MSC Fantasia - Christmas maiden cruise. Lengthy review.

[Mattsudds]

They say Christmas is a time to count your blessings, and this year I was certainly counting mine. Counting them because I was to take my first ever Christmas cruise, and it was to be on a brand new ship on its maiden voyage. Moreover this was to be just 3 weeks after I had also been lucky enough to get on the maiden voyage of another ship, the Celebrity Solstice.

 

Before I get too far into this review, let me just note that it reflects only my opinion and experience, which is based on around 40 cruises with absolutely no brand loyalty. This was my 2nd MSC cruise, and I was giving them a second change after a less than impressive first impression on the Melody. Other people on the same cruise will have different views and different experiences. This review is so long because I wanted to cover both what I found positive and what I found negative. I hope I’ve remembered all the important stuff but please ask. I can’t find my deckplan at present to check the room names so apologies for any typos in that respect. I will post this to 3 different groups I am a member of, for no reason other than they all have different membership and I'm interest in the different groups thoughts.

 

Lets start with the good stuff. The ship, the look and the idea. I love the idea of MSC, the notion of a strong, independent competitor to the big conglomerates, which keeps everyone on their toes. I love holidays in Italy (and business trips) and Italian food. I haven’t sailed, but really liked the looks of MSC Musica and Orchestra and sisters particularly. So I set out on this trip willing MSC to impress, wanting and hoping they would and could.

 

And the first impression is indeed something, watching this towering ship reversing into Genoa harbour, what you notice is how much attention MSC have paid to try to give what would otherwise be a big boxy ship. The front has some curves, and the forward treatment of the balconies tries to accentuate this. Similarly they have tried to add some curves to a large boxy stern, and expanded the funnel casing to make for an imposing looking vessel. To see the difference see the early renderings of the similar sized but hideous looking NCL F3 ship.

 

So far so good. Off to the terminal for check in. Genoa has a delightful stazione maritima, from which I assume we will depart but its not to be. The Fantasia is too big for this though and so was berthed at the adjoining ferry terminal which is also used for cruise ships. Even then she sticks perhaps some 20m beyond the end of the quay.

 

Tickets said check in at 13:30, and MSC connecting coaches had been timed to arrive during the early afternoon. The ship was coming alongside by around 12:00 but as we all got to the terminal the doors were locked and a large line began to form. There was no obvious place to check in labelled luggage, but eventually some porters began to move through the large and rapidly growing line. The doors to the terminal did not open until 14:00 and this is when the real trouble started. MSC had made almost no attempt to organise any form of queuing system. As a consequence when the door opened, a crowd of by then over 1,500 people surged through the single door towards check in. There was pushing and shoving and eventually no more movement was possible. MSC staff from the ship seem to provide their own check in facilities and there were, I estimate 20 check in desks. They were expecting over 3,000 passengers. The pushing, jostling and shoving continued. At least one elderly lady fainted in the queue. Every 30 mins or so there would be some half hearted chanting and a call for MSC management to manage the queue – throughout this MSC staff were totally absent. Eventually after 3 1/2hrs I reached the front of the queue. Passengers were still checking in as I went to dinner that night at 20:30. In short this was an abject shambles with totally inadequate staff numbers and an absence of anyone in authority from MSC to manage the situation. Those with Express, MSC Club or Yacht Club guests were all in the same queue with no priority.

 

Still we have dinner and a cruise to look forward to, bad though it was lets just ‘move on’ from the check in. Before proceeding to dinner, let me take you through a tour of the ship and my impressions.

 

Big ships have a pretty standard layout these days with passenger accommodation effectively between two sets of public spaces high and low. The MSC Fantasia is no different in this respect and follows the standard pattern, namely in the lower public rooms there is a theatre forward, dining is aft and spaces to help lubricate the wallet in between.

 

Upto its also standard with Spa, solarium, pool and buffet, together with some posh cabins.

 

The spaces themselves. The teatro Avanguardia is a very impressive space. MSC have gone for an unusual layout with a relatively slim balcony but a full with lower level. The décor is red with grey blocks. In shape, they reminded me of the Bilbao Guggenheim museum.

