MSC Seaview REVIEW. June 22nd to June 29th from Barcelona, visiting Cannes, Genova, La Spezia, Civitavecchia and Palma.

[MyriamS]

Thanks for the review! You must have quite a lot of patience to travel with such a large multi-generation group. I would have gone crazy! We are going with MSC in December but as a couple and with a slightly different itinerary (with Palermo, Valetta and Marseilles instead of Palma, La Spezia and Cannes). It's always good to read about what MSC is like not in the YC. 

[mica178]

Thank you for the review! I went on a Mediterranean cruise years ago, and I contemplated an MSC cruise in the Mediterranean with my kids, but I think I'd prefer to spend more time in each city than a cruise allows.

[Até]

Thanks for sharing your experience and all the ship information.

[alserrod]

2 hours ago, MyriamS said:

Thanks for the review! You must have quite a lot of patience to travel with such a large multi-generation group. I would have gone crazy! We are going with MSC in December but as a couple and with a slightly different itinerary (with Palermo, Valetta and Marseilles instead of Palma, La Spezia and Cannes). It's always good to read about what MSC is like not in the YC. 

 

 

Please, ask so many questions you could have.

 

I have been in Palermo and Marseille with MSC but it was a long time ago.

 

[alserrod]

1 hour ago, mica178 said:

Thank you for the review! I went on a Mediterranean cruise years ago, and I contemplated an MSC cruise in the Mediterranean with my kids, but I think I'd prefer to spend more time in each city than a cruise allows.

 

 

Most of my friends do not want to have a cruise because.... there's no time to visit cities.

 

You can stay in Rome for a week and there will be pending monuments to visit. I just stayed half a day.

 

There's a premise.... in Mediterranean, the ship is not the destination... destination are ports of call. People decide one or other cruise partially after their ports of call.

 

My family and me have said.... we will return to Rome

[alserrod]

3 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

Actually when reading this forum it almost seems most of the people are either over 80 years old or disabled 😄

 

It is not a big thing to do a walking tour from Termini to Colisseum, Forum Romanum, Vatical City, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza di Spagna. Just 10 km altogether. Of cause things a different for a big group with very small kids and very old folks, but normally ...

 

As I said... I could be strange because there are a lot of MSC reviews departing Florida (or NYC), in YC, people who do not ask about excursions because all of them are done with the cruise, people who ask about mobility or some other problems... kids...

 

In my case, the cheapest, the best, single interior cabin for 4 people, easy pack only, all excursions on DIY (some of them absolutely free or very cheap, some of them were expensive) and I have a young and a teenager daugthers.

 

 

I hasn't read about teens in these cruise, nor with youngs.

 

My daughters met friends there and they really enjoyed all the week. They arrived quite late in the night, they wake up early morning to visit anything, they said they would sleep after cruise.

You are 18 only once in life!!

 

 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

Thanks for sharing @alserrod. You've helped us to remember some wonderful times in great places. We're heading to Rome in October before our transatlantic. We've been there a few times previously but there is always more to do there. And more to eat there! 🙂

 

I know you and your family will enjoy your next time in Roma. Who wouldn't?

[MyriamS]

15 hours ago, alserrod said:

 

 

Please, ask so many questions you could have.

 

I have been in Palermo and Marseille with MSC but it was a long time ago.

 

Thank you! My main concern is always about food, especially in the MDR. How did it compare to other cruise lines and to a reasonably priced restaurant in Spain? Any dishes you would recommend us to get (besides the pizza)?

[FionaMG]

Thanks for sharing @alserrod. 😊

We did the Soller train back in September 2021 just after the post-covid restart. It was a great day and we hope to do it again at some point.

[Thewanderingtwo]

Thank you so much for your review, nice to read about a Mediterranean based itinerary for a change. Our last MSC was out of Florida, but back in the Med to try World Europa in January `25.

You deserve a medal for the organisation you put into your family trip.

[alserrod]

On 7/13/2024 at 12:00 AM, Best Cat Mom said:

Thanks for sharing @alserrod. You've helped us to remember some wonderful times in great places. We're heading to Rome in October before our transatlantic. We've been there a few times previously but there is always more to do there. And more to eat there! 🙂

 

I know you and your family will enjoy your next time in Roma. Who wouldn't?

 

 

I had wanted to go to Rome for a long time. I had been to "almost all" Italy but I was missing Rome. With some trips and others I have been to Venice three times, I have visited Milan, the Alps and several ports with cruises. I was missing Rome and some other important city.

When I was 14, I remember a world history teacher who made me have a real passion for this city.
The visit has been very short. We'll have to go back.

There's a reason it's called "the eternal city."

[alserrod]

On 7/13/2024 at 8:26 AM, MyriamS said:

Thank you! My main concern is always about food, especially in the MDR. How did it compare to other cruise lines and to a reasonably priced restaurant in Spain? Any dishes you would recommend us to get (besides the pizza)?

 

 

I saw the menus as consistent with a reasonably priced restaurant. Don't expect anything fancy but pretty good.

As I say, it's a matter of menus and customs. The accompaniments of the dishes are not what I was used to (it can make you like it more or less). Cultural issue.

