Just back from the 1/24-1/31 Orchestra Sailing...

I'll start out by saying that we had an absolutely wonderful time. While my wife & I are experience cruisers, but this was our children's first cruise. Safe to say - they're now hooked like their parents!!

I apologize up front as my thoughts will most certainly lack organization (they do on a good day, & after a day of travel, the brain is operating even worse than normal). Anyway, here goes an attempt:

Embarkation:

As easy as any I've experienced. Our plane landed at 1pm at FLL & we were on the ship at 1:55pm. That included picking up 4 bags at Jet Blue baggage claim, hailing a cab & traversing MSC processing at Port Everglades (which, needless to say, was a total breeze).

The Ship:

As has been said many times, the ship is absolutely beautiful. Classy decor & undoubtedly the cleanest I've ever seen. Everything appeared in mint condition & functioning as designed.

Our Room:

9214 - Aft Superior Balcony (Cat 9). Adequate size & storage (comparable to RCCL & Celebrity that we've sailed previously). Sofa pulled out to full size bed for the kids. We had never stayed in an aft room before & I will say that the perspective & views were pretty cool; HOWEVER, this is where I will interject my first word of caution:

Our neighbors confirmed our observation that these aft rooms experience a significant amount of vibration when you are underway (like I've never experienced on another ship). This was particularly true when they were operating the thrusters at port. We were awoken approx. 5:30am Sun. morning when they were positioning the ship in Key West & I was nearly shaken from the bed. This morning as we approached Port Everglades, the vibrations were continuous throughout the night (rough seas with a very strong headwind from late evening on). Once again, the vibrations became worse as they maneuvered the ship into position at port with the thrusters.

BOTTOM LINE - I would not recommend the Aft cabins!! I never felt these vibrations from mid-ship forward & I confirmed with several others that the forward cabins were much more comfortable and quiet.

Entertainment:

Again, as has been stated previously, the entertainment is absolutely fabulous!! Without a doubt, the best that my wife & I have experienced & I heard the same comments from many others while onboard. These shows are not to be missed!!

Food:

Overall, I'd say the food was good. I'd rate it slightly below RCCL, on par with Carnival & definitely below Celebrity. Last night we ate in the Shanghai restaurant & it was very good!!

Our waiter & assistant waiter were both very friendly & a whole lot of fun. I would say that overall there was not as much 'pampering' as you receive on RCCL & Celebrity; however, the service was very consistent and I was very pleased.

Bar Service:

Drinks were good & reasonably priced for a cruise ($12 for bucket of 4 Coronas was particularly appealing). Daily specials were ~$5 and typical standard prices were $6.90 (Dewa at the ice cream bar made a great Mudslide & Long Island Ice Tea!!).

BTW, for the most part, the bar service was very slow & you often felt like you were being ignored. Most of the staff seemed to be made up of Indonesians & Bulgarians and, from my experiences, I had better luck with service from the Indonesians. At the Ice Cream Bar on the pool deck, I found an Indoneasion bartender named Dewa (sp?) to be very friendly, responsive & he made excellent drinks.

Key West:

The ship docks at the old naval base, so you have to take the MSC arranged free trolleys to town. This was not a big deal & ran smoothly. It was a beautiful day in KW and we just did a little shopping & walking around town (we've been there many times previously).

Cozumel:

Another beautiful sunny day. We arrived a bit early and were able to disembark early. We docked at the Punta Langosta pier which is conveniently located right downtown. The 4 of us grabbed a cab to one of our favorite spots (Chankanaab National Park) for a day of enjoying the beach & snorkeling (we carry our own equip., but it's available there as well). As usual, the snorkeling did not disappoint!! The cab ride was $10 each way and park admission is $16/adult & $8/child (although you can find some coupons online). We left the park in time to assure some shopping time downtown as well as some time for a few drinks at Senor Frogs (the backdrop from our street side table was the ship).

We ended up having to wait on 4 late parties for about 15 minutes & then departed port with one still missing. In something that I'd never seen before, the pilot boat actually brought the last passenger out to meet the ship (they were very lucky)!!

