Opera review April 23

[munchkinsmama]

Hello Everyone

We were on the April 23rd sailing of the Opera. Just to make things more interesting I broke my toe the day before we left and was on crutches the entire time. My family includes my girls ages 2 and 7. We are Americans living in Egypt so we are used to an international environment So here goes the review...

Arrival was handled very well. There was some form of mix up with our room which they fixed very quickly and professionally. I think we were assigned an inside room and we were supposed to have an outside. We didn’t even need to complain they fixed it and got us on the boat quickly without hardly any lines.

 

The room was fabulous. Small, but the design was great. There was enough storage for all our stuff. The girls were on bunks that were folded up onto the wall during the day. We had an outside cabin so the girls could climb onto the window ledge and watch the bubbles on the side of the boat, and often the land going by. The only problem was the room hadn’t been serviced and was dirty. We complained to reception, but it wasn’t until we found the cabin steward that the room was serviced. He was shocked that it had not been cleaned, apologized on behalf of his predecessor as he had just come aboard himself. He was great the entire trip. It was not the same service as Royal Caribbean where if you went to the bathroom at 3 am you would come out to find your bed made and a towel animal on it. But the room was kept clean and made and beds turned down and folded up. He did a great job and was very friendly.

 

 

The food:

 

The food was fabulous. Breakfast was varied and plentiful. We are used to an international environment so things like cold cuts on the breakfast buffet were not a surprise as mentioned in other posts. Lunch--- The pizza was some of the best we have ever had, but the hotdog buns and hamburger buns were often stale. The temperature of the buffet food was fine. The inside buffet was much better than the grill. The coffee at the buffet line was discusting and the only other free drink was water. Soda: there are no one price soda cards so it is per can and adds up Tap water on the entire ship was drinkable, and I am very picky. Alcohol: we don’t drink that much so can’t comment. We did try a couple of drinks of the day at the bar near the lunch buffet. They were nasty. Dinner--- the food was spectacular and varied enough that we were able to find something each night even for the picky 7 year old without ever having to ask for a child’s menu. We did have fun with her the night I ordered a sea food salad and received a plate of lettuce with tiny little squid on it. The pasta was superb each night. The sauces varied from cream sauces to different types of tomato sauces. The entrees were great, the meat tender and the produce very fresh and flavorful. The service at dinner unfortunately was beyond pathetic. We didn’t think to get our table assignment till dinner the first night as we were trying to solve the problem with our room. We had to wait in a long line to get our reservation. It took nearly two hours to be served and eat the first 3 nights. On the 4th night we sat for nearly 40 minutes without having our order taken. The family behind us did not even receive menus. We complained. The head waiter then checked on us for the rest of the trip. He was wonderful and made the rest of trip much more relaxing. He made sure the kids got their food early. I have wonderful children who will put up with a lot but a 2 hour dinner starting at bed time was really hard for them and there were no other options after 5 o’clock to eat at. We could see other more efficient wait staff in the room. We simply had a bad assignment. As the cruise progressed we discovered the waiter and the assistant waiter did not speak the same language and were having problems speaking to each other. Also, we discovered that the assistant waiter did not speak English but he never would let us know what he did understand. We asked for an apple juice for nearly an hour one night only to find out he did not know what an apple was so he ignored the order. The thirsty two year old did not appreciate it. The worst part is I can say apple juice in several languages. If I knew there was a problem I would have attempted to make myself understood. MSC knew ahead of time that we would be on the boat and that we spoke English isn’t that why they take the information. Communication between the staff and with the customer should be a primary concern. The gala buffet was visually incredible but they decided to hold it at Midnight in April outside on the deck. It was so windy and cold. It was very unenjoyable and all of the smart people avoided it entirely. We did not have this option as we had been building it up to the 7 year old all week. There should be a back up plan. You would think any service oriented cruise line would know you do not have an outdoor banquet in 40 degree windy weather. Formal night, there were people in jeans and there were people in tuxes. Most people wore suits and elegant dresses. You did not see to many really formal prom type dresses or even bridesmaid type dresses. There were a lot of elegant black skirt and beaded shirt combinations, and formal pants suits. It was kind of your more casual side of formal. My 7 year old loved it though. It was princess night and she got to wear her princess dress, crown, a little make up and mama’s jewelry and everyone doted on her. My two year old however refused to wear her princess dress as it was too itchy. Luckily I brought back up and we have some fabulous photos. I don’t know the name of the photographer but he has a British accent. He took the best photos of the kids. The grandparents are going to love these.

 

 

Reception: If you have been reading the posts you’ve read complaints about reception. Here’s another one. Our room was not cleaned when we arrived, we told reception. They did nothing. 6 hours later we had to find the cabin steward ourselves and tell him. That would not have happened on other lines. They knew nothing of disembarkation procedures. We had a late flight and asked some very basic questions about how to get ourselves and belongings to the airport. They could only answer questions for things on the boat not the dock. It would have been greatly helpful for us to know that there is a place to check your luggage, a free shuttle to Plaza Roma, and Shuttles from there to the airport and what time the shuttles ran. Instead there were a large group of us running around asking ground personnel, trying to find someone who spoke our language, to get the information as we disembarked. I was not impressed. It increased the stress level the night before also we did not know how to pack up the kids for the day. Would we spend it walking around Venice or sitting in an airport, we didn’t know until last minute.

