MSC Cruises Arvostelua 

Ich bin vom 1.bis12.9.24 mit der MSC Poesia über die Ostsee gereist. Diese Reise brachte hingegen anderer Kreuzfahrten viel Negatives zu erleben.Beginnen wir mit dem Essen auf dem Schiff, Buffetrestaurant immer die gleichen Speisen, Pasta. Pasta, Paste und Pizza in 4 verschiedenen Varianten. Rindfleichzubereitung will gelernt sein; es war immer zäh und trocken. Das Essen schmeckte fad, langweilig und geschmacksarm. Leider gab es keine Themenabende zu Speisen aus anderen Ländern. Auch in dem Spetzialrestaurant wurde anscheinend das Essen aus dem Buffetrestaurand serviert. Also da haben ich schion anderes erlebt.
Da ich Diabetiker bin, habe ich in der medizinischen Abteilung nachgefragt, ob im Notfall Insulin an Bord sei. Die Assistenz gab an, lediglich Tabletten vorrätig zu haben. Auf meine Frage, ob der Arzt ein Rezept für Insulinspritzen ausstellen und diese evtl. in den nächsten Tagen bestellen könne, erhielt ich die Auskunft, dass zunächst 100 Dollar im voraus bezahlt werden müssen, bevor der Arzt eine Unterschrift leistet. Eine spätere Anfrage bei der Bordinformation bestätigte dies. Ein Mitarbeiter des Servicepersonals erklärte auch, dass ich meinen Arzt in Frankfurt bitten solle, mir ein Rezept per Email zuzusenden, welches ich im nächsten Landgang mir dann in einer Apotheke besorgen könne. Dann kam zu diesem Gespräch ein anderer Servicemitarbeiter hinzu und erklärte, dass Apotheken in den Nordeuropäischen Ländern keine Rezepte vom Bordarzt bzw. meinem Arzt akzeptieren würden, es müssten ansässige Ätzte des Landes sein.
Ich habe dann auf solch unfachmännischen Auskünfte verzichtet; meine Insulinspritzen reichten zum Glück bis zum Ende der Kreuzfahrt. Weitere Minuspunkte sammelte die Poesia damit, dass mehrmals die Toilette nicht funktionierte, dass zwar chinesisches TV empfangen werden konnte, aber mehrmals nicht die deutschen Programme, dass auf gehbehinderte Personen wenig Rücksicht genommen wurde (besonders in anstehenden Schlangen, keine Sitzmöglichkeiten), dass der vorgeschlagene Stadtrundfahrtbus nur halbe Rundfahrten machte obwohl eine ganze Ruindfahrt bezahlt war, dass Kellner Bestellungen ignorierten und, und und.
Eine Empfehlung kann ich aus den vorgenannten Gründen nicht aussprechen.

The absolute worst cruise line in the planet. 6 of us still on the Mac Meravglia ( still on it). Unbelievably disappointing. Nothing is done properly, nothing works properly, nobody in management cares. They have managed to ruin the vacation of 6 guests. I asked 8 times to speak to someone to help, never got a response. Stay as far away as you possibly can from Msc Daniel O'Brien 973-214-7870. Anyone that wants more details, feel free to call me

Never again.

My 3 year old son was on an IV drip with steroids in the medical bay for 6 hours because MSC failed to take allergies into account.

Food is poor for people with allergies and intolerances. A small 'vegan' section at the buffet exists, mostly of fruit. No pastries in the morning are vegan, despite asking, no desserts, poor signage, catering staff have absolutely no idea what they are serving and have to ask in the back which is about a 10 minute wait every time - just so poor of an experience.

Tours. Insanely overpriced, again, despite filling in all the necessary forms 72 hours in advance, not catered for. On a 4.5 hour trip, we stopped off at 2 places for 15 minutes each. That's it. 30 mins cost me £170. Asked for a refund due to no food on a particular tour, got nothing (the others on this tour got freshly baked waffles by the way).

Some of the dining staff are excellent - we loved our staff member - Megan - others can do with an improvement.

