jbrown111

I found the automatic gratuities on MSC to be inexpensive. We always bring cash for the room steward, waiters, and bar service. We typically leave something for the waiter and room steward on the final night of every cruise. Not everyone does this but I think its appropriate.

That is awesome and ill be excited to see that. I had not heard any mention of this. Most replies seem to mention my take on the ocean cay. I don't disagree that the island was a nice and relaxing slice of paradise. I only mention amusement type activities since thats what most cruise lines seem to offer. My vision of the place may also be clouded due to the frustration from the bar service with 50 person lines and arguing bartenders, and generic food offerings. If MSC intends to become the worlds largest cruise line (their words), then I think some changes are in order.

MSC Ocean Cay was also just okay. The waters were beautiful and the sunset was amazing. But overall the whole island felt unpolished. The food was very limited and not the best. The bar service was worse on the island than anywhere else. 50 person lines and bartenders making 1 drink at a time. Also, 2 of the staff members were yelling at each other and ready to fight at one of the bars. Very obnoxious and not what we expect. We ended up getting charged for a plastic pineapple cup that we did not order or ask for, but was just given to us. We complained that we were charged for this at guest services, and she got very defensive and rude and said "You expect us to pay for it?". We offered to return the cup and they did not accept. I felt as though they should be willing to refund $9 for a cup we didn't want if it means us having a more positive experience and us wanting spending more money with their cruise line in the future. They need some work on the customer service. We did a kayak explorer tour excursion on the island. It was very generic and we would have much rather have rented the kayak on our own for less money and paddled ourselves around the island. There was no "tour" and the guide said almost nothing the whole time. We paddled to the light house and back. Not worth it in my opinion but gave us something to do. The island seems unfinished. Lots of open areas that can be developed into something. They can add some mini-golf holes or a water slide or something like their cruise line competitors. Too many open unkept areas in my opinion. Disembarkation was smooth and very easy. Overall the weather was perfect and we still enjoyed the vacation. Would we cruise MSC again? I think so yes, but I would explore other options first such as Carnival or RC. I would only really return to MSC if I felt as though I was getting a great deal or the prices were much cheaper than competitors. I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I hope this review is able to help someone. Feel free to ask any questions or share your experience below.

I wanted to share our experience here in case it helps anyone else when considering MSC. We just returned home from a 4 night sailing on the Meraviglia. A little background on us, we are experienced cruisers with 15 sailings(most 7-8 days) under our belt before we boarded this ship. We know what to expect from cruising. This was our first MSC. We booked with wifi and drinks included in our fare. Embarkation was smooth. Our rental car company provided us a free shuttle to the cruise terminal. Our assigned embarkation time was 2-2:30pm, but we arrived around 12:30. There was hardly any lines and no one checked to see what our assigned time was. We checked in and were on board by about 1pm or so. First thoughts were the ship was very nice, modern, and clean. We decided to try our luck with a room upgrade. We stood in guest services line for about 30 mins. We requested an upgrade and the staff said the manager was away so they could not assign us any upgrade at this time and told us to try again later. We called guest services from our room about 2 hours later and to our surprise, we were offered a complimentary balcony upgrade on deck 13 from our interior room on deck 5. We gladly accepted and went back to the desk for our new cards. The staterooms were fine, not much different than any other cruise i've been on. Our balcony was an "obstructed view" but still a very nice upgrade from our interior. This was the most positive experience of the whole cruise. We did not like our 9pm dinner time and we were unable to change to the early seating after asking the staff. Overall the dining experience was fine and food was pretty good. We ate the dining room every night and were able to find something both of us could eat. It was frustrating that we were told we could not order drinks other than wine and soda while dining. Our waiter told us they don't offer full bar service in the dining room which is unlike any cruise I can remember. The buffet was just okay and nothing more. The options are very limited and even though the buffet area is large, the food repeats over and over again around the buffet area. This is an area that definitely needs improvement. The most disappointing part would probably have to be the bar service. We had the "easy-plus package". I have never seen a more disorganized bar staff. No two drinks ever really tasted the same unless you got the same bartender. Bartenders would ignore you and avoid eye contact. They had no idea who was next in line and many people were frustrated about it. I waited up to 20 minutes for a drink at times and other people had walked up and got served in the meantime. The number one complaint from anyone on the trip I spoke to was about the bar services. We are not heavy drinkers but while on vacation, we do enjoy having a few cocktails and we were really not able to do so. Im going to start a second part so this isnt too long.

I was wondering if I could do that, Thanks. Does it matter what date I put in? It asks for an expiration date which obviously doesn’t apply to birth certificate. Thank you.

I have just booked our first ever MSC cruise. We sail out of port canaveral next week. I have a passport but my guest's passport is expired, so she will be traveling with a Birth Certificate and ID. The online check-in does not allow us to check in since it asks for a passport number. I received another email today that they cant send us travel documents until we provide this info, which we obviously don't have. Im not sure what to do and Ive called their number a few times and they are not at all helpful. I am hoping someone else here has travelled with a birth certificate and ID and can inform us on what to do. Thank you.

Did you have any issues with traveling without passport? I am in the same situation with MSC and the customer service has been no help after several phone calls. I have only sailed carnival so I have no experience with MSC. Thanks