26 February 205 MSC OPERA REVIEW

[Rotterdam]

I just returned from the 26 February sailing on the MSC Opera - it was a great week

 

I am a veteran sailor with cruises on Cunard, HAL, NCL & a few lines no longer sailing.(almost 50 cruises in all)

 

The ship is smaller than todays mega ships with only 1700 passengers(there were 1500 onboard this sailing). The ship is only one year old & looked as if it was brand new. The cleaning & upkeep was non stop no matter where on the ship I went. Even in the crew areas it was immaculate!

 

Embarkation was a breeze - I arrived at 3:30 pm & walked right onboard ....I was escorted to my cabin on 7 Deck. The cabin was smaller than a HAL standard but a better layout than NCL DAWN (and certainly more comfortable). The bathroom was fine except for a small sgower - I simply left the shower curtain open.

 

I toured the ship before dinner & found the lounges to be nicely appointed & with a wide range. Coffee Bar, Piano Lounge, Show Room, Disco & my favorite ...The Cotton Club - a lounge with a great combo & dance floor. What I really liked is the scale of the rooms - nothing too big, nor crowded , all in pleasant tones.

 

I ate dinner in The Carravalle Dining room at second sitting. It is the larger of the dining rooms but was just as pleasant. A great Italian waiter & assistant saw to all our needs in a very professional & fun manner. The wine steward was exceptional & saw that my glass was full at all times!!!!

 

I did have lunch & breakfast in the smaller dining room & also enjoyed it there. The buffet at the pool was a standard & well run restaurant. THE PIZZA AREA WAS GREAT!!!! As an afternoon snack I enjoyed a different slice each day.

 

I did get my haircut onboard & it was fine - just watch out for the extra charges for “treatments” that you do not ask for or are told about.

 

The spa area is quite nice...locker room , steam, sauna & relaxation room.. The pool area is great(much nicer than NCL Dawn).

 

I did not attend any shows but most people said they were great.....the bands onboard were provided a variety of music & it showed in the # of people on the dance floors each evening. Even the disco had a lively crowd through the nite(as opposed the NCL Dawn this past New Years where the nite club was dead, the dance floor empty & nothing but rap being played all nite).

 

I found the food to be just as good as HAL & Cunard and better than NCL DAWN. Certainly the European sevrvice was above the standard cruise lines.

 

The Pros -

Service, food, ship design, size & entertainment. The ship was immaculate!!!!!!!!

 

The Cons-

I had to change my cabin due to the noise from the kitchen on deck 6. I ended up on deck 9 & was fine. Housekeeping was very nice & arranged for my luggage to be transferred.

 

Some of the Pool Staff, Outdoor Restaurant Staff & Piano Bar area need to learn from their counterparts in other areas of the ship. These areas were slow all week in providing service.

 

Would I go again...in a second....MSC has some some aspects of the old Home & Sitmar Lines in a contemporary ship. So if you like Italian / Continental........go for it.

[PQ]

Good review! Thanks. I just love to read these.

[eroller]

So nice to read all these great and positive reviews! I absolutely loved my experience on MSC OPERA and it's nice to see I am not alone! More power to MSC and let's hope they don't change too much as they become larger and more popular.

 

Ernie

[Diane&4girls]

Cool!!!!!!!!

 

Nice review, I'm very excited.... as usual!

 

You mentioned, she was a year old. I was on her in FLL for a one-night TA Gala... I think that was her Inaugural after her Transatlantic voyage on December 2nd. I really hope I was celebrating her birth and not just her US arrival!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My girls are really concerned the small showers. I don't know why... they're all as thin as could be.

 

Thanks for all the info!

[czechmate]

Cool!!!!!!!!

 

You mentioned, she was a year old. I was on her in FLL for a one-night TA Gala... I think that was her Inaugural after her Transatlantic voyage on December 2nd. I really hope I was celebrating her birth and not just her US arrival!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Diane sorry to be bearer of bad news.

