Just to let you know about my week on Splendida

[svnet]

I have already post this on the review page, but wanted to thread it as well:

 

We are just back from our week on MSC Splendida. In spite of being winter, we loved it and had a lovely time.

 

The ship is huge and its beautiful and it shines from its cleanliness, we’ve been already in Poesia and Fantasia.

 

Loving the food, we don’t eat that much and we manage to “stay fit” just walking around the ship. ;)

 

We had our breakfasts on the buffet and went twice to breakfast in the MDR, we prefer the calmer MDR to the bustling buffet, but be aware that you can’t have proper cappuccino in the MDR :confused: – I know… amazing, right? The truth is we bought online the coffee cuddle coupons and enjoyed our cappuccinos throughout the bars and even on the buffet, but on our first MDR breakfast I thought that the cappuccino alike thing they brought us wasn’t the real thing, on our second one, we made our order and after tasting I manage to ask the waiter about it and he told us that in the MDR they don’t have the proper machine to make them, only at bars and buffet… Ok, I accept, but why not warning us when we make our order and spend our coupons?...

 

Let me tell you that the coffee cuddle package is really worth it if you love your expresso, cappuccino and so on, we can even use the coupons in the coffee frozen delights they serve (this you can’t have with your allegrissimo package), and they are truly worth it. ;) The other package we bought was the wine and water, also worth it and I believe we’ll be getting these two packages every time we cruise with MSC. (Note that the packages bought online don’t pay the 15% service charge.)

 

Our diners in the MDR were very nice and the food was proper, with just one or two “falls”. Our waiters were very nice and our 5 year old was with us all the time (except one diner) and he always ate from our menu, not the kids one – he was a hero for our head waiter. The breakfasts and lunches at the buffet were basically the same with everything that is expectable.

 

Now let me tell you something new, that I don’t know from how long MSC has been doing it, maybe some of you have seen it, but for me it was a first: Breakfast and lunch at the MDR is now complemented with buffet… (!) for us this was not good… :( I don’t know about you, but if I want buffet I go to the buffet main area on the 14th floor; Here you can also have your breakfast and lunch on the menu like before, but now you get this extra possibility and when you arrive at your table instead of giving you the menu the waiter asks if you want to go to the buffet or order from the menu. Many people might like this little extra, but it is very awkward to see people coming from the buffet with their plates full, like the buffet upstairs and so on… We went one time to lunch and two times to breakfast on the MDR and we always ordered from the menu. I asked our diner waiter about this novelty, and I believe he wasn’t very thrilled about it either.

 

Another thing that is worth to buy on the first day is the €35 package to use non-stop the F1 simulator, the 4d cinema (which is the least appealing of all, it isn’t very worth it…) and the bowling at the sports bar, my son had a blast at the bowling! :D

 

My son went a few times to the kid’s club, but he’s not very fond of it, because obviously no one speaks his language. But he loves “DoReMi” the MSC child mascot.

 

We used the indoor pool on the sea day.

We manage to have some rest, that was our main purpose by doing this winter cruise, and we enjoyed very much, my son is already a cruise fan.

 

Now the ports:

Marseille: It was our embarkation port, we arrived two days prior and manage to go to the Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica, and stroll through the vieux port and the streets with Christmas decorations. We also visited the Marseille Cathedral on Place de la Major and another lovely church that is a little bit of the touristic path, that is the Église Saint Vicent de Paul – amazing stained glass. We also had our anniversary dinner at La Table du Fort restaurant and the food was very good. We have already been to Aix-en-Provence, Cassis, and done a half-day cruise to the Calanques but these places are also worth a visit. (From the airport we used the free shuttle bus from the airport to Vitrolles train station and from there to Saint Charles station, then metro to the vieux port where was our hotel, on embarkation day we used uber to get to port (€21,25), nice and easy).

 

Genoa: We have already been to Genoa city center on a past cruise and decided to go to Portofino: We catch a train on Genoa-Principe station (walkable from port) to Santa Marguerita Ligure, went down by the sea for some pictures and then waited outside the train station we catch the bus (82) straight to Portofino (€5 return), which is very lovely, it was a beautiful sunny day, lots of nice pictures here.

 

Civitavechia: We’ve been to Rome before and didn’t do the trip there. We went to Civitavechia to some souvenir shopping and then back to the ship.

 

Palermo: First time on this port (I wasn’t very excited about this one…). We went walking to the center and see the Cathedral, then we found a free shuttle to the city center and came back using it.

 

Valletta: Very nice, our first time on this one as well. It was a bit rainy, but we went and see the city center and its charming.

 

Barcelona: Sunny day. We’ve been to Barcelona before. We didn’t take the shuttle provided from MSC (€22,50 for the 3 of us) and used the one from Port (€4 round trip - €12 for the 3 of us) This time we went on the Ramblas and saw the Barcelona Cathedral (not the Sagrada Família) and went to La Boqueria market (where my son lost his second tooth – the tooth fairy went that night aboard the ship… :) ) and also went to Barceloneta.

 

Marseille: Disembarkation day. Used uber again (€19,45) to Saint Charles Train Station. We saw lots of people walking on port and then we realized that there were shuttle buses on the end of the port.

