MSC Fantasia 5/4-5/11/2014

My DW and I just returned from a wonderful time in the Mediterranean. Thank you MSC! The Fantasia was the most beautiful ship that we have cruised on(25 trips). Modern and clean! and done with italian class. The service was superb. We were in our stateroom for 10 minutes when I decided to call down to guest services to ask why our cruise cards did not list the beverage package that we purchased. They answered the phone on the third ring(during embarkation!). On another occasion I called down because we needed a room service menu and again they answered the phone on the third ring. There were actually two guest services desks. On our last morning, we wanted cappucino but the bar had not opened yet, the gentleman opened early for us! Every person we approached for assistance provided help with a smile. We cruised through 7 ports in 7 days and MSCs low profile style left us very relaxed. They are not in your face selling you drinks every five minutes or telling you about the next event. If you are interested, you can find out easily enough.

We choose foreign lines because we want the foreign environment and to get away from the Americians!(no offense; love you guys). Yes there may be an occasional communication issue, however, for the price we cannot find anything to complain about. As we have found over the years, if you have a bad time on vacation, thats on you.

MSC is owned by a professional shipping line in the mediterranean. As they say " they rule the seas" their experience in those waters is second to none. We always arrived in port early and safe and there was no shortage of risotto!

The shows were as good or better than many other lines we have cruised. You can always find something that suits your appetite. We would sail the Fantasia again.

Love the risotto!

Looking forward to some risotto!!!

Great review - thanks for taking the time to post!

Great to hear your opinions, really looking forward to our cruise on Fantasia (same itinerary) in July. How long was the departure out of venice in terms of from ship leaving port until you reached the sea? And what were the mdr times? Thanks in advance.

Love the risotto!

Me too except the black ink squid one that I'm too much of a wuss to try.

Great to hear your opinions, really looking forward to our cruise on Fantasia (same itinerary) in July. How long was the departure out of venice in terms of from ship leaving port until you reached the sea?

 

MDR times- 6:30 or 9:00

It takes about 30 minutes from port through Grand Canal to sea

Thanks for info, one more thing, smoking, is smoking allowed in cabins (we don't smoke so hopefully no odour), and are many public areas smoke free? Thanks

Smoking is very restricted now. It is banned on balconies but only discouraged in cabins. That said I've never encountered the smell of smoke lingering from a previous guest. Whatever they use to clean and air the cabins seems to work. There will be very limited laces indoors where smoking is permitted and definitely not anywhere food is served or in the theatre. One side of the open decks will allow smoking.

Is smoking in cabins definately still only "discouraged"?

I got the impression on Preziosa last year that they'd altered the rules to ban it there too?

wow-lost sailor, you've cruised 25 times but this is your first post, either you've found cruise critic late or do you work for MSC!!!

wow-lost sailor, you've cruised 25 times but this is your first post, either you've found cruise critic late or do you work for MSC!!!

Louthebowler-Lost Sailor 27 is my DH! I'm the one who is on CC all the time reading reviews and planning our next trip. We really kept away from MSC all these years because of the constant bad reviews,especially the food. Our plans were to do a 11 day Caribbean trip out of Bayone or NY (I don't remember which) when I realized I could do another Med trip for just a little more$$. DH let me do my thing(!) and sure enough, with a great price for our flights and an online travel company price with MSC,I did it!! As you read on my review, there were a few things that were different than the American lines,but all in all, we were really impressed by MSC and the Fantasia. So much so,the DH wanted to put a review on MSC on Cruise Critic. I can vouch for him that he most definitely does not work for MSC,but after traveling with them,I wish he did!!!

I had already posted and then when I read your review, I had a feeling you must be related. I have been lurking on MSC for a few weeks and was starting to think of looking elsewhere with al the negative comments, so must admit seeing one good one by a first time poster made me sceptical- my apologies.

my husband loves pasta- how good / bad would you say it is?

I had already posted and then when I read your review, I had a feeling you must be related. I have been lurking on MSC for a few weeks and was starting to think of looking elsewhere with al the negative comments, so must admit seeing one good one by a first time poster made me sceptical- my apologies.

my husband loves pasta- how good / bad would you say it is?

No apologies needed!!Honestly, he would have responded to the other posters himself but he can't remember his password!!Anyway… the pasta is really good! I found out on board that they make it themselves on the ship. Every night they have a pasta and risotto choice. Usually one of us ordered the pasta and the other the risotto and share because they were both so good. They also have a pasta of the day with bolognese each night. There is also two soups offered at dinner. One night I didn't ' like either of the main courses offered . Having soup,salad,pasta and dessert I was pretty full. As you can tell from both DH and my reviews, we really had a surprisingly great experience. I think it's really important that cruisers that are used to other lines like NCL,Princess,Carnival, ect. understand that MSC is mostly the same,but there are differences but the differences don't make it bad!If the price was right and the itinerary what we wanted we would love to go on another cruise with MSC.

I had already posted and then when I read your review, I had a feeling you must be related. I have been lurking on MSC for a few weeks and was starting to think of looking elsewhere with al the negative comments, so must admit seeing one good one by a first time poster made me sceptical- my apologies.

my husband loves pasta- how good / bad would you say it is?

I don't eat pasta at home often but before going on the Divina I decided to have pasta every day-either for lunch or dinner ( "when in Rome....:D"). I liked all pasta dishes I tried-the most those with seafood incorporated. At dinner the portions are small (I don't mean entrees) and at lunch at the buffet you can choose what kind and how much you want).Pasta lovers can be in heaven:D!

I had already posted and then when I read your review, I had a feeling you must be related. I have been lurking on MSC for a few weeks and was starting to think of looking elsewhere with al the negative comments, so must admit seeing one good one by a first time poster made me sceptical- my apologies.

my husband loves pasta- how good / bad would you say it is?

The pasta is excellent usually. The odd dish might just be good. Never had a bad one. It is not served Samhain course in the MDR at lunch or dinner but as an additional course before the main course.

Nice review, thanks for posting.

Love the risotto!

Hi papcx...

I seem to recall you were with us on the Des O Connor Braemar cruise last November?

We've just booked the Fantasia in October!

Hi papcx...

 

 

 

I seem to recall you were with us on the Des O Connor Braemar cruise last November?

 

We've just booked the Fantasia in October!

We were indeed.

In terms of the risotto, not so good onboard the Opera last week. I had the pasta instead on many occasions.

Great to hear! We will be on Fantasia first time Nov 2, 9 ports in 11 days.

What drink package did u get? The all inclusive which I don't think we need with so many port days and I only have a few few wine/beer per day. DH would drink more though.

I was thinking about a wine and or beer package. Are there prices on website? I find all the package info confusing.