Grand Cayman:

It may sound like a bit of a broken record, but this was yet another perfect weather day!!We were a bit late arriving at Grand Cayman (~10:30am). I was at the 'Travel Agency' desk on deck 6 at approx. 8:15am and there were probably 20 people in front of me waiting for tender tickets. They opened promptly at 8:30am and I received a Tender '01' ticket (yipee). Soon we were off to shore to meet up with the Nativeway's Rays, Reef & Rum Point tour. We've taken this tour one time before & absolutely love it. The kid's had an absolute blast playing with the Rays, snorkeling & relaxing in the hammocks at Rum Point. Getting a bit of a late start, we had to cut the tour a bit shorter than normal to assure we made it back in time (last tender was scheduled for 4:30pm for an ontime 5:30pm departure). I believe the tenders did end up running a bit longer than that, but we did pull out promptly at 5:30pm.

Cayo Levantado:

First thing in the morning we experienced one of those Carribean rain showers (probably lasted 2 minutes & I enjoyed watching it from my balcony). Once it past, the sun was out for the remainder of the day. We didn't have a formal excursion to catch, so we took our time with breakfast & headed over to the island around 10:30am. We found a couple of beach chairs and the kid's played in the surf with some friends they met in Kid's Club. We opted not to buy lunch on the island &, instead, opted to head back to the ship around 1:00pm for lunch. Last tender was at 3pm. I did hear from the folks that did the Whale Watching excursion that the seas were quite rough, everyone got soaked and may folks became sea sick. The general concensus seemed to be less than stellar reviews. To add salt to their wounds, we ended up getting some great looks at several whales right along both sides of the ship from the 14th deck as we were departing DR (& we had a smooth/dry ride that didn't cost us an extra penny :)).

Days at Sea:

Weather was perfect both days & we spent a lot of time poolside. The pool decks are very nice and I enjoyed watching the poolside activities hosted by the Entertainment Staff. Our cruise was a 'Baseball Theme' cruise and we enjoyed mingling with the past MLB players. Yesterday they had an autograph & picture session & my son and I thought that was great.

Debarkation:

Once again, this went very smoothly. Our flight wasn't until 12:30pm out of FLL, so we weren't in a big hurry. Everyone had to be out of their rooms by 7:00am and we ended up finding a table in the buffet cafeteria on the 13th floor that we hung out at until our color was called. They started calling colors at approx. 7:45am and we were called around 9:00am. We were off the ship within 10 minutes and quickly found our luggage in the terminal. We grabbed a cab and were at the airport before 10am.

Would I recommend the MSC Orchestra to others? Absolutely!! In fact, I'm looking into booking my folks on the March 7th sailing for my mother's 65th birthday.

There are still some kinks that MSC is working out, but I believe they are well on their way & the Kid's Sail Free program makes it an amazing value for my family of 4!!

I think I'll wrap this up for now, but please fire away with any questions that you might have.

Happy Cruising!!!

Brandon...

Thanks so much for posting your review. I've been waiting for some reviews on the Chinese specialty restaurant onboard, so thanks! What time was early and late seating? Was the midnight buffet held only on the 2 formal evenings?

Great Review! Glad you had a good time with no bad reports. Just goes to show that if you go with an open mind, things will always work out for the better.

Only 3 more weeks for us. :)

Early Seating was 5:30pm & Second Seating was 8:00pm. As we always do, we chose Second Seating. The Second Seating show typically started at 7:00pm & one night it began at 6:45pm. Our kid's ate with us 4 of the 7 nights (including the 2 formal nights) and they ate with the kid's club in the buffet dining room 1 night & twice we took them to eat early in the buffet dining room before the 7pm show (then dropped them off at Kid's club before heading to Second Seating dinner at 8).

To tell you the truth, I only made it to the midnight buffet one night, but I do believe they had one on more than just the formal nights (sometimes poolside & sometimes elsewhere).

