The Good and the Bad of our Orchestra cruise 3/7 -3/14

[Sandyrella]

I will start by saying that we had a great vacation, we have never had a bad one but we didn’t have the same wonderful experience that many of my fellow cruise mates seemed to have. We are also go with the flow type of vacationers (we go skiing and the snow melts, we go to Disney and the flowers freeze) and we always have a good time, but there were a few little things about this cruise that slowly grated on our nerves over the course of the week…and one larger incident, which I will get to at the end of this and which in all likelihood resulted in our taking our business elsewhere in the future.

 

EMBARKATION:

We arrived at the port just after 11 a.m. after reading here that some walked right on the ship by 11:30-12:00. We dropped off our bags with a porter who just moved them around, from side to side with a bunch of other luggage, not actually putting them on cart. We couldn’t understand what she was doing so we waited until she finally picked them up and put them all together on a cart, and then told us that she would take it from here. It was kind of odd behavior and it lasted quite a few minutes. Not what we have experienced in the past but whatever…. We then proceeded through security and entered a seating area to wait to register. As we were waiting, I was looking around and noticed that other passengers were holding a small yellow piece of paper with a number on it. Curious, I asked my neighbor what the number was for. He told me that it was the number of the group that would be called to go into the registration area. Hmmmm..how come I didn’t get a number? I went up to the official at the door and told her that I didn’t get a number. She was very friendly and said “oh…I must not have seen you walk in” and handed me number 4. Fair enough, but I was a little put off thinking that if I didn’t notice that others had this little slip of paper, what number would I have ended up with? And how did she miss me walk right by her with my DH & DS? Well, they started calling numbers soon after, registration was quick & painless, and we were on the ship by approx. 12:15.

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

Our first impression was that this ship is stunning! I cannot stress enough that the ship is beautiful, very tastefully decorated with muted tones and a lot of brass and mirrors, but not overly done. Just gorgeous! We were guided to the buffet but it was quite a maze getting there. Deck 12 through a serious of hallways with staff greeting us and pointing in the right direction and then finally, to a stairway, then up one more deck to the buffet. DS was very hungry and was thrilled to see the grill with hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and all the fixings you can imagine. I took a walk around the buffet and found it to be filled with a large variety of foods. Besides the grill area, starboard side, there was a pizza area on the port side. Everything after that was the same on both sides with cold salads, cold cuts, fish dishes, roasts, vegetables…you name it. We were initially quite impressed with the selection. After lunch we went out on deck to take a look around. We absolutely loved the pool deck. It had two good-sized pools, separated by a bar, but the whole deck was very open and spacious, and again, beautifully decorated. There were also two hot tubs at each pool. The “main” pool had a low stage, which was midship (backing onto the bar). This is where the “Excellent Entertainment Team” met daily from 9-12 and 3-5. There was also another bar at the other end of the deck from the buffet (I still have no idea what was forward and what was aft!)

 

Our muster drill was at 4:30. At this point we still did not have our luggage and dinner was at 5:30. On our way back to our cabin after the drill, we saw our luggage in the hallway outside the room where they sort it. We all just grabbed our own bag and brought it with us to our cabin. I know you’re not supposed to but DH was not comfortable going to dinner in shorts and I wanted to freshen up. We’ve never had our luggage delivered so late, especially because we are usually on the ship by noon.

 

STATEROOM 8120 – Obstructed Oceanview

Well, not really…There was a very small piece of metal piping showing in our window, otherwise, the view was completely unobstructed. A lot of people have complained that the cabins are smaller on this ship and maybe they are but I didn’t feel it. There was plenty of storage space in the closet for our suitcases and although we didn’t try, I’m told under the bed as well. Drawer space was definitely large enough for 3 of us. Four would have been tighter but it’s doable. Our cabin steward Agus, was very nice and very efficient. Our cabin was always made up while we were at breakfast, even if we were only gone 15-20 minutes. The ice bucket was always full and on the first morning he brought fresh fruit. We don’t really eat a lot of fruit so it was not replenished but I have heard that if you do eat it, it is replaced daily. I have absolutely no complaints about the cabin or our steward.

