Gary Taylor
CAWorst cruise line we have ever sailed. We have recently returned from MSC Poesia’s World Cruise, and as you can guess from our one-star review, we were not at all happy with the cruise. The most important reason for booking this cruise was the itinerary which was , initially, extraordinary. Sadly, due to the conflict in the Middle East, the itinerary was drastically changed. We were taken to MSC container ports, many in Africa which were dangerous and showcased extreme poverty. We were unable to walk around and absorb the culture of each port as we normally enjoy doing, as we felt unwelcome, unsafe, and were constantly looking over our shoulders. It was extremely disappointing for us, and as we had paid a lot of money for this cruise, we felt that MSC chose the cheapest and least expensive ports to take us to with the changed itinerary. The food on board the ship was ok, nothing special, but we are not too fussy about the food. The staff were mostly wonderful, other than the Excursion staff on board the ship. They had a very bad attitude towards the passengers, especially those paying for excursions. One excursion employee even went so far as to say to me “let’s admit that most of the passengers are big, unhealthy and should not be doing excursions”. I was flabbergasted at the audacity of this comment and we subsequently vowed not to do anymore ship excursions. Overall, our experience on this world cruise was definitely sub par. I would absolutely NOT recommend MSC Cruises.
Consumer
GBMSC Poesia sort of World Cruise MSC said the Poesia was refurbished in 2023 and they must be talking about the exterior of the ship. The public stairs lot dated with the teal and chocolate motif. The cabins are either navy or bordello red. The furniture in the cabin is worn, sun bleached and dated, think 90’s. Dining options are limited. There is the main dining room offering a selection of reoccurring average to say the best meals. The buffet offers a larger selection of the same quality but varies to a greater degree. The stand out is the pasta and pizzas. They are consistently good. But man cannot live on pizza and pasta alone. There is a sushi restaurant that no one frequents, seriously, it is empty every night. When you spend days at sea you know you’re not getting fresh seafood. Why they keep it open is beyond me. A steak house or Italian restaurant would serve the ship much better. Entertainment is also lacking. There is a house group who play classical music and offer some opera. They are terrific and unfortunately, greatly unappreciated. The other options are limited. An example at the same time we had two different comedic magicians. One was truly terrible and the other repeated each joke in five languages and with comedy, timing is everything. The dance company has improved greatly since they switched out the former troop who struggled to offer high school productions. Miniature golf, tennis, and shuffle board is offered unless you would like to try it during the hours of noon till 3pm when the equipment is locked away. The customer service is another area that is lacking. Granted the people who work there have a tough job with all passenger complaints. This is reflected in their attitude. 70% of passengers signed a petition sighting issues that were poorly addressed. I understand and do not fault MSC for canceling passing through the Red Sea at this time. This is another reason why 70% of people on board signed a petition expressing their displeasure with the quality of the new ports and the added number of days at sea. Some of the new ports were truly far less than desirable. Speaking of ports, the latest one, Nuuk Greenland, I put firmly on the shoulders of MSC. Today, I went to the captain's presentation of why we aren't going to Nuuk. He blamed it on the icebergs. This is not a new occurrence, it happens every year. We trusted MSC knew what they were doing, but no, they are acting like it's a big surprise. No other cruise ships have or are presently visiting Greenland at this time of the year because of icebergs. We are way out of season. Wish I had done research instead of trusting MSC, who just wanted to add an exciting port we won't be visiting. The captain took no questions and I was told the French contingent booed him off the stage. I and many others saved a lot of money for this cruise. I and many other prior World Cruise passengers feel MSC took our money without delivering. Many passengers including myself, have vowed not to travel on MSC again. Buyer Beware.
Sam
GBVery poor customer service staff are r… Very poor customer service staff are rude and arrogant. My whole experience was very bad from start to end it felt like I'm in a jungle not on a cruise ship. over crowded no places to sit people reserving sunloungers from early morning without using them so you can't use the facilities because it was very Crowded horrible food too. Pay a bit more and look elsewhere
customer
CAMSC Cruise Line is Terrible Apart from the super-friendly and efficient staff, nothing remotely positive to say about MSC. Just finished [disembarked at Quebec City April 2,2024] segments of the MSC Poesia 2024 "Around the World" cruise [embarked at Genoa Italy Jan 5, 2024]. Changes in itinerary [beyond control of cruise line] were not compensated similar to other cruise lines [which afforded [opportunity to cancel, cash compensation, opportunity for passengers to select alternative itinerary/ports etc etc], Plus why sail through arctic waters without indoor pools/whirlpools? Little, if any, advance notice as to other last minute itinerary changes lacking valid reasons for change. Result: Too many additional days at sea. Plus "replacement ports" were mostly inferior to those ports within original itinerary. Avoid this Cruise line if at all possible!
Zelma Oliva
GBWhat went wrong What went wrong? Macia at the shopping event desk! She lacks training in public relations! The general staff is excellent however one bad apple can surely spoil everything! Training for Macia is necessary because being abrupt and discourteous can put a bad reputation on any business! My daughter and I waited in line to ask a question where your untrained worker slammed the information brochure hard on the desk with a cold abrupt “any thing else?” She proceeded to give further explanation after she saw the distaste but by then her attitude was already the elephant in the room! Please help her with courtesy and professionalism if she must deal with the public - this incident happened on 4/16 @ 6:54 approximately.