MSC is comparable to....

[rpruzinsky]

It doesn't. We used to think Carnival was the bottom of the barrel. After one MSC cruise, MSC quickly replaced it.

 

Honestly, my wife and I took 5 cruises last year. 3 on Carnival and 2 on Royal Carribbean. We have one planned on the Divina in October and are looking forward to it as a completely new experience. Honestly, Carnival has completely stepped up their service, food, etc. in comparison at least to RCCL who continued to disappoint us after trying them again twice this year. If MSC is half as good as Carnival has been to us this past year then there is nothing to worry about. As for RCCL, well...that's another story. If they get their standards back up a little bit we may consider going back on RCCL but not until we hear better reviews.

 

My opinion is: If you look for bad things you'll find bad things in most cases, but when you're not looking for bad things and they continously show up at multiple customer service points through out the cruise, it's time to consider changing. Of course, where else can you get 7 days worth of lodging, three complete meals, all you can eat buffets, etc. for somewhere between 269.00 and 469.00 for the week depending on the cabin you select. :-) That tells me you shouldn't really expect a gourmet dinner for the price but if you do get one or two, hey..that's an added bonus LOL. Good Luck on your future sailings.

[neptuno]

MSC USA Divina sailing out of Miami will eat Carnival's lunch. MSC's pricing is so attractive that Carnival cannot come close, especially with a newer ship. Divina sails for half the cost of Breeze. But recently Celebrity has offered some great pricing too. We booked Reflection for roughly the same price we were quoted for Divina. So it looks like MSC will be raising their prices in the near future. Even though we are in no hurry to sail Divina a third time, we can recommend her to anyone to sail at least once.

[Typhoon1]

MSC USA Divina sailing out of Miami will eat Carnival's lunch. MSC's pricing is so attractive that Carnival cannot come close, especially with a newer ship. Divina sails for half the cost of Breeze. But recently Celebrity has offered some great pricing too. We booked Reflection for roughly the same price we were quoted for Divina. So it looks like MSC will be raising their prices in the near future. Even though we are in no hurry to sail Divina a third time, we can recommend her to anyone to sail at least once.

 

Pricing is about all the Divina had to offer.

 

We still wouldn't recommend her to anyone. Once was enough. You get what you pay for.

[The_Big_M]

You get what you pay for.

 

Really? Then how come people can pay differing amounts - sometimes double - for the same cabin. Which means the rest of the onboard facilities, entertainment, dining and so on are also the same.

 

:confused:

[Typhoon1]

Really? Then how come people can pay differing amounts - sometimes double - for the same cabin. Which means the rest of the onboard facilities, entertainment, dining and so on are also the same.

 

:confused:

 

We'd gladly pay more for a better cruise experience than the Divina has to offer.

 

Just the facts. Once was enough.

[The_Big_M]

We'd gladly pay more for a better cruise experience than the Divina has to offer.

 

Just the facts. Once was enough.

 

Just saying you can pay more or less. It doesn't correlate to your experience being better or worse - unless you psych yourself to believe that.

[moomoocow]

We'd gladly pay more for a better cruise experience than the Divina has to offer.

 

Just the facts. Once was enough.

 

And yet you continue to haunt the board like a jilted ex?

 

If once was enough for you, and you've said your piece then it's really time to build a bridge don't you think?

[American Bear]

I strongly suggest you consider the Yacht Club. The service and amenities are found only on other luxury lines at half the price.

 

You are exactly correct!

Even in the Yacht Club, the Divina delivers the 'Best Entertainment Value At Sea'!

[American Bear]

Rather than rely on the feedback from a handful of individuals, you may get a better idea of what other Cruise Critic members think of MSC by looking at this link to the Cruise Critic "Cruisers' Choice Poll" (all time for overall quality). It's a mathematical compilation of about 125,000 cruise reviews that have been published by CC. You can also sort the results for various aspects, e.g., dining, service, entertainment, etc

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberpoll_all.cfm?rating=Overall&sort=Highest

 

Or you can take a cruise on the ship like we recently did, and find out for yourself why the Divina is the 'Best Entertainment Value At Sea'!

[American Bear]

We'd gladly pay more for a better cruise experience than the Divina has to offer.

 

Just the facts. Once was enough.

 

 

Oh stop your nonsense, the youtube videos of your charter show everyone having a great time in what was a crowded 'Meat Market'! :eek:

[American Bear]

Pricing is about all the Divina had to offer.

 

We still wouldn't recommend her to anyone. Once was enough. You get what you pay for.

 

 

And what you're paying for is the 'Best Entertainment Value At Sea'!

You just can't admit it was you Charter that sucked, not the ship!

The first part of any recovery is admitting the truth, your Charter Company blew it! And you're still living in Denial!

Again, look at the youtube videos posted about your charter!

There were all types on our cruise;), and all had a great time!

Edited May 18, 2014 by American Bear

[American Bear]

Many reasonable people would conclude that a mathematical compilation of the numerical ratings thousands of cruisers have given to their onboard experiences might have greater relevance than a handful of anecdotes. A 4 is better than 3.9 and if each of those scores were the average result of ratings given by several thousand cruisers, it would be reasonable to conclude there was a perceived difference in quality.

