How Does MSC Compare To Carnival/RC/Costa for FUN?

[GreytRacer]

Thinking about booking MSC out of Port Canaveral. We are frequent cruisers, but this would be our first MSC. How do they compare to other cruise lines, in particular  the “fun” factor?  We love the sail away party and the deck parties, movies under the stars and the production shows.  We did a HAL earlier this year, and while we loved the itinerary, the “fun-factor” was lacking. 
 

Also, we’re Platinum with Carnival.  Will MSC match that in some way?  
 

Thanks!  

[sealynx]

There are several activities, but don't expect to be entertained throughout the day and certainly not in every venue. They often have dancing classes, some thing like ring tossing, a sail away party and some theme parties. The shows are entertaining, but no big broadway extravaganza. The big screens are seldom used to show movies. Also no belly flopping, conga lines, wet t-shirt contests, or anything of the like. We always bring a pile of books and a card game, because that comes closer to our definition of 'fun'.

 

MSC does match your status from other cruise lines (and hotel chains). I don't know how though.

[JAGR]

11 hours ago, GreytRacer said:

Thinking about booking MSC out of Port Canaveral. We are frequent cruisers, but this would be our first MSC. How do they compare to other cruise lines, in particular  the “fun” factor?  We love the sail away party and the deck parties, movies under the stars and the production shows.  We did a HAL earlier this year, and while we loved the itinerary, the “fun-factor” was lacking. 
 

Also, we’re Platinum with Carnival.  Will MSC match that in some way?  
 

Thanks!  

It may depend on the cruise length.  If it is a seven night cruise, you will find it a bit more sedate than Carnival. Still have sail away and white and white night, but very little raucous poolside activity during the day.  They do have some activities scheduled almost every hour or so in different venues.  People who have been on the shorter length cruises (stereotypical "booze cruise") report there is a bit more activity poolside.  We enjoy MSC and essentially have moved from Carnival to them.  It is not a "Fun Ship" line, but it is fun to cruise with them.  

 

Platinum with Carnival would probably get you Gold with MSC Voyagers Club, at least that is what has been reported recently on the Voyager Club level thread. 

[Homosassa]

How much does alcohol factor into your fun?

 

MSC passengers are not the two fisted drinkers typical on Carnival which means the fun on board is not perceived through an alcohol induced haze.

[shipgeeks]

We are not usually pool deck people, but when we sailed MSC, I believe the evening/late night theme parties were well attended and lots of fun.  Inside the ship, there was lots of music, dancing opportunities, sports bar, etc.  What is probably missing is comedians, due to the fact that entertainment has to appeal to passengers with many languages.  So shows are more music and dance oriented.

[GreytRacer]

Thanks for the responses! 
 

We aren’t drinkers, so no alcohol induced haze or beer goggles.  🍺 

 

Don't care about the poolside activities, but enjoy the night time Deck Parties and the Sail Away Party. 
 

It will be a 7 night cruise. 
 

Always love the dance/singer shows; we don’t go see the Comedians. 
 

We enjoy ballroom dancing; we’re not gamblers. 

[alyssamma]

2 hours ago, GreytRacer said:

Thanks for the responses! 
 

We aren’t drinkers, so no alcohol induced haze or beer goggles.  🍺 

 

Don't care about the poolside activities, but enjoy the night time Deck Parties and the Sail Away Party. 
 

It will be a 7 night cruise. 
 

Always love the dance/singer shows; we don’t go see the Comedians. 
 

We enjoy ballroom dancing; we’re not gamblers. 

Can't comment on Costa, but as for Carnival and RCCL, I would say MSC is in the middle. Carnival is just about having fun...great comedians, piano bar, activities like hairy chest, lip sync, etc.

 

Royal is all about shows. Definitely entertainment like you won't see elsewhere. Couple that with escape rooms, ice skating, bumper cars, rock climbing, etc, and it's pretty fun.

 

MSC sits in the middle. Not as crazy as carnival, not as many activities or the same quality of shows as royal. It excels in 3 areas...yacht club,.nothing else like it... multicultural, many many different languages, countries, etc...and price, often the cheapest around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GreytRacer]

11 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Can't comment on Costa, but as for Carnival and RCCL, I would say MSC is in the middle. Carnival is just about having fun...great comedians, piano bar, activities like hairy chest, lip sync, etc.

 

Royal is all about shows. Definitely entertainment like you won't see elsewhere. Couple that with escape rooms, ice skating, bumper cars, rock climbing, etc, and it's pretty fun.

