Sinfonia reviews

[bob10173]

I never see any Sinfonia reviews on these boards. I am sailing on May 20 from Athens on the Sinfonia and even the role calls have no responses. Always looking for good or bad info when sailing on a new ship. This will be our first Med cruise and first cruise on a european only based ship. We are from Florida.

[Até]

You're not likely to find live Sinfonia reviews in this area, but plenty are in the CC reviews section. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruise/msc/msc-sinfonia/reviews

Edited March 26 by Até

[bob10173]

Thanks. Checked it out but nothing recent. I will write a review when we get back. Usually don't place much trust in the reviews. Mostly people that have a bad experience and want to air it out. Many of the people with good experiences never write a review. Just my observations.

[jdvmd]

Sailed on Sinfonia about seven or eight years ago, It was our first MSC cruise in Europe. We enjoyed it. Mostly Italians onboard so be prepared for the lack of waiting in line etc. We never met any other Americans until the disembarkation and found out there were only 20 onboard. It is a smaller ship but we enjoyed it. The service was very good also.

[notley-cruise]

We will be on MSC Sinfonia April 7th Venice departure, so will be doing a review on return.

We've sailed MSC Aurea suites on Divina and Virtuosa previously.

 

We are sailing with some relatives who are first time cruisers, so will see what they think. They've been upgraded for free from an interior cabin to a Premium Ocean view.

 

bob10173:

Do prepare yourself for a European experience, with a lot of different nationalities and languages on board.

 

NB I don't see MSC Sinfonia departing Pireaus on May 20th 2024, so do doublecheck your dates.

[Essiesmom]

Brindisi on May 20, Piraeus on May 23.  EM

[bob10173]

4 hours ago, notley-cruise said:

We will be on MSC Sinfonia April 7th Venice departure, so will be doing a review on return.

We've sailed MSC Aurea suites on Divina and Virtuosa previously.

 

We are sailing with some relatives who are first time cruisers, so will see what they think. They've been upgraded for free from an interior cabin to a Premium Ocean view.

 

bob10173:

Do prepare yourself for a European experience, with a lot of different nationalities and languages on board.

 

NB I don't see MSC Sinfonia departing Pireaus on May 20th 2024, so do doublecheck your dates.

My error. That is when we are arriving in Athens. Ship sails on the 23rd of May. Looking forward to your review. 

[notley-cruise]

Back home from Adriatic and Aegan sea cruise on MSC Sinfonia.  So let me know if any burning questions on the ship or itinerary.

[notley-cruise]

Short review of cruise and ship:

 

MSC Sinfonia is one of the oldest ships in the fleet, so don't book for the things it doesn't have, such as Yacht club, speciality dining, robot bartenders, water slides, and big production shows. Book for the destination ports and value for money.
The ship was on a continuous circular Eastern Mediterranean itinerary catering predominately for the Italian market, but with many other Europeans on board also. Guests can embark and disembark at all ports, which leads to frequent multi-lingual safety announcements which are hard to avoid and drown everything else out.
The ship was not sailing at capacity and even the pool area wasn’t overly crowded, although the entertainment and smoking side was best avoided if you want peace and quiet.  Top deck for suite guests was particularly empty, partially due to the wind on 'at sea' days.

With the exception of the Thermal Spa, the ship is well maintained and in good condition.  The Spa area was disappointing, being small, basic and needing maintenance.  In contrast, the gym was well stocked and all equipment working. We did not pay for any spa treatments.

Premium Extra drinks package meant every drink by the glass, ice cream and fancy coffees were included, unlike on the newer ships where fancy coffee and chocolate drinks have become chargeable extras.
However, there were two issues with the drinks package, on checking our account after first night, we had over fifty drinks in the casino assigned to our cabin! Fortunately, this wasn't seen as an issue by guest services and didn't occur again.  
Secondly some bar staff didn't seem to know immediately that 'Premium Extra' meant all-inclusive, including ice cream and would state there would be a charge. You'd hope all staff were familiar with the charging codes.
Lastly on a positive note, whilst we had a drinks package, family members in another cabin didn't, and both restaurant and bar staff had no issue with us ordering rounds of drinks for all just from our premium cards.