 

Opera was "christened" in Europe and cruised the Med throughout the summer before the transtlantic to USA.

There were some great reviews on here (and elsewhere) for those earlier sailings but they have been lost amongst the many threads on the MSC message board.

[Diane&4girls]

Oh great! Now I'm p***ed!

 

It was still fun, though.

[DFD1]

Rotterdam: Thanks for this review. We have been cruising off and on since 1964 on any number of cruise lines, lately mostly on HAL, and were thinking about MSC in the next few months. Your review helped us to make the decision to book on Opera for our next cruise.

 

Also, I read with interest your contributions to the thread about the Prinsendam's world cruise over on the HAL thread. I'm enjoying that thread a lot and appreciate your postings. Best to you. DFD, Chattanooga

[Joan of Oz]

Hi Rotterdam

Thankyou for your very comprehensive review of the MSC Opera. We are cruising on the 2nd April and note your comments that you had to be moved from your cabin due to the noise from the kitchen on Deck 6. Was your original cabin on Deck 7? Do you remember the cabin number? Our cabin is an outside cabin on Deck 7 (we have not received our documents - don't know cabin number).

 

We would appreciate your imput on above.

 

Thankyou again - the ship sounds great.

 

Regards

Joan

[Rotterdam]

Glad to hear you all enjoyed the review...the Opera / MSC product was a good fit for me.

 

One thing I forgot to mention....I like the size of the ship a great deal. Lots of venues with lots of variety. But it was the feeling of being at sea that I really enjoyed - the sea was visable all over the ship - this may sound funny but on the NCL Dawn this past New Years, most of the venues felt like I was in an interior space in a mall. There have been a few ships I have sailed on where the designer never considered the sea(whether due to his "vision" or the lines dictates). The Crown & Regal Princess were designed by Renzo Piano & yet had very limited outside deck space.

 

But the Opera afforded great site lines through floor to ceiling glass all around the ship! Thank you MSC for bringing the sea back to cruising!

 

Joan -

Yes my original cabin was on Deck 7 - # 7157. I thought the noise(ice machines, microwave oven bells) was from a pantry close to the cabin. The noise was loud & constant from 3A.M. on. After the first nite I spoke to the front desk & met with the head of Housekeeping. She knew of the problem & was very nice & polite...even arranged for a steward to help me pack & get to the new cabin on deck 9. She did explain that the noise was from the kitchen on deck 6.

 

I booked shortly before sailing as a inside guaranty -thats how I ended up in 7157.

 

As I said they were very nice onboard - so if you have a problem they will take care of you.

 

Bon Voyage.

[TMom]

I am setting up excursions so I wanted to know how accurate was the ship getting into the various ports and clearing customs? Time wise. ie: arrive St. Thomas 7am, should I schedule my taxi to pick me up at 9am? An early post had them off by 2 hours.

[bepsf]

Rotterdam--

 

 

Where were you for our roll calls, etc???

Would very much have enjoyed meeting up w/ you - there were several of us on board that week!!! Were you there for any of the baseball events, etc?

 

Of course, I know you saw me - if you ever turned on the TV or walked past the photo gallery and watched the cruise video you couldn't NOT see me...

 

Did you get any good photos of the ship? Seems like all my pix were of everything but the ship.

 

Hopefully we'll meet up another time,

[Benitad]

Brian, I only took about 250 photos ... I'm sure I have some of the ship! I'll e-mail!

[bepsf]

Benita--

 

As ever, you are too thoughtful...

[Rotterdam]

Bepsf -

 

I really did not know if I would be onboard until 8:30 pm the nite before we sailed....I was in negotions for an apartment & things kept getting postponed. I do not know what you look like - lol - I just never check out the photo gallery or TV.

 

No I did not attend any baseball player activities. Most nites I was in the Cotton Club having a drink(made by the wonderful & fun bartender Galen from Bulgaria) & listening to the wonderful combo playing. A couple of nites I did go up ti the nite club & enjoyed it also.

