Iona Norway Horizons and MSC comparison

[yellow-submarine]

Hi fellow cruisers,

 

Only cruised with MSC Seaside before (South-east Caribbean) but here some of our observations:

 

- Musicians are way better on Iona

- Food is is way better on MSC. The selection is fairly limited compared to MSC. I understand that the target audience is British but still, poor ingredients, some things are undercooked, one night got sick from the food. On celebration night the menu was like on any other night

- You can go to dine any time in the MDR

- The app (which is a Web page) is more limited in function (eg: no option to send messages to your family members on board, can't see ship location in the 'app')

- If you book a table in the app, that is randomly allocated. If you book in person you can ask for window tables (or nearby)

- 710 club is for 18+ only (not because of the content, I guess they just wanted to keep the kids out.) 710 club needs booking 

- Internet is good, it is provided by SpaceX Starlink. Apparently 1 hour is free but could not figure out how to activate the trial, so bought a day package for the sea day

- You can use the Internet across multiple devices just not simultaneously (logout - login) if you buy Internet for one device only

- The free to use laundry is really good just bring your own capsules. 

- The 710 club and Theatre shows are available for booking on the first day and they were all booked up for the whole week on the first day

 

 

Please find below the latest Internet prices and Horizon leaflets for the Iona.

 

Day 1:

 

[yellow-submarine]

Day 2:

[yellow-submarine]

Day 3:

 

Edited May 31 by yellow-submarine

[yellow-submarine]

Day 4:

 

[yellow-submarine]

Day 5:

[yellow-submarine]

Day 6:

 

[yellow-submarine]

Day 7:

[MyriamS]

1 hour ago, yellow-submarine said:

Hi fellow cruisers,

 

Only cruised with MSC Seaside before (South-east Caribbean) but here some of our observations:

 

- Musicians are way better on Iona

- Food is is way better on MSC. The selection is fairly limited compared to MSC. I understand that the target audience is British but still, poor ingredients, some things are undercooked, one night got sick from the food. On celebration night the menu was like on any other night

- You can go to dine any time in the MDR

- The app (which is a Web page) is more limited in function (eg: no option to send messages to your family members on board, can't see ship location in the 'app')

- If you book a table in the app, that is randomly allocated. If you book in person you can ask for window tables (or nearby)

- 710 club is for 18+ only (not because of the content, I guess they just wanted to keep the kids out.) 710 club needs booking 

- Internet is good, it is provided by SpaceX Starlink. Apparently 1 hour is free but could not figure out how to activate the trial, so bought a day package for the sea day

- You can use the Internet across multiple devices just not simultaneously (logout - login) if you buy Internet for one device only

- The free to use laundry is really good just bring your own capsules. 

- The 710 club and Theatre shows are available for booking on the first day and they were all booked up for the whole week on the first day

 

But does MSC have sticky toffee pudding? I think not! 🤣

 

Seriously, I'm always glad to read report that the food on MSC is good after reading countless reviews on how bland/inedible it is etc. I understand that cruise lines are all slightly different from each other and have different things they do more or less well, which makes me excited to try as many lines as possible. Counting down the days to our Norway trip on Iona in three weeks, then we will see how the World Europa is this winter.

[yellow-submarine]

Yes indeed, food is subjective. Some prefer English roast some the Italian cuisine. A lot depends on the available ingredients at the home ports. That MSC Seaside only embarked at Caribbean ports, the salads were alway dreadful, particularly the tomatoes were pala and tasteless. But on the other side we had a wide selection of great seafood, dragon fruits and other exotic fruits.

Also a lot depends on the chef on duty. We had change of main chef during our two weeks cruise and the change was obvious.

However the non subjective differences that MSC buffet offered more options. 

Pizzas are not comparable

Similar difference when comes to pastries and bakery stuffs.

Celebration night menu is a celebration night menu with Lobster, etc, on P&O its like any other night.

[Windsurfboy]

Thanks for publishing horizon, happy to see daily  table tennis 

[Harryjacobs]

Our next door neighbour went on a MSC trip last year after having a few P&O cruises.  They said the food was dreadful on MSC and have returned to P&O.