Worst experience I’ve ever had on a holiday. Ship was so overcrowded and completely understaffed. Queues everywhere, waiting times for lifts mainly about 5-10 minutes each time and we were like sardines in each lift when it arrived. The bars & restaurants were always packed with very limited seating space and about 60% of people having to stand in bars and wait for a seat at the buffets. Food was of carry out standards and tasteless. Same food served everyday. Dinner in the evening was seated with table service. Service there was great but food terrible. One night for example I chose duck for my main course, it was a duck leg I was served ,it was like a kids meal with one scoop of potatoes and two minute potato croquettes, no vegetables any night with meals. I couldn’t believe it and actually thought it was funny. (a case of either laugh or cry)
We had full drinks package but it was a of money as our food was always ate by the time we were eventually served our drink . Ship staff we spoke to were were all from under privileged countries on an 8 month contract for 7 days a week working 12 hours per day. ( That is slave labour in my opinion) The staff were of superior quality despite their need to work so hard and so courteous and respectful.
Our cruise was booked as a package but MSC obvious put no consideration for their passengers when arranging it.
On last day of cruise we had to be out of our room at 8 AM. Pick up to airport @ 3 PM and flight home not until 11.30 PM therefore last day was a waste of a full day as it was so boring as there was so much sitting about and waiting. Restless and bored kids everywhere. We didn’t get home to our own house until 4.00 AM next morning which was almost 24 hours from being out of our room in Barcelona..
The driver of the bus who did our transfer to the airport left us at terminal 1 in Barcelona airport and told us that was where we were flying from. After a lot of walking about and making enquiries we discovered we were flying from terminal 2 which was a shuttle bus drive away. So much walking for anyone with mobility issues.
I certainly regret not doing my research on Trust pilot before booking my cruise which could have saved me a lot of stress and inconvenience as my husband has mobility issues and our experience was really bad.
Any one we spoke to on our way home at the airport were of the same opinion.

Wir (zwei Erwachsene mit einem vierjährigen Kind) haben über ein Reisebüro die MSC Divina gebucht und hatten daher kaum direkten Kontakt mit MSC. Die wenigen Fragen, die wir hatten, wurden vom MSC Support jedoch schnell und unkompliziert beantwortet. Der Flug nach Rom und der Transfer verliefen reibungslos, lediglich auf die Busse mussten wir rund 30 Minuten warten, was an den verfügbaren Bus-Parkplätzen lag. Die eigentliche Einschiffungszeit war 14 Uhr, jedoch konnten wir bereits am Vormittag sofort nach Ankunft an Bord gehen.

Informationen und Organisation
Die wichtigsten Informationen haben wir direkt aufs Zimmer erhalten, einige Zusatzinfos mussten wir erfragen, was jedoch in englischer Sprache problemlos funktionierte. Die gesamte Reise war gut organisiert; Ausflugstickets sowie Informationen dazu kamen immer rechtzeitig am Vortag aufs Zimmer.

Kabine und Sauberkeit
Die Zimmer waren stets sauber und wurden mehrmals täglich gereinigt. Unser Kabinensteward war sehr freundlich und hilfsbereit.

Unterhaltung und Verpflegung
Es gibt ganztägig Programm auf der Divina, sodass es nie langweilig wird. Auch die Shows im Theater waren für uns sehr gut geeignet. Manche Passagiere verhalten sich nicht immer angemessen oder wissen nicht, wie man sich zu bestimmten Anlässen kleidet, aber das hat uns nicht gestört.

Im Hauptrestaurant war das Essen sehr gut und kam immer schnell an. Meistens waren wir jedoch im Hauptbuffet. Wenn man sich mal zu anderen dazusetzen möchte oder nicht zur Stoßzeit isst, findet man schnell einen Platz. Die Teller vom Vorgänger wurden immer zügig abgeräumt. Es war so sauber, wie es in einem Buffet für 3000 Passagiere möglich ist – nichts zu beanstanden.

An den Bars wurden wir immer freundlich und relativ schnell bedient (je nach Auslastung). Die Getränkeauswahl war mehr als ausreichend. Wenn ein Getränk die im Getränkepaket enthaltene Summe überstieg, wurde man darauf hingewiesen und zahlte die Differenz, meist weniger als 2 Euro.

Pools und öffentliche Bereiche
Die Pools sind sauber, jedoch eher für Kinder ab dem Volksschulalter geeignet. Leider waren sie sehr kalt, dafür waren die zahlreichen Whirlpools immer gut nutzbar. An Seetagen ist es am Pool überfüllt, was sich jedoch nicht ändern lässt.

Die öffentlichen Toiletten sind nach einer Reinigung schnell wieder verschmutzt, hier könnte häufiger gereinigt werden. In der Kabine hatten wir jedoch eine stets saubere Toilette.

Ausflüge
Die Ausflüge haben uns nicht wirklich Spaß gemacht, da man schnell ohne Pausen durch eine Touristenroute gehetzt wurde. Zum Schluss gab es meist nur 10-15 Minuten Pause, bevor es zurück zum Schiff ging. Hier könnte man mehr Freizeit einplanen.

