MSC Nightmare |
| Reviewed By: Walker, Humberston on 28th Nov 2008 |
| Cruise Line: MSC Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: MSC Melody |
Sailed:
October,
2008 |
| Destination: Africa |
Age: 56-65 |
|
We boarded the ship on the 28th October and we were shown to our suite, on the PREMIER deck, The location of the room and the room steward were both very good.
The dining room was over crowded and the seating at the tables had been increased to accommodate 8 people at tables obviously meant for 6, and tables for 4 were seating six. There was no alternative dining facility, which is the norm on all cruise ships we have been on (this was our fourth cruise with MSC, and our 29th overall) , so people who wanted to eat an evening meal were forced to use the main dining room. The tables were so close together that people were forced to CLIMB over chairs as there was not enough room to pull them out to sit down, and considering that some of the passengers were quite elderly and in some cases infirm, this was not the best of starts to a meal. By the fourth day it was so uncomfortable, to have to put up with the waiter reaching over me to serve the people opposite that we asked to be moved to a more open area, which Franco the maitre’de managed to accommodate.
We were somewhat surprised that water was not served with our meals, we enquired and was informed if we wanted water we would have to buy it, and the average waiting time for service was 30 - 45 minutes. We ordered wine with the meal, but we were told after the first week that none of the wines were available (apart from the Champagne at $120 per bottle, as the ship would not be stocked until it arrived in Durban. None of the advertised beers were available, or the cider. (In fact the first 19 items on the bar menu were not available in the bars).
On the 6th November we arrived in the dining room for dinner, my husband ordered the prawn starter, which arrived, but when my husband put the prawns in his mouth, he baulked at the taste and the smell as they were totally rancid and smelled so bad I could smell them from my side of the table. They were returned to the kitchen, along with all the prawns served to the surrounding tables by people experiencing the same taste and smell. They were eventually replaced with smoked salmon, (which had actually been the starter the night before !) this took 45 minutes, in which time my husband had a piece of bread.
We felt that because of this, it would not be safe to eat in the dining room, as the chef obviously had no standards regarding the quality of the food he was prepared to serve. When we spoke to passengers from the first sitting, they had also sent their prawns back because they were inedible, yet the chef STILL deemed fit to re- serve them to the second sitting. Any chef with respect for his profession would have immediately withdrawn them from service.
We went to restaurants in the ports we visited where possible, but as we were at sea from the 7th to the 9th of November, 11th and 12th, 15th, 16th and 17th these days we were unable to have an evening meal due to there being no alternative dining. This is obviously a further lack of expectation of the service and provision we were led to believe we would receive from MSC.
TOURS
PSD 04 - THE CITADEL, THE PYRAMIDS AND CRUISE OF THE NILE
For this we paid $143 per person. We were taken to the Mohamed Ali mosque, where we were told the bus would stay for thirty minute - it actually stayed for ONE AND A HALF HOURS, we were told we would go on a Nile cruise, and enjoy the views of Cairo from daylight until dusk - we were actually taken to a floating restaurant, where we stayed for THIRTY minutes, served a cold inedible lunch, there were no toilets working and before we could be served coffee we were told we had to get back on the coach. The ‘Nile cruise’ had actually been taking place whilst lunch was being eaten and had actually been the restaurant floating into the water about 22 feet from the bank and being pulled back in, very few of us were unaware that this had even happened and thought we were actually being taken to the cruise next we were taken to the Pyramids, (by this time it was beginning to get dark. And we were told that though the area was closed, it had been reopened for us to take photographs, this was for 15 minutes, and back on the coach. We were taken to a souvenir shop, which sold the cartouches that the courier had been trying to sell from catalogues when we were on the bus.
I complained about this tour being over priced and certainly not value for money to the Tour Manager,said that she had experienced the same when she did the tour, and though she was not happy with it, and wanted to take the ‘Nile Cruise’ off the agenda she was unable to do so, and had to sell it as advertised.
AQA01 PETRA
For this we paid $146 per person we requested a vegetarian lunch - which consisted of cold pasta, an apple and a bottle of water in a paper bag. Why is this tour so expensive when it is shorter than other tours? We were told it is because it is so popular, therefore the passengers are prepared to pay more so they charge more!
SAF01 LUXOR
For this we paid $98 per person the evening prior to the tour we went to the tour the desk to confirm that we would be requiring vegetarian meals for this tour, and we were assured that this had been arranged. As the tour was meeting at 6.00 am, we went for breakfast at 5.30. Immediately we got underway, the courier was out with his catalogues to sell cartouches. We did not visit the Collosei of Memmon as advertised in the tour magazine - Shore Excursions guide, nor did we see the ‘famous statues of King Amenofis 111 - We arrived at the valley of the Kings, where those of us that were unable to manage the steps on the bus to use the toilet, went to use the toilets in the main hall of the display area. There were two men selling pieces of toilet paper at $1 per piece. Fortunately I had my pockets stuffed with tissue, because when I went into the toilets they were so filthy and smelly that I started to baulk. We walked to the first tomb, and spent approx 10 minutes, before moving on, to the next tomb - which was closed - so on top the next tomb, of the Boy King Tutenkhamoun - but this was closed until 2.00pm, and then there were only 80 visitors allowed each day - but we would have gone by then, so it didn’t matter. And so it went on. One of the passengers left the group to take pictures, and was told that if she paid 100 Egyptian pounds, she could go into the tomb of Tutenkhamoun. We were not ‘taken for a brief break at a spectacular bazaar for shopping’ (as in the MSC Shore Excursions Guide) but taken straight to the Temple of Karnak.
