NCL cruiser interested in trying MSC. What’s the difference?

[KMVigs]

I’ve been on a total of 20 cruises across Carnival, Celebrity, NCL, Royal a Caribbean, and Disney. I’m very intrigued by MSC, but I’m finding some things confusing. Eating times, and evening venues… as well drink/wifi packages to name a few. I know MSC initially had some trouble when first entering the North American market, but that was years ago. Can anyone give me a run down or comparison of MSC to other lines? I’m looking to the MSC Meraviglia out of New York.

 

Any info would be great! Thanks!

[Two Wheels Only]

The most confusing hurdle with MSC is understanding the different "experience" levels. This bothers some people who feel that the levels resemble the "class" system. Other lines do the same to some degree but MSC is the most blatant among the mainstream lines. 

 

The highest level is Yacht Club. This is most similar to NCL's Haven, Celebrity's Retreat and to a lesser degree, RCCL's Suite Neighborhood. A dedicated sundeck, dedicated restaurant, lounge, pool, bar, exclusive areas on and off of the ship, priority this and that, butler service, concierge, etc. 

 

Aurea is the 2nd highest MSC experience. What you get with Aurea varies by ship. Some ships have a dedicated Aurea restaurant, for example. A separate exclusive sundeck (also accessible by Yacht Club guests), Spa access, anytime dining, a separate bar, nicer stateroom choices, etc. 

 

Fantastica is 3rd highest. It's probably the most similar to non-suites on most of the other mainstream lines. You can select your stateroom, you can have a preference (earlier or later) for dining times in the evening but it will be a traditional fixed dining experience. You can add Spa access, drink package (there are multiple packages), specialty dining, etc. 

 

Bella is the most basic. You are limited as far as not being able to select a specific stateroom (in most cases) and certain stateroom types cannot be had if booked with Bella experience. MSC will assign a dining time and location in the evening. You're always able to go to the buffet with any experience, though. 

 

Some information HERE

Some information about the Yacht Club HERE and video.....

 

 

(the video is a mix of an old MSC video with some new clips/info added)

 

Many people have questions about MSC especially people who are familiar with other lines. MSC does things differently and this can be a problem with people who have a long cruising history, Some of those people want and expect MSC to be like everyone else. That's where most of the complaints come from as far as what happens on the ship. 

 

One area where newbies and experienced MSC cruisers can agree is that customer service off of the ship can be.....challenging. 

 

Bookings can get messed up without warning.

Phone reps can seem to give answers based on shaking a magic 8-ball. 

Refunds can take months (my longest wait was 5 months) and some people have waited over a year for MSC to return funds. 

A booking can be changed to something worse without compensation (you'll see the post if you hang around the forum) and MSC won't seem to care.

 

On the ship, things can be great or lousy just like any other cruise. If you sail any line enough times, something will go wrong. How the line responds to the problems can vary but MSC isn't always the most receptive to complaints. 

 

With an experienced cruiser, I recommend looking into MSC's status match program (click HERE ) for discounts on even your first cruise. I recommend doing a match before booking since adding a discount after booking could cause a chain reaction of mistakes by MSC reps (see above). I never matched but have sailed my way to the highest level. I've only sailed Yacht Club with MSC, though.

 

SOME people feel that Yacht Club is the only way to go but many forum members cruise MSC with Bella experience and have a great time. Below is a great review by an experienced cruiser (1st time with MSC)....

 

 

....and it wasn't their last with MSC. 

 

Feel free to ask any questions. Others who are more knowledgeable than I will gladly answer the best that they can. 

[insidecabin]

We have only used MSC with UK passenger focused Ship/itinerary.

 

With Virtuosa the 2 berth capacity is  4.800 and max 6.300

this results in packed ship when they fill the cabins with families which they like to do with free/cheap kids places(note totally free not like the free but pay the taxes free)

 

Prices are competitive,  the drinks package in the UK premium so very inclusive and reasonable on many cruises.

Good solo rates when not hitting capacity.

 

Only one casual included food option is the buffet its big and gets very busy

 

Result in the real world

 

Holiday cruises are crazy busy loads of kids and often has an impact on service levels.

did one and it was work to adjust to the bottlenecks

some parents don't do parenting feral kids about  

 

Outside the school holidays good passenger loads ship works very well(3500-4500).

 

Passenger demographic trends to budget cruisers and drinkers. 

short(<7n) cruises become party booze cruises, 7n are ok good mix, >7n much better

 

MSC  do things the MSC way once you work it out you can have a good cruise.

eg Virtuosa bits of the ship are organised evening party areas,  there are quieter options, good kids facilities,  indoor pool for colder climates.