It must also be said that cooking for 1800 people every 2 hours is not easy. Even so, I saw some grilled or pan-fried dishes, which increases its difficulty.

Ah... on Mediterranean cuisine day I had a hard time deciding. I would have repeated several different dishes and I would still like them

But don't even think about ordering "paella". The son of someone I knew from Valencia (the area where this dish comes from) asked for it and said it was terrible.
What's more, it is a dish that I recommend you order at a restaurant when they prepare it for very few people.

[alserrod]

On 7/13/2024 at 5:55 PM, FionaMG said:

Thanks for sharing @alserrod. 😊

We did the Soller train back in September 2021 just after the post-covid restart. It was a great day and we hope to do it again at some point.

 

 

 

I visited Mallorca in July 2020!!!!!

 

We decided destination just one month before. As you can guess, an international flight was unexpected by those dates. We wanted to go again by plane. We had a direct flight to Mallorca from our small airport in this city.

 

Mallorca just came to be opened to tourism but all was really quiet.

 

We were in a village inner Mallorca. We drove to Soller and got into the tramway to Port de Soller and return.

 

I remember there were only TWO daily trains Palma to Soller, morning and evening (nowadays eight daily trains) and one tramway every two hours (nowadays every 30 minutes and with a lot of additional wagons).

 

This time we remembered those days and later, we compared pictures. In 2020 we had to take out our masks for 15 seconds for a photo and "hide them".

 

[alserrod]

On 7/13/2024 at 8:26 AM, MyriamS said:

Thank you! My main concern is always about food, especially in the MDR. How did it compare to other cruise lines and to a reasonably priced restaurant in Spain? Any dishes you would recommend us to get (besides the pizza)?

 

 

About dishes, as main ones every evening we had

 

- pasta. I think only one relative asked for pasta but very well cooked.

Everyday one different pasta and one different sauce.

fish and seafood; Nerano style (with vegetables): shrimps and tomate; asparagus and cuttlefish...

or Lasagna

 

- rice. My wife commanded two rices. She said they were quite good.

(but do not ask for paella, please. Ask for it in a small restaurant in Spain. In Valencia preferible)

 

- fish. I asked for fish in the Mediterranean night and it was 10/10 as food.... maybe they had to improve dish presentation (but everyone would prefer food over presentation)

My mother asked for fish almost every night and she said it was super.

 

- meat.  I would just said   "fine" only. There were several ones very good, several ones just only normal

There are two meat dishes every night

 

- vegan. one relative asked once for it.... good.

 

 

the worst... snails. I love them but with French style (or other local styles I know), not as presented in the cruise

 

[MyriamS]

Thank you @alserrod! For the sake of my peace of mind, I will choose to believe your report and not the recently posted review that said the food was like like dog food. 

 

I might give the escargot a try anyway, I really do like puff pastry. 

[FionaMG]

12 hours ago, alserrod said:

 

 

 

I visited Mallorca in July 2020!!!!!

 

We decided destination just one month before. As you can guess, an international flight was unexpected by those dates. We wanted to go again by plane. We had a direct flight to Mallorca from our small airport in this city.

 

Mallorca just came to be opened to tourism but all was really quiet.

 

We were in a village inner Mallorca. We drove to Soller and got into the tramway to Port de Soller and return.

 

I remember there were only TWO daily trains Palma to Soller, morning and evening (nowadays eight daily trains) and one tramway every two hours (nowadays every 30 minutes and with a lot of additional wagons).

 

This time we remembered those days and later, we compared pictures. In 2020 we had to take out our masks for 15 seconds for a photo and "hide them".

 

 

We were there on a port stop on Harmony of the Seas and it was only about the 4th cruise after the start-up. When we disembarked there were no taxis at all and we thought we were going to have to give up on our plan. But luckily after about a 45-minute wait we were able to get a taxi and catch the train. By that time they were back to running several trains a day. And we still did have to wear masks on the train.

[alserrod]

26 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

Thank you @alserrod! For the sake of my peace of mind, I will choose to believe your report and not the recently posted review that said the food was like like dog food. 

 

I might give the escargot a try anyway, I really do like puff pastry. 

 

 

To be clear

 

Gala dinner, fine but below my expectations

Mediterranean dinner, over my expectations

 

My wife asked for cheese every night. She's a cheese-lover. Very good. Three different ones every night.

Desserts... add two pastries to cheese and some ice cream more. Very good all of them

 

 

If you go to the buffet you will surely have the Entree soup and pastries available at least

 

[alserrod]

21 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

We were there on a port stop on Harmony of the Seas and it was only about the 4th cruise after the start-up. When we disembarked there were no taxis at all and we thought we were going to have to give up on our plan. But luckily after about a 45-minute wait we were able to get a taxi and catch the train. By that time they were back to running several trains a day. And we still did have to wear masks on the train.

 

 

When coming back in Palma, taxi driver told me he took some holidays by those weeks. Maybe hard to find a taxi.

 

Masks... in those dates they were mandatory in Spain everywhere everytime except in your home

But... it is weird but they remained obligatory in public transport (and a few more places) till February 2023!!!!!. Soller train is public transport thus mask obligatory until Feb'23.