 

PORTS:

Our itinerary was Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Cayo Levantado with sea days on the 4th and 6th days. I won’t go into this except to say that we had an amazing time in all ports and that the tendering process was as uncomplicated as could possibly be. They made it very clear in the Daily regarding the times they would start handing out tender tickets. Grand Cayman day was 8:30 a.m. at the shore excursion desk. We arrive around 8:15 and found approx. 20 people in front of us. Once they opened the desk, we had our tickets within minutes….tender #7. I believe that the shore excursions had priority tenders. Regardless, they called our tender number very quickly and we were off the ship by approx. 10:15 (We arrived at this port earlier than expected). For Cayo, we were in no hurry. The ticket hand out was expected to start at 6:30 but we decided not to rush to get tickets, so by the time we went downstairs it was probably about 8:30 and got a ticket for tender # 28. We were ready with all of our beach gear in case they called our number and went to breakfast. Our number was called about ½ hour later. We were on the island by 10:00 and found excellent chairs under the shade of a palm tree about 3 rows in from the beach. We did not have to pay for these chairs although I have read reports that others did have to pay for chairs….not sure why.

 

SEA DAYS:

Having sun sensitive skin, I tend to prefer hanging out in the shade. On the first sea day, we went up on deck around 9:00 and found every chair in the sun reserved with only a few shaded chairs available. We took two for the three of us, with at least one of us sticking around to make sure we didn’t lose them. Remarkably, the deck and most of the reserved chairs remained virtually empty until about 11:00 a.m., and then the show started. It was quite entertaining to watch this large group of Italians, that were obviously traveling together, trying to get more and more chairs into a two foot square area. They arranged and then re-arranged chairs until it finally fit…and then they did it again. I was amazed and actually quite impressed with their tenacity. They were really a fun-loving group. The “Excellent Entertainment Team” started each morning at 9:00 with aerobics and then stretching exercises, all of which I watched with interest from my chair : ), until 10:00 when the games began. The games were fun to watch. No sexy leg or hairy chest contests but it was always entertaining to watch. They also did some trivia by the pool. One day it was a movie trivia contest with them playing soundtracks of various movies with two of the team acting out a scene from the movie. Kinda cheesey, but fun to watch. The games ended promptly at noon and then there was nothing until 3:00. I guess it’s siesta time in other parts of the world. I personally liked the quiet time to catch up on some reading but it would have been nice to have a steel drum type of vacation band playing at some point. They did have music but it was along the lines of an easy listening radio station but it didn’t quite evoke the same holiday feel. I don’t even have a problem with no band, but the choice of music could have been more festive. Just my opinion…

 

 

to be continued.....

[Sandyrella]

FOOD:

Ok, as always, keep in mind that this is a very hot topic and very subjective, as we all know. We are NOT fussy eaters and have never had a problem finding something we like at a buffet. I personally didn’t mind the food….I am a huge Italian food fan and found their pizza to be great as was their daily pasta that was prepared at more than one station throughout the buffet. My DH on the other hand, is NOT an Italian food lover. The pasta did not appeal to him, nor did the pizza. He had a hamburger on two occasions, which he found to be very dry and tasteless. I didn’t have to taste it to agree with him. They LOOKED dry and tasteless. I know we shouldn’t compare to other lines but he was comparing them to the luscious burgers that we had on the NCL Dawn, top deck. Those ones were right off the grill and simply delicious. He really tried a lot of other foods, specialties of the day, etc., but it just never seemed quite right. I also tried many of the salads, etc. and have to agree that it wasn’t great. With that said, I didn’t go hungry. The other issue with the buffet was that it was often almost impossible to find a place to sit. We have never experienced this same problem on other lines and can’t quite figure out why it just didn’t work better on this ship. I can’t count how many times we left and then tried again later because we couldn’t find a table. We started eating breakfast in the dining room because at least we knew we would get a table there.

