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Old 8 May 22, 09:10 AM  
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Sew109
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MSC Cruise

Hi has anyone been on an MSC cruise and happy to share their experience.

We would have booked a transatlantic for this year but due to circumstances we thought we would be unable to have a holiday this year so we booked for next.

Things have changed and we are now looking at being able to have a cruise this year and both in terms of dates and price there is an MSC that looks great I am just a little nervouse as not been with them and they are a lot cheaper.
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Old 8 May 22, 09:30 AM  
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Trouble3
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I've no first hand knowledge, but a few friends have been on MSC cruises; here's a few things they've said:

MSC are Italian, so although English is spoken, so are several other languages and the announcements become very annoying in several languages.

Food is apparently a bit more European than English/American.

Entertainment is not to the standard of the US/UK cruise companies.

European cruises tend to drop off and pick up people at every port, which can be a bit annoying (seems some Italians etc like to go away just for a couple of days cruising). Cruises further afield, i.e. Caribbean, tend to not to have this.

All friends that have been on MSC have described in various terms of "european cheap and cheerful". Some will use them again, some won't; the ones that won't prefer the dressing up standard of P&O etc.

This from one of the cruise agents is quite apt:
"English is the main working language on-board but announcements are made in multiple language: English, Spanish, French, German and Italian. With the multi-lingual culture of the ships, entertainment is mainly music-based or planned around visual acts such as acrobats".
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Old 8 May 22, 03:07 PM  
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danisleigh
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My brother In law sailed with them and said a lot of what was said above. The ship itself was stunning and his cabin was lovely but he said the food wasn’t great and his main issue was people getting off and on at each stop. He said they would chat to people at their dinner table and the next night would arrive to different faces which he wasn’t keen on. On the other hand they got a cheap Xmas/new year break and for the money they were pleased but they wouldn’t sail with them again.
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Old 8 May 22, 03:40 PM  
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Sew109
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Thanks we don’t dress up and hate the pomp like on p and O worst cruise we have had.

My wife at least prefers European food and I can’t stand the entertainment.

When we eat we tend to try to eat on our own so we are looking at a week with balcony cabin for three for a bout £1800 so probably worth it thanks
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Old 8 May 22, 03:53 PM  
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JessBlu
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I have been on 3 MSC and I have been on lots of Disney cruises.

MSC changed their offerings for the UK markets when they were staycationing last year.

Announcements only in English for example and tea in the rooms 😂😂

We love MSC the value for money is simply unbelievable, for the price of a 3 day Disney, I can get an balcony cabin, 7 day, tips and alcohol package, pretty much 40% the price of Disney.

The virtuosia is stunning (the one in the UK right now) and the magic is not a patch on her, the dream is getting closer but she’s brand new more or less.

Shows fab, the £9 paid for one incredible, I would say Disney do the shows better but they are Disney right !
The MSC white parties, flower and silent disco in the main atrium are a fab atmosphere.

Food - Disney probably a bit better, but again for £400 for a family of four you can eat in the specialty restaurants for 4 meals three knock the socks of MDE in Disney, and still if you add the £400 it’s 50% cheaper, literally another holiday.

Water park and slides - MSc
Cabins - MSC

We have booked 3 more for this year.

I also only sit with my family at dinner so the getting on and off is not an issue to me.

Happy to answer any questions.

Edited at 03:59 PM.
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Old 9 May 22, 06:58 AM  
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Bellesdream
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Originally Posted by JessBlu View Post
I have been on 3 MSC and I have been on lots of Disney cruises.

MSC changed their offerings for the UK markets when they were staycationing last year.

Announcements only in English for example and tea in the rooms 😂😂

We love MSC the value for money is simply unbelievable, for the price of a 3 day Disney, I can get an balcony cabin, 7 day, tips and alcohol package, pretty much 40% the price of Disney.

The virtuosia is stunning (the one in the UK right now) and the magic is not a patch on her, the dream is getting closer but she’s brand new more or less.

Shows fab, the £9 paid for one incredible, I would say Disney do the shows better but they are Disney right !
The MSC white parties, flower and silent disco in the main atrium are a fab atmosphere.