 

Moving aft from the theatre on deck 6 (the lower entry level) is the Casino, followed by the Piazza Del Giorno. This is a themed Italian Piazza with an ‘artificial sky’. There are some shops and a Cigar club off here. Further aft still is the atrium space, with a bar, further shops and the atrium with glass lifts. Aft again is the upper level of the Red Velvet dining room – the larger of the two space. Followed by kitchen and then all the way aft, the Cercho d’Oro second dining room.

 

The upper level of the theatre, moving aft has the Transatlantico bar. Designed to remind you of transatlantic liners, the pillars are ships bows, the lights are portholes and the tables look like bollards or capstans. Aft again are the Manhattan Jazz Bar. A Dark space, illuminated by vivid striped patterns inset into bars and walls, this is quite cosy. To port here is a Sports bar complete with a motorbike.

 

Moving further aft is again the atrium, surrounded by more shops and a Cappuccino bar. Then one reaches the Tuscan Bar and dining, Tex Mex restaurant, Photo Gallery and finally all the way aft the Insolito lounge.

 

Up top are the Aurea Spa, the Solarium, the pool area, The Zanzibar and Africana buffets, the Liquid Disco and Virtual World.

 

There are lots of pictures doing the rounds on the internet so rather than post even more let me just give an overall impression of the décor and layout first. MSC have tried quite hard not to have the feeling of one long corridor or rooms with no real definition of entry and exit to any, which some large ships can suffer. They have done this by offsetting and obscuring the entrances to the spaces, which means sometimes as you try to proceed fore and aft, its not that obvious which way to head. It makes for discreet spaces but poor navigation.

 

As for the Décor. I mentioned at the start that I really was attracted to the idea of MSC Fantasia. But the actual implementation is really quite awful. For instance the Transatlantico bar, all the décor features are in shiny plastic. In the Piazza del Giorno, they are amateurishly painted bricks and similar effects. The atrium is 1980s bling Joan Collins. The Tuscan Bar and the Tex Mex are pale imitations. I was trying to think what the standard of finish reminded me of and then it came to me, my student hall of residence (not the crystals and marble stuff but the rest). It looks for all the world like some amateurs watched a home decorating programme and tried to cheaply create particular effects or ideas. Much of the furniture is colourful but seems to be covered in artificial plastic when the effect sought was, I suspect, leather.

 

I didn’t see the MSC yacht club, but it does occupy the only forward facing public space. And they have also reserved the entire sun deck above the bridge for yacht club guests.

 

But allow me if you will to reserve the greatest decorative scorn for the main restaurants and buffet, and for one simple reason. They are all utterly inadequate to the task in hand. The main restaurants are so unbearably crowded with tables and chairs that passengers must arrive and depart in formation in order to be able to access the seats. Many chairs from one table have their backs a matter or millimetres away from adjoining tables. Those with fixed banquettes and tables are in some cases so close together and tight in that we were joined at my table by a gentleman of no more than average size who had needed reseating because he simply couldn’t fit in to his chair. And a crowded dining room has a disastrous effect on dining room service. In some parts waiters simply cannot reach to put your plate in front of you. They cannot get round to take even your order. My seat was such that I needed to be first to arrive at any of the 3 adjoining tables and never had a single dish placed in front of me, I always had to reach across others to be handed it or hand back the empties.

 

And now for more scorn for the buffet space. I know buffets on large ships can be difficult, but never have I seen one so designed to be overcrowded and to separate parties from each other by virtue of getting lost. There are numerous ‘African’ screens separating tables and counters. The counters are arranged in a bizarre set of sometimes duplicating, sometimes unique, sometimes grouped, sometimes down a side alley fashion with no obvious logic. There are woefully inadequate seating places for the passenger loads and essentially this is best avoided at busy times.

