How does MSC compare to p&o

[Vampiress88]

Looking at a different cruise line. Only ever been with p&o. 
 

can someone tell me the differences etc 

[showingdiva]

I'll assume you are departing from Southampton.   If so, MSC Virtuosa this year, the smaller, older MSC Preziosa over the winter months (mainly doing Christmas market type places) and then MSC Grandiosa in 2023 (Virtuosa's slightly older sister, both Meriaviglia Plus class ships).

 

First of all the ship (currently Virtuosa) is stunning.   She's big ... 181,500t big.   I did a UK float last year and just returned from her four weeks ago from Europe.   As my signature below shows, I was barely home and I've booked a sneaky week to France / Spain in October.

 

The food.   Is good.   MDR portions aren't huge, but the waiters don't flinch if you want to eat your way down the whole menu (and someone at the next table did).    The buffet restaurant is just that - I have to say that the cheese, pizza and panna cotta (as one would expect on an Italian ship) is amazing.   Speciality restaurants are all open.  I can't comment on the steak one as I'm pescatarian, but stand out - for me anyway - is the Hola! cantina, which does all you can eat for £16.99.  The salted caramel churros and fish of the day tacos are the highlight.

 

Entertainment is bright and sparkly (the female lead has a great voice), and are geared to a diverse, continental audience.    All the other usual features of a cruise ship - casino, show lounge etc.   The light show (played three times daily) in the Galleria worth stopping to watch.  The planet show is mesmerising.

 

The drinks package - often included in the fare - is well worth it (again I am teetotal, but have acquired vast knowledge of the mocktail range).   All cocktails /mocktails and drinks up to $10 (I think) are included, which actually covers the vast majority of drinks.   Also soft serve ice cream from the pool bars included in the package usually offered.

 

Excursions are priced around the same as P&O.   Usual shopping - Tommy Hilfiger boutique, shop selling MSC merchandise, another with toys, chocolate and electronics plus the chocolate shop itself, which makes its own).

 

Cabins are a good size, balconies deep.   Just had the nicest steward on any cruise ship.   You are likely to also get the opportunity, a few months before sailing, to bid for an upgrade to Yacht Club.  Other levels are Bella (akin to Saver on P&O, cabin allocated), Fantastica (free room service) and Aurea.    However, on booking, aside from Yacht Club, there's not a huge difference - especially to choose your own cabin at Fantastica level.   Tips are included on MSC.

 

MSC's website can be a bit flaky as can customer services on the phone, but once past that, it's all okay.  Embarkation / disembarkation at Horizon went smoothly.   MSC will status match to P&O, Cunard etc.

 

I won't go on and on any longer, as I do still have a bit of loyalty to P&O (they own my lovely Arcadia after all) ...  but my 7 night Iona cruise in 2023 is currently around £450 cheaper with MSC (Grandiosa) a week later, and I am poised to jump ship.   MSC don't seem to be doing port jumping like P&O in the Fjords.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by showingdiva

[Vampiress88]

6 hours ago, showingdiva said:

I'll assume you are departing from Southampton.   If so, MSC Virtuosa this year, the smaller, older MSC Preziosa over the winter months (mainly doing Christmas market type places) and then MSC Grandiosa in 2023 (Virtuosa's slightly older sister, both Meriaviglia Plus class ships).

 

First of all the ship (currently Virtuosa) is stunning.   She's big ... 181,500t big.   I did a UK float last year and just returned from her four weeks ago from Europe.   As my signature below shows, I was barely home and I've booked a sneaky week to France / Spain in October.

 

The food.   Is good.   MDR portions aren't huge, but the waiters don't flinch if you want to eat your way down the whole menu (and someone at the next table did).    The buffet restaurant is just that - I have to say that the cheese, pizza and panna cotta (as one would expect on an Italian ship) is amazing.   Speciality restaurants are all open.  I can't comment on the steak one as I'm pescatarian, but stand out - for me anyway - is the Hola! cantina, which does all you can eat for £16.99.  The salted caramel churros and fish of the day tacos are the highlight.

 

Entertainment is bright and sparkly (the female lead has a great voice), and are geared to a diverse, continental audience.    All the other usual features of a cruise ship - casino, show lounge etc.   The light show (played three times daily) in the Galleria worth stopping to watch.  The planet show is mesmerising.

 

The drinks package - often included in the fare - is well worth it (again I am teetotal, but have acquired vast knowledge of the mocktail range).   All cocktails /mocktails and drinks up to $10 (I think) are included, which actually covers the vast majority of drinks.   Also soft serve ice cream from the pool bars included in the package usually offered.