At 3.15, we returned to the coach, very hungry as we had not eaten since 5.30. My husband went to collect our lunch, to be told there were no vegetarian lunches, thinking they were on a different bus he went looking to be told that THERE ARE NO VEGETARIAN LUNCHES just what was on the coach. So we had no food, by which time I was feeling sick with hunger.
When we got back to the ship, I asked to see the Tour Manager, but as she was not available, she would call me when she returned. The next morning I was extremely ill and had to stay in bed. By lunchtime the tour manager had still not contacted me so I got out of bed, dressed and went to the desk, I passed her office where she was sitting, but was told that she was not available until 4.00pm, so I insisted that she see me. After a discussion with one of her staff, she agreed to see me.
Again the Tour Manager agreed that this was not value, and she had so many complaints , she said ‘…my head is bursting with complaints’ I mentioned the complaints made about the snorkelling tour that fellow passengers had taken - and a she said she was ‘desperate to forget this…’ after discussion, I said that I wanted her to think about what she was going to do about my complaint, and I would give her time to think about it, and wait for her to get back to me.
I visited her once more and she had not ‘had the time’ to sort anything, so I again asked her to contact me when she had. I received a brief note asking me to go to her office, where she offered me the refund of one ticket on the SAF01 Luxor trip. I said this was not acceptable, but was prepared to accept half of the total amount we had spent, which was $774, but she never got back to me and could never be 'found'.
Day 14 - SEYCHELLES.
We were due to arrive in the Seychelles mid morning, due to a decision by the Captain, we actually arrived early afternoon. It was announced that we could disembark at 2.00pm, so my husband and I, along with 200 or so other people, went to the disembarkation point at the time specified. When we got there, we were told that we couldn’t get off the ship until the tours had gone and had to go and wait in the lounges. This was objected to very strongly, and I pointed out to the Cruise Director who was coordinating this (and may I add she was doing it badly and rudely) that it would be easier and quicker to let us off the ship and get us out of the way, as we were all ready to go, to which she replied that if I got off the ship ‘you will be arrested..’ after the crowd waiting refused to move, we were let off the ship at 2.23pm. people who had booked a 4 hour tour PVC01 THE WILD SOUTH for $74, told us they had gotten off the ship at 3.30 and the tour had been cut short due to the lateness and not being able to see anything in the dark, plus everyone had to back on board ready to sail
We went straight to our room once on board as we were very tired, we were asleep, but woken up by a dreadful smell of sewage coming through the air conditioning. We dressed and went to reception to enquire, to be told that it would ‘ go away once we sailed’ and wasn’t it dreadful. There had been a bang at the back of the ship prior to the smell, and it was thought that something had ruptured a pipe which had allowed the smell to be sucked into the air conditioning. The dining room doors had been closed to try and prevent the diners having to suffer it more than was necessary.
When we arrived at Durban to disembark, we had been told to vacate our rooms at 7.00am. People we were sat with in the lounge were flying from Durban to Capetown at noon. A message from the bridge at 7.45 said there would be delay in disembarkation procedures. We did not get another announcement until 9.45 when again she said we would be tied up in 30 minutes. The first people were called to disembark at 11.00, by which time people who were due to catch their ’plane at noon, along with other passengers, had obviously missed it.
I am listing a few of the issues relating to this cruise below, as these are from fellow passengers, who wanted to be included in thisd review
Bed bugs and had to have the mattress and pillows changed and the room fumigated. passenger sick for 2 days
passenger five days sickness, diarrhoea and stomach cramps
passenger five days sickness, diarrhoea
Passenger sick for 7 days (Doctor told her to eat bananas to combat sickness, but there were none available - he thought she was joking when she said she couldn’t get any bananas)
passengersick for 5 days
passengerdiarrhoea for 4 days
passenger with young children Diarrhoea
passenger Diarrhoea for 4 days.
This may have been exacerbated by the fact that on several occasions’ waiters and staff were seen to leave the toilets after using them without hand washing. The duty officer thanked my husband for reporting the barman on the deck bar, and said he would be retrained.
The hand sanitizer at the buffet was not working for two days, when pointed out to the Maitre de’, he said it was because the batteries had gone. I asked why a member of staff couldn’t spray passengers hands on entry to which he replied they may be allergic. Surely if the hand sanitizer is expected to be used when dispensing automatically, it is not going to be an allergy hazard if done manually !!
Glasses in the Junkanoo bar had to be sent back at least three times every night because they were dirty, with lip marks (not lipstick!)
We were told that the poor food and service was due to the staff all being new and the ship was being used for training as it was re positioning to South Africa for the Winter which was also why none of the wines or beers were available. This cruise was not sold with this information in the MSC brochure.
In the shop, the manager had taken all the price tickets off the goods, then announced there was a 20% off sale - he was embarrassed when I asked how he could say there was 20% off the price when no-one could see what the price was and said that was how he did it!!
The television lost the English channel after Egypt but we were told it would be restored but never was. There was only one English film which played on a loop for up to three days and this was on a ship with 700 English passengers.
all in all not what is expected from MSC and this was our fourth with them (our 29th cruise overall) the previous one being in August - the Rhapsody which was fabulous.
obviously we will not be using the company again.
|
| Quality of Food |  |
| Did not use the dining room as the food was always cold and prawns were served that were off - we had only breakfast, soup at lunchtime, fruit and chocolate untuil we could go ashore to eat. | | Entertainment | |
| same dance - different feathers ! | | Shore Excursions | |
| total robbery - at least Dick Turpin wore a mask !! | | Staff |  |
| Room Steward was very good | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | |
| daily quiz - staff were cheating and giving the answere to the italians ! | | Cabins | |
| Cabin was okay - clean and spacious | | Overall Rating | |
|
|
|
