Orchestra 1/31-2/7/09 cruise first review

[Inshape]

Hey Grace, I thought you would look me up while we were cruising and I asked so many in your group if they knew you. NO one did. Of course the casino was too smokey, it was full from the 1300 superbowl group. That is all they did, drink and gamble. The food on MSC was far superior to our Celebrity cruise on Century the week before the MSC cruise.

We loved the cruise and found the language barrier to be nothing much so we spoke until they understood. We emraced their language and used it many times and got very positive responses back from the crew. Every show is a standing ovation there. Pls go to them all if you missed them on the first week. The illusionist is something to behold. The lighting is remarkable. The dancers are so talented and beautiful. each more gorgous than the other. ( our X cruise the dancers were out of shape, and the singing was high school caliber at the most).

 

The steam rooms are so nice and the spa area that it is in is relaxing and beautiful. We spent a lot of time doing the steam room, the sauna and the hot tubs in the spa.

The tiramisu was to die for....did you have it?

The crown roast lamb was finger licking delicious, as was the egg plant. The veal dishes were superb with such light egg coating with the delicious sauces. The pizza was great too. None of the desserts in the buffet were much good though. Loved the fresh fruit selectons at breakfast. You got a huge piece of papaya(never got that before on any cruise) and nice piece of ripe pineapple and some good melons.

 

As for the late arrivals....it was the weather. We had very rough seas. According to staff it was a choice between using the stabilizers to make it more comfortable or cruising faster. The picked going slower, using the stabilizers which cost them time. We hit very rough water...that is not MSC fault. Any cruise line would have gotten into port late or caused distress to the passengers getting there on time. Antigua was a silly time in port. But the others were fine.

 

No there were no one giving out the drink of the day...a welcomed relief from the other cruise lines...something I knew about and embraced as a cultural difference. If you know this then understand it is not them not serving you. It is a matter of respecting the passenger not to bother them at all times for a drink. The bars were plentiful and huge to accommodate the passengers asking for a drink.

 

The menus were 7 courses. The entrees were always varied with 4 0r 5 selections and one being vegetarian. Ont he other side of the menu there were chocies that you can always have. This included steak, chicken, a pasta, burgers , salmon and a vegetarian dish. There was enough to pick from. The had a different type of salad each night with different dressings. I loved them. One night actually had avocado in it...never got that on any other cruise.

 

There was appetizer, soup, salad, pasta choice of 2, entree, cheese and dessert. NOt enough choices..... HUH?

 

The mirrors might have bothered the drunks since they seemed not to be able to find anything in the elevator areas. I was asked many times by many drunks where is the elevator which was within 2 feet of them.....

 

There was so much art work on deck 7 where they had the art gallery. Also, all over the ship was marble statues to look at and rounded walls with beautiful tile work.

This person might have missed it all since they spent all the time drinking.

 

Never was I more embarassed to be an American than on that superbowl cruise. I had to repeatedly tell the staff that we were not with them and not to judge us by the groups behavior. What they did to the theater on superbowl sunday was a disgrace. Other cruiselines probably would have booted you off at the next port.

 

I guess you all never cruised on RCI which charges for coffee, ice cream at Ben and Jerrys, which was over 5 $ for a small scoop. The gelato was free at dinner or lunch if you went to the dining rooms. The minimal charge of 1.50 for a large cup or 2 for a large homemade waffle cone was very low.

 

We will book a 10 day/11 night on Poesia doing the deep caribbean in 2010. I wish we could be on the ship still..... I miss it all!

[lovetexas]

I have decided this must fall into a couple of catergories.

 

One, being people who want to party. Hey, it is vacation man... been there done that, and even have a t-shirt!!

 

And, then people who want a nice, quiet, relaxing vacation. No worries..........

 

Me- I choose the second choice!! That is why I have never felt the need to cruise some cruise lines....even though they go outta Galveston (my home cruise center) and they would have been cheaper!!:eek:

[Chesneygirl]

Hey Grace, I thought you would look me up while we were cruising and I asked so many in your group if they knew you. NO one did. Of course the casino was too smokey, it was full from the 1300 superbowl group. That is all they did, drink and gamble. The food on MSC was far superior to our Celebrity cruise on Century the week before the MSC cruise.

We loved the cruise and found the language barrier to be nothing much so we spoke until they understood. We emraced their language and used it many times and got very positive responses back from the crew. Every show is a standing ovation there. Pls go to them all if you missed them on the first week. The illusionist is something to behold. The lighting is remarkable. The dancers are so talented and beautiful. each more gorgous than the other. ( our X cruise the dancers were out of shape, and the singing was high school caliber at the most).

 

The steam rooms are so nice and the spa area that it is in is relaxing and beautiful. We spent a lot of time doing the steam room, the sauna and the hot tubs in the spa.

The tiramisu was to die for....did you have it?

The crown roast lamb was finger licking delicious, as was the egg plant. The veal dishes were superb with such light egg coating with the delicious sauces. The pizza was great too. None of the desserts in the buffet were much good though. Loved the fresh fruit selectons at breakfast. You got a huge piece of papaya(never got that before on any cruise) and nice piece of ripe pineapple and some good melons.

 

As for the late arrivals....it was the weather. We had very rough seas. According to staff it was a choice between using the stabilizers to make it more comfortable or cruising faster. The picked going slower, using the stabilizers which cost them time. We hit very rough water...that is not MSC fault. Any cruise line would have gotten into port late or caused distress to the passengers getting there on time. Antigua was a silly time in port. But the others were fine.

