Opera 3/10-3/21 AWESOME CRUISE!!

Well in 28 cruises I can honestly say this was by far the best. What an amazing,ship,staff,itinerary,entertaiment team,spa, cabin and food.

Embarkation was a breeze and handled in an exceptionally organized fashion culiminated with a white glove attendant walking you to your room and making sure it met your approval.

I had an inside cabin #9249 and it was immaculate and very comfortable.Same size bath as my last cruises on ncl,royal carib and carnival so I took advantage of the large comfortable shower in the spa when i wanted a long shower. Blow dryers in cabin were fine for a guy with long hair.Toiletries provided were excellent quality,especially loved the soft oversized bath towels and large throw pillows on the bed.Cabin stewardess was almost invisible( like i like it) and room was always perfect.Excellent drawer and hanging space and beds were high enough to stash suitcases under.

Food was good to excellent. The breakfast buffet was almost identicle to other cruise lines,except they offered grilled tomatoes as an added item.

omlettes cooked to order with very little waiting and excellent pancakes.

The lunch buffets, ii found to be much better than other lines. Always had excellent pasta, nice salads,a meat, a soup,and fresh steamed vegatables.

Very little fried food on this ship. The pizza was excellent and the hamburgers very good. Was able to get coffee when ever i wanted it and it was excellent.

days spent by the pool were wonderful, relaxing and fun. It was a pleasure to not be hounded by drink hawkers and not listen to a tired reggae band playing the same 12 songs all cruise.Instead there was a good mix of recorded music,pool games, open air dance lessons and live music from around the world at the open air patio lunch area.THere was one afternoon that they were playing italian folk music and you thought you were at an open air italian wedding with people dancing in the open spaces.

The entertainment team handled all the fun activities and there were more than enough to exhaust anyone. We have never had more fun. Daniela and Ruggerio run a great crew and Eugenio is a bundle of energy.If y'all participate ,I guarantee you will have a blast.Tell them hello and the rainbow team misses them.This ship was very Gay friendly which made it even more fun.

Dinners in the dining room were great . i though my grandmother was in the kitchen cooking.Pastas were incredible as were the hot soups.Prime rib was excellenty as was the veal shank.Very good appetisers.Our waiter Supernatta at table 88 was incredible.Very patient and kept a great pace of service.Desserts were great. THe fishes were outstanding. Make sure you order the swordfish.

The shows each nite were A+. a perfect mix of talent variety and a little slapstick campiness thrown in for color and laughs. THe tenor sounded like andreas bocelli's twin.THere were theme ,name that tune ,gameshows between dinners and a carnival of venice, a circus night, and great dancing with the entertainment team in the disco.There were italian lessons, crafts, art auctrions, bingo and just about anything else you could think of .Never a dull moment unless you wanted it to be.

THe ship was immaculate. You could eat off the floor. The ports were fantastic and especially the virgin gorda excursion in tortola and Cayo Laventado's beach day.(abslutely gorgeous place). THe ship handled debarkation in each port smoother and easier than any line i have sailed on. never a line or a hassle.THe layout of the ship was great. Just remember the far forward and far aft elevators go totally top to bottom and you'll never get frustrated.

I can't say enough about this amazin cruise except that we have travel agent booking for next year already and we may go early this fall and sail them in europe. They have certainly won me over and I wish them much success in all they do.

and i even won a little in the casino....CAIO!!!!

I'lkl be glad to answer any questions anyone may have..

Don't miss the grand buffet,especially the pastries..And even people we met with young kids and teenagers were having a ball..:cool:

Wow, how awesome it is to hear a great review of this cruise. We are leaving on the 1st of April and can't wait. Did you do anything outstanding as far as the islands go? Underfortunately we are not going to Tortola but rather St. Thomas instead. I was very disappointed in that as we've been to St. Thomas about 20 times but hey that's ok. Was the Cayo L??? beach day a charged excursion? Thanks!!

cayo was $3 for a beach chair and a cash bar but was utterly a fantastic and beautiful place. we played beach volleyball for about 3 hours. water and beach and setting were great

Hi bobar - great review, and really pleased you had a great time.

I'll let you know of my experience when I join the transatlantic crossing in three weeks time.

You say it was very gay-friendly - did they have an FOD meeting at all?

Cheers

Drew :-)

They actually had 2 FOD meetings. Talk to eugenio on the entertainment team and tell him the rainbow team says hello. wish i could join you on the transatlantic:cool:

It was great reading your review and hearing all the good things you had to say. We leave on the LIRICA 4/28 on our first MSC cruise but like you have taken many others.

We are travelling with a couple who were with us on a Baltic cruise in September and although we will spend a lot of our time with them, we are hoping for an FOD meeting so we can also make some new friends.

Thanks for the input.

Hi

We were also on this cruise. There were a lot of great things about this cruise like you said. The eggplant for one. But we did not have the same great cruise as you did. Our waiter was not that good. A lot of the times he would forget to bring us one of the dishes. One meal the soup he would forget, the next meal the salad. This went on the whole trip. Even when we ask again he would forget. But, he spent a lot of time talking to people at the other tables (which was fine with us ) but he would just forget what we ask for.

The second to the last day we had to change cabins. Because the woman who cleaned our cabin use something that smelled out the whole cabin. She told me that the smell happened because the boat was rocking and it was coming from the drains. I went to the fount desk and got the head manager to come to our room. He could smell the smell out side our cabin. They had to take the drains apart and try to clean them out. This wasted many hours. Then we had to move all our things. He said it had nothing to do with the ship rocking.

So I guess a lot depends on who your waiters are. It makes a difference.