Food - Disney probably a bit better, but again for £400 for a family of four you can eat in the specialty restaurants for 4 meals three knock the socks of MDE in Disney, and still if you add the £400 it’s 50% cheaper, literally another holiday.

Water park and slides - MSc
Cabins - MSC

We have booked 3 more for this year.

I also only sit with my family at dinner so the getting on and off is not an issue to me.

Happy to answer any questions.
@JessBlu do you have any suggestions of ships? I'm looking at booking for next Jul/Aug for a celebratory 16th and 40th trip. It'll be myself and 2 teens. We've done a disney cruise but I'm feeling a little lost with picking a non disney one!

Thank you
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Old 9 May 22, 07:58 AM  
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JessBlu
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Originally Posted by Bellesdream View Post
@JessBlu do you have any suggestions of ships? I'm looking at booking for next Jul/Aug for a celebratory 16th and 40th trip. It'll be myself and 2 teens. We've done a disney cruise but I'm feeling a little lost with picking a non disney one!

Thank you
The open back ships like the seashore are marvellous, the Virtuosia is brand new and gorgeous.

I would choose by location and look at ship secondary, they have a sup search feature on the website.
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Old 9 May 22, 09:17 AM  
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Sew109
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Thanks we have cruise a few time with several companies and to be honest we dont drink so that is not an issue for us.

The cruise we disliked the most was P and O as the food was not great particularly the buffet where we tend to eat quite a lot and we ended up in speciality restaurants too much. The entertainment was not good mainly comedians.

However the cabin was fantastic, though the steward not so, she explained since the tips became included they have to service i think 12 cabins instead of 8 and they earn less.

The kids club was brilliant, it was open until midnight and my daughter wanted to be there until then so we often went to bed and set an alarm to go and get her !
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Old 9 May 22, 02:40 PM  
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SquishTheWhale
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So I've done 7 cruises on 5 different lines including one on MSC and here's my 2 cents.

A lot of what is said above- very European/Italian- don't expect it to be geared towards the British like P&O or with American standards like RCI or NCL. This means you should expect, shall we call it, laid back service. Or just plain bad.

MSC couldn't plan a pee up in a brewery. We found aspects of the cruise totally chaotic, such as disembarkation. Staff on board rarely seemed to know what was going on. We pre bought a photo package and spent many hours at the photo desk trying to get the photos and being plain lied to by the staff who told us to come back at a certain time and then the desk was shut at that time etc etc. My advice would be don't pre purchase anything.

Food in the MDR was very poor. We liked the food in the buffet but it wasn't a patch on the other lines. If you were disappointed with P&O food then you'll be even more so with MSC. Pizza good. Entertainment hilariously bad. Yes announcements annoying but didn't hugely bother me. Lots of Italian teens on board who thought nothing of physically pushing you out of the way to get to things they wanted.

Annoying rules on board such as if you wanted to use the high ropes course you could only do so at certain times, but you had to get a waiver wrist band from a desk that was only open certain times, which obviously did not coincide in any way. You couldn't take said wristband off so were expected to walk around on formal night wearing a paper wristband if you wanted to return the next day to use the ropes. As people boarded at every port, things would be shut for hours for muster which is very annoying when you are mid cruise.

I've heard horror stories of people trying to get some kind of pre or post cruise service from MSC and so would recommend booking through a travel agent who can fight your corner if anything needs doing.

HOWEVER- the ship, the Meraviglia, was absolutely stunning in every way. Our cabin was really big for an inside and clean. The drinks were delicious. The cruise was dirt cheap. We visited some great ports. The extra charge Cirque style shows were great.

So while I've just reeled off a list of horrors, I actually have another cruise booked on the Virtuosa as a girls break this year! My husband thinks I am mad after the experience we had the first time around, but I'm willing to give MSC another shot and see if sailing out of the UK makes a big difference vs Italy. Or maybe I am just a sucker for the prices and am going to get burned once again.

Edited at 02:41 PM.
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Old 9 May 22, 02:46 PM  
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BevS97
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NCL have some great prices right now. I’ve been pricing up a few and the 3/4 passenger go free.

I’m just struggling to find reasonably priced flights to get us to the port to board.
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