Thank you so much for the review. I have so many people booked on MSC and have lost a few potential customers because of reading so many bad reviews. I will share this with anyone who asks. I hope to be able to cruise with themy myself next year.

:) Glad to hear you had a nice time. Thanks for the information. Did you use the steam room? What is the price at the Shanghai restaurant? Thank you:D

thanks so much for your review of your cruise. We are looking forward to ours less than 2 weeks away.

Cheryl

Thank you so much for the review. I have so many people booked on MSC and have lost a few potential customers because of reading so many bad reviews. I will share this with anyone who asks. I hope to be able to cruise with themy myself next year.

Thanks OP for a useful balanced review.

long4 - Too bad about the lost customers. Were you not able to sell them a different cruiseline?

Thank you so much for your review. We are booked in a aft cabin 9223. I've been on ships before near the back and did notice more noise and vibration when docking, but not while traveling.

I have an inner ear problem and if the ship is going to keep my bed bouncing all night, I'm in for trouble.

Was it just the one night that it vibrated all night and other than that coming into and leaving port?

Our sailing is on the 28th of this month, and is likely all booked up now. I will call today and see if I can change cabins. I've always heard how nice an aft cabin was and was so pleased to finally get one.

If anyone can add to their experience in the aft cabins, please do so. We are doing the Eastern route.

I loved your review!

I thought it was informative, well balanced and very well written.

It was refreshing to read a review that can focus on both positives and negatives without "bashing". :)

Thank you!

How old are your children? Can you share anymore details about the kids club?

Thank you

Great review and I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed yourself. We'll be doing a B2B next Saturday in an aft balcony cabin on deck 9. Ouch!! It appears, based on your review, that I should try and find an different cabin. I do believe that the 2/7 and 2/14 sailings are sold out so I may be out of luck.

Is the cabin comfortable enough for 4? We're traveling with our kids, ages 8 and 10, and I'm hoping there is enough drawer and closet space for us all.

I'd love to hear about the Kid's Club? Did your children enjoy it? What were the hours? Do they do anything special?

Thanks again for your review!

Although I've not yet traveled on the Orchestra, I've had aft balcony cabins last year on Caribbean Princess, and a couple years ago on Holland America Westerdam. I think the benefits FAR outweigh the negatives and if you are booked in one, keep it.

It is the quietest area of the ship with little to no foot traffic. There is nothing as relaxing as sitting on your balcony watching the wake and listening to the wash from the props. Given the choice, if they are available, we always grab an aft balcony.

Although I've not yet traveled on the Orchestra, I've had aft balcony cabins last year on Caribbean Princess, and a couple years ago on Holland America Westerdam. I think the benefits FAR outweigh the negatives and if you are booked in one, keep it.

 

It is the quietest area of the ship with little to no foot traffic. There is nothing as relaxing as sitting on your balcony watching the wake and listening to the wash from the props. Given the choice, if they are available, we always grab an aft balcony.

This is what we've heard and is exactly why we grabbed the Aft balcony for the B2B. Usually, they are the first to go and so we were very excited to be able to sail in our first Aft balcony cabin. I'm not sure if the issue of being almost shaken out of bed is particular to this ship or not, but I'm a bit concerned!

Although I've not yet traveled on the Orchestra, I've had aft balcony cabins last year on Caribbean Princess, and a couple years ago on Holland America Westerdam. I think the benefits FAR outweigh the negatives and if you are booked in one, keep it.

 

It is the quietest area of the ship with little to no foot traffic. There is nothing as relaxing as sitting on your balcony watching the wake and listening to the wash from the props. Given the choice, if they are available, we always grab an aft balcony.

We experienced our first aft balcony on the Caribbean Princess last summer as well and we LOVED it. So much so that we booked one for our upcoming cruise on the Orchestra.

The thrusters are only on for a short time coming and going from the ports.

Like everything else you will get different opinions and views on this and that's okay. This location may not be for everyone but for us it has become our preferred location.

