MSC Cruise- A Complete Horror Show

[Never Again MSC 2024]

Second time MSC cruiser , last time was 2018 which was a decent experience. We are experienced cruisers with all

major lines last 25 years. This MSC cruise has made me so angry that words cannot describe. 

 

Fast forward to Our April sailing in MSC Seascape. I am writing this even before getting off the ship!!

 

I have never in my 25 years of cruising had cabins that were basically not cleaned from start to end of the cruise. The room was completely filthy when we started the cruise and it never got better as the week went on despite complaints. We just gave up and just cleaned it ourselves. We honestly felt lucky if we got new towels each day…

 

Now to the food, the only good thing was the pizza . Everything else was a horror show entire week. Just look at the famous Italian Dish “linguine Vingole” or pasta with clams. Just look at the picture , dry pasta with one singular dried out clam.🤷🏻‍♂️ Keep in mind, this is a famous Italian Dish and MSC is an Italian cruise line.

 

Lastly, the “customer service desk” was completely rude and unprofessional when I went on the last night to try and verify a MSC canceled excursion was properly refunded. They insisted that my 80 year mother who doesn’t speak English with limited mobility be there in person before releasing that information to me. Our rooms were grouped  together from the start and excursions were purchased together!!! while I understand privacy is important , this was frankly stupid .
 

Despite my poor experience on this cruise, I was probably not going to write this review until the experience that just happened at the customer service desk! The woman supervisor was absolutely the worst. She needs to be demoted  or fired .

I went against the advice of my long time travel agent who warned me aginat booking MSC but I decided to take my extended family on it based on our above average 2018 experience.!!

 

I should have listened to my agent! I would not go on MSC ever again even if they paid me!! This was a complete , unmitigated disaster!

 

DONT  DO IT NO MATTER WHAT! 

 

 

Edited April 6 by Never Again MSC 2024

[rrraydon]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

[morpheusofthesea]

I just did a cursory search on this MSC site of "Linguine Vongole" and found 8 posts and yours. Surprisingly no other pictures, one other poster agreed with you. Those others found it good or very good and one had it twice. Interestingly the ones that found it good or very good were in the Yacht Club. Thank goodness ! Must be the kitchen saves the oil and clams for those paying the most.

[JT1962]

People either love or hate MSC. I’ve had mostly good experiences on the 9 cruises I’ve had with them in the last 30 months. Luckily, there are many other cruise lines to choose from.

[perakcruiser]

The Linguine alla vongole indeed do not look delicious 😄 But I never have seen this dish in all the years with MSC, it is a YC dish. Well, the MDR version better should be avoided. Still MSC is unmatched for pasta overall.

 

The policy not releasing information to any person except the person involved is normal, Celebrity is the same. With a 80 years old person it is of cause annoying, but on the other hand this policy is not senseless. 

[Markanddonna]

MSC certainly has some holes in their practices and products. I found the customer service experience to be very good on all. I always approach the desk with a smile and treat them respectfully and their demeanor has always been pleasant and helpful.

 

However, their food is another story. Their pasta is incredibly dry with little sauce. I witnessed a young woman at another table showing her server how the pasta could be picked up by her fork in one clump. That's how dry it was. I asked our server (the worst one we ever had on a cruise taken this past month) if we could have a small bowl of sauce to repair our dry pasta and she never brought it. It was a very inexpensive cruise, so I keep that in mind. I got what I paid for.

[rikitikitavii]

6 hours ago, Never Again MSC 2024 said:

yes absolutely, because I have never had an experience this bad as this MSC Seascape Cruise 3-29-24 to 4-6-24

 

i said the cabins were basically not cleaned which means not cleaned well as in compared to most other cruise lines I experienced

We have been on 7 MSC cruises and never had that experience. In fact, my wife and I are not messy people and tell the room steward to skip our room for the day, if he looks busy. We don’t need fresh towels daily, we hang them up to dry. We also make up the bed, just like at home. Maybe your expectations were geared more to one of the luxury cruise lines!!

[rxlowry]

Here’s my photo of same dish in YC last week.  Two clams.  But some in sauce and not dry. Pasta was cooked fine. 

[Never Again MSC 2024]

2 hours ago, Homosassa said:

I enlarged your picture of the "famous" dish of "Linguine Vingole" (sic).

 

You received exactly what you ordered.  It was linguine with an appropriate amount of a sauce made with olive oil, garlic  and pieces of clam (Campania style). The single little neck clam was a "garnish."

 

As I have hade the dish on MSC in the MDR, I found it tasty, well done, and something I would have enjoyed at my straight off the boat Italian relatives.  (or passed down recipes).

 

And yes, one should be able to capture a few strands of any long noodle in fork tines and be able to twirl it around the fork (no spoon bowl used unless one is a child learning to twirl the pasta)and bring it to the mouth without dripping sauce.

 

A  request an additional sauce to "repair" the dish preparation is like asking for catsup in a fine steak house to "repair" the meat preparation. It most likely will be discreetly ignored.

 

Unfortunately, many the sail on MSC have preconceived notions based on Italian-American or quasi Italian cuisine with over sauced and flavored dishes and do not have the experience to appreciate the MSC cuisine of Italian cooking from the different regions of Italy.

 

Anyone saying that is acceptable linguine Vongole is not genuine. I am sorry

[Homosassa]

23 minutes ago, Never Again MSC 2024 said:

Anyone saying that is acceptable linguine Vongole is not genuine. I am sorry

What is not "Genuine?"

 

Do you think I am an AI bot?

 

My knowledge of Italian cuisine ( preparation? regional differences?)? 

 

My experience on MSC with fellow cruisers who are not experienced in different cultures?

 

By the way, your pasta dish looks identical to the linguine I served the other day with shrimp. Made the dish as I learned from one of the straight off boat relatives from Naples.

 

I'm sorry (not) that my answer to your request to explain the dish you received doesn't meet your preconceived idea of what you ordered.

Edited April 6 by Homosassa

[Jules10192]

I was also on this cruise and can vouch to say the front desk is a hit or miss. While most employees are kind there is someone at the front desk who is very nasty and rude. Her husband who is an officer also assaulted a passenger because they are both high up they think there will be no repercussions. The food was horrible with a few days that we were pleasantly surprised. The chicken was often times undercooked and one of the only consistent things I could feed my son, since he is only a few months old, so this was difficult. The pizza was the only thing that never disappointed, but who wants to eat pizza everyday? My husband and I lost weight on this world cruise because most days we barely ate on the ship. 

[maclover]

I find the original poster's reaction to be quite exaggerated, but I do agree with him on the topic of pasta.

 

I'm 100% Italian, living in Italy, and my wife loves spaghetti alle vongole, a dish she regularly order at restaurants, whether by the seaside or not.

 

Unfortunately, we once received a subpar version of the dish at a place near Lake Como, which turned out to be nothing more than a tourist trap. That looked exactly like the one in the picture above

 

GialloZafferano is undoubtedly the number one website for recipes used by Italians. You can browse through various recipes there, but trust me, no one here would consider a single clam (vongola) to be acceptable as it's merely a garnish

 

Here link to recipes

 

 

Edited April 6 by maclover

[Stockjock]

19 hours ago, Never Again MSC 2024 said:

Second time MSC cruiser , last time was 2018 which was a decent experience. We are experienced cruisers with all

major lines last 25 years. This MSC cruise has made me so angry that words cannot describe. 

 

Fast forward to Our April sailing in MSC Seascape. I am writing this even before getting off the ship!!

 

I have never in my 25 years of cruising had cabins that were basically not cleaned from start to end of the cruise. The room was completely filthy when we started the cruise and it never got better as the week went on despite complaints. We just gave up and just cleaned it ourselves. We honestly felt lucky if we got new towels each day…

 

Now to the food, the only good thing was the pizza . Everything else was a horror show entire week. Just look at the famous Italian Dish “linguine Vingole” or pasta with clams. Just look at the picture , dry pasta with one singular dried out clam.🤷🏻‍♂️ Keep in mind, this is a famous Italian Dish and MSC is an Italian cruise line.

