LONG Review of Orchestra Review 2/21 Sailing - GREAT CRUISE!

[Sandyrella]

Hi Rumball

 

I apologize, I meant to say French Canadian. We met lots of fun people from Montreal. It made us wanting to visit that city very soon.

 

Does that help?

 

Hope you do come to visit Johnken....we live in a beautiful, lively city that I'm sure you would love.

 

Thanks for such a wonderful review! We sail in 6 days and cannot wait!:)

[lakegril51]

Agree with much that was said...we just returned from the Feb. 21st to 28th cruise on the Orchestra....We were in 12152 stateroom and second seating table 576......cabin steward and waiters were excellent. Most staff were great....some problems with bar waiters understanding but worked through that.

 

I would add to check out the Shaker Bar......we did on the last night which was only open that night due to being closed the other nights for the Music cruise group. Nice atmosphere and fun dancing area. ....wish it would have been open other nights.

 

We were also bothered by how crowded the buffet area and the pool area was but also found the quieter areas in the back of the ship. We tried to walk on Deck 14 every morning....but not early enough. The deck chairs were being put out at that time and made it very difficult to walk.. By 10:00 am, most chairs around the pool were taken (although not occupied by people but just saved by putting towels). We observed a couple complaining about no chairs as they were told that they could not be saved or reserved....it appeard the pool attendents removed the towels for them. Their literature does ask that people only occupy when using.......but that happens on most ships.

 

Food was ok.....We do not necessarily like big lunches so enjoyed the salad bar....it was usually fresh They also had some good salads (ie. pasta salads, etc) on the hot buffet lines that you could add. That kind of variety on the salad bar would be a nice addition. We also only did breakfast one morning in the regular dining room.....and it was great.

 

Time in port appeared very short......although we did not get off in Key West. Hope that helps somewhat.

[cxp0104]

Re YLdwest ?'s

This was the highlight of my cruise and if you like Discovery channel you will like this excursion. IE: Man/Wild , Survior Man

*what time did you get back to the ship?

We left the ship at 745am and arrived back around 115pm. It was longer than scheduled but we were never rushed. You will get the information the night before in your cabin on meeting point and time.

*were you able to be dropped off at Cayo on the way back? The boat from Samona brings you directly back to the ship. The boat was scheduled to be docked from 9-- 5pm but they changed it and we departed at 3pm instead. I am not sure why we left earlier and I never asked. We were so tired and hungry when we came back we never thought about going to the beach.

*how many people were in the group on the way to the falls? Approx 100 people from our ship. I know it sounds like a lot but it was not that bad and not crowded. They had a speedboat that could hold 45-50 people that took you from the ship to the Samona. ONce there we boarded an air conditioned chartered bus that drove for approx 30 minutes. The bus stopped once at a store where you could buy drinks,snacks,gifts and use the restroom. Great place to see the culture. American money is taken as my wife bought a piece of jewerly.

*were there guides/paradas w/ each horse? If not, then 1 guide per how many people? Each horse owner would guide his horse. They would walk behind you and sometimes dissappear by taking a shortcut.THe horse crosses a river, goes in dense jungle/rainforest and then climbs a steep moutain.You will be glad that he stays with you and the horse. My kids both had teenagers as their guide as they had smaller horses.

c*did you have to wear the rubber boots & helmets? No helmets but Rubber boats were provided. We elected to keep our shoes on as we were prepared to get wet . You will get wet either by crossing the river on the horse or on the hike down to the falls to cross a 2nd river.

Our shoes were dry by the time we got back to the boat so dont worry.

*did your kids have any troubles w/ the horses on the paths or climbing back up from the falls to the horses? I will be honest my children have never rode alone and we were a little nervous till we arrived. The horse is so trained on this trail that they could ride it blindfolded. THe biggest concern is leaning foward and backward.My kids loved it and it was the highlight of the trip. The hardest part is the hike down the moutain to get to the bottom of the falls and the trip back up to get back to the horse. They allowed us about 1/2 hr to swim in the falls,enough time for me but the kids thought we had all day.

 

I can email you some photos.

[Rumball]

Hi Rumball

 

I apologize, I meant to say French Canadian. We met lots of fun people from Montreal. It made us wanting to visit that city very soon.

 

Does that help?

 

Thanks for all the info johnken. If you do get a chance to see Montreal you won't be disappointed. I hear MSC is planning some cruises up the northeast coast that will port in Quebec City in the '09/'10 season. Both cities are rich in history and culture.