 

Speaking of the dining room….

We were at the first seating in the Villa Borghese dining room. Again, beautifully decorated but it felt more like a restaurant than a main dining room. Some may like this intimate feel but when I’m in a dining room, I like it to feel like a dining room with high ceilings and dim lights. This dining room was quite bright for my liking for dinner and did not have a lot of large tables. We had requested a large table, ended up a table for 5 but the other two never showed up, so we were now at a table for 3. Our server and his assistant were friendly enough but could hardly speak a word of English. I’m not sure how they deal with French or Italian unilinguals. If we didn’t point to what we wanted on our menu, I’m not sure they would know what we were saying. Whenever we asked a question, we didn’t really understand the answer because their English was so poor. I found the service to be very slow and not good at all. I get the whole European dining experience but waiting 20 minutes for a wine list, then another 20 minutes for someone to open the wine once it has been brought to the table is just lacking. Often my dishes were handed to me from across the table instead of placed in front of me and more often than not, the food was barely lukewarm. Nothing major but it didn’t feel like fine dining to me. On the second gala night, there was a presentation of the servers carrying Baked Alaska to music and napkin swinging and a complimentary glass of champagne. It was very nice but it slowed the service that much more. DS and I had ordered tea, which we did every night. The cup arrived at the table with the tea bag, but nobody ever came back with the hot water. We waited and waited, just looking for our server to remind him but he never came back. Others were cleaning the dining room for the 2nd seating but ours wasn’t even around doing that. We finally left with our cups and got our hot water at the buffet.

 

The food in the dining room was hit or miss. We had some really good meals and some not so good meals. Lobster was served at the second gala night and mine was horrendous! Extremely overcooked and chewy and I couldn’t remove the meat from the shell. Again, hit or miss. DH thought his wasn’t bad and was able to remove the meat from the shell very easily. Our neighbors had the same problem…one had a good lobster and one, not so much. I didn’t bother sending it back, I had had enough to eat by then, and so many were returning it that I figured I wouldn’t get another one back before it was time to go. The sirloin steak, filet mignon and prime rib were very nicely cooked. We didn’t request them how to cook it so they arrived medium it was perfect! Very tender. Our opinion of the food, overall, is that MSC is trying too hard to accommodate both the Americans and the Europeans different preferences. We don’t think it’s working very well…on either account.

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

We went to 3 of the shows in the theater and found them to be very good. The first night was a Night in Paris and ended with a CanCan dance. The costumes were spectacular at all the shows we saw. DS (11) got a little embarrassed by the female dancers wearing thongs but we didn’t make a big deal of it. I told him that he was lucky that they weren’t topless as well, as they would be in Paris. The Zimbabwe Boys acrobatic acts were quite amazing. It’s not really my “thing” but I did enjoy the shows nonetheless. They also starred the following evening in the Circus show. The last show we went to see was the Opera (can’t remember the name). It was really quite moving. Their voices were beautiful but DS was a little fidgety.

 

MISCELLANEOUS:

We found the drink prices to be very reasonable. The drink of the day was $5.50 with other cocktails being $6.90. A bucket of 4 beer was $12.00. We bought the crappy wine package of 7 bottles for $105.00. The wine list was only California wines that I know you can buy in the U.S. for $7-9 a bottle but here in Montreal, they go for $14-15 a bottle so we felt that we were getting a decent deal. I would be more ticked if I spent $50 on a bottle of wine and had to drink it with some of the less than pleasant dishes we were served. With the exception of the Wine Bar, you could get two kinds of red and two kinds of white at any bar for $4 a glass, and it was a good size glass, not measured. We did not find the drink pushers on deck to be pushy at all. Almost the opposite, but they actually seemed bored for the most part and were sometimes really hard to find.