 

In actual fact, however, a cursory review of the linked poll results will reveal that MSC ship scores are not only .1 behind the scores of their competitors. The difference is much greater across the board for all ships and most all aspects of the cruise experience. MSC ships are rated much lower than the competition by a significant amount. They occupy a significantly disproportionate percentage of the quintile of lowest rated ships.

Most MSC ships with 1 or 2 exceptions are rated lower than every single ship in the fleet of the mass market competition. The results are not insignificant despite the anomalies and flaws inherent in the compilation of the scores.

 

So what are you doing on the MSC forum other then to cause hate and discontent!

Go on the ship, report back your experiences, everything else is meaningless dribble !

[bobbisailsolo]

How do I close this discussion? I've gotten the feedback I was looking for. As a 60 yr old single american woman, this line does not seem a good fit for me. I'm sure it would be great for others, though. I was looking for a cross between NCL and HAL.., informal but not a party ship with an older clientele, predominately English speaking. I think I'll stick with either HAL or Princess. Thanks for all the feedback!

 

 

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[thraak]

How do I close this discussion? I've gotten the feedback I was looking for. As a 60 yr old single american woman, this line does not seem a good fit for me. I'm sure it would be great for others, though. I was looking for a cross between NCL and HAL.., informal but not a party ship with an older clientele, predominately English speaking. I think I'll stick with either HAL or Princess. Thanks for all the feedback!

 

 

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FWIW: Being an American, I enjoyed the multi-languages that were spoken on the Divina. Very polite people. I wonder if an all American clientele would be so civilized?

[bobbisailsolo]

FWIW: Being an American, I enjoyed the multi-languages that were spoken on the Divina. Very polite people. I wonder if an all American clientele would be so civilized?

 

 

Please don't misinterpret my comment. Europeans are lovely people! I would not be traveling to Europe if I did not like them! Just last summer I rented an apartment in Rome for 2 weeks and had a wonderful experience! Just not sure I would feel the same as a solo confined on a cruise ship. Different kind of experience.

 

 

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[American Bear]

Please don't misinterpret my comment. Europeans are lovely people! I would not be traveling to Europe if I did not like them! Just last summer I rented an apartment in Rome for 2 weeks and had a wonderful experience! Just not sure I would feel the same as a solo confined on a cruise ship. Different kind of experience.

 

 

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Just off the Divina after 14 days, and there were several days the Ship's Officers would meet in various lounges to dance(real dancing) and socialize, so that might be comforting to you as a single!

We also found the foreigners on the ship very welcoming, easy to talk to, and very interesting!

The shows on the Divina are great, right up there with the Oasis and Allure!

We ported several days with the new NCL Getaway, and heard from their passengers in Port mostly negative comments about the food and entertainment on the Getaway! Their opinions, not ours!

[alli]

We were next to NCL Getaway in Nassau and the music BLASTING from that ship was obnoxious! Something I would expect from Carnival. They also had some dressed characters by the gangway...reminded me of FunFreddy...

[bobbisailsolo]

Different type of crowd in the Caribbean as opposed to a 14 day European cruise. You really can't compare.

 

 

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[thraak]

Just off the Divina after 14 days, and there were several days the Ship's Officers would meet in various lounges to dance(real dancing) and socialize, so that might be comforting to you as a single!

 

We also found the foreigners on the ship very welcoming, easy to talk to, and very interesting!

 

The shows on the Divina are great, right up there with the Oasis and Allure!

 

We ported several days with the new NCL Getaway, and heard from their passengers in Port mostly negative comments about the food and entertainment on the Getaway! Their opinions, not ours!

 

 

Sailing on the Getaway on 9/27. I'll be sure to report back! Still have a lotta love for the Divina! I've also purchased their Ultimate Dining Plan so my expectations are high, to say the least.

[AmoMondo]

Different type of crowd in the Caribbean as opposed to a 14 day European cruise. You really can't compare.

 

 

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Absolutely agree with you on this. I sail solo with MSC a lot. I'm a bit younger than you, but not much. You're right in that often there are not a lot of English speaking passengers onboard on some sailings. My last was my best with an epic roll call of 35+. Was never alone unless I chose to be. That said I've had 1 or 2 with only a few at my big table of 8 and really only the crew to talk to for large parts of the day. Most fall somewhere in the middle. I speak reasonable French and Spanish so will have a go at lunch talking to others. I usually end up with Germans and being able to say "I'm a 14 year old schoolgirl" is not a lot of help!

 

I fully understand your reasons and rationale for why you feel that MSC for a European cruise wouldn't be right for you. Fortunately there are plenty of cruise lines and the knack is finding the ones that best suit you.

[neptuno]

Most Germans I have met aboard MSC speak impecable english, and those we met from east Germany were intellectuals(former soviet scientists) who were trying, and we got along well.

[AmoMondo]

Most Germans I have met aboard MSC speak impecable english, and those we met from east Germany were intellectuals(former soviet scientists) who were trying, and we got along well.

 

Was that on a US sailing by any chance? I'd imagine a high percentage choosing to travel to the US would speak English to some degree - after all the US (like the UK) is not known for having multi lingual service personnel.

 

Germans are no different from any other nationality, some are lovely people, some not. Some speak other languages, some not. Some can speak another language and may choose not to for what ever reason.