 

It was a fun trip - as I said I loved the ship design & size.

 

Glad you enjoyed MSC also.

[wwwmarge]

Hi Joan, This is wwwmarge from our April 2nd mailing. Maybe because you are outside and she was inside cabin you might not be bothered.

 

I just called MSC here in the states and they are not sold out. Maybe you could call your TA and see if you can get moved at not cost.

 

Good Luck, Marge (Las Vegas)

 

 

Hi Rotterdam

Thankyou for your very comprehensive review of the MSC Opera. We are cruising on the 2nd April and note your comments that you had to be moved from your cabin due to the noise from the kitchen on Deck 6. Was your original cabin on Deck 7? Do you remember the cabin number? Our cabin is an outside cabin on Deck 7 (we have not received our documents - don't know cabin number).

 

We would appreciate your imput on above.

 

Thankyou again - the ship sounds great.

 

Regards

Joan

[wwwmarge]

Joan,

Sorry about the spelling.

 

Hi Joan, This is wwwmarge from our April 2nd mailing. Maybe because you are outside and she was inside cabin you might not be bothered.

 

I just called MSC here in the states and they are not sold out. Maybe you could call your TA and see if you can get moved at not cost.

 

Good Luck, Marge (Las Vegas)

[Joan of Oz]

Hi Marge

Thankyou for your advice. We still have not received our travel document. As soon as we find out our cabin number we will certainly take up your suggestion if it is near 7157.

 

Look forward to meeting you at the GTG on 2 April.

 

Regards

Joan

[Joan of Oz]

Hi Rotterdam

 

Further to your advice on the noise from your cabin 7155. We have today found out that our cabin number is 7152 - this is an outside cabin. MSC in Sydney tell us the ship is well booked and it will be costly to upgrade at this point. If like you there is kitchen noise we will advise the housekeeper and hopefully we also get move.

 

Thankyou again

 

Joan

[Joan of Oz]

Hi Marge

Re noisy cabin - we have just found out it is 7152 - hopefully it is O.K. as MSC will charge for an upgrade at this time.

 

Thanks again for your information.

Joan

[robynp]

Hi Joan,

 

I was in MSC office here in Sydney today (to pick up my air ticket) - apparently our cruise tickets are arriving from Naples later today. And that is at the insistence of my friend there - he complained to Naples that everyone in the US and Europe seemed to have their tickets, but not those in Oz (yet). So hopefully you should receive them by early next week at least, I'd imagine. Mine are being personally delivered over lunch on Saturday :D

 

Would also imagine, if you do have problems with your cabin (you may not hear a thing!), it would perhaps be best to see what could be done while onboard.

 

Cheers....Robyn.....4 sleeps to go :D

[czechmate]

In 7152 you will be very close to Art and Jennifer, members of our happy band, who will be in 7146.

[henri]

My agency states that only category 1,2,3 and 10,11 are fully booked.

Category 4-9 still (some) free.

So,....... people still can join us.

Henri.

[cronestein]

Rotterdam,

 

At least a positif review!

I have looked for months to find this.

Most of the reviews are -sad-

Are you Dutch,Rotterdam? (I am a curious old lady)

I am leaving on the 2-april voyage,Trans Atlantic.

See you once some where------

 

Eternity Cronestein

[cronestein]

My agency states that only category 1,2,3 and 10,11 are fully booked.

Category 4-9 still (some) free.

So,....... people still can join us.

Henry,Henri.

 

Henry ,looking at the cruisetravelsite ,you are right!

Fantastic not so crowded,I hope.

Is there anyone on the same floor as I am?

10*?

Nice to know!

 

Bye,

Eternity Cronestein

[cronestein]

My agency states that only category 1,2,3 and 10,11 are fully booked.

Category 4-9 still (some) free.

So,....... people still can join us.

Henri.

 

Sorry vergeten ,the mailadress is very fast SO THANKS again.

 

Eterity Cronestein