 

They try to organise things like disembark but it becomes a free for all with long lines(easy fix get off last).

 

 

Reading lots of reviews and comments I think some of these points apply to US cruises as well

 

Avoid holidays and think about demographic.

 

Yacht Club(YC) does help enhance the experience at a price,

We  still avoid the holidays unless a particularly good deal

 

Another thing with MS is plan and pay for everything you want/need before getting on the ship where it will be more expensive

 

The experiences can be confusing so worth a read.

We tend to go Inside Bella(same cabins as inside fantastica) or YC.

[CruisingWalter]

5 hours ago, KMVigs said:

Can anyone give me a run down or comparison of MSC to other lines? I’m looking to the MSC Meraviglia out of New York.

 

We've sailed 9 cruise lines so far including NCL. MSC is its own cruise line and the biggest thing to understand is that when you pay far less compared to other cruise lines you cannot expect the same level of experiences across the ships.

 

Something will have to give and most notably coming from NCL will be the entertainment. The shows are entertaining on MSC but they are nowhere near the level of NCL or Royal Caribbean who invest millions in their theaters and shows. 

 

The pools are much deeper, larger and generally more plentiful than NCL. We found both the MDR and Buffet better on the MSC Seaside than the NCL ships we've sailed so far. NCL has amazing specialty dining but their MDR and Buffet tend to be pretty weak. 

 

As others have noted the "Experiences" are confusing at first but they're actually very straightforward. Just MSC being 'cute' with their stateroom category labeling.

Bella = Guarantee. No stateroom selection, you book categories only.

Fantastica = Stateroom selection, you can pick your stateroom (the majority of the ship)

Aurea = Spa Category.

Yacht Club = Ship within a Ship with 24 hour butler and amenities. 

 

I did an overview of the MSC Seaside from our sailing in May / June that might help you prepare for the MSC experience. It's a good cruise line with great value, but if you go in with the mindset expecting it to be 'like NCL' or 'like Royal Caribbean' you will be disappointed. 

 

[Nunagoras]

Pretty much everything was said by previous CC members, congrats. Let me just to focus on the unique two important things not explained:

 

About the look and feel: Expect somewhat like an X lite experience with an Italian flair, especially on the older ships or the YC on the newer ones, even though, the newer ships still retain some of that atmosphere to an extent with a slightly Americanized twist. Simple sophistication would be my best description of the whole experience.

 

About the international vibe, from which, JIMHO, in reality most of the naysayers come: MSC is Italian owned and international cruisers focused, where by the most part, English would be had as 2nd language. Announcements can be done in up to 7 languages depending on region and demographics, even though they tend to make them only for the bare minimum necessary, think safety ones. Entertainment will be more visual, circus and music focused than on the other lines, which isn't bad by itself, but challenging on the offering they really can realistically offer which is consequently to be out of the US mainstream caliber. Either way; you'll be surrounded with a very international crowd aboard any MSC ship. If going with so many languages aboard is something that bothers you, feel free to go with what better suits your cultural patterns. Service is also tailored to that more international mostly European crowd in mind. Even though they have sort of Americanized it to an extent globally in the last years, they still practice reserved professionalism most of the time. In fact, us Europeans want our servers to deliver us our orders, not to be our best friends for the week, and we don't typically expect any compensation when some little things go wrong.

 

Hope I have helped a bit.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Nunagoras

[JamieLogical]

Do you have any specific questions? I had sailed primarily on NCL prior to my first sailing on MSC in April. I have also sailed Celebrity several times and Princess once.

 

The most jarring part will likely be the fact that MSC has assigned dining times unless you are in Aurea or Yacht Club. Coming from NCL, you are likely very accustomed to the Freestyle dining. Another dining difference is that MSC doesn't have a 24/7 included restaurant like The Local/O'sheehan's on NCL. However, unlike NCL, MSC does still have a late night snack in the buffet.

 

You mention confusion over the drink packages and wifi. What are you specifically confused about? I find the Easy Plus package to be superior to the "included" drink package on NCL. I actually struggled to find something outside of my drink package to order to confirm that I only had to pay the difference on a more expensive drink (this was a new policy change on MSC, so I wanted to test it out for my fellow CC-ers). Wifi is straight forward. It is not limited by minutes like the NCL "included" wifi and it works very well on the Meraviglia, at least.

 

Let me know what other questions you might have.