 

Excursions are priced around the same as P&O.   Usual shopping - Tommy Hilfiger boutique, shop selling MSC merchandise, another with toys, chocolate and electronics plus the chocolate shop itself, which makes its own).

 

Cabins are a good size, balconies deep.   Just had the nicest steward on any cruise ship.   You are likely to also get the opportunity, a few months before sailing, to bid for an upgrade to Yacht Club.  Other levels are Bella (akin to Saver on P&O, cabin allocated), Fantastica (free room service) and Aurea.    However, on booking, aside from Yacht Club, there's not a huge difference - especially to choose your own cabin at Fantastica level.   Tips are included on MSC.

 

MSC's website can be a bit flaky as can customer services on the phone, but once past that, it's all okay.  Embarkation / disembarkation at Horizon went smoothly.   MSC will status match to P&O, Cunard etc.

 

I won't go on and on any longer, as I do still have a bit of loyalty to P&O (they own my lovely Arcadia after all) ...  but my 7 night Iona cruise in 2023 is currently around £450 cheaper with MSC (Grandiosa) a week later, and I am poised to jump ship.   MSC don't seem to be doing port jumping like P&O in the Fjords.

 

 

brilliant thanks. It’s the preziosa  from Southampton that we are looking at and it’s because msc are working out cheaper in a school holiday 

 

I agree about the website. I’d just seen a few bad reviews that put me off slightly but they were comparing them more to royal Caribbean which it expensive for us. 
 

I think the drinks are a lot more expensive looking at it. And I can’t work out if you all have to have the drinks package or not in the cabin as I rarely drink alcohol but hubby seems to have seen a 2pint deal that he says would be best. 
 

it’s to ports hubby wants, not really for me those ones but it’s the school holidays that’s making me feel like it’s a good deal. 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Vampiress88 said:

it’s to ports hubby wants,

I have read reports that indicate that some MSC port stops can be quite short.

Might be worth checking out the actual timings.

[showingdiva]

My most recent two port stops were Rotterdam (full day) and Cherbourg (12pm - 9pm).  

 

I believe you all have to have the drinks package.   I don't drink alcohol at all, but it's amazing how quickly I would amass on a day between mocktails and soda, as the bill showed the debit amount offset by the credited package  (£43 in a day was my most).

 

As for the bad reviews, yes there are a few, but when you compare it on here to P&O's port changes, Iona's late departures, speciality restaurants being closed, the widening difference between Saver / Select fares etc etc, it's really only that person's subjective view.

 

I suspect the school holiday timing is a good deal, certainly according to people I spoke to on mine, which was over an English school half term.

[Eddie99]

We’ve been on MSC three times - 2 Southampton round trips and 1 long, repositioning from Cape Town to Venice through the Suez Canal.

The ships are beautiful, very blingy and incredibly clean and sparkly.

There is always something going on in the evenings - the entertainment venues tend to fill one whole deck and there is never down time.

The theatre shows are extravagant but short

The food is mixed - chose wisely. It’s worth taking time over the menu.  There’s a small simple selection of always available for the very picky
The serve-yourself is much nicer than P&O

The on-deck pizza is out of this world

That’s all positive.  In the other column I’d put

European cruises tend to be ‘bus-stop’ - there will prob be 3or 4 ports where pax embark and disembark.  Not too awful but it means you never get that relaxed ‘yes, all the pax know their way round now, everyone knows their favourite spot … so chill’ feeling which arrives on, say, the third day of a standard cruise

More Europeans - less queueing, more every man for himself

Admin & IT patchy, but no worse than P&O 

 

Hope that helps

[LifeonMars]

Just for you information The Soft Scoop Ice Cream has been at extra charge for some time now and not included in the drinks package.

For some reason MSC gets bad reports from UK possibly because UK cruisers only write to complain not to compliment. I will Comment on MSC Virtuosa that has been sailing from UK this year and last and the  food is exceptional and they have slightly adapted for UK Travellers by placing a Sunday Roast on the menu and Tea (Yorkshire Tea) /Coffee facilities in Cabin and reduced the announcements to English Only. If you go with the knowledge that the ship is an Italian Line and expect it to be different to P&O you and Family should have a fantastic Holiday onboard.

[Vampiress88]

4 minutes ago, LifeonMars said:

Just for you information The Soft Scoop Ice Cream has been at extra charge for some time now and not included in the drinks package.

