Nalla

I have just submitted a review from my cruise on the MSC Lirica and thought I would submit a copy on this board for people who might not otherwise see it. Additionally, I will check this thread for awhile to answer any questions. I copied and pasted my original report and see that the format was changed. Sorry about that. If it's too annoying, check under ship's name directly.

MSC LIRICA May11-18

I haverecently returned from a cruise on the MSC Lirica, sailing from Venice throughthe Adriatic. Everything I will reportis my personal opinion, which I recognize could be quite different from someoneelse’s take on the same cruise. I am asenior female from the USA and I traveled solo. This was my 30th cruise. As on most cruises, there were pros and cons, but overall, I was verysatisfied with the cruise.

I embarkedaround noon on May 11th and it went smoothly and quickly, maybe 30minutes from arriving at the terminal to walking onto the ship. The ship is clean and in very goodrepair. The décor is mirrors everywhere.The staircases and elevator banks look so similar that sometimes it was hard totell if I were in the place I meant to be. I had an inside cabin which was quite roomy for a solo, but might havelimited drawer/storage space for a couple. The closet was large and had a dozen hangers.

Service wasgood. The staff must deal with multiplelanguages, so there was occasionally a breakdown in communication there. Nonetheless, they all tried to fulfill my wishes.

I attended 2ship’s parties and both were very well handled. One was for the returning Voyagers Club members. They had unlimited champagne and mocktails, music and dance entertainment, and theCaptain addressed us. It was held in thetheater, though, so the intended purpose of meeting others who have sailed onMSC before couldn’t really happen; not when you are immobilized in rows. The other party was a meet-the-captain party,but he did not attend. There weremultiple complimentary drinks offered and good entertainment. Go a little early to get a good seat as therewas standing room only for the late-comers.

I would liketo have attended more of their shows but their reservations system took somefiguring out. The shows werecomplimentary but required a reservation, to be made on automated screens. I was not the only one who thought they hadmade a reservation, only to be turned away from the show for having noreservation. Get some help from the customerservice desk. What I did see was verygood quality, lasting about 30 minutes. Due to the many languages served, you can expect singing/dancing typeentertainment with some acrobatics.

Most of thepassengers were sun lovers and the pool area was always packed with full loungechairs. Even the “promenade” deck waspacked, so a walker would have to dodge the chairs. There was no observation lounge at the frontof the ship as there has been on every other cruise I have taken. So finding a nice place to relax and enjoythe view took some ingenuity.

Earlierreviews had mentioned nuisance smokers, but I did not find that to be aproblem. There were 4 designated smokingareas and the only one that had an odor was around the Lord Nelson Pub. I never noticed it in the Casino, but I was notthere at a time of peak activity.

The food wasaverage for a cruise. Some dishes werevery good, but many were just okay. Ihad a fixed dining time and saw the maitre d’ right after boarding to ensurethat I was seated at a table of English speakers. At breakfast and lunch you could sit anywhereand others could be seated to share your table. Portion size varied but tended to be small, which suited me. My table companions and I ordered two coursesif we felt one would not be enough. Thedeserts were especially good. (On manyother cruises I have felt the deserts were pretty, but not tasty. That was not an issue on the Lirica and I atemore sweets than planned.) The buffetwas just like most buffets and I ate there only on embarkation day, when thatwas all that was available.

On thenegative side, the biggest complaint throughout the ship was for the ubiquitousupcharges. I had booked through MSC-USA,consequently, I received a water package for lunch and dinner. Otherwise, that is a separate charge forwater. That was the limit of my benefits. Dealing with MSC-USA was veryfrustrating. Representatives were not knowledgeableand gave different answers to the same question and usually gave incorrectinformation. I was entitled to free roomservice during certain hours, but that was useless since there was a charge forevery item on the room service menu. Atmeals you should take care that certain items may have an extra charge. If in doubt, ask before ordering. For example, fresh orange juice at breakfast wasabout E4 and when they ask if you want orange juice, you may assume it isincluded; processed orange juice is included. There is a nice coffee shop onboard, with charges for coffee, but accompanimentsare included if you buy coffee.

The ship usuallydid not berth near the destination towns and provided shuttles for various fees(from about 7-13 Euros each). (FYI: in Mykonos the ship’s water bus is directlynext to the city water bus and goes to the same destination, but the public busis only E2 each way and runs more frequently. Heraklion was walkable.) I hadbeen to all the ports before and did not take any of the ship’s excursions, socannot comment on them. Port stays weretoo short on several stops. There wereespecially a lot of complaints at Dubrovnik, that there was hardly any time tosee things, considering the time to get to and from the city.

I hope theseobservations are helpful to those of you wondering about the MSC Lirica. I ask myself if I would sail on MSC again andthe answer: it depends. I would have to like the ports and be surethere would be enough time to see what I wanted, including transport time. The ship experience itself was fine.

I was in Santorini decades ago and also this October 2017. I took a ship's tour to Oia and am so glad I did. It was lovely and was very much like Santorini used to be. It was Ohi day so there was a children's parade and celebration. Then I went to Santorini and was dismayed that it was so extremely commercial. I didn't wait until the last moment, but there was no line to take the cable car back down to the port and we got right on.

