Thinking about trying MSC

Hello!

Longtime Carnival cruiser here. We’ve always enjoyed our Carnival Cruises, but for our honeymoon next year we are thinking about taking a European cruise, and see that MSC has some reasonably affordable looking trips abroad.

I’m curious for those of you who’ve been, what your experiences are, especially those of you who are English only speaking.

Any ship or itinerary recommendations? Words of caution? Anything that may greatly surprise me?

We thought about a land based trip, but want to see a lot of different places and things, without tons of driving and switching hotels. Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated!

(Likely looking at a cruise duration of 7-10 days)

From my research (so disregard if you are truly only interested in those of us who have already sailed MSC), the general consensus is that the food, fleet wide, is not very good. If you book Yacht Club, that would be the exception. From what I gather the buffet is actually better than the MDR, and the portions in the MDR are small.

Also, if you travel from Europe (and possibly from the US as well, not sure) all announcements are in multiple (6 I think) languages, and most shows have little spoken word, due to the large mix of languages spoken.

From my research (so disregard if you are truly only interested in those of us who have already sailed MSC), the general consensus is that the food, fleet wide, is not very good. If you book Yacht Club, that would be the exception. From what I gather the buffet is actually better than the MDR, and the portions in the MDR are small.

 

Also, if you travel from Europe (and possibly from the US as well, not sure) all announcements are in multiple (6 I think) languages, and most shows have little spoken word, due to the large mix of languages spoken.

Announcements are in english only in the USA.

Announcements are in english only in the USA.

On our cruise during the hurricane, announcements were made in about 6 languages. That’s been the norm on all of our Divina cruises.

Sailed MSC in both YC and non YC, found the food and service to be very good. The food portions are not super sized US portions but you can order as many as you like.

Ships are beautiful. Lots to do if you want it, quiet if you don't.

Never considered the multi language announcements an issue.

As long as English announcements/writing is available somewhere, I’ll be ok. Not worried if they are given in many languages.

What else do you guys, especially the European cruisers think? Ships to avoid or steer toward? Any advice on ports to avoid or steer toward?

Is there anything that’s dramatically different in MSC that might not be obvious?

Lots of good info on MSC if you read the reviews on cruise critic. I find them very helpful.

As long as English announcements/writing is available somewhere, I’ll be ok. Not worried if they are given in many languages.

 

What else do you guys, especially the European cruisers think? Ships to avoid or steer toward? Any advice on ports to avoid or steer toward?

 

Is there anything that’s dramatically different in MSC that might not be obvious?

IMHO the eastern med cruises have better itineraries than the western med, especially if you go on 10 or 11 night cruise that includes Venice Dubrovnik, Athens and Istanbul (an overnight if possible). To include Venice you will have to go on Lirica class or Musica class ships (NO YC on these two classes of ship)

other interesting ports are Valletta , kusadasi for Ephesus

I've not been to Split, Kotor , Trieste or Ancona

Bari is boring

In the W. Med

I've always embarked at Genoa. it has a great aquarium

good ports are Barcelona, Valencia (if you like science parks), Naples for pompeii, Civitavecchia for Rome, Livorno for Florence and Pisa, Gibraltar, Casablanca. Malaga is quite nice.

I've been on 6 W Med (MSC and RCI) and 4 E med (MSC and RCI)

English is the main language the crew use, otherwise they have about 70 to 90 nationalities and there would be a major communication problem within the crew.

All information is available in English in printed form

often they have dual language excursions eg English/French

Pete