Reiew Lirica 12/20 cruise

[beantown]

I was not going to listen to the negativity of previous posters and form my own opinion about thie MSC cruise line. Well my husband and I took the week long Christmas cruise and will not use this line in the future. (We have been on 26 cruises in the past from all lines including other Eurpoean lines).

 

I called it the "Apprentice Ship" , everyone is in training ; without direction. We realized there wuld be language difficulties, but some were really problematic in the dining room. There is the need to point out the items you want. Sometimes you'll get what was ordered and sometimes not. There is a definate body odor problem with the wait staff, especially at lunch. They reach across the table to serve others and don't mind interupting conversation. Only once we were handed a napkin when seated. The menu's could have been wiped down, and there was no need to ask for coffee and water everynight; then the cream etc. The food was not as well presented in the upper deck cafe as in the dining room. The food was adequate with nothing too memorable except the Florida lobsters that had a potent ammonia smell, and had to be sent back. I recommend eatting all meals in the dining room. (I did find plastic tape in my sweet potatoe fritter, they kindly took my room and dinner table number and had a bottle of wine waithing there that evening.) The icecream was fantastic.

 

The ship was well kept and clean. The rooms although small , were promptly cleaned and always spotless. The bathroom shower is unusually small. If you do get to get under the shower head , the shower curtain is wrapping itself around you. It took two dys to figure how to position yourself to get through the shower process. (Point the water flow at the shower curtain.)

 

Tenders for three ports; when only one was in the plans, was unacceptable. I understand the private island is tendered. To offload the ship they would send empty tenders back to the ship, leaving passengers standing in the sun for an hour waiting to return to the ship from land. Many grumbling unhappy people

 

In Tortola, the ship made an hour stop at the pier to offload those passsengers ready to go on excursions etc. Then it pulled away from the pier to be tender serviced. The only problem, not telling the passengers the tenders would leave the municipal ferry dock about 1/2 mile away. People in wheelchairs were making extra long journies, only to have to turn around and go further. Some people were overheating. No communication about this. When we went to the pursers office and saw the cruise director, she was asked why signs weren't posted, or someone on the pier directing fellow cruisers. Her reply, 'You like the entertainment?? That is all I am concerned with", and walked away.

 

The next stop in St. Martain was also an ordeal. We were given numbered tender tickets. When the number was announced and we asked a staff member at the roped off stairway where our group was, he laughed in our faces and told us no one pays attention to the numbering system. We had already waited 2 1/2 hours to go on shore. We didn't get to visit the french side as planned. My husband had a meeting about this issue with the assistant purser, he seemed to think it was impossible to control the situation and apoligized.

 

The casino also had problems. A slot machine I was using jambed. I had a few dollars credit still on the machine. I pushed the service button, waited then looked for service. I was told someone would come and help. Twenty minutes later, the cashier told me they had only one service person and I needed to wait my turn another ten minutes past. I left the credits on the machine never to return again, as I was already late for dinner.

 

The nightly shows were effectively programmed for the five different languages on board. There were magicians, dancers, acrobatics etc. Overall it was performed as well as could be with the diverse guests. The after dinner shows in the smaller lounges were meant for some poor fool who had too much liquor to make a total fool of himself. Some shows children were present and it was unecessary for the obscene humping motions.

 

The gala buffet was a food fest. Forget getting pictures as instructed, the crowd grabbed everything in sight. You'd think it was a last meal. The coffee urn was full;with clear plastic cups to be used. When hubby filled up the cup it melted and leaked. He asked the food manager for another type of cup and was refused initially. Then when told someone was going to get burned the manager went and got "two regular melmine cups for us." The service waiter took it upon himself to get another two racks of cups for others.

 

Not my job was the reply from amny staff members, or they would ignore you and walk away. On the deck with the muster stations. mY husband and another passenger told the maintenance man present that the red pins holding the railin in place were out of there positions. He said not to worry the railings would fold inwards and not outwards. He didn't fix the problem. My husband and another passenger put about five pins back into their locking positions.