Kinderbetreuung
Der Kids-Club war traumhaft. Selten haben wir so eine tolle Kinderbetreuung in einem Urlaub erlebt. Die Betreuer waren sehr bemüht, den ganzen Tag mit den Kindern unterwegs und kümmerten sich liebevoll um jedes einzelne Kind. Unsere Tochter hat sich sehr wohl gefühlt und wird diesen Urlaub nicht so schnell vergessen.

Service und Zusatzangebote
Kleinere Probleme wurden direkt an Bord schnell gelöst. Nahezu das gesamte Personal an Bord war sehr freundlich und hilfsbereit, bis auf zwei Ausnahmen. Zusatzinfo: Die Preise für Spa, Fotopakete usw. sind an Bord teurer, darauf wird man jedoch im Vorhinein mehrfach hingewiesen. Pakete sollte man also im Voraus buchen.

Fazit
Die MSC Divina ist keine Senioren-Fluss-Kreuzfahrt, wird aber auch nicht so beworben. Wir waren begeistert vom Schiff und dem Personal und werden auf jeden Fall wieder MSC buchen. Wir hatten die ganze Woche viel Spaß und empfehlen Reisen mit MSC auf jeden Fall weiter.

Not enough staff for number of passengers. Bars like a pub on cup final day

We left the MSC Virtuosa this morning after a week visiting Lerwick, Shetland Isles and three places in the Fjords of Norway. It was very enjoyable. There were a few matters less than perfect (eg having to use tenders to visit Lerwick) but the ship sailed from Southampton so most passengers were English speaking and good manners. The service in dining rooms and cabin staff were very very good. Food was good, sometimes better than good. A beautiful ship, quite stunning, extremely smart and clean. Good entertainment in the theatre and live music elsewhere (sometimes too loud for us). Very good value and the fjords, with the great weather we had, just fabulous. We will book MSC again and again!

Update. Have been in communication with company and had we paid £100 to see a doctor, and had COVID been diagnosed, there is an isolation package and room service and free TV service. The negative COVID test threw us. It was definitely COVID so perhaps a doctor would have realised the test was faulty. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Caught COVID on the Virtuosa. Company couldn't have cared less. Staff were all lovely, but ship was too big, too many people. Very poor company policy towards sickness. Patronising response to emailed complaint. We were left to cope on our own, probably spreading the virus when we had to go to buffet. Ibuprofen cost £15 on board. Entertainment was excellent but very much a party ship. Music far too loud. Not for us. We won't travel MSC ever again.

Familie Cruise was redelijk kwaliteit prijsverhouding.
Eten , entertainment enz was redelijk , maar het schip is te vol , veel te vol.
De oppervlakte van de algemene ruimtes in het algemeen , vooral lopende buffetten stonden totaal niet in verhouding met de aantal passagiers ( hij zat vol ) 6349 personen.
Normaal gesproken had ik ook zeker niet voor deze maatschappij gekozen , maar omdat je met je kinderen en kleinkinderen reist ga je voor het algemene.
Daarnaast bij thuis komst ( daar aan kan MSC ook weinig aan doen ??? ) kregen we één voor één Corona. Ik ben daarom uiterst benieuwd hoeveel mensen dit hebben opgelopen , wij kunnen absoluut niet de einigste zijn.

