What are your experiences cruising overseas on overseas cruise lines? Favourable or not?

[MMDown Under]

This in my personal opinion on why the fit is important when you decide to cruise overseas on an overseas cruise line -

 

MSC Lirica - The bad - too many languages, and too many rude people.  There was a near mutiny in puerto rico because many passengers didn't realise we had to go through Customs there, in lieu of first port in USA.  Despite being comfortable seated in a big theatre, with Customs on the Stage processing people, people kept going up to the stage with their complaints.  Staff lost control.  The Customs people left the stage.  An Aussie (bless her heart) took control and told everyone to please sit down or we'll never get off the ship.  I remember thinking I wouldn't want to be on this ship in an emergency. 

The good - first class entertainment and spotless  ship.

MSC Poesia - the bad - ship was too big with too many passengers and too many rude people who didn't follow rules.  One example of rudeness - Staff had made a small area in the pool area for interested passengers to do fun exercise.  Passengers on lilows pulled up their lilows across the edge of exercise space,  crowding that small area. 

The good - fabulous itinerary, and spotless ship.  I remember thinking I'll never cruise on a ship this big again.  

Hurtigruten - Norwegian ships - perfect fit for me.  I've been on five cruises with them.

Queen Frederica - Greek ship - perfect fit for me.  I used to get up at 11 am for Greek dance lessons.  Such fun people. 

P&O Chusan - British ship - perfect fit for me. such well mannered well travelled passengers.  

All chartered small ships out of Britain - perfect fit for me. 

The most fun ship - chartered Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship full of Aussies and one Kiwi couple from Hawaii to Australia. 

 

What have been your experiences?

 

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

This in my personal opinion on why the fit is important when you decide to cruise overseas on an overseas cruise line -

 

MSC Lirica - The bad - too many languages, and too many rude people.  There was a near mutiny in puerto rico because many passengers didn't realise we had to go through Customs there, in lieu of first port in USA.  Despite being comfortable seated in a big theatre, with Customs on the Stage processing people, people kept going up to the stage with their complaints.  Staff lost control.  The Customs people left the stage.  An Aussie (bless her heart) took control and told everyone to please sit down or we'll never get off the ship.  I remember thinking I wouldn't want to be on this ship in an emergency. 

The good - first class entertainment and spotless  ship.

MSC Poesia - the bad - ship was too big with too many passengers and too many rude people who didn't follow rules.  One example of rudeness - Staff had made a small area in the pool area for interested passengers to do fun exercise.  Passengers on lilows pulled up their lilows across the edge of exercise space,  crowding that small area. 

The good - fabulous itinerary, and spotless ship.  I remember thinking I'll never cruise on a ship this big again.  

Hurtigruten - Norwegian ships - perfect fit for me.  I've been on five cruises with them.

Queen Frederica - Greek ship - perfect fit for me.  I used to get up at 11 am for Greek dance lessons.  Such fun people. 

P&O Chusan - British ship - perfect fit for me. such well mannered well travelled passengers.  

All chartered small ships out of Britain - perfect fit for me. 

The most fun ship - chartered Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship full of Aussies and one Kiwi couple from Hawaii to Australia. 

 

What have been your experiences?

 

Oops - I forget Azamara - perfect fit. 

CTMA Vacancier, a French ship, which was an interesting experience, with three themes.  We chose food, for obvious reasons.  

 

[NSWP]

P&O UK, Very good, done 5 on them.

 

[MMDown Under]

27 minutes ago, NSWP said:

P&O UK, Very good, done 5 on them.

 

Were they long cruise, Les?

[NSWP]

18 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Were they long cruise, Les?

Yes, Arcadia was 7 weeks in 2012, Sydney to Southampton via Africa, half worldie at a great price. 

Aurora in 2016 was 3 and a half weeks from Southampton, transatlantic..east coast of USA/Canada and back.  

 

P&O do the long cruises well. And kippers for brekkie if you want, lol..

[MMDown Under]

2 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Yes, Arcadia was 7 weeks in 2012, Sydney to Southampton via Africa, half worldie at a great price. 

