REVIEWS, REVIEWS, especially from.....

[AmoMondo]

As promised, I finished and posted my very-detailed review of our awesome experience on the Poesia (12/10/2009-12/20/2009). I'm posting the link here rather than the full text because it is so thorough. Thankfully, we were on the week before --- is the "805" kids number accurate for the Christmas cruise, or was that an over-exaggeration?!?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=61254

---Chris

I really enjoyed reading your review. Your opinion and experince of MSC so closely mirrors my own. I totally agree with you that, the biggest issue I ever experience is that of deplorable rudeness and behaviour of some other passengers. I've personally always made an effort to chat to the crew about themselves and their family/country and have always been rewarded with excellent service and friendliness. I really don't know how they manage to tolerate the way some people treat them and the gruelling work schedules they have. I have on occasion lost my temper and waded in to their defence when a passenger was being completely ridiculous and unreasonable with their demands. (e.g the woman who had a complete "hissy fit" because she didn't want a square waffle she wanted a traingle shaped one - I suggested she cut it diagonally and have 2 and give the waiter a break!)

[camofwilliamsburg]

Hi all. You know I am in love with MSC. I love the ships, the crew the food and the entertainment. All are tops in our book and for us it is the cruise line of choice now. Hearing all the negative reviews for a year now makes me continue to think that we are a nation of whiners. With all the food options, surely people can find something outstanding to eat. I witnessed many people adding salt and pepper to food without even tasting it. I think with all the unhealthy food eaten by a majority of people they need it so full of salt to taste anything. We eat much healthier and appreciated the food on MSC to be light and flavorful. We ate a full 6 course meal and never felt bloated or stuffed...just really satisfied since our mouth enjoyed the flavors so unique to MSC food. Pasta was fresh, lasagna, crepes were light and fluffy.

The staff was always there to greet us in the dining room. They even knew who we sat with and brought us to our friends tables, after just meeting us one time. This is incredible recognition. They always served us with a smile. We were grateful and appreciated their work and said THANK YOU many times. That gets so much..goodness begets goodness!

When people complain I can only wonder what standard are they measuring MSC against. We have cruised 9 times on RCI and 3 on CCL and once on X and find MSC superior in all categories. I wish they would have more ships in the caribbean to pick from. I will support them on cruise critic and any other place. I think their standards are so much higher than the typical cruise lines. The ships are beyond clean and beautiful. They really work hard to give each passenger the cruise of a lifetime. If those cruisers are not open to this, there is no satisfying them and I have no idea what they are looking for. Our 10 night cruise was wonderful from start to finish. I miss the crew that we befriended on orchestra and who remembered us when we got on Poesia. I miss new crew members who we actually spent time talking to. We miss msc and would cruise on MSC again without question.;):o:o:)

[buggins0402]

CharlieMikeoh,

 

"We learned a few phrases in Indonesian, which also delighted the Indonesian crew, and highly recommend that anyone planning to cruise take time to make small gestures to interact with the staff, who are our servers but not our servants and who most definitely respond well in kind. “Trey-mah-kah-see” is thank you; “salamat pahgee” is good morning; “salamat seeyong” is good afternoon; “salamat mahlahm” is good evening; “samma-samma” is you’re welcome; “aba kabar” is how are you; “bike” is good; and “sampai joompa” is see you later."

 

I loved reading your review. Wonderfully written. And, it brought fond memories of our Indonesian lessons on the Splendida. Thank you for your phonetic spellings! We had so much trouble with Trey-mah-kah-see, we didn't get much past that. Thankfully our waiter was Honduran - Spanish is so much easier!

[obendus]

With all the food options, surely people can find something outstanding to eat. I witnessed many people adding salt and pepper to food without even tasting it. I think with all the unhealthy food eaten by a majority of people they need it so full of salt to taste anything. We eat much healthier and appreciated the food on MSC to be light and flavorful. We ate a full 6 course meal and never felt bloated or stuffed...just really satisfied since our mouth enjoyed the flavors so unique to MSC food. Pasta was fresh, lasagna, crepes were light and fluffy.

 

Agreed! I'll take an ounce of quality over a pound of 'filler'.

Satisfaction is in the savoring!