 

Lastly, the “customer service desk” was completely rude and unprofessional when I went on the last night to try and verify a MSC canceled excursion was properly refunded. They insisted that my 80 year mother who doesn’t speak English with limited mobility be there in person before releasing that information to me. Our rooms were grouped  together from the start and excursions were purchased together!!! while I understand privacy is important , this was frankly stupid .
 

Despite my poor experience on this cruise, I was probably not going to write this review until the experience that just happened at the customer service desk! The woman supervisor was absolutely the worst. She needs to be demoted  or fired .

I went against the advice of my long time travel agent who warned me aginat booking MSC but I decided to take my extended family on it based on our above average 2018 experience.!!

 

I should have listened to my agent! I would not go on MSC ever again even if they paid me!! This was a complete , unmitigated disaster!

 

DONT  DO IT NO MATTER WHAT! 

 

 

This may be the saddest looking dish I've seen offered by MSC, or any other cruise line that I can think of.  I was served a trout dish on MSC that looked as if a cat vomited on the plate, but I think this one "beats" that.

Edited April 6 by Stockjock

[Pypercallie]

 I think just got off the same cruise MSC Seascape. I thought this cruise was wonderful! Our rooms were cleaned a minimum of three times a day sometimes four. The food was absolutely delicious. I did get the same dishes you I did not like it but I was so full from the two appetizers and the dessert. Also that was one meal out of 21 that was not perfect! There was 8 of us in our group and we all loved the food. The 6 other people in our group also talked about how clean and how nice the room cleaners were. 

[peder]

Even if it's just 1 meal out out however many for the week, that's such a weak offering that's not uncommon for MSC. They shouldn't even bother putting that on the menu IMO.

[Never Again MSC 2024]

2 hours ago, Homosassa said:

What is not "Genuine?"

 

Do you think I am an AI bot?

 

My knowledge of Italian cuisine ( preparation? regional differences?)? 

 

My experience on MSC with fellow cruisers who are not experienced in different cultures?

 

By the way, your pasta dish looks identical to the linguine I served the other day with shrimp. Made the dish as I learned from one of the straight off boat relatives from Naples.

 

I'm sorry (not) that my answer to your request to explain the dish you received doesn't meet your preconceived idea of what you ordered.

While being loyal to a cruise line is fine. Burying your head in the sand and attacking people who is giving feedback is the worse thing you can do if you want this cruise line to improve.

 

as I said, I went against advice of my long time agent who booked my 2018 MSC cruise for me and told me not to do it this time. Because I had a decent experience on MSC in 2018. What part of that do you not understand?

 

now when I got off the ship today into the Uber, the driver asked me which cruise line, I said MSC and he asked me how it was and i said  it was worse than before and he told me that is what he is hearing a lot as well

 

 

so my MSC experience is for sure out there … whether you want to accept it or not. 
 

lastly on the single clam Vongole , they can call that an appetizer, don’t try to pass it off as entree ?

[ron746]

SORRY YOU HAD SUCH A BAD TIME, I WAS ON SEASCAPE IN FEBRUARY AND HAD A GREAT TIME. LOOKING AT THE PICTURE  ,I WAS WONDERING WHAT ARE ALL THOSE PIECES OF WHAT LOOKS LIKE VONGOLE   MIXED WITH THE PASTA  OR DO YOU ONLY CONSIDER  THE SHELLS?

[Selion]

I've found MSC's meal prep in Europe is generally much better than on cruises from US ports.  Last August, Seaside out of Port Canaveral.  We had some of the most disappointing food from MSC's MDR.  Few months later on World Europa in the Med, MDR food were at least on par of what we had before, if not better.  We even ordered a few of the same dishes we had on the Seaside, and WE's MDR knocked them out of the park.

