble charging their cell phones and many were unable to use them. We had one person use ours, they had asked if there was a phone available at the desk and was told no they would have to wait until they got into port. I also heard from another friend that there was an Opera officer who seemed to think the whole thing was a joke and had a great time imitating the folks who were upset. He was lucky someone didn't punch the sneer off his face. My TA is horrified. She has heard from other TAs who had people on this cruise and everyone is up in arms about many things. The cruiseline has lost a lot of future bookings over this one.

 

As for me if MSC offered me a large discount on a future cruise I would tell them to "stuff it"!

[venicecruiser]

Joey - You might take a look at my comments after being on Lirica over Christmas. Suffice it to say that in most respects I had a VERY different experience that what is being reported on Opera.....Makes me think that perhaps people should be booking Lirica-not Opera.

 

Claudia

[joeyanddavid]

Joey - You might take a look at my comments after being on Lirica over Christmas. Suffice it to say that in most respects I had a VERY different experience that what is being reported on Opera.....Makes me think that perhaps people should be booking Lirica-not Opera.

 

Claudia

 

can u "link" me up.... so you think its a ship problem and not a CORP prob?

[Andy]

Hi Donna !

 

Thanks for the excellent review. I was truly hoping MSC would be much improved this season. Sounds like they are going in the wrong direction though. Sorry to hear. On the bright side, I trust Mr. Sasso will do everything possible to make the improvements. Time will tell.

[donnaw]

Oh my ...First let me thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts on paper, I was horrified when I read your two part review.

I have no doubt that you are sincere in your observations Personally unless someone else can write a review that i can have confidence that things have change, we may pass MSC..

 

One question....

 

Did you feel this was limited to this vessel or did you get the feeling this was SOP for all of MSC ships!

 

Joey, I am thinking that it was just this particular cruise but the customer service at the end was totally lacking. Up until the last 1/2 hour we would have booked again in a minute if they had the right price and itinerary. There were a lot of great positives and the negatives weren't that big of a deal for us.

 

We did have light refreshments (coffee, tea and croissants) and then burgers and pizza in Il Patio which is where we headed instead of the lounge. We are also the ones that borrowed Seagull's phone to contact our airline. If we had not gotten through and just showed up, they would have had every right to charge us for the replacement flight. As it was, they rebooked on the late evening flight and took our luggage off our hands.

 

My advise after what we experienced is to watch the next few weeks to see if the late disembarkation was a one time occurence and book a late flight as an added safety measure. I would really like to see it improve and I was really sorry to write what appears to be a negative review. We did have a fantastic cruise and the only deal breaker was the last half hour.

 

Seagulls, I am really glad that dh saw you and not that officer after he talked to reception or you might have seen the officer hit the floor.

[joeyanddavid]

I would really like to see it improve and I was really sorry to write what appears to be a negative review. We did have a fantastic cruise and the only deal breaker was the last half hour.

 

Donna Thanks for the Clarifactaions !

[venicecruiser]

Joeyand david - My Lirica comments are under the thread on this board. Thread is called "Lirica 12/17-12/27/05.

 

Although Sasso has made a few changes that I do not agree with, I believe the experiences on Opera related here are confined to Opera. Let me put it another way - I will be back on Lirica in April for another cruise. Had I experienced anything close to what apparently happened on Opera, I would NOT be going back to Lirica.........

 

Claudia

[MartyC]

Can you tell me anything about the kids program. What is the room service menu like as it sounds like there are some gaps in when food is available.

Great review and I have been waiting for one to come up so thanks. We are booked and paid for so no backing out now.. but at least we will be better prepared.

[msbptg]

My wife and I will be sailing Opera on feb 11...I,ll be sure to write a review that I find to be open and honest when I return home..Now on to your review..Maybe you should re-read it. Example, your pre-conception statements..Celebrity has 4 lines running at there buffet, Opera had 2..For one thing, Celebrity is a bigger ship. You mentioned that coffee was removed, outside of dinner..You could have easily ordered coffee from room service (for free) or went inside the dining area and had a waiter bring you one..dinner at late seating lasts to around 10:30..so there where plenty of options for you to enjoy a cup of coffee...You mention lack of cold beverages outside of meals..Once again you could have ordered room service (for free) and had all the cold drinks you wanted..You compare the cabin to Celebrity, (which I have sailed on twice-Infinity and Millennium) and state that people would have a hard time finding there safe..are you kidding me?.. You state that the pool area was noisy..I guess so..You could have walked to the aft end of the ship if you wanted quiet time.. You also could have asked your materde for ice tea the first nite you had dinner..I,ll bet he understood english..the rest of your review was your opinioun, like when you stated the casino was small and had few chairs..What casino isn,t small on a cruise ship?? Ive read many positive reviews about the Opera, and look forward to sailing on her.. as far as your review, its mostly complaints that have no bearing at all on the ship as a whole, and I,m not buying it

