Just off MSC Poesia - Any questions?

[bbrme]

We just got off the MSC Poesia Christmas Cruise with DS11 & DD9 and had a great time. We were very nervous after reading the reviews so I wanted to post our experience and answer any questions that people might have.

This was our 4th cruise with kids (previous ones Carnival Valor, NCL Jewel, and NCL Sun) and overall it seemed like this cruise was more similar than different to the ones we have been on in the past. The ship was beautiful and very clean, the food was pretty typical cruise ship food - some good, some ok, although more interesting than the last two we were on - lots of Italian dishes, duck, lamb... There are lots of people from other countries so they are trying to please lots of different tastes - it was fun to try new things although some of it was not to my taste. The pizza in the buffet area was really good and available all day after breakfast ended. There was also a few soft serve ice cream stations but they were only available from 12 - 5. There was gelato that you could buy for around $2 - we meant to try it but never got around to it.

Unlike NCL, MSC has set times for dinner (5:30 early seating, 8:00 late seating). Kids can eat in the main dining room (they have a kids menu) or the kids club can take them to the buffet. The kids club can also pick them up from dinner early and bring them to the kids club - we tried this option once but DD didnt like it because the older kids were in the buffet when she got back from dinner and had to hang out with the younger ones. The kids club has 4 age groups - 3-6, 7-11, 12-14 and 15-17. My kids mainly only went at night but they liked the counselors and had fun. They said they liked this kids club the same as NCL and more than Carnival.

Overall this line seems very laid back - there are no announcements and no one will approach you to buy anything. I really liked this but some people dont.

Let me know if I can answer any questions.

[mikesteg]

Originally Posted by bbrme

The kids club can also pick them up from dinner early and bring them to the kids club - we tried this option once but DD didnt like it because the older kids were in the buffet when she got back from dinner and had to hang out with the younger ones.

Thanks for the info. We are on Poesia in March.

First off: how do you pronounce Poesia? Is it phonetic, like POE-E-SEE-UH... or something funkier?

With the dinner pick up option, how does that work? Do they seat all the families together, or do you have to sign up each day so they know you are going to do it? How long do they allot for the kids to eat? We have twins that will be 3.5. They have done fine in the MDR, but this sounds like a really good 'middle-ground' option for us.

Did you notice if they hand out pagers or phones to the parents of the younger kids (as they do on Carnival)?

Did you bring any soda on board? We always get soda cards on CCL, but they don't seem to have anything equivalent on MSC. The booze packages are far too expensive since we'd just use them for soda and ice cream. I think officially they don't allow carry on soda, but unofficially I've read that it's not a problems to bring a reasonable amount?

Thanks!
Mike

[bbrme]

Originally Posted by mikesteg

Thanks for the info. We are on Poesia in March.

First off: how do you pronounce Poesia? Is it phonetic, like POE-E-SEE-UH... or something funkier? You got it.

With the dinner pick up option, how does that work? Do they seat all the families together, or do you have to sign up each day so they know you are going to do it? How long do they allot for the kids to eat? We have twins that will be 3.5. They have done fine in the MDR, but this sounds like a really good 'middle-ground' option for us.

You fill out a slip each day at the kids club for each night you plan to do it and you give them a time to pick the kids up and your dining room and table number. Our slip said 6:15 but they actually came to our table closer to 6:30 which actually worked better for us that night. Depending on how many courses you choose to order dinner probably takes between an hour and 1.5 hours. DD ordered off the kids menu so she was normally finished with everything but dessert long before we were done - however she is not the best eater...

Did you notice if they hand out pagers or phones to the parents of the younger kids (as they do on Carnival)? I think they did have these but I wasnt really paying attention since my kids are older. For the 7 - 11 group they were really laid back about the kids. You didnt have to sign them in or out although you do have to sign them up the first day with a list of who could pick them up. Several times we ran into the group leaving the show and they would just let the kids leave with us. I would guess they are stricter with little ones.

Did you bring any soda on board? We always get soda cards on CCL, but they don't seem to have anything equivalent on MSC. The booze packages are far too expensive since we'd just use them for soda and ice cream. I think officially they don't allow carry on soda, but unofficially I've read that it's not a problems to bring a reasonable amount?

We didnt try to bring any soda or water on board so Im not sure about it. I do think they have soda pkgs where you buy tickets for a certain number of sodas and you get them at a discount. Something like 2-3 free. We didnt pay much attention to the pkgs since we dont normally drink that much. Most of them looked like they included 10 - 15 of whatever they were selling - we saw pkgs for beer, mixed drinks, milkshakes/smoothies/virgin drinks, etc. They were selling them outside the buffet the first day and I think at the bars later on in the week. I think sodas were around $2 each, virgin drinks around $4, alcoholic drinks around $8, and beer around $5.50.

Thanks!
Mike

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[bbrme]

I just found this on the msc thread. Hope this helps...

Soda package for son was $29. Bought before left for cruise. He got about 15 vouchers but not sure...

