How could MSC improve - your perspective?

[Skipper Tim]

Let's share some positive suggestions from our individual, personal perspectives and see if there is any consensus from those on high (Mr. And Mrs MSC) looking down upon us could take away. The rules are: no shouting or spitting, commercially sensible suggestions only and make it clear whether itis a suggestion for the current fleet or potential future ships (given that we are told that the MSC Preziosa is the last of the Fantazia class).

 

My suggestion, to start us off, is for future MSC Yacht Club (only) smaller ships with itineraries of smaller ports that the post-panamax ships cannot reach. The MSC Yacht Club appears to have been a runaway success and is now established as a brand with a dedicated following. Instead of a ship within a ship, this would be a line within a line with continued mutual benefits (MSC Club etc.). Yacht Club would still exist on the current Fantasia class and possibly extended to the rest of the fleet.

 

What is your suggestion?

[Deckhandoug]

Tim, I hesitate to post, my cruise was in 2010 and much may have changed,but my main concerns are quality of food and communication with the guests regarding schedule changes.

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

The MSC web page, both the international and the different national pages must be improved. The site is certainly not up to today's standard. Some countries have online booking, others not. The translations are a disaster. That apply to the their catalogues as well. My impression is that many of the travel agents don't know the products and offerings of the line very well.

 

The MSC Club and the slow if ever cruise point adding must also be more effective and seamless. Without the need to call the line....

 

Once onboard I'm very happy with their product and after all, that's why we cruise this magnificent line. :)

[Tatka]

We only have limited experience so can point only a couple of minor things.

 

1) Food overall is good and does not need much improvement. Quality of steaks can be better though.

2) We enjoy mini-golf, and tried to play on every ship that has it including MSC Poesia. What we did not like was a waiting time to get equipment to play. Sometimes it was not available till 10 am when it was too hot.

3) On our Caribbean cruise port times were ok, but many European cruises have very short stops, not enough to explore ports.

4) We had nice Western Carib. itin, but other Carib. itins do not look exciting to us.

[Worm61]

I'd just like them to go to ports near me instead of Southampton to embark, otherwise every things fine :p

[Tatka]

NYC or Boston will be fine. :p

[moomoocow]

The only thing I would like to have improved on my recent Sinfonia cruise was times in port which would have benefitted from an extra few hours. Perhaps tailor the port times to what is available to explore in the local area. Salerno was such a short time for such a beautiful part of the world it was almost criminal people didn't get a full day to enjoy it.

 

Perhaps a few more English speaking channels on the TV for the burgeoning UK market. But apart from that I have no critique that isn't already discussed above me.

[sidari]

Food does appear to be a major concern as mentioned by Doug and in the reviews and MSC need to take a look at it, having now had two cruises with them it is 1-1, Poesia had good food while Opera we felt was below par compared to Poesia.

 

For any future new builds they need to have an extra full length deck and a deck at the Front of the ship that everyone not in the Yacht club can use and also ditch the way the lifeboats are stored on the Fantasia class. By adding an extra deck they can move the restaurant up one deck and have dare i say it a wrap around promenade!

 

Maybe a few cruises out of Liverpool ?

[AmoMondo]

Definitely the website as a few have already mentioned.

 

Sort out their admin (Club, bookings, etc). Sometimes you get an invoice when you book, sometimes you have to chase. Sometimes you get an email or letter when your final payment is due, sometimes nothing. It all just needs ro be slicker and more consistent.

 

I'd like to see more new regions added, like Australasia or Asia/Far East. Perhaps even World Cruises, were tou can book a segment - that would give more variety ro the current repo/Grand Voyage offerings.

 

Add their great a la carte restaurants to the Lirica class.

 

Finally, I'd like to see more 8-13 night cruises which include some 2 day stops at some of the great ports, so far more rime to explore and also hive you the opportunity to venture further afield and experience a place at night. Absolutely loved my first Costa Indian Ocean cruise for this reason.

[vicnkojo]

Its a great cruise line, would like to see more food options geared towards the American Market since the Divina will be coming to Florida this Fall , and to tweak the entertainment a bit , to suit as well.

[cruisetrail]

Deficiencies are quite obvious.

Posters have nailed it rather fine.

1. Lack of open space - to be improved on a newbuilt

2. Food quality and variety - dining options included in the price and extra charge restaurants

3. Spa amenities and design

[Tatka]

Its a great cruise line, would like to see more food options geared towards the American Market since the Divina will be coming to Florida this Fall , and to tweak the entertainment a bit , to suit as well.

 

We loved entertainment on Poesia. What do you think needs to be changed?