 

This brings me to a related point. In summer, this ship will operate very post intensive itineraries, sometimes with a port everyday. As such most passengers will be ashore for lunch and presumably they anticipate this will ‘manage’ the crowds by itinerary. Should you wish to dine here in the evening though, plan very carefully for on many nights, the buffet simply wasn’t open. Whilst other lines operate these things almost as a 24hr food court, MSC work on very short, defined opening hours. At the appointed hour food is simply taken away whether there remain customers or not. At breakfast as it finishes (09:30 or 10:00) staff run around and lock away the coffee machines and take the cups back to the kitchens bang on closing time. Miss it miss out.

 

But its not all bad. I do really admire the way MSC handles the ‘extra tarrif’ dining venues. They are priced, fully acknowledging that you have paid for dinner in the main restaurant and reflect only a nominal extra. For instance in L’Etoile French gourmet restaurant starters are 3euro and mains around 9. In Tex Mex its 2 and 4-8 respectively. This is a much more reasonable approach than some other lines.

 

But surely on an Italian line the food in the main restaurant is so good you wouldn’t want to go elsewhere? As mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoy Italian food, but the service, appearance and overall quality control meant that dinner varied, in my view from Mediocre to downright poor. Some examples, almost every night hot entrees had to be sent back because they arrived cold. Some of the quality control on vegetables or cured meat appetizers was very poor (Parma ham that had dried out like cardboard, green or black tomatoes). Main course presentation was school dinners at best, although there were some moments (perhaps 3 out of 8) with decent taste. I mentioned that the dining room layout makes service difficult, and for some of the normal things the waiters simply gave up. Bread is a one shot deal, on your plate when you enter the dining room. MSC is famous for its ‘Ice water’ stinginess (I got it 2 nights out of 8, but asked on all of them and bought another drink too…). Parmesan only arrived with pasta dishes if especially asked for. Black Pepper – never. Deserts frequently tasted of artificial cream. Dinner never took less than 2hrs 15 mins. But after 1hr 40 they usually turned the dining room lights up to glare, to hurry you along – and noone was eating slowly it was entirely the slow service.

 

I wasn’t expecting a traditional Christmas dinner in the British sense (why should I on an Italian ship) but was disappointed that Christmas wasn’t marked at dinner at all. There was a Christmas eve dinner which was a tasteless shambles. It took place whilst alongside in Alexandria. So many people were on excursions returning late that they changed it to a free seating basis, with the result that despite our entire, now good friends, table being onboard together, we couldn’t sit together. Service took just short of 3hrs with the waiter ordering us out because people were waiting – before we had received our deserts. The waiter totally mixed up the order and for those who didn’t order every course, they waited over 90mins between 2 of them.

 

But slow service wasn’t limited to the dining room. I ordered a Cappuccino from the Coffee bar. I was one of 3 customers at the time. There were 4 staff. The drink took 15 mins. I ordered a drink by the pool, the waiter went away and came back 15 mins later to ask if I would like a drink – I said yes, the one I had ordered with him, he had forgotten. In the interim he has simply walked the length of the pool and not served anyone else…

 

Entertainment – Well the theatre is lovely but for me the lack of live music really takes away from the shows. The onboard ‘animation’ was the usual children’s party for grown ups stuff.

 

We encountered several periods of heavy seas on the trip, with the worst being one night when the Captain felt compelled to come over the tannoy and explain that the ship was ‘in no danger but it is windy and rough’as we passed through the Aegean during a period of Violent storm force 11 winds + gusts. Despite that, we ploughed on at almost 20 knots, and in my view as a pretty experienced sailor, the ship handled the seas remarkably well.

 

The ships accounting system seemed to be letting them down. 40% of the items on my bill were wrong, and there were prolonged discussions over 170euros worth of wine which I was charged for but hadn’t bought. Eventually resolved but it took 3 days and 4 visits to the office.

 

The Excursion staff were the most obstreperous and unhelpful people I’ve come across on a cruise. I wanted to change the excursion I was on, as per the T+C and well before the deadline. And they refused to allow me and gave me a dressing down like a naughty child ‘what if everyone wanted to’. I calmly and politely but firmly protested, pointed to the terms and conditions of sale written on the ticket, the sales leaflet and the daily programme to no avail. I asked politely to see a manager who was immediately deemed ‘unavailable’. In the end I went to the Pursers office and told them I would simply call by credit card company and report MSC for breach of contract and they eventually relented. One shouldn’t have to do that.

