New stuff on Poesia (just back, april 6 cruise, very nice)

[sharecruises]

Hi...ship was beautiful and sparkling clean, looks brand new

 

embarkation was the easiest ever, walk right on, we were there very early and away we go

 

Bought the prepaid wine vouchers (with a group) and bought the 10 drink coupons get 12..sweet deal

 

New stuff : they have a "winemakers" blending deal, blend your own wine to your taste, they have a lady wine expert on board (held in the wine bar, look in the paper)

 

They redid their graphics/design for the daily papers, looks better than the old "xeroxed" look they had before. A bit easier to read IMHO

 

Bought a voucher (look for when the cruise consultant is at her post by the internet cafe)....voucher was $10 - gets you $50 spending $$ on your next cruise ...pretty nice

 

I didn't go to the Baseball Greats...they were not intrusive and did not affect me, they were seated by our group at 2nd seating ...a couple of the guys in my group really enjoyed them...2 of them teamed up with 2 other guys and won the trivia contest : got baseball hats autographed by all the players. Nice little extra

 

The main bar in the Zebra has the "Alchemy" drinks...(like Carnival LOL)...great bartenders...look for the Alchemy menu : Dr Love was our fav....chocolate syrup, Baileys, Kahlua, Rum and Amerreto and cream....oh my....they have "Forty is the New Twenty">>> really all the "alchemy" drinks that Carnival charges so much for....and yes your "coupons" work for the alchemy drinks too...wow...only $7.25 per drink. MSC has to be the best for this

 

Shows were fabulous....the tenor from last year, Guisseppe, and Mima Bari the "diva" singer....plus a new Romanian sorprano (good but very very poor diction)....Mima seems to have improved her English <grin>. They had a variety of European people who can bend and twist and climb on each others shoulders...stuff you don't normally see...really cool. New : 2 lady Violinests who played along at various times

All in all I counted a total of 28 entertainers that we saw over the course of the week.

 

Best was when they sang "Time to say Goodbye" and captain, officers, chefs, etc..all filled the stage. This was held on the next to last night

 

New : Buffet is 100% better! Very tasty....fresh salad bar, fruit bar with pineapple....great rolls, pretzel rolls and such.....good pasta, pizza, "ethnic" corner was usually good too

It is open a lot of hours...very cool

 

WONDERFUL : THEY HAVE ORANGE, PINEAPPLE, CRANBERRY, AND GRAPEFRUIT JUICE 24/7...WOW> plus ice tea and water, lemons etc

 

The food at dinner was mostly good tho some whined....you have to order lots IMHO>>> order the pasta....beware of the everyday steak etc

 

Now for the bad : while they had all these drinks 24/7 they were often out of ice and/or splenda....

 

there is a certain "unhelpful" attitude on MSC : some of their people really need to get some lessons in customer service ...when asked for ice they will tell you "go to other side" >> when told the other side is also empty a buffet worker told me "Ice machine is sleeping" and walked away....OUCH

 

Our service at dinner sucked pretty much the first 2 nights....so slow, so late...but after complaining it did improve

 

The surf and turf was best I ever had : 2 huge huge lobster tails, great steak , order rare if you want medium rare

 

All in all a good cruise....the languages did not bother me, the worst was the buffet/ice service/ They run out of coffee too and should IMHO come around with a pushcart to give coffee , ice etc...but they do NOT grrr

....you can go to the back bar and ask them for ice:) I had to do that several times

 

We had captains party on dress up night, champagne, martinis, and rum? drinks and chips and other munchies. They put potato chips out a lot

 

Docking and getting on/off ship was a breeze. Very efficient this time (compared to my other trip on Poesia)

 

I have my voucher and plan to sail on Divina.

[sidari]

"Bought a voucher (look for when the cruise consultant is at her post by the internet cafe)....voucher was $10 - gets you $50 spending $$ on your next cruise ...pretty nice"

 

Sharecruises .... If the voucher is the same one they sold last November on Poesia on our TA to FLL be aware that you can only redeem it under certain conditions as we found out here in the UK when we asked about using it for either of the two cruises we have booked.

 

you either have to pay Full brochure price or the Pronto Brochure price in order for it to be accepted, i can only guess that the same applies for you ?

[sharecruises]

Hi...no they simplified it...it is good for "all" promotions, even group cruises/rates....the difference is...it is only $10 gets you $50

 

I think it used to be 10 gets you 100 or something but it was much more restrictive :) or so they said <grin>

[neptuno]

Thanks for the positive input. Come to remember, the coffee machines were down quite often on our Poesia trip as well. Oh well, not a big problem, considering Poesia is a very beautiful, well designed and generally well maintained ship. We are sailing Divina next over Christmas out of Miami. Can't wait!

[sidari]

Sharecruises ... Thanks for that Info it will be interesting to see if they do the same here in Europe.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for your comments!

[joybaby]

I agree. it was a terrific sailing. My second time on Poesia and have sailed the Opera. Never disappointed. :)

The ship is beautiful and the entertainment was outstanding.

[sthelder]

Sharecruises ... Thanks for that Info it will be interesting to see if they do the same here in Europe.

 

Agreed, if it's a straight 10 for 50 on all cruises, I would have taken it and booked my next MSC cruise.