MSC Baltic Cruise
 

Hubby and I are thinking of taking a Baltic cruise with MSC. We have never dealt with this cruise line before as all of our cruising has been with Holland America & Celebrity or AMA Waterways. We would really appreciate any comments or input regarding this company so we can make a "wise" decision.

The reviews are generally lower, esp. compared ti HAL and X. I would not advise using MSC ever. JM2C.

My good friend took MSC from NY up the coast. She found the company not at all to her liking. Said they were pretty rude, not concerned with requests, even really easy ones like another towel. Cabinmate tripped coming out of the bathroom, and the medic was rude. She was part of a group who were told they would be seated together at dinner. Were not seated together and she and her table mates were seated behind some sort of partition. Could not even see the rest of the dining room. I've never cruised with them, so this is 2nd hand info., but I do consider her to be a reliable source. I've read reviews for MSC, and most are not favorable.

Thanks for the input. Makes our decision much easier...not to cruise with MSC.

I've sailed just once on the Splendida. I found the staff
indifferent & there is a definite language problem. The food was ersatz Italian. Unlike HAL & other lines, they do not provide any port info such as talks & visuals beforehand or maps. And the 1 excursion I had to take due to a very short port visit consisted of both German & English-speaking guide which meant we had short-shift in English...this is not a line for Americans who are used to the usual amenities.

You might want to look at cruisecritic. It generally says 48% were satisfied versus 79% for Carnival and probably higher for HA. We were looking to take a cruise with them and the same rude comments were noted. Also as a european ship, passengers smoked although not allowed and the crew did nothing and this was a mjaor concern for us. Also there are no complimentary beverages, no juice, coffee or tea as far as we read, which was also a major concern.

My husband and I have been on a 7 day Greek isle cruise from Venice on the MSC Armonia 6 years ago and a 7 day Med cruise from Rome with Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the seas.
We will be on the MSC Poesia in September on a Baltic cruise.
We prefer MSC for a number of reasons - except for the ice show on RC, the nightly show/entertainment was better on the Armonia, we also prefer the meals on MSC with 7 courses and smaller portions, as opposed to the 3 course, huge portions on RC.
The Navigator was bigger and shinier, but the cabins were the same basically.
The cabin steward on MSC was nicer than the one on RC.
Having said all of that, both were great cruises - to us, the itinerary is more important than the cruise line.
Good luck with whatever you choose!