[neptuno]

We have sailed on Poesia (po-A-see-yuh) twice with our two children and loved it very much. We pre-purchased the soda package to have a few tickets for dinner, otherwise it is ice tea all day. Juices in the morning only. The wine packages are a great value compared to other lines. The ship was new and well kept, absolutely beautiful. Somewhat "European", much to our liking, but beware that europeans dress nicely, especially for dinner. We plan to sail MSC again, asap, as they are definitely the best value for people with kids. Kids sail free!

[mikesteg]

Originally Posted by bbrme

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thank you.

Does the ship have an adult area? We totally forgot to use this on the Splendor since it had been awhile since we had been child-free on a ship.

Originally Posted by bbrme

I just found this on the msc thread. Hope this helps...

Soda package for son was $29. Bought before left for cruise. He got about 15 vouchers but not sure...

Yeah, I think this is our best option. I just have some convincing to do. This would probably be cheaper overall than CCL since 2 adult soda cards cost ~$13 per day. $2 a can is probably competitive or cheaper.

Do they sell the voucher books all week?

[mikesteg]

Originally Posted by neptuno

We have sailed on Poesia (po-A-see-yuh) twice with our two children and loved it very much. We pre-purchased the soda package to have a few tickets for dinner, otherwise it is ice tea all day. Juices in the morning only. The wine packages are a great value compared to other lines. The ship was new and well kept, absolutely beautiful. Somewhat "European", much to our liking, but beware that europeans dress nicely, especially for dinner. We plan to sail MSC again, asap, as they are definitely the best value for people with kids. Kids sail free!

I have noticed that the value of the booze packages seem quite good compared to other lines, particularly because they include the premium ice cream, smoothies and such. However, we didn't even use the free drink coupons on our last Carnival cruise so the value is much less for us personally. (We do have a drink occasionally, we just never got around to being in the right place at the right time to use the coupons.) I could try to eat $30 worth of ice cream a day, but I suspect I'd fail after a few days.

I agree it's a huge value. We've got an aft balcony for 4 ppl for under $1900. (And that's without any Club MSC discount since we are first timers.)

I actually went towards MSC hoping for a more European experience, for us and for the kids. I will keep in mind the dress habits. We have given up on dressing up much on Carnival (shirt and tie on format night), but my son and I have tuxes so maybe we'll drag them along.

[KirkNC]

Welcome home, glad you had a good time.

[bbrme]

Originally Posted by mikesteg

Thank you.

Does the ship have an adult area? We totally forgot to use this on the Splendor since it had been awhile since we had been child-free on a ship.

I dont think so.

Yeah, I think this is our best option. I just have some convincing to do. This would probably be cheaper overall than CCL since 2 adult soda cards cost ~$13 per day. $2 a can is probably competitive or cheaper.

Do they sell the voucher books all week?

When we asked about the books the first night we were told that we could buy them later on at the bars. We never pursued it so I dont know if they stopped selling them at some point.


For dress in the dining room, I dont think it was very different than on other lines. Some people were very dressed up and some more casual. I dont remember seeing anyone in a tux but I also dont remember seeing anyone in jeans.

[mikesteg]

Thanks again!

[dhdozier]

No questions here, just wanted to comment that my family of 4 (with 2 kids that were 10 and 8 at the time) had a great time on Poesia as well. I too was nervous after reading unflattering reviews but after learning what differences to expect, had a great time and would recc. it to other families.

[nothriver]

Thank you, everyone, for the thoughtful reviews. I've considered a charter cruise on this ship but have been concerned about the poor reviews I read nearly everywhere.

[lamatina]

We are sailing 3/30/13. 19 of us, for Family Vacation. kKds and Adults. We are very much looking forward to it. Please tell me about the Poesia pool areas. One video we watched looked like there was a retractable roof or some type of indoor pool? Are the pools very crowded?

Also, we will be on the ship for Easter. I wondered since you were on Christmas cruise, do you think they will do anything special for Easter?

[mikesteg]

Originally Posted by lamatina

We are sailing 3/30/13. 19 of us, for Family Vacation. kKds and Adults. We are very much looking forward to it. Please tell me about the Poesia pool areas. One video we watched looked like there was a retractable roof or some type of indoor pool? Are the pools very crowded?

Also, we will be on the ship for Easter. I wondered since you were on Christmas cruise, do you think they will do anything special for Easter?

We just got back. The two main pools have no roof, retractable or otherwise. There is a cool structure and 'upper' sun deck between the pools which may be what you are seeing, but it's strictly aesthetic.

The total pool capacity seemed relatively small for a ship this size, but I didn't notice them being overly crowded except on sea days when the entire pool deck is packed. Not much to be done about that on any ship.

The hot tubs are also under-sized and under-numbered but they were packed to the gills quite often. Since they were only at about 99 degrees, that didn't bother us much anyway.

In any case, our pools and hot tubs made it back to port with the rest of the ship, unlike a couple others last week...