 

MSC sits in the middle. Not as crazy as carnival, not as many activities or the same quality of shows as royal. It excels in 3 areas...yacht club,.nothing else like it... multicultural, many many different languages, countries, etc...and price, often the cheapest around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this great insight!  Exactly what I was looking for!  
 

What’s Yacht Club?  

[alyssamma]

1 hour ago, GreytRacer said:

Thanks for this great insight!  Exactly what I was looking for!  
 

What’s Yacht Club?  

Yacht club is the premium section for MSC. If you sail in it, it's a COMPLETELY different experience. Just search for it on this forum and you'll get all the info you need.

 

NFL has the Haven, Celebrity has the Retreat. Those are the only things similar, but even they don't really compare and are often priced much higher (in general). 

 

YC is a ship within the ship...you have your own  area at the front of the ship...you never need to leave if you don't want to. You have a butler, plus many many other perks.

 

 

[LatinaInTexas]

I love Carnival, love the vibe, the excitement, the fun. MSC Seashore last month was.....nice. Good thing we had 4 port stops and did excursions or I would have been bored out of my gourd lol. We also had the drink package so that helped a tiny bit, we entertained ourselves.

What I missed most was the super friendly atmosphere on Carnival. No matter where I'm at or doing someone will always strike up a conversation even if it's just polite conversation. On MSC it was like we were invisible, no one spoke to us at all. The few times I tried I got a polite smile. I'm sure it was a language barrier issue but I really missed that aspect of sailing on Carnival.

[Nunagoras]

It all will depend on what you find as "fun". My unique 2 cruise experiences have been RCI and MSC. I'd say MSC as softer than RCI on that department. Some nice shows, activities and bands playing ship wise, but don't count on superb Broadway style productions, ice shows, comedians or aqua shows like on an Oasis class, nor on vibrant contest shows, love and marriage or others on the likes.

 

Bear also in mind 2 things:

 

1) MSC tends to concentrate all their daily activities on a single place during the day. Weather permitting it will be the pool deck, and those activities will tend to be more visual than speaking oriented due to the language mix.

2) In some newer ship classes, like Meraviglia or Seaside, they tend to be more vibrant than on the older ones.

[HipHipOnAShip]

1 hour ago, LatinaInTexas said:

I love Carnival, love the vibe, the excitement, the fun. MSC Seashore last month was.....nice.

 

Different strokes for different folks.  I personally loathe the vibe on Carnival, that creepy character, the cheesy contests, etc.  Makes me want to gag.  I'll take "nice" on MSC anyday.

[mscdivina2016]

On 9/16/2022 at 6:04 PM, GreytRacer said:

Thanks for the responses! 
 

We aren’t drinkers, so no alcohol induced haze or beer goggles.  🍺 

 

Don't care about the poolside activities, but enjoy the night time Deck Parties and the Sail Away Party. 
 

It will be a 7 night cruise. 
 

Always love the dance/singer shows; we don’t go see the Comedians. 
 

We enjoy ballroom dancing; we’re not gamblers. 

We are ballroom dancers and it was pretty lousy.  We have sailed 5 MSC cruises in Yacht club in the past 9 months.

MSC....Meraviglia is the worst for dancing. Seashore and Seaview are a little better, as that class of ship has a mid ship lounge. If in Yacht club, you have a private lounge and a entertainer. Small dance floor but no one else uses it.

RC depends on you.  I have spoken to the cruise director and if they don't have Ballroom, they put it together and have a power hour each evening around 6pm. They will play a recorded track of songs I give them to play.

Costa is the best. They had ballroom dancing every night. When one band took a break another band comes on. Very heavy foreign crowd with us being in the minority. 

NCL is also pretty decent with the lounge band each evening.

 

I see you also asked about yacht club its an exclusive area that will cost you about $5000 for a week versus $1500 for a balcony elsewhere. 

It is great but the IT and customer service is awful.  Do not book direct.

[alyssamma]

6 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

see you also asked about yacht club its an exclusive area that will cost you about $5000 for a week versus $1500 for a balcony elsewhere. 

Just to add to that...this price includes drinks and internet. When you compare what you get to other premium cabins (haven, retreat), it's a really good deal.

 

Also, for about 3k you can get an INTERIOR cabin...same exact perks, just no balcony and smaller room.

 

It used to be better...some perks have gone away...and it used to be cheaper..interior was 2k and balcony 3k....but it's still an excellent deal.

 

[Bobbiegentry]

Unlike Carnival, no wanna-be thugs running up and down the hall at all hours of the day and night.

And again, like Carnival, absolutely no 3 AM brawls involving a dozen and more people.

