A European Resort that happens to be on a Ship

[nevis92]

Orchestra March 21-28

 

Having cruised aboard the Opera in 2005, and recently aboard the Orchestra, I feel more strongly than ever that MSC is a special cruise line that offers a unique product not offered anywhere else.

 

To the masses of grumpy retirees in South Florida, don’t waste your time on an MSC cruise. This line is not for you. To those wishing to try something different, I think you will be pleased with MSC.

 

This was the least amount we’ve ever spent for a seven day cruise and it was far and away, the most beautiful ship we’ve ever seen. Does the fact that we paid so little for our cruise cause me to overlook some faults? Perhaps. But I firmly believe our enjoyment of a cruise is tied to our expectations being met or exceeded.

 

There were numerous times during the week that I would ask my wife, “Do you feel like we are having a vacation experience in line with what we paid? Or do you feel like what we’ve been enjoying is as good or better than our past cruises on Princess, Celebrity, HAL, etc?” Every time, the answer was that the experience was equal or exceeding past cruises.

 

Is MSC perfect? No. But every criticism we have is no different than those we’ve had about past cruises. The complaints on the MSC boards are no different than on other cruise message boards. I get irritated by the negative reviews that ramble on and on and more frequently than not, come from new Cruise Critic members who are posting for the first time.

 

I think it is very important for a reviewer to make it clear to the reader what type of person is writing the review. I think it makes the observations much more meaningful. For perspective, I am 42, my DW is 44, my DS is 13, and my DD is 11. We’ve been on several cruises together as a family and usually take an annual cruise in March.

 

What turns me off about cruises are the excess and gluttony. It makes me uncomfortable to visit a poor Caribbean island and then return to the ship and gorge myself on three lobster tails and four desserts. I normally lose my appetite when I go to a buffet and see obese people with huge amounts of food piled on their plates. I’m not judging those people, I’m stating this to point out that it is something that turns me off.

 

Some of the corny antics that take place on ships I stay away from as well. We normally stick to ourselves on ships and do not participate in all the activities. I hate announcements, art auctions, bingo, belly flop contests, etc. You may be asking why we’ve taken so many cruises if so much of the cruise experience is a turn off for me? We like to cruise because we have exposed our kids to many different cultures and experiences that a week at a land based resort cannot offer. My DW likes to cruise because she gets a break from cooking and cleaning for a week. My kids like meeting other kids and love that every day is different. I like that cruises are a great value for a family four and I love nothing more than being on the open water.

 

We create our own enjoyment on vacation and don’t need to be entertained. I find it bothersome that so many cruise passengers “demand” to be entertained every minute of the voyage. If someone isn’t telling them where to go next, they feel they are being short-changed. So now that I’ve let you know a little about me, I will tell you about our week aboard the Orchestra.

 

Embarkation was a breeze. We boarded about 4pm and it was the fastest embarkation I’ve experienced and was very well organized. Our luggage arrived at our cabin within one hour. We missed the lunch buffet so unfortunately, were not able to eat until dinner which was early sitting in Villa Borghese. My first choice would have been L’Ibiscus but we had a table for four right by a window and were very happy with the location.

 

The ship is beautiful. It never felt crowded. I pay close attention to space to passenger ratios and based on this ship’s ratio, I expected it to be crowded. I attribute the numerous public spaces and wide open deck space as the reason it seemed to have fewer passengers than there actually were. We stayed away from the pool area on sea days and instead found quiet out of the way spots on deck.

 

The spa is great and there is no charge to use the beautiful steam rooms and saunas. The three spa hot tubs are also free to use. Word to the wise, with the exception of the changing rooms, the entire spa is coed. Wear your bathing suit in the sauna and steam room. The work out area is definitely too small for the number of passengers and there needs to be more equipment. I’ve been on cruises with twice the number of machines with half the passengers.

 

Dining room service was excellent early in the week and seemed to fall off later in the week. I was a bit surprised. The food in the dining room was no better and no worse than our other cruises. I expected better Italian dishes and was surprised the pasta and risotto dishes were not outstanding. We ate dinner in the dining room all nights except for two.

 

Our two nights away from the dining room were spent eating unbelievably good pizza at the pizzeria. We were served by the incredibly nice and memorable “Singing Pizza Man” who made both evenings special. The pizza at night is better than ANY pizza I’ve eaten on land. While I know that some will not agree, I could have eaten there every night. While I am on the subject, the gelato is outstanding and addictive. The coffees served at the coffee bar are also excellent. Other than that, it was standard cruise cuisine.