For some reason MSC gets bad reports from UK possibly because UK cruisers only write to complain not to compliment. I will Comment on MSC Virtuosa that has been sailing from UK this year and last and the  food is exceptional and they have slightly adapted for UK Travellers by placing a Sunday Roast on the menu and Tea (Yorkshire Tea) /Coffee facilities in Cabin and reduced the announcements to English Only. If you go with the knowledge that the ship is an Italian Line and expect it to be different to P&O you and Family should have a fantastic Holiday onboard.

we are hoping it’s different tbh. We like p&o but want more for the kids. There looks likes there is more geared towards families which obviously p&o are trying to do with the new ships too but it’s still predominantly for the generations above me. 

[showingdiva]

32 minutes ago, LifeonMars said:

Just for you information The Soft Scoop Ice Cream has been at extra charge for some time now and not included in the drinks package.

 

My bad - I got my soft serve free as part of the non-alcoholic drink package I had. 

It's also included in the Minors Package. 

Edited June 28, 2022 by showingdiva

[LifeonMars]

24 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

My bad - I got my soft serve free as part of the non-alcoholic drink package I had. 

It's also included in the Minors Package. 

With apologies, Yes soft scoop Ice cream is included in the ALCOHOL-FREE PACKAGE  with exceptions (Venchi 1878 establishments, Lavazza Coffee Shop, Jean Philippe Chocolate, Coffee, Crepes & Gelato and Starship Club).  but it did used to be included in the Premium drinks package which it longer does. However I have not seen soft scoop Ice cream available (Except in Main Restaurants )  on UK sailings other than the Gelato shop which is extra charge on Virtuosa

Edited June 28, 2022 by LifeonMars

[showingdiva]

14 minutes ago, LifeonMars said:

With apologies, Yes soft scoop Ice cream is included in the ALCOHOL-FREE PACKAGE  with exceptions (Venchi 1878 establishments, Lavazza Coffee Shop, Jean Philippe Chocolate, Coffee, Crepes & Gelato and Starship Club).  but it did used to be included in the Premium drinks package which it longer does. However I have not seen soft scoop Ice cream available (Except in Main Restaurants )  on UK sailings other than the Gelato shop which is extra charge on Virtuosa

On Virtuosa, it's available in the bar opposite the grab and go on the right as you enter the pool deck 15.  I can safely say that strawberry with lemon sherbet and sprinkles goes down well 😁  .. as does vanilla with passion fruit sauce

Edited June 28, 2022 by showingdiva

[showingdiva]

4 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

it’s to ports hubby wants, not really for me those ones but it’s the school holidays that’s making me feel like it’s a good deal. 

 

I've just had a look at the upcoming October one I booked on return.   The ports are :

La Rochelle   7am - 6pm

Bilbao    8am - 6pm

La Coruna   9am - 6pm

Le Havre   8am - 10pm

 

I'm sure that's about comparable with P&O port times, although the last time I was in Amsterdam on Arcadia, that was an overnight stop.

[andyfriend80]

We sailed on Virtuosa and Iona last year. 
 

At the time we didn’t think much of Virtuosa as their COVID procedures were very lax. We also found it odd that people could get on and off at different ports. 
 

Rooms were ok. Kids club was very limited but may have improved now. 
 

Specialty restaurants were very good. There was  limited seating inside and our sense was that the ship was designed for warm weather cruising. 
 

 

[showingdiva]

41 minutes ago, andyfriend80 said:

We sailed on Virtuosa and Iona last year. 
 

At the time we didn’t think much of Virtuosa as their COVID procedures were very lax. We also found it odd that people could get on and off at different ports. 
 

Rooms were ok. Kids club was very limited but may have improved now. 
 

Specialty restaurants were very good. There was  limited seating inside and our sense was that the ship was designed for warm weather cruising. 
 

 

 

Virtuosa this year, Preziosa over the winter and Grandiosa next year are only cruising to / from Southampton.   Last year's UK pick up from multiple ports only mimicked what MSC do in the Med.   Not helped by the plan of embarking in Greenock being scuppered at the last minute by differing restrictions in Scotland and England.

 

Virtuosa was intended for warm weather cruising.  She was built for the Dubai / Mediterranean market, which is where she's going back to this autumn.    When MSC originally joined the UK "staycation" market, they had intended to use the smaller, older Magnifica, but decided to send Virtuosa instead.

 

I thought their covid measures were as appropriate as possible, given the changing scenarios everyone was facing, and all eyes on cruising given the negative publicity it received at the beginning of the pandemic.  Four (one in each corner) of lifts, no buttons needing pressed etc.   The majority of the problems - certainly in last year's UK cruising - the fault lay with passengers, not crew doing the best they could.   Visible incidences of lack of personal responsibility.