 

One odd thing was that we never once saw our cabin steward… we saw his name on the card on our cabin and we realized he went several times a day to our cabin to “work his magic”, and I even let him a note with some things we needed, he provided… but we never saw him… this was a first for us…

 

We loved this 10 days’ vacation and it was a very nice deal we got from MSC, that has always nice prices for traveling with children. The staff on board was the nicest from our 3 times with MSC.

 

Will definitely travel with MSC again! Can’t wait to book another cruise (whatever the company)… I miss my countdown clock…

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Love2Cruz2015]

Very nice, can't wait to sail her in 3 months!

[chinita415]

Grazie mille! Good to hear about this itinerary in winter. We board at Civitavecchia on Jan 16th. Just a little over 4 weeks from now so definitely helpful.

 

I was just trying to figure out which ports need shuttles so this helps.

 

We are thinking of going to Portofino. Was thinking about Cinque Terre but too risky with the train and all.

 

Was also looking at Calanques but read there was a huge fire in September there so not sure. Might just go to Aix or another village.

 

I think we'll play it by ear depending on weather.

 

Let me see if I have more questions by looking at this thread I started.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2428260

[chinita415]

I am buying the coffee cuddle for sure. And likely the 18 coupons for drinks. Don't think we drink enough booze for more inclusive. May also buy a bottle for the room.

 

Did you buy internet?

[easyboy]

It's strange that you were unable to meet your cabin steward. But at least he catered to all your needs. '

Thanks for the feedback.

[Oak Hill Cruisers]

Good review!

 

We just got off today in Barcelona. Embarkation & disembarkation was a snap -- owing to the bus stop nature of this cruise with PAX getting on & off in every port.

 

Ship was spic & span & decor was very swank & tasteful.

 

We were warned about folks crowding the buffet lines and all, but we found that the cutting in line we saw was not more that we've seen on other cruise lines.

 

One curious observation was that in the male public rest rooms that were used, there were no urinals. Not a big deal, really, except if you needed to use the facilities for #2 and had to put up with spatter on the seat and all over the floor. Yuck!

 

No house orchestra but that made for some awesome music tailored to the shows, mostly dancing, singing & lots of acrobats & contortionists.

 

Dozens & dozens of kids and toddlers. Adorable.

 

But we had a great cruise and would gladly book again.

[svnet]

I am buying the coffee cuddle for sure. And likely the 18 coupons for drinks. Don't think we drink enough booze for more inclusive. May also buy a bottle for the room.

 

Did you buy internet?

 

No, we didn't buy internet. I had plenty of books downloaded on my Ipad and we used Wi-Fi spots whenever in port (in Valletta, the tourist ministry has a Wi-Fi spot just a few meters outside of the elevator)

[svnet]

Good review!

 

We just got off today in Barcelona. Embarkation & disembarkation was a snap -- owing to the bus stop nature of this cruise with PAX getting on & off in every port.

 

Ship was spic & span & decor was very swank & tasteful.

 

We were warned about folks crowding the buffet lines and all, but we found that the cutting in line we saw was not more that we've seen on other cruise lines.

 

One curious observation was that in the male public rest rooms that were used, there were no urinals. Not a big deal, really, except if you needed to use the facilities for #2 and had to put up with spatter on the seat and all over the floor. Yuck!

 

No house orchestra but that made for some awesome music tailored to the shows, mostly dancing, singing & lots of acrobats & contortionists.

 

Dozens & dozens of kids and toddlers. Adorable.

 

But we had a great cruise and would gladly book again.

 

Yes... I forgot to mention the shows...

We were on second seating (20:45) so we went to the show at 19:15.

We went everyday, except once, and we enjoyed all of it.

One of the other great advantages cruises have is that we can take our kid with us to every show, with no age restriction, and this doesn't happen "on land"...

[CoupleUK]

We've just got off Splendida (Dec 18th).

 

This was our first MSC cruise; tempted by the Black Card Status Match.

 

Have to say that we are very "undecided" about MSC; but we have 22 nights coming on Fantasia in Jan and then 14 nights YC back on Splendida in Jan 2018 so we will see how things go.

 

My cruise critic review should be live in a day or two.

 

The MASSIVE plus we enjoyed on the cruise was the service; it was EXCEPTIONAL.

 

Sadly, there isnt too much else I could praise as being above average.

 

The dining room food was luke warm every night and if I get offered Veal again I will scream.

 

Where was the CHOICE and VARIETY?

 

I can cope with only having a choice from 2 starters, 1 salad, 2 pasta and 3 main courses as it takes me ages to choose anyway.

 

The problem was the portion sizes were miniscule (which meant we did actually order a starter, salad, pasta and a main with lots of bread rolls).

 

The staff in the dining room were great but the food was sadly lacking.

 

The upstairs buffet was really good and looked good too; more of a restaurant feel instead of the school canteen look on Royals windjammer.

 

The buffet food was quite varied but again sadly lacking in heat (but if they keep it too hot it just burns so not much they can do I guess).

 

We only struggled to find a table once and again the staff were excellent.

 

The main theatre shows IMO were an absolute joke !!!