 

DS went to the kids club twice and had a good time but it's not his thing. I think that overall they had age appropriate games although some of the games were a bit young. I think that MSC should have another group for the 10-12 group. They simply aren't interested in doing what 7-9 years do.

 

Staff, for the most part were very pleasant and friendly, even if there was a language barrier with some. The Entertainment Team were outgoing and fun to watch. Besides being excellent eye candy, I’m not sure what the Cruise Director’s function was, besides announcing the shows at night. With that said, we didn’t go to any shows other than those in the theater. Perhaps he only came out at night but he didn’t make any announcements like on other lines. All announcements were made in 5 languages.

 

DISEMBARKATION:

Complete and utter chaos is the only way I can describe it. I can’t actually attribute this entirely to MSC but it was awful. First of all, we must vacate our cabins by 7:00 a.m. It’s a trade off for getting our cabins by 1:00 p.m. on embarkation day. Personally, I can wait the extra hour on embarkation day to get to sleep a little later than 6:00 a.m. on disembarkation day, but that’s just me. The buffet and the dining room are both open for breakfast as we await our tag color and number to be called. We were Yellow # 2 and about halfway down the list. No problem as we had a late flight so no rush. We finished breakfast and went up to the pool deck to look around and hang out until our tag was called. Somewhere around 8:45 we got the call and proceeded to deck 6 (or was it 5?) to get off the ship. This is where we encountered our first line of at least 200 people ahead of us. We walked and walked and walked to the end of the line winding through lounges until we go to the end. It then took about 20-30 minutes to get to the front of the line where they scan our card and we get off the ship. Then we have to go downstairs to collect our luggage (yes, par for the course) to go through customs. No problem..easily located…but then, the lineup to go through customs. This took about another 20-30 minutes. We finally cleared customs and that’s where the real chaos began. Our ship was sharing a pier with the Ruby Princess so like I said, I can’t blame MSC for all the problems but the outside area was so congested with cars, taxis, buses, shuttles…you name it. We were looking for a taxi to the airport. There were no signs indicating where to go and there seemed to be no method to the madness outside. We finally found out where we should be to catch a cab and there were stops numbered 1 to 6 or 7. I think if you were in spot 6-7, you were SOL for quite a while. We were in spot 4 but spots 1-3 kept talking the cabs before we could reach them. We finally did get one when some people behind me told me that I was going to have to get mean and they would help me. I guess I’ve got to learn to be more aggressive but the situation was ridiculous. We got into a cab just as it looked like a fight was about to break out. Many people were VERY irate by then. If they had an early flight, it was quite possible they wouldn’t make it. We have sailed from Port Canaveral, Miami and NY and never experience anything like this at all. It may just be that there is a problem with Port Everglades but we were already irritated by the lineups to get off the ship. I don’t ever remember lining up to get off a ship…customs is another story.

 

to be continued.....

[Sandyrella]

(Keep in mind that my beef is not about what happened, it's about how it was handled...)

 

THE INCIDENT:

After picking up our luggage from the hallway, we had about 20 minutes until dinner so we started unpacking. I emptied my whole suitcase, putting things in drawers, hanging things up, etc. I had two small jewelry bags in my suitcase that I had packed that very morning in our hotel room at the Sheraton Yankee clipper. It was all costume jewelry so there was nothing of real value in them but upon unpacking, I noticed one bag missing. I searched everywhere…through every drawer, every suitcase, under the bed, everywhere. It was not to be found. I left it, thinking that I will look again after dinner as we were starting to run late. After dinner, I went through the whole ritual again, still no jewelry. I didn’t really feel it was urgent because, as mentioned, it wasn’t a huge value, maybe CAD$ 150.00 total so I waited until we got back on the ship after Key West the following day to report it.

