Great time on MSC Opera

[Gelbel]

My husband and I have just returned from an 11 night cruise on the MSC Opera of the Eastern Med/Black Sea – thought I'd add my bit to help people decide. Will also post this on the review section.

Flights were arranged with BMI – we were both delighted with the leg room on the flights (internal to Heathrow then out to Venice & return). The baggage at Venice took ages – about 40 mins – losing the early arrival time. We found the MSC reps and were told the next bus would be 30 mins – it turned up in about 20 but we were waiting on it for about 30 mins as some Dutch people ‘went missing’.
We arrived at the port about an hour before the ship was due to sail so embarkation was quick and easy. We were on board and shown to our cabin within 30 mins. Our cruise cards had our dinner sitting (2nd as requested), table number and muster station on – good idea!

We immediately had the emergency drill which was very efficient. I think it was about 6pm when we set sail – an hour later than scheduled. I must admit I had a lump in my throat as we departed Venice – our view of the city was 2nd to none and we followed the Musica out which was another amazing site; she is so big the city looked like toy town!
Our cabin beds were made up as a double as we requested. The cabin was spotless and had the most (easy access) storage room we’ve enjoyed on a cruise. The bathroom was also spotless and, although the shower was small, I did not suffer the dreaded shower curtain cling and the water was good and hot and had good pressure the whole cruise. We hardly saw our room attendant – but he was in and out at least twice a day.

I have to say that the cleanliness of the ship was top notch – SPOTLESS – you could eat off the decks! All the brass and mirrors were always gleaming too. I mention mirrors – the Opera is beautiful but there are so many mirrors – it’s off putting until you are orientated with the ship.

The staff were very polite and very efficient – I even had a smile from the receptionist when I purchased tickets for the shuttle into Dubrovnik! The only grumpy staff were the accounting team – I wanted to lower the standard tip charge so I could tip our waiters and room attendant directly. It was our anniversary when we were away – it took my husband ages to try to arrange for a bottle of champagne to be at our table for dinner. It seems strange MSC are not set up for celebrations – one reason many go on a cruise. Birthdays were celebrated with cakes and singing waiters but trying to organise a surprise on board for a loved one is very difficult.
Our waiters were great but this is where I do have a moan – they served dinner very quickly. We could be in and out within an hour. We were allocated a table for 4 - but we had it to ourselves. Starters, pasta and risottos, and desserts were good but the main courses were not brilliant for choice neither were all of the soups. As the pasta/risotto was brought at the same time as the soup they were not often that hot. The choice of veg with the main course was questionable – sprouts with grilled king prawns??? It was good to see the flaming baked Alaska procession is still alive and kicking and not stopped by the dreaded health and safety.

Breakfast and lunch had plenty to choose from – we often mixed and matched the choices from the patio and buffet venues. We had room service breakfast a few times and this was delivered right on time and very politely.
Bar prices were exorbitant – but service was fast and efficient. The packages offered better value.
We did not go to any of the shows as they were not our ‘cup of tea’.
As were we visiting cities we did not use any of the tours – they too were very expensive. €95 per person for a tour of Istanbul then to put up with being flogged at carpet???? We linked up with another couple and had the most amazing day visiting all the main sites for change out of 200TL (about €80) for the four of us and that included a couple of pit stops and purchasing small mementoes and buying and posting those all important post cards.

We saw many of the tour groups - most were only running commentaries of what we did under our own steam but without the spontaneity that a bit of DIY site seeing offers.
Amazingly disembarkation was good but the labels you put on your cases are flimsy and loads came out unlabelled and so not with the right group – we were the first group off but one of our friends’ cases label came off and it eventually came out with the last group of cases over an hour later.
I must add I am not a smoker - the DH is but non of the smoking inside venues were smokey nor was I bothered by the smoking on places where you could smoke outside.

We did have a good time – plus points; great itinerary at a good price, lovely, a spotlessly clean ship, good staff, prompt and efficient service. Minus points, expensive on board, too fast dinner service and main courses not brilliant, some rude people (non Brits pushing in getting in and out of lifts, barging through doors etc.). Given the right price and the right itinerary we would cruise with MSC again.

Top tip – PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS AN ITALIAN CRUISE LINE, IT’S NOT UK NOR AMERICAN – remember this and you will have a great experience. If you do not do your home work then more fool you - expect a UK or American style of cruise and you’ll be one of the (all too many) moaners. I say MSC offer a good experience but think of your ship as a southern European country, not a little piece of home on the sea and you will not go far wrong.