 

But regarding the statistics, I think now you're saying there were 3 French Canadians for every American on board. That still seems unlikely to me. I have travelled often with large groups from Quebec and acknowledge they can sometimes make an impression. As for the 50% Italians, perhaps you meant Italian-Americans? I just think the suggestion that 90% of the passengers aboard the ship are not Americans is a) grossly inaccurate, and b) liable to give the wrong impression (good or bad) to potential cruisers because it is a) grossly inaccurate.

 

All that said, I thank you again for what is easily the most helpful post I have read about the Orchestra. Over the past two months I have collected a page and a half of what I think are the most useful tips and ideas from posters to bring along with us and I notice half a page is just from you. Regards!!:)

[yldwest]

*were there guides/paradas w/ each horse? If not, then 1 guide per how many people? Each horse owner would guide his horse. They would walk behind you and sometimes dissappear by taking a shortcut.THe horse crosses a river, goes in dense jungle/rainforest and then climbs a steep moutain.You will be glad that he stays with you and the horse. My kids both had teenagers as their guide as they had smaller horses.

 

I can email you some photos.

 

Thanks so much for taking time to answer all my questions!! I'm glad to hear the guides stay with you...I was going to be concerned if they didn't! My son is 11 so I was a little worried about taking him on this but it sounds like he should be just fine...thanks for putting my mind at ease!

 

Would love to see your pics! yldwest@columbus.rr.com

 

One more question: did you take bug spray with you? or wished that you had? I'm assuming the jungle is buggie? :)

[fd851]

I like the idea that you have compiled a list of helpful information. How about posting it for all of those who are not nearly as efficient.

 

Thanks

[boca7]

Great review, right on, sorry i missed having pizza in the evening but it was like homemade when i did have it. People who complain about it are used to to the imitation cheese they serve in us.

[Rumball]

Notes in no particular order:

 

Oh I forgot to tell you this. Easiest off the ship too. HAve to be out of cabins at 7 am. Asked for priority blue to get off first but not self assist. Got called at 7:30 off the ship and taking the shuttle to the airport to get our rental car by 8 and was on our way to Orlando to try to get a day at Aquitica in before our sunday flight from orlando. We got to sea World at 11:45am. it was so fast getting off the ship...just walk off, took less than 15 min.

 

Or you can stay on the ship and exit last, at 10am (get the right ticket!)

 

the free pizza in pizzeria is available from 5PM to 9PM most evenings. There is no pizza late in the evening, only the buffet at 11:45PM. Also, the dinner buffet is only available from 5:30PM to 7:30PM. We never made it there.

 

On another note, room service does not offer meals from the dining room menu but you can go to the dining room, order from the menu and ask that it be sent to your room

 

Dining rooms: if you can get the dining room on deck 6.. that would be my choice. We had both dining room experiences. The lower dining room seems to be a bit noisy and busy.

 

In the Caffeteria, go to the very back for quiet dining. Some people never knew it was there.

You can sit at an outdoor table and watch the sunset there.

 

Food lines in the Caffeteria: there is the same food basically on both sides, except that if you want hambergers, hot dogs etc. they are only on the right side. Also, in the morning there is fried eggs there. (the grill section).

 

There is a quiet corner in Shakers Bar, all the way aft overlooking the wake of the ship, however, this room seems to be reserved on occasion for special groups, as it was for the Superbowl people and Irish Stars group.

 

We did enjoy ourselves. Re the fillet: it was not to my taste, and way overdone twice. The lobster....you get the whole tail, but ask for it to be removed in the kitchen. It was hard to get at. Ask for extra butter.

Another hint: if you are not really a wine connoseur, you can order a little pitcher of wine. It is the house "table" wine, much like what you get over in Italy. ($8.00) and you get about 4 glasses. I liked the white, while my DH liked the red.

Bar service in the Diningrooms was a bit slow. Order your cocktail at one of the bars and carry it into the dining room.

 

Internet service: pretty slow. I spent around $40, getting my e mails and then surfing the boards here.

 

Library: if you are an avid reader, bring your own books. English books are very limited.

 

Bathroom amenities: no conditioner for your hair. If you go to Key West, there is a CVS right in town. We did purchase some items, especially conditioner.

 

The hair dryer is pretty good, and is located in the drawer of the vanity in the bedroom. Much better than those that hang on the wall in the bathroom.

The internet is super slow on “at sea” days.

PIZZERIA – 5 pm to 9pm each night – this is not the same pizza at lunch time. There is an older Italian male making pizza pies from scratch and singing opera music. We loved it so much we skipped dinner in the restaurant 2 nights. What other ship can you eat amazing pizza from scratch with views of Cuba out the window while the chef is singing opera music. It was awesome and there was NO CHARGE

Dinner – Service was a little slow. Our food was always hot and salads were always crisp but our poor waiter had 6 tables. Dinners took 90 -120 minutes. We enjoyed each others company and were not in a rush to go anywhere so we could care less.