 

I went to the Customer Service Desk and explained what the situation was. I was asked to fill out a “lost or damage report”, which I did…and I put the value on it. I was then informed that an officer would read it and sign it and return a copy to me. The next morning, I received a note on my door, asking me to return to the desk. Thinking that I was just going to get my copy of the report, I went down after dinner the next night. Keep in mind that even though I was pretty frustrated about my missing jewelry, I accepted it as missing and that was it. I didn’t accuse anyone, I didn’t ask for anything, I simply want to let MSC know that there could possibly be a problem or, best case scenario, somehow, the bag fell out of my suitcase, it was discovered and I would have to identify it. NOTHING prepared me for the interrogation I received from a nasty little thing at the desk.

 

First she pulled out the report, read it, and told me that I can’t put a value on it. I asked why not as I thought that they should be aware that while it wasn’t extremely valuable, it wasn’t dollar store jewelry either. I specified a few items that I knew to be in the bag. She told me that my jewelry wasn’t actually lost or damaged…it was missing and that I had filled in the wrong report. I asked her what the difference was. If it’s missing, it’s lost. She then asked me to tell her exactly what happened. I told her how I packed it that morning, went downstairs to get a cab, put bags in cab, arrived at port, take bags out of cab, drop of bags with port, pick up bags outside luggage area on our floor. She then asked if the cab driver handled my bags. Yes, to put them in and out of cab…in front of us. She then VERY RUDELY looked at me and said “well, who exactly are you accusing and what do you want from us”. I was very taken aback and told her that I was absolutely NOT accusing anybody and I simply wanted to report the jewelry as missing so that they would be aware that there could “possibly” be a breach somewhere…. or the hope that it would be found and then returned to me. She said that if I didn’t take the value off the report, there was nothing that they could do. I then asked to speak to Liverne, who is the English liaison from the hospitality desk. Nasty little thing then said, “you will have go look for her, she’s around”. She then proceeded to ask me why I didn’t carry on the jewelry, why my luggage wasn’t locked, why, why, why? I finally stopped her and said “Look, I am not asking for anything from you. I am simply reporting this for your information. Why are you talking to me this way?” She then picked up a phone a called somebody and rambled on in Italian for about 10 minutes, not once looking at me. I don’t speak Italian, but there were enough English words thrown in and enough words that resemble French for me to get the gist of the conversation. She was talking with sarcasm and was being completely condescending about the situation. I finally got fed up and leaned over the counter and said “You know what? Never mind! It’s not worth it.” And I walked away. She screamed after me to come back but if I had turned around I would have made a scene, I was so livid at that point.

 

I felt like a common criminal, like I had done something wrong. I have worked in customer service and I know that if I EVER treated any of our customers anywhere close to that, I would have lost my job. So MSC, if you are reading this, her last name was Palma, possible first name Theresa. I have never before had the displeasure of dealing with anybody like that. I considered going back the next day to complain about Ms. Palma and to see if anyone would take my report seriously, but I thought that I had wasted enough of my well-earned vacation time explaining my situation being condescended to while hoping for a resolution.

 

Now before anyone decides to flame me, I do realize that I should have carried my jewelry on board instead of packing it. I’m not even sure locking my luggage is an option since we can’t lock it when we fly but maybe I should look into this in the future. That is not the issue here. I accept responsibility for this carelessness on my part. What I don’t accept is the way it was dealt with, the way I was made to feel, and the fact that I was treated terribly by a young 20 something piece of nastiness.

[badtwin]

Sorry about your lost/missing jewlery.

 

One trick I read before my first cruise (post 9/11 air travel rules) was to take a supply of electrician's zip or cable ties in your carry on and use them to "lock" your luggage before you turn it over to the cruise personnel. Be sure you have some finger nail clippers to open the bags. We used these at embarkation and disembarkation and removed them before we got to the airport. I suppose they could snip and replace but that would take some effort.

 

As for disembarkation, I had 2 Yellow but waited in the theatre and was off the boat and though customs in less than 20 minutes. We spotted a bus headed for the airport and jumped on for a few bucks a person. The real zoo was the Ft. Luaderdale airport. I heard 17 ships had come in that morning.

[Sandyrella]

Sorry about your lost/missing jewlery.

