Tips and Secrets on Splendida Mediterranean Cruises

[ROCruiser]

I have been reading on this board with growing confusion about MSC cruises. We have booked our Splendida cruise for November and need to know the ins-and-outs of this ship. This is our first MSC cruise and our first European cruise line. Any tips or secrets about the Splendida to help us making the most out of this cruise is greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

[Marley-Bop]

Hi

 

We were on The Splendida in January and had a brilliant time - This is a link to my review which is full of tips:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=96066

 

Hope this helps :)

[Capricruiser]

Have you read the CC member cruise reviews of the Splendida? You'll find both the good and the bad. My Spendida cruise was two years ago and it was quite enjoyable. The link to my review: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=62928

[loriva]

Thanks for interesting, detailed reviews, Marley-Bop and Capricruiser. We just signed up for our second MSC cruise (not sure the first counts as it was in 1998 on the Rhapsody in South America!) and very interested in all information. We will be doing the 7-day, Western Med itinerary on the Splendida in mid-June.

 

Anyone have any idea when schools in Europe let out for the summer holidays? With the "kids sail free" policy on MSC, curious as to how many there might be on our sailing.

[ROCruiser]

Yes, I have been reading reviews and the MSC threads but am getting more confused because of the mixed information. Maybe I should list some of your suggestions to start with to help me sort out these information. Maybe others can chime in on other tips, mainly on the Spendida. As for myself, I am still not clear about the water situation. Someone said passengers from the US will get a bottle of water each at dinner, still true? How to go about it? Another ship has a free soft-serve ice cream machine, how about Splendida? Those are the little tips that I am looking for and put in one place. Again, thank you so much for your assistance! I hope you don't mind that I used your review to come up with these tips to help myself organize, Marley-Bop. Thank you Capricruiser for the detail and helpful review!

 

Do the web check in on MSC cruise website- show this when you enter the terminal and enter a VERY short queue to check in.

 

Pre-booked the cheers package (over 21 days before sail date)

 

The Duty Free shop onboard is NOT GOOD!

 

Tea, coffee and iced water are available FREE 24 hours a day in the Bora Bora/Pago Pago buffet.

 

Fruit juice in the buffet area's ( more like squash) is available during breakfast time ONLY!

 

The tap water in your cabin is drinkable and your cabin steward should fill your ice bucket every evening.

 

Room service to your cabin is available every morning for FREE. They do not expect a tip. Make sure you order milk though.

 

The buffet (like any other ship) can get busy, get a table at the aft of the ship which they called Pago Pago. Its a bit more of a walk to get to the food but worth it to find a table in a quieter zone.

 

The dining room - This is a seven course menu every night and the portions are small. The wait staff require you to order all of your savoury dishes in one go so try and have one course from each choice. There is also an everyday menu available, this is basic chicken or beef with potatoes or chips and vegetables of the day, not great but OK and we preferred the Italian menu. The Italian and the everyday menus can be mixed and mingled so try everything and a dessert menu will be given out after the main savoury starters/meals.

[Capricruiser]

Thanks for interesting, detailed reviews, Marley-Bop and Capricruiser. We just signed up for our second MSC cruise (not sure the first counts as it was in 1998 on the Rhapsody in South America!) and very interested in all information. We will be doing the 7-day, Western Med itinerary on the Splendida in mid-June.

 

Anyone have any idea when schools in Europe let out for the summer holidays? With the "kids sail free" policy on MSC, curious as to how many there might be on our sailing.

The European school holidays generally run from early June through early September. August is the worst month for quiet cruising.

[Capricruiser]

Yes, I have been reading reviews and the MSC threads but am getting more confused because of the mixed information. Maybe I should list some of your suggestions to start with to help me sort out these information. Maybe others can chime in on other tips, mainly on the Spendida. As for myself, I am still not clear about the water situation. Someone said passengers from the US will get a bottle of water each at dinner, still true? How to go about it? Another ship has a free soft-serve ice cream machine, how about Splendida? Those are the little tips that I am looking for and put in one place. Again, thank you so much for your assistance! I hope you don't mind that I used your review to come up with these tips to help myself organize, Marley-Bop. Thank you Capricruiser for the detail and helpful review!

 

Do the web check in on MSC cruise website- show this when you enter the terminal and enter a VERY short queue to check in.

 

Pre-booked the cheers package (over 21 days before sail date)

 

The Duty Free shop onboard is NOT GOOD!

 

Tea, coffee and iced water are available FREE 24 hours a day in the Bora Bora/Pago Pago buffet.

