MSC Preziosa

[arielrocks]

We’ve cruised with (in order or preference)
Disney
Celebrity
P and o

We’ve booked MSC next year for a return week long cruise from Southampton to give them a try. Has anyone ever cruised with them? Would love to hear Good and bad.

[Cloverlady]

We have!

Our first ever cruise was with MSC, on Divina out of Miami to the Eastern Caribbean. We loved it!
We did Aurea Experience in a balcony.

We've since cruised with Marella and Royal Caribbean (trying Carnival in October) but our favourite by far so far at least is MSC.

We've booked another cruise with them , on Meraviglia, for January.

When we went on Divina we couldn't fault it, the ship was absolutely immaculate, and so glitzy and well kept (MSC has some beautiful ships! )
It was out of USA so lots of Americans, I think that cruises round the Med will be more European clientele but probably the case with any line.

LOVED their cocktails, best we've had by far!

What else I like about MSC is that as you do the sailaway from any port they always play 'Time To Say Goodbye' which is a lovely touch... especially if you're on the deck up top in the sun with one of those delish aforementioned cocktails in hand!

[arielrocks]

Originally Posted by Cloverlady

We have!

Our first ever cruise was with MSC, on Divina out of Miami to the Eastern Caribbean. We loved it!
We did Aurea Experience in a balcony.

We've since cruised with Marella and Royal Caribbean (trying Carnival in October) but our favourite by far so far at least is MSC.

We've booked another cruise with them , on Meraviglia, for January.

When we went on Divina we couldn't fault it, the ship was absolutely immaculate, and so glitzy and well kept (MSC has some beautiful ships! )
It was out of USA so lots of Americans, I think that cruises round the Med will be more European clientele but probably the case with any line.

LOVED their cocktails, best we've had by far!

What else I like about MSC is that as you do the sailaway from any port they always play 'Time To Say Goodbye' which is a lovely touch... especially if you're on the deck up top in the sun with one of those delish aforementioned cocktails in hand!

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Good, thanks for the feedback! I’ve read some really hit or miss reviews so far. Gotta be worth a try though I thought. Their summer promotion is getting a free upgrade to balcony cabin from Interior so only costing £1600 for the 4 of us for 1 week.

[Cloverlady]

Originally Posted by arielrocks

Good, thanks for the feedback! I’ve read some really hit or miss reviews so far. Gotta be worth a try though I thought. Their summer promotion is getting a free upgrade to balcony cabin from Interior so only costing £1600 for the 4 of us for 1 week.

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Bargain!
What's not to like at that price!
I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[SquishTheWhale]

We have sailed the MSC Meraviglia in Europe. While it was overall a nice cruise- the ship was stunning- there were some huge problems with food and service on board. We only ate in the main dining room twice before giving up as it was just bad. The buffet was pretty good so we just ate in there instead. The cocktails were all cheap and delicious.

I won't go on and on as we sailed a different ship and different itinerary but we will never sail MSC again. Food is an important part of cruising to us and the service was just rude. The level of organisation on board was about a 0. The pre cruise service was bad too- we booked a Fantastica cabin so we could gave flexible dining (we were used to Freestyle dining on NCL), but they changed this to fixed dining without telling us. 5.30pm dining time yay...

However, as you've probably found the standards across MSC are hugely inconsistent! The American ships frequently get better ratings in terms of food and service. And maybe we were just unlucky. Either way the only way to judge is to try it yourself!

I will mention our cruise was dirt cheap too. So I can't really judge them by the standards of NCL. I think we paid £280ish each for 5 nights in an interior.

[arielrocks]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

We have sailed the MSC Meraviglia in Europe. While it was overall a nice cruise- the ship was stunning- there were some huge problems with food and service on board. We only ate in the main dining room twice before giving up as it was just bad. The buffet was pretty good so we just ate in there instead. The cocktails were all cheap and delicious.

I won't go on and on as we sailed a different ship and different itinerary but we will never sail MSC again. Food is an important part of cruising to us and the service was just rude. The level of organisation on board was about a 0. The pre cruise service was bad too- we booked a Fantastica cabin so we could gave flexible dining (we were used to Freestyle dining on NCL), but they changed this to fixed dining without telling us. 5.30pm dining time yay...

