Random Thoughts from Our First Time MSC Cruise in Europe (Poesia)

[pghflyer]

I know a lot of people are trying out MSC and curious how it compares (I was searching for such info myself previously) so thought I would share some feedback. We just got off 13-night Poesia from Germany to Italy, booked in a Bella balcony for an embarrassingly cheap rate during the height of COVID, including Easy Plus drinks package and free WIFI.  We have previously cruised a lot of NCL, a few RCL, and a spattering of CCL/Princess. Overall, had a wonderful time and pleasantly surprised.

 

• EUROPEAN vibe/ style, especially as the ship was packed with Europeans (I think around 3K passengers and only a few hundred English/Americans).  Not only does the ship have more of a European style and way of doing things, but culturally Europeans have different social patterns themselves, not only within their individual countries, but certainly than we do from the USA. So just because you are in line at the buffet doesn't mean others won't squeeze in front of you....and just because you are sitting at a table doesn't mean another group won't grab a chair and squeeze their whole group in at your table with you. People less inclined to wait for a private elevator ride and more likely to cram on until every possible space is filled.  After taking a deep breath on these kinds of things that we do a little differently, I really came to enjoy it as it made my European sailing feel like I was actually in Europe instead of hiding out in an exclusive bubble with a bunch of similar people as myself. 
• ANNOUNCEMENTS in lots of languages but you eventually stop hearing them.
• SHOWS are more conceptual but still actually really well done and some great shows themed with our stops (ex. Flamenco dancers for Spain). One thing I didn't like is they provided ZERO show descriptions or information and many of the shows have vague titles such as "The Deep" or "Tapestry" or "America".  Is it dance, song medley, variety show, magician.....you will only know if you show up.
• FOOD. Buffet had significantly more variety than most other lines, the quality was average (maybe slightly above average), and the pizza was friggin amazing. Food in dining room was average, I was never blown away impressed but also always ended with a clean plate. No complaints. We were surprised that the early dining (6:30PM) was completely full but late seating (8:30PM) was sparsely attended in spite of the many Italians and Spanish on board whom I thought ate later. The restaurant manager said that it was an older demographic group.
• DRESS. In general, it was a very casual cruise and even on formal nights, they did say it was as formal as you wanted to be and we saw blue jeans and polo shirts. Other nights shorts/ t-shirts were seen often. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people did dress up (probably more than on NCL), but no one seemed to make a big deal about it.
• COVID. No one checked for masks anywhere on the ship or required you to wash hands anywhere. 
• DRINKS. Best beer selection I have ever seen in any hotel or cruise ship. They probably had 30+ varieties of beer, many expensive European (ex. Belgian) and craft varieties. All included in the plus plan.  We never went thirsty and had a number of great drinks with this plan BUT it was annoying to have to always make sure the drink you wanted was covered because they charge full price if you buy outside your plan (instead of charging just the difference).  Loved that bottled water AND the hand made Italian coffees were included (coffee in dining rooms was thin and watery).
• STAFF. All the staff everywhere were excellent and very friendly...IF you made some effort to engage and be friendly yourself. If not, they were very transactional. I would say it felt a little understaffed in bars/ around the ship for bartenders and drink services compared to other lines.....but I never waited more than 3-4 minutes to get a drink. 
• SHIP was not kept as spotless and shining clean as others we have been on BUT it was overall generally clean and maintained.
• ROOM was smaller than most balconies we have been in but we had the cheapest category. No tissues/ Kleenex (they plugged the hole in the bathroom countertop where they would go). Basic body wash/ shampoo liquid pump in the shower. No towel animals and rarely saw our room steward (maybe saw 5 times on our 13 nights).
• ACTIVITIES. Slightly less variety of activities on board but definitely the standard stuff like Trivia, cooking demos, games, dances, etc.  No Q&A with the officers or interaction with them. Probably not much for kids in general.
• WIFI was "free" so hard to complain but it generally worked fine, and definitely worked better once you found the spots where the signal was stronger (midship).
• DOCKING at port and port times advertised was horrible.  Of our 10 port stops, I think 6 of them ended up having different port times than we were given on our first day of the cruise - some changed times but same duration, a few shortened duration.  They never communicated why the times changed and never gave advance notice other than providing the time for the next day in the nightly cabin newsletter.  They rarely announced when we arrived at port, rarely announced when you could disembark, so this was a big guessing game and often big globs of confused people.  This was the least pleasant aspect of our cruise for us. 
• TIPPING. No discussion of tipping or staff recognition at all. Didn't see anyone handing out money to anyone.
• DISEMBARK. We arrived at our last disembark port at 10AM but they required everyone be out of their rooms by 8AM. This was a little crazy and seems unnecessary.
• VOYAGER CLUB. We status matched to Gold, and as far as I know, it didn't affect our cruise at all and we didn't get any benefits. There are so few legitimate perks until you make the top level, it isn't very consequential.