Aurora in 2016 was 3 and a half weeks from Southampton, transatlantic..east coast of USA/Canada and back.  

 

P&O do the long cruises well. And kippers for brekkie if you want, lol..

yes i my cruise on P&O was long also, from London to Brisbane around South Africa to India and Ceylon because the Suez was closed.  There was a lot of pomp and ceremony on the wharf because this was the last P&O ship visiting India for crew,   Some passengers were escaping Ceylon to Australia.  

I have original kippers in the cupboard.  

[NSWP]

1 minute ago, MMDown Under said:

yes i my cruise on P&O was long also, from London to Brisbane around South Africa to India and Ceylon because the Suez was closed.  There was a lot of pomp and ceremony on the wharf because this was the last P&O ship visiting India for crew,   Some passengers were escaping Ceylon to Australia.  

I have original kippers in the cupboard.  

P&O Chusan? OMG that was a long time ago, you must have been a baby, lol.

[MMDown Under]

4 minutes ago, NSWP said:

P&O Chusan? OMG that was a long time ago, you must have been a baby, lol.

I wish, but it was my first cruise overseas.  I got sick of waiting for someone to travel with me, so I went on my own!

[greyskier]

We have done about 14 cruises from overseas. 2x Hurtigruten, 2x princess and the rest Holland america ranging from 2 to 8 weeks.  All were fabulous and would do all again if we could. HAL often has ports other cruises don't often use  they don't have as many extra activies as some other lines but we have never been bored. Hurtigruten is more of an expedition type cruise I think and would not suit if you liked lots of entertainment. Not counting Penguin 101 that we had.!

We have also been on PO and Carnival  and enjoyed those so I think you can find something to suit on most lines.

[MMDown Under]

16 minutes ago, greyskier said:

We have done about 14 cruises from overseas. 2x Hurtigruten, 2x princess and the rest Holland america ranging from 2 to 8 weeks.  All were fabulous and would do all again if we could. HAL often has ports other cruises don't often use  they don't have as many extra activies as some other lines but we have never been bored. Hurtigruten is more of an expedition type cruise I think and would not suit if you liked lots of entertainment. Not counting Penguin 101 that we had.!

We have also been on PO and Carnival  and enjoyed those so I think you can find something to suit on most lines.

I agree HAL had some great itineraries.  I seriously looked at cruising with them but their ships had complaints re need for repair when I looked. 

[Ozwoody]

Only non Princess ship I've been on, is the Cunard QEii.

Thought it was very similar to the princess ships, only minor negative side were it was a bit stiff stuff in my opinion, and even in moderate sea seemed to squeak a bit.

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

I agree HAL had some great itineraries.  I seriously looked at cruising with them but their ships had complaints re need for repair when I looked. 

Have done a few HAL cruises (great itneraries) and never had any maintenance problems. Some ships were getting a little worn but that was merely cosmetic. I've had one Princess cruise where there seemed to be constant water, and by the smell, sewer pipe leakage problems. Our toilet backed up or wouldn't flush several times. That was about eight years ago and that ship, up until recently, was still part of the fleet.

[Ozwoody]

1 minute ago, lyndarra said:

Have done a few HAL cruises (great itneraries) and never had any maintenance problems. Some ships were getting a little worn but that was merely cosmetic. I've had one Princess cruise where there seemed to be constant water, and by the smell, sewer pipe leakage problems. Our toilet backed up or wouldn't flush several times. That was about eight years ago and that ship, up until recently, was still part of the fleet.

We must have been on the same princess ship.

On one of our cruises they did seem to have that problem. took them several days to clear it.

Never had it on any other cruise. 

[lyndarra]

3 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

This in my personal opinion on why the fit is important when you decide to cruise overseas on an overseas cruise line -

 

MSC Lirica - The bad - too many languages, and too many rude people.  There was a near mutiny in puerto rico because many passengers didn't realise we had to go through Customs there, in lieu of first port in USA.  Despite being comfortable seated in a big theatre, with Customs on the Stage processing people, people kept going up to the stage with their complaints.  Staff lost control.  The Customs people left the stage.  An Aussie (bless her heart) took control and told everyone to please sit down or we'll never get off the ship.  I remember thinking I wouldn't want to be on this ship in an emergency. 