 

But this brings me to an overall point with MSC. No matter what you asked the staff, no matter how you asked, if you wanted something in any way different to what you were being given, the answer was ‘is no possible’. If you wanted to point out that something wasn’t working, the answer was ‘we have 3,000 other passengers’. In short the company, the ship and the shoreside operation simply cannot cope with a ship this big. The staff were rude and unhelpful. The food was poor – mediocre. And MSC have become the nickel and dime champions – as well as the famous water policy, they now want to charge you for a newspaper (I just would quite like a ‘Britain today’ like other lines do for free) and the best one of all, no maps are given out for ports of call but you can purchase a copy at reception.

 

With this ship, MSC clearly went looking at Carnival and said ‘lets us have a fun/ theme ship’ but did it on the cheap, they went to the accountants and said can we build it and the answer was yes but squeeze them in and milk them. There is simply less included in an MSC cruise fare than other lines (including NCL). The service was so poor that for the first time in my 40 cruises I asked for the service charge to be removed from my account and tipped directly just the 2 people who provided me directly with good service.

 

With this cruise I was giving MSC a second chance, I was feeling lucky and full of hope. I’m afraid there is very unlikely to be a 3rd chance. Personally I can't help hoping that MSC decide to focus on their core business of moving containers around the world and sell the passenger side to a company than knows how to deal with people...

[eroller]

Very interesting review. From the pictures I have seen of the ship interiors I think your descriptions are spot on. Overall I get the feeling of "cheapness" when viewing the pictures. In a nutshell, MSC has become too big too quickly and they cannot handle it. I hope their outcome will not duplicate Festival Cruises which also became too big too fast.

I'm sorry to hear about the food and service issues. Some things you can let slide because a ship is new, but rude service and an attitude of unwillingness is not one of them. Clearly MSC Cruises have major training issues, at least with MSC FANTASIA.

 

Between your report and the pictures I have seen of FANTASIA, I think I can mark this ship off my "must sail" list. Why waste my $$ when there are simply better choices? I will get on her eventually, but I'm in no rush.

 

Thanks for the review.

 

Ernie

[wexgal1]

Oh Dear, We have just booked our first cruise ever on the 16th Jan from Barcelona on the Fantasia, Which trip did u take as I understood it took its maiden voyage on the 18th Dec, we are booked on a 11 nite trip and decided on this one as it was a brand new ship, so it looks as if we will be disapointed, any good news about the cruise at all, we go to the canaries,madeira and casablanca:confused:

[Mattsudds]

Oh Dear, We have just booked our first cruise ever on the 16th Jan from Barcelona on the Fantasia, Which trip did u take as I understood it took its maiden voyage on the 18th Dec, we are booked on a 11 nite trip and decided on this one as it was a brand new ship, so it looks as if we will be disapointed, any good news about the cruise at all, we go to the canaries,madeira and casablanca:confused:

I took the Dec 20th - 28th (i.e. just home) trip that called at Rhodes, Alexandria, Messina and Naples. Dec 18th was the naming, followed by a short overnight trip (which I thought was for travel press etc but happy to be corrected) to Genoa where the maiden voyage proper began.

 

Good bits I think I mentioned, the approach to the extra tariff restaurants, and the food in them. It was good (although not outstanding and no match for similar venues on other lines) and reasonably priced.

 

Also good - Cabin steward. Totally unobtrusive and seemingly psychic - go out 5 mins and room is done sort of thing. He was one of the people I did tip!

 

Also good - what I reported were about the experience. I didn't notice any 'teething issues' with the ship, which being new might have been expected. I.e. there were no plumbing problems I noticed, or lifts, the kind of things I have noticed on other maidens - although none of them were serious.

 

I did forget in the original post to add that there was absolutely nothing about this being the maiden voyage, no celebration or recognition or gift to the passengers (souvenirs etc) which other lines do.

 

I also forgot to mention that the English daily programme is frequently wrong. In particular check the showtimes against other nationalities, which were very often different (is it really that difficult to correctly 'translate' a time?...). We also had Thursday followed by Thursday.