Thank you, steamboats. That's exactly what I wanted to know and the map is great.

Sorry if these seem like strange questions. I have been in Venice on a cruise as a stop, not as a point of embarkation. We came and went repeatedly, but never saw a terminal and our ship set up a kiosk outside, beside the ship for processing passengers. When you process through the terminal, I assume you check your luggage there, so walking to the ship, even at a distance, would not be problematic. Thanks for clarifying.

Thanks for the responses. Is the actual passenger processing (documents, check-in, security) right at the ship or at a separate terminal?

I will be sailing on MSC Lirica out of Venice in May and wonder about the boarding procedure. (MSC reps could not tell me.) If I get a taxi to P. Roma, do I then go to the People Mover? Does the Port Authority or cruise lines have shuttle buses to transport passengers to their ships? It's a large port to be wandering around in with luggage. :(

Thanks. I'll check with them.

I'm looking for a shuttle or transfer from Heathrow to Tilbury. I don't want to have to deal with my luggage and transfers on train or bus. Has anyone had experience with a particular company you could recommend? Thanks.

I will be on the Cunard cruise to Norway this May, arriving in Olden on May 24. I had planned to take the public bus to the glacier, but when gathering details, I find that it does not begin it's schedule until June 1. Can anyone recommend another particular tour to the glacier, or should we just go to the Tourist Office and see what they have?

We will be arriving at the Port of Miami from the airport by taxi on the day of embarkation. Is there somewhere in the boarding vicinity where I can purchase my one bottle of wine to bring onboard? (It will be on a Sunday.) Thanks.

We will be in GC in mid-December this year. I understand that air temperature will probably be in the low 80's, but can anyone tell me about water temperatures? We are trying to decide if we want to snorkel, but it's no fun if you're cold. What about for seeing the sting rays on the sandbar? Thanks.

Not sure. We headed towards Wellington to offload an ill crew member, but weather was too bad to dock, so proceeded to Port Chalmers.

Thanks. I agree. I originally wrote it as a word document with paragraphs, underlinings and bold type to set off tour names, but when I copied it to CC format, it took those out. I tried to put them back in, but the changes were not accepted and I just didn't have the energy to retype the whole thing. :confused:

In mid-October DF and I (60+ y/o) went to Australia and New Zealand for one month. We spent a week in Sydney, cruised 2 weeks on the Oosterdam, and ended with a week in Auckland. I arranged all our tours online before leaving and we did none at all through the ship. I was pleased with all our tours and reviewed them individually in Trip Advisor. The summary which follows reflects my personal opinions and experiences and would be different for someone else, with different tastes. Take what is useful for you and leave the rest. Warning: long report.

Week 1: We booked 2 one-way tickets to and from USA in order to cut about 3 hours off the overall travel. We flew to Sydney on Qantas (home on Air New Zealand), and caught the train from the airport to our hotel, the Coronation. The Coronation is a small, centrally located hotel very near the QVB. It has a small, dingy lobby, but once you get past that, it is a great value hotel and I would definitely stay there again. Our room was large and bright and quiet and had a fridge and kettle. The hotel is next door to the grocery store, Woolworth’s, so we bought breakfast supplies and ate in the room before heading out each day. (Woolworth’s also had a very nice cafeteria on the top floor with tasty, inexpensive meals.) We took the I’m Free walking tour of Sydney and it was great for getting our bearings. We visited the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens. Took the little red park train so we could see the gardens, get off and back on the train, and it saved a lot of walking. Had lunch at the café in the gardens and it was nice. On another day we climbed the bridge pylon and took the ferry to Manly for lunch. We walked to the Australian Museum from the hotel and looked at the Aboriginal artifacts one morning. That afternoon, we were picked up by Boutique Tours to do their safari tour, seeing local animals in the wild. It was a great tour and our favorite of the whole trip. We were driven about 90 minutes out of Sydney to an area around Berrima, where our guide pointed out emus, kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, rabbits, foxes, birds, deer and koala. We saw all the animals on our list except the platypus – not bad. After dinner, we went to another place where we spotlighted for ring-tailed possums and saw lots of them. It was late when we were dropped back at out hotel, but had been a better-than-great day out in the countryside. Another fabulous whole day tour we took was with Blue Diamond Tours which took us to see the Blue Mountains and lots of other places. We got an early start and the owner/guide, Rob, had planned the day perfectly. He took us to places where there were no other tours or buses and he made arrangements ahead of our arrival so everything was always immediately ready for us, with no waiting at all. His good planning and organizational skills allowed us to see so much in one day that wouldn’t be possible on other tours. Highly recommended! For my last full day in Sydney I had arranged a private tour with Wildtours Australia. It was a gorgeous day and again, out of the CBD, but officially still in Sydney (which is huge). We canoed on the Kangaroo River, hiked in the Royal National Park, had lunch in a local café, went to a coastal area for whale watching (didn’t see any whales, but enjoyed watching the paragliders taking off beside us). Then a scenic drive down the coastal road and over the Sea Cliff Bridge, and back to hotel. A great day and, again, highly recommended!

