Kaetlyncrna

Thanks for your review. May I ask what the Explorer package is for excursions?

 

We are sailing on Orchestra in April. This is actually our 4th MSC cruise. The price is hard to beat!

 

On past cruises, we really enjoyed the pizza and pasta stations at the buffet for lunch, but did find food in the MDR at dinner pretty mediocre. They also seem to have few "everyday items" - some nights not offering any "everyday items".

Tampagirl

The explorer package is a combo of three different ports and specific tours. It should be in the pamphlet for your particular cruise. Not sure if it is offered for each cruise. I cannot argue the Price of the MSC cruises as they are very good. However for us, other things such as better quality of food are worth paying a little more for. Check with MSC to see if they have an explore package for your particular cruise. It generally is a combo of two or three excursions. Hope this helps.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you so much. We did not research MSC much ahead of time and perhaps that is part of the issue. They had a good two for one special and it was with all the ports we were wanting to see, so we took advantage of it.

As for cabin location, I agree with you. We originally had a cabin with a partial view and a much more ideal location, but MSC upgraded us to the balcony and assigned our room. Initially we were very excited about it but then got a little suspicious on our first night and we started hearing all the noise. We realized that we were not in a very good location and the one that we had originally chosen what is better. Since we were upgraded without a choice, there was nothing we can do about it.

Unless the food quality improves with MSC, I doubt I will give them another try, but would be open to many of the other European cruise lines that I have not tried yet. Food on this cruise really was quite bad. That coupled with the way my luggage issue was handled, would probably preclude me from wanting to try MSC again unless they do some sort of follow up, which I doubt.

As for food,I did enjoy going to some of the restaurants on shore and it was different not having to pay the extra charges. I liked that and enjoyed getting the authentic Italian food.

Thank you for the feedback and the education. This trip has been a learning experience for me and I realize there’s so much I still have yet to learn when traveling internationally. My travel partner has a lot more experience then me, but some of this took him a back as well. Thank you again for your feedback. Happy cruising

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We participated in The dance lessons and there were some onboard activities. I also read a lot as well.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Kathleen we did not use the spa, but we did go through it. It seemed very nice. Unfortunately the gym part was very small. They did have some specials which seemed intriguing but we were too busy enjoying the ports.

Ask for room service, no we did not utilize that so I cannot answer how it was. However their journal he was a big bunch of people after the excursions so perhaps ordering room service would be a good thing. We never tried to bring food in from the port so I do not know if it is allowed or not.

I am sorry that I cannot help you more.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and in detail! We have a very similar itinerary. 9 ports in 12 nights onboard roundtrip Rome. We booked all our excursions through MSC as they all seemed very reasonable and this is also our first Mediterranean cruise. Only port we did not book an excursion for is Malta which we will do on foot. Our stateroom (assuming it doesn't change) is on Deck 11 midship.

 

Sent from my SKY 5.0Pro II using Forums mobile app

Malta is very easy to walk to from the ship. If you have time, it is worth getting an excursion to the ruins there at Malta as they are one of the oldest known in the world. We did the excursion and then left later to go out on foot. There was not much at the city center, but it was nice just walking around and seeing everything there. My understanding is that they also have a HOHO bus there but since we did the excursion, did not take it. I was very pleased with all of our excursions booked through MSC.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

No fun:(..... I’m still curious if MSc ever even acknowledges your experience. Keep us posted and good luck :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bermuda Bound

I will certainly let you know, but I am not optimistic on any sort of follow-up based on MSC track record. I am keeping an open mind and will update you if I ever get an answer. The way I see it is that there are plenty of other good cruise lines out there without me sailing again on MSC and MSC has plenty of loyal customers without me. However there is an opportunity to make things better, so hopefully if they do not respond to me personally, at least they will look at the issues presented in my letter to them. My travel partner has also sent a letter discussing some of the issues. This was his first cruise with MSC as well but he has cruised extensively with the other cruise lines and has had tremendous amount of travel experience on land and sea (much more than me) so he had a very good (and probably less emotional) perspective on how things should and should not be done. Having said that, he did help me word my letter to MSC appropriately.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Good to hear you are getting sorted out, it really is a pain having no clothes or cases for 5 days, we had to buy some to tide us over but missed the 1st Formal night, although our other 6 table mates said we should have still gone.