The good - first class entertainment and spotless  ship.

MSC Poesia - the bad - ship was too big with too many passengers and too many rude people who didn't follow rules.  One example of rudeness - Staff had made a small area in the pool area for interested passengers to do fun exercise.  Passengers on lilows pulled up their lilows across the edge of exercise space,  crowding that small area. 

The good - fabulous itinerary, and spotless ship.  I remember thinking I'll never cruise on a ship this big again.  

Hurtigruten - Norwegian ships - perfect fit for me.  I've been on five cruises with them.

Queen Frederica - Greek ship - perfect fit for me.  I used to get up at 11 am for Greek dance lessons.  Such fun people. 

P&O Chusan - British ship - perfect fit for me. such well mannered well travelled passengers.  

All chartered small ships out of Britain - perfect fit for me. 

The most fun ship - chartered Rhapsody of the Seas cruise ship full of Aussies and one Kiwi couple from Hawaii to Australia. 

 

What have been your experiences?

 

The Puerto Rico problem is not new. I have experienced problems on MSC Divina but it wasn't the fault of the ship or crew. In my case it was processing delays by US customs - faulty computers and lack of staff. Everyone was required, by US Customs, to disembark. Full disembarkation was delayed by about three hours. Further delays were caqused when people who didn't want to go ashore wanted to reboard but had to wait. This is where the mob became unruly because there was little provision for people to sit and wait. Queue jumpers were causing problems leading to fisticuffs. It was here that there was some lack of control by MSC personel but it wasn't their fault. 

On MSC you can't avoid the multilingual problem(?) especially as English speakers are in the minority. The majority were Italian, German and Spanish speaking.

Yes, beautiful and BIG ships but I found pax no more rude or polite than on other cruises.

It wasn't my best cruise but now knowing what to expect, I would consider doing another.

There was a good deal recently Genoa/New York maiden voyage this November, I can't remember the ship. Very tempting for the price which included airfares.

[lyndarra]

15 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

We must have been on the same princess ship.

On one of our cruises they did seem to have that problem. took them several days to clear it.

Never had it on any other cruise. 

I think it was a New Zealand cruise.

[lyndarra]

10 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

The Puerto Rico problem is not new. I have experienced problems on MSC Divina but it wasn't the fault of the ship or crew. In my case it was processing delays by US customs - faulty computers and lack of staff. Everyone was required, by US Customs, to disembark. Full disembarkation was delayed by about three hours. Further delays were caqused when people who didn't want to go ashore wanted to reboard but had to wait. This is where the mob became unruly because there was little provision for people to sit and wait. Queue jumpers were causing problems leading to fisticuffs. It was here that there was some lack of control by MSC personel but it wasn't their fault. 

On MSC you can't avoid the multilingual problem(?) especially as English speakers are in the minority. The majority were Italian, German and Spanish speaking.

Yes, beautiful and BIG ships but I found pax no more rude or polite than on other cruises.

It wasn't my best cruise but now knowing what to expect, I would consider doing another.

There was a good deal recently Genoa/New York maiden voyage this November, I can't remember the ship. Very tempting for the price which included return airfares.

Correction re New York cruise. It was this month deptarture on the 12th - 26 days $3999 inside cabin.

Edited October 19, 2022 by lyndarra

[Ozwoody]

I'm thinking in our case it was the Sea Princess 2016.

Not sure about that, could have been in 2015, did two cruises that year.

[MMDown Under]

7 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

The Puerto Rico problem is not new. I have experienced problems on MSC Divina but it wasn't the fault of the ship or crew. In my case it was processing delays by US customs - faulty computers and lack of staff. Everyone was required, by US Customs, to disembark. Full disembarkation was delayed by about three hours. Further delays were caqused when people who didn't want to go ashore wanted to reboard but had to wait. This is where the mob became unruly because there was little provision for people to sit and wait. Queue jumpers were causing problems leading to fisticuffs. It was here that there was some lack of control by MSC personel but it wasn't their fault. 