[obendus]

I have on occasion lost my temper and waded in to their defence when a passenger was being completely ridiculous and unreasonable with their demands. (e.g the woman who had a complete "hissy fit" because she didn't want a square waffle she wanted a traingle shaped one - I suggested she cut it diagonally and have 2 and give the waiter a break!)

 

Oh, I would have made a 'so' different suggestion. You are a diplomat at heart!

[StitchesToo]

...Hearing all the negative reviews for a year now makes me continue to think that we are a nation of whiners. With all the food options, surely people can find something outstanding to eat. I witnessed many people adding salt and pepper to food without even tasting it.

...

We were grateful and appreciated their work and said THANK YOU many times. That gets so much..goodness begets goodness!

...

If those cruisers are not open to this, there is no satisfying them and I have no idea what they are looking for.

 

There are a few people on this board who just can't accept that someone doesn't think like them. It scares me that you are so adamant that MSC is without fault. I had a very enjoyable time on my MSC cruise. But that doesn't mean that I found everything to be absolutely 100% perfect.

 

No, I didn't find the food to be outstanding. I didn't add salt or pepper until after I tried it. And I don't typically add salt to my food at all. It really just was bland. I ate lunch with a variety of people and had dinner with 3 other people. I kept my opinions to myself until half way through the cruise because I wanted to hear what people honestly thought. The consensus was that the food wasn't very good. This included tablemates who were past MSC passengers with some sort of gold status (not sure it was called gold status, might have been silver or platinum or something like that).

 

Your statements imply that anyone who had a bad service experience deserved it. That is irrational.

[bobar]

stitches too..apologies if you feel anyone is attacking you...

Food is such a touchy subject...Some people make it the focus of their cruise and tend to be easier upset than those who dont really make it a priority...i fall into the second group...on all my cruises on just about everymainstream line out there and also on costa and msc,there have been things that were excellent and things that were fair..there have been nights when the service was good and nights when it wasnt. it's not just msc it's all cruiselines....when it comes to lunch and dinners because of the sizes that these ships are growing to they have been made into catering services and sometimes dissapoint people...i will admit in 46 cruises i have never been on one where every meal was terrible and i starved or lost weight....we leave on the poesia this saturday and i cant wait....of course my fun will be with the animation team ,and watching the shows and dancing with my folks , so the food is no where near a priority although i am looking forward to ossa bucco and some eggplant....have a good one and please dont ever curb your opinions..it's nice to here all sides of things from many different people:cool:

[AmoMondo]

Oh, I would have made a 'so' different suggestion. You are a diplomat at heart!

 

Oh trust me I was very tempted but was struggling not to stoop to her level, so being British resorted to extreme sarcasm!

 

It never ceases to amaze me that it is always the most obnoxious people that are complaining that servers are rude or inattentive. Personally if I had to deal with them I would not just be minimising contact with them, they'd be wearing their food!

[Koolkrewser]

Hello all

I have a few very mundane questions, as most of my other ones have been answered so well here.

As we will be doing the long haul to London, then onto Hamburg for our Sept Poesia cruise, (coming from Australia) then post cruise in NY, then onto LA, HL & home to OZ, one of my biggest concerns is luggage weights & laundry availability.:confused: As you can imagine this is going to take some good planning on my part to cover the various climes & needs onboard.

1. Can you hire dinner suits/tuxedo's on board?
   
2. What are the laundry costs like & do they have just a wash & fold service as they do on RCI?
   
3. Are you better to pre-order wine packages or do this on embarkation as you do with RCI?
   

I am so looking forward to this cruise & the all the new places that we will be going to. All the recent positive reviews have certainly helped & makes you quickly forget those rather short & vitriolic ones that appeared then disappeared just as quickly.

[charliemikeoh]

BTW Bobar, you commented about Marco being on the ship and he was last month but someone else who was apparently "in the know" reported in another thread that he was taking paternity leave for the birth of his son???

---C

[StitchesToo]

stitches too..apologies if you feel anyone is attacking you...

