MSC Splendida review (Italy, Greece and Turkey 10/17)

[bundtkate]

We were on Splendida in October and I've honestly been procrastinating writing a review because the cruise rolled into a work trip which rolled into the holidays and I just have yet to feel up to the task. I also hate being negative, and this one is going to be on the negative side. All the same, someone started a thread asking for thoughts on the ship and I realized my comment was quickly becoming a review so I suppose now is as good a time as any. We sailed in an aft-facing Fantastica balcony and despite the negatives, it was still a great cruise and I'm glad we took it, but I think we'd have enjoyed it a lot more if we knew what to expect. Much of the negatives were things we learned to work around so hopefully this helps others plan ahead and avoid our pitfalls.

The Good
 

Let's start with things we really enjoyed. First, the crew we're amazing. Yes, we ran into a few jerks here and there, but we met many crew we had regular conversations with (and tipped extra at the end) and the vast majority of the crew were friendly, helpful, and provided amazing service that went above and beyond what was required of them. The pizza was fantastic as always. The quality of food in the buffet overall was also surprisingly good. I'm normally not a buffet person, but became one for this cruise (more on that later) and was upset with myself for not giving it a try earlier in the cruise. The itinerary was also fantastic. We boarded in Bari and visited Trieste, Olympia, Athens, Ephesus, Istanbul, and Corfu with 2 sea days over the course of 9 days. The excursions we took (mostly through MSC) were good to great and very affordable vs. what I've seen on other lines. Finally, the beer selection was fantastic and everything was included in the Easy Plus package. Last we were on MSC (Meraviglia in the Caribbean in 2021), the beer selection was pretty limited. Not sure if it's just better in the Med than the Caribbean or if they've made changes, but regardless we loved that we could a wide variety of beers on this cruise.

 

The (Kinda) Bad

The ship is a bit worse for wear at present with stained carpet everywhere and lots of wear and even holes in the soft furnishings. Maintenance issues seemed pretty common as well. Our shower oscillated between hot and chilly the whole cruise so you had to find a sweet spot where the hottest wasn't too hot and the chilliest wasn't too cold. I asked to have it looked at, but maintenance couldn't identify or fix the issue and it wasn't bad enough for me to make a fuss so we just deal with it. While in port in Olympia, the water system apparently had an issue and the entire ship was without hot water. It took a few hours after we returned to get fixed and I have no idea how long it was out before. I went to guest services to report it thinking it was just our cabin since there was no indication of a ship-wide issue which I found kind of odd, but I guess maybe they said something while we were in port. Regardless, they were very communicative once reported so top marks for the crew again in handling the issue. Nothing a drydock can't fix and certainly not cruise ruining, but you can tell she's an older ship for sure.

 

There was a lot more upselling on this cruise than our last on MSC. The specialty dining folks were constantly wandering the ship and interrupting conversations to get you to book the specialty restaurants. A "no, thank you" was often met with an even harder sell making it tough to politely decline. This is something you deal with on embarkation day nearly anywhere, so perhaps this was the result of multiple embarkation ports, but regardless it was a bit worse than I'm used to.

 

The Ugly

The MDR food was really awful. Food is always tough because it is very subjective, but FWIW I have no biases against MSC food. Quite the contrary, I really enjoyed the food on Meraviglia when we sailed shortly after restart, but this MDR was bad enough to drive us to the buffet for most of cruise despite the fact that we normally avoid buffets. The pasta was always prepared well, but anything else tended to bear no resemblance to what it claimed to be. For example, my husband ordered chimichurri steak and while it had a tiny dollop of chimichurri on top, it was mostly covered in basic brown gravy which wasn't mentioned on the menu and isn't ever seen on chimichurri steak here in Texas. The chicken parmesean didn't have any parmesan (I think it was provolone?) and barely had any marinara on it. In addition, they once again covered it in brown gravy. I suspect the gravy was for the potatoes, but it ended up everywhere including all over the chicken. While we are American, I have a hard time chalking this up to cultural differences as we usually really enjoy the food we eat abroad and found plenty to eat and love both in Bari and in Rome (where we spent a few days on land after the cruise). Our wait staff was extremely kind and did their best to make things better, but given our problem wasn't with the food quality, but the recipes being misaligned with what was on the menu, there was a limit to what they could do.