 

It seemed that lack of communication was not the language barrier, it was the willingness for anyone in the manager position to help. Som individuals went beyond their means to help. Others quite frankly didn't care. Thei bank is a joke, (only open 2 hours a day), they do not change large bills. Just go to the casino

 

Many said they took the cruise for the cost and the fact kids were free. (Approx. 500 of the little ones) Many would rather pay the extra for the service. It is correctly said, you cannot expect a Mercedes when you bought a VW I agree.

 

After filling out the comment card, I thought I would hand it directly to a customer service manager. I was told at the pursers desk I would have to address the manager of each individual department, as their guest relations manager was not going to be on board until the next cruise.

 

Read the daily bulletin then check again. Many things do change without notice. Upon disemarkation, it said to meet the customs person in the library at 7:00 am. Being honest people, we had extra liquor to declare. The plans were changed by staff at last minute so we had to wait and see customs at the pier after getting luggage. No duty was charged.

 

One ting I can say is thank god we didn't have any emergencies, as I don't know if the training is in place. It would probably be every person for themself. No one ready to take leadership.

[royandjenn]

Oh yuck. You had a pretty bad experience from the sounds of it. Well, we get to go on the Lirica for ten days at the end of January. But, like you said at the beginning, we aren't letting any bad reviews sway our opinions. I don't think the ship should be too busy when we will be on it. The last cruise we went on had quite the varied reviews as well, but we absolutly had a blast. Let's hope for the best! happy new year!

[robzilla69]

We are sailing 3/4/09 i hope we don't have the same issues as you, but thanks to your review I'm ready. Might have a good old fashioned beat down if the staff deals with me like that;)

[Mystery Gal]

I agree with the problems on the tender. They did have some problems getting everyone off. They should have had more available as the ship was full.

I disagree with Tortola. It was announced that if you wanted to walk off (even without an excursion) you could for the one hour it was docked. Then it moved out and you had to take the tenders to get to shore.

As far as St Marteen. It is understandable since their piers have been damaged by the hurricanes and are being rebuilt. Also, had we exited the ship by pier we would have had to take a taxi or water taxi into Phillipsburg. The pier is a distance away from the city. So all in all the tender wasn't much different then it would have been otherwise.

As expected the tender at Cayo Levantado was a tender port. We had 11. And had more then enough time on the beach. The thing is if you really want off early then book an excursion and you are off first. They did check the numbers. We had some that tried to get off in front of us with wrong numbers and they couldn't they were turned away.

[Mystery Gal]

Now onto the food. I thought it was excellent. You can't expect that food that is from another country to taste as it does in the USA. I know what type of food you are used to in Boston. I don't live to far away and have eaten at the north end pleanty of times.

Now I can't say I liked all of what I tried but it was as should have been prepared. It wasn't anything other then what their local cuisine would be. Some of it was exceptional. I thought the lobster was tender and juicy. And in Newport Rhode Island I have the oportunity for fresh lobster.

The wait staff was always clean. I didn't smell anyone in any negative way. They would have a hard time at times understanding what you asked for as we have a unique way of slurring our "r's" in New England. If you pointed to it they would be able to understand what you had asked for.

Remember they are new to the US and so they aren't used to the varieties of accents.

My nephew loved the tuna sandwich at room service.

The buffet was good. Not as good as the dinning room. I didn't eat any dinners in there only breakfast and lunch.

I really did enjoy trying the different foods. It was as I expected it to be. It was foreign food in which I really enjoyed trying. The items like the prime rib and the filet mignon was prepared as you would get it in the US.

[Mystery Gal]

Now onto our cabin. It was always spotless. I did miss the towel animals. They also don't do the chocolate on the pillows. There was a bowl of fresh fruit every night in your room.

They white glove walked you to your room. It is a nice experience. They used to do that on HAL but from what I hear they don't anymore.

The cabin steward was always there nearby if there was a problem.

As stated the shower curtain did cling to your legs if you didn't let the water spray the correct way. However, the room was spacious enough especially for the price paid. I am not sure if the rooms on the lower levels were smaller then they were on the upper ones. I did have an opportunity to see a suite. We had family that was staying in one. They had a bathtub/shower. Their bathroom door also opened in instead of out into the room. The storage in the suites were pleantiful.