 

The poor girl who had to do the disembarkation talk was practically lynched - I think she had been sent because she was a native english speaker but she basically didn't know the answers to any questions and gave the good impression that she had never been to Genoa before when asked to advise on onward transport. During her talk and several other places, I overheard the phrase 'on a proper cruiseline' more times than I can remember. It must be really disheartening for the staff but then they are the ones making the mess...

 

 

If you've been on MSC before and know what to expect, don't compare it to other cruises and approach it positively I hope you'll still have a good time and make the best of it. I can only report what I experienced though...

[Sharron and Mark]

They say Christmas is a time to count your blessings, and this year I was certainly counting mine. Counting them because I was to take my first ever Christmas cruise, and it was to be on a brand new ship on its maiden voyage. Moreover this was to be just 3 weeks after I had also been lucky enough to get on the maiden voyage of another ship, the Celebrity Solstice.

 

Before I get too far into this review, let me just note that it reflects only my opinion and experience, which is based on around 40 cruises with absolutely no brand loyalty. This was my 2nd MSC cruise, and I was giving them a second change after a less than impressive first impression on the Melody. Other people on the same cruise will have different views and different experiences. This review is so long because I wanted to cover both what I found positive and what I found negative. I hope I’ve remembered all the important stuff but please ask. I can’t find my deckplan at present to check the room names so apologies for any typos in that respect. I will post this to 3 different groups I am a member of, for no reason other than they all have different membership and I'm interest in the different groups thoughts.

 

Lets start with the good stuff. The ship, the look and the idea. I love the idea of MSC, the notion of a strong, independent competitor to the big conglomerates, which keeps everyone on their toes. I love holidays in Italy (and business trips) and Italian food. I haven’t sailed, but really liked the looks of MSC Musica and Orchestra and sisters particularly. So I set out on this trip willing MSC to impress, wanting and hoping they would and could.

 

And the first impression is indeed something, watching this towering ship reversing into Genoa harbour, what you notice is how much attention MSC have paid to try to give what would otherwise be a big boxy ship. The front has some curves, and the forward treatment of the balconies tries to accentuate this. Similarly they have tried to add some curves to a large boxy stern, and expanded the funnel casing to make for an imposing looking vessel. To see the difference see the early renderings of the similar sized but hideous looking NCL F3 ship.

 

So far so good. Off to the terminal for check in. Genoa has a delightful stazione maritima, from which I assume we will depart but its not to be. The Fantasia is too big for this though and so was berthed at the adjoining ferry terminal which is also used for cruise ships. Even then she sticks perhaps some 20m beyond the end of the quay.

 

Tickets said check in at 13:30, and MSC connecting coaches had been timed to arrive during the early afternoon. The ship was coming alongside by around 12:00 but as we all got to the terminal the doors were locked and a large line began to form. There was no obvious place to check in labelled luggage, but eventually some porters began to move through the large and rapidly growing line. The doors to the terminal did not open until 14:00 and this is when the real trouble started. MSC had made almost no attempt to organise any form of queuing system. As a consequence when the door opened, a crowd of by then over 1,500 people surged through the single door towards check in. There was pushing and shoving and eventually no more movement was possible. MSC staff from the ship seem to provide their own check in facilities and there were, I estimate 20 check in desks. They were expecting over 3,000 passengers. The pushing, jostling and shoving continued. At least one elderly lady fainted in the queue. Every 30 mins or so there would be some half hearted chanting and a call for MSC management to manage the queue – throughout this MSC staff were totally absent. Eventually after 3 1/2hrs I reached the front of the queue. Passengers were still checking in as I went to dinner that night at 20:30. In short this was an abject shambles with totally inadequate staff numbers and an absence of anyone in authority from MSC to manage the situation. Those with Express, MSC Club or Yacht Club guests were all in the same queue with no priority.

 

Still we have dinner and a cruise to look forward to, bad though it was lets just ‘move on’ from the check in. Before proceeding to dinner, let me take you through a tour of the ship and my impressions.