 

Some Tips

 

Through no fault of MSC's, embarking is Bari is a bit difficult. Google Maps, for whatever reason, doesn't direct you to the actual port entrance and instead tries to send you a one hour walk in the wrong direction, then loop you back on some service road. With English being less common in Bari, it was really hard to get directions when we realized Google wasn't going to cut it. Cabs are not terribly common and don't have an app to book so you have to have phone service to get one, which wasn't an option for us with data only. There was a bus that would drop you right at the entrance, but it took asking a few folks to figure that out and find the right place to catch said bus. Even after arriving at the port, there are no signs pointing towards check-in/boarding areas so we had to keep stopping random port workers and pointing at Spelndida to get directions. You can see the ship the whole time, but there are a lot of dead ends so trying to just walk in the right direction won't get you there easily. When we finally got to the check-in area, we had to check in and get our cruise cards, then we were sent to a waiting area where we had to be escorted to the ship in groups. I suspect this was a safety thing as you had to traverse a road that numerous trucks and other vehicles used I think to service the various cargo ships also in the port. All the same, it was a pretty significant bottleneck despite the very few passengers boarding at the time so definitely prepare for delays on embarkation day. All told, we left our hotel at 9am and didn't get onboard until about 1:30pm. Much of this was our fault for trusting that Google Maps would work so I don't blame MSC at all, but it still wasn't fun. If you're embarking in Bari, I'd strongly recommend asking for a cab at your hotel or asking where to catch the bus to the port. If we'd just known to ask before we headed out, we'd have saved ourselves a ton of time. Again, my fault for putting too much trust in Google, but I'd wager others may make the same mistake so I hope this helps someone avoid it.

There are also a few oddities about this cruise that weren't really a big deal, but worth being aware of. First, the bars have really limited hours. There were three open most of the time -- Splendida bar in the atrium, Le Espresso on deck 7, and the casino bar -- but the rest opened later, with most opening at 8pm. You could always get a drink, but you had to learn the schedules so you knew were to go. The bars we liked most were those that opened later (Dim Sum Bar and Sports Bar). On port days, often only Splendida bar would be open when excursions got back so nearly the whole ship would be trying to get a drink at one place all at once. The bartenders were great about getting to everyone and knowing who was there first despite the fact that no one queued, but I felt bad for them having to go at top speed for an hour or more when MSC could have just opened an extra bar or two. Many of the buffet stations also never seemed to be open. We love Indian food so we kept checking, but the ethnic station seemed permanently dormant.

One minor annoyance that really built up over the course of 9 days was the bottleneck in the photo gallery. Not sure if this is just an Italian thing, but that was seriously the most popular place on the ship despite being empty most of the time in the Caribbean. It was always packed with people and also the only path from the aft (where our cabin was) to most of the ship. My husband and I took to jokingly calling it "The Gauntlet" because there would be no room to walk through and you'd have to dodge and weave through a huge crowd any time it was open. Again, not a huge deal, but something that did wear on us a bit over the course of the cruise and a design issue I hope they addressed with later Fantasia-class ships.

 

On the bright side of food, we learned that the pasta dish from the MDR was always available in the buffet and was usually pretty good. It wasn't always something that appealed to us, but having it in the buffet meant we could give it a try and just go grab pizza if we weren't a fan. Even when it wasn't something we personally enjoyed, it was consistently well-prepared so MSC clearly continues to excel at pasta. After 3 days, we stopped bothering with the MDR and just went to the buffet so we could try the pasta and pivot if needed. We were also lucky to have a port-heavy itinerary with a wide variety of stops allowing us to frequently eat in port and then grab pizza later if we got snacky later. We really enjoyed this as it gave us a chance to try some local cuisine without feeling as though we were missing out by not taking advantage of included food.

