David Landry
Itinerary: Western Caribbean
Sailing Date: January 24th, 2009
Occupation: Travel Professional
Age: Old Enough to Know Better
Number of Cruises: 57
As a travel agent with 57
cruises, I feel qualified to post this review. While it is
impossible to please all, I will give you my feelings on MSC.
We sailed the Lirica in 2005 and loved it. Cabins are small,
even for 2, but every other aspect was excellent. I have
sold many cabins on MSC and raved over the line.
I just
sailed the Orchestra, and would not recommend this line to
anyone. As an agent, I have a duty to tell the truth, not
just to agree that every ship and every cruise is fantastic.
We had a Category 11, Luxury Balcony. The room was small for
2, let alone 4 or 5. Children love movies, especially on a
cruise. Movies cost $10.70 each. So if you really want to
pay that to see The 40 year old Virgin, Wall-E, and other
old movies, you will love MSC. Also, no ESPN or sports
channels, CNN Europe is the only news channel, and most of
the channels are blank. No movie channel, unless you like
the 2 channels of TNT, one in English and one in Italian.
The bath comes with no
washcloths, and the room steward is invisible until the
second day, no matter how many times you call for him. Room
service is a joke. If you misplace a single sheet of info
ion the 1st day with all the papers that are given, you have
no idea you can get food and sandwiches. A club sandwich is
a turkey club only and when you order one you get a half a
one. But you can BUY many items on room service.
When you
get on board, there is no free glass of bubbly for repeat
cruisers as mentioned in the info. The balcony glass and the
entire balcony is coated in salt. It will be cleaned halfway
through the cruise, though. And toward the end of the cruise
you are given an info sheet telling you that if you bought
any wicker items, they won't be allowed back into the
states. Give that info on the 1st day, please!
Dinner was
a big joke. Lousy service, lukewarm food. We ate at the 4
Seasons specialty restaurant for 5 days. It was the best
thing on the ship, but at $25 a person, can add up. But it
was worth it. Avoid the Chinese restaurant, I would not eat
there again even if it were free. You pay per item, and will
pay $30-40 per person easily. The 1st night we had a very
large table of Italians that shouted, laughed at the top of
their lungs, even had the wait staff giving them ugly looks.
And, to top it off, they started smoking at the table, and
nothing was said to them.
The only
free ice cream is at dinner, and when the kids want ice
cream at other times it is $1.50 a cone. Great ice cream,
but start adding. And pizza is offered only at night for
free, so during the day you can purchase it! For such a
large ship, there are too few shops onboard. But the best
thing, or worst, depending on your view, you can buy liquor
off ship and bring it back to the room and drink it there,
or to the dinner table like the next table did. You love
Coca Cola but not Pepsi? Only Pepsi is sold, at $2.50 a
small glass. No soft drink cards.
I was
really looking forward to their private island, as the other
lines have great ones. We finally got off ship at noon, had
to be back onboard for 3. And NOTHING is free on the private
island. Food, drinks all cost a very high price. And if
having 1,000 chairs for 3,000 people is your idea of fun,
you will enjoy it. If you get up to take a dip in the water,
your chair will be gone when you return. People will dump
your belongings and take your chair, nobody will stop them.
We found all ports had a very
short stay. Better planning by the cruise line is needed
here. I could go on and on.... but you get the picture. Oh,
I almost forgot. Of the 3 main elevators amidship, 1 was out
of service the whole cruise. No excuse for this, especially
when this is a new ship, on its fourth US sailing. And for
free fun, you can push a button, watch the other 2 elevators
pass your floor 6 times before stopping. Enjoy!
I forgot to
add about smoking. It is allowed in the cabins, but not on
the balcony. Yet everyone who smokes does it on the balcony.
Get used to the smell in all the hallways! Just remembered!
We sailed with 3 other travel agents, and we all got a
special invitation to a private cocktail party for a group
sailing onboard. We all show up, and are told halfway
through the party we were given the invite by mistake, and
their own members were not given invites.
Along with
the invite in the cabin were 2 tickets to an excursion in
Key West. We all thought it was a freebee from MSC. I was
hesitant to go, and upon arriving in Key West, looked at my
room bill. We were being charged for the excursion. It took
5 days to get a credit after returning the tickets. They
said we were charged in error. I believe this is their way
of selling, as both of the other travel agent couples went
on the excursion, thinking it was free, and did not get a
credit. Any everyone we asked how they liked the cruise so
far, we got ugly looks, nasty comments. etc.
And if you
go on a baseball cruise, as we did, and you need a baseball,
no problem, they sell them onboard for $14. And I have been
known to send a birthday cake to unsuspecting others, they
used to be free. RCCL charges about $8 for a small cake, but
you can get the same small cake on MSC for $45. But they
sing for free.......
Just
remembered about service. On many occasions I and the wife,
or Doug (travel agent) and his wife, went to the lounge for
a cocktail. We would be the only ones in there, and the 3
hostesses and bartender talked together, ignoring us. Doug
went to the bar, and could not get their attention for quite
some time. And Doug is very mild mannered, quiet, not like
me.... And it wasn't just us being ignored. Other couples
would come by, sit, wait, get up, leave.
I just
remembered, I need to add it to my report. Everyone at the
table ordered escargot for an appetizer. We loved RCCL and
other ships escargot, 5 in a pool of garlic butter. What we
received were 2-3 pieces of escargot swimming in a heavy
brown sauce filled with mushrooms. And at the Shangai
Chinese specialty restaurant, my tablemates ordered the
peking duck. Expecting a leg or a quarter of duck, they
received 4 tiny pieces of duck in a bed of rice. I ordered a
'tang combo', for $25, was told it was 16 different items,
and would be hard to eat it all by the wife and I. It was 16
small appetizers, 8 each, on a single plate. The 'corn crab
soup had 2 pieces of corn and just the flavor of crab, no
crab meat, for $8.50. I may seem to be picky, but until I
win the powerball and can throw away money, I will expect
value received for money spent, and I don't feel MSC
delivers such a product.
I almost
forgot, well, I did forget, but I remembered when I looked
at my receipts. All I drank at the lounges were shots of
Jack Daniels. They cost $ 6.90. A Jack and water, or on the
rocks, with the same amount of Jack, was $4.95. Go figure.
On a final (hopefully) note, the one souvenir I enjoy is my
stack of past key cards. MSC now picks up the cards as you
leave the ship. Maybe its best I don't remember this cruise.