[Thecat123]

Gelbel we didn't sail on Opera but your review sounds very fair of what we found on Musica and Fantasia recently. MSC has their style and as long as one goes with that open mind one will pleasantly be surprised. You are right about the beautiful ships, and the spotless cleaning of their ships.

[AmoMondo]

Glad you enjoyed your trip gelbel. It certainly was a fabulous itinereray.

Your top tip is absolutely spot on. Sometimes I get so weary of listening to the whinging from people who were expecting "home" at sea. They are so busy focusing on what isn't there, that sometimes I think they don't spot the things that are nicer. MSC is not for everyone and there are plenty of cruiselines to chooses from. Doing your homework before you book is a must in my opinion.

[Freckles_51]

My friend and I are considering the same itinerary, leaving Venice Sept 20 2010. A few questions....
Should we expect a lot of children onboard?
What was the weather like in different ports, and on sea days?
Could you use Euro in every country, or should we bring other currency?
Did you stay overnight in Venice and if so would you care to recommend a hotel?
What is the best way to get to Venice from the airport and at what cost?
What do women wear for shore excursions? Skirts/tops or sundresses? Pants?(trousers ), Shorts?

[remi1au]

Originally Posted by Gelbel

very politely.
Bar prices were exorbitant –

Thanks GelBel, nice review.
Can you give examples of the bar prices?
I assume this cruise would have been in euros and I am trying
to get a feel for current MSC pricing.

Cheers
Andy.

[Thecat123]

Originally Posted by Freckles_51

My friend and I are considering the same itinerary, leaving Venice Sept 20 2010. A few questions....
Should we expect a lot of children onboard?
What was the weather like in different ports, and on sea days?
Could you use Euro in every country, or should we bring other currency?
Did you stay overnight in Venice and if so would you care to recommend a hotel?
What is the best way to get to Venice from the airport and at what cost?
What do women wear for shore excursions? Skirts/tops or sundresses? Pants?(trousers ), Shorts?

Frecckles when we did our cruises last Sept we spent one night in this hotel http://www.hotelbellavenezia.com/ which we found was very handy to St Marks Square, 5 mins walk and other places of interest. We were told by our TA to get a water taxi to the hotel from the airport which was about 80 euros. We also got the hotel to order another water taxi to take us to the ship 80 euros. From what we saw of Venice that is the only way to get around, we saw no cars anywhere so I would presume its alot of walking over little bridges dragging suitcases. If you would like to check out some other posts you could find some from Minty as of where she stayed but she had difficulty with getting her luggage to the hotel
We went in Sept because of the kids travel for free and August is the school holidays. Guess why we didn't go in August? There were kids with us but you wouldn't really notice
I think it rained for a little while at Bali and one other day as well which didn't last long. Musica gave us plastic raincoats those days
People were just wearing normal clothes

[Freckles_51]

Originally Posted by Thecat123

Frecckles when we did our cruises last Sept we spent one night in this hotel http://www.hotelbellavenezia.com/ which we found was very handy to St Marks Square, 5 mins walk and other places of interest. We were told by our TA to get a water taxi to the hotel from the airport which was about 80 euros. We also got the hotel to order another water taxi to take us to the ship 80 euros. From what we saw of Venice that is the only way to get around, we saw no cars anywhere so I would presume its alot of walking over little bridges dragging suitcases. If you would like to check out some other posts you could find some from Minty as of where she stayed but she had difficulty with getting her luggage to the hotel
We went in Sept because of the kids travel for free and August is the school holidays. Guess why we didn't go in August? There were kids with us but you wouldn't really notice
I think it rained for a little while at Bali and one other day as well which didn't last long. Musica gave us plastic raincoats those days
People were just wearing normal clothes

Thanks for your response, I'll take a look at the hotel web site - lots of research to do

I was hoping that gelbel can respond as well as we are going on the Opera, same itinerary (Black Sea).

Thanks again.

[AmoMondo]

Andy, if it helps the drink prices that I can remember from the Sinfonia in November were
Wine - 3 euros a glass or 8 per carafe, bottles from around 18 euros upwards
Cocktail 6.90 ish, cocktail of the day 5.70 or buy a package of 12 for 69E
beer (mini bar) 3.95 small beer package (14) 356E large beer 14 - 59E
Some spirits could be very expensive dependin on qualuty e.g Armagnac was 9.90 (cant remeber if it was the VSOP or the XO - think the former)

[AmoMondo]

Originally Posted by Freckles_51

My friend and I are considering the same itinerary, leaving Venice Sept 20 2010. A few questions....
Should we expect a lot of children onboard?
What was the weather like in different ports, and on sea days?
Could you use Euro in every country, or should we bring other currency?
Did you stay overnight in Venice and if so would you care to recommend a hotel?
What is the best way to get to Venice from the airport and at what cost?
What do women wear for shore excursions? Skirts/tops or sundresses? Pants?(trousers ), Shorts?

