MSC Status Match - don't do it !!

[Merly]

Looking forward to my cruise on MSC later this year.

[rbschultz]

Pretty much a weak review.

 

You hate MSC because of short shows, daytime activities & disgusting food.

 

Obviously you have not had RC food in a while.

 

I was just on Harmony and the food was very good as it always has been.

[Salf777]

My wife and I were loyal RCL cruisers. The last few cruises were extremely disappointing. Food went downhill. Go to the steakhouse and pay the upcharge. If you want a better steak an additional upcharge! The concierge room was overcrowded and never able to get a seat. I asked our suite attendant one night to take sodas that the guys in the concierge room gave and put them in our suite and he charged us for every soda? We were literally the closest suite to the concierge room, he had to walk about 15 feet. They used to be special now to me they seems to be a budget cruise line experience with nicer ships.

On a chance we tried The Haven on NCL. Loved the Haven and had an amazing experience.

After reading here we are trying the Yacht Club on the Divina for Christmas and looking forward to it.

Sorry RCL for your prices can do Haven or Yacht Club and have an elevated experience with the options of using the rest of the ship if we want

[mafig]

This is an old thread resurrected, but MSC is still doing the status match.

 

We did Divina in 2016 in the Yacht Club and we have the Yacht Club booked again on the new Seaside for this July. :):p:D

[little britain]

Thank you Julie and little britan......have a great cruise :)

 

 

 

I did a pretty thorough comparison... called “Diamond Plus tries turning black on Msc” if you want to have a read.

 

It was so bad that I’m going on MSC2 next Saturday and have MSC3 booked for Easter.

I also have 4 RCI booked this year for full disclosure. [emoji847]

 

 

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[Coralc]

Pretty much a weak review.

 

You hate MSC because of short shows, daytime activities & disgusting food.

 

Obviously you have not had RC food in a while.

 

I rarely agree with you Matt. But I do on this review. I don't really like the food on Royal Caribbean. And I care not a whit about the shows on either cruise line.

[nicstress]

Pretty much a weak review.

 

You hate MSC because of short shows, daytime activities & disgusting food.

 

Obviously you have not had RC food in a while.

;p;p;p:'):'):')

#truth

[luvabargain]

I know this is an old thread, but I see it has been resurrected.

 

Well, despite all the negative reviews of the MSC Seaside - I just booked a cruise with them in August. Not only that - I have booked my first RC for August as well. We'll be doing a 4 day on Mariner of the Seas and then the day after we get back we'll be leaving on the Seaside. I guess I will get to see how they both compare, but I know we'll have a great time regardless. We can always find things we like, both for entertainment and food. We can always find things to complain about as well, but this is our vacation and it will be what we make of it. We have always done Carnival cruises and we love them, but I am ready to try some new lines.

 

I only have certain days for vacation that can't be changed, so I am limited, and since we will be flying I wanted to make the most of our time. We usually drive and have never gone out of a FL port. The affordability of MSC allows us to take another shorter cruise without feeling like we're stretching our vacation budget.

[heatherb1958]

We loved our first MSC Cruise have booked Magnifica and Seaview for this year.

Food is subjective, we enjoyed what we ate and did not starve.

Their prices for drinks onboard are cheaper than RCI, on Magnifica we will have the premium drinks package gratis so will be able to enjoy more of what we did last Feb. when we didn’t mind paying as we went.

We loved that there was live music in every bar even the coffee shop.

The shows are short but we never felt like we needed to escape like we do with RCI’s , on the older ships the shows are so outdated .We enjoyed the visuals of the MSC shows and when they finished went to one of the bars for the live music.

Looking forward to our next one.

[cruzinlady1947]

Just booked our first cruise on MSC for October 2019. It will be leaving from New York, no flying for us. We will take a bus into NY. Won’t risk driving ourselves. We got the status match...D+ to their Black and highest status. It’s a 10 night to Canada with an overnight in Quebec....no US ports on this cruise, other than the home port.

 

Looking forward to a new experience. Love Royal and we are loyal, but, just wanted to try something different. It’s a long way away and anything can happen, but looking forward to it and visiting Quebec again.

 

Gwen [emoji3]

[TAcruiselvr]

Is MSC dressier than Royal? I love Royal but after we make diamond i would love to try MSC and i do love getting to wear dresses and seeing my husband in a nice suite. However lately I'm in the minority in my gown on formal night ( Not that that will stop me )

 

MSC is definitely dressier than Royal. It's very classic cruise style. There are two formal nights on a seven night and almost everyone partakes, even those choosing to eat in the buffet. But even on a non-formal night you will see men in jackets and ties and women in nice dresses. My husband is not a fan of dressing up on vacation but my sister and I loved it so much that we booked all of the women in our family for May of next year.

