What are your favorite things about MSC?

[scpirate]

1 pizza 

2 gelato I ate 2 a day

3 shows 

4 open air seating on the back of the ship..we sat out there for hours.

5 really beautiful ship.i didn't explore as much as I would like due to mobility issues.hope to do more in August.

6 we are not gamblers but the casino put a little change back in my pocket the 2 times i played the slots.cant say that about my other cruises.

7 the gelato.i never got past hazelnut and coconut.except for the last sea day they were out and they handed me mango.which I didn't like.

[George C]

We just got off seaside yacht club , you are totally spoiled from embarking to disembarking. 

Pizza is by far the best 

Entertainment was a pleasant surprise, some great music in yacht club and other venues , really enjoyed the performers in all venues , not as good as  rccl but better than most.  

Edited December 8, 2019 by George C

[CruisinMaterial]

The Best Things I've found in the Seaside and Meraviglia Cruises I've taken (2 with MSC so far):

 

- Nightlife - Best party atmosphere at sea (especially on the Meraviglia).

- International Mix of Passengers

- Minimal announcements

- MSC for Me app! It's super handy and convenient with schedule of events, show bookings and more!

- Pizza

- Osso bucco

- Value for Money

- Entertainment Shows on Seaside - AMAZING! (Meraviglia not as good.)

 

MSC Seaside was my 45th and Meraviglia was my 47th cruise overall!

Edited December 8, 2019 by CruisinMaterial

[Match Game 72]

We have cruised in Fantastica on Divina and Seaside and Sinfonia in the Med.

We love their price value for our family of three. Kids, even a teen, is fairly inexpensive to add to a booking. And the teen club is a tremendous amount of fun.

 

I liked that our Caribbean MSC experience made us comfortable to book with them in Europe. After 3 cruises, we know the level of service to expect and it suits us nicely.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Match Game 72

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I've only sailed in Yacht Club and only on Seaside.  MSC really gets the ship within a ship concept.  Love the complete daily newspaper of my choice.  Love the snacks at no charge in the mini bar.  Love the live music in the Topsail Lounge.  Breakfast and lunch up on the pool deck.  All the butlers work together like a well-oiled machine and they remember you from previous cruises.  I asked for a lounger on my balcony and it arrived within a few minutes.  Try that on Celebrity.  They'll tell you it's a fire hazard or some such nonsense.  Even on a balcony that's three times the size of the one I had on Seaside.  MSC seems to be in the business of saying yes to customers.  And they seem to be interested in what customers want.  It's a very refreshing experience.

[George C]

I agree with our friend happy cruiser , we have sailed in suites on Hal, rccl and celebrity. MSC is definitely best value , we really enjoyed the music. My only issue is I wish cabin was a little bigger, it’s about same size as celebrity sky suites on older ships but much smaller than full suites on rccl and Hal. But other perks make up for this. 

[wetcoast]

-Great value, last cruise was 50% of a similar NCL cruise

-Their Premium Plus Beverage Package includes room service drinks, as well as everything inside your mini bar

-In the Caribbean they alternate itineraries, so if you go B2B you'll see different ports 

-The "MSC for me" app is great, tons of information available

-Reasonably priced internet package

-All the ships ive looked into, have an indoor pool with retractable roof for those cool days

-And of course, the best Pizza ive had outside of Italy!

[Maikell]

Our first cruise was with rc 4 years ago. 
We were very pleased with the allure of the seas. 
We are a young family (at this moment, mom/dad 29 years old, and the kids 5 years old) we searched for a cruiseline for the whole family. 
The food, drinks and the entertaiment, it was all very good. 
But the service on board was all very exaggerated. 
the staff were constantly around you with a smile that was fake to have a chat because it was necessary. 
It is policy, we know that but it makes the American cruise ugly. 
How can you live with such fakeness in your life as a guest?  

We have therefore started looking for a shipping company that suits us better. 

MSC is that in all areas. There is no American fakeness here, but European sobriety where the staff will help you if you ask for it. 
What you see is what you get and for a good price with kids sail free. 
The kidsclubs are amazing with a full entertaiment program based on family cruisers!
Add to that the frantic European design of the ships and MSC can no longer fail in our opinion. 

European style cruising is so much more fun, relaxed and laid back, that we will skip the American style cruising with there outrageous guests. 
The most of them are never statisfied what turns out in a policy on there schips where everything is fake. 
It has nothing to do with hospitality anymore, cruise MSC and you will see what hospitality is. 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Maikell

[Homosassa]

5 hours ago, Maikell said:

Our first cruise was with rc 4 years ago. 
We were very pleased with the allure of the seas. 
We are a young family (at this moment, mom/dad 29 years old, and the kids 5 years old) we searched for a cruiseline for the whole family. 
The food, drinks and the entertaiment, it was all very good. 
But the service on board was all very exaggerated. 
the staff were constantly around you with a smile that was fake to have a chat because it was necessary. 
It is policy, we know that but it makes the American cruise ugly. 
How can you live with such fakeness in your life as a guest?  