 

Anyhow, hope that helps any other first timers.  We will definitely cruise them again at the right price.

Edited October 11, 2022 by pghflyer

[Georgia_Peaches]

Really appreciate your feedback.  We are new to MSC having completed 1 caribbean cruise on Seashore and having another on the books next month...again, to the Caribbean.  We are ready to venture back over seas in 2023 and will likely do so on MSC because we really enjoyed our trial experience.  We were in the Yacht Club and will definitely try to book this category again if it's cost effective.  One thing we are considering is going a less expensive route because of a port heavy itinerary...meaning less time on the ship.  Your experience helps with making this decision.  Thanks for posting!

[sidari]

We sailed Poesia on a Barcelona to FLL TA some years ago, the demographic was different to a European or Caribbean cruise with very few kids onboard, there was plenty of staff and the mix of passengers were mostly UK, USA, Italian, German and many others. The food then was very good and the Italian guy in charge of the entertainment team did a great job and was also on the Divina when we did the ships first crossing to Miami, he left MSC shortly afterwards because they refused to add ideas the team had come up with, a sad loss really. On our last cruise which was on Meraviglia the staff issue mentioned in the original post was evident and seems to be an ongoing issue on all of their ships. The Zebra lounge was our favourite bar.

[Native Floridian 26]

So glad to see your input on the beers.  Just looking at the Easy Plus listing of beers, it doesn't look too great.  However, they do not list the draft beers by name.  In your opinion which were the best beers?  Sailing Armonia in Med in 2+ weeks.

[pghflyer]

53 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

So glad to see your input on the beers.  Just looking at the Easy Plus listing of beers, it doesn't look too great.  However, they do not list the draft beers by name.  In your opinion which were the best beers?  Sailing Armonia in Med in 2+ weeks.

My favorites (a few of which sold out of at about 8 days in) were the Erdinger Dunkel (German), Trappistes Rouchefort 6 (Belgian), and Baladin Leon (Italian). They probably only had about 8 drafts with the rest in bottles. Anyhow, more than I have seen anywhere else so it was a real upside to MSC that I hadn't considered, not sure if it would be the same when they aren't based in Europe though.

[Native Floridian 26]

2 hours ago, pghflyer said:

My favorites (a few of which sold out of at about 8 days in) were the Erdinger Dunkel (German), Trappistes Rouchefort 6 (Belgian), and Baladin Leon (Italian). They probably only had about 8 drafts with the rest in bottles. Anyhow, more than I have seen anywhere else so it was a real upside to MSC that I hadn't considered, not sure if it would be the same when they aren't based in Europe though.

Thank you. That's great information. Wherever I've seen the draft on the menu, it just says Heineken. Hubby is more of a beer snob and wasn't impressed with the publicized selections. 

[lovetravel1114]

Thank you so much for your review. My family's first MSC cruise is coming up this weekend and I was trying to find the difference from other cruise lines.

A bit shocked that you have to pay full price for the drinks if it is not under your plan as I would imagine only need pay the difference. We are in YC and I don't know if it would be any different but I really wouldn't want to pay the full price for the drinks unless it is something special! 

[eileen108]

Great review, thanks! We are planning on a long cruise on the MSC Poesia in early 2024. Does anyone know if there is a phone app available for the Poesia? I heard about the "MSC For Me" app but the Poesia isn't listed among the ships that use it. Is everything still just on paper (the nightly newsletter distributed) and the TV in the cabin?

[pghflyer]

We used the app but very limited functionality if I recall correctly.  The newsletter was definitely delivered in paper every evening.