[xpcdoojk]

MSC is 1/3 the price of Royal. Royal prices are going insane but as long as they keep filling ships nothing will change. Don't let the secret out how good MSC is, I'm enjoying my cut rates. More vacation for me. Not sure why you've posted here since you don't want to sail Royal either where the food is arguably the worst of any major cruise line and the entertainment is equally as repetitive. What sort of suggestions are you trying to solicit? :confused:

 

She didn’t let out how good MSC is. She said they suck. Is English that hard to read?:halo::confused:

 

JC

[LMaxwell]

She didn’t let out how good MSC is. She said they suck. Is English that hard to read?:halo::confused:

 

 

 

JC

 

 

 

Very hard

 

 

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[ndabunka]

Book a NCL Haven suite

[frank808]

Just booked our first cruise on MSC for October 2019. It will be leaving from New York, no flying for us. We will take a bus into NY. Won’t risk driving ourselves. We got the status match...D+ to their Black and highest status. It’s a 10 night to Canada with an overnight in Quebec....no US ports on this cruise, other than the home port.

 

Looking forward to a new experience. Love Royal and we are loyal, but, just wanted to try something different. It’s a long way away and anything can happen, but looking forward to it and visiting Quebec again.

 

Gwen [emoji3]

Hi there Gwen. What, you are not going on Grandeur?!? We are in the same boat and will be trying out seaside for 2 weeks in july. Will see how it goes but have a feeling we might be splitting our cruises between the 2 lines. If you tire of sailing Grandeur join a bunch of us in Feb on Serenade! Met a great bunch of folks on there that seem to spend snow season sailing Serenade. Have a b2b booked for Feb 2019 and there are a bunch sailing her again from this past Feb. Also not having to pass through Cape Hatteras twice is a plus in my wife's book.

 

I am looking to sail Grandeur in March 2020. Will you be sailing on her?

 

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[rjrice1]

We did our first and last cruise on the Lirca many many yrs ago

Got a great deal on a 10 day southern out of FLL.

Ship was beautiful. . The non officers were great

Did I mention the ship was spotless

The food was really beyond horrible.. back then no buffet on formal night

We end up buying pb&j at a port and other snacks

Lost 11 lbs.. now I'm very petite too

The officers were rude... speak to you like a child in Italian and laugh

Did I saw the ship was spotless

The islands were beautful... the bar tender was nice. . He gave us extra peanuts and chips

When we order a drink

 

But the ship was spotless. Lol

Never thought seeing McDonald's would make me happy and don't even like them

 

As any ship they all have their pros and cons.. but I am sticking with RCCL and

Other non European fleets

[renza]

I tried msc seaside in March. We hated it. Ship was nice, that’s it. Guest services did not care about your issues. Food was the worst in the buffet, same everyday with zero variety. Never would I give them my business again. I am sorry but the Europeans just do not give a ****. They basically do not care if u like the service or not.

 

 

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[diesel1973]

Also tried MSC Seaside followed by Oasis in Jan. Food was terrible as was service,room was small,only positive was the ship is great and drinks were cheaper. Couldn't wait to get on Oasis because we knew what to expect. On MSC they give you what they feel like,not what you are supposed to get!!!

[cruzeluver]

While we agree that on board prices on MSC were definitely lower than Royal, we thought the food in both the main dining rooms and in the buffets was light years ahead of Royal. MSC is known for their pizza and it did not disappoint. All pasta is made from scratch on board and was excellent (particularly the lasagna which is some of the best I have ever had). Seafood and poultry were also far better prepared and plated than Royal. Only area that was a bit week was beef. Food was served at the correct temperatures. We love Royal's specialty dining (did not do any specialty on MSC) and main dining is fine, but man oh man is MSC better.

[xpcdoojk]

So apparently the secret is out that the food on MSC is terrible or horrible and that if you are petite you could be at a health risk because of severe weight loss when trapped on a ship. That McDonalds, will suddenly become appealing after extended exposure. Plus I have watched some of the videos on TV of MSC ships and that they do not have a flowrider. So, I am officially out on the try to match status with MSC challenge. On the upside those who take the challenge, are going to pay a lot less money. I just hope no small people starve to death.:evilsmile::halo:

 

JC:'):')

[Guest BigRoger]

Ultimately everyone sees things differently and judges based on their own likes/ dislikes and expectations. We did Preziosa and Meraviglia last year as a couple of ‘cheating’ assignations away from royal and celebrity. Based on reviews and postings we very nearly cancelled Meraviglia but it would have been a huge mistake to do so.... We much prefer celebrity and royal but found nothing wrong at all with MSC, their food, service etc. People need to recognise always in their postings and reviews that their opinion is precisely that... their opinion which is totally valid but not what everyone else will necessarily think - scare mongering is unfair on people who might get a positive experience... ps we did Oasis after and realised (again) just how fantastic the Oasis class ships are and how wonderful the overall vacation experience on them is....

[xpcdoojk]

Ultimately everyone sees things differently and judges based on their own likes/ dislikes and expectations. We did Preziosa and Meraviglia last year as a couple of ‘cheating’ assignations away from royal and celebrity. Based on reviews and postings we very nearly cancelled Meraviglia but it would have been a huge mistake to do so.... We much prefer celebrity and royal but found nothing wrong at all with MSC, their food, service etc. People need to recognise always in their postings and reviews that their opinion is precisely that... their opinion which is totally valid but not what everyone else will necessarily think - scare mongering is unfair on people who might get a positive experience... ps we did Oasis after and realised (again) just how fantastic the Oasis class ships are and how wonderful the overall vacation experience on them is....

 

I agree with your thoughts, but this is cruise critic good luck getting anyone to admit that their opininon is wrong.:evilsmile::eek::')

 

JC