Restaurant food was typically MSC fare, not terrible, but also not Michelin standard. Pasta, rice and potatoes could be al dente, meat sometimes dry, and there was a lack of variety in the side dishes.  Range of menu options was less than on the larger MSC ships. But you could order multiple starters, mains and desserts to make up for this.
Restaurant management and staff really went out of their way to accommodate our multi-generational, multi-lingual party, combining tables, offering flexible dining for all and make bespoke amendments to dishes. Babies and toddlers get specific menu choices and fast service. 
The buffet had less variety in the menus and we only used for the odd breakfast and lunch.  Breakfast menu was the same everyday, restaurant lunch menu had less choices than for dinner.

The pizza on the pool deck was excellent as with all MSC ships, the burgers and fries far less so.  

Theatre entertainment was third tier, with simple troupe of six dancers, two singers, two sets of acrobats and magic act.  All to a lower standard, with simpler production values than on the larger MSC ships and a shorter runtime.  

Venice embarkation was via Waterbus from the old cruise terminal on the island, taking you to the tender dock on the ship which was in the industrial port at Marghera.

Brindisi was a short evening docking in the centre of town.

Tender boats were used at Mykinos to reach the new harbour, with a chargeable water bus then required to reach old Mykinos harbour and town.

Athens we took Ubers from the Pireaus port, remember your terminal and gate number for the return trip !

At Split the ship docked and it was a short walk into town or the town beach.

Disembarkation was at Marghera to coaches back to the old cruise terminal for free.

 

Edited April 16 by notley-cruise

[bob10173]

Thanks for the review. We are looking forward to our trip on May 23rd. We usually sail the larger ships but decided to try this because of cost and agenda. We have the plus drink package which is usually adequate for us. It seems like there are a few tender ports, thought they all were dock ports. Is it advisable to book tours or just go ashore and hire someone in port to show us around? Are there hop on hop off buses in any ports? Is speaking english only a problem? What made you pick this ship for a cruise? Thanks.

[bob10173]

21 hours ago, notley-cruise said:

Short review of cruise and ship:

 

MSC Sinfonia is one of the oldest ships in the fleet, so don't book for the things it doesn't have, such as Yacht club, speciality dining, robot bartenders, water slides, and big production shows. Book for the destination ports and value for money.
The ship was on a continuous circular Eastern Mediterranean itinerary catering predominately for the Italian market, but with many other Europeans on board also. Guests can embark and disembark at all ports, which leads to frequent multi-lingual safety announcements which are hard to avoid and drown everything else out.
The ship was not sailing at capacity and even the pool area wasn’t overly crowded, although the entertainment and smoking side was best avoided if you want peace and quiet.  Top deck for suite guests was particularly empty, partially due to the wind on 'at sea' days.

With the exception of the Thermal Spa, the ship is well maintained and in good condition.  The Spa area was disappointing, being small, basic and needing maintenance.  In contrast, the gym was well stocked and all equipment working. We did not pay for any spa treatments.

Premium Extra drinks package meant every drink by the glass, ice cream and fancy coffees were included, unlike on the newer ships where fancy coffee and chocolate drinks have become chargeable extras.
However, there were two issues with the drinks package, on checking our account after first night, we had over fifty drinks in the casino assigned to our cabin! Fortunately, this wasn't seen as an issue by guest services and didn't occur again.  
Secondly some bar staff didn't seem to know immediately that 'Premium Extra' meant all-inclusive, including ice cream and would state there would be a charge. You'd hope all staff were familiar with the charging codes.
Lastly on a positive note, whilst we had a drinks package, family members in another cabin didn't, and both restaurant and bar staff had no issue with us ordering rounds of drinks for all just from our premium cards.

Restaurant food was typically MSC fare, not terrible, but also not Michelin standard. Pasta, rice and potatoes could be al dente, meat sometimes dry, and there was a lack of variety in the side dishes.  Range of menu options was less than on the larger MSC ships. But you could order multiple starters, mains and desserts to make up for this.
Restaurant management and staff really went out of their way to accommodate our multi-generational, multi-lingual party, combining tables, offering flexible dining for all and make bespoke amendments to dishes. Babies and toddlers get specific menu choices and fast service. 
The buffet had less variety in the menus and we only used for the odd breakfast and lunch.  Breakfast menu was the same everyday, restaurant lunch menu had less choices than for dinner.

The pizza on the pool deck was excellent as with all MSC ships, the burgers and fries far less so.  