 

Big ships have a pretty standard layout these days with passenger accommodation effectively between two sets of public spaces high and low. The MSC Fantasia is no different in this respect and follows the standard pattern, namely in the lower public rooms there is a theatre forward, dining is aft and spaces to help lubricate the wallet in between.

 

Upto its also standard with Spa, solarium, pool and buffet, together with some posh cabins.

 

The spaces themselves. The teatro Avanguardia is a very impressive space. MSC have gone for an unusual layout with a relatively slim balcony but a full with lower level. The décor is red with grey blocks. In shape, they reminded me of the Bilbao Guggenheim museum.

 

Moving aft from the theatre on deck 6 (the lower entry level) is the Casino, followed by the Piazza Del Giorno. This is a themed Italian Piazza with an ‘artificial sky’. There are some shops and a Cigar club off here. Further aft still is the atrium space, with a bar, further shops and the atrium with glass lifts. Aft again is the upper level of the Red Velvet dining room – the larger of the two space. Followed by kitchen and then all the way aft, the Cercho d’Oro second dining room.

 

The upper level of the theatre, moving aft has the Transatlantico bar. Designed to remind you of transatlantic liners, the pillars are ships bows, the lights are portholes and the tables look like bollards or capstans. Aft again are the Manhattan Jazz Bar. A Dark space, illuminated by vivid striped patterns inset into bars and walls, this is quite cosy. To port here is a Sports bar complete with a motorbike.

 

Moving further aft is again the atrium, surrounded by more shops and a Cappuccino bar. Then one reaches the Tuscan Bar and dining, Tex Mex restaurant, Photo Gallery and finally all the way aft the Insolito lounge.

 

Up top are the Aurea Spa, the Solarium, the pool area, The Zanzibar and Africana buffets, the Liquid Disco and Virtual World.

 

There are lots of pictures doing the rounds on the internet so rather than post even more let me just give an overall impression of the décor and layout first. MSC have tried quite hard not to have the feeling of one long corridor or rooms with no real definition of entry and exit to any, which some large ships can suffer. They have done this by offsetting and obscuring the entrances to the spaces, which means sometimes as you try to proceed fore and aft, its not that obvious which way to head. It makes for discreet spaces but poor navigation.

 

As for the Décor. I mentioned at the start that I really was attracted to the idea of MSC Fantasia. But the actual implementation is really quite awful. For instance the Transatlantico bar, all the décor features are in shiny plastic. In the Piazza del Giorno, they are amateurishly painted bricks and similar effects. The atrium is 1980s bling Joan Collins. The Tuscan Bar and the Tex Mex are pale imitations. I was trying to think what the standard of finish reminded me of and then it came to me, my student hall of residence (not the crystals and marble stuff but the rest). It looks for all the world like some amateurs watched a home decorating programme and tried to cheaply create particular effects or ideas. Much of the furniture is colourful but seems to be covered in artificial plastic when the effect sought was, I suspect, leather.

 

I didn’t see the MSC yacht club, but it does occupy the only forward facing public space. And they have also reserved the entire sun deck above the bridge for yacht club guests.

 

But allow me if you will to reserve the greatest decorative scorn for the main restaurants and buffet, and for one simple reason. They are all utterly inadequate to the task in hand. The main restaurants are so unbearably crowded with tables and chairs that passengers must arrive and depart in formation in order to be able to access the seats. Many chairs from one table have their backs a matter or millimetres away from adjoining tables. Those with fixed banquettes and tables are in some cases so close together and tight in that we were joined at my table by a gentleman of no more than average size who had needed reseating because he simply couldn’t fit in to his chair. And a crowded dining room has a disastrous effect on dining room service. In some parts waiters simply cannot reach to put your plate in front of you. They cannot get round to take even your order. My seat was such that I needed to be first to arrive at any of the 3 adjoining tables and never had a single dish placed in front of me, I always had to reach across others to be handed it or hand back the empties.

