MSC Musica

[treesah]

We're first timers on MSC. Booked MSC Musica Black Sea cruise. Can you give me some input on the ship? Your experiences, pros and cons. We enjoy international ambience and hearing announcements in five languages is not a problem, rather an opportunity.

[Skipper Tim]

We're first timers on MSC. Booked MSC Musica Black Sea cruise. Can you give me some input on the ship? Your experiences, pros and cons. We enjoy international ambience and hearing announcements in five languages is not a problem, rather an opportunity.

 

Maybe more experiences than you bargained for:

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1738773

 

Tim.

[AmoMondo]

The Musica class is my favourite in the fleet. I'll also be sailing the Balck Sea (Oct 1 sailing) and this will be my third time on her. Like Tim I did a crossing to South America on her and last year did another sailing from Venice but around the Greek Isles.

 

She is a beautiful ship and one of my favourite places are the a la carte restaurant at the aft of the buffet (it's separated off so you don't get disturbed by the evening buffet); the coffee bar in th atrium at reception is open all day and in the evening as well. They usually have a trio of Classical musicainas playing there in the evening. The theatre is really lovely too. Shows are fairly short lasting 30-40 minutes and mainly musical or visual. Some of the variety acts are unusual and talented, sort of Cirque du Soliel type acts. They invariably have an operatic tenor and soprano or mezz soprano onboard and they'll feature one night as well. I nevr miss the classical ones, truly amazing but you have to get there early to grab a seat. I've had to stand the entire performance once along with quite anfew others. They are very popular. Still classical music and opera is not to everyone's taste and there are lots of other different shows during the cruise.

 

They've got quite a good spa with reasonable prices (compared to resort hotels and Costa). The prices are even better if you purchase a package in advance.

 

The food is a subjective topic but I definitely enjoy it and it's wonderful in the a la carte. The pastas and risottos are particularly good. Beef dishes can be hot or miss. There bare 6 courses at lunch and dinner so you won't be stuck to find something you can enjoy.

 

Rather than me continue to waffle on about whatnImlike aboutbthe ship, how about you give me an idea of your interests or ask some specific questions and I'll be happy TTY to answer them.

 

Which sailing are you on?

[treesah]

Skipper, thanks, fun read.

 

Amo, we're on the Oct. 1st sailing! May I buy you a drink? We're a mature couple (I'm retired, he's semi). We enjoy hiking, scenery, remnants of ancient civilizations and interacting with friendly people. We've been to Turkey and Greece (not cruising) several times. The Black Sea area is a new destination and I'm planning to do some research.

 

We're definitely not foodies. Give me pasta, veggies and fruit and some decent bread. Glad to hear there'll be classical music on board. We're musically inclined (members of a community college chorus).

 

I see you're from Edinburgh. We were in the UK last April, stayed in Harrogate and visited York and the Dales. What a beautiful area!

 

Thanks again and truly hope to meet you in person. You have allayed my very minor concerns.

[sthelder]

http://www.msccruises.tv/

Under the fleet section, there is a 8min video of MSC Musica, advertising in nature, but should still give you a sense of the ship.

[AmoMondo]

Hi treesah,

That's great we will be on the same sailing. Guess we should start a roll call! We'll need up on deck for a drink for the Venice sailaway. I've done it 3 or 4 times but still an amazing sight.

 

I'm a solo middle aged woman who is still working and somedays wishing my life away counting the time until I qualify for early retirement!

 

I love travelling to new places and have an interest in other languages (so MSC is good practice for my rusty language skills). I'm not keen on organised sightseeing and almost never do it. My preference is just wandering around taking innthe sights and atmosphere of a place. I do however do a lot of research before I go so I know where I want to go and how I'm going to get there, so there is a bit of organisation behind my apparent unstructured wanderings! Used to enjoy visiting ancient monuments but not so much now...bit of overload over the years and now prefer to concentrate on how the current inhabitants live, rather than those in the past.

 

I'm looking forward to the trip. The sail along the Bosphorous into the Black Sea is amazing, so definitely looking forward to a repeat. I did the Black Sea a few years ago but missed out on going ashore in Yalta and Odessa as I was unwell then. The Romanian port is definitely new for me, as is Gythion. I've been to Venice, Katakalon and Istanbul several times before, so not entirely sure what I'll do there....perhaps just revisit some favourite places.

 

Are you staying in Venice before the cruise? I'll probably just fly out the day before and spend the night in Mestre. Haven't organised my flights yet. The only direct flight from here doesn't operate dailynat that time of year, so haven't decided whetherbtomuse them or justnuse up Avios and fly with BA via London.

[treesah]

Yes, we should meet at the Venice sail-away. Since you're familiar with the ship, let me know where and at what time and Alan and I will be there to join you. We live in California (San Diego), so it's a long, long flight for us. We're planning on arriving in Italy a week before and probably spending some time in Trieste and Croatia. We're flexible, just trying to get the best airfare deals. We are independent travelers but don't mind joining a small group of cruisemates especially at a new destination. I wonder how many English speaking passengers one can expect on this particular cruise. I'd rather be seated with English speaking mates at dinner. I'm fluent in Spanish but my Italian and French leave a lot to be desired.

Teresa

[AmoMondo]

Yes, we should meet at the Venice sail-away. Since you're familiar with the ship, let me know where and at what time and Alan and I will be there to join you. We live in California (San Diego), so it's a long, long flight for us. We're planning on arriving in Italy a week before and probably spending some time in Trieste and Croatia. We're flexible, just trying to get the best airfare deals. We are independent travelers but don't mind joining a small group of cruisemates especially at a new destination. I wonder how many English speaking passengers one can expect on this particular cruise. I'd rather be seated with English speaking mates at dinner. I'm fluent in Spanish but my Italian and French leave a lot to be desired.

Teresa

 

Hi Teresa

 

Yes we can make arrangements nearer the time to meet jp. We definitely need to make it on thenport side as that has the best views.

 

I don't think there will be very many English speakers onboard, perhaps 100-200 based on past experience. They always seat you at dinner with other English speaking guests but not necessarily the same nationality, unless you specifically request to sit with passengers speaking a different language.

 

It's good that you speak some other languages though because ifnyou use the MDR at breakfast or lunch, it's open seating and you often have to sharebwith other passengers and they often don't speak English at all or verybwell. I speak a reasonable amountnof French and Spanish and a little German and Italian and I've often had a hilarious lunch at a big table with passengers speaking several different languages. The most entertaining was with an Italian couple and 3 Brazilian ladies. We justnused any language we could think of and a lot of facial gestures and hand waving...at one point someone tried Latin!

 

I've started a thread on the MSC Roll Call forum. As time progresses, we'll hopefully get a few more posters who will be joining us.

 

Mairi