[sidari]

Deficiencies are quite obvious.

Posters have nailed it rather fine.

1. Lack of open space - to be improved on a newbuilt

2. Food quality and variety - dining options included in the price and extra charge restaurants

3. Spa amenities and design

 

 

CT ... Where did anyone say Lack of open space? I said more open space that does not imply a lack of it!

 

Where does it say Extra charge restaurants ?

 

Where does it say anything about the Spa and design ?

[Deckhandoug]

We loved entertainment on Poesia. What do you think needs to be changed?

 

The live music was quite good, very refreshing to standard fare really

[Deckhandoug]

Food does appear to be a major concern as mentioned by Doug and in the reviews and MSC need to take a look at it, having now had two cruises with them it is 1-1, Poesia had good food while Opera we felt was below par compared to Poesia.

 

For any future new builds they need to have an extra full length deck and a deck at the Front of the ship that everyone not in the Yacht club can use and also ditch the way the lifeboats are stored on the Fantasia class. By adding an extra deck they can move the restaurant up one deck and have dare i say it a wrap around promenade!

 

Maybe a few cruises out of Liverpool ?

 

Thanks for agreeing with me, a 50% approval rate on dining is unacceptable to me too

[All aboard??]

Lets see......

 

1) Larger, plusher suites on the the smaller vessels; perhaps even Mini-Yacht Clubs - Opera, Lirica, Armonia and Sinfonia could easily have a "Mini-Yacht Club added when they next in dry dock. As per Tim's thoughts; and a few of my own:

1.1) Double the size of the suites on deck 12;

1.2) Make the observation deck on deck 13 forward the sun deck for the MYC; add some whirlpools etc;

1.2) The area above the pool bar can be glassed off and the concierge lounge could be made there - so we overlook the pool.

 

I am sure that they could do something similar on the Musica Class ships as well.

 

2) Stop trying with the food and return to what it was. Although I do not find anything wrong with it at the moment, I must say that the food on the Symphony (ex Enrico Costa) was by far the best I have had on an MSC cruise; very simple Italian cooking.

 

3) Make Yacht Club fully inclusive in the other parts of the ship.

 

4) Cruises in Australasia.

 

5) World Cruise offering segments.

 

6) One thing I liked about Holland America is the fact that you can do a back to back on the same ship and the itineraries are different - I see they did that with the Fantasia this year but only for a short period. It would be nice to see this option run for an extended period.

 

Thats all for now......

[AmoMondo]

Would be delighted to see them introduce something like Costa's Samsara concept.

 

Their spas are over 2 floors with great thermal areas. Passengers in Samsara cabins can go as often as they want and have their own access. You get a few treatments included. You also have your own restaurant with healthier options but still attractive and interesting.

[All aboard??]

Would be delighted to see them introduce something like Costa's Samsara concept.

 

Their spas are over 2 floors with great thermal areas. Passengers in Samsara cabins can go as often as they want and have their own access. You get a few treatments included. You also have your own restaurant with healthier options but still attractive and interesting.

 

Working on that male masseurs...

[hummer88]

Having just finished my first cruise, I would suggest they try to become more consistent in their customer service. I found that one department had no communication with the other. Even within one department there were not sufficient notes put on my file to address any concerns. I sometimes had to ask three different people before I had someone willing to find me the answer. Otherwise my answer was just "No".

 

For example: prior to booking I ordered one beer and one soft drink package. Pre-ordered online and to be paid for on the ship. Once I got on the ship there was no record of this. To my fault, I did not print anything off to confirm. So immediately after boarding I went to guest services and spoke with a girl from the Ukraine. She should be moved to another department because her customer service sucked. Her answer was there is nothing online, too bad, there is nothing that can be done. I asked if there was any way to check into it. Her answer again was just no. The gentleman next to her was eavesdropping so I turned to him instead. He told me they have had problems with pre-bookings and he would email head office but it would unlikely they would have any other records. Without me having confirmation he said you could appreciate the fact hey just couldn't issue me the packages. He asked me to follow up with him in a few hours to see but not to hope for anything.

 

He was polite and helpful, everything but that the first person had and still I had the same result. I was much happier with the result based on the way he handled it.

 

the same agent was avoided for the rest of the trip.

[All aboard??]

He told me they have had problems with pre-bookings and he would email head office but it would unlikely they would have any other records.

 

Another issue I think they need to fix - the Hotel Manager has to run everything through Napoli first; they need to do less micro managing and give the Hotel Manager the ability to resolve issues then and there.