[showingdiva]

2 hours ago, Harryjacobs said:

Our next door neighbour went on a MSC trip last year after having a few P&O cruises.  They said the food was dreadful on MSC and have returned to P&O.

 

Whereas I have done the exact opposite, being the fussy pescatarian that I am.    But for numerous reasons, not just the food. 

 

Funny old world ....

Edited June 2 by showingdiva

[FamilyCruiserUK]

15 hours ago, Harryjacobs said:

Our next door neighbour went on a MSC trip last year after having a few P&O cruises.  They said the food was dreadful on MSC and have returned to P&O.

Totally agree. We have been on Arvia last Aug and this April on world Europa. Arvia food sooo much better by far. We dont eat sea food so found the food which was a lot of sea food on MSC not to our tastes. P&O food was good but too repetitive. However pains me to say the food on Royal Caribbean, buffet blows MSC and P&Os out of the water. More choice, more meat, more theme nights. Again i think its down to food avilable at the ports and area you are cruising.

 

[CountryStyleMe]

On 5/31/2024 at 11:20 AM, yellow-submarine said:

Hi fellow cruisers,

 

Only cruised with MSC Seaside before (South-east Caribbean) but here some of our observations:

 

- Musicians are way better on Iona

- Food is is way better on MSC. The selection is fairly limited compared to MSC. I understand that the target audience is British but still, poor ingredients, some things are undercooked, one night got sick from the food. On celebration night the menu was like on any other night

- You can go to dine any time in the MDR

- The app (which is a Web page) is more limited in function (eg: no option to send messages to your family members on board, can't see ship location in the 'app')

- If you book a table in the app, that is randomly allocated. If you book in person you can ask for window tables (or nearby)

- 710 club is for 18+ only (not because of the content, I guess they just wanted to keep the kids out.) 710 club needs booking 

- Internet is good, it is provided by SpaceX Starlink. Apparently 1 hour is free but could not figure out how to activate the trial, so bought a day package for the sea day

- You can use the Internet across multiple devices just not simultaneously (logout - login) if you buy Internet for one device only

- The free to use laundry is really good just bring your own capsules. 

- The 710 club and Theatre shows are available for booking on the first day and they were all booked up for the whole week on the first day

 

 

Please find below the latest Internet prices and Horizon leaflets for the Iona.

 

Day 1:

 

I would NOT EVER AGAIN travel with MSC Cruises not even if you paid me 1 million or 1 billion pounds after what happened to my experience with them back in June 2022. 

 

I was left in a freezing cold cabin for a week because the seal between the Balcony Cabin door and the door frame was broken and the engineer came out the 1st night and put a temporary fix on the seal and when he tried to see if the temporary fix would hold in place the fix would would break. I asked the hotel manager if the Virtuosa Cruise Ship was full and sold out and he said no, I asked to be moved due to it being freezing cold in the cabin (due to rain water and sea water coming into the cabin due to seal between the bottom of the balcony cabin door and door frame being broken) and they basically refused to move me and said the issue was not their problem. I ended up becoming seriously ill with a cold and suspected Covid on the night before arriving back into Southampton, the onboard doctor came out to  my cabin early am the morning we were due to arrive back into Southampton, took my temperature which was a little high as she thought I had a fever due to having a cold, gave me 2 paracetamols and told me to wait 2 days before doing a test and to call them with the results(I was charged £220.00 for the cabin doctor call out) I called MSC Cruises 2 days after getting home to tell them I had Covid only to be told they were aware of at least 300+ cases of covid on our cruise alone.

 

buffet food was awful and wasn't even hot (look warm at best).

 

the Chocolat Cafe and Ice Parlour in main shopping area tasted incredible and staff  in there, the shops, and the theatre staff was incredible too (rest of the ship mot so much). 

[smokey01]

On 6/2/2024 at 6:18 AM, Harryjacobs said:

Our next door neighbour went on a MSC trip last year after having a few P&O cruises.  They said the food was dreadful on MSC and have returned to P&O.

The food on our MSC cruise April 23rd was terrible. The buffet is better than P&O though in terms of way more choice but still pretty bland food. The MDR meal choices and quality were dire, but we are fussy eaters and don’t do fish/pasta so that does limit our choice.