[donnaw]

My wife and I will be sailing Opera on feb 11...I,ll be sure to write a review that I find to be open and honest when I return home..Now on to your review..Maybe you should re-read it. Example, your pre-conception statements..Celebrity has 4 lines running at there buffet, Opera had 2..For one thing, Celebrity is a bigger ship. You mentioned that coffee was removed, outside of dinner..You could have easily ordered coffee from room service (for free) or went inside the dining area and had a waiter bring you one..dinner at late seating lasts to around 10:30..so there where plenty of options for you to enjoy a cup of coffee...You mention lack of cold beverages outside of meals..Once again you could have ordered room service (for free) and had all the cold drinks you wanted..You compare the cabin to Celebrity, (which I have sailed on twice-Infinity and Millennium) and state that people would have a hard time finding there safe..are you kidding me?.. You state that the pool area was noisy..I guess so..You could have walked to the aft end of the ship if you wanted quiet time.. You also could have asked your materde for ice tea the first nite you had dinner..I,ll bet he understood english..the rest of your review was your opinioun, like when you stated the casino was small and had few chairs..What casino isn,t small on a cruise ship?? Ive read many positive reviews about the Opera, and look forward to sailing on her.. as far as your review, its mostly complaints that have no bearing at all on the ship as a whole, and I,m not buying it

 

I have reread my review many times in an attempt to not overstate the negative since we had a wonderful cruise with great friends and made some new friends in the process. As such the only real negative was at the end. I noted that I was pointing out differences, none of which would stop us from sailing MSC again for the right itinerary and price. A review is personal opinion and I attempted to make it clear that these were not complaints but just differences as we perceived them in an attempt to prepare those on future sailings. As to the buffet, Galaxy had approximately the same number of passengers on board when we did the TA in October and ran all 4 lines at peak hours. We do not go on a cruise to sit in our cabin waiting for room service and we lived through not having coffee without any serious repurcussions, dh did buy a large thermal mug in San Juan which did help. I had my Galaxy water bottle which I used instead of the disposable cups and was quite happy. If we had known, we would have packed one and some instant coffee. As to the pool noise, I happen to love it but did point out that the aft areas on the passenger decks were nice for quiet time. We did request iced tea but it never appeared. Our waiter turned out to be great and it was not a major deal for us and was definitely not enough to get our waiter into hot water over. It is not necessary for you to buy it since the purpose is to prepare you for the best cruise you can possibly have. I have read both positive and negative reviews and find that there is valuable information to be gleaned from both.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[donnaw]

Can you tell me anything about the kids program. What is the room service menu like as it sounds like there are some gaps in when food is available.

Great review and I have been waiting for one to come up so thanks. We are booked and paid for so no backing out now.. but at least we will be better prepared.

 

Marty, Believe it or not, we saw very few children on the ship and most that we saw were too young for the program. I am assuming that the program was excellent since they were suddenly there at disembarkation. Room service menu is very basic with coffee and croissants, sandwiches, salads and a few snack items if I remember correctly. There will be fruit in the cabin as of the first night turndown and you can request specific fruits from your cabin steward. Your cabin steward will supply ice in the morning and again at turndown but only if you request it.

 

The purpose of a review is to prepare you for the best cruise possible. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful cruise!

[seagulls]

msbptg, it seems you have all the answers so no doubt you will have a wonderful cruise.

[RD64]

A Quick Question...

 

I will be sailing on the Opera March 11th - I would like to know if the late dinner seating is at 8:15 as is stated in the MSC brochure. Also, what are your observations regarding the dress code - casual, formal, in-between?

 

Many Thanks

[donnaw]

A Quick Question...

 

I will be sailing on the Opera March 11th - I would like to know if the late dinner seating is at 8:15 as is stated in the MSC brochure. Also, what are your observations regarding the dress code - casual, formal, in-between?

 

Many Thanks

 

We queud up for late seating at 8:15 and the doors opened at 8:25 on the first two days. By the third day, they opened at 8:20. As to dress code, we had a surprise - 2 formal (gala) 4 (casual) and 1 informal (that was the surprise). DH wore a tux on the first formal night and felt conspicuous since the percentage was very low. It leaned towards dark suits and blazers with ties. He wore the blazer with a sports shirt on informal and was quite happy. The second formal night was blazer with dress shirt, tie and dress pants which fit in quite well. He probably would have been a bit happier if he had brought a dark suit instead of the tux but he took the "I bought this thing for cruising attitude" and couldn't complain! Do what your comfortable with and you'll have a great time.