 

 

 

The ship: The ship was relatively well laid out and had plenty of windows. The elevators were a bit confusing as not all of them went to all levels. We cruised in April so it was a bit chilly on deck. I preferred to stay inside, but they had 2 pools and hot tubs and a lot of the Europeans were sun bathing. I had to laugh as I sat there in my jacket and the woman next to me laid out in a bikini. I think I have lived in Egypt too long. Some of the kids even got in the pool. There were a lot of animation activities. I’m not much of an activities person so the only thing I can comment on was the craft time. We painted t shirts. It was kind of an everyman for himself as far as room went and seemed a bit chaotic, but fun. Then my 7 year old and I tried to make crepe paper flowers. A windy deck is not the place to do this. That type of craft should be located somewhere inside. The wind kept blowing the crepe paper. You couldn’t set anything down. It was miserable and something I’d think the crew should have known better than to try. The card room was a great place to do homework and was relatively quiet. The library does not have children’s books, but I wasn’t expecting them to. The children’s room is for 3 to 9 year olds I believe and is nothing other than baby sitting. There are no organized activities. It is not a “club” like on other ships. My 7 year old got bored a couple of times as there isn’t that much for older children to do. The 3 year old loved it. Both of them would ask to go play in there. Also we had the only English speaking children on board. Children do rather well and can play together with language barrier. Admittedly my children are used to being caught in situations where they are the only English speakers. We didn’t try out the health club, spa, casino, and disco. Basically this was a family vacation and we spent most of the time with the family.

 

I was disappointed that they scheduled the talk on the shore excursions as you pulled out of port in Venice. If you have read these boards you know you can’t miss the sight of Venice and all its history floating slowly by. Being at the top of the cruise ship makes you the tallest point in Venice and it is something not to be missed. So we missed the talk on the shore excursions.

 

 

Entertainment:

 

I can’t say anything about the animation team; the group responsible for entertainment around the ship during the day, other than others seemed to be enjoying themselves as we passed. We really didn’t participate in much that they were doing as we kept to the kid’s schedule. The animation crew generally worked in Italian, but it was not too hard to figure out what was going on. After all it is an Italian ship and there were only a couple hundred English speakers aboard. I thought the nightly show was very well done, though someone was a bit too fog happy. It was like a little boy who just got his new fog machine and had to use it as much as possible weather or not the situation called for it. My husband thought the shows were a bit cheesy. It was obvious at times that they were lip sinking, but they “sang” in multiple languages and were more dancers than singers to begin with. There were several contortionists who didn’t have a bone in their body who were amazing. The kids absolutely loved the shows. It was the highlight of the entire week, my daughter is still talking about them. They especially loved the comedians. The 7 year old hated the Italian tenor though. He was fabulous, but according to her “He sang really bad. I couldn’t understand a word he said” We had to remind her it was in Italian, but she still thought he sang badly. The cruise director is extremely talented and started and ended each night by giving news, welcomes, and so forth in at least 5 languages. I just read Boten's review and now I'm wondering what anouncements I missed as my french and spanish are realy lousy and my Italian non existant.

 

 

Itinerary

 

The list of ports visited was great. However we really weren’t given enough time in each port to explore. It worked out well for us with my broken toe and the girls didn’t have to endure the tours any longer than they did. We only had 4 hours or so in each port and were under way in the afternoon. I would have like to have had an additional couple of hours in most port and would have loved an extra day in Istanbul. Some cruise lines offer a much longer stay in individual ports, and in a Eastern Mediterranean Cruise that is what you are there for, or at least we were.

 

 

My husband and I have been on 2 Royal Caribbean cruises that were wonderful. The service was incredible. It was like staying at a 5 star hotel. MSC did not live up to that quality of service. We chose this cruise based on itinerary and time availability. We had a great time, and under the exact same circumstances we would take it again. However if we were given a choice between another MSC cruise and another line for similar itineraries we would most likely choose the other line. MSC has some more work to do before it reaches the same level of service as the other lines.

 

 

For information on the ports please see my post in the Europe section of Cruise Critics Boards

[darmanad]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. As with sex, there is no such thing as a "bad" cruise. But it sounds as if this came close. Only 4 hours in each port?

ps. For future reference, almost every other cruise line offers at least as good an experience as does Royal Caribbean.

[caviargal]

ps. For future reference, almost every other cruise line offers at least as good an experience as does Royal Caribbean.

 

I do not agree as I think RCI offers a great mass market cruise experience. IMHO, the others (Princess, HAL, NCL) do not come close.

[boten]

I just think our paths didn't cross on that cruise :confused:. You didn't miss any IMPORTANT part of the announcements, just some minor details.