Americans Cruising with MSC in Europe: Questions

[Fairway Cruiser]

I am considering booking a cruise out of Barcelona on the new MSC Seaview, June of 2019. I have cruised a total of 15 times, all on mainstream , American based lines, such as NCL, Carnival, etc., in the Caribbean, Hawaii, , Mexico, etc. The price on the Seaview is so much less expensive than the NCL Epic, and Oasis of the Seas, also sailing from Barcelona basically to the same ports.

 

I have several questions: 1. We speak only English. Will we be able to communicate with waiters, room stewards, etc.?

2. Is English general spoken by the Cruise, directors and entertainment staff? 3. What about English speaking tour guides for excursions? Will I need Euro's, instead of US Dollars. for tips, misc. purchases off the ship, etc? 4. If shore excursions are booked through the ship, do they guarantee to wait for you, if the tour is late in returning. 5. I would assume that the majority of the passengers would be European. But, will there be dozens of US citizens, or hundreds, on any particular cruise? 6. I would expect the food to be mostly Italian and other med. area type foods. A couple of my traveling party may not be quite as comfortable in these foods. Will there be an adequate variety of American dishes for them to choose from? 7. If I book through MSC directly, do they offer any air and /or hotel packages? I don't see anything about that on their website.

8. Finally, why are the MSC cruises so much less expensive, especially on a brand new ship?

 

Thank you for any help/advise you can provide!

[Hey Tina]

Yes, yes, yes/tips can be in your currency of choice, purchases need to be in the local currency, yes, probably not hundreds, probably not, idk, idk

[pappahbuttz]

Hello from Canada. I have done a cruise in the past with Royal Caribbean from Barcelona and LOVED it. I am booked this June on the Seaview from Messina Italy, and the 2nd stop is Barcelona. It is a bit different that people get on and off at each port as apposed to all on and off at the same place, but I think that this is nice so it less of a zoo at one time. I honestly don't think language will be an issue as there will more than likely be many people both crew and passengers that speak .English. This is my first MSC cruise, but on RC tours were offered in different languages and I found all the guides spoke English very well and were easy to understand .

[perakcruiser]

1. We speak only English. Will we be able to communicate with waiters, room stewards, etc.?

-> English is the main language.

 

2. Is English general spoken by the Cruise, directors and entertainment staff?

-> yes

3. What about English speaking tour guides for excursions?

-> English is the main languague for excursions.

Will I need Euro's, instead of US Dollars.

-> yes, of cause, the USD is accepted nowhere. In non-EUR countries you can sometimes pay with Euros but don´t count on it.

4. If shore excursions are booked through the ship, do they guarantee to wait for you, if the tour is late in returning.

-> yes.

5. I would assume that the majority of the passengers would be European. But, will there be dozens of US citizens, or hundreds, on any particular cruise?

-> Hard to say. On a particular cruise there can be much more African guests than from the US. Definitely there are more Chinese, Japanese, Koreans than US. As nationalities are usually grouped together in the Main Dining Room you can count the US pax on board :)

6. I would expect the food to be mostly Italian and other med. area type foods. A couple of my traveling party may not be quite as comfortable in these foods. Will there be an adequate variety of American dishes for them to choose from?

-> I am not sure what you mean with American dishes. But there is always a wide choice of "worldwide dishes" like "grilled chicken breast with fries" and so on.

 

7 I don´t know.

 

8. Finally, why are the MSC cruises so much less expensive, especially on a brand new ship?

-> That is their business model. I guess it has something to do with the fact that they are a family owned company and not listed on the stock market.

[Fairway Cruiser]

Thanks for the replies. Any others?

[Bonnieri]

We cruised with MSC Divina in the Med 3 years ago and absolutely loved it. Language wasn’t an issue at all. We booked our cruise through BJS and I am sure they can book your air.

 

 

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[kernow]

Pretty much all of the staff will speak and understand reasonable English, senior staff have good English. Cruise director/ entertainment team speak in multiple languages with English being one of them. Announcements are in multiple languages, English will be there but may not be the first one depending on the nationalities of passengers onboard. Americans will be in the minority but there will be others onboard along with Brits and Irish, they seem to sit English speaking guests together in the MDR.

 

Dollars are not used in Europe, you will need Euros.

 

Not really sure what you mean by American food, I posted the menus on Magnifica (sailing from UK and Germany) on a thread yeasterday, med cruises will have something similar.

 

Ship excursions will wait for you. They run excursions according to language eg there will be one bus for English speaking guests, one for Spanish etc. Your guide will speak in English.

 

Julie

[Pluto_fan]

We are an American family and have cruised with MSC in Europe three times (eastern Med, western Med, and Norway), and are looking forward to our fourth next month. The prior posters have given you correct information.

 

Yes, MSC staff will be able to communicate with you in English.

Yes, you will need Euros--get them from an ATM at the airport when you arrive.

We have never taken ship's excursions, so I won't comment on that.

There will be dozens to hundreds of other US citizens aboard (as well as many more English speakers from other countries).

Several recent cruisers, including Kernow who just posted here, have posted menus so your party can get a preview of the food.

We have not booked through MSC so I won't comment on that.

I don't have an answer to the pricing question; we have found MSC to be much more similar than different to our other cruising experiences (NCL and Celebrity).

 

I think the biggest differences you might find could actually be in the difference between cruising in the Caribbean vs cruising in the Mediterranean (rather than differences in cruise lines). I think of cruising in the Caribbean as more "vacationing"--relaxing on the beach, fun in the sun type of stuff. But for us, cruising in Europe is more about "traveling"--exploring new places, cultures, history, etc. That may or may not be true for you; just food for thought. Happy cruising!

[Skier52]

I am considering booking a cruise out of Barcelona on the new MSC Seaview, June of 2019. I have cruised a total of 15 times, all on mainstream , American based lines, such as NCL, Carnival, etc., in the Caribbean, Hawaii, , Mexico, etc. The price on the Seaview is so much less expensive than the NCL Epic, and Oasis of the Seas, also sailing from Barcelona basically to the same ports.

 

I have several questions: 1. We speak only English. Will we be able to communicate with waiters, room stewards, etc.?

Yes, the main language used by crew to converse with each other is English. so they will understand youu but there will be differences in the level of English from crewmember to crew member

 

 

2. Is English general spoken by the Cruise, directors and entertainment staff?

The Cruise director will be able to speak at least five languages to a good level. Most of the entertainment staff will have very good English

3. What about English speaking tour guides for excursions?

Tour guides will have good English although some tours may be in dual languages, eg English and French, or, English and Spanish

 

 

3.1 Will I need Euro's, instead of US Dollars. for tips, misc. purchases off the ship, etc?

 

YES

Dollars will generally NOT BE ACCEPTED for purchases ashore , (just a few individual shops may accept them , but it will be at a very disadvantageous rate.

Tips if given, and do it discreetly, will be accepted in Euro's or dollars

 

 

4. If shore excursions are booked through the ship, do they guarantee to wait for you, if the tour is late in returning.

 

yes

 

 

 

5. I would assume that the majority of the passengers would be European. But, will there be dozens of US citizens, or hundreds, on any particular cruise?

The majority will be European, and there may well be Antipodean, Japanese, S African, and of course US citizens. How many US is going to be a but I wouldn't expect hundreds

 

 

6. I would expect the food to be mostly Italian and other med. area type foods. A couple of my traveling party may not be quite as comfortable in these foods. Will there be an adequate variety of American dishes for them to choose from?

There will be a wide choice of dishes in the buffet but there may well not be a variety of 'AMERICAN' in the MDR.

The sports bar will have some American dishes

 

 

7. If I book through MSC directly, do they offer any air and /or hotel packages? I don't see anything about that on their website.

they do offer air packages on some cruises but at rates that are usually higher than can be sourced by yourself.

 

 

8. Finally, why are the MSC cruises so much less expensive, especially on a brand new ship?

Nobody knows the vagaries of the MSC business model, it's unconventional to say the least.

 

 

Thank you for any help/advise you can provide!

 

 

Pete

[OceansOfTravels]

I am excited for my Seaview cruise this summer, it will be my first cruise outside of North American waters and I am very excited. I've heard there will be a LOT of British guests who board in Barcelona, is that true or just a stereotype? I did hear that there will be many English speakers, but they are predominantly British, which I can believe.

