Costa Versus MSC, Opinions?

[PaulInPGH]

Greetings. After five straight NCL cruises, we're looking at doing something different. We're planning on heading back to the Med, hopefully this coming October, and I'm currently weighing options. While there are certainly options on lines like NCL or Royal, we're considering doing something a bit different, which has led us to look at both MSC and Costa.

 

I'd love to hear from anyone who's experienced both lines and could give us an idea of the pros and cons of each. Where are the two lines similar, and where are they different? If you had the option, which would you cruise and why?

 

Really, anything you'd like to share would be appreciated. I'm posting this in both the Costa and MSC boards to get info from both perspectives. Your feedback is much appreciated!

[mexico8]

We have taken one  MSC cruise on the Poesia a couple of years ago.    We have also cruised many of the other cruise lines and because we had enough points with NCL we got Black status with MSC that gave some nice perks.   You might check into that.

 

We were disappointed with the food on the Poesia.   Even the pizza was not very good.   There didn't appear to be much flavour in the food and the portions were small.   You could order more but then you would have to wait for the second serving.   

 

We rarely had dinner companions that spoke English so we were  a little lonely for company at all of our meals.  Other cruise lines we enjoyed talking with other passengers about the day's ports and where we went etc.   We didn't do much of that on the Poesia.  It can be a little awkward to be sitting at a table for 8 people and nobody is talking to each other because of the language problem.

 

We have booked another cruise with MSC on a different ship so we hope we enjoy that more.    You can't beat the value of MSC and we like the upcoming itinerary so we will try them again.   Was not terrible but different.   We have not cruised with Costa so can't help there.

 

 

[Epos Man]

Costa is about the same as it is italian but is owned by Carnival Cruises and I believe that the service charge you pay per day is compulsory on Costa