MSC Musica (Med) 6 Oct departure.

[maclon]

I took the MSC Musica med cruise departing Venice on 6 october.

 

I did mean to post this earlier but you know how it is!. This was my 23rd cruise but first time on MSC. I took MSC as a 7 day med cruise is quite hard to find (they tend to be 10-11 days) and I liked the itinerary. Venice is a short flight from the UK and no jet-lag!.

 

I do not like going outof my comfort zone (HAL, RCCL, Princess etc.) but I have an Italian friend and he loves MSC so I decided to give it a go.

 

The boarding in Venice was chaotic, they did have a numbered system but nobody seemed to take much notice of it, There were four lines all merging into one and the crush was so bad I could not even move my rollerboard suitcase behind me. There were kids caught up in this and when I got to the top of the boarding line I mentioned to a uniformed officer that the boarding could be better organised. He immediately took great exception to my comment and said "It's very organised!!" I was surprised at his rather aggressive manner and I must have glanced down at his name badge (really just to check he was an MSC employee) because he then said in a loud voice "Oh you want my name?" he then declared he was the second purser (whatever that is?) and then proceeded to grab my boarding documents out of my hand and write his name on it. Well by this time the line up was staring at me and trying to see what all the fuss was about. After I had been "dealt" with he said "Now...you can board!".

 

So, welcome aboard MSC!. As I entered the ship I was chatting with a couple from Texas and I asked them about their boarding experience. The lady said it was VERY disorganised and her husband commented that if it was in Texas there would have been a fist fight! LOL. That made me feel better as I was beginning to think it was maybe just me being over critical.

 

I don't want to bore you with too many negatives, The Italian passengers really seemed to be having a good time but in comparison to other cruises I have been on I really decided that MSC is not for me. A few things that bugged me were:

They charge for room service in the Med. 3 euros for a tiny club sandwich!. Buffet line ups were very disorganised, nobody bothers to line up, It really is a free for all!. Get those elbows ready....

 

At times all food and snack service closes down. I have never experienced

this before and the result is that there is a scrum when the service starts again, making it almost impossible to find a seat in the casual dining areas.

 

Cocktails and drinks are relatively cheap but they use tiny martini glasses, so you end up buying two or three drinks. By the way I found the bar and waiting staff, mostly Indonesian and Eastern European to be very good.

 

Overall I found the meals to be uninspiring. Particularly breakfast and lunch. One exception, the pasta was good as you would expect!.

 

The ships officers I found to be arrogant and totally disinterested in customer service. I was never once addressed by name and when you engage them in any conversation they never even establish eye contact. What's that all about?

 

No seating on the promenade deck means that the pool deck gets VERY crowded. I also think that they lack many organised activities and this means that most passenegers jusr congregate around the pool.

 

Itinerary was great, ship is big, not exactly beautiful but definitely quite impressive. I found the wayfinding confusing. I cannot really explain that but floor plans at elevators are rather, well, different.

 

Ok, so not a big MSC fan and I am running back to HAL, Celebrity, RCCL, Princess. I am not coming out of my comfort zone again. Well, not soon anyway.

 

Bon Voyage.

Mac