 

Have a great cruise!

[ctdahlquist]

msbptq,

 

I understand your wanting to read all positive reviews, since you are boarding the ship next month. I was also on this sailing and feel donnaw's comments are very accurate (please see the review I posted today). I have written cruise reviews before, and I do write a regular restaurant review column for a local newspaper. I usually find myself focusing on the positives, but in this case, some cold reality is needed. Like donnaw, I didn't have a horrible time, but the overall ship experience did not meet what I have become accustomed to on other ships. This message board is called Cruise Critic for a reason. As a fellow passenger on this cruise and an experienced reviewer, her comments seemed very valid, balanced and fair.

[LLindaC]

I almost sailed this ship, but opted for Princess instead. I appreciate honest reviews, and always compare ships and lines in my reviews. Donna is a veteran cruiser and her opinions matter to me.

 

msbptg,

Why criticize the critic? Even on my best cruise, I write about the small stuff. But if you are going to slam a review, have a grade school student proofread it first. My 12 yr old had the following suggestions:

 

The plural poss. is "Their" not "there" (You did it twice, so it's no mistake)

Could have gone, not went....ouch!

Opinion is spelled this way

Maitre D' ....from the French....but maybe you should sail Princess and take English as a first language

[RD64]

I was wondering what the evening entertainment was like - is it just standard cruise ship entertainment? I am hoping that it is a little more continental - like Flamenco dancers, or something along those lines.

 

Many Thanks

[donnaw]

I was wondering what the evening entertainment was like - is it just standard cruise ship entertainment? I am hoping that it is a little more continental - like Flamenco dancers, or something along those lines.

 

Many Thanks

 

We wondered about that before the cruise with so many different languages. They did a tremendous job! Even those in our group who were unhappy with everything else loved the shows. Pretty much the standard production shows that you have seen on other lines but the entertainers were really a cut above and had their own twist on it which made them so much better than most of the others we have seen. We hated missing the show while on La Romana and everyone insisted that it was wonderful. Also numerous venues for dancing during the evening along with numerous dance lessons every day put on by the entertainment team will keep you well entertained. We found that the entertainment team (reported to be a toned down animation team) was an absolute blast.

[MartyC]

Thank you. I have written a review on my return from every cruise. 9 so far. It takes lots of time doing a good review so I very much appreciate you taking the effort and right after you got back . I told my wife, we should watch for the reviews of the first MSC Opera cruisers of the season and here they come. Thanks again and a cruise would have to be pretty bad for me not to like it. I had my front tooth knocked out on a Carnival cruise ( by one of the security guards while getting on the ship who wasn't paying attention to the wand he was swinging ) and I still had a good cruise. So thanks again.

[antcyd]

I have also always written a review of every cruise I have been on since finding this website, though to be honest, the only time I was very hestitant to do so was on this MSC board for fear of being blasted by possible comments I might make that could be misread as "negative". There are a few gung ho diehard cheerleaders for this cruise line that it makes you wonder if they are actually employees or stock holders, though I tend to think they are simply single minded unhappy people with too much time on their hands.

 

I wrote my review of my Xmas Lirica cruise after much thought and prompting by some fellow Cruise critics right here that were supportive, I think as long as your review is honest and states the facts as it happened to YOU, thats all it can be taken as, your opinion and your facts as you experienced them. To attack people for doing so is doing a great injustice to this website and to your fellow cruisers on ANY cruise line.

 

Donna, thank you for taking the time to write such an indepth and wonderful review. I appreciate it and know how much time and effort it takes to do this and I applaud you for it as I do anyone who is trying to simply state their experience and help out other future passengers.

 

I once had a client I sent on a Celebrity cruise, one I myself had taken 2 weeks prior and had had a wonderful time on. When he came home I called him and asked how his cruise was, he said it was "just awful". I was shocked and asked why, he said that on the first day on sailing, he lost a contact lens and never found it for the duration of the cruise. I asked how was the food, the service, the entertainment etc. He said "the food was excellent, the shows were exceptional, the service incredible" however to him, the cruise was "just awful" because of the fact he lost his contact lens. Does that mean he had a truly awful cruise??? To him, yes I guess it was. But the cruise itself with the exception of that experience was wonderful, so just a little story to share with you all about people and their experiences. Mind you, he proceeded to tell everyone he knew how awful his cruise was without further explanation or stating the pros of the cruise and he probably turned off a bunch of people to Celebrity cruise lines, if he had explained the situation maybe that wouldnt have

happened :cool: