Our Poesia Cruise Experience - September 2018

[kodesthemoose]

thanks for sharing, Bea - looks like an interesting itinerary (more so if you've never been to those ports, I guess!)

[CruiseIreland]

I thought I'd better get cracking on it, seeing as you asked me (I hadn't intended to write a report - so this is especially for you :*); I think you'll be off, yourself, soon. :rolleyes:

Aw, shucks Bea! Thanks a mill!:hearteyes:;p :hearteyes::*

We're heading off on Monday 24th. Looking forward to it as we need the break, from workmen etc. Renovations nearly done. We'll leave a key and hope all is magically finished while we're on Magnifica.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise, Bea. Ken

[Beamafar]

Hope you have as good a cruise as we did, Ken. Bon Voyage! :) Looking forward to reading of your experience. ;)

[sidari]

Hi Bea ... As you may recall we sailed on Poesia from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale, to date it is still our favourite ship with a great sunbathing area at the back of the disco, plus the Buffet is just upstairs.

[Beamafar]

Hi Dave ... I was trying to figure out when you're heading off so I could wish you & Kerry 'Bon Voyage'! I thought it was this weekend? :confused:

 

We had access to the Top 16, which we really enjoyed. There was a lad from Cuba - his first MSC contract - who looked after us really well by checking every so often to see if we needed drinks/water. The guy that relieved him wasn't as attentive, though.

 

I always find it 'interesting' that people have favourite ships - I don't. They're all pretty much the same to me - except Meraviglia, which was very different. I'm not a fan of the layout in the main part of the ship, but the YC area is the best we've experienced. It's the experience onboard that stands out and we certainly had an outstanding experience onboard Poesia. :)

 

By the way ... I don't know if you spotted it, but Martin (Fostelo) posted that Captain Scala has confirmed on Instagram that he'll be on Armonia from December. You had mentioned this before. We're on Armonia in January, so looking forward to experiencing a sailing with him.

[Beamafar]

A couple of things I omitted to mention which I'll add here, after which I'm going to post photos of the daily planners (as requested elsewhere) and some of the menus and dishes we had.

 

In Mykonos, both Costa and Celebrity dropped anchor, but we berthed. There was a public bus stop (price €1.60) or the Seabus (glass-bottomed boat) for €2 each way. We purchased return tickets for €8 (for 2) and received 3 sets each of return tickets. MSC charged €6.99 pp for unlimited journeys.

 

In Sarande, we dropped anchor, so it was a tender boat service across. We received Priority tickets on account of being Black Card members (I'm assuming this as it's one of the perks, I don't know if Aurea gets them?)

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Day 1

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Day 2

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Day 3

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Day 4

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Day 5

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Day 6

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Day 7

 

 

 

 

 

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[drsel]

Thanks again Bea, you are the best

[Beamafar]

Thanks again Bea, you are the best

 

Just paying it forward, Dr - but thanks all the same. :)

[sidari]

Hi Bea ... Been a busy day here and tonight at the F1 GP, Captain Scala told me on FB a few weeks ago that he was headed to Armonia after I asked if he was going to Divina.

[robc1972]

Was on this cruise in July and first MSC, waiters in the dining room weren't the best, bartenders didn't seem to know where anything was behind the bars like it was their first cruise. Boarding was a bit of a cluster f compared to how smooth it seems to be on Royal and Carnival.

 

The boat itself was very nice, cabins a bit small compared to Royal and Carnival but not too bad.

Overall I wouldn't go out of my way to book another MSC or recommend them unless it was a great itinerary and price.

[Beamafar]

Hi Bea ... Been a busy day here and tonight at the F1 GP, Captain Scala told me on FB a few weeks ago that he was headed to Armonia after I asked if he was going to Divina.

 

Hope you're having a ball!

 

Yeah ... you didn't say at the time who'd told you that Scala was going to be on Armonia. I'm hoping he'll be taking over on Meraviglia, too, when she heads stateside. He seems to be used by MSC on US based ships - especially ones new to the region.

[Beamafar]

Was on this cruise in July and first MSC, waiters in the dining room weren't the best, bartenders didn't seem to know where anything was behind the bars like it was their first cruise. Boarding was a bit of a cluster f compared to how smooth it seems to be on Royal and Carnival.

 

The boat itself was very nice, cabins a bit small compared to Royal and Carnival but not too bad.

Overall I wouldn't go out of my way to book another MSC or recommend them unless it was a great itinerary and price.

 

Sorry to hear you didn't have as good a time as we did. MSC is not everyone's cup of tea.

[Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin]

Thanks for the write-up, Bea. We are taking our first MSC cruise in May on the Bellissima, 7 day Med out of Genoa. I am looking forward to checking out MSC, as I know it will be a different, but hopefully, wonderful experience for us! We matched to Black, so trying to get "smart" on what the perks are, so I love reading through CC posts! Glad you had a good experience on Poesia!

[Beamafar]

Thank you, H! :)

 

I hope you have a very enjoyable cruise on Bellissima. You'll get priority boarding as a Black Card member, which is one of the best of the perks (along with a complimentary meal for 2 in one of the Speciality Restaurants. We loved Butcher's Cut).

 

We were on one of Meraviglia's first sailings (Bellissima's sister ship). If you're interested, I did a 'Live from' report at the time. (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511337). You'll find photos of the menu and what we chose in Butcher's Cut included in the thread. Information at the time changed from hour to hour and day to day, so I was playing catch-up for a lot of the time. Hopefully MSC will have everything sorted by the time you sail.

[carcajousdegagne]

Hi,

Thanks for the very good reviews. We will sail on the Poesia in october.

Does Poesia have a water slide?

[Beamafar]

I believe the water slides are only the larger-class ships.

 

Later, I'll be posting photos of some lunch & dinner menus and some of the choices we made.

[Beamafar]

So ... here are some lunch menus (I rarely ordered from them, instead opting for the MDR buffet offerings).

 

This was the embarkation lunch menu. Apologies for the quality, the print was very faint on the menus

 

 

 

Stuffed eggs and sardine salad:

 

 

 

 

 

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[Beamafar]

Here are some of the dinner menus:

 

 

Here's the fillet of cod (which I didn't care for)

 

 

 

 

Prime rib (which was really good!)

 

 

Gateau Opera (which seems to be a big hit with posters on here. It's coffee-flavoured - so not for me)

 

 

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