 

No there were no one giving out the drink of the day...a welcomed relief from the other cruise lines...something I knew about and embraced as a cultural difference. If you know this then understand it is not them not serving you. It is a matter of respecting the passenger not to bother them at all times for a drink. The bars were plentiful and huge to accommodate the passengers asking for a drink.

 

The menus were 7 courses. The entrees were always varied with 4 0r 5 selections and one being vegetarian. Ont he other side of the menu there were chocies that you can always have. This included steak, chicken, a pasta, burgers , salmon and a vegetarian dish. There was enough to pick from. The had a different type of salad each night with different dressings. I loved them. One night actually had avocado in it...never got that on any other cruise.

 

There was appetizer, soup, salad, pasta choice of 2, entree, cheese and dessert. NOt enough choices..... HUH?

 

The mirrors might have bothered the drunks since they seemed not to be able to find anything in the elevator areas. I was asked many times by many drunks where is the elevator which was within 2 feet of them.....

 

There was so much art work on deck 7 where they had the art gallery. Also, all over the ship was marble statues to look at and rounded walls with beautiful tile work.

This person might have missed it all since they spent all the time drinking.

 

Never was I more embarassed to be an American than on that superbowl cruise. I had to repeatedly tell the staff that we were not with them and not to judge us by the groups behavior. What they did to the theater on superbowl sunday was a disgrace. Other cruiselines probably would have booted you off at the next port.

 

I guess you all never cruised on RCI which charges for coffee, ice cream at Ben and Jerrys, which was over 5 $ for a small scoop. The gelato was free at dinner or lunch if you went to the dining rooms. The minimal charge of 1.50 for a large cup or 2 for a large homemade waffle cone was very low.

 

We will book a 10 day/11 night on Poesia doing the deep caribbean in 2010. I wish we could be on the ship still..... I miss it all!

 

 

Thanks so much for posting your review. We are very excited about our upcoming cruise on the Orchestra!

 

How rough were the seas?

 

We sailed NYC to Bermuda in 15 ft seas last June! :eek:

We heard that quite a few passengers were getting sick but thankfully it never bothered anyone in my family. The seas had white caps the whole way to Bermuda.

[wldflr]

First thing, don't categorize me as being a drunk on this cruise...I rarely drink on or off land and when I did on this cruise, it was a rum & Pepsi (no Coke on this ship) or a Miami Vice after dinner. This former teetotaler passed on the free drinks available at our group's 2 cocktail parties and just drank the non-alcoholic punch. Took a sip of the complimentary Champagne they poured at dinner and found it too dry for my liking. Nobody at our table drank their entire glass by the way.

 

Speaking of wine...only Italian wines available on this ship. My friend who asked for a Calif. Chardonnay was disappointed as was my other friend who wanted some German Riesling. Oh, there were wine lectures but no wine tastings so if you wanted to try some new Italian wines, it would cost $.

 

2 salad choices with 2 dressing choices at dinner, and one of them seemed to always be blue cheese dressing...not much choice there.

 

Oh, did I mention that I didn't gain ANY weight on this cruise??? And that's without exercising or watching what I ate. I think this was a first in over 24 years of cruising...

 

There's more...Weds. meatloaf served in the buffet (at a carving station?) turned up as square meatballs in Thursday's lunch offering with the spaghetti. If this isn't true, boy, they sure tasted the same.

 

I'll post more later...time to leave for work.

 

Hey, I'm trying to inform and educate everyone here, so if you choose to cruise MSC anyways, don't blame me later if you too are disappointed. You can pick on me all you want but I'll continue to state facts and observations and you can make your own decision whether to sail with them or not.

 

By the way....we would have gladly paid for Ben & Jerry's ice cream...but it wasn't on MSC.

[Inshape]

I bet you never took part in anything on the ship that was offered? Did you go to all the shows? Did you sit in the main area and listen to the live music...did you look all around and see the marble and granite and statues all over? DId you go into the turkish steam rooms, the saunas or the spa hot tubs.....just beautiful areas!

 

The salad choices were fine. They were different salads each night. You think on another line they have more? NO! And to get a salad with avocado was a delight. And fresh fruit with Papaya : another delight.

The meatloaf with the gravy was really good, as were the chicken wings. They had the best sauces ever. There was no reason to gain weight on a cruise..... did you see the European staff...are they fat? The dancers were all gorgous with one being more beautiful than the next. Not so on 'American line ships'. They had a 7 course meal.... like why complain? Only Italian wines....gee whiz it is an ITALIAN CRUISE LINE! go figure!

I cannot begin to tell people how wonderful the service was for us...with the crumbs from the bread(delicious too) swept away. We did not have this good of service on our Celebrity cruise which we did prior to MSC. The food we ate was wonderful but we never felt stuffed. Thank goodness. Who needs that.

[boca7]

Inshape, DITTO on everything you say. The gialotto was fantastic, I ordered the 10 bottle wine pkg. for $155, what a deal & an excellent choice of over 50 wines, and yes your right, the shows, no other cruise line can compare. Let the people from Ohio complain & hopefully not embarrass us anymore. Really, depriving anyone of a tip, especially these people who are working unbelieveable hrs. I gave my waiters extra to compensate somewhat for the ingrates.

[furkidsmom]

Don't worry about not gaining weight - I'm pretty sure I gained your portion last week! Ahhhh those breads and breadsticks :D

[fl-raybee]

Hey Some people are just ment to be Carnival Cruisers

Ray