[GreytRacer]

10 minutes ago, Bobbiegentry said:

Unlike Carnival, no wanna-be thugs running up and down the hall at all hours of the day and night.

And again, like Carnival, absolutely no 3 AM brawls involving a dozen and more people.

Wow!  I’ve been on A LOT of Carnival cruises and have never seen a brawl!  🤷🏻‍♀️

[alyssamma]

8 hours ago, GreytRacer said:

Wow!  I’ve been on A LOT of Carnival cruises and have never seen a brawl!  🤷🏻‍♀️

The reality is lots of cruise lines have fights now. Carnival does tend to have a larger share...esp if you do 3 or 4 day...but they aren't alone.

 

MSC also has fights and overlay drunk people and rude people, etc 

 

There are lots of **** in the world.

 

 

[Nunagoras]

3 hours ago, alyssamma said:

The reality is lots of cruise lines have fights now. Carnival does tend to have a larger share...esp if you do 3 or 4 day...but they aren't alone.

 

MSC also has fights and overlay drunk people and rude people, etc 

 

There are lots of **** in the world.

 

 

3-4 night cruises are a "call" for those unhappy things. Been there, done that, once on an MSC Baltic Sea cruise where part of the passengers were doing a 3 nights "adjustment" cruise before the region change while others like me were doing their usual week long thing, captain had to not only block drinks packages rights to everybody, but to finish early bar service one day due to a severely abusive crowd aboard. I find it better to not go on the details, but there were people from certain nationality whom thought the ship was all to themselves, as if they were the captains. They fortunately weren't. Yes; there are brawls elsewhere, and there are unfortunate individuals everywhere. If that was my first ever cruise, perhaps I wouldn't be here praising this pleasure as my favorite hobby... fortunately it was my 4th or 5th cruise, and here I am... Let us to make those happenings to not deter our cruise enjoyment, and I for me have learnt the lesson: No more cruises on where a 3-4 nights, "booze cruise" is involved in.

[shipgeeks]

On 9/17/2022 at 9:18 AM, LatinaInTexas said:

I love Carnival, love the vibe, the excitement, the fun. MSC Seashore last month was.....nice. Good thing we had 4 port stops and did excursions or I would have been bored out of my gourd lol. We also had the drink package so that helped a tiny bit, we entertained ourselves.

What I missed most was the super friendly atmosphere on Carnival. No matter where I'm at or doing someone will always strike up a conversation even if it's just polite conversation. On MSC it was like we were invisible, no one spoke to us at all. The few times I tried I got a polite smile. I'm sure it was a language barrier issue but I really missed that aspect of sailing on Carnival.

I think that more than the multiple languages situation (how do you even say Good Morning to someone if you don't know....?), the European style of service is intentionally more reserved.  Personally, I prefer it.  I don't particularly enjoy waiters and others thinking they have to make jokes and gush over me and ask me about my day. Your use of the word "invisible" is exactly what the crew are intended to be.

We were not the least bit bored during our two weeks aboard, and we did not even go ashore at most of our ports, except at Ocean Cay.

[LatinaInTexas]

4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I think that more than the multiple languages situation (how do you even say Good Morning to someone if you don't know....?), the European style of service is intentionally more reserved.  Personally, I prefer it.  I don't particularly enjoy waiters and others thinking they have to make jokes and gush over me and ask me about my day. Your use of the word "invisible" is exactly what the crew are intended to be.

We were not the least bit bored during our two weeks aboard, and we did not even go ashore at most of our ports, except at Ocean Cay.

I too prefer more reserved less talkative crew but I was referring to fellow passengers.

[Nunagoras]

5 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I think that more than the multiple languages situation (how do you even say Good Morning to someone if you don't know....?), the European style of service is intentionally more reserved.  Personally, I prefer it.  I don't particularly enjoy waiters and others thinking they have to make jokes and gush over me and ask me about my day. Your use of the word "invisible" is exactly what the crew are intended to be.

We were not the least bit bored during our two weeks aboard, and we did not even go ashore at most of our ports, except at Ocean Cay.

Me too; I prefer the more reserved European way as well. We call it "reserved professionalism". As regarding the passengers, well, that depends on each particular sailing. I've had it all from wonderful sailings to an abusive crowd. That's nothing any cruise line could really control.

[shipgeeks]

And again, if someone (passenger, in this case) doesn't know your language, I think they will be less likely to start chatting poolside/at a bar/in line somewhere.  When we sail MSC in the Caribbean, we are in the minority as English-speaking passengers.