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msc vs carnival??

Virginia21

By Virginia21,
in MSC Cruises

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Tatka

Tatka

Posted
Posted (edited)

It was very special kind of fun. Like gathering whole ship in the huge football stadium pool area and playing hairy chest contest, when 12 men one by one dancing on older woman laps, and she (blindfolded) feeling their chest. Kids were amused and amazed. My then 15 yo sone was shocked. 0 entertainment in lounges, weak shows, waiters dancing on the tables. Not my type of fun, sorry.

 

I don't know why are you so upset? Last time I've checked Carnival has no problems to fill their ships with people loving this. :)

Edited by Tatka
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Deckhandoug

Deckhandoug

Posted
Posted
It was very special kind of fun. Like gathering whole ship on the huge football stadium pool area and playing hairy chest contest, when 12 men one by one dancing on her laps, and she feeling their chest. Kids were amused and amazed. My then 15 yo sone was shocked. 0 entertainment in lounges, weak shows, waiters dancing on the tables. Not my type of fub, sorry.

 

Yep, sounds pretty terrible alright, too bad you had to cruise Carnival twice just to make sure.

 

I learned my lesson after once on MSC, how stoic of you to endure those indignities on such an unfun ship more than once.

 

Personally, I guess I must have missed those particular activities because I don't recall seeing them or maybe they aren't mandatory? :confused:

 

You'll feel much more comfortable on MSC, the smallness of the pools are a major complaint, so that "huge football stage pool area" on carnival won't distract you from all that fun.

 

Seriously, that's one of the great things about cruising, lots of lines for lots of people, we can all find something to like, and I know you'll have a great time whichever line you choose. I've never had a bad cruise, and you haven't either:)

 

Thanks Canadian, good to hear from you,always fun here on the MSC boards

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Tatka

Tatka

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Yep, we decided to give Carnival another try. It was a bit better, but nothing special, if you don't count that godawfull colors in the MDR, signing with your card for just about anything...

 

And Liberty's pools btw were pretty small for 3700 pax. We would've been anywhere else, but where? Ship of that size didn't have much. It looks like Carnival management thinks that pax should be happy just to be on the ship... and have free food. Well we don't spend our weekends in the mall. ;)

 

You can see from my signature we are familiar with pretty much all massmarket lines, so yes we know what cruising is about and can pick what is up to our liking. We are not happy just to be on the ship once in a while. Saying "any cruise day is better than day at work " does not apply to us.

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Deckhandoug

Deckhandoug

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Yep, we decided to give Carnival another try. It was a bit better, but nothing special, if you don't count that godawfull colors in the MDR, signing with your card for just about anything...

 

And Liberty's pools btw were pretty small for 3700 pax. We would've been anywhere else, but where? Ship of that size didn't have much. It looks like Carnival management thinks that pax should be happy just to be on the ship... and have free food. Well we don't spend our weekends in the mall. ;)

 

You can see from my signature we are familiar with pretty much all massmarket lines, so yes we know what cruising is about and can pick what is up to our liking. We are not happy just to be on the ship once in a while. Saying "any cruise day is better than day at work " does not apply to us.

 

Yes, repeating the experience expecting a different result doesn't work,and if being at work equates to cruising for you then you've certainly made the right choice.

 

Your cruise history is telling, it's very interesting that you have cruised NCL so much as head MSC cheerleader Bonnie considers them the lowest of the low.

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Tatka

Tatka

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We picked better designed ship and time when kids are in school, 8 dayer and out of NY, but experience was still mediocre.

 

And yes, NCL is better line. NCL should be called Fun ships. Our first experience with them wasn't that great, but they have improved a lot unlike ...

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GOLDENBONNY

GOLDENBONNY

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Posted
Yes, repeating the experience expecting a different result doesn't work,and if being at work equates to cruising for you then you've certainly made the right choice.

 

Your cruise history is telling, it's very interesting that you have cruised NCL so much as head MSC cheerleader Bonnie considers them the lowest of the low.

 

Yes ,I do consider them lowest of the low. You have problem with that? Maybe it’s because I know better lines but NCL and CCL ;)? But I don't go on NCL board and make stupid comments to people who love NCL.:rolleyes:

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Deckhandoug

Deckhandoug

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Yes ,I do consider them lowest of the low. You have problem with that? Maybe it’s because I know better lines but NCL and CCL ;)? But I don't go on NCL board and make stupid comments to people who love NCL.:rolleyes:

 

It's interesting that tatka likes NCL enough to rate it her 2nd favorite line and is considering MSC yet you rate NCL as the lowest and consider MSC a good line.

 

So, should she accept your advice since you are so far apart on NCL?

 

I don't care where you post stupid comments, here is fine with me.

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Tatka

Tatka

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Well, I know downsides of every line, NCL including, but from what I see looking at the ships and hear from other people I will probably like MSC, at least this class of MSC. Time will tell.

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  • 3 months later...
sidari

sidari

Posted
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We have friends who have sailed on Carnival ships, some of them love the idea of how they run and the others do not like them or their ships or the outrageous colour schemes. I believe the same guy designed the interiors for Costa which we found to be gaudy to say the least.