Weeks 2 & 3, Oosterdam: The ship was not docked in OPT where most ships dock. It was docked at White Bay Terminal, about half an hour by cab from CBD. This was my 20th cruise and the second-worst boarding ever. We sat and waited a long time while there was no boarding activity at all. Then, when the process began, I stood in line for about 2 hours, holding my carry on. And we were among the early boarders, as the computers went down later and made a bad situation even worse. The ship in general is dark and has ghastly décor, oppressive. We had open seating for dinner and really enjoyed all the great people we met. Everyone was so friendly and most were seasoned travelers, which made for great conversation. In Melbourne we took the I’m Free walking tour and Erin was an energetic, knowledgeable guide; the tour lasted about 3 hours and was very thorough. When we returned to the ship we found out that, due to bad weather, we would not go to Hobart, Tasmania or Milford Sound; everyone was hugely disappointed, but sometimes it happens that way. (That caused us to end up with an extra sea day and 2 ½ days in Port Chalmers.) As for the ship, I found the entertainment to be underwhelming, with the exception of one speaker who discussed Aboriginal Culture, which was very informative. Food was plentiful and not bad, though sometimes surprising (not what you would expect from the menu, or a very large or very small serving). There were blackout times when you couldn’t even get a cup of coffee and it would have been great to have a DIY coffee machine somewhere, available 24/7. Our room was fine, as was our steward (though I felt he was overworked with 29 rooms). When we docked in Port Chalmers, there were too few shuttle buses for the passengers wanting to go into Dunedin and when we saw the massive lines, we decided just to check out the little village. The next day there were regular shuttles into Dunedin. We looked around the town and went to the Settlers Museum (free), which I found very interesting and interactive. (They also had computers you could use to check email.) It is really worth the time and I enjoyed it more than some larger, fancier museums I saw later. On the final day in Dunedin, we took the Taieri Gorge RR. We had booked our reservations online for $92 each and it was the same trip as the one the ship offered for $200 (except on theirs, the train met the ship and they had a box lunch, while we took the shuttle into town and bought our own lunch). It was a very scenic ride and a lovely day. Next port was Akaroa, where we had booked the Akaroa Fur Seal Colony Safari. We tendered ashore, where we were met by Paul, the owner/guide. He took us to his 750 acre farm and showed us around, telling us the history of the area. On the coastal edge of his property there is a fur seal colony and we got up close and personal with the seals. It was fascinating. We sat on the rocks a couple of hours and communed with the seals while Paul told us about them and what was going on in the colony. Then he served us tea and muffins before taking us back to the port. I was so enchanted by the outing, that I would do the same thing again if I went back to Akaroa. The next stop, Picton, has been described by others as a throw-away stop and I agree. It is very small with little to see or do and we were there for a full day, 9:00-8:00. In Wellington we walked to TePapa Museum, which was very good. Ate lunch in the café there then took the cable car for the view, cable car museum, and perfumery. Had a latte while overlooking the city. In Napier we went to the earthquake museum and walked around the town. Had to be onboard at 1:30, so not time for much else. For Tauranga we had reserved places on the Learning Journey Tour to Rotorua and it was great. (cruisetauranga.com) The weather was all over the place with sunshine, clouds, mist, rain, and hail – but it didn’t interfere with the outing. Simon was knowledgeable and we covered a lot of territory. The geyser really made a show and kept shooting steam for as long as we wanted to watch.

Week 4, Auckland: Actually getting off the ship was okay, but getting a taxi was the same mess boarding had been. There was an unbelievably long line and people were given taxis out of turn so there was much arguing and a fight almost broke out - poorly planned. We had allowed ourselves week in Auckland and it proved to be too much. Two or three days would have been plenty. We had thought we’d do daytrips out of the city, but had already seen the nearby attractions we were interested in. There were one or two tours I found at the I-Site which I would have joined, but they were already fully booked. We were very pleased with our accommodations at the Waldorf Tetra Serviced Apts. We had a 2 bedroom unit; bedrooms held only a bed and wardrobe, but the rest of the apt. was spacious. We went to Devonport, a cute one-street town on an island just a short ferry ride away. The Fuller’s Ferry trip and tractor tour of Rangitoto (an island in the harbor created by a volcanic eruption 600 years ago) was very interesting (1/2 day). The Auckland Museum is interesting, too.

After a month away from home and a lackluster time in Auckland, we were ready for home. Our hotel arranged a reasonably priced taxi to the airport for us and we left on Air New Zealand. The strongest advice I can give you as you plan your trip, is to book your tours early as the best ones book out months in advance.

I was in Akoroa a couple of weeks ago and booked the Fur Seal Colony Tour. It was fascinating and we thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, whenever I go back to Akoroa, I will do the same tour again. See contact information and reviews on Trip Advisor.

DF and I just booked for October 2014 trip: we are flying from East Coast and wanted least number of stops so chose 2 one-way flights. Flying to Sydney on Qantas, returning from Auckland on ANZ - only one stop in each direction, so cuts total travel time. Will post upon return to comment on comparison.

I am looking for a cruise around New Zealand which does not go to Australia. Does such a cruise exist?