However, as you've probably found the standards across MSC are hugely inconsistent! The American ships frequently get better ratings in terms of food and service. And maybe we were just unlucky. Either way the only way to judge is to try it yourself!

I will mention our cruise was dirt cheap too. So I can't really judge them by the standards of NCL. I think we paid £280ish each for 5 nights in an interior.

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Your experience sounds very similar to the reviews I’ve seen unfortunately. However we are travelling with our 2 year old and 9 month old so formal dining isn’t an option for us. If the buffet was ok then thats ok for us. I’ve read that the ships are lovely but service is not as you’d expect on cruises in Europe.

However, I have a friend who works for MSC who told me that they are really trying to crack the uk cruise market and are trying to up their service levels.

I guess only time will tell. Thank you for your review though.

[lisa12000___]

We went on the MSc Preziosa last year out of Southampton - the ship is stunning and the rooms are brilliant - best ones ive been on but that was the only positives really. The organisation really let it down - it was chaos getting off at ports, disembarkation on final day was dangerous!

im not sure whether its changed now but it was a rolling cruise and therefore if you miss a port due to weather they literally have to bus people to the next port/alternative port which causes chaos. We left Southampton 3 hours late, and that was the norm throughout the cruise. The entertainment was poor (again this may be different if its trying to crack the UK market now) and the food was mediocre.

We also had a change in itinerary that wasn't communicated to us until after our balance was paid (even though the change was decided way before as we found out after) and we had booked things to do in the evening (we were due to stop overnight in Hamburg) and were basically told tough! Also, we came back from breakfast with our food as we could not get a seat anywhere - the cabin person was just about to do our room and we explained the issue - but we were not allowed back into our room until he'd done it so we ended up sitting on the corridor eating our breakfast as we weren't allowed in the room haha

Its actually such a shame because they have the ships to really crack the market which just a little more emphasis on the quality of their product/food/organisation

Just a little one (and this is trivial I know) hearing the announcements in 4/5 different languages every time whether it be important announcements or just at the entertainment venue became a little tiring - sometimes the announcements/intros lasted as long as the acts!

Again, these are all things that could be remedied if they're cracking the UK market - and could be very very different for you - the ships/prices are really good just hope they've upped their game service wise.

[arielrocks]

Originally Posted by lisa12000___

We went on the MSc Preziosa last year out of Southampton - the ship is stunning and the rooms are brilliant - best ones ive been on but that was the only positives really. The organisation really let it down - it was chaos getting off at ports, disembarkation on final day was dangerous!

im not sure whether its changed now but it was a rolling cruise and therefore if you miss a port due to weather they literally have to bus people to the next port/alternative port which causes chaos. We left Southampton 3 hours late, and that was the norm throughout the cruise. The entertainment was poor (again this may be different if its trying to crack the UK market now) and the food was mediocre.

We also had a change in itinerary that wasn't communicated to us until after our balance was paid (even though the change was decided way before as we found out after) and we had booked things to do in the evening (we were due to stop overnight in Hamburg) and were basically told tough! Also, we came back from breakfast with our food as we could not get a seat anywhere - the cabin person was just about to do our room and we explained the issue - but we were not allowed back into our room until he'd done it so we ended up sitting on the corridor eating our breakfast as we weren't allowed in the room haha

Its actually such a shame because they have the ships to really crack the market which just a little more emphasis on the quality of their product/food/organisation

Just a little one (and this is trivial I know) hearing the announcements in 4/5 different languages every time whether it be important announcements or just at the entertainment venue became a little tiring - sometimes the announcements/intros lasted as long as the acts!

Again, these are all things that could be remedied if they're cracking the UK market - and could be very very different for you - the ships/prices are really good just hope they've upped their game service wise.

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Your experience sounds identical to one I’ve just read on cruise critic!

Oh well, it was cheap so probably worth a try. With a baby and toddler we won’t be eating at the nicer restaurants or watching the evening entertainment. So let’s hope the buffet isn’t too awful!