On MSC you can't avoid the multilingual problem(?) especially as English speakers are in the minority. The majority were Italian, German and Spanish speaking.

Yes, beautiful and BIG ships but I found pax no more rude or polite than on other cruises.

It wasn't my best cruise but now knowing what to expect, I would consider doing another.

There was a good deal recently Genoa/New York maiden voyage this November, I can't remember the ship. Very tempting for the price which included airfares.

Your situation in Puerto Rico was worse than mine.  The cruise I went on with MSC Poesia was meant to go from Genoa to NY and they changed it to a fabulous itinerary from Kiel, Germany to NY.  Can you imagine how many Aussies were booked on the original cruise with land travel.  This was when I decided not to book far in advance with discount flights in future.  We shared a table with a delightful couple, a Dutch man and his Italian wife, who translated and told us what to order,. 

Genoa to NY would be a good cruise. MSC Lirica was from Genoa to Florida.  I was surprised boarding in Genoa was absolute bedlam, as Genoa was a regular port.  Prices were always very reasonable, which was the original attraction. The ships were spotless and the entertainment first class.  Some acts were better than Cirque du Soleil, which we later saw in Toronto.  

[lyndarra]

Just now, Ozwoody said:

I'm thinking in our case it was the Sea Princess 2016.

Not sure about that, could have been in 2015, did two cruises that year.

It was Sea Princess but I thought it was earlier.

[MMDown Under]

Thinking of Custom delays.  Do you remember the British ship which took all day to clear Customs on West Coast in USA?  I recall they ended up staying there an extra day because passengers were irate.  

[Ozwoody]

1 hour ago, lyndarra said:

It was Sea Princess but I thought it was earlier.

It could have been an earlier cruise, too far back for a clear memory of which cruise it was, but just one of those things that rattles around, when someone sparks a yeah we had that, memory chord.😁

[vozzie]

So...I think the trick is....don't buy a one-way cruise to USA!

[Cruisers47]

Hi

 

this topic reminded me of our MSC cruise, probably more than 10 years ago from São Paulo to Venice.   It cost us more to fly to South America than the cruise.   The boat was lovely and we were given a cabin on the 13th level with walk in robes!   But seven different languages before and after each show was tiring.   The ship took our passports and on the last day the announced we had to line up to collect our passports on the day we docked.  People had trains to catch in Italy and were very angry.   2000 odd people lining up when you want to get off the ship does not make for happy passengers!

 

All makes for laughs now!
 

RC now at Diamond status has been lovely!

 

Eileen

[nermal9900]

PRETTY good.Mine was a U by Uniworld in Europe on a River cruise.service and the people made all the difference.I did miss having Karaoke and Nightclubs all the time but then when distances are overnight plus short between ports and things like the first half of the cruise and the last half do not consist of 3 days to first destination on the way there and the same home it makes a difference.No complaints on the food.we had 105 people on mine which was a Christmas cruise.I still have that castle I bought from Vienna at home to this day.

Edited October 20, 2022 by nermal9900
wording

[MMDown Under]

10 hours ago, Cruisers47 said:

Hi

 

this topic reminded me of our MSC cruise, probably more than 10 years ago from São Paulo to Venice.   It cost us more to fly to South America than the cruise.   The boat was lovely and we were given a cabin on the 13th level with walk in robes!   But seven different languages before and after each show was tiring.   The ship took our passports and on the last day the announced we had to line up to collect our passports on the day we docked.  People had trains to catch in Italy and were very angry.   2000 odd people lining up when you want to get off the ship does not make for happy passengers!

 

All makes for laughs now!
 

RC now at Diamond status has been lovely!

 

Eileen

Agree it makes you laugh in hindsight.  However, you don''t know anger, until you've heard it in seven different languages.at once!