 

We would not have felt comfortable sitting at a table for 8 with 6 people all dressed up.

Thank you. We had the same issue and missed the first formal night as well and we had some wonderful table mates also who suggested we come. We felt the same way as you did in that we did not want to go to formal night with everyone else dressed up and us not. As it was an international flight, I did have an extra change of clothing with me, but that was all.. nothing dressy.

Thank you. I have already filed a claim with Air Alitalia and have contacted them. Unfortunately, their position is that since Delta and KLM also we’re connecting flights on my journey, they will not reimburse for damaged baggage if other aairlines flew the luggage. The additional issue with MSC versus Malta transporting it also comes into play, as I cannot get confirmation as to which party transported it actually. Bottom line, eventually my travel insurance will pick up the cost of the toiletries, the €40, the change of clothes, and damaged baggage what’s the process runs it’s course.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Delta was the booking airline, but the others were their partners and that is who they booked me through.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Regarding the luggage, you can get a refund of any expenses (e.g. clothes, toiletries) during the 5 days it was missing, the €40 delivery charge to the ship, as well as the costs for repairing damage. Google "alitalia delayed baggage" and submit receipts online.

 

Under the Montreal convention, alitalia must handle the claim as they were the last airline you flew - Delta won't be able to help.

Thank you. I have already filed a claim with Air Alitalia and have contacted them. Unfortunately, their position is that since Delta and KLM also we’re connecting flights on my journey, they will not reimburse for damaged baggage if other aairlines flew the luggage. The additional issue with MSC versus Malta transporting it also comes into play, as I cannot get confirmation as to which party transported it actually. Bottom line, eventually my travel insurance will pick up the cost of the toiletries, the €40, the change of clothes, and damaged baggage what’s the process runs it’s course.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

One thing I did not see was how long you were without your case? was it delivered the same day you joined the ship or was it like ours days into the cruise ?

 

 

 

Have you contacted the airline to reclaim your costs ?

My luggage was gone for five days. My travel partner got his delivered free on the third day. I have contacted the airline but unfortunately it is a catch 22. Delta will not allow me to file since it had an Italian file number, (Air Alitalia), even though they booked me on it as their travel partner. Air Alitalia Will not take responsibility for the damage luggage since I flew other airlines prior to them. Thankfully we have travel insurance and once the two airlines quit debating, they will pick up the cost.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

My understanding is the order of languages usually reflects the passenger demographic i.e.if there are mostly Germans onboard the announcement will be first given in German and so on.

 

Sent from my SM-A320Y using Forums mobile app

Since this was the first time I have experienced this, I guess I need to get a little used to how things are done. I have been overseas with other cruise lines, and was used to English being the primary language spoken first, and then the other languages. Perhaps that is something I just needed to get used to.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I'm hesitant to comment because of the inflamed comments that follow but I read your review with interest. We cruise on the Orchestra in March. Except for the unfortunate luggage debacle, we had read other comments that align with some of your comments (multiple languages, not queueing, very limited "free" beverages and food quality etc.) but these issues did not persuade us from trying MSC. We've seen enough onboard several cruises to know that one person's experience is not automatically the same as the next.

 

Luggage: I feel empathy for you with that debacle as it dampens your experience and caused needless frustration. I hope MSC and your airline sorts this out to your satisfaction.

 

Food taste is subjective so I will skip that topic. Not discounting your comments, I just feel we have tried enough lines to make our own judgments on food expectations and quality. We have never starved though and have been both delighted and disappointed by a variety of cruise line dining experiences. Quantity of food though is a separate issue so we shall see how we fair on that issue on our cruise.

 

Beverages: When we booked it was very clear what beverages were included and what needed to be purchased (including bottled water in the dining room which is listed as $0.00 on the MSCCruisesUsa website and you have to add it to your booking and it is listed separately on our edocs.) I also know American and Canadian guests are treated differently on this topic when they are embarking on a European itinerary.

 

Queuing: on our last cruise, we had both North Americans and Europeans who didn't wait their turn. Personally I hate queues because the food is often cold by the time I reach a table but we queue because most North Americans do. If someone actually shoves or pushes me to get at the food, that's a different matter so I hope we don't experience that too.

