msc splendida my experience

[spannah]

well what a magnificent ship. we sailed on this from the 25th july for a week and were very impressed. i cannot comment on transfers as we made our own way there. although we did find some fabulous undercover parking at the port. we had an outside room with a balcony on deck 13 and was very happy with the size of it. we are 2 adults and 2 children and had plenty of space. our bags were delivered to our cabin very quickly and although boarding was from 3pm we boarded at 11.30 with no problems. breakfast and lunch we tended to do buffet style and were never disappointed with the choice and variety. as it was july it was incredibly hot at some of the stop offs and with a 3 year old we tended to stay on board quite alot to keep her out of the heat. this turned out to be good for us as it was not busy when in port and we felt alot more relaxed in the pools. there was alot of entertainment going on by the pools which we found too loud on occasions and it was mainly for adults which was a disappointment to our kids. we did take the little one to try out the creche but on walking in we found 2 girls of approx 6 walking out and just telling the staff they were going. no one stopped them so we didnt feel comfortable. the evening meals were to die for and the service was second to none. the children had the choice of a kids menu or the adults and could also mix and match which i thought was excellent.

there was good entertainment in various bars throughout the evening and to suit various tastes.embarkation was very quick and easy.

we had only one issue with the cruise and that was the staff on reception. our youngest was sick on the second to last night in bed. it took us a while to get through to reception but eventually after an hour, a visit to reception and a rant we finally got the bed changed. the next day she still wasnt well. we took her to the onboard doctor who was excellent but by this time our eldest was also ill. this was our last evening and we didnt want to take 2 sick children down for the evening meal. we phoned reception and asked if we could have our meal in our room. they told us only the children could have theirs in the room as they were the only ones that were ill! we explained that we couldnt leave a 3 year old on her own whilst we went for dinner. my husband got quite irate with reception as this was a ridiculous rule where children are involved, eventually again after 2 hours of deliberation our 6 course evening meal was delivered to our room.

all in all an excellent cruise line, most of the staff were eastern european and incredibly helpful, the food top notch, the rooms were of a high standard and kept very clean and we would definately use msc again

hannah

[Rhea58]

Thanks for the review.....can you comment on any of the ports you

visited and what you did?

I am traveling as a single & would prefer to do as many on my own as I can.

 

Thanks in advance -- sorry about your 'sick' experience ... hope the

young uns recouped fast.

[Tai Mai Shu]

We were on at the same time, but we boarded in Barcelona on the 27th. Embakation went very smoothly. This was our 20th cruise, but our first on MSC.

 

For ports of call, if you don't want to book excursions, a nice option we did a few times was to us the "Hop on Hop Off" tour buses. The cost is usually very reasonable (15 Euro in Malta, 27 Euro in Barcelona). They have narration in many languages and you get to see the majority of the sites in a day. They are double decker buses, so at the top deck, it is open. Great for one day stops in ports.

 

I agree with spannah that the ship was beautiful, we used the dining room whenever we could and the service was very good. If you enjoy having water with your meals, purchase the water coupons which will give you 14 bottles of water for the week (20 Euro). They do not serve water as a given practice (as in most of Europe). The bottle water can be had Naturale or Fizzante (Plain or sparkling).

 

Overall the trip was nice, the ports were good and yes it was very hot. It was a dry 102 in Tunis the day we went with no cold ice water to be found!

 

The Spledida is MSC's flagship and as such we expected their entertainers (in the main theater) to be the best that they have. We were really disappointed. We really tried hard to look past some of the problems, but it really was of poor quality. The pre-recorded music was way too loud. Not that we are old farts because we are not, but it was loud to the point of being distorted. There is a difference. You couldn't even hear the audience clapping, it was so loud. There was also no live orchestra at any of the performances we were at. Again for their flagship that is strange. The core dance performers didn't seem in-tune with each other. They had an acrobatic team, while what they did was amazing, it does take tremendous skill, they did a segment one night, then the next night, they did the same thing but to differrent music. We wanted to give the entertainment one more shot, so on the third night, they had the core dancers dance, the acrobatic team came out again doing the same thing, different music and the as the headliner they had one girl doing things with hula hoops, then a juggler that dropped his objects more times than I can remember. For the finally, they had a guy come and do shadow puppets.

We read the ships daily activity sheet and on the 5th night, they were performing the same show we saw on the first night!

I know it is difficult to be an entertainer, I give alot of props to those that do, but for the flagship, it really was dissapointing.

 

That aside, MSC does do a good job overall. We like the food especially the desserts. Sometimes there are miscomunications because of the language differences, but if you go with a open mind that things are done a little differently, you will have a great time.

[pctravler]

In Barcelona did you pick up the hop on bus at the port or did you have to catch it in the city?

[CRIB KIDS]

Hi Spannah, thank you for the info on your cruise, I hope that by now your 2 children have fully recovered.

We will also be on deck 13 soon and would like to know if it was very noisy due to the pool and other activities from deck 14 above?

[uturpia]

Sailing on the Splendida Oct 12 - as many times as I have been

in Europe I am never prepared for Sundays - so I am asking, is Barcelona

as closed as I am reading? Any restaurants recommended for the day before boarding betweem Las Ramblas and the port.

[Tai Mai Shu]

There are at least 2 Hop on/Hop Off tour operators. We used "Barcelona Bus Turistic". There are 3 bus loops to go on and one fair gets you on all 3. The loops all intersect, so you can do all 3. It takes around 3 to 4 hours to do the entire city without getting off. If you are going to be in Barcelona for more than a day, you can get a 2 day pass for just a few Euros more than a one day pass. (21 Euro/ one day-27 Euro 2 days)

 

From the cruise ship, there is a public bus (2 Euro) that runs to Mirador de Colom which is the monument dedicated for Columbus at the end of La Rambla (about a 10 minute busride). This is a great jumping off point because there is alot to see from there. This is also where you can catch the tour buses. You can buy the ticket at the kiosk there or pay right on board.

 

Stay away from La Rambla for restaurants. They tend to be pricey and not very good. But a short 15 minute walk away along the water is a street full of restaurants with good inexpensive eats. From the Mirador de Colom, walk east along the water toward the aquarium, it's a great pedestrian mall. Go past the aquarium still following the water past a bunch of fancy waterside eateries to a street called Pg. Joan de Barba (which also runs along the water). Here there are many inexpensive restaurants and even a few coffee bars. We had wonderful Paella there. It is really easy to get to and worth the walk. It is a safe and pleasant walk. FYI, most people don't go for dinner until around 8:00 pm, so if you show up at 6:00, don't be alarmed that it is empty.

 

We arrived in Barcelona on Sunday and found La Rambla very crowded with street vendors, so as far as the waterfront area near La Rambla was concerned, we didn't notice too many closed areas.

 

Dan

[spannah]

Hi Spannah, thank you for the info on your cruise, I hope that by now your 2 children have fully recovered.

We will also be on deck 13 soon and would like to know if it was very noisy due to the pool and other activities from deck 14 above?

 

bearing in mind we were on the ship height of season and it was most definately full with lots of various age children, we never heard a thing on deck 13, even sat out on the balcony in the afternoon whilst the little one was having a snooze it was very quiet. we would usually head back to our room about 3pm for a siesta and take some food down with us whilst the kids were resting as deck 14 got busy around this time and it was really relaxing

hannah