[Capricruiser]

I was sorry to see the elimination of the Melody - the last of MSC's "small" cruise liners. I agree with the other posters that MSC should consider a modern energy-efficient small ship build (1000-1200 passenger max) with itineraries into the smaller ports both in the Med and elsewhere.

A few two-day port calls would be nice as well. We had two days in Haifa on a recent Costa cruise and in September again on Costa we'll have two days at Istanbul (civil strife permitting).

[sthelder]

In addition to what the rest have posted, personally would like to see:

- improvement to the kids menu, more variety and healthier stuff, not fries or other fried stuff all the time

 

- stricter hygiene, esp. the use of hand cleaners

 

- more on-board entertainment activities or facilities like kids pool or rock-climbing (not my stuff, but I think younger crowd would love that)

 

- more trained waitstaff at the buffet, I got the impression that they are not as helpful as the waitstaff at the MDR, as only MDR waitstaff or room attendants are evaluated individually (by room number)

 

The last two points are minor, actually all four are more like improvements than deficiencies.

[SeaVee]

I've booked, but not yet sailed, my first MSC cruise on out of Miami...for next year, 2014. Therefore, observations are only about the booking process.

 

Web site (USA) needs much improvement, as others have mentioned. I ended up calling and booking through MSC Ft. Lauderdale based office. Booking staff was helpful and completed the booking for a cruise that was not listed on the web site because it hadn't been updated. Deposit could not be paid with DiscoverCard...only MC, Visa, or AmEx. I was encouraged to do "onlilne check-in", however when I returned to the MSC-USA site, the online check-in form was an UNSECURED web page. Being that it is requesting personal info, address, emergency contact, passport #, etc...I elected NOT to enter info onto an unsecured web page.

 

MSC needs to add a security layer to the USA web site if they want people to do online check-in!!!

[DTL]

Hi,

 

I spent few hours reading all posts about recent active topics, induced by Skipper Tim, and I have to say that I really enjoyed all comments, mostly because I was some kind of a witness how MSC evolved from cruise company with so many mistakes to serious cruise company.

My first cruise ever was in 2009. We've had 39 nights since.

 

First, I have to inform you, that from January 2014, MSC will change status, pricing and experience on almost all ships, according to what they have announced on their Italian, Austrian and German web sites. On all inside and outside staterooms, they will introduce two kind of "experience" Bella & Fantastical Experienza (different pricing) and different amenities which will be included in.

On all balcony staterooms, beside two already mentioned, there will be the third experience - Aurea Experienza which will, beside Fantastical amenities, include all drinks for meals in main restaurants (ex Cheers Package) free, and special Aurea spa package also free (thermal bath) and sundeck on Deck 18 free.

 

Yacht Club remains as extra experience.

 

Second, on our last March cruise on MSC Splendida, I spent almost an hour chatting (with some expressos) with Hotel Director, who told me that MSC is indeed planning some very innovative things in the future (without details, whatever it means). But most interesting thing is one of his sentences which I will paraphrase: " ...they (family who owns the company) has so much money that they can do whatever they like in this business. This is (cruise company) pocket money for them, because they own the second largest shipping company in the world."

I'm not an expert, and I can't tell is this true or not. But....

 

Third, I spent a lot of time on YouTube watching users' experiences of "famous" cruise lines, mostly US based. Impression?

Anything on those ships isn't so much innovative, genuine and "something special" with "wow" effect, compared to MSC.

It's always a question of value for the money, and I have to say that my impression is that if you like to cruise you first have to choose what you prefer more: itinerary (excursions, something to see or to explore), or how to indulge to yourself or your family. For us, it was always THE question.

If we prefer itinerary, small ships with much less amenities are always a better choice, than the large ones. In that case we were always very tired in the end of the day. Other option is for the people who prefer other things.

IMHO, it's not comparable in any way. So, I think that we are mixing apples and pears in these discussions.

MSC is great company within their class, maybe the best one, and maybe not. But if we compare their itineraries, amenities, food, staterooms, entertainment, drinks, service with other companies, nobody can tell that they are bad.

Yacht Club concept is the most clever idea (in business sense) in cruise business, because expenses are low, and profit is high.

This new profile and service which they want to introduce in 2014, will push boundaries further more.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[cruisetrail]

Hi,

 

MSC is great company within their class, maybe the best one, and maybe not. But if we compare their itineraries, amenities, food, staterooms, entertainment, drinks, service with other companies, nobody can tell that they are bad.

 

Yes, this what I have been doing: "compare their itineraries, amenities, food, staterooms, entertainment, drinks, service with other companies" (Celebrity and higher) - and cannot find a single reason to cruise with MSC other than price.

And even MSC low price was beaten for my next cruise.