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The worst Cruise we have had EVER. |
| Reviewed By: Gale, Yaxham on 26th Nov 2008 |
| Cruise Line: MSC Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: MSC Musica |
Sailed:
November,
2008 |
| Destination: South America |
Age: 56-65 |
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I have read the two earlier reviews by Hepton and Merrett. I can only believe that Hepton is Brazilian as this cruise was for them. Mr Merrett is more accurate in his review. The ship is the flagship of the cruise line and is very nice, that's where it ends.
The embarkation and disembarkation process was unorganized chaos. On leaving the ship there was no one from MSC to direct you to waiting coaches therefore it was a free for all, finally finding where to go only to be confronted with 150 people with suitcases trying to get on a one coach, it took 1.5 hrs to finally get seated and leave for the airport. There where many "officers” from MSC who did nothing.
The cruise itself was in our opinion a training exercise for 400+ new staff who joined the ship in Bari with no experience in there duties. Consequently the service during the 18 days was abysmal, you could wait for 45 mins for the first course to arrive, it was generally cold or tepid, and many occasions it was inedible. The waiters would lean across you to deliver food to another person at the table, lack of training. The food was a lottery some times it was ok and other times it was returned to the kitchens, jokingly this is the first cruise that I have ever been on where I did not gain in weight.
There was no where on the ship where you could get an alternative meal unless you liked Sushi or Pizzas, also outside of the meal times you could not get a drink of water unless you paid for it; the temp at the equator was over 30 degrees. We saw people going up for ice and letting it cool down then drinking the water.
There where so many issues on the ship that where raised by the British, French, German, Italian and the general feeling that nobody would be going back with MSC in the future. We have been with them twice before and this did not measure up to the standard we would expect.
In summary. Nice Ship, Good Cabins, Extremely poor service, cold or tepid food, Quality of food was poor, Embarkation and disembarkation abysmal, lack of alternative dining, basis necessities like water where charged for. For 80% of the time there was no English speaking news programmes, Evening shows where mediocre, I could go on and on.
After looking forward to a holiday for nearly a year and having to live with all of these issues it does tarnish the experience.
The places we went to where good, Recife in Brazil was not a place I would recommend going to as it was a commercial port and very run down and in my opinion "Dangerous"
Please note I have said nothing here that I did say to the management on board and will say to MSC.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| In the main we eat in the Restaurant as the food in the self service cafetiere was over cooked and dry looking
In the restaurant the food was better presented but often was of poor quality and most times tepid. | | Entertainment |  |
| The theme for the shows in the theatre and in the lounges was classical or opera, if this was not your taste as it was not ours then there was no real alternative. | | Shore Excursions | |
| Best Rio, worst recife, very dirty run down dangerous place and in my opinion should not be on a cruise itinerary. | | Staff | |
| The waiter on our evening dining as he smiled a lot , although it did seem like a UK sitcom called Fawlty Towers | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | |
| | Cabins |  |
| | Overall Rating | |
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