 

Fruit juice in the buffet area's ( more like squash) is available during breakfast time ONLY!

 

The tap water in your cabin is drinkable and your cabin steward should fill your ice bucket every evening.

 

Room service to your cabin is available every morning for FREE. They do not expect a tip. Make sure you order milk though.

 

The buffet (like any other ship) can get busy, get a table at the aft of the ship which they called Pago Pago. Its a bit more of a walk to get to the food but worth it to find a table in a quieter zone.

 

The dining room - This is a seven course menu every night and the portions are small. The wait staff require you to order all of your savoury dishes in one go so try and have one course from each choice. There is also an everyday menu available, this is basic chicken or beef with potatoes or chips and vegetables of the day, not great but OK and we preferred the Italian menu. The Italian and the everyday menus can be mixed and mingled so try everything and a dessert menu will be given out after the main savoury starters/meals.

Some good points RO! North Americans who book their MSC cruise in the USA will receive a book of bottled water vouchers when embarking. They can be used in the restaurants or bars, but not for cabin minibar purchases. Anyone else can get the same vouchers but have to pay for them. Not very fair really. The web check-in queue depends on the port and the hour. Don't count on short queues in ports like Kiel, Venice, or frequently even Genoa. The duty free shops on board are very similar to what you find at cruise ports and airports. Sometimes you can save, sometimes not. The shop selections on the large ships like the Splendida are quite good. Your cabin steward will put fresh ice in your bucket even in the morning but it's a good idea to tell him what you want.

[AmoMondo]

Think the free soft serve ice cream is only on the Poesia whilst sailing from the US. Haven't noticed it on any ship in the Med.

 

Dinner in the MDR has 6 courses - appetiser, salad, soup, past/risotto, main and dessert or cheese. As for small portions, guess it depends on what you are used to eating but I certainly don't feel you need to order from every course. Three normally suffices for me (appetiser, pasta and main). I occasionally manage 4. I'm not a light eater either.

 

Breakfast in your cabin is free but it is just continental. You fill in the form and hang it outside your door before 1am. All other room service incurs an additional charge.

[Capricruiser]

I'm pretty sure both the Splendida and the Fantasia had the ice cream dispensers up in the buffet area. I never used them but I think I saw people getting ice cream with different flavours.

Remember in the MDR if you want seconds all you have to do is ask. Some people will skip the appetiser, salad, pasta, etc. and order two mains. If you want the cheese plate plus a dessert, no problem there either. Just work with your waiter and he'll keep you happy.

[The_Big_M]

No free soft serve on the Splendida (not that I'm a fan of the cruise ship variety anyway) - only the gelato style in the cafe and ice cream bars.

[ROCruiser]

Thank you all, please keep them coming!

[ROCruiser]

Do the web check in on MSC cruise website- show this when you enter the terminal and enter a VERY short queue to check in.

 

Pre-booked the cheers package (over 21 days before sail date)

 

The Duty Free shop onboard is NOT GOOD!

 

Tea, coffee and iced water are available FREE 24 hours a day in the Bora Bora/Pago Pago buffet.

 

Fruit juice in the buffet area's ( more like squash) is available during breakfast time ONLY!

 

The tap water in your cabin is drinkable and your cabin steward should fill your ice bucket every evening.

 

Room service to your cabin is available every morning for FREE. They do not expect a tip. Make sure you order milk though. Breakfast in your cabin is free but it is just continental. You fill in the form and hang it outside your door before 1am. All other room service incurs an additional charge.

 

The buffet (like any other ship) can get busy, get a table at the aft of the ship which they called Pago Pago. Its a bit more of a walk to get to the food but worth it to find a table in a quieter zone.

 

The dining room - This is a seven course menu every night and the portions are small. The wait staff require you to order all of your savoury dishes in one go so try and have one course from each choice. There is also an everyday menu available, this is basic chicken or beef with potatoes or chips and vegetables of the day, not great but OK and we preferred the Italian menu. The Italian and the everyday menus can be mixed and mingled so try everything and a dessert menu will be given out after the main savoury starters/meals.

 

North Americans who book their MSC cruise in the USA will receive a book of bottled water voucherswhen embarking. They can be used in the restaurants or bars, but not for cabin minibar purchases.

[Anke56]

We made the cruise with the Splendida and boarded in Marseille. We were a party of 7. Our cruise ended Febr.17.

