MSC cruises
 

We have been on 60 or 70 cruises (haven't counted except for the perks on Princess and Royal Caribbean!!). Anyway, my sister is looking at MSC and I have no idea how they rate. The ship is the Voyage of Discovery. Anybody sailed on her? Any comments?
Thanks a lot!!

Go to cruisecritic.com and check out the reviews and ask this question on their 'Ask a cruise question' board. Friends didn't like their MSC cruise but that was a few years ago. May have changed now.

You may want to read this first.
http://www.cruisebumping.ca/

Here is a report just posted today - it is from a paper in the UK so it has a British point of view but is a good review of MSC
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ma...ycruise102.xml

2 of my friends sailed the Opera last year and they had a really bad experience. These people cruise many lines, are not picky and generally look to have a great time on their cruise. They both said "never again".

Voyage of Discovery is an itinerary, npot a ship.

I LOVED my Med cruise on MSC Sinfonia insofar as the ship (perfect size and jsut lovely), food (better than any mass market line I have sailed on in the past 15 years), and amenities.

Embarkation and debarkation were a breeze, ship was immaculate.

Entertainment is not a biggie for me so cannot speak to that; in the Med especially, I could care less.

The only downsides of the trip were an aloof front desk staff and far too many out of control kids, almost as bad as recent RCI sailings:(

Otherwise, I think they have great product in the Med if not in North America where they adapt for American tastes and palates.

Oops..sorry about posting the itinerary as the name of the ship!! I looked at the web sites and saw that MSC was offering free fares for children in the Med., so it is definitely off the list!! Thanks to all who took the time to reply, and I will look at the newspaper article.

That was an interesting article. Thanks for taking the time to post it. I wonder how much the author has sailed?
For those of you in England I wonder if it is a little like Fred Olsen (though I have not sailed on these ships, my family has). I am told by a travel company I use that I would not like Costa at all (noisy, children, announcements in different languages all the time etc.) although the ships are apparently spotless. My sister is looking for a bargain cruise preferably out of Southampton or a port in England returning to the same port, so we will see. of course she prefers Princess. Once in a great while she catches the deal of the decade!!!!!!!!

Costa, pre Carnival and in the 70s and 80s was one of my favorites.

Now they are builing ships on the same hull as Carnival Conquest class. They are overcrowded and poorly laid out. Truly, some of the worst out there IMHO.

That's what my friends said...they couldn't get a seat at some of the events and felt "crowded" quite a bit. These people have always been happy with the mainstream lines, but they said there were so many problems that they would never choose this line again.