Food is such a touchy subject...Some people make it the focus of their cruise and tend to be easier upset than those who dont really make it a priority...i fall into the second group...on all my cruises on just about everymainstream line out there and also on costa and msc,there have been things that were excellent and things that were fair..there have been nights when the service was good and nights when it wasnt. it's not just msc it's all cruiselines....when it comes to lunch and dinners because of the sizes that these ships are growing to they have been made into catering services and sometimes dissapoint people...i will admit in 46 cruises i have never been on one where every meal was terrible and i starved or lost weight....we leave on the poesia this saturday and i cant wait....of course my fun will be with the animation team ,and watching the shows and dancing with my folks , so the food is no where near a priority although i am looking forward to ossa bucco and some eggplant....have a good one and please dont ever curb your opinions..it's nice to here all sides of things from many different people:cool:

 

Thanks Bobar. I was not feeling personally attacked. I was responding to attacks being made on others.

[AmoMondo]

Hello all

I have a few very mundane questions, as most of my other ones have been answered so well here.

 

As we will be doing the long haul to London, then onto Hamburg for our Sept Poesia cruise, (coming from Australia) then post cruise in NY, then onto LA, HL & home to OZ, one of my biggest concerns is luggage weights & laundry availability.:confused: As you can imagine this is going to take some good planning on my part to cover the various climes & needs onboard.

1. Can you hire dinner suits/tuxedo's on board?
   
2. What are the laundry costs like & do they have just a wash & fold service as they do on RCI?
   
3. Are you better to pre-order wine packages or do this on embarkation as you do with RCI?
   

I am so looking forward to this cruise & the all the new places that we will be going to. All the recent positive reviews have certainly helped & makes you quickly forget those rather short & vitriolic ones that appeared then disappeared just as quickly.

 

Hi koolkrewser

That's quite a trip you've got planned there

Here are the answers to your questions

1. Unfortunately not. However if it helps there is only a small percentage of passengers that wear DJs or tuxs to formal nights. You'd be ok with something less formal e.g. sports jacket and tie

2. they have a wash, iron & fold or on hangers, iron only; dry clean. there is a normal service and an express service.

 

Some prices are

trousers - 5E; skirt 3.50E, shirt 4.50, t shirt - 2.50E

these are for the normal service. express is 50% more. If there are any other items you want the price of, let me know as I have a copy of the full service from my last cruise in Nov.

3. It depends on what they are offering as the pre order package and at what price. It varies from country to country and often it is cheaper to pre order but not always (because of the excahnge rate. They will probably quote the pre order price to you in Aus$ but the onboard price will be euros)

 

Hope you have a fantastic time

[Capricruiser]

There are two "gala" nights on the 7 night cruise and three on the 11 nighters. I normally pack one plain sport coat with two dress shirts and two different ties. With these combinations I feel perfectly at ease at dinner on the gala nights. You see very few tuxedos. The ladies usually wear short dresses or pant suits with a few wearing long dresses. As Amomondo says, the laundry service is very good and should meet all your needs. Buy the wine package once you get on board or select your wine by the bottle at dinner each evening. I prefer the latter because I like to choose my wines.

[PC168]

2. they have a wash, iron & fold or on hangers, iron only; dry clean. there is a normal service and an express service.

 

Some prices are

trousers - 5E; skirt 3.50E, shirt 4.50, t shirt - 2.50E

these are for the normal service. express is 50% more. If there are any other items you want the price of, let me know as I have a copy of the full service from my last cruise in Nov.

 

Hi AmoMondo,

 

Can you please tell me more of the free laundry service, you mentioned normal service vs express service, what is turnaround time for normal service, 24 hours ?

Also, can you please email me the price list of other item of the L.S., my email is pc168@rogers.com

 

Thank you very much.

 

Carrie

[FloridaB]

See below

[FloridaB]

