Celebrity and MSC

[tcocktail]

Has anyone been on MSC cruises recently? If so how do they compare in Europe to Celebrity? Rick Sasso the prior president of Celebrity and now of MSC has stated that he is trying to improve service and food on board their ships. Does anyone know from experience if the cruise is similiar to Celebrity, food service and cleaniness?

[gracecarmo]

We sailed on the Orchestra B2B in Jan-Feb. This was in the Caribbean, but I can give you info re the ship in these waters. Europe may be different, due to different clientele.

 

The cruiseline, IMO, is a "no fillls" line. The food was good, but not excellent, just very plain. It is very Italian re the food.

The ship is very clean, but the beds are not good....especially for a ship that is only less than 2 years old.

 

We did enjoy the cruise, but it is not Celebrity in service and food.

[british betty]

I've been on Celebrity once and MSC once..(plus Princess and HAL) ... no comparison as far as I'm concerned, Celebrity wins, hands down!

[liverpoollad]

My wife & I sailed on the Poesia in Oct 08,while the ship was superb,the food was poor to average. The big problem is the lack of English speaking passengers & if you are gregarious you may have a problem,although that is not MSCs fault.

My neighbour who is an avid cruiser did warn me about MSC & has always told me Celebrity are excellent, I have taken her advice & are on the Summit on the 30th April,hope she is right.

[tcocktail]

Thank you all, I thought that maybe with Rick Sasso running this that MSC would be what Celebrity use to be like before RCCL.

 

The Summit is a great ship, I was on her to Hawaii and we had a terrific time.

 

The cruise industry is really changing not for the better.

[Schplinky]

Thanks to those posting. We have been intrigued by some MSC itineraries (different ports are always intriguing) and wondered about the onboard experience.

[mlmagic]

Yep, ditto on X...while MSC was fine...and it certainly was a nice cruise, I would go again with a good fare and a nice IT...Celebrity is just better all the way around, gotta say it...Celebrity just has that "something" in the atmosphere, etc they provide. :)

[clivep]

We found food on MSC to be similar to NCL i.e. not good for meat eaters. Not as good as RCL which in turn is not as good as Celebrity.

 

MSC (Moneygrabbing Shipping Company?) were also the worst for "nickel and diming" - if there wasn't money in it for them then they didn't want to know. Unlike the great ice cream bar on Celebrity there was no free ice cream in the buffet on MSC... you had to go out to the ice cream bar the other side of the pool and pay for it. No port maps or info on MSC unlike Celebrity which even gives local public transport info. It has even been reported that you cannot get free iced tap water in the MDR on MSC European cruises!

[CathyCruises]

Never sailed them, but we rode the airport shuttle in Venice with three nice ladies who had just disembarked and they said MSC was 'awful' and 'never again'. Don't know them personally but it will certainly encourage me to look elsewhere for my next trip!

 

Cathy

[halbfl2]

Has anyone been on MSC cruises recently? If so how do they compare in Europe to Celebrity? Rick Sasso the prior president of Celebrity and now of MSC has stated that he is trying to improve service and food on board their ships. Does anyone know from experience if the cruise is similiar to Celebrity, food service and cleaniness?

 

 

 

We were on a MSC ship in the Caribbean the end of Jan. The ship is immaculate, but fairly spartan in design. No fresh flowers anywhere, etc. The rooms are small and the beds left something to be desired. Everyone seems to complain about the food which was certainly edible, but nothing to brag about. The buffet is set up very poorly, so we ended up eating in the dining room for almost all meals. We do our own thing in Carib. ports, but I heard others complaining about the excursions because you couldn't sign up online prior to cruising. All in all, we got our moneys worth because we got such a great price and they do have some very nice itineraries. Would I sail with them again? Probably not unless it was too good to turn down. I know I wouldn't choose MSC in Europe because their passengers are mostly Europeans and I understand they make some changes (no water w/your meal in MDR) and you get really tired of all the announcements in 5 languages.

[ottawapuppy]

MSC (Moneygrabbing Shipping Company?) were also the worst for "nickel and diming" - if there wasn't money in it for them then they didn't want to know.

 

I got scared off when I read in a review (of course, it was a user review, so I took it with a grain of salt...) that the specialty restaurants are all "pay for what you order". That can rack up the charges quickly. I like the RCCL/Celebrity restaurants where you pay a cheap cover then order what you want.

 

The Italian ambiance is intriguing though and they have some great itineraries. I worry about the amount of smoking onboard.

MSC is still independent right?

 

Mike

[szdiver]

We were on the Orchestra in January for a week, and we were not happy at all with the ship, nor the crew. We were told that the crew was all new for that cruise, but that does not excuse a lot of bad attitude. We usually have a good attitude about every cruise, but there was a lot of things wrong on this cruise. It was a rock n roll cruise, and the programs put on by C@S were what really saved the cruise from being BAD! My review tells all, if you are interested. Hi Mike....

[ottawapuppy]

We were on the Orchestra in January for a week, and we were not happy at all with the ship, nor the crew. We were told that the crew was all new for that cruise, but that does not excuse a lot of bad attitude. We usually have a good attitude about every cruise, but there was a lot of things wrong on this cruise. It was a rock n roll cruise, and the programs put on by C@S were what really saved the cruise from being BAD! My review tells all, if you are interested. Hi Mike....

 

Sorry your January cruise did not go off well. I know what your cruising style is like, so if you didn't like, I doubt I would either.

I noticed you have another R&R cruise on Costa booked. Fun!

 

Mike

[willysgrandma]

I have had many complaints from MSC cruisers. Every one of those we have booked complained about the food and the staff. What they did like was that the ship was very clean and they liked the entertainment. But all of them come back with complaints about the food and say the staff is very snippy.