[Traveler-14344]

We cruised with MSC a couple of times in Europe.

 

1. MSC crew and staff speak English. You will be able to communicate with wait staff and cabin stewards in English. Use simple English as most of these staff and crew don't use English as their 1st language.

 

2. English is one of the languges spoken in the cruise. Your daily bulletin will be in English. Announcements will be in multiple languages (at least 5 including English). The evening show introduction will be in multiple languages including English.

 

3. When you pick an Excursion (bought from the MSC), they would normally indicate the language of the excursion. Be sure to pick one that indicates English as the language. Sometimes they have bilingual groups (like English and French or English and Spanish). You will need Euro to make local purchases in the ports your visit. However, for tips in the ship, US$ will be gladly accepted.

 

4. Excursions booked through the ship are guaranteed. During our stop in Le Havre, the ship waited 40 mins longer for the excursion that went to Paris. I think the ship had enough time to make to the next port (Southampton) the following day.

 

5. The will be U.S. citizens and other English speaking passengers (British, Canadians, Australians, etc.). However, the number will not be that many. In the MDR, they will try to seat you with another English speaking couple (or group). Most passengers will be cordial to one another but there will be the odd occasion of somebody jumping the line, or exhibiting manners not normal to North American etiquette.

 

6. One of the things we noticed as far as food is concerned, wherever we docked, there is a 'local' food served in the buffet or MDR as well as classic/standard food such as steak, roast, grilled, potatoes (normal food you would order at most family dining restaurant in the U.S.).

 

7. I don't think MSC books packages (cruise+flight+hotels). Our first cruise with MSC was booked with a Travel Agent and somewhat packaged (cruise+flight+hotel we picked). In our other cruise with MSC, we booked our cruise directly on their website then booked our flights and hotel separately.

 

If you want a package, I suggest to use a TA that is knowledgeable with MSC. They could also arrange transfers between airport to port or airport to hotel.

 

8. I don't know why MSC is so much less expensive. It was the price that made us booked our cruise with them. As already mentioned in this post, there are always passengers embarking and disembarking at every port. I don't know if this factors into their price. And also, there will be a lot of families (with younger children).

 

Our cruise experience with MSC is great. We are cruising with them on the Seaside (sister ship of Seaview) later this month.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise.

[AmoMondo]

I am excited for my Seaview cruise this summer, it will be my first cruise outside of North American waters and I am very excited. I've heard there will be a LOT of British guests who board in Barcelona, is that true or just a stereotype? I did hear that there will be many English speakers, but they are predominantly British, which I can believe.

 

Unless things have changed dramatically in the last 18 months, I would not say there would be lots of Brits onboard. Their popularity has probably expanded in the U.K. over the years but many still choose RCCL, P&O,Cunard etc.

 

There will be a lot of Italians, Germans and Spanish though.

 

I’ll be boarding my 22nd cruise at the weekend and hVe never embarked at Barcelona, but mainly Genoa for Western Med. MSC for some reason used to have Irish passengers joining at Barcelona.

 

I think it’s best to only expect some not lots of English speakers and from many nationalities.

[Nunagoras]

Almost all has been said by my predecessor posters. Let me to just add some 2 observations to complete information from them:

 

> MSC highly discourages personal tipping of any sort for both crew and tour leaders, other than the the automatically applied to your account Service Charge which acts as a tip or gratuity. If you wish to give something extra do it in a very discreet fashion so not to put in risk the work contract of the individual in cause.

 

> MSC has a somewhat different price scheme than all the other mainstream cruise lines. On one hand you are expected to pay for water in the MDR (actually US passengers have it free of charge as an offer), on the other hand they will rarely give you on board credit that usually can go against gratuities... Summarising: Final cost considering, and apart some beginning or end of season cruises I don't find MSC to be so far cheaper than their competitors now as they used to be in the not so long past from where I stand here in Portugal. Maybe; they are just living temporarily at a hard discount for the US market promotionally so that they try to consolidate their trademark and product name there? That might explain something about their current price scheme!

 

Have a nice day!...

[Fairway Cruiser]

Thanks you to all who have posted comments!

[Homosassa]

When my daughter cruised out of Naples last summer, there were only four couples from North America on board.