 

Each lasted around 30 minutes (occasionally 45) but the only thing which distinguished one show from another was the recorded music and the dancers clothes changing - EVERYTHING ELSE was the same.

 

I dont mind watching 2 women bend themselves around one another for half an hour but I don't really want to see it every night for 7 nights - the same with the aerial artists and the acrobats. Each of them appeared EVERY boring night, surrounded by amateurish dancers.

 

I have never encountered a Cruise Director with so little charisma either; they might as well have used a cardboard cutout and a recording for his multi-lingual speeches which just blended into each other.

 

I need to have internet access while Im away for work. The "streaming" package never managed to stream anything (and didnt work at all anywhere near our cabin). It was worse than ship internet back in the early days of the facility.

 

The various public bars were tacky! A whole bar coloured orange, another 95% purple; what were they thinking, I thought Italians were supposed to be stylish.

 

I know it seems I have a lot to "whinge" about but on first impressions the experience was just missing something.

 

The lower cruise cost and vastly cheaper drinks, tours and extras compared to Royals spiralling crazy pricing is the one thing which stood out among very few positives for us.

 

Did I mention that the service was EXCEPTIONAL though.

[peteukmcr]

We've just got off Splendida (Dec 18th).

 

This was our first MSC cruise; tempted by the Black Card Status Match.

 

Have to say that we are very "undecided" about MSC; but we have 22 nights coming on Fantasia in Jan and then 14 nights YC back on Splendida in Jan 2018 so we will see how things go.

 

My cruise critic review should be live in a day or two.

 

The MASSIVE plus we enjoyed on the cruise was the service; it was EXCEPTIONAL.

 

Sadly, there isnt too much else I could praise as being above average.

 

The dining room food was luke warm every night and if I get offered Veal again I will scream.

 

Where was the CHOICE and VARIETY?

 

I can cope with only having a choice from 2 starters, 1 salad, 2 pasta and 3 main courses as it takes me ages to choose anyway.

 

The problem was the portion sizes were miniscule (which meant we did actually order a starter, salad, pasta and a main with lots of bread rolls).

 

The staff in the dining room were great but the food was sadly lacking.

 

The upstairs buffet was really good and looked good too; more of a restaurant feel instead of the school canteen look on Royals windjammer.

 

The buffet food was quite varied but again sadly lacking in heat (but if they keep it too hot it just burns so not much they can do I guess).

 

We only struggled to find a table once and again the staff were excellent.

 

The main theatre shows IMO were an absolute joke !!!

 

Each lasted around 30 minutes (occasionally 45) but the only thing which distinguished one show from another was the recorded music and the dancers clothes changing - EVERYTHING ELSE was the same.

 

I dont mind watching 2 women bend themselves around one another for half an hour but I don't really want to see it every night for 7 nights - the same with the aerial artists and the acrobats. Each of them appeared EVERY boring night, surrounded by amateurish dancers.

 

I have never encountered a Cruise Director with so little charisma either; they might as well have used a cardboard cutout and a recording for his multi-lingual speeches which just blended into each other.

 

I need to have internet access while Im away for work. The "streaming" package never managed to stream anything (and didnt work at all anywhere near our cabin). It was worse than ship internet back in the early days of the facility.

 

The various public bars were tacky! A whole bar coloured orange, another 95% purple; what were they thinking, I thought Italians were supposed to be stylish.

 

I know it seems I have a lot to "whinge" about but on first impressions the experience was just missing something.

 

The lower cruise cost and vastly cheaper drinks, tours and extras compared to Royals spiralling crazy pricing is the one thing which stood out among very few positives for us.

 

Did I mention that the service was EXCEPTIONAL though.

It seems you had a different experience than we did on our 1st MSC sailing on Splendida. We found the internet access fine, the service fantastic, the food portions adequate, without repeated offerings of veal.

 

Admittedly the buffet offerings were not to the standard of other lines, but having experienced the latest offering from RCI, MSC is just as good, and in some areas better IMHO. The fact that there are 2 full bars in the buffet offering a full range of alcoholic and speciality coffees with table service is far superior than RCI (we have sailed 12 years exclusively with RCI so can compare over a range of their ships).

 

We are not a big fans of the theatre offerings on any ship, so 30 mins for us is just about right. As for the colour scheme, we thoroughly enjoyed the variety, especially La Prua Piano bar, the Aft Bar and L'Enoteca wine bar.

 

The flow from one venue to another was exceptional compared to other cruise ship designs where there is a definite need to go up and down stairs to reach venues.

 

The two venues you refer to (orange Disco) and Purple Jazz Bar we found quite refreshing :D To be honest when in the disco, the orange is not that obvious due to the low light.

 

Anyway we're off on her sister ship (Fantasia) in 73 days and looking forward to it as I agree RCI prices are now stupid and I'm not prepared to pay them for the reduction in quality of food and increase in prices for drinks.

[SunnydayKim]

Thank you for your review of the Splendida! We are taking her in June and it will be our first MSC cruise! We are also taking our 6 year old son, so the tips on the kids club & other activities with children was definitely welcomed!

 

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise!

 

Kim