[alysonofagun]

@KMVigs I’m also thinking of trying MSC from NCL - I’m platinum with them and have never cruised with anyone else but the price is too good to resist! Hope you don’t mind me asking here rather than starting a new thread - 

 

How do the dining times work when port times are later? The cruise I’m looking at has some 9pm departures - if we’re assigned early dining is it a case of choosing between port time and eating in the MDR? 

[skittl1321]

31 minutes ago, alysonofagun said:

How do the dining times work when port times are later? The cruise I’m looking at has some 9pm departures - if we’re assigned early dining is it a case of choosing between port time and eating in the MDR? 

 

Yes, this is true of any cruiseline with assigned seating.

If you choose the Aurea experience, you get open seating dining, so you would not have a seating time.  Otherwise, you could eat in port, or eat in the buffet.    Or you can try to get your dining change to late dining at the 9:15 pm time; if that works for you the rest of the cruise too. 

[Brighton Line]

19 hours ago, skittl1321 said:

 

Or you can try to get your dining change to late dining at the 9:15 pm time; if that works for you the rest of the cruise too. 

Or see what the last seating is at a specialty restaurant on a port day, they times go quick so you need to make a reservation when you first get on the ship.

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

I was also an experienced cruiser on other lines, mostly NCL. We took our first MSC cruise in April and today we will be booking our second one, sailing December 9 out of NYC. For the price, you absolutely cannot go wrong. I suggest you give it a try. Some things I found much better on MSC and others better on NCL (I prefer freestyle dining). The Meraviglia is the most beautiful ship I have sailed on.

[mvh]

The biggest difference to me by far is the entertainment. If you like the shows and live bands, like the Beatle's tribute, you will be very disappointed in MSC. Their shows are the worst at sea. I personally don't care about the shows and think they are all boring (even the good ones on NCL and Royal), but I do like a good live band that plays current and or classic covers well. NCL does that better than anyone, and that is where MSC falls flat. Not a deal breaker, because you get what you pay for.  Other than that, they are more the similar than different. You are on a big ship and you eat way too much average at best food. 

[skittl1321]

2 hours ago, Brighton Line said:

Or see what the last seating is at a specialty restaurant on a port day, they times go quick so you need to make a reservation when you first get on the ship.

Good point. I'm cheap so I was only thinking of free options!

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, mvh said:

The biggest difference to me by far is the entertainment. If you like the shows and live bands, like the Beatle's tribute, you will be very disappointed in MSC. Their shows are the worst at sea.

Did you cruise any other European line except MSC? From the Europeans I sailed MSC had the best shows. And they definitely spent the most money on shows. Not to talk about the Asian lines where entertainment means just casino 😄

 

[CruizinSusan70]

There are many differences between NCL and MSC.  First of all, in order to get anytime dining on MSC, which everyone sailing on NCL gets, you need to book an Aurea Class cabin, which you will pay a premium for.  Second, as had been mentioned, the entertainment on MSC is nowhere near the quality of the entertainment on NCL.  Third, the specialty dining on NCL is far and away better in general on NCL unless you have extremely deep pockets.  If you purchase a 3 night dining package on MSC, you are relegated to a limited choice percentage of the entire menu, unlike the specialty venues on RCI, NCL, Carnival, Celebrity and Princess.  Once again, things are done differently across the pond.

 

I have 55 cruises under my belt and I'm currently typing this on the MSC Meraviglia.  As of Sunday when we disembark in Brooklyn, MSC will be in our rear view mirror.  We gave them a shot five years ago on the Seaside in the Yacht Club and again this week in a Fantastica cabin.  In our opinion, the overall cruise experience is much better on the five previously mentioned lines.  There are many that enjoy the European flair that MSC provides.  The negatives outweigh the few positives (pizza, pasta) that MSC provides, in our opinion.  We'll stick to the Sphere Class of Princess, the Edge Class of Celebrity, the Excel Class of Carnival and the Prima Class of NCL.   These ships provide more of what we are seeking in a cruise vacation.

[ray98]

The list is too long to even write out on the differences between MSC and NCL.  We tried MSC on the Seaside a couple of months ago coming from a couple dozen cruises spread across CCL, NCL and RCCL.  We got a great price including drinks and wifi, I did my research filtering through all the lackluster reviews and thought "It can't be that bad".  It was.  The things we enjoyed on the other lines which was common practice MSC did differently or found a way to mess it up.  The food, the dining experience, the drinks and the entertainment were all things that just were not up to par compared to their competition.

