My report from the opera Feb 16 to Feb 27, 2007

[dis2cruise]

we are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 teens ages 13 and 15. This was the first cruise for us on MSC however, we have been 6 pervious cruises 4 on rccl and 2 on princess.

 

 

The Embarkation -- we arrived late (about 2:30PM) we walked right up to the line and was up to our cabin in about 15 minutes (inside cabin for us).

 

The ship -- clean, probably the cleanest ship we ever were on.

 

The food -- from what I have read I was ready for the worst food ever. We actually packed in our suitcases extra foods just incase, lol. However, we came home with all the extra food. The food I thought was not half bad. The beef dishes was hit or miss however, if you do not like it just order something else. Every night we had Ice tea waiting at our table and water was always refilled. Our waiter was Suko, who was very nice. Even the lobster was good. It wasn’t the best I ever had but in some seafood restaurants near my home (we live near the water Long Island, NY) and I would have to say msc was better!!

 

 

The food court (buffet):

They had larger plastic cups (about 12 oz) (lunch only not during breakfast)

In other reports, the people were saying there was just 3 oz., maybe msc read the posts and got their act together on this, no need for a mug even though we brought ours and we did see a few people walking around with some. The pizza was good in the outside buffet area. Now for the burgers....my picky daughter ordered a burger by the outside buffet, I told her I read they are gross, she said there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. So, the next day I tried one it was like a burger from a diner definitely not McDonalds quality. Also, I never saw the burgers in liquid like other posts that I have read.. Yes, after they are cooked on a grill they were placed in a tray but never saw burgers in water and neither did my daughter.

 

Entertainment: We only saw about half the shows but WOW, they were great. I am not one to go to many shows but when I read that many people said they were good I decided to go to a few and I am glad I did they were very good!

 

Crew: again, never had a problem what so ever. The crew Always said hello, good morning, etc. We even had some great conversations with the bartender and a few good laughs as well. We even had to go to the reception desk a couple times and they always had a smile and said "have a nice day". I did see some older man go up and start yelling at a poor girl at the reception desk one day, maybe this is why the people from the reception desk get nasty back?

 

Kids program: this really got me. For the little guys they had program however sometimes it was from 9 to 10 am and 5-6pm what is up with this??

This was winter break for us in the northeast and there were more than several kids on this ship. Now for my kids 13 and 15, there was nothing for them to do. I never read anything about any kids program. I did read here on cc that they meet in the disco but we never heard of this happening. However, my kids

Were fine they just hung out with us. I thought with the amount of kids on this ship they all were very well behaved children.

.

 

 

Pool area: this is where my complaints come in. Now we were in the Caribbean however, there were no steel drum bands playing by the pool area. By the outside bar (near the buffet area), there were harp and guitar players; if we were in the Mediterranean I would accept harp/guitar players but please MSC we are in the caribbean (just my pet peeve)!! Chair hogs omg.... they should have chair police on this ship I am really glad we did a lot of sight seeing instead of laying by the pool.

 

Casino - never even went in.

 

Shopping on the ship: Small shops but if you needed toothpaste, sun screen they had it. They had toothpaste the same price and size as in the islands I believe it was $3.00 for the large size you would get at your local cvs. . Yes they had gold by the inch one night on tables before dinner was served, this never interests me. However, one night they were selling shawls and evening purses for

$10.00 each (bought one of each)!! MSC tee shirts and collar shirts were $10.00 and I believe $12.00 each. They even had bathing suits for $9.00 each!! The clothes prices were kind of reasonable some were a little more than I would spend but , when I was on rccl, I saw outfits

that were well over $300.00. There was nothing that high in this shop that I saw.

 

Liquior, We actually bought some on the ship, It was cheaper than the islands. We paid $10.00 for absolute we were seeing prices any were from $12 to $14 a bottle.

 

Ports:

 

San Juan; we did our own walking tour. Visited the forts and did some shopping.

 

st. martin: orient beach and some shopping in st Petersburg.

 

Barbados: silver moon II we did this tour with fellow cruises. hi

Pat and Glenn it was so nice to meet you! This is a great trip lots of food and drink and my family

went snorkeling and had a great time.

 

Grenada: we did a tour with monduu great tour very interesting

 

St. Lucia: just shopped was suppose to do Atlantic horse tour, driver never showed up bummer...

 

Tortilla: cane garden bay beach

 

Private island (Dominican republic): tendered in, they charge $3.00 per chair however; no one ever came to us to charge us. Nice beach about 20 vendors selling their stuff. food is for sale lobster lunch $20 and burger or hot dog with fries I believe it was for $5.00, we went back onto the ship to eat. It was a really hot day for us had too much sun.

 

Disembarkation - We were the third group to be called off the ship and I believe it was about 9:30 am.

 

Would we go on MSC again, yes. This was a very reasonable cruise for us. Kids sailed free however, they were charged just for the tax ($51.25 each) so when we figured out an

11 night cruise divided into 4 people it came out to be aprox $45.00 a night per person. That was a great deal for us. For the few inconviences with the kids program and some foods that weren’t that great how could you go wrong.

 

cheryl

[Andy]

Hi Cheryl !

 

Thanks for the excellent review. I am glad you had a great time !

[joybaby]

Thanks Cheryl for your objective review. We sail 3/10 and expect to have a terrrific time.

 

Joyce

[mizzy76218]

What a great detailed review. Thank you. Can you tell me anything about the kids menues if any, also the Mid Night Buffet.

[dis2cruise]

kids menus were only given at dinner time. some of the items I really wouldn't call "kid friendly"

 

Some of the items were:

 

soup: chicken noodle

cream of vegetable

 

dinner: hamburger, spagahetti pizza,hot dogs, chicken tenders

 

now for the strange stuff:

lamb chops

squid rings

 

dessert: ice cream sunday chocolate and vanilla icecream is always available

and I can't remember and neither can my daughter but we believe

jello was on the menu too.

 

As far as the Mid Night Buffet goes, we never went to any of them. Just tells you what party animals we are lol!! From what I have read, there was one every night and one big one.

 

hth,

cheryl

[mizzy76218]

thank you so much for the reply. My kids would order the lamb chops and the fried calimari, so the kid's menue sounds great. I can always order from it too, but I think I will be fine with the regular menu. Can't wait. Thanks agian.

[teegeezfun]

glad you didn't let the negativity expressed on this board some times spoil your expectations of this cruise line.

[nonni22]

Thanks for the info. My sister-in-law and I are going on the Opera on April 1, 2007. It is nice to see positive reports. I do realize that some of the negative will always be there, some people are NEVER happy.:)

[joybaby]

Thanks for the info. My sister-in-law and I are going on the Opera on April 1, 2007. It is nice to see positive reports. I do realize that some of the negative will always be there, some people are NEVER happy.:)

 

We are going on the Opera on Sat. 3/10 and know it will be wonderful. I am ready for some more adventure in cruising than the traditional cruise.

[mizzy76218]

Joybaby, I am looking forward to your review. We leave April 1.

[45014]

We will be definatly joining you on this cruise. So count 4 more.

Ray and Karen

Tom and Cheryl (our best traveling buddies)

We are from the suburbs of Cincinnati, OH and Tom and Cheryl are from Erie, PA.

I need to get my countdown clock started, soon.