We didn't like the time of dining: it is 6 pm or 8.30pm. We thougt 8.30 was too late, but 6pm too early. We knew before our cruise we couldn't do anytime dining, but now we have made our cruise we decided not to do this again. We had the first dining. (I'm diabetic and when dining after 7.30 it is difficult for me to get my bloodglucoses straight)

You can choose as many courses as you want for dinner, but our waiter didn't like it when we all had a different amount of courses. He gave us not a dessert menu: he wanted us to order our dessert at the start of our dining.

We didn't like the tap-water. We booked our cruise with an American booking-agency, so we also got our vouchers for water and used all of them. The vouchers were a nice extra.

We also bought a lot of other voucher-booklets: you can buy them in every bar on the ship: for beer, for cocktails and "peter pan"vouchers (non alcoholic cocktails and soda). They also have espresso-vouchers. I only missed vouchers to be used for cappuccino etc. I am looking for the price of the voucher-booklets but cannot find them. You can buy the vouchers in every bar on board. It makes the drinks about 0,30-0,50 euro cheaper for one drink. The booklets all have a different amount of vouchers in it. We thought we made a great deal with this vouchers (remember: we were with 7) While we waited for boarding in Marseille, we already were informed about the booklets.

The buffet is busy indeed. We preferred to have breakfast in the main diningroom. A very good start of the day.

Have a nice cruise!

[Invincible]

Hope you'll accept this tongue in cheek reply in the lighthearted way it is intended.

 

Learn the words in Italian for the song VOLARE' probably the only internationally known Italian song (perhaps apart from che se ra se ra and O Sole' Mio) and seems to be played everywhere even in the rstauarant.

[smahk]

"our first European cruise line."

 

We just returned from the Western Med on the MSC Splendida. Iposted an extensive review on the review section today - it should be up in a few days.

 

Biggest to remember: Few Americans aboard. We are very comfortable with traveling to other countries and encountering other cultures. You'll see a lot of very different manners and preferences. Just relax and have a good time. We had a spectatular trip as did our teens. We all met folks from Italy, Germany and France who knew enough english and with our very poor italian/german/french were able to engage in lots of conversations.

[Capricruiser]

Happy you enjoyed your cruise on the Splendida. She's a very nice ship.

[Apeeler]

"our first European cruise line."

 

We just returned from the Western Med on the MSC Splendida. Iposted an extensive review on the review section today - it should be up in a few days.

 

Biggest to remember: Few Americans aboard. We are very comfortable with traveling to other countries and encountering other cultures. You'll see a lot of very different manners and preferences. Just relax and have a good time. We had a spectatular trip as did our teens. We all met folks from Italy, Germany and France who knew enough english and with our very poor italian/german/french were able to engage in lots of conversations.

 

Eagerly awaiting your Splendida review as I sail on her late April :)

[cruisefanatic16]

when are u sailing in April? I on 18th april from malta

[Apeeler]

when are u sailing in April? I on 18th april from malta

 

Hi CF,

 

we are on the 29th April from Barcelona so don't use up all the good weather before we get there lol :cool:

[Spligit]

Anybody have info on Barcelona on sundays. Any shops open or is it completely shut down? We are on the Splendida May 3rd.

[cruisefanatic16]

i hope we can at least get some good weather ;)

[Galeaden]

Anybody have info on Barcelona on sundays. Any shops open or is it completely shut down? We are on the Splendida May 3rd.

 

On Sundays, as I had researched on the internet, most shops are closed for the day. The only shopping mall that is open is exactly near where the port shuttle stops, near the aquarium. It's called Maremagnum and apparently is very well known for it's pickpockets. They are incredibly crafty so if you go there BE VERY CAREFUL. Don't take backpacks unless you wear them in front, wallets only in deep front pockets and ladies no handbags.

[Spligit]

I wouldn't have thought of that, thanks for the info. Any other tips is most appreciated.

[Apeeler]

"our first European cruise line."

 

We just returned from the Western Med on the MSC Splendida. Iposted an extensive review on the review section today - it should be up in a few days.

 

Biggest to remember: Few Americans aboard. We are very comfortable with traveling to other countries and encountering other cultures. You'll see a lot of very different manners and preferences. Just relax and have a good time. We had a spectatular trip as did our teens. We all met folks from Italy, Germany and France who knew enough english and with our very poor italian/german/french were able to engage in lots of conversations.

 

Thanks for a great review Smahk. The more I read the more I can't wait :cool:

[Poppy1010]

We sailed from Barcelona on a Sunday recently. The shops were shut but we went to the Picasso Museum which was open and was a wonderful way to spend the morning before boarding our ship!