 

And now for more scorn for the buffet space. I know buffets on large ships can be difficult, but never have I seen one so designed to be overcrowded and to separate parties from each other by virtue of getting lost. There are numerous ‘African’ screens separating tables and counters. The counters are arranged in a bizarre set of sometimes duplicating, sometimes unique, sometimes grouped, sometimes down a side alley fashion with no obvious logic. There are woefully inadequate seating places for the passenger loads and essentially this is best avoided at busy times.

 

This brings me to a related point. In summer, this ship will operate very post intensive itineraries, sometimes with a port everyday. As such most passengers will be ashore for lunch and presumably they anticipate this will ‘manage’ the crowds by itinerary. Should you wish to dine here in the evening though, plan very carefully for on many nights, the buffet simply wasn’t open. Whilst other lines operate these things almost as a 24hr food court, MSC work on very short, defined opening hours. At the appointed hour food is simply taken away whether there remain customers or not. At breakfast as it finishes (09:30 or 10:00) staff run around and lock away the coffee machines and take the cups back to the kitchens bang on closing time. Miss it miss out.

 

But its not all bad. I do really admire the way MSC handles the ‘extra tarrif’ dining venues. They are priced, fully acknowledging that you have paid for dinner in the main restaurant and reflect only a nominal extra. For instance in L’Etoile French gourmet restaurant starters are 3euro and mains around 9. In Tex Mex its 2 and 4-8 respectively. This is a much more reasonable approach than some other lines.

 

But surely on an Italian line the food in the main restaurant is so good you wouldn’t want to go elsewhere? As mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoy Italian food, but the service, appearance and overall quality control meant that dinner varied, in my view from Mediocre to downright poor. Some examples, almost every night hot entrees had to be sent back because they arrived cold. Some of the quality control on vegetables or cured meat appetizers was very poor (Parma ham that had dried out like cardboard, green or black tomatoes). Main course presentation was school dinners at best, although there were some moments (perhaps 3 out of 8) with decent taste. I mentioned that the dining room layout makes service difficult, and for some of the normal things the waiters simply gave up. Bread is a one shot deal, on your plate when you enter the dining room. MSC is famous for its ‘Ice water’ stinginess (I got it 2 nights out of 8, but asked on all of them and bought another drink too…). Parmesan only arrived with pasta dishes if especially asked for. Black Pepper – never. Deserts frequently tasted of artificial cream. Dinner never took less than 2hrs 15 mins. But after 1hr 40 they usually turned the dining room lights up to glare, to hurry you along – and noone was eating slowly it was entirely the slow service.

 

I wasn’t expecting a traditional Christmas dinner in the British sense (why should I on an Italian ship) but was disappointed that Christmas wasn’t marked at dinner at all. There was a Christmas eve dinner which was a tasteless shambles. It took place whilst alongside in Alexandria. So many people were on excursions returning late that they changed it to a free seating basis, with the result that despite our entire, now good friends, table being onboard together, we couldn’t sit together. Service took just short of 3hrs with the waiter ordering us out because people were waiting – before we had received our deserts. The waiter totally mixed up the order and for those who didn’t order every course, they waited over 90mins between 2 of them.

 

But slow service wasn’t limited to the dining room. I ordered a Cappuccino from the Coffee bar. I was one of 3 customers at the time. There were 4 staff. The drink took 15 mins. I ordered a drink by the pool, the waiter went away and came back 15 mins later to ask if I would like a drink – I said yes, the one I had ordered with him, he had forgotten. In the interim he has simply walked the length of the pool and not served anyone else…

 

Entertainment – Well the theatre is lovely but for me the lack of live music really takes away from the shows. The onboard ‘animation’ was the usual children’s party for grown ups stuff.

 

We encountered several periods of heavy seas on the trip, with the worst being one night when the Captain felt compelled to come over the tannoy and explain that the ship was ‘in no danger but it is windy and rough’as we passed through the Aegean during a period of Violent storm force 11 winds + gusts. Despite that, we ploughed on at almost 20 knots, and in my view as a pretty experienced sailor, the ship handled the seas remarkably well.

 

The ships accounting system seemed to be letting them down. 40% of the items on my bill were wrong, and there were prolonged discussions over 170euros worth of wine which I was charged for but hadn’t bought. Eventually resolved but it took 3 days and 4 visits to the office.