Hi Freckles
I'd really recommend spending some time in venice either pre or post cruise. It is an amzing (although incredibly expensive) place.

Water taxi can be very expensive and depeding on whete you are going to the airport bus or airport waterbus (alilaguna) can be a much cheaper option. For example it cost us 13 euros each to get the airport water bus from our hotel (near Piazza San Marco whereas the water taxi would have been 100e, so we saved 74euros. The journet probabaly took about 20 minutes longer though.

[Misty1937]

Originally Posted by Freckles_51

Thanks for your response, I'll take a look at the hotel web site - lots of research to do

I was hoping that gelbel can respond as well as we are going on the Opera, same itinerary (Black Sea).

Thanks again.

Hello Freckles
We cruised on Musica late Sept 2009 followed by Opera in Oct. We stayed overnight in Venice at the Hotel Gardena which is only a short distance from Piazzale Roma where the bus from the airport terminates. The hardest part was finding out exactly where it was but really it was easy once we found out, unfortunately we were first directed over the wrong bridge which meant a lot more lugging cases. We were very happy with the hotel, it had lovely big clean rooms was reasonably priced and a great breakfast included. I can help you with directions should you be interested. We found it convenient to get to the shuttle bus which also leaves from Piazzale Roma. It is a lot cheaper to then hop on the water bus to go into St Marks Square rather than pay the exhorbitant price for a water taxi. Regarding the Black Sea cruise we did all the ports on our own except for Yalta & Odessa where we did a private tour for a lot less than the ships tour. In Katakalon we prebooked a hire car with another couple we met on roll call and that was great and the directions a breeze to follow into Olympia.

I would be happy to answer any questions you have regarding the cruise, we thoroughly enjoyed it and had no complaints.

Cheers, Misty

[Freckles_51]

Thank you AmoMondo and Misty for the info. We certainly plan on staying a few nights in Venice pre-cruise, and possibly one night post-cruise. I've discovered that if we stay in Venice one night post-cruise we will save $500 p.p. on airfare and will be able to get non-stop flights .

Can anyone answer my other questions re:
-currency (is Euro used in Istanbul, Odessa, Yalta, etc)
-what to wear on shore excursions. (I'm ready to shop, and we haven't booked this cruise yet! TA is really slow getting back to me )
-Will the weather be hot, warm or cool during daytime? Evening?

Thanks.

[Misty1937]

We used Euros with no trouble except in Istanbul you need Turkish Lira to enter Hagia Sophia but there are plenty of ATM's where you can get the exact amount out, everywhere else accepted Euros. In Yalta & Odessa it was much harder as, apart from small things like postcards, they did not accept Euros. Our guide in Yalta was great as he paid all our entrance fees into the palaces etc then converted the total from Hryvnia into Euros which we paid him.

We arrived into Venice 26th Sept and our cruises finished 15th Oct, we were really blessed with the weather as it was high 20's every day with only rain in the morning we berthed in Katakolon but even that stopped by the time we went ashore. We basically lived in 3/4 trousers with short sleeved tops but please wear really comfortable walking shoes as most streets are cobblestone and rather hard walking. In Istanbul you must have your shoulders covered, long trousers and will have to remove your shoes to enter the Blue Mosque. My suggestion would be to pack a light spray jacket, I did but did not need to use it. As far as the evenings are concerned we were not on shore at night on the Black Sea cruise and as the ship is warm light clothes were fine. Perhaps pack something light like a pashmina to put over your shoulders if you feel the cold or want to go on deck. Unfortunately it is hard to predict the weather, I always travel with clothes I can layer.

I hope this helps, ask away if you think of anything else.

[remi1au]

Originally Posted by AmoMondo

Andy, if it helps the drink prices that I can remember from the Sinfonia in November were
Wine - 3 euros a glass or 8 per carafe, bottles from around 18 euros upwards
Cocktail 6.90 ish, cocktail of the day 5.70 or buy a package of 12 for 69E
beer (mini bar) 3.95 small beer package (14) 356E large beer 14 - 59E
Some spirits could be very expensive dependin on qualuty e.g Armagnac was 9.90 (cant remeber if it was the VSOP or the XO - think the former)

Thanks for that AmoMondo, looks as though drink prices are the same as last time they were posted.
What I don’t understand is the discrepancy between Med. sailings and US sailings. I have seen a recent post where the price of a bottle of beer was US$3.50, that is a lot less than 3.95 euro. Why the big difference?