We have therefore started looking for a shipping company that suits us better. 

MSC is that in all areas. There is no American fakeness here, but European sobriety where the staff will help you if you ask for it. 
What you see is what you get and for a good price with kids sail free. 
The kidsclubs are amazing with a full entertaiment program based on family cruisers!
Add to that the frantic European design of the ships and MSC can no longer fail in our opinion. 

European style cruising is so much more fun, relaxed and laid back, that we will skip the American style cruising with there outrageous guests. 
The most of them are never statisfied what turns out in a policy on there schips where everything is fake. 
It has nothing to do with hospitality anymore, cruise MSC and you will see what hospitality is. 

Interesting that you posted this about the smarmy service on Royal Caribbean (also occurs on Carnival and NCL).

 

Unfortunately, for those North Americans that have only cruised the big three bottom tier line (the three mentioned above) and that is their standard for cruising. Read the other threads on this forum, some constantly complain about the "bad" service on MSC.

 

I just booked my third cruise on MSC last night. My travel agent knows that I am a experienced cruiser and land traveler. After booking, he asked me about my opinion on MSC service. I said what you said about the more laid back service that is not the annoying in your face constant questions and fake concern of some US lines.

 

He told me that his company has received news from MSC Corporate that stated they were trying to bring the service on the ships out of US ports into line with the low end service model that some US cruisers think should be the standard.

 

I told him I thought that was a bad decision. 

 

Why do the expectations of less well traveled cruisers become the goal of MSC?  MSC is an Italian cruise line that many like as is. No change should be made just because a ship is home ported in North America.

 

Can you imagine the complaints if the NCL, Carnival, or Royal Caribbean cruisers booked a cruise on one of these three lines that left out of a European or Asian port and they found out the entire cruise experience was changed to meet the customs  of the European  or Asian port? 

[jhaagens]

They're a business. I'm not sure it's all that odd for a business to adjust their product to the market they want to sell it to.

[Kmkub]

6 hours ago, Maikell said:

 n board was all very exaggerated. 
the staff were constantly around you with a smile that was fake to have a chat because it was necessary. 
It is policy, we know that but it makes the American cruise ugly. 
How can you live with such fakeness in your life as a guest?  
 

We hate that. When we saw all the negative reviews on MSC, complaints about portions being too small and the staff not wanting to know how your day in port was...

 

We were thrilled. I hate pretend chat. Friendly is fine, but I don't want to tell the wait staff about my day and they don't want to hear it.

Our first MSC cruise in 37 days....  can't wait!

 

49 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

 

 

He told me that his company has received news from MSC Corporate that stated they were trying to bring the service on the ships out of US ports into line with the low end service model that some US cruisers think should be the standard.

 

I told him I thought that was a bad decision.  

+1. We chose MSC for this cruise specifically because they are more realistic in how staff/guests should interact. It's a welcome change for us.

 

 

[Nunagoras]

Many thanks to all of you whom find really what is the product differentiation MSC represents on the cruise market! Me too; I'm on the likes of those whom think MSC should remain what it has been for those years at least since 2007 when I first cruised with them!... Of course I don't like that fake friendliness of some workers (not all) on the American lines. And I like to not have all that product up sell they do constantly on those American ships!...

 

But I can understand some complaints from the service consistency perspective; and that is the largest MSC negative. They change things constantly and change it from region to region, ship to ship and sometimes sailing to sailing in a way that sometimes makes me to think they are not the same business from year to year... TBHH: If MSC wants to succeed: Keep the very Italian look and feel of their ships, service and hospitality and that so called relaxed elegance... And let the service consistency to go up, so that the experience can please the most.

 

MSC seems clearly more upscale than it really is by the design of the ships and the way they do things... They just need somewhat a more global thinking and understanding of what to say "yes" when it is reasonable to a client represents on the creation of real value, even for the shareholders not only now, but at the long run. Come the good stuff, and the people will absolutely come back and pay more to do that!...

 

Meanwhile: Best cleanliness of the seas; best decoration of seas; best pizza of seas... And best coffee of seas; best non alcoholic cocktails of seas... And best gelato of seas!...

 

Have a nice day!...

[shipgeeks]

We, too, are glad to again be reminded that the service on MSC is more discreet and less jokey.  I don't think dinner is enhanced by magic tricks!

I am reminded of our first Cunard cruise.  The first night, our waiter introduced himself, and asked if we had any special needs. He took our orders.  We hardly ever noticed him again, but everything arrived as it should, almost magically.  Certainly he was there if we had questions or concerns, but he didn't intrude.

It makes me sad to read complaints that MSC crew don't kid around "like they should".

It is these differences (for the better) that are drawing us to MSC.

[shipgeeks]

Kmcub, are you sailing on Seaside on January 18?  (You noted 37 days til sailing.)  That will be the second week of our B2B.  Nice to know there will be like-minded people aboard!