[Mystery Gal]

If you went to the Lirica lounge after 10 then yes the shows were a little risque. However they weren't meant for kids.

The broadway had great shows.

[Mystery Gal]

As far as the casino I had to have the attendant fill the machine to be able to cash out my winnings. It didn't take more then 2 minutes.

It almost makes you wonder if we were on a different cruise.

[bighairtexan]

Helen, thank you for your review. I am sure there is good and bad on the Lirica. Indeed I could find fault w/ something on every cruise I have been on. My expectations for the Lirica were never what they would be for Celebrity. I guess it's like anything else. Two people could order the same thing in the same restaurant and have 2 very different opinions. Or see the same movie and have 2 vastly different reviews. I am taking something from the good and the bad. I'll know to ask for certain things as they seem not to have the same standards of service.

I have gone into situations expecting the best and getting the worst so i know it is possible that no matter how one tries to make the best of it, it is sometimes near impossible. But every cruise is different from the next. Every opinion is different from the next. Hopefully this will be one of the "good" weeks. If not, there is alcohol on the ship so I'll be OK.

[Cruisin' Chick]

As far as the casino I had to have the attendant fill the machine to be able to cash out my winnings. It didn't take more then 2 minutes.

 

It almost makes you wonder if we were on a different cruise.

 

Reminds me when I posted a review of my last cruise, and somebody else posted her review of the same cruise. She had plenty of complaints, including that the rind was left on the pineapple in the buffet (which to me was a plus). Just the other day hubby was talking about how he enjoyed that cruise and why we're considering going on that one again.

[Mystery Gal]

There was pleanty of alcohol around to be had that is for sure. We had chocolate covered strawberries and sparkling wine delivered to our room the first day. Our group party was great too. One thing I didn't expect was a photographer there. The ship sent one to us. The one we got was the best one.

[David&Pam]

Hi, I haven't posted anything on here before - in fact, I haven't bothered to post anything on any forum before, but thought I'd add to the comments about the Lirica Xmas cruise.

 

We have sailed on Lirica before, in the Med and in the summer a few years ago and we booked this time and so we can't have had much to complain about I guess.

 

However, this trip was different. I don't have many negative comments about the food etc, but a big issue with communications and management in general. I run my own business and am a publisher and so I guess I tend to look at things a little more closely when it comes to getting messages across to customers and it seems to me that there is a massive problem on the Lirica when it comes to letting people know what's going on and keeping people informed when things do go wrong (which they do from time to time)

 

I can't work out whether this is a ship problem or a company problem, although the communications we had with the company right from day one when we booked were at best confusing and at worst very frustrating.

 

The other issue that is clear is that very few crew members ae willing to take any responsibility for things. At one point I was told that the person I was speaking to worked for MSC Lirica and not MSC! Mmm, that sounds to me like an organisation waiting to have major problems in the future.

 

Either the company doesn't give their team members any responsibility or, worse still, they can't be bothered.

 

I agree with the comment about checking everything - there are plenty of random times that are published, sometimes on different pieces of paper delivered at the same time, which are completely different.

 

It wouldn't take much to get hold of the company's organisation and clean it up as most of the problems are arising due to the fact that the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing or can't be bothered to find out.

 

However, if the problem is coming from the top, whether that be on the ship of in the company, then plenty of cruisers in the future can look forward to some stressful and difficult days at sea.

 

As for us, I don't think that we will be using MSC again. If we do, then it's very unlikely to be the Lirica. It's a nice ship, but the team that they have on it are letting it down.

[Mystery Gal]

For our group our sparkling wine wasn't delived to our room the first night like the rest of the group. So I called down that night. They told me to call in the morning since they didn't have anyone in at that time of night that could clarify what we needed. I did check back in the morning and when I did things were taken care of. They even delivered an extra plate of chocolate covered strawberries.

The communication was a little difficult but they did understaqnd me and I was able to with a bit of clarification get my point across.