 

Conclusion

 

Despite the negative tone, this experience isn't going to put us off sailing MSC. In fact, we've got our first Yacht Club booked on Seascape in January and are very much looking forward to it. Yes, we had some struggles, but I've never experienced enough issues to ruin a cruise and this was no exception. If anything, we now know better what to expect on older ships in the Med and can use this knowledge to avoid most of the negatives if we decide to take a similar cruise in the future.

I am curious to hear the thoughts of others with more experience taking these sorts of cruises. Was our experience typical, or is this just another case of how experiences can vary between ships and sailings? As mentioned, we're not the types to have one mediocre experience put us off an entire line, but I have also heard that MSC in the Med is very different from MSC in the Caribbean, but lack any experience outside of this one that could help put it in context. MSC have a lot of interesting itineraries in Europe so we'll probably try a similar sailing again regardless, but it would be nice to know whether we should prepare for more of the same or hope for better next time around. If anyone has had a different experience, or just has general thoughts/tips for sailing MSC in the Med, I'd love to hear about it.

[peder]

The weird thing about the chimichurri... do MSC chefs not have social media, do they not have the ability to see what these dishes are universally agreed upon to look like/taste like? Like, nowhere else in the WORLD can you get dishes that MSC will sometimes serve up. Nobody thinks these dishes are supposed to be this way EXCEPT for MSC.

[Reds4life]

We are going on the same ship and similar itinerary in June. Hopefully they will have the ship refreshed by then. A few questions if you don't mind...

 

1. We are pretty much English only speakers. How easy is it to communicate on the ship and in the ports? This is our first international experience.

 

2. Are the MDR menus the same as what we would get on an MSC ship in North America?

 

3. How were the shows and entertainment? Did you guys spend much time at the pools or spa? 

 

Thanks for any help in advance!

[CruisingFox27]

17 minutes ago, Reds4life said:

We are going on the same ship and similar itinerary in June. Hopefully they will have the ship refreshed by then. A few questions if you don't mind...

 

1. We are pretty much English only speakers. How easy is it to communicate on the ship and in the ports? This is our first international experience.

 

2. Are the MDR menus the same as what we would get on an MSC ship in North America?

 

3. How were the shows and entertainment? Did you guys spend much time at the pools or spa? 

 

Thanks for any help in advance!

We embarked Splendida at the end of October for the 27 night repositioning cruise. We did note areas which appeared tired but they spent a lot of time doing maintenance during our cruise. I think i read that she'll go in for a 2 week dry dock next year too. 

 

We're only English speakers and we've never had an issue with language on board, English is usually the first language onboard. 

 

The menu's do vary in different regions but a lot of the choices are regular to MSC fleetwide. Aside from a couple of issues with dishes, we had excellent food during our trip. 

 

We didn't go to any shows or the spa so can't comment there,  I'm afraid.

[bundtkate]

On 1/4/2024 at 7:59 AM, Reds4life said:

We are pretty much English only speakers. How easy is it to communicate on the ship and in the ports? This is our first international experience

On board this is fine. In most ports, this is also fine. In Bari, you might have some trouble. I could order a coffee and it seemed like most working at nicer restaurants spoke English, but you won't be able to ask some random person on the street for directions in English.

 

On 1/4/2024 at 7:59 AM, Reds4life said:

Are the MDR menus the same as what we would get on an MSC ship in North America?

I've only been on one MSC cruise besides this one and it was immediately post restart on Sept 2021 so I wouldn't trust my opinion totally. The options were similar but the preparation was really different. As I mentioned in my review, the food was pretty rough on this cruise, but with the time you have in port it's easy to find something to eat and the pizza is just as good as the US sailings.

 

Funny enough I'm currently sitting at the airport getting ready to head to my next MSC cruise so ask me again in a week and maybe I'll have a better idea of menu comparisons. 😅

 

On 1/4/2024 at 7:59 AM, Reds4life said:

How were the shows and entertainment? Did you guys spend much time at the pools or spa? 