 

Languages: again, this was clear in everything we've read before we booked but we also expect to hear other languages when we travel to mostly non-English speaking countries. As Canadians, we hear announcements on planes in both English and French for example. If the majority of passengers are Italian I'd fully expect the announcements to be in Italian first. When I went to China I hardly heard a word in any language but Mandarin.

 

Onboard activities: we tend to skip these except for the evening shows but if there are lots of kids, I sure hope MSC keeps them occupied.

 

Stateroom: any feedback on this? Both the features and service?

 

Excursions: seems like you enjoyed those. Did you book those through MSC? Any recommendations?

 

Ports: which ports do you experience? All the ports we will visit are new to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my SKY 5.0Pro II using Forums mobile app

To answer your questions, we loved the ports. It was a port intensive itinerary to include Marseille France, Barcelona, three stops in Greece, Crete, Malta. We did the Explorer package through MSC and were very pleased so were able to see three ports. My favorite ports were Rome, Olympia, and Athens. I did like walking around in Malta, Barcelona, but did not care much for Marseille France. I felt that the excursions booked through MSC were very reasonable, and was very pleased with our excursions.

This was my first European cruise so after reading a lot of comments, I understand that I am fairly naïve to things such as the language. I have done over seas cruises with the American cruise lines and was used to English being spoken first and then the other languages later so I acknowledge that I need to just get used to help things are done. Since English is such a universal language, I guess I expected it to be first and then whatever other languages on board, be spoken later. As far as the pushing and shoving, yes there was a lot of that to the buffet, and to all of the shuttles or wherever a line is supposed to be done.There was no orderly process and it was very frightening to me. I have cruised a fair amount, and can say that this was, overall, the rudest passengers I had ever encountered. My travel partner who had done 110 countries at last count, and multiple cruises, agreed that it was the worst food and rudest passengers he had ever encountered also. Maybe it was just the luck of the draw and this just happened to be this particular cruise. For your sake I hope so.

As for the beverage package, my issue was that they did not inform me in the downstairs dining room. I knew ahead of time what was being charged and not, but I was very surprised there was not ice tea on the upstairs buffet and the only options were water or coffee. When I went to the downstairs restaurant my first night, the server asked if I would like some wine; when II declined,he proceeded to pour me water, not telling me that it was a charge. My issue was that there was no regular water available and you either had to buy wine or had to buy bottled water to eat in the downstairs dining room.

As for the state room, we had a balcony state room and we’re very pleased for the most part. I hope you were not booked on the 12th floor. The issue with our state room was that it was directly below the buffet. We had originally had a partial view state room and they upgraded us to this one. Unfortunately at around 4 AM every morning we could hear the pounding, clanging, and furniture being moved around from the buffet. We had originally picked a state room that was in an ideal spot, but when they upgraded us, we had no choice but to take the one they had given us. The view was very good, and I was very happy about that. Our state room steward kept the state room very clean and orderly and I was very pleased with that aspect of it.

For the luggage issue, I understand that luggage can get lost. I have no problem with that although it was frustrating. I also understand that MSC does need to do a charge to pick up the luggage. I honestly had no problem with that either up to a point. My issue was that when my luggage with located, they did not inform me until I was headed off the ship to an excursion with our assigned group and a tour guide. My ship card would not allow me to disembark, and we had to get customer service people down to explain what the problem was. They wanted the money in cash and refused to charge my state board account even though I had a valid credit card on file. Thankfully I had the proper amount in cash. They were wanting to hold the tour group up while I went upstairs to sign a receipt. I ask if that could be done when I return, and I was told that it could. Once we finished our excursion and I attempted to reboard and was stopped and told I could not reboard. Went through the same issue, wondering what was going on, and that was very frightening to me, not knowing what had happened or if there was something I had done. The customer service people came down and wanted me to sign a receipt authorizing my **** board account to be charged the €40. Since I had already paid that amount that morning in cash, there was a very brief discussion. Thankfully the tour guide was with me at that time and had witnessed me give them the cash that morning and could attest that I had already paid it. It was only at that time that I was allowed to board and go upstairs to sign the receipt. When I made them stamp it “ paid in cash” they originally only stamped one copy. I made them stamp both copies.

