Review of MSC Splendida cruise Aug 28 - Sept 4, 2021

[DCGuy64]

Good morning!

My wife and I just returned last night from Italy. We spent a lovely week aboard the MSC Splendida August 28-September 4. I will write a review in several parts, beginning today.

Our trip started in Washington, DC at Reagan National Airport on August 26. We used the VeriFly app to submit all of our pre-flight information, and that worked really well. We flew through JFK and enjoyed using the airport lounge since we were in Business Class. We arrived in Milan on the 27th and were shocked to find no lines whatsoever at passport control. All we did was scan our passports, walk up, have our photos taken (masks down, please) and proceed to get our passports stamped. Took less than 5 minutes. Then we headed to baggage claim, and off we went. We took the Malpensa Express from the airport to the Milano Centrale station, where we boarded our train for Trieste. We got in around 5 pm and went straight to our hotel (OK, there was a quick gelato stop first). After checking in, we rested for a bit and later had dinner at a fantastic restaurant just 3 minutes' walk from the hotel. Italy requires you to show proof of your Green Pass to eat inside restaurants, bars and cafes, but not for outside seating. They accept the white CDC card as equivalent to the Green Pass. The next morning we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then went to the port after a quick stop at a church and a pharmacy (to get some sunscreen and band-aids, just in case). Check-in at embarkation was pretty smooth. They were disembarking the previous cruise's guests at the same time, and the Costa Deliziosa was moored right next to us, and had a cruise going the same day as ours. In general, everything was fine. The health questionnaire MSC asks you to fill out (in paper form) has a section pertaining to certain countries you may have visited in the 14 days prior to the cruise, but the list is a web link (hyperlink) and obviously if you're filling it out on paper, you can't click on the link. We finally convinced them that since the only country we'd been to was the US, where we live, we had not been to any of the red areas. We were escorted by a Yacht Club butler to the embarkation area and offered some water and juice, and then we went for a quick nasal swab Covid test, which was negative. After that, we got checked in, received our cruise cards, and were escorted onto the ship and to the Yacht Club concierge area. We got some champagne and had a briefing by Dmitry, one of the concierge hosts. We also met Vincenzo Del Prete, who is the restaurant maitre d'.

I'll write more later but that's a start. Thanks for reading!

[DCGuy64]

Continuing with my review....

The first day onboard the Splendida was great, we met some of the staff in the Top Sail lounge, a lovely woman named Gugu Maseka and several bartenders, one of them Guatemalan (but with a very definite Greek name, his father was an immigrant) and another who was Brazilian. There was another waiter who was from Honduras, but I'm already forgetting his name. They were all great. The Yacht Club was definitely operating at lowered capacity, oftentimes the Top Sail lounge had fewer than 10 people in it. Still, they had the usual assortment of nibbles all day. We mostly ate lunch up on the 18th deck at the One Pool, especially since we spent a lot of time outside. The weather was excellent all week. They have a buffet up there, and by far my favorite was the "pasta of the day" at lunchtime. Shout out to Nuhrul, Giovane and Michael Angelo who did such a great job serving us drinks and food with a smile.

Our dinnertime server was Maria Cristina, a lovely and cheerful Filipina woman who was always in a good mood and made excellent food recommendations. We never bothered to order our own wine, we simply tried whatever she recommended and it was perfect. I should mention that our room was kept in tiptop shape all week and the minibar was restocked daily (although we didn't use it that much). We loved our Yacht Club deluxe suite, there was more than enough space for everything. The bathroom seemed a bit smaller than what we had on the Meraviglia (same cabin class), but it had the advantage of a nice sized bathtub. My requested copy of an Italian newspaper arrived every day.

[DCGuy64]

And more...

The Splendida's Yacht Club restaurant is called "L'Olivo" and is not located with the rest of the YC. Instead, you walk out on deck on the 15th floor and go to the back of the ship, and that's where it's located. It wasn't much of an inconvenience, honestly. It only took us a couple of minutes to get there, and the nice evening breeze was refreshing. I can't say enough good about Vincenzo, the maitre d'. Like so many others on MSC ships, he is always friendly, talkative, funny, and just great to be around. We spoke to him almost exclusively in Italian, he's from Naples and reminded me a bit of a former boss I had at an Italian restaurant many years ago. The food was delicious every night, but especially the pasta, which I may have already mentioned. I like that the portions aren't huge, so when I wanted to order 2 appetizers or 2 mains, it wasn't too much food. I didn't typically order dessert because I'm less of a fan of sweets than my wife, but what I did try was great. We ate breakfast mostly up on deck 18 at the One Pool, but did eat at the main YC restaurant once for breakfast due to an early excursion. Lovely, as always.

[Huntingdon1701]

I'm boarding on 5th October, so this is really interesting - thanks for sharing. Which cabin did you have? 

[DCGuy64]

9 minutes ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

I'm boarding on 5th October, so this is really interesting - thanks for sharing. Which cabin did you have? 

Thanks, we were in cabin 15011. Have a lovely cruise!