Are you on your roll call?  Meet & greet?

[Gallivanting Souls]

On 12/3/2019 at 11:40 AM, jdvmd said:

Seems like we are always hearing about the negative things. How about a thread that talks about positivity?

 

I sailed last month on the Seaside. Beautiful ship. Found so many innovative things onboard. I have been on about 80 cruises, all the lines.

 

A few of my favorite things:

*The self-serve dispensers for soft drinks, beer and red and white wine at the buffet.

Are these dispensers only for those with a drink package? We will be having our first cruise soon on the Davina. TIA

 

[Kmkub]

11 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

Kmcub, are you sailing on Seaside on January 18?  (You noted 37 days til sailing.)  That will be the second week of our B2B.  Nice to know there will be like-minded people aboard!

Are you on your roll call?  Meet & greet?

We will be on Divina for 11 days. We will be in Panama for our 10th wedding anniversary.

[Tapi]

We are a family with small children, so some of the top things we like have to do with MSC’s offerings for kids.

 

- Frequent (and real) Kids Sail Free promotions.

- Kids program and facilities (my kids have sailed on Royal, Disney, Carnival, Holland, and MSC, and they prefer MSC by a landslide). 
- Pools and water parks with temperature controlled water. 
 

In addition to that:

 

- Very affordable suites with a nice list of perks (and you don’t have to be in the Yacht Club (and accordingly pay more) to enjoy “the suite life”. What we’ve paid for an Aurea suite on MSC is what we’ve paid for a standard cabin with zero perks on other mainstream cruise lines.

- International mix of passengers. This is one of the things that I absolutely love about MSC and which makes me overlook the negatives. 
- Beauitful ships. MSC may offer affordable prices, but they don’t sacrifice aesthetics because of that. 
- MSC’s partnership with Cirque du Soleil. Some of the best entertainment we’ve seen at sea.

- Itineraries and destinations, specially in the Mediterranean, where MSC has a year round presence. This translates into flexibility and better pricing, not being forced to sail during a small high season window in the middle of the summer.
 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Tapi

[Homosassa]

14 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

 

 

. BHH: If MSC wants to succeed: Keep the very Italian look and feel of their ships, service and hospitality and that so called relaxed elegance... And let the service consistency to go up, so that the experience can please the most.

 

MSC seems clearly more upscale than it really is by the design of the ships and the way they do things... They just need somewhat a more global thinking and understanding of what to say "yes" when it is reasonable to a client represents on the creation of real value, even for the shareholders not only now, but at the long run. Come the good stuff, and the people will absolutely come back and pay more to do that!...

 

 

I agreed with everything in your post. 

 

MSC needs to stop pandering to the US low end cruise market passengers' limited cruise experiences and realized that there are US passengers that are dismayed by the "Carnivalization" of some of the lines in their corporate holdings and would find find that MSC  does offer more of the little touches that used to be on those lines.

[goaliemn]

I love yacht club.

The attention to detail everywhere on the ship is amazing. It's so clean, yet you don't see tons of cleaning people


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[jdvmd]

10 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

 

If you don’t have a drink package, you still swipe your card to be charged. That said, I am currently on the Meraviglia and they do not have so Seaside may be the only one that has.

[perakcruiser]

I thought about this question a couple of days.

 

Is it the Pizza and Pasta combined with MSCs very attractive prices?

 

Is it that MSC loves my two kids more than any other cruise line? 

 

Very good arguments, but at the end it is maybe as simple as this: I don´t want a boat that is full of Malaysians (yes, possible with cruise lines over here), also don´t want a boat that is full of Americans, also don´t want a boat that is full of Germans and so on. I like the athmosphere that the whole world is on this cruise and everybody enjoys it. 

[GOLDENBONNY]

I choose MSC for best shows, italian food , and fun around the ship. Right now I really hate all this "carnivalization " of MSC and I really hope they will stop doing it . MSC had face and we loved it. If I want Carnival or Celebrity I will book cruise with them. 

[Maikell]

3 hours ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

I choose MSC for best shows, italian food , and fun around the ship. Right now I really hate all this "carnivalization " of MSC and I really hope they will stop doing it . MSC had face and we loved it. If I want Carnival or Celebrity I will book cruise with them. 

 

I disagree.

 

I dont see any carnivalisation on MSC. It is not to compare en they do things the other way arround. Thats what most american cruisers dont like. They want the way they like or how they are used too by the american ships. Thats a shame because they keep complain and MSC want to be a succes on the American market.

 

MSC tried some other way to statisfy the american guest. But on a way i have never seen before, take some things from a american ship (example the promenade) and make it a classy thing with European roots. 

 

I can make a list with examples but the core is; Bring something the americans are used too in a classy European style; partys, dinner, design, service, private island or packages.. Name it! Thats no carnivalisation!

 

But they american cruiser, they love the fake ship service and dont like a other experience than that. Take it or leave the european style cruising. What you see is what get and that is one thing that most American guests cant handle.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Maikell