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by showingdiva

[Eglesbrech]

On 6/28/2022 at 8:59 AM, LifeonMars said:

 

For some reason MSC gets bad reports from UK possibly because UK cruisers only write to complain not to compliment. 

What absolute rot. Gross generalisation.
 

There are some people on these boards who would not complain and indeed would support their pet cruise line regardless of how bad anything onboard was. They eulogise every little thing.

 

Yes there are complaints as well. Life is about balance, those with any sense read between the lines and adopt the middle ground.

 

[Vampiress88]

Looks like I might have gone round the bend as now looking at two msc cruises for august and October. It’s cos they are school holidays it’s good deals. One on preziosa and other on virtuosa 

 

I think as long as I go into it with the mindset that it’s not going to be like p&o then we might be ok. 
 

did also look at Disney which was the same for one week as these two msc we are looking at and hubby doesn’t think he will relax on a Disney one much. 
 

gonna have to stop going on these websites soon as we will have to have a gap year between all these holidays 

[Eglesbrech]

2 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Looks like I might have gone round the bend as now looking at two msc cruises for august and October. It’s cos they are school holidays it’s good deals. One on preziosa and other on virtuosa 

 

I think as long as I go into it with the mindset that it’s not going to be like p&o then we might be ok. 
 

did also look at Disney which was the same for one week as these two msc we are looking at and hubby doesn’t think he will relax on a Disney one much. 
 

gonna have to stop going on these websites soon as we will have to have a gap year between all these holidays 

Disney is really expensive once you are onboard. Really lovely ships, excellent entertainment, food more basic than P&O and drinks - take out a new mortgage for a glass of wine!

[Vampiress88]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Disney is really expensive once you are onboard. Really lovely ships, excellent entertainment, food more basic than P&O and drinks - take out a new mortgage for a glass of wine!

Disney cruise will have to wait. Have just booked two msc in the school holidays. Hope I don’t end up regretting it. 

[Eglesbrech]

7 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Disney cruise will have to wait. Have just booked two msc in the school holidays. Hope I don’t end up regretting it. 

Enjoy!

[andyfriend80]

At the end of the day a cruise is what we make of it. I’m sure you’ll have a great time!

[showingdiva]

1 hour ago, Vampiress88 said:

Disney cruise will have to wait. Have just booked two msc in the school holidays. Hope I don’t end up regretting it. 

 

No, you won't regret it.   I don't have children, but I get the impression that they have a great time on MSC ships.    That said, the kid in me loved the water slide on Virtuosa (!) and I'm getting a bit competitive on the F1 simulator.

Edited June 30, 2022 by showingdiva

[Eglesbrech]

10 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

No, you won't regret it.   I don't have children, but I get the impression that they have a great time on MSC ships.    That said, the kid in me loved the water slide on Virtuosa (!) and I'm getting a bit competitive on the F1 simulator.

That’s me sold. My oh would just love the F1 simulator.

 

I’ll be really interested to hear vamps feedback on MSC.

[Vampiress88]

36 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

That’s me sold. My oh would just love the F1 simulator.

 

I’ll be really interested to hear vamps feedback on MSC.

You know I’ll always have feedback. 
 

Always do a trip report/blog and keep spreadsheets of spends and things. 
Hubby thinks it’s crazy but it helps me to budget. 
 

He wants to buy a drinks package for £600 for the cabin for 1 week. 
This is because the drinks are more expensive than p&o and an extra 15% on top of the price too but I knew exactly how much we had drunk on the last cruise and used that to work out what we would have been charged instead on msc. We are now not buying the drinks package. 
 

I’ve not completely jumped ship though. We still have two on iona booked. 

[annarack]

We usually cruise P&O but tried MSC last year around the UK.  Loved Virtuosa and all its facilities for families, however didn't have a great trip due to poor service (lack of staff) and not being able to get off unless on an excursion.  Wanted to try Princess this year but had to cancel that so we are on Virtuosa again this August.  Going down to the Canaries so hoping for a fantastic holiday with our 6 and 7 year olds on board now Covid restrictions have relaxed and things are operating more normally. 

 

We don't think we would get good value from a drinks package either, based on our usual low P&O bar bill.  Still enjoy P&O and have 2 bookings with them for next year.  Maybe from 2024 we will be looking at trying other cruise lines again though as the facilities on board for kids will become more important now they are older.  P&O was fantastic with toddlers for us though with kids club, night nursery, low/free child prices so we are quite loyal.  I think our needs are continually changing and we love trying new cruise lines and ships and of course itinerary is the most important thing so that drives our decisions really.