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by lisa12000___

We went on the MSc Preziosa last year out of Southampton - the ship is stunning and the rooms are brilliant - best ones ive been on but that was the only positives really. The organisation really let it down - it was chaos getting off at ports, disembarkation on final day was dangerous!

im not sure whether its changed now but it was a rolling cruise and therefore if you miss a port due to weather they literally have to bus people to the next port/alternative port which causes chaos. We left Southampton 3 hours late, and that was the norm throughout the cruise. The entertainment was poor (again this may be different if its trying to crack the UK market now) and the food was mediocre.

We also had a change in itinerary that wasn't communicated to us until after our balance was paid (even though the change was decided way before as we found out after) and we had booked things to do in the evening (we were due to stop overnight in Hamburg) and were basically told tough! Also, we came back from breakfast with our food as we could not get a seat anywhere - the cabin person was just about to do our room and we explained the issue - but we were not allowed back into our room until he'd done it so we ended up sitting on the corridor eating our breakfast as we weren't allowed in the room haha

Its actually such a shame because they have the ships to really crack the market which just a little more emphasis on the quality of their product/food/organisation

Just a little one (and this is trivial I know) hearing the announcements in 4/5 different languages every time whether it be important announcements or just at the entertainment venue became a little tiring - sometimes the announcements/intros lasted as long as the acts!

Again, these are all things that could be remedied if they're cracking the UK market - and could be very very different for you - the ships/prices are really good just hope they've upped their game service wise.

See more...

This is almost word for word our experience with MSC! I'd actually forgotten the absolute cluster≈≈≈≈ that was disembarkation. On our previous two NCL cruises we'd just walked off the ship in about 5 minutes at a time that suited us. But that would be too easy for MSC. They do not let you pick your own time, and we were originally allocated 11.20am (though you must be out of the cabin at 8!). I had to queue for nearly 2 hours at guest services to change it for an earlier time, and even then they'd only give me 9.30am. So don't book an early flight if you're not sailing back into Southampton!

It took about 2 hours of standing in cramped corridors filled to capacity with people shouting and pushing. Nobody wanted to let anyone else get by even if it was your turn to get off so you literally had to shove people out of the way. I agree it was so dangerous. In the case of an emergency I shudder to think what could have happened. Eventually we had to plead with the staff that we had a flight to catch (which wasn't true, but we did have tickets booked in Genoa) so they would even allow us to try getting off.

Then we had to take a bus to the port area and collect our luggage. They were offloading all the luggage with coloured tags into one area. Our bags were there already- I could literally reach out and touch them- but they wouldn't let us take them until ALL the bags had been brought out- which took another 30 minutes. Just ridiculous. I repeat, do not book an early flight! We were originally looking at an 11.30am flight from Genoa which was the only one of the day. Instead we decided to stay a night and fly from Milan the next day. So glad that we did as we would have definitley missed that flight and MSC would not care.

[arielrocks]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

This is almost word for word our experience with MSC! I'd actually forgotten the absolute cluster≈≈≈≈ that was disembarkation. On our previous two NCL cruises we'd just walked off the ship in about 5 minutes at a time that suited us. But that would be too easy for MSC. They do not let you pick your own time, and we were originally allocated 11.20am (though you must be out of the cabin at 8!). I had to queue for nearly 2 hours at guest services to change it for an earlier time, and even then they'd only give me 9.30am. So don't book an early flight if you're not sailing back into Southampton!

It took about 2 hours of standing in cramped corridors filled to capacity with people shouting and pushing. Nobody wanted to let anyone else get by even if it was your turn to get off so you literally had to shove people out of the way. I agree it was so dangerous. In the case of an emergency I shudder to think what could have happened. Eventually we had to plead with the staff that we had a flight to catch (which wasn't true, but we did have tickets booked in Genoa) so they would even allow us to try getting off.

Then we had to take a bus to the port area and collect our luggage. They were offloading all the luggage with coloured tags into one area. Our bags were there already- I could literally reach out and touch them- but they wouldn't let us take them until ALL the bags had been brought out- which took another 30 minutes. Just ridiculous. I repeat, do not book an early flight! We were originally looking at an 11.30am flight from Genoa which was the only one of the day. Instead we decided to stay a night and fly from Milan the next day. So glad that we did as we would have definitley missed that flight and MSC would not care.

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Oh good! :-(