Theatre entertainment was third tier, with simple troupe of six dancers, two singers, two sets of acrobats and magic act.  All to a lower standard, with simpler production values than on the larger MSC ships and a shorter runtime.  

Venice embarkation was via Waterbus from the old cruise terminal on the island, taking you to the tender dock on the ship which was in the industrial port at Marghera.

Brindisi was a short evening docking in the centre of town.

Tender boats were used at Mykinos to reach the new harbour, with a chargeable water bus then required to reach old Mykinos harbour and town.

Athens we took Ubers from the Pireaus port, remember your terminal and gate number for the return trip !

At Split the ship docked and it was a short walk into town or the town beach.

Disembarkation was at Marghera to coaches back to the old cruise terminal for free.

 

One more thing. How was desembarkation? We have a flight to catch after the cruise. What time were you off the ship?

[notley-cruise]

3 hours ago, bob10173 said:

Thanks for the review. We are looking forward to our trip on May 23rd. We usually sail the larger ships but decided to try this because of cost and agenda. We have the plus drink package which is usually adequate for us. It seems like there are a few tender ports, thought they all were dock ports. Is it advisable to book tours or just go ashore and hire someone in port to show us around? Are there hop on hop off buses in any ports? Is speaking english only a problem? What made you pick this ship for a cruise? Thanks.

We felt the MSC excursion prices had been really jacked up compared to previous years so didn't use them.  You'll get better value by self-touring if you are more than a sole traveller, whereas MSC gives your convenience and assurance.

 

Acropolis tickets bought onsite from credit card only ticket machine was 20€ for non-EU citizens, purchasing QR code in advance only would be 25€ and via a tour group double that !

 

Hop on - Hop off bus runs from outside Piraeus port into Athens, or there's a taxi rank and uber pickup points.

 

Mykonos and Delos you can see easily without an organised tour, just check the boat departure times and ensure you allow plenty of time to get back onboard with the water buses and tender boat transfers.

 

Brindisi is a short walk around; Split is larger and if you want to see the national parks and fortress, you'll need a taxi or tour bus.  Brindisi had a small road train tour to save walking.

 

Venice you can buy an all-day ACTV ticket 25€ which covers Waterbuses, bus and people mover to old cruise terminal within the Lagoon.  You'll need to check how MSC are transferring guests from Marghera port and plan accordingly.  Walking around the cobbled streets and bridges is a crowded labyrinth and progress is slow.

 

Certainly, anyone dealing with tourists knows English in addition to Italian and other languages also.  Onboard it seemed some of the junior bar and restaurant staff were weaker in English than other European languages, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian being the other main languages spoken.

Some members of our family group know Italian as well as English, and we wanted to see the Eastern Med, having cruised Western Med previously.  Ship itinerary and departure dates suited school breaks.

 

Next cruise will be without children and will either be on a larger MSC ship with Yacht Club available, or we may try Oceania, Celebrity or NCL.

 

We disembarked from Venice Marghera terminal and took free coach transfer to old Venice island cruise terminal.  We had a late flight home, so left luggage in a locker for the day and then took ATVO express coach to Marco Polo airport. 

 

We stayed onboard MSC Sinfonia as late as possible for Breakfast and farewell Mimosas.

 

Edited April 17 by notley-cruise

[notley-cruise]

Top Deck on a sea day

 

Approach into Marghera

 

Pool deck on sea day

 

Show cast

 

[alserrod]

On 4/17/2024 at 3:39 PM, bob10173 said:

Thanks for the review. We are looking forward to our trip on May 23rd. We usually sail the larger ships but decided to try this because of cost and agenda. We have the plus drink package which is usually adequate for us. It seems like there are a few tender ports, thought they all were dock ports. Is it advisable to book tours or just go ashore and hire someone in port to show us around? Are there hop on hop off buses in any ports? Is speaking english only a problem? What made you pick this ship for a cruise? Thanks.

 

 

Hi, English only is not a problem in MSC, nor it is a problem to speak only one other language spoken in the ship.

 

I have friends over 60 who just learnt French in the school and it is barely forgotten. They do not have any problem in MSC despite their lack of language knowledge.

 

Regarding ports and after my experience, you can expect high English level as a rule in Greek and Croatian ports and barely spoken in Italian ports. Obviously in touristic areas you will find people who speak several languages but have an Italian dictionary ready and learn some words