The shows were MSC shows so if that's something you like, you'll enjoy them. Music outside the theater was hit or miss. There was an opera singer one night and it was amazing. The typical atrium duo was best avoided. A lot of entertainment like trivia is in Italian so probably not something to count on as an English speaker.

 

It was too cold for the pools so we didn't use them at all. It wasn't cold out (60s-70s), but the pools weren't heated so it just wasn't pleasant. The hot tubs were predictably super crowded so we passed on them as well. We did not use the spa.

[Reds4life]

On 11/24/2023 at 3:54 PM, bundtkate said:

We were on Splendida in October and I've honestly been procrastinating writing a review because the cruise rolled into a work trip which rolled into the holidays and I just have yet to feel up to the task. I also hate being negative, and this one is going to be on the negative side. All the same, someone started a thread asking for thoughts on the ship and I realized my comment was quickly becoming a review so I suppose now is as good a time as any. We sailed in an aft-facing Fantastica balcony and despite the negatives, it was still a great cruise and I'm glad we took it, but I think we'd have enjoyed it a lot more if we knew what to expect. Much of the negatives were things we learned to work around so hopefully this helps others plan ahead and avoid our pitfalls.

The Good
 

Let's start with things we really enjoyed. First, the crew we're amazing. Yes, we ran into a few jerks here and there, but we met many crew we had regular conversations with (and tipped extra at the end) and the vast majority of the crew were friendly, helpful, and provided amazing service that went above and beyond what was required of them. The pizza was fantastic as always. The quality of food in the buffet overall was also surprisingly good. I'm normally not a buffet person, but became one for this cruise (more on that later) and was upset with myself for not giving it a try earlier in the cruise. The itinerary was also fantastic. We boarded in Bari and visited Trieste, Olympia, Athens, Ephesus, Istanbul, and Corfu with 2 sea days over the course of 9 days. The excursions we took (mostly through MSC) were good to great and very affordable vs. what I've seen on other lines. Finally, the beer selection was fantastic and everything was included in the Easy Plus package. Last we were on MSC (Meraviglia in the Caribbean in 2021), the beer selection was pretty limited. Not sure if it's just better in the Med than the Caribbean or if they've made changes, but regardless we loved that we could a wide variety of beers on this cruise.

 

The (Kinda) Bad

The ship is a bit worse for wear at present with stained carpet everywhere and lots of wear and even holes in the soft furnishings. Maintenance issues seemed pretty common as well. Our shower oscillated between hot and chilly the whole cruise so you had to find a sweet spot where the hottest wasn't too hot and the chilliest wasn't too cold. I asked to have it looked at, but maintenance couldn't identify or fix the issue and it wasn't bad enough for me to make a fuss so we just deal with it. While in port in Olympia, the water system apparently had an issue and the entire ship was without hot water. It took a few hours after we returned to get fixed and I have no idea how long it was out before. I went to guest services to report it thinking it was just our cabin since there was no indication of a ship-wide issue which I found kind of odd, but I guess maybe they said something while we were in port. Regardless, they were very communicative once reported so top marks for the crew again in handling the issue. Nothing a drydock can't fix and certainly not cruise ruining, but you can tell she's an older ship for sure.

 

There was a lot more upselling on this cruise than our last on MSC. The specialty dining folks were constantly wandering the ship and interrupting conversations to get you to book the specialty restaurants. A "no, thank you" was often met with an even harder sell making it tough to politely decline. This is something you deal with on embarkation day nearly anywhere, so perhaps this was the result of multiple embarkation ports, but regardless it was a bit worse than I'm used to.