There is no charge for steam room and jacuzzis, go to the spa receptoon desk, give them your room key and they will give you a key to a locker in the men's or womens dressing room.

In order to go ashore in Grand Cayman and Cayo Lev, you need to get tickets for the tender. 800 people per hour can go ashore, the boat carries 2800 people. It takes about 3.5 hours to get everyone off. If you want ALLOT of land time make sure you are the first to get tender tickets.

We were first off in both places. We got out tickets at 8:30 am in Grand Cayman and 6:30 am in Cayo Lev. You get them at the shore excurson desk on the day of arrival

Duty Free alcohol:

There were no great deals on liquor on the Orchestra except for Stoly`s Gold which is $13 per. If you’re going Eastern route buy in St. Maarten, western route had no bargains either, lowest is Grand Cayman.

[cruisequeen628]

Enjoyed your review. My husband and I are cruising on the Orchestra on Saturday, March 7th and were very pleased to hear that things seemed to have changed . After reading the reviews recently we too were concerned. We are also cruise travel agents and longtime cruise lovers, and are trying MSC so we can decide whether to recommend this cruise line to our clients. I was wondering how the passengers were dressed on the casual evenings...very casual or more like an informal night on Holland America or Celebrity? Americans have really been dressing down during the past few years, and I was wondering if Europeans are doing the same.

[Rumball]

Rick Sasso, President and CEO of MSC North America, yesterday morning posted this message:

 

"Most of the guests on our Caribbean cruises are indeed Americans."

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=935591

[Rumball]

...and finally, yesterday afternoon Mr. Sasso stated:

 

"We are lucky to have the youngest fleet in the world and perhaps the most beautiful ships at sea.

But our real advantage is that we can cater to the lifestyle tastes of Americans (95% of our guests who sail in the Caribbean are American)."

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=936275

[punky04]

cxp0104 - what excursions did you do at Key West, Cozumel and Grand Cayman? Did you do the dolphin encounter? Or hear of anyone doing that?

 

Thank you for your review - very informative. Nice of you to take the time to share your input.

 

One other question - how were people dress in the evenings. Was it just casual or still a little dressy? I have teenagers and they are not exactly thrilled with dressing up on vacation! One or two nights they say is enough -- LOL Any input would be appreciated.

[mdelacono]

How refreshing to read your wonderful comments! We just returned from 14 days on the Orchestra and had a wonderful time. My review would be identical to yours. I wondered if I was on the same ship as some of the other reviewers!!

We are not new to MSC, having sailed 3 times on Lirica's transAtlantic and we read horror stories about that ship also. So glad we did not let anyone scare us away! No cruise is perfect, just some are better than ohers. I had no problem with the crew and witnessed no "MSC stare". However, I treated each one with a smile and a hello. Oh, I saw a lot of scowels, but they were on the passengers faces as they approached the crew with disdain or pushed us out of their way. The passengers were eager to complain to anyone who would listen. I was talking to a beautiful young Italian man at the jewelry shop, telling him what a great time we were having. A woman overheard me and interrupted us with her complaints. When she was finished, all I could do was apologize to the young man for her behavior. Rude behavior begets rude behavior.

I will gladly sail with MSC again. My only complaint would be the smoke in the casino. A part of the casino should be nonsmoking, as some are allergic. I do enjoy making my nightly "donation" to the casino while at sea :) It's the only time we gamble.

Happy travels!

mdelacono

[chdbpw08]

Oh Thank God!!! I was beginning to have chest pains. We are going on our first cruise ever and after reading all of the aweful reviews I was dreading it. I am a pretty laid back person as well I usually go with the flow so I am sure that I can make this cruise a great one after reading your review. I am also cruising with my 3 children so I am just hoping that they will have fun too. Any other tips you may think of we will greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[snookymom]

Hi Chd- I'll be very surprised if you don't love your cruise & this ship. We were on the Jan. 2 cruise & were in awe of how beautiful & clean the ship is. Just be sure to read the schedules on the papers (forget name) they deliver to your cabin. Seems like we got 2 or 3 a day & I failed to read the one about the procedure for getting off the ship. We sat in the lobby for a long time but we enjoy people watching so it wasn't too bad.

[2freespirits]

Excellent review: your experience on the Orchestra seems to have been similar to ours. :D

[Scarlet o Hara]

Thank you we were worried with all those awful reviews you have put our minds at ease, now we can look forward to our cruise...

 

John & EIlleen

[ccsrn]

Your review brings back memories of our trip aboard in Jan. It sounds like they worked to fix some things to fit into the American culture. Everyone enjoy your vacations- they just don't last long enough!:)