 

We had an obstructed ocean view cabin on deck 8. Our cabin steward was invisible and did an excellent job. We had a bowl of fruit on arrival which never got refilled. I looked at a lot of cabins throughout the week and I’m fairly certain that these are some of the largest cabins on the ship. There is definitely more cabin space than the standard balcony staterooms. For four people sharing a room, I think this is the best way to go, especially at the price. We had some rough seas and because we were mid ship, we felt very little motion. I had been reading that the aft cabins, (normally my first choice), were very rough with a lot of rattling. I definitely noticed a great deal of vibration at the aft area. Much more so than any other ship. I don’t think it is a mechanical problem, rather, it most likely is based on the design of the ship.

 

Entertainment was by far, the best at sea. Normally, my wife and I drop the kids off at the children’s program after dinner and check out the show. We have always sat in the last row and 90 percent of the time, have been entertained by how cheesey and embarrassingly bad the performances have been. Not on this cruise. We looked forward every night to the shows and our 13 year old watched every show with us. Don’t miss them. It was a nice change to spend time with our son every evening while our daughter was at the kid’s camp.

 

The kid’s camp is not good. The mini club for 3-6 year olds seems to be the only part of the program that is well run. The 7-12 year old group was filled with activities better suited to a 5 year old. My confident, independent, 11 year old daughter was scared to death of one of the counselors. I wish I could remember her name but my daughter called her the Whistle Lady because she was always yelling at them and blowing her whistle. We wanted to complain about her mid week but my daughter begged us not to for fear of upsetting this woman. My daughter met another girl at the camp who she enjoyed spending time with so there was still a positive outcome.

 

MSC claims to have a teen program for 13-17 year olds. They do not. The program consists of meeting at the disco at 11pm every night. That’s pretty much all there is. My son went once and came back early. He never went back. He also shared with us all the curse words that he learned to say in Italian. These were taught to him by the camp counselor. MSC has a LONG way to go to come anywhere close to being the kind of youth program offered by its competition. They really need to make the improvements if they continue to offer the “kids sail free” program. Large groups of kids on cruise ships need to be kept busy or they get into trouble and also make for an unpleasant cruise experience for the adults. My experience has been that Europeans, especially Italians, tend to stay with their children on vacation. I think the cultural difference has us wondering why they don’t offer a better program while they wonder why we would want to leave our kids with a stranger and not spend time with each other as a family.

 

Service was excellent all over the ship. Except for the fall off of service in the dining room late in the cruise, we found that everyone was helpful and pleasant. We especially enjoyed Raphael at the wine bar. We called it the “Peruvian Wine Bar” because Raphael and everyone else working the wine bar are from Peru. They were warm and friendly. They agreed with us that the Indonesians who mostly worked in the dining room were very efficient but not necessarily personable. The Bulgarians, who worked most of the bars were helpful but almost military-like in their demeanor. The Italian officers mostly had their noses in the air while the rest of the Italians we encountered, Maitre ‘d, front desk, casino, were all very warm and friendly.

 

The cruise director and his “Excellent Entertainment Team” did a truly excellent job. With the exception of the cruise director, who was mainly an emcee, the team was always energetic and enthusiastic. They really enhanced the cruise experience for everyone.

 

Ports visits were great and as far as logistics, MSC handled every aspect of tendering beautifully. If you’ve cruised with MSC before, and are members of the MSC Club, you get priority tender tickets delivered to your room the night before the port visit. That was a nice perk. We also received a nice bottle of champagne delivered to our cabin with a note thanking us for returning to MSC. We each got $10 of casino chips to use at the tables in the casino for being MSC Club members. Finally, we got a very nice key chain delivered to the room. Not bad for having only been on MSC once before for seven days.

 

When trying to describe MSC to friends back home, I think the easiest way to distinguish it from other cruises is to simply say that it is a European resort that happens to be on a ship at sea. Most other cruise ships are an extension of what we are used to at home but with a structured “cruise-like” experience. That is why I feel that those who are not big fans of the “cruise” experience as we know it, will really enjoy MSC.

[marsabez]

Great review! Very accurate and balanced. I just hope MSC keeps the "European" style through the next seasons and does not try to be another Carnival or NCL. They have already gone down by not offering a Italian wine package and not having the (sacred for Italians) pasta/risotto course, although you can still order it if you wish. I also wish they fix the junior's club. My DD, just like yours, liked it despite the lack of activities because of the other kids.

[nevis92]

I wish MSC would bring back the Italian Wines Package instead of the dreadful California wines that they've substituted to try and appeal to the N. American market.

[MomofMKA]

Nevis 92,

 

Thank You for such a "well written" review! I am American of Portuguese descent, and this is how I was raised. Not to expect too much, therefore you won't be disappointed when things don't go your way. Make the most of what is given to you, and what you have. Appreciate that you are able to even go on a cruise nowadays, when many of us are struggling to make ends meet! You can either whine about the bad or enjoy the present, no matter how bad, it could be worse! Thanks again for the positive review. Makes me more anxious for the week to fly so that I can get on the ship Saturday and experience what you wrote about. Li from Mass