 

The Excursion staff were the most obstreperous and unhelpful people I’ve come across on a cruise. I wanted to change the excursion I was on, as per the T+C and well before the deadline. And they refused to allow me and gave me a dressing down like a naughty child ‘what if everyone wanted to’. I calmly and politely but firmly protested, pointed to the terms and conditions of sale written on the ticket, the sales leaflet and the daily programme to no avail. I asked politely to see a manager who was immediately deemed ‘unavailable’. In the end I went to the Pursers office and told them I would simply call by credit card company and report MSC for breach of contract and they eventually relented. One shouldn’t have to do that.

 

But this brings me to an overall point with MSC. No matter what you asked the staff, no matter how you asked, if you wanted something in any way different to what you were being given, the answer was ‘is no possible’. If you wanted to point out that something wasn’t working, the answer was ‘we have 3,000 other passengers’. In short the company, the ship and the shoreside operation simply cannot cope with a ship this big. The staff were rude and unhelpful. The food was poor – mediocre. And MSC have become the nickel and dime champions – as well as the famous water policy, they now want to charge you for a newspaper (I just would quite like a ‘Britain today’ like other lines do for free) and the best one of all, no maps are given out for ports of call but you can purchase a copy at reception.

 

With this ship, MSC clearly went looking at Carnival and said ‘lets us have a fun/ theme ship’ but did it on the cheap, they went to the accountants and said can we build it and the answer was yes but squeeze them in and milk them. There is simply less included in an MSC cruise fare than other lines (including NCL). The service was so poor that for the first time in my 40 cruises I asked for the service charge to be removed from my account and tipped directly just the 2 people who provided me directly with good service.

 

With this cruise I was giving MSC a second chance, I was feeling lucky and full of hope. I’m afraid there is very unlikely to be a 3rd chance. Personally I can't help hoping that MSC decide to focus on their core business of moving containers around the world and sell the passenger side to a company than knows how to deal with people...

 

Hi Matt

 

We were also on this cruise and think your review is spot on. This was our first ever cruise and it will probably be our last!! I just thought I would share this with you - MSC = Must Steer Clear?

[burgundy4me]

Going on my first ever cruise on the Fantasia on Jan 5th from Barcelona.

Myself, Partner and 9 and 2 year old.

So upset to read comments, feel like not going :(

Can anyone tell me of facilities for children ? Any good ?

Were there many children on board ?

[yorkshire130]

We were on the maiden voyage of this 'beautiful' ship. It was kept very clean and tidy by the staff and our cabin stewards were excellent. Beyond that, it was a disaster; from the 'mob' that was the embarkation procedure, to the rude and unhelpful (and not multi-lingual) staff, to the disembarkation across a scaffolding bridge and the chaos of unlabelled buses waiting for us! I have put a full review on the 'members reviews' section of this website and also another one on www.cruise.co.uk. There are a growing number of other reviews on this latter website. Read them all and decide just how bad this ship and the staff are!! We will certainly NEVER sail with MSC again.:mad::mad::mad:

[editor@cruisecritic]

There are a handful of Cruise Critic members who are going to informally meet onboard Fantasia next week; Heinblod has organized. Wednesday, Jan. 7 at the Cappuccino Bar, 10:30 a.m. Go here for more details: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=17505198&posted=1#post17505198.

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruisecritic.com

Cruisecritic.co.uk

 

Going on my first ever cruise on the Fantasia on Jan 5th from Barcelona.

Myself, Partner and 9 and 2 year old.

So upset to read comments, feel like not going :(

Can anyone tell me of facilities for children ? Any good ?

Were there many children on board ?

[happy1]

Couldn't help but notice more than a few similarities to the review I just posted for the Lirica. Much of what I attributed to the ship sailing above capabity (the inability to get in or out of my seat in the dining room without coordinating with other tables, my food being passed to me across several people because I was unreachable to the wait staff, etc) may just be part of the MSC experience. I too like to see competition in the industry so there are more than just a few megalines. However, if MSC does not adjust based on consumer feedback they do not have a strong future in the consumer part of this business.