Geo

Yo bobar-

Great little review - and so similar to our two 'Lirica' experiences in almost every way-

The prime rib on our first night on our first 'Lirica' cruise was the absolute best I have ever had on any ship-eh!

Happy Cruisin'

Mike

Bobar, glad you had a fab cruise. I too had an amazing time over Xmas and New Year, just wondering if you were sharing any photos anywhere so I could have a look and get nostalgic till I go again, :D

at some point i'll figure out how to put some photos up.i miss being on the opera. wish i were still there.sorry to those that didn't have as good a time as we did. with all the activities and dancing we did i weighed myself yesterday and didn't gain any weight even though i ate like a pig.:cool:

Thanks Bobar for approximately the same description as the cruise we experienced in February. The only thing I'm a wee bit upset about is that you had veal shanks (osso bucco) and we did not. What's up with that anyway?? :rolleyes:

and it was excellent to boot!! we are already looking into booking whatever ship they bring over next year and can't wait. i'm having italian food withdrawl as i write this:cool:

Wow, how awesome it is to hear a great review of this cruise. We are leaving on the 1st of April and can't wait. Did you do anything outstanding as far as the islands go? Underfortunately we are not going to Tortola but rather St. Thomas instead. I was very disappointed in that as we've been to St. Thomas about 20 times but hey that's ok. Was the Cayo L??? beach day a charged excursion? Thanks!!

Going on the same cruise as you. Got the docs and it shows Tortola on the itinerary that the TA gave us from them. I wonder if they changed it?

Hi Bobar, hi geo, hi joybaby. Wish to ditto everything Bobar write about our wonderful cruise on the Opera and it was great meeting all you cruise critic people. Bobar, you did a great job of describing the great cruise and mentioning all the people on board who made it so much fun. You must have been a great English student in school. You forgot our favoite, the Classical night performances with the violinist, piano player and the singer. Would you believe they played our favorite song just for us alone on the last night in celebration of our 43rd wedding anniversary. See the ship caters to all kinds and all ages. Also my husband loved the trivia contests which they ran 4 times and the teams all stayed together. His team came in third. Not bad.

Great meeting you and all your friends. Say hello to them for us.

Maybe we'll meet again on another MSC.

Edith & Jerry

Hey I agree with you 100 %. IT must have been a special group of people that traveled on that ship .

Well in 28 cruises I can honestly say this was by far the best. What an amazing,ship,staff,itinerary,entertaiment team,spa, cabin and food.

Embarkation was a breeze and handled in an exceptionally organized fashion culiminated with a white glove attendant walking you to your room and making sure it met your approval.

I had an inside cabin #9249 and it was immaculate and very comfortable.Same size bath as my last cruises on ncl,royal carib and carnival so I took advantage of the large comfortable shower in the spa when i wanted a long shower. Blow dryers in cabin were fine for a guy with long hair.Toiletries provided were excellent quality,especially loved the soft oversized bath towels and large throw pillows on the bed.Cabin stewardess was almost invisible( like i like it) and room was always perfect.Excellent drawer and hanging space and beds were high enough to stash suitcases under.

Food was good to excellent. The breakfast buffet was almost identicle to other cruise lines,except they offered grilled tomatoes as an added item.

omlettes cooked to order with very little waiting and excellent pancakes.

The lunch buffets, ii found to be much better than other lines. Always had excellent pasta, nice salads,a meat, a soup,and fresh steamed vegatables.

Very little fried food on this ship. The pizza was excellent and the hamburgers very good. Was able to get coffee when ever i wanted it and it was excellent.

days spent by the pool were wonderful, relaxing and fun. It was a pleasure to not be hounded by drink hawkers and not listen to a tired reggae band playing the same 12 songs all cruise.Instead there was a good mix of recorded music,pool games, open air dance lessons and live music from around the world at the open air patio lunch area.THere was one afternoon that they were playing italian folk music and you thought you were at an open air italian wedding with people dancing in the open spaces.

The entertainment team handled all the fun activities and there were more than enough to exhaust anyone. We have never had more fun. Daniela and Ruggerio run a great crew and Eugenio is a bundle of energy.If y'all participate ,I guarantee you will have a blast.Tell them hello and the rainbow team misses them.This ship was very Gay friendly which made it even more fun.

Dinners in the dining room were great . i though my grandmother was in the kitchen cooking.Pastas were incredible as were the hot soups.Prime rib was excellenty as was the veal shank.Very good appetisers.Our waiter Supernatta at table 88 was incredible.Very patient and kept a great pace of service.Desserts were great. THe fishes were outstanding. Make sure you order the swordfish.

The shows each nite were A+. a perfect mix of talent variety and a little slapstick campiness thrown in for color and laughs. THe tenor sounded like andreas bocelli's twin.THere were theme ,name that tune ,gameshows between dinners and a carnival of venice, a circus night, and great dancing with the entertainment team in the disco.There were italian lessons, crafts, art auctrions, bingo and just about anything else you could think of .Never a dull moment unless you wanted it to be.

THe ship was immaculate. You could eat off the floor. The ports were fantastic and especially the virgin gorda excursion in tortola and Cayo Laventado's beach day.(abslutely gorgeous place). THe ship handled debarkation in each port smoother and easier than any line i have sailed on. never a line or a hassle.THe layout of the ship was great. Just remember the far forward and far aft elevators go totally top to bottom and you'll never get frustrated.

I can't say enough about this amazin cruise except that we have travel agent booking for next year already and we may go early this fall and sail them in europe. They have certainly won me over and I wish them much success in all they do.

and i even won a little in the casino....CAIO!!!!

I'lkl be glad to answer any questions anyone may have..

Don't miss the grand buffet,especially the pastries..And even people we met with young kids and teenagers were having a ball..:cool: