Poesia Transatlantic Review

[njhh]

Hot off the press, should show up in member reviews in the next few days:

 

We are just back from a 17 day Transatlantic on Poesia. Whatever MSC's policies may be when cruising in European waters, American usages prevailed on this crossing. Dinner was early, the sittings were at 6:15 and 8:30. As much ice water as one asked for was available at meals; free coffee was available from 6:30 to 10:00, again from noon to 2:30, from 4:00 to 5:00 and again at dinner, which seems sufficient to us for anyone, except perhaps those with a severe caffeine addiction. The food was more than ample, and if one stayed away from steaks and roasts, which tended to be tough, was, for the most part, good. The service in the dining room, if one overlooks an indifferent and disinterested restaurant manager, was excellent. The stewards were pleasant, helpful and did their utmost to satisfy requests, even if these were not always entirely reasonable. While it is true that wine, beer, bottled water and drinks were more expensive than on comparable lines by roughly half, if one was willing to settle for simple Italian country wines, it was possible to purchase a package that provided unlimited quantities of wine, beer and bottled water for $16 per person per day, which seems a reasonable expense. As for drinks, MSC made no objection to each passenger bringing aboard a bottle or two at every port, so that one wasn't at the mercy of the bars. The breakfast and lunch buffets were plentiful, if not Lucullan. The lunch offerings did vary from day to day, and if breakfast stayed the same, at least there was sufficient variety so that one wasn’t forced to eat the same thing every day. Or one could eat a splendid breakfast as well as a constantly changing lunch in the dining room.

 

The cabin personnel, a team of two for each cabin, was unfailingly pleasant and helpful, the cabins were cleaned within minutes of our leaving them. Requests for ice, glasses, snacks and the like were promptly and cheerfully fulfilled. The cabins themselves were of a standard size, as were the balconies. Closet space was just adequate as was drawer space. The bathrooms, while not large, had ample under the counter storage space. The shower was adequate for anyone weighing in at under four hundred pounds. The ship's officers were just that, ship's officers who ran the ship with considerable efficiency. Anyone who requires ship's officers to fawn over him had probably better buy his own yacht. The ship was exceptionally clean and well kept, a large number of crew were continually at work, washing, wiping, vacuuming, painting.

 

The entertainment, at least that part of which that we attended, was exceptional. A quartet of opera singers who would find a place as soloists in any opera house in the world, gave several recitals, accompanied by a first rate pianist. While we did not see the dancers, by general agreement they were excellent. For those so inclined, the Italian national chess champion, an International Master, gave lessons every day and took on all comers.

 

We encountered very few queues aboard ship, and when there was one, no one attempted to cut into it. There were four banks of elevators and there was no time at which one encountered excessive waiting periods. Embarkation was exemplary. One could check in one’s luggage at the Venice railway station, walk a short distance to the Piazzale Roma where buses were waiting to take you to the ship and, if one had taken the trouble to pre-register on line, be aboard within minutes. Disembarkation was something of a muddle – some passengers waited over two hours in the lounges—but this was not MSC’s fault, the U.S. customs and immigration services hadn’t assigned sufficient personnel to cope with so many passengers.

 

This is not to say that we have no criticisms. Most annoying were the announcements, which were read off in five languages three times a day for a total of 45 minutes, were stridently loud, and mostly consisted of hypes for various money earning on board activities. Deck chairs and tables, in spite of posted prohibitions, were, almost without exception, reserved with towels throughout the day. Given the nature of the case, it was impossible for us to determine if, as has been alleged, the absentee culprits were mostly German and Italians, or if all nationalities sinned equally, but the point is that no attempt was made by the crew to remedy the situation. Smoking was permitted only on one side of the swimming pool deck, but as some genius had decreed that this was to be the windward side, everyone got the full benefit of the tobacco fumes. Dinners were consistently themed, a different nationality was featured every evening. The results varied, running from the good to the mediocre. MSC would have done better to stick with Italian cuisine, which they did very well indeed. Dinner, moreover, was painfully long. It never took less than two hours, sometimes it was closer to three. This was not the fault of the stewards who did their best; they simply had too many diners at their stations and there seemed to be a serious bottleneck in the kitchen.

 

The shore excursions were ludicrously overpriced, one was always better off making one’s own arrangements. Get your information before you get on board as the “travel desk” did not provide any information on ports. We arranged for an historical and cultural tour of Carthage, and were quite pleased, but tablemates took a similar tour and got the usual “carpet sales” stop which robbed them of precious time in port, at top dollar! So, do your homework and ask questions about the tour in advance.

 

In short, this is not a luxury cruise line, but then it isn’t priced like one either. In our opinion it is comparable to Celebrity and Holland America: Some things are better, some not as good, but that is the level one is talking about.

[riclop]

Thanks for review and covering the good and the not so good. great job...

[mafig]

What stateroom were you in?

 

I know it was a balcony, but was it the smaller or larger balcony. There seems to be quite a difference in space between the two, both cabin-size and balcony-size.

 

Also, I recall on the Orchestra there were complaints about vibration toward the back of the ship. Did you happen to notice any on Poesia.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

[njhh]

Thank you for reading our review! We were in Cabin 10087 which was near the front. There was no vibration there whatsoever. We heard that some passengers in the stern had noticed vibration. We could feel some when we sat on the public decks at the back of the ship but it did not bother us. As for differences in balcony and cabin size, I think you can see from the deck plans that the upper level cabins (including ours) are bigger, maybe by 20 square feet. The balcony was standard - adequate for two people but no more.