So much wrong! Just a taste of why we will never do MSC again.
Queued and hour at least to check in. We normally come down to Southampton by coach. Normal procedure is that we get off the coach and check in and the coach driver delivers the luggage to the ship. Not this time. We had queued for about half an hour and then one of the port personnel tasked where our luggage was. We told her the driver was proceeding as normal and she told us “not on this ship, they don’t have porterage”. So we were sent back to our coach for our luggage. By the time we got on the ship we were hungry and thirsty. We went to the buffet and were told we could not have food or drink until after the safety procedure had been done.
Why is the cabin number on the door card? Lose it and it is an open invitation for the finder to take everything from your cabin. Security issue.
Use of App. – No instructions prominent anywhere about how to get on the ships (non-chargeable) wifi, unlike other cruise lines that have this information displayed clearly around the ship and l=there is notification in their cabins as to how to access the wifi just to use the app. Therefore, for us, no app. Having the drinks package we did not expect to be told by a waitress “if you don’t have the app you can’t have a drink”. We went to Guest Service (bit of a misnomer that) and fortunately saw Thomas who immediately produced a laminated menu. Thanks Thomas. We were told MSC are trying to cut down on paper usage. Could I suggest that instead of everything you do print is a money making exercise for you, you might consider your guests and what they would like.
Accounts system poor. Very little easily accessible information.
Overcrowded. The designers obviously used the biggest, bulkiest furniture they could find. Most of the venues could fit twice the amount of people in, however what good would that do? There is not the staff to cope.
Restaurant – The first evening meal offered an Arctic salad as a starter. However, cutting into it the lettuce was black and mouldy. The Maitre de offered a replacement but, well no thanks. During our cruise we had uncooked chicken, bad mussels (two unopened, four empty shells and two eatable mussels) on one plate. Menus unimaginative. Vegetarian options extremely limited. One night someone came round offering Limoncello. As it was included in the drinks package we accepted. It was served in special glasses and the chap said we were free to take them with us a a memento. Except that we were then asked for £9 each for the glasses. Guess what we did.
Tried the buffet for breakfast absolute chaos – cold porridge, inedible bread. Tried again at lunchtime, farmyard! cold burgers. The staff made excuses but much of the food was cold.
So we went to the Minuetto. First couple of days service was really slow. Three quarters of an hour wait to get in, then half an hour wait for a cup of tea. Happily the service did improve in there, but still not as good as other lines. Only once in 10 days did we get what we ordered.
Because we were not using the App we requested that a daily sheet be delivered to our cabin. It took three days for us finally to receive one and then only because we asked our cabin steward Elizaro. Guest service (misnomer) couldn’t manage to get it delivered!
Only go on this ship if you want to queue for everything! The staff and good but the ship is so understaffed it’s laughable. Management is top heavy. They stand around in their jackets chatting and watching the staff struggle to keep up. A good manager would see the problems and would take action. The bar service is the practically non-existent. Again because there are so few staff.
We were unable to book anything as we could not figure out how the public screens worked (and we weren’t the only ones!). However the shows in the theatre that we did see were not particularly good. Remember we are comparing this to other lines (not new cruisers, we have done about 34)
The electrics failed a number of times, why?
Bouquets to Thomas in Guest Services; James in Virtuosa Lounge; Omar in the English pub; Hakim and his wife in Blue Danube; Elizar cabin steward; Lulu in Minuetto breakfast and to the performers in the aerial show in the Carousel Lounge, it cost us an extra £15 each but my word was it worth it.

Absolutely beautiful ship and the crew were fantastic and friendly especially I Komang Suardita, Putu Ardiawan and also Intan. A credit to MSC Virtuoso and I look forward to returning.
Kelly C

Two words to describe this cruise, cattle market. There were too many passengers and not enough crew. If you like queing and aimlessly wandering around looking for somewhere to sit and then waiting 20 minutes for a drink,this is for you.

Revolting experience. Empty bottles broken glasses and plates of half eaten food EVERYWHERE. Huge gangs of hammered football lads and hens dominate 40-50 minutes wait in buffet queues. Just awfully depressing Babies in the pool, bare chested vaping / smoking / drinking blokes all sat on edge dangling feet in water. Screaming at the big screen footie match. Language n behaviour horrific

Dates: 23rd April - 4th may

Ship: Virtuosa

This is probably the worst cruise experience I have ever been on. I have never been disgusting at my experience more while on holiday. The bar staff had zero idea what they were making. This led to them making whatever they thought was correct when it came to drinks. Which meant it was highly dangerous to utilise my drinks package considering my allergies as they would just throw whatever they wanted into a mocktail with no care for the actual ingredients. That is if they could be bothered to make a drink at all. I was often told "we don't have that in stock" only to go back and hour later and get a different bar staff that would make the drink I had requested. Unfortunately I was consistently given unclean glasses and had to send these back almost every day. Especially at Lunch and dinner. The TV was broken for the majority of the cruise. To remedy this the staff sent a basket of pastries to a GLUTEN FREE room. And a bottle of champagne to a room with a NON ALCOHOLIC drinks package. It felt disrespectful and absolutely brain dead. My requests for the gluten free menus in advance was consistently denied and fobbed off backwards and forth on who's responsibility it was to the point I just gave up, and my poor travelling partner often went several days. Including the gala night without a single vegetarian starter to choose from. This is unacceptable. Among other things like long queues to eat, get back onto the ship and a ship that clearly cannot withstand the amount of guests it's trying to accommodate for. Not only that. When walking past members of staff to your outside cabin, it's never nice to hear them gossiping about how "this area is where the poor guests stay". Yes that is an actual quote YOUR STAFF used to another colleague. This was completely a terrible holiday and we collectively were so glad when it was time to go home. Something you should NEVER experience while actually away from home.

Went on our 3rd cruise on MSC Euribia.
This was not the relaxing restful break that I was expecting.

Our cabin 14115 was very noisy. Staff dragging furniture around every night at 1am and then again at 6am. Complained reception they said they will ask them to be quiet !!!! Nothing changed.

The food in the MDR was overcooked and luke warm. We only ate their once.