 

The Ugly

The MDR food was really awful. Food is always tough because it is very subjective, but FWIW I have no biases against MSC food. Quite the contrary, I really enjoyed the food on Meraviglia when we sailed shortly after restart, but this MDR was bad enough to drive us to the buffet for most of cruise despite the fact that we normally avoid buffets. The pasta was always prepared well, but anything else tended to bear no resemblance to what it claimed to be. For example, my husband ordered chimichurri steak and while it had a tiny dollop of chimichurri on top, it was mostly covered in basic brown gravy which wasn't mentioned on the menu and isn't ever seen on chimichurri steak here in Texas. The chicken parmesean didn't have any parmesan (I think it was provolone?) and barely had any marinara on it. In addition, they once again covered it in brown gravy. I suspect the gravy was for the potatoes, but it ended up everywhere including all over the chicken. While we are American, I have a hard time chalking this up to cultural differences as we usually really enjoy the food we eat abroad and found plenty to eat and love both in Bari and in Rome (where we spent a few days on land after the cruise). Our wait staff was extremely kind and did their best to make things better, but given our problem wasn't with the food quality, but the recipes being misaligned with what was on the menu, there was a limit to what they could do.

 

Some Tips

 

Through no fault of MSC's, embarking is Bari is a bit difficult. Google Maps, for whatever reason, doesn't direct you to the actual port entrance and instead tries to send you a one hour walk in the wrong direction, then loop you back on some service road. With English being less common in Bari, it was really hard to get directions when we realized Google wasn't going to cut it. Cabs are not terribly common and don't have an app to book so you have to have phone service to get one, which wasn't an option for us with data only. There was a bus that would drop you right at the entrance, but it took asking a few folks to figure that out and find the right place to catch said bus. Even after arriving at the port, there are no signs pointing towards check-in/boarding areas so we had to keep stopping random port workers and pointing at Spelndida to get directions. You can see the ship the whole time, but there are a lot of dead ends so trying to just walk in the right direction won't get you there easily. When we finally got to the check-in area, we had to check in and get our cruise cards, then we were sent to a waiting area where we had to be escorted to the ship in groups. I suspect this was a safety thing as you had to traverse a road that numerous trucks and other vehicles used I think to service the various cargo ships also in the port. All the same, it was a pretty significant bottleneck despite the very few passengers boarding at the time so definitely prepare for delays on embarkation day. All told, we left our hotel at 9am and didn't get onboard until about 1:30pm. Much of this was our fault for trusting that Google Maps would work so I don't blame MSC at all, but it still wasn't fun. If you're embarking in Bari, I'd strongly recommend asking for a cab at your hotel or asking where to catch the bus to the port. If we'd just known to ask before we headed out, we'd have saved ourselves a ton of time. Again, my fault for putting too much trust in Google, but I'd wager others may make the same mistake so I hope this helps someone avoid it.

There are also a few oddities about this cruise that weren't really a big deal, but worth being aware of. First, the bars have really limited hours. There were three open most of the time -- Splendida bar in the atrium, Le Espresso on deck 7, and the casino bar -- but the rest opened later, with most opening at 8pm. You could always get a drink, but you had to learn the schedules so you knew were to go. The bars we liked most were those that opened later (Dim Sum Bar and Sports Bar). On port days, often only Splendida bar would be open when excursions got back so nearly the whole ship would be trying to get a drink at one place all at once. The bartenders were great about getting to everyone and knowing who was there first despite the fact that no one queued, but I felt bad for them having to go at top speed for an hour or more when MSC could have just opened an extra bar or two. Many of the buffet stations also never seemed to be open. We love Indian food so we kept checking, but the ethnic station seemed permanently dormant.

One minor annoyance that really built up over the course of 9 days was the bottleneck in the photo gallery. Not sure if this is just an Italian thing, but that was seriously the most popular place on the ship despite being empty most of the time in the Caribbean. It was always packed with people and also the only path from the aft (where our cabin was) to most of the ship. My husband and I took to jokingly calling it "The Gauntlet" because there would be no room to walk through and you'd have to dodge and weave through a huge crowd any time it was open. Again, not a huge deal, but something that did wear on us a bit over the course of the cruise and a design issue I hope they addressed with later Fantasia-class ships.