I am wondering what cruise everyone was on that they had such a much better experience than us. I wish we were on that cruise! We did the Christmas Cruise with my husband, parents, and brother, and the price was right, and my parents had done Costa and enjoyed the Italian atmosphere, so we went for it. Embarkation was easy. The room and ship were lovely. we were a category 10 balcony-and it was very nice. The service from the room steward wasn't bad, but it wasn't outstanding. I didn't see my steward for the first 2 days. She did a good job, but just never introduced herself or anything like that. Overall I would say good and unobtrusive. Our dinner waiter was good, our breakfast and lunch waiters disappeared and never returned. I typically only was able to get 1 glass of water a meal. But other than that, staff everywhere was generally friendly and helpful. The biggest issues came with the food and some initial issues with the beer package we purchased. I'll start with the food. I think that we are all pretty easy to get along with in terms of food, we eat a huge variety of foods, ethic, southern, etc, and have traveled quite extensively, and we thought the food was absolutely the worse thing ever. The shrimp in the risotto were mealy. The fish and lobster all were overcooked and excessively dry. The pasta was way past al dente and was disintegrating on our plate. The spaghetti bolognase was flavorless and rubbery meat. The tuna carpaccio my mother had, had gone 'off' and was disgusting. We looked forward to getting off the boat in order to get good food. Also, there is no food between the hours of 2:30 and 6:30 (unless you had early seating), except room service, which was a complete joke for cruise room-service. 5 or 6 salads, a tuna salad sandwich (mayo and tuna on a hamburger bun) and a dry brownie. I didn't stay up for the midnight buffet so I can't speak to those. All in all, I feel like the food was just incredibly inconsistent.

 

The other thing about this cruise and cruise line that was an issue for us, was that it felt like it was excessively disorganized. We tried to purchase bottled beer packages for 4 members of our group. (great deal-$38 bucks for 14 bottles-but it turns out they have a bad selection of beer-another issue) First off-I tried e-mailing their USA customer service to get more info and they never responded. Twice. So then I called-and the woman said I had to purchase it ahead of time and couldn't get it on the boat, but that I could get the wine package on the boat. Ok. So could i purchase them over the phone or online? Of course not. I had to FAX in a form. FAX. I feel like that's completely the stone age in terms of cruise lines. Ok, so I faxed the forms. And then we discover they dont take Discover. ok. Finally got it worked out. Got our confirmations, says we will get the coupons in the cabin. Sounds good. We get on the boat and we're early-so we're assuming that they're not there yet and we'll get them later. Well, we disembarked and they never came. So I called reception-reception told me to go to any bar with my receipt and pick them up. I went to a bar-they told me no, those should have been in my room. Ok. So finally a bartender took pity on me and told me his manager was going to be there at 6pm and to come back and he would help me sort it out. So i came back at 6pm and we finally discovered that the purchased ahead coupons would be given to us by our waiter at dinner. great. Dinner is at 8, and I actually wanted a beer before dinner-but ok, I will wait. Went to dinner and met and asked our waiter-he had NO CLUE what we were talking about. Finally got the head waiter and he told us someone would be coming around eventually with our coupons and give them to us during dinner. The person came around finally-but the issue is that NO ONE knew the answer. I feel like they need to explain this whole process to their staff so that they can answer the question and not create this confusion. Another issue with these pre-purchased packages, is the wine package. On their website you can buy a dinner wine package for 10 bottles for $95 bucks for "house" wine. You apparently can't buy that on the boat (though the customer service lady on the phone said you can) and the only thing you can get is the other wine package for $150. So a significant difference for us. The head waiter could not even tell us what "house wine" coupons would be so I'm still curious what you would get if you pre-purchased that wine package.

 

So yes-a portion of our unpleasant experience is completely specific to us and things we wanted to do. But once we got the beer tickets we were happy, and put that whole incident behind us. The main issue still remains that the food was not good (at least at our table). The pool towel thing that people wrote about earlier-also a pain and my poor mother got yelled at for taking someones towel (the day that they weren't all out on the chairs). The lines for the buffet were awful-it was a poor design on the ship, so there's nothing that could be done about it now. Overall, I guess with such a good price, and kids sailing free (805 kids on the Christmas cruise) something has to give, and I think that was food quality and service.

 

We sailed on the Poesia in Dec and the food was great. The pastas and seafood were terrific. Excellent risotto. Nothing was "disintegrating", "rubbery" or "flavorless" on my plate or anyone elses that we met.

Some people just are negative whiners and have bad attitudes. IMAGINE....not being able to eat between 2:30 and 6:30, right after lunch!!! Starvation must have set in. Maybe a couple of ice cream cones could have put the fire out. (Bad ice cream and gelato I'll bet.)

If the food was "absolutely the worse thing ever", you should have been thankful for the break!! OR..... you could have figured out to bring back some of the "disgusting" food to your room to tide you over until dinner time. 4 hours without eating bad food can be an eternity!!! And ONLY 5 or 6 salads to choose from.......How could one manage?