We had the 4 meal dining experience. 3 of the meals were lovely. but, unfortunately for me Hala Taco Cantina. 2nd course I found a hair in my salad ! they couldnt apologise enough. but, as dining experience was not offered a refund. just another meal there !!! I don't think so.

We had a meal in the Masters of the Sea. the food was very tasty but as it had come from the depths of the kitchen and took over half an hour to come. it ws cold.

The food in the buffet restaurant. was overcooked and lukewarm or cold. We lived on freshly cooked burgers and chips and salad and Gala pie !!! not the sort of food I was expecting on my cruise.

We visitied Hamburg. Aparently all the shops are shut there on a Sunday. MSC say customers would rather stop there just to look around rather than a day at sea!

The shuttle buses are an average of 14 euros each time. they differ slightly at different ports. MSC say they cannot make these any cheaper as this is what the pay !!

MSC do not offer monetary refunds !!! they will offer you a very standard Gesture of good will £50 onboard cruise credit only. So if you want a mediocre cruise and poor food and nosy cabins and overpriced shuttle buses then book with MSC.

This is my true experience on MSC and is based on my own experience.

Just spent 7 nights on MSC Euriba to Northern Europe which was good value. However, criticisms included…

Food quality in main restaurant was poor at best. We were in a party of 8 and did not enjoy any meals served up.

The ship was very noisy, difficult to find a quiet area to relax.

Not sufficient seating in the bars & venues for the number of guests on board.

Photographers bothering you every few steps.

The best entertainment in the evenings was in the Carousel bar but it repeated every 3 days.

New arrivals boarded at every stop (r stops on our 7 night cruise) and staff from all areas of the ship attend the safety program to guide passengers to their safety exits. During this time most bars were unable to serve customers.

Normally cruise with Cunard, more expensive but a vast difference in quality.

Whenever I take a ride to my memory lane and go back the the experience I had with MSC Euribia and the tour around the northern seas, immediately I feel better and makes me want to repeat that kind of vacation.
Maybe next time I will go for a longer cruise. I checked their website they have some nice deals such as the Caribbean one.
Anyway, I recommend the Northern Europe cruise. The scenery over there is amazing and I think the best way to explore that part of the world is by ship.
As for the ship, Euribia was fantastic. Modern and huge 😀
The staff was pleasant and friendly 👍

I have allocated by MSc Armonia an Obstructed ocean view cabin to Mediterranean countries from 24/11/23 to 02/12/23. There was a huge boat (not a life boat, more like a boat which MSc uses to transfer guests from port to the cruise) next to the window blocking the window. Therefore there wasn’t a any view of the ocean from the cabin.
I have raised the issue with Lawrence Ford( customer service supervisor ) . I have sent several emails to customer service but Laurence Ford claimed “ It is a obstructed ocean view cabin” though view was totally blocked.”
Laurence Ford asked me to send photo but my point is that cabin should be investigated so no other guest’ s holiday will not be ruined as mine did.
MSc also took seven hours to separate double bed to tween bed.
If there was “0 “ rate that’s what I will give MSc .

Entgegen den vielen schlechten Bewertungen hatten wir eine super Erfahrung mit MSC, Natürlich benötigte das Boarding von mehr als 6000 Passagieren eine gewisse zeit, es war aber gut Organsiert und völlig in Ordnung. Das essen war manchmal gut und manchmal ganz OK. Es ist nun mal kein Sterne Restaurant, das essen ist bei Premium Redereien wie Gunnar auch nicht wesentlich besser. Ocean Cay war traumhaft schön und auch super organisiert. Preis Leistung ist super. Wir vereisen sicher wieder mit MSC.

PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS
RIDICULOUSLY OVER CROWDED
BUFFET WAS LIKE QUEUING AT A CATTLE MARKET
NO WAY NEAR ENOUGH SEATS TO ACCOMMODATE THE VOLUME OF PEOPLE ABOAD
IF YOU ENJOY QUEUES THEN BOOK MSC THEY ARE SPECIALISTS
30MINS EVERYTIME FOR A DRINK
NO SEATING
VERY VERY VERY POOR
FUN PASS COULDNT EVEN BE SPENT AS BOWLING AND OTHER THINGS WAS FULLY BOOKED
SO HAD OVER £100 LEFT ON THE FUN PASS AND THEY WOULD NOT REFUND

AFTER 2 EMAILS THEY INSULTINGLY OFFERED ME £50 OFF VOUCHER AGAINST A FUTURE CRUISE
HOW GENEROUS

I WOULDNT WANT A FREE CRUISE FROM THEM

COULDNT WAIT TO GET HOME

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE AVOID AVOID AVOID