 

One trick I read before my first cruise (post 9/11 air travel rules) was to take a supply of electrician's zip or cable ties in your carry on and use them to "lock" your luggage before you turn it over to the cruise personnel. Be sure you have some finger nail clippers to open the bags. We used these at embarkation and disembarkation and removed them before we got to the airport. I suppose they could snip and replace but that would take some effort.

 

As for disembarkation, I had 2 Yellow but waited in the theatre and was off the boat and though customs in less than 20 minutes. We spotted a bus headed for the airport and jumped on for a few bucks a person. The real zoo was the Ft. Luaderdale airport. I heard 17 ships had come in that morning.

 

It really never occurred to me that anything would go missing and to be honest, I'm not convinced it was stolen nor did I ever imply that I thought it had. It may have just fallen out if anyone opened my bag to check for whatever... Good idea about the ties for future reference.

 

We should have taken a bus...as we were standing there waiting for a cab, we saw buses and I kept thinking we should look into that option. Live and learn..on both accounts.

[ChrissyNZ]

You should fully be able to expect anything you pack in your bag, to be there when it arrives at your room. I think you have been treated appallingly by this person and it should be reported to MSC ASAP. I love how you didn't let it affect the way you enjoyed your holiday though and just got on with having a good time. Well done you and thanks for your review. Cheers, Chrissy

[Jenfaith4]

Thank you for taking the time to write an articulate and detailed review! I'm sorry about your missing jewelry...how frustrating! I appreciate all of your viewpoints! Thanks!

[StormingtheCastle]

Wow! I am really sorry to hear this. What a witch! I am pretty sure (almost positive!) Liverne had a radio on her at all times and could have been contacted. Did you ever find Liverne and talk to her? Not sure if she could/would do anything. I would have been livid also. You can send an email directly to the company at customerservice@msccruisesusa.com if you would like just to follow through.

 

I have to say that I was really surprised that the luggage was left out in the hallways and not put in our rooms. I was told by other experienced cruisers that is the normal for cruise luggage delivery. I wansn't happy about that since our luggage didn't arrive until we were at the Evening Show and was in the hallway for several hours unattended.

[HopelessRomantic]

Sandyrella,

 

Thanks for your review. My family and I were on the same cruise and I've been gathering my thoughts about the experience since we finally arrived home Sunday evening. We had a group of 14 of us aging in range from 87 to 7 and all of us had very similar experiences and while we enjoyed our vacation we will not take an msc cruise again. And my husband I may never be able to get on a cruise again. I will try to post my own review later this week.

 

Regarding your snotty 20-something employee with bad customer service I feel I must share a similar story about a snotty, rude, 20-something male employee named Daniel in the casino. My husband was in the casino during the afternoon with about 5 other people and put a $20 in a slot machine; the bill crumpled and was stuck. He looked around for Daniel who was busy talking with another employee, so he waited and waited and waited. While waiting he overheard an older couple talking about this particular employee and how awful he was; that they had waited a long time for him to put more coins in the machine when they wife wanted to cash out and when Daniel finally cashed her out he took $5 and told her "you owe me tip." Outrageous!! Anyway, my husband finally gets Daniel's attention and he comes over and says "What?" My husband explains and Daniel keeps throwing his hands in the air saying "what? what do you want?" Finally he gets the $20 out and throws it on the floor at my husband's feet and says "There you go!" My husband was livid. When he went to the front desk to ask to speak to Daniel's manager he was told by the snotty 20-something that there was no manager but he could fill out a complaint form and maybe someone would call him. Thankfully the manager did call him the following morning and appologized profusely saying he had been receiving repeated complaints about Daniel. After that Daniel was very careful around us every time we were in the casino. As rude as Daniel was I must say that another casino employee named Andrea was wonderful; he always smiled & was always helpful. . .he was one of the few italian staff who would actually talk to me. We made sure to tell the manager how great he was. One of the staff told us that the they do receive incentives, like days off, when their managers receive compliments about their customer service.