You sound like the lady who calls the waiter over to complain about the lousy food and then also complains that the portions are too small!!!

 

I have the beer menu in front of me,("another issue") and there are 16 brands in bottles to choose from(light, dark,domestic,imported, N/A) as well as Coors Light and Becks on tap. That is not enough selection? Are you serious??? You should have let them know what you drink and they could have airlifted in 14 bottles for $38 to ensure that you were momentarily happy. Only having 16 brands to choose from is certainly a "bad selection".

Don't ever cruise any more as you will be miserable again. I am sure you made others miserable as well as you complained as you gagged on the "disgusting" food, meal after meal after meal.......

 

I really think that a connoisseur of your fine taste and discriminating palate(tuna on a hamburger bun...UGH!!) should be cruising on the Crystal or Regent lines for $12,000 a week. Then you would really have something to whine about. BTW...they don't serve food between 2:30 and 6:30.

[camofwilliamsburg]

The room service menu was meant as a snack and honestly I loved having the tuna and CHIPS!!! I loved the food, and when I found something that was not a HIT I asked to try something else. I always got great service and this was never an issue. They had more than a great selection of beer and a great selection of low prices!!!! Actually sitting down at late dining with a table of friends was the highlight of each evening. Dining and sharing and laughing .... we often got out after 10 pm and was never rushed out. LOVED every minute of our MSC cruise.

[MichaelinME]

Can someone tell me if they provide washcloths in the room?

Last year on Orchestra, we did not have any the whole week.

 

 

Thanks

[AmoMondo]

Hi AmoMondo,

 

Can you please tell me more of the free laundry service, you mentioned normal service vs express service, what is turnaround time for normal service, 24 hours ?

Also, can you please email me the price list of other item of the L.S., my email is pc168@rogers.com

 

Thank you very much.

 

Carrie

The free laundry service is one of the perks of being a MSC Club member. Each cardholder gets 10 items

 

Normal service turnaround time is - collected before 10am, returned by 5pm the next day

Express - collected before 9am returned by 5pm the same day.

 

The list I have is a carbonised copy of the laundry form. Not sure how readble it will be when I scan it, but I'll try and will email it to you

[Papillon]

The room service menu was meant as a snack and honestly I loved having the tuna and CHIPS!!! I loved the food, and when I found something that was not a HIT I asked to try something else. I always got great service and this was never an issue. They had more than a great selection of beer and a great selection of low prices!!!! Actually sitting down at late dining with a table of friends was the highlight of each evening. Dining and sharing and laughing .... we often got out after 10 pm and was never rushed out. LOVED every minute of our MSC cruise.

I would like to know if the house wine package is served in bottle or carafe. We are planning to purchase a package of 10 bottles and bring one back to the room every night

[terryde]

Is room service free of charge? (Except tip, of course). Does anyone have the menu for Poesia for caribbean sailing?

[obendus]

Can someone tell me if they provide washcloths in the room?

Last year on Orchestra, we did not have any the whole week.

Thanks

On this weeks sailing, 'Poesia' (Caribbean), they do. Room totally spotless twice a day as well.

DON'T ask about the 'coveted' empty soda cans in the buffet dining room though:eek:

[boca7]

You say it so well, I get a good laugh at some of the ridiculous complaints, I`ve been on Crystal & Regent & yes the food is much better, but oh everyone was sleeping during the sow which was soooo boring on Crystal, & yes you will pay top dollar for that. I really love the comment no food to eat in the afternoon, although there is tea time & pizza served every afternoon. I wish I could loose weight on my cruises.

[charliemikeoh]

The wine packages come in full bottles (smallish, maybe 750mL???) not carafes. You can take your bottle with you when you are done if there is any left, or ask them to store/chill it and bring it to your table the next night.

 

Room service is, I believe, free but limited. You can bring food back from the dining room to your room though and the staff readily gives you a cover and napkin/silverware.

[charliemikeoh]

Obendus, I missed you all week long and never did "find" you. I *think* I may have found your daughter ... but she did not speak much English??? I asked folks all over the ship if they were you! Did you have a good time?!?