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Enjoyable Cruise |
| Reviewed By: Ide, Bexhill on 2nd Sep 2008 |
| Cruise Line: MSC Cruises |
Times cruised before: 1-2 |
| Cruise Ship: MSC Melody |
Sailed:
August,
2008 |
| Destination: Mediterranean |
Age: 46-55 |
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Embarkation was smooth, with cold drinks provided. The receptionists at the Information Desk were multi-lingual, but their English was not proficient enough to deal effectively with complaints. Our sons’ allocated cabin smelled strongly of vomit and it took quite a while for us to make the reception staff understand the seriousness of the problem and the impossibility of our sons being able to stay in that cabin. They were eventually allocated another cabin, but this took several hours to arrange due to the melee of the newly embarking passengers. The cabin they were given was for four people with two single beds and two pull-down beds. However, although it was big enough for two people it would have been far too small for four. Our own cabin smelt strongly of cigarette smoke despite the non smoking in cabins policy. The cleaning staff dealt with this problem quickly.
The cleaning staff and waiters in the dining room were efficient, pleasant and polite. Breakfast and lunch were available in the dining room. Buffet breakfast and lunch were also available on the pool deck. The dinner menu was varied with regional dishes available and was tasty and plentiful.
The length of times spent at various ports was sometimes shorter than advertised resulting in rushed visits, for those not doing the shore excursions arranged by the cruise company. The shore excursions were very expensive. The staff at the Information Desk could not provide any useful travel information. We did a lot of research on the internet before going on this holiday and printed train times, bus and tram details, etc. and this information was invaluable. We felt that the stop at Ibiza from midnight to 11.30 am was a complete waste of time and should not have been on the itinerary. The other ports provided the opportunity to visit some wonderful places, especially Tunis (Carthage, Sidi Bou Said), Naples (Sorrento, Pompeii, Capri), Livorno (Florence, Pisa), Messina in Sicily (Taormina).
There was plenty to do on the ship, the evening entertainment was a little repetitive with a core group of performers doing variations of dance routines, juggling , etc. Poolside activities took place in the afternoon. There are two small swimming pools, and another one for toddlers, also two Jacuzzis. Public announcements took a long time because they were given in four languages. There were few English passengers on boards, they were mainly Italian.
One of our sons unfortunately broke his thigh six weeks before we were due to go and so we had to take a fold-up wheelchair and crutches. The Melody is not well equipped for those who are disabled, probably because the ship is very old. The lifts were small and there was usually a long wait due to the large number of passengers. There were few ramps, the glass doors in the public areas were heavy and difficult to open while trying to push a wheelchair. However, the staff were very helpful whenever we disembarked at the ports and helped to bring our son down steps etc, especially when we visited Montecarlo which can only be reached by a tender, and helped my son in and out of the tender and stored the wheelchair.
The cruise was very good value for money. The itinerary was so good there was a tendency to do too much on the port visits. We arrived home exhausted, but with wonderful memories that we’ll talk about for a long time to come.
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