 

Not sure why the discrepancies.  Perhaps it was only due to the different kitchen crew; or perhaps the US-based ship kitchen crew just decided to "Forget it!  Americans are only into steaks, burgers & fries."

[morpheusofthesea]

8 minutes ago, Selion said:

Perhaps it was only due to the different kitchen crew; or perhaps the US-based ship kitchen crew 

Found this to be the case. Most of us are more interested in a favorite waiter, bartender or butler.  I say the most important individual on any cruise ship is the Chef. Somehow this goes overlooked and the result is " a complete horror show".

[Never Again MSC 2024]

1 hour ago, ron746 said:

SORRY YOU HAD SUCH A BAD TIME, I WAS ON SEASCAPE IN FEBRUARY AND HAD A GREAT TIME. LOOKING AT THE PICTURE  ,I WAS WONDERING WHAT ARE ALL THOSE PIECES OF WHAT LOOKS LIKE VONGOLE   MIXED WITH THE PASTA  OR DO YOU ONLY CONSIDER  THE SHELLS?

There was no clam sauce 

[Beamafar]

26 minutes ago, Selion said:

I've found MSC's meal prep in Europe is generally much better than on cruises from US ports.  Last August, Seaside out of Port Canaveral.  We had some of the most disappointing food from MSC's MDR.  Few months later on World Europa in the Med, MDR food were at least on par of what we had before, if not better.  We even ordered a few of the same dishes we had on the Seaside, and WE's MDR knocked them out of the park.

 

Not sure why the discrepancies.  Perhaps it was only due to the different kitchen crew; or perhaps the US-based ship kitchen crew just decided to "Forget it!  Americans are only into steaks, burgers & fries."

The quality of produce brought onboard is also superior in Europe than on US sailings.  

[rikitikitavii]

50 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

The quality of produce brought onboard is also superior in Europe than on US sailings.  

I’ve only been to Europe twice, but the food overall, on shore and on cruises, is so much better than in the U. S.!

[jean87510]

4 hours ago, Pypercallie said:

 I think just got off the same cruise MSC Seascape. I thought this cruise was wonderful! Our rooms were cleaned a minimum of three times a day sometimes four. The food was absolutely delicious. I did get the same dishes you I did not like it but I was so full from the two appetizers and the dessert. Also that was one meal out of 21 that was not perfect! There was 8 of us in our group and we all loved the food. The 6 other people in our group also talked about how clean and how nice the room cleaners were. 

Oh come on.  3-4x a day your room was cleaned?  Surely you jest.

[morpheusofthesea]

MSC knows the importance of good chefs. Look at its success it is generating with its new Explora Journeys cruise ship. We were astonished a couple of years ago in the YC restaurant at how good the food was compared to a few months earlier. I asked our maitre d' why the improvement. He said they have a new chef. I asked to see the chef to make my compliments. Out came Chef Lisa. I stood up and shook her hand. Subsequently I had the occasion to ask her where she came from. It appears MSC knew they had to make improvements in its food and they approached her where she had been working for about 10 years developing her reputation in the cruise industry. She said they made her 'an offer she could not refuse'. "I know what Americans like."  So whenever I get on board I make it a point now to get to know the Chef in charge. Unfortunately, for us, Chef Lisa is now on the Virtuosa. Will be on board the Seascape in two weeks. Never found everything "horrible" enough to quit an MSC cruise, like we just did on the Regent Grandeur.

[peder]

5 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Oh come on.  3-4x a day your room was cleaned?  Surely you jest.

 

When we sailed on the Seascape we had an amazing cabin steward that was by our cabin several times each day. Very hard worker, always checking in. And not heavy cleaning, of course, but if we stopped in quick to get the kids a quick shower and outfit change after pool time, hit the buffet, then come back a short while later, we'd find that the room had been tidied in between.

 

So I don't think that level of service is a total anomaly.