 

On the bright side of food, we learned that the pasta dish from the MDR was always available in the buffet and was usually pretty good. It wasn't always something that appealed to us, but having it in the buffet meant we could give it a try and just go grab pizza if we weren't a fan. Even when it wasn't something we personally enjoyed, it was consistently well-prepared so MSC clearly continues to excel at pasta. After 3 days, we stopped bothering with the MDR and just went to the buffet so we could try the pasta and pivot if needed. We were also lucky to have a port-heavy itinerary with a wide variety of stops allowing us to frequently eat in port and then grab pizza later if we got snacky later. We really enjoyed this as it gave us a chance to try some local cuisine without feeling as though we were missing out by not taking advantage of included food.

 

Conclusion

 

Despite the negative tone, this experience isn't going to put us off sailing MSC. In fact, we've got our first Yacht Club booked on Seascape in January and are very much looking forward to it. Yes, we had some struggles, but I've never experienced enough issues to ruin a cruise and this was no exception. If anything, we now know better what to expect on older ships in the Med and can use this knowledge to avoid most of the negatives if we decide to take a similar cruise in the future.

I am curious to hear the thoughts of others with more experience taking these sorts of cruises. Was our experience typical, or is this just another case of how experiences can vary between ships and sailings? As mentioned, we're not the types to have one mediocre experience put us off an entire line, but I have also heard that MSC in the Med is very different from MSC in the Caribbean, but lack any experience outside of this one that could help put it in context. MSC have a lot of interesting itineraries in Europe so we'll probably try a similar sailing again regardless, but it would be nice to know whether we should prepare for more of the same or hope for better next time around. If anyone has had a different experience, or just has general thoughts/tips for sailing MSC in the Med, I'd love to hear about it.

Do you guys possibly have photos of the menus? We were all good until my daughters found out that there may not be the always available steak or chicken breast in the MDR. They're all about trying new things as long as they have that to fall back on lol

[Beamafar]

3 hours ago, Reds4life said:

Do you guys possibly have photos of the menus? We were all good until my daughters found out that there may not be the always available steak or chicken breast in the MDR. They're all about trying new things as long as they have that to fall back on lol

You won’t get steak on the ‘Always Available’ menu on Med sailings (unlike you do on US ones) but chicken and fish are always on. 

[bundtkate]

6 hours ago, Reds4life said:

Do you guys possibly have photos of the menus?

We do not, unfortunately. We weren't fans of the main dining room on Splendida so we only went twice before giving up on it and sticking to the buffet or eating in port. MSC does have excellent pizza so if all else fails, falling back on that is always a great plan (and one we used frequently).

[perakcruiser]

On 11/24/2023 at 9:54 PM, bundtkate said:

Through no fault of MSC's, embarking is Bari is a bit difficult.

Actually it is not, it is really just that Googlemaps STILL has a totally stupid mistake. No one would walk this way if not using Googlemaps. Embarking in Bari otherwise is dead simple, we even walked last week the 1.7 km to the port entrance (only one entrance, no matter ir cruise ship or ferry) from the train station as we arrived early in the morning and had time to kill. I knew the way from another stop in Bari some years, but used Googlemaps also and thought "What is wrong with them", turned it off and just walked straight to the ocean and then turned right 🙂

[bundtkate]

11 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

it is really just that Googlemaps STILL has a totally stupid mistake

This is definitely true, but in our case even when we got there to the one entrance, there was nothing indicating where to go. You could see the ship, but couldn't walk straight to it, so we were not alone in periodically stopping to make sure we were on the right track. It'll be easy next time for sure and Google maps did not help at all, but for a first timer it could have done with a few signs. 😅

[perakcruiser]

19 hours ago, bundtkate said:

You could see the ship, but couldn't walk straight to it, so we were not alone in periodically stopping to make sure we were on the right track.

Yes, the terminal building itself is very easy to miss. But at this point you almost stand in front of the ship🙂