 

Its the little things that all add up.  You don't miss anytime dining until you get stuck with a crap assigned time.  You don't miss all the quick bite venues until they aren't there and you are forced back to the buffet that will have the same unimaginative food from yesterday.  You take drinks for granted until you find bartenders who can't put together a palatable margarita or Bloody Mary.

[MaggieNY]

My husband and I did the Meraviglia out of Brooklyn back in June. The biggest differences between MSC & NCL for us were:

 

MSC has assigned dinner seating vs NCL's Freestyle dining. We didn't like the 15-minute window to get to our seating. However, we were able to get a later seating one night when we were late coming in from the port. We prefer just showing up at the MDR on NCL when we're ready.

 

Entertainment was pretty okay on MSC and we had different shows every night but the caliber of the shows was lower than NCL.

 

Cruise director staff on MSC seemed a little aloof. They were certainly energetic but seemed to avoid mixing with guests the way NCL's cruise staff does. It might have just been the staff on that particular ship. There were fewer audience participation game shows on MSC. 

 

Buffet was okay, nothing horrible, but we felt NCL had a better selection and more variety from day to day. MSC seemed to serve almost the same thing every day. The pizza, however, was AWESOME! No washy washy ladies when entering the buffet, a big negative for me. I've always been a germophobe so this stressed me out the whole week.

 

MSC's private island is really nice. They have their own dock so there's no worries that you might not be able to tender.

[mailbroad]

On 7/21/2023 at 8:30 AM, Ottawa_Cruiser said:

I was also an experienced cruiser on other lines, mostly NCL. We took our first MSC cruise in April and today we will be booking our second one, sailing December 9 out of NYC. For the price, you absolutely cannot go wrong. I suggest you give it a try. Some things I found much better on MSC and others better on NCL (I prefer freestyle dining). The Meraviglia is the most beautiful ship I have sailed on.

I, too, have cruised mostly on NCL. I cruised on the Meraviglia in May. I had a great time! The cruise director was great as was her assistant.

I will be on the December 9 sailing as well and one or two before that.

Edited July 23, 2023 by mailbroad
Forgot to mention cruise director.

[insidecabin]

On 7/22/2023 at 8:56 PM, MaggieNY said:

My husband and I did the Meraviglia out of Brooklyn back in June. The biggest differences between MSC & NCL for us were:

 

MSC has assigned dinner seating vs NCL's Freestyle dining. We didn't like the 15-minute window to get to our seating. However, we were able to get a later seating one night when we were late coming in from the port. We prefer just showing up at the MDR on NCL when we're ready.

 

Entertainment was pretty okay on MSC and we had different shows every night but the caliber of the shows was lower than NCL.

 

Cruise director staff on MSC seemed a little aloof. They were certainly energetic but seemed to avoid mixing with guests the way NCL's cruise staff does. It might have just been the staff on that particular ship. There were fewer audience participation game shows on MSC. 

 

Buffet was okay, nothing horrible, but we felt NCL had a better selection and more variety from day to day. MSC seemed to serve almost the same thing every day. The pizza, however, was AWESOME! No washy washy ladies when entering the buffet, a big negative for me. I've always been a germophobe so this stressed me out the whole week.

 

MSC's private island is really nice. They have their own dock so there's no worries that you might not be able to tender.

Done NCL Star and Dawn recently buffet very repetitive on both trips.

 

Virtuosa was no worse, just different. 

 

Both had great curry options.

 

MSC Virtuosa had washy washy every trip we have done(6)  along with 2 banks of sinks entering the buffet.

 

 

[mom22frogs]

Gary Bembridge of Tips for Travelers on youtube has some terrific msc videos. He just did an update showing yacht club, etc. on the Virtuosa. I've been pretty much all Carnival up to trying MSC and for me the only thing that was noteworthy in being better (which would vary by the ship obviously) was the SPA. These people are seriously into their spas, oh my. 

 

MSC seems to excel at disorganization and pain in the butt. Expect their customer service to be even worse than anything you've read online. I like to think I'm a pretty easy customer, but the things they couldn't do, the things that took HOURS to fix on the phone were just astonishing. 

 

We're booked on MSC for a couple more but only because they're cheap and go to the ports I want to go to. Otherwise, they're not worth the hassle, at least for me. I looked at canceling our upcoming cruise and switching it over to NCL for a similar itinerary, similar dates, but decided to stick with MSC because for that comparison the spa was better. May live to regret that, we'll see, lol.

Edited July 24, 2023 by mom22frogs