This is what we've heard and is exactly why we grabbed the Aft balcony for the B2B. Usually, they are the first to go and so we were very excited to be able to sail in our first Aft balcony cabin. I'm not sure if the issue of being almost shaken out of bed is particular to this ship or not, but I'm a bit concerned!

It is probably not a problem exclusive to the Orchestra.

The thrusters are very strong as they should be to maneuver such a massive vessel. I am sure anyone who is sound asleep and suddenly awakened to this sound/vibration would and should be startled out of bed! :p

We were always awake and on our balcony for each port coming and going and that's probably why the thrusters were a non issue to us.

Thanks, chesneygirl. You've convinced me to give it a shot. I'll let you know how it works out when I get back!!

VA Cruisers,

I was wondering if you would be kind enough to shed a little light on room service, please? Is it available 24/7, limited menu, as is the norm? Is there a charge? We only use it for a pot of coffee in the AM and then again around 4 or 5PM, when the kids want room service after a day at the beach. That has worked out well for us in the past, as room service became their dinner and then they went to the kids club after they showered.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Is there a liquor store on board the ship? If so, how are the prices?

Can we bring our purchase back to our cabin for consumption?

It is probably not a problem exclusive to the Orchestra.

 

The thrusters are very strong as they should be to maneuver such a massive vessel. I am sure anyone who is sound asleep and suddenly awakened to this sound/vibration would and should be startled out of bed! :p

 

We were always awake and on our balcony for each port coming and going and that's probably why the thrusters were a non issue to us.

My concern is the vibration while at sea that apparently shakes the bed. I expect vibration while docking and leaving, but all the time?? I'm worried.

I was wondering if you spent any time at the spa, and if so, were the treatments good (although I'm not sure there is any such thing as a bad massage) and what the prices were like?

Also, did you go to the casino? My DH and I are particularly interesed in craps and hold em. I'm hoping they were both available. Did you notice we are able to charge chips to our onboard account?

Lastly, did they offer any laundry specials on board. Initially, we heard that their werent' any but I'm hoping this may have changed. Packing for 14 days is not fun!!!

Thanks again.

My concern is the vibration while at sea that apparently shakes the bed. I expect vibration while docking and leaving, but all the time?? I'm worried.

I don't think the OP felt it all the time. He said he was shaken out of bed pulling into port in the Florida Keys at 5:30AM. I can see this happening especially if you are sound asleep.

Then he felt it again on the last night but admits that the seas were a little bit rocky. Being in the aft location you will feel some motion. How much depends on the sea conditions.

Everyone's tolerance to motion is different.

I was unsure the first time we had this location but I gave it a try based on peoples recommendations and now I am hooked. :)

VACruisers thanks for the infor on your trip.

We will be going in April to Cayo Levantado and I have a few questions.

How was the water there - was it calm or rough?

Can you leave your things on your chair while in the water and would they be safe?

Thanks

My concern is the vibration while at sea that apparently shakes the bed. I expect vibration while docking and leaving, but all the time?? I'm worried.

No need to worry. If given a choice, I would not chose the aft balcony again because of the vibrations that I described, but it was a minor nuisance & no need for concern. There was not significant 'motion', so my concern was not with motion sickness (the ship actually does very well in heavy seas). As I mentioned previously, the vibrations were most significant when they were operating the thrusters (they had to do this off & on throughout the day when we were in DR in order to keep the ship facing the wind while anchored). Not a big deal, since it was during the day & we spent very little time in the cabin). Most noticable were the morning we arrived in Key West & yesterday early morning when we were heading back to Port Everglades (which went on for several hours).

Again, don't sweat it. You will love the ship & the trip!!

VACruisers thanks for the infor on your trip.

We will be going in April to Cayo Levantado and I have a few questions.

 

How was the water there - was it calm or rough?

Can you leave your things on your chair while in the water and would they be safe?

Thanks

Definitely rough in Cayo Levantado when we were there, although the surf at the beach was fun for body surfing (not to big, just right for my 8 year old). The folks that went out for the whale watching said it was really rough, they all got soaked & many were sick.

The ship; however, road through these waters with no problems.