[Thecat123]

Originally Posted by Thecat123

If you would like to check out some other posts you could find some from Minty as of where she stayed but she had difficulty with getting her luggage to the hotel

Sorry Misty I don't know where I came up with Minty

[Misty1937]

No probs, don't let it happen again !!!!!, bet you were thinking of a nice Minty to chew on!!!! Nice talking with you again.

Cheers, Misty

[Freckles_51]

Originally Posted by Misty1937

We used Euros with no trouble except in Istanbul you need Turkish Lira to enter Hagia Sophia but there are plenty of ATM's where you can get the exact amount out, everywhere else accepted Euros. In Yalta & Odessa it was much harder as, apart from small things like postcards, they did not accept Euros. Our guide in Yalta was great as he paid all our entrance fees into the palaces etc then converted the total from Hryvnia into Euros which we paid him.

We arrived into Venice 26th Sept and our cruises finished 15th Oct, we were really blessed with the weather as it was high 20's every day with only rain in the morning we berthed in Katakolon but even that stopped by the time we went ashore. We basically lived in 3/4 trousers with short sleeved tops but please wear really comfortable walking shoes as most streets are cobblestone and rather hard walking. In Istanbul you must have your shoulders covered, long trousers and will have to remove your shoes to enter the Blue Mosque. My suggestion would be to pack a light spray jacket, I did but did not need to use it. As far as the evenings are concerned we were not on shore at night on the Black Sea cruise and as the ship is warm light clothes were fine. Perhaps pack something light like a pashmina to put over your shoulders if you feel the cold or want to go on deck. Unfortunately it is hard to predict the weather, I always travel with clothes I can layer.

I hope this helps, ask away if you think of anything else.

Thanks Misty.
Looks as though we will have to book a different ship, we wanted OV or balcony but my TA told me that only insides are available on the Opera on the date we wanted to go , but she has given us lots of other possibilities, so your info will still be useful.

[Misty1937]

Originally Posted by Freckles_51

Thanks Misty.
Looks as though we will have to book a different ship, we wanted OV or balcony but my TA told me that only insides are available on the Opera on the date we wanted to go , but she has given us lots of other possibilities, so your info will still be useful.

I just posted but think it got lost somewhere so if this appears twice please forgive.

What a shame Freckles, Opera really is a lovely ship, they must have good deals on if those cabins are sold out already. If I can give you anymore help with the ports please dont hesitate to contact me direct on judithklein12@hotmail.com and I will happily pass on tours we were happy with or any other advise.

Cheers, Misty

[AmoMondo]

Originally Posted by remi1au

Thanks for that AmoMondo, looks as though drink prices are the same as last time they were posted.
What I don’t understand is the discrepancy between Med. sailings and US sailings. I have seen a recent post where the price of a bottle of beer was US$3.50, that is a lot less than 3.95 euro. Why the big difference?

To be honest, in previous years, the cruises in Euros were always slighty more expensive than the ones in US dollars but not by much. However since the US dollar has fallen more than the Euro in the past year, the difference is much, much greater for people like us who have to covert regardless of whether it is Euro or $. For me it makes the euro ones really expensive as the £ is almost on par with the euro but has held up much better against the dollar.
The US cruise market is so competitive that I presume they could not risk hiking the prices there. So just like on land, drinks are so much cheaper there than in Europe.

[Thecat123]

Quote:
Originally Posted by emileg
Here is the link to the official People Mover site. It is in Italian. It translates to "Open to the public March 2010." "The official dedication was on December 17"

http://www.apmvenezia.com/web/index.php

Thank you ... that's very interesting ... and for those like me that don't speak Italian, you can go down to the lower left corner of the first page to the Google Translate box and choose English.

However, when I chose the Stations item it showed three artists renderings, and for the middle one it said Maritime Station (mid-term, will take place at a later time), with no indication of what that "later time" might be. Any insight on that? A train from Piazzale Roma to Tronchetto Island won't do us much good! "

This was on the Holland America Board
I don't know if it is any help but from were we were staying I didn't see anything like this or even where a car could drive

[Freckles_51]

Originally Posted by Misty1937

I just posted but think it got lost somewhere so if this appears twice please forgive.

What a shame Freckles, Opera really is a lovely ship, they must have good deals on if those cabins are sold out already. If I can give you anymore help with the ports please dont hesitate to contact me direct on judithklein12@hotmail.com and I will happily pass on tours we were happy with or any other advise.

Cheers, Misty

Thanks Misty, you've been a great help. MSC has 50% off sale until end of January, at least for Cdn and US guests anyway, I guess that is why the ship is filling fast.