 

Having read two reviews of our Transatlantic cruise last year it made me wonder if we had been on the same ship as the writers of the reviews!

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earn

earn

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Haven't sailed MSC yet, but looking forward to that in March. We had one cruise on Carnival a few years ago. Valor in the Wester Caribbean. We had a great holiday. The food was better than RCI on the whole. The kids love RCI Adventure Ocean, but really didn't take to Carnival kids club. They still had a great time. The decor of the ship was to our taste, and has probably put me off cruising Carnival again. It was so brash and gaudy, and hard to look at for me.

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NYCRUISR

NYCRUISR

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Tatka, we have just booked our first MSC med. cruise also.

 

I expect it to be different from what we are used to but we booked knowing that. It will be 7 days of relaxing after a land based tour. We choose it not because of the pricing , which was comparable, but it was doing the right ports and the right dates we needed to connect from land to cruise.

I prefer to make up my own mind. Im sure it can not be horrible or people wouldnt be booking and going on them more than once. We are going on the new Preziosa in Septemer.

 

The one thing I do not enjoy about CC is just how rude some of the replies are that are posted. Its suppose to be a friendly forum

 

Geez...Carol

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Russ Lomas

Russ Lomas

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Haven't sailed MSC yet, but looking forward to that in March. We had one cruise on Carnival a few years ago. Valor in the Wester Caribbean. We had a great holiday. The food was better than RCI on the whole. The kids love RCI Adventure Ocean, but really didn't take to Carnival kids club. They still had a great time. The decor of the ship was to our taste, and has probably put me off cruising Carnival again. It was so brash and gaudy, and hard to look at for me.

I would love to hear about your thoughts of MSC after you cruise with them in March. I am considering cruising with them next March. We seem to have very similar opinions. Our kids loved the kids' program on the Liberty of the Seas, but did not care for it on the Carnival Valor (neither did we as parents...I won't go into details here why). I think RCCL has vastly superior laid out ships and they look a LOT more tasteful (everyone has their own opinion, but that is mine). MSC looks like they have the nicest decorated ships from what I see (especially the Divina that I am looking at) of all the major cruiselines (once again, my personal opinion). I really look forward to hearing about your thoughts of your March MSC cruise since our opinions seem very similar.

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sharecruises

sharecruises

Posted
Posted

I have been on Carnival a fair amount of cruises, many were great. Lately ...not so good IMHO. The "product" Carnival puts out has gone down and down ...for me the lack of entertainment has become super annoying.

 

My first cruise with MSC was good and bad....the website, the precruise/usa based customer service can be very frustrating with MSC *average cruiser might not have all the hassles I had, I had a pretty big group with me on first cruise

 

My 2nd MSC cruise was really much better...loved it

 

My last 2 cruises with Carnival had me wishing I was back on MSC LOL..and now I am. I also loved NCL...but...realistically trying to be with a group with total freestyle is like herding cats. Food in the NON specialty restaurants was also pretty bad on NCL.

 

MSC has some huge pluses for me....I like traditional dining times. I like having a "real" show every night at the same time. I like having all the many many bands and duos and musicians, going from club to club and down to lobby hearing different live music options, dancing...hitting the disco

 

I have come to realize that the "entertainment">> the music...is a huge factor for me. MSC delivers

 

I also love the way the dining room is open every day for breakfast and lunch on MSC,Carnival has cut back so much on that...

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sharecruises

sharecruises

Posted
Posted

More to like : sparkling clean on MSC.

 

Good quality materials...leather, glass, brass, marble...

beautiful Italian decor...some really stunning areas (the purple theater for instance). Nice wide hallways...NCL has really narrow halls

 

I like the way they take you to your cabin when you embark...I like the formal/elegant night....MSC still has a Captain's Champagne Party

MSC has a pretty good "loyalty" program...sign up for MSC Club

 

I love the wine prices on MSC LOL> wow...so much cheaper than any other cruiseline, I guess cause Italians love their wine! We prebuy in bulk

 

I don't love the front desk on MSC...tho their uniforms are stylish LOL. I will try to avoid them.

 

I didn't like the short buffet hours before...BUT the "new" buffet redo on MSC means more "stations" (so I hear?) and much longer hours....win/win

 

Kids?? I don't have em, and don't pay too much attention...Carnival is probably better BUT MSC has those "kids free" deals....more $$ for kiddo to spend in game room or have fun on shore

 

Food is good on MSC...especially in the dining room. MY advice is to order variety, order the "Italian" choices. Pasta is great

MSC also feels "spacious" to me.

LOTS of choices for places to sit, listen to music.

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earn

earn

Posted
Posted

Russ,

 

You obviously understood that meant the decor was NOT to my taste on Carnival, though I missed the not in my post :). I will try to give you my thoughts when we come back. Won't be back until late April as heading off back home on Indy after the Poesia cruise. WE have done 2 transatlantics on Liberty and all loved the ship.

 

WE were very tempted to do Celebrity reflection the week we are doing Poesia, but the ports were all the same as we are doing the following week on the Transatlantic, so opted for a complete change and ttrying MSC. I am really looking forward to it now.

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