Review for MSC Cruises
The positives about the ship include the fact that the ship is very beautiful, large and the entertainment is absolutely amazing! Thumbs up to the entertainment team!
Another positive is the room service. Our room steward was extremely polite, prompt and went above and beyond for us the entire trip - thank you very much!
Now for the issues we encountered. Our main issue was with the customer service throughout the ship. The people at the reception service area were very rude and not accommodating at all. As an example, we were not aware of the bowling/F1 racing/4D theater unlimited package (our fault for not checking the website in advance) available for $60 per cabin; however, once we realized it (offered to us on the 5th day of the cruise) we purchased the "unlimited" package. We asked that the previously purchased game of bowling (yes one game costing $8.00) be waived since we had now purchased the package. Customer service was not friendly at all and basically said "sorry, we can't help you with that". We were disappointed with the answer, but we understood. What we were NOT happy with was the attitude with which they gave us the answer. Almost as if they could care less.
Another item related to the "unlimited" package is that it is ONLY unlimited from 10:00am - 10:00pm and ONLY when the machines were working. Everytime we went to the bowling center, the machines were jammed, tangled or just down for service. We asked for service to fix them, but waited over an hour with no response. We asked again and were told they had made the call and someone should be there shortly. We waited another 45 minutes and asked again. This time we were told to go request service from the reception area deck 5. Down we went to deck 5... not once, not twice but three more times asking for assistance. About four hours later someone showed up to fix the issue. The next morning, the machine was down again. This time we went to reception and asked for service and were told "sorry, it is down for service, there is nothing we can do for you. We explained that we purchased the unlimited package and his response was we will refund your money and charge you $8.00 per game. Does that sound fair since it was not our fault? We were not asking for money back, just that the machine be fixed so we could use what we had already paid for.
He finally called a supervisor and it was fixed within 15 minutes. We were then told by the technician that the bowling alley should not be played while the ship is sailing because the pins cannot stand up properly and they get tangled due to the ship movement. Strange that they sell a package that should not be used while you are sailing. I mean we are on a cruise that is not supposed to sail, right??
I think our major complaint was at dinner each night. The assistant waiter was hit or miss. Sometimes we would get bread and sometimes we would finally have to ask as our appetizers were being delivered. We also could not get refills on drinks most of the time. We had to ask numerous times before we finally got any refills (tea and water). My fiancé ordered a Dr Pepper twice in one night and left the table two hours later never having gotten her drink.
The Assistant Waiter made the Waiters job a lot more difficult because he would not bring refills or bread to the table.
On the 2nd formal night, lobster was served. After I had ordered three lobster tails (I don't eat vegetables or much of anything else except meat and potatoes), our waiter said that they were told by "upper management" that they can only give one lobster per guest so they could lower their food cost.
Their difinition of "unlimited" is apparently very different from mine. I do not mind paying more money on the front end, but I do not believe you should then limit the food or entertainment.
This is my 15th cruise, 1st with MSC and most likely my last with MSC. I have been on Royal Caribbean, Princess, Carnival, Disney and now MSC. If I was asked to rank them from best to worst MSC would undoubtedly be at the bottom of the list.