[lousk]

excellent review. glad i saw it. we went on their first ship years ago & it was horrid. swore we wouldn't do it again. but it seems like they're coming around. good to see because we booked on the 4/27/10 t/a to europe from miami. the price was so good we couldn't pass it up. over the years of cruising, my wife & i have learned to adjust to all situations. enjoy it a lot more that way.

 

HAPPY CRUISING

LOU

[paul bernard]

Glad you found the review useful, Lou, and hope you'll enjoy your Transatlantic.

[bobar]

great review..thanks....hope yall dont get labeled as positive msc plants...lol.... your review is a lot like my experience on the opera and the melody and looking forward to the poesia on 1/9/10:cool:

[remi1au]

Thank you for reading our review! We were in Cabin 10087 which was near the front. There was no vibration there whatsoever. We heard that some passengers in the stern had noticed vibration. We could feel some when we sat on the public decks at the back of the ship but it did not bother us. As for differences in balcony and cabin size, I think you can see from the deck plans that the upper level cabins (including ours) are bigger, maybe by 20 square feet. The balcony was standard - adequate for two people but no more.

 

Hi njhh, where was your cruise from/to? If it was from Europe to North America, did the on board currency change from euro to $ at some point?

If so, at what point?

Good review.

Cheers.

[boca7]

Great review, thank you.

[boca7]

Where is Hummelston? I`m originally from the N.E.

[Man_Overboard]

Hi njhh, where was your cruise from/to? If it was from Europe to North America, did the on board currency change from euro to $ at some point?

If so, at what point?

Good review.

Cheers.

 

The cruise was from Venice to Ft Lauderdale.

Euros all the way. Purchases on board, in dollars, were

converted to Euros.

[MMDown Under]

The cruise was from Venice to Ft Lauderdale.

Euros all the way. Purchases on board, in dollars, were

converted to Euros.

 

Thats interesting.

 

I thought when we did our TA from Genoa, Italy to Ft Lauderdale on MSC Lirica in 2008, the currency was US$.

 

I'll have to check.

[remi1au]

The cruise was from Venice to Ft Lauderdale.

Euros all the way. Purchases on board, in dollars, were

converted to Euros.

 

Thanks for that reply, just so I get this right, all prices for onboard purchases for the entire cruise were always ticketed in Euros and your cruise account was billed in Euros. And when you settled your account, if you paid in $ they would do a conversion.

And if I am reading the OP correctly, because the final destination was North America, the infamous MSC attitude towards free ice water was relaxed?

[njhh]

Billings were in Euros converted to dollars.

 

Ice water was available in unlimited quantities.

 

Finally, Hummelstown is a suburb of Hershey (central PA)

 

p.s. to Lou: if you want to buy a drinks card, do so early on, because they tend to disappear from the site. And it is cheaper to buy it in dollars before the cruise. We learned that from Man Overboard.

[AmoMondo]

Thats interesting.

 

I thought when we did our TA from Genoa, Italy to Ft Lauderdale on MSC Lirica in 2008, the currency was US$.

 

I'll have to check.

 

They did the same on the Sinfonia sailing to South Africa. It was suppossed to be in dollars but it had been in previous years but everything was in Euros. Caused quite a lot of protests from some passengers who were outraged by it. I wasn't best pleased and intend taking it up with them. Don't expect it will get me anywhere though.

[lousk]

njhh-----i assume you mean on their web site. can you tell me under what heading? your review has been halpful to many of us. thanks again.

 

LOU

[Man_Overboard]

Thanks for that reply, just so I get this right, all prices for onboard purchases for the entire cruise were always ticketed in Euros and your cruise account was billed in Euros. And when you settled your account, if you paid in $ they would do a conversion.

And if I am reading the OP correctly, because the final destination was North America, the infamous MSC attitude towards free ice water was relaxed?

Drinks and services were all quoted in Euros. Shop prices were in dollars and converted to Euros for billing. My wife bought a pearl necklace priced at $150 US. When we signed for the purchase the price was converted to Euros = E100. At the end of the cruise our account was settled in Euros. So my American Express card was charged in Euros and the amount was converted to dollars by AMEX. As for the ice water; I'm convinced that it has always been free and bottled water has always been charged for. I would guess that some Americans, not familiar with European customs, were indeed shocked when they were presented a bill for water if the water was delivered in a bottle.

[njhh]

Lou, it is a curious thing. Before the trip the form to send in for the drink package seemed to appear then disappear on the MSC site. Finally I called them and they emailed me a form which we filled out and faxed to them. I think we had to do it either 7 or 10 days before the cruise. They did not confirm that they had processed the form, and it was not a secure transaction since our credit card was on the fax form. This bothered me and I don't know if a travel agent might be able to take care of this for you to avoid the need to fax. But in any event, it worked out and we paid in dollars so it was a savings. Once onboard, the drink packages, as with everything, was in euros. The thing to do with MSC is to pursue, and eventually things seem to work out.

[lousk]

thanks again for the info. i'm going to check it out with my agent. that would seem to be the easy & safe way to go.

 

LOU

[lousk]

just one more question. is the voltage on poesia 110/220 or just 220?

[njhh]

Hi Lou, both voltages are available in the room in various places.

[lousk]

thanks for the heads up nj.

i'm tired of burning out shavers & converters. last t/a i went a week without shaving at the end. i HATE that. slowly hacked it off with a razor when i got home.

 

LOU