I hope this answers the questions that you have.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Did you notice that the particularly inflammatory posts have been removed? cruise critic also finds little value in the posters who were attacking your experience, many who have never even set foot aboard MSc.

Hopefully the 6 removed posts may give you some vindication that most people on this site contribute rationally and with respect.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To be honest, no I did not notice that but I appreciate you letting me know as this was my first time posting on here. You and several others who have posted this evening do seem to be more respectful. While I do know that perhaps my post was a little dramatic and perhaps too emotional due to my frustration at MSC‘s lack of response, I do feel I have a right to my opinion without it being attacked. I am glad to know that the contributors here, for the most part are very respectful and the earlier flame throwers do not represent the majority of how things are posted here.

Thank you so much for your thoughts. I realize that I was very frustrated and perhaps my post could be worded differently. You are correct in that there are other very good cruise lines without going with MSC as I have had some very good experiences in the past with The other cruises that I’ve taken. While I do not understand the flaming that occurred with my particular post, it did teach me a lesson in that I will continue to troll the forums here but certainly will not be posting. hope you’re able to find a good cruise that meets your needs for spring break.

That's how I feel, as well. Having penned an angry post or two after (or even during) a cruise-related mishap and having been dressed down by people on CC as a result, I know it's not a good idea to post a review (especially the very first one) that's very negative and makes lots of assumptions, even more so when someone is "frustrated." It's common knowledge that water and coffee (and tea, usually) are typically the only free beverages on a cruise, although I would be extremely surprised if they didn't have juice at breakfast, since that's the norm. Making comments about there being announcements in languages other than English just strikes me as unnecessary and detracts from the review, in my opinion. MSC is an Italian line and serves a multinational clientele so it's standard practice to offer announcements in Italian, French, German, etc. Food reviews are by nature subjective, and since I wasn't on the cruise I can't comment on that, though I've read reviews of meals on other MSC ships that claimed they were outstanding. Where the poster does have my sympathy is with the fiasco over the lost luggage. It seems that if the airline was at fault for failing to deliver it in a timely fashion, the passenger shouldn't be stuck with the bill.

Your points are very well taken I have seen reviews of food on MSC ships such as The Seaside that I have heard it is very good. I cannot say that the food here was very good at all. I am typically not a picky eater, but this food was pretty bad. My travel partner who has been to over 110 countries, and multiple cruises, said it was the worst food he had ever experienced in all of his cruises. Contrary to what some posters may believe, I am not anti-MSC. I also am not specifically loyal to any particular cruise line, as have traveled with several of them. I also do not have as big of a problem with the fact that I was charged for the lost luggage. My issue is that they demanded it in cash as I was leaving for my excursion and would not allow me to leave the ship until I paid up, even though I had a ship board account with a credit card on file and requested they charge my account. They wanted only cash. Thankfully I had it on me, or otherwise I would have missed the excursion. The other issue was that they would not allow me to reboard until I signed an authorization to charge my account again another €40. Thankfully the tour guide had observed me paying it in cash that morning, or otherwise I would have been paying twice.

Who send you here CCL or Royal?

None of the above. I have cruised with several cruise lines and this was my first one with MSC. I am not loyal to any specific cruise line.

Having suffered through a lost luggage crisis or three did they deliver to MSC's offices and not the cruise port? That happened to us with a different cruise line. We were not charged for it to be brought to the port because the desk employee should have directed the airline delivery guy to take it to the proper place but instead signed to accept it. They made him drive it over in a company car.

My travel partner also had his luggage lost, but it was delivered free by the airlines. I have received an email from the airlines confirming that they did not charge to have it delivered.

Thank you for acknowledging that there are tenets of this post that ring true. I do agree with the dramatic part, but certainly we can act more civil than some of the replies here :(.

Thank you for your response. This is my first and last time posting here. I am not new to cruising, but new to this forum and I can assure you I will not be posting again as I am very surprised by some of the responses and the tone of them. Perhaps I did come across pretty dramatic, but I was very frustrated as this was my dream cruise and it did not turn out so well. I am even more frustrated by the lack of response by MSC.

So is it 15 min drive or airline delivered it to MSC? Make up your mind you are loosing your story.

It is a 15 minute drive from whoever delivers it.

The airline do not deliver your luggage to the ship a courier does and that is who and why you pay.

My issue is not that I had to pay, my issue is that they would not allow me to disembark on my excursion until I paid in cash even though I had a credit card on file. They did not inform me of this until we were headed off the ship and they discovered I could not disembark, even though I was in the waiting lounge for over 30 to 40 minutes prior. I almost missed my excursion due to that. The only thing that saved it was at the tour guide waited until they could see what was going on. Then after the excursion was over when I reboarded, they would not allow me to board again until I signed an authorization to charge my shipboard account, even though I had paid for it already in cash. I made them stamp on it that it had been paid for in cash. Thankfully the tour guide was with me that morning when he demanded the €40 immediately and saw me pay for it in cash or otherwise I would have been paying twice.

Eating was a disaster as the main serving areas continued to run out of food causing lengthy queues and more frustration and anger among people.

Why would MSC pick your luggage for free? :confused:

Because the airlines delivered the luggage to them.

How can you run out of food one day and have it recycled the next day?

Also re your luggage left at the airport was the charge to pay to have it collected ? had you left it there or had MSC?

 

If you reread my post, I did not state that the food ran out. I stated that it would be over cooked and then recycled to be used for the next day. My luggage was lost by the airlines and the airlines safely delivered back but MSC charged a fee. I emailed the airline and they confirmed that they had not charged a delivery fee, that the fee was charged by MSC

Warning: this is a very lengthy post about my experiences aboard MSC cruises. Buyer beware! Do not go on this cruise line! I had wonderful ports, and beautiful experiences on the stops we made, and loved those aspects of my cruise,but I do not recommend this cruise line for multiple reasons. I had an incident with my lost luggage which is detailed in a letter to MSC. If anyone would like a copy, I will be happy to send it as it details my experience with being “held hostage” until I could pay €40 (over $50 US) “in cash, “ not charged on my shipboard account,to retrieve my luggage from the airport that was 15 minutes away. On follow up, I discovered that this was a fake charge not charged by the airport. Listed below are all the reasons I do not recommend this cruise line.

Food on the buffet and dining room was horrible; meat was typically over cooked and recycled the second day. If you wanted something other than pizza, hot dogs, or hamburger, this is not the cruise line for you!

- Beef, pork roast or turkey would be over cook the first day, and the remainder would be served again the second day

- Broccoli and other vegetables would be overcooked to where they completely fell apart one day, then you would see it again on the salad bar the second day

- Fish was so over cooked that it became soup

- Often the ice machines did not work, and coffee was recycled all day so it became a very thick soupy, syrupy coffee

- The only free beverages are coffee and water; when you go to the downstairs dining room, your only choice is to pay for bottled water; there is no free beverage

- Very little variety and most food is very bland or souped up with so much tomato or pasta sauce that it is unrecognizable

- Entrées such as chicken breast, steak or pork chops look like a cross between high school cafeteria food or the frozen bulkTV dinner meats

- Soups would be recycled each day, and the names changed, but each day it was the same canned soup

- Eating was a disaster as the main serving areas continued to run out of food causing lengthy queues and more frustration and anger among people.

- Most of the time we to go to several different beverage areas for coffee or ice as all the dispensers were empty

Boarding, disembarking and pretty much everything where a "line" should naturally form is always chaos. Pushing and shoving is a norm and none of the ship crew would fix it. That also happened in the buffet and dining areas quite often, so we found ourselves trying to eat at unusual times to avoid the line and ensuing chaos!

Kids run rampant on the ship; since they are allowed to cruise free, most trips have lots of kids. For example there were babies and toddlers running across the dance floor and even laying down on the dance floor at night and the staff did not intervene; so if you were wanting a nice night out dancing, forget it!

Very limited selection of on board activities

Accounting is very poor and inaccurate; we were charged a service charge for a day that we were not even on board yet! We also were charged a donation to UNICEF that we did not authorize; when we questioned it, they stated our account has been charged “by default” since they were in partnership with UNICEF; had that charge taken off

Majority of staff do not speak English very well and those that do understand you very poorly in case there are issues such as my luggage

All of the overhead announcements are generally given in several languages, with English usually the last, so you have to wait and listen for all three other languages first

Excursion and choice of ports were excellent but staff could give very little information on each port if you were not taking an excursion

#dontcruisemsc

#mscworstever