Before I get too far into this review, let me just note that it reflects only my opinion and experience, which is based on around 40 cruises with absolutely no brand loyalty. This was my 2nd MSC cruise, and I was giving them a second change after a less than impressive first impression on the Melody. Other people on the same cruise will have different views and different experiences. This review is so long because I wanted to cover both what I found positive and what I found negative. I hope I’ve remembered all the important stuff but please ask. I can’t find my deckplan at present to check the room names so apologies for any typos in that respect. I will post this to 3 different groups I am a member of, for no reason other than they all have different membership and I'm interest in the different groups thoughts.

Lets start with the good stuff. The ship, the look and the idea. I love the idea of MSC, the notion of a strong, independent competitor to the big conglomerates, which keeps everyone on their toes. I love holidays in Italy (and business trips) and Italian food. I haven’t sailed, but really liked the looks of MSC Musica and Orchestra and sisters particularly. So I set out on this trip willing MSC to impress, wanting and hoping they would and could.

And the first impression is indeed something, watching this towering ship reversing into Genoa harbour, what you notice is how much attention MSC have paid to try to give what would otherwise be a big boxy ship. The front has some curves, and the forward treatment of the balconies tries to accentuate this. Similarly they have tried to add some curves to a large boxy stern, and expanded the funnel casing to make for an imposing looking vessel. To see the difference see the early renderings of the similar sized but hideous looking NCL F3 ship.

So far so good. Off to the terminal for check in. Genoa has a delightful stazione maritima, from which I assume we will depart but its not to be. The Fantasia is too big for this though and so was berthed at the adjoining ferry terminal which is also used for cruise ships. Even then she sticks perhaps some 20m beyond the end of the quay.

Tickets said check in at 13:30, and MSC connecting coaches had been timed to arrive during the early afternoon. The ship was coming alongside by around 12:00 but as we all got to the terminal the doors were locked and a large line began to form. There was no obvious place to check in labelled luggage, but eventually some porters began to move through the large and rapidly growing line. The doors to the terminal did not open until 14:00 and this is when the real trouble started. MSC had made almost no attempt to organise any form of queuing system. As a consequence when the door opened, a crowd of by then over 1,500 people surged through the single door towards check in. There was pushing and shoving and eventually no more movement was possible. MSC staff from the ship seem to provide their own check in facilities and there were, I estimate 20 check in desks. They were expecting over 3,000 passengers. The pushing, jostling and shoving continued. At least one elderly lady fainted in the queue. Every 30 mins or so there would be some half hearted chanting and a call for MSC management to manage the queue – throughout this MSC staff were totally absent. Eventually after 3 1/2hrs I reached the front of the queue. Passengers were still checking in as I went to dinner that night at 20:30. In short this was an abject shambles with totally inadequate staff numbers and an absence of anyone in authority from MSC to manage the situation. Those with Express, MSC Club or Yacht Club guests were all in the same queue with no priority.

Still we have dinner and a cruise to look forward to, bad though it was lets just ‘move on’ from the check in. Before proceeding to dinner, let me take you through a tour of the ship and my impressions.

Big ships have a pretty standard layout these days with passenger accommodation effectively between two sets of public spaces high and low. The MSC Fantasia is no different in this respect and follows the standard pattern, namely in the lower public rooms there is a theatre forward, dining is aft and spaces to help lubricate the wallet in between.

Upto its also standard with Spa, solarium, pool and buffet, together with some posh cabins.

The spaces themselves. The teatro Avanguardia is a very impressive space. MSC have gone for an unusual layout with a relatively slim balcony but a full with lower level. The décor is red with grey blocks. In shape, they reminded me of the Bilbao Guggenheim museum.

Moving aft from the theatre on deck 6 (the lower entry level) is the Casino, followed by the Piazza Del Giorno. This is a themed Italian Piazza with an ‘artificial sky’. There are some shops and a Cigar club off here. Further aft still is the atrium space, with a bar, further shops and the atrium with glass lifts. Aft again is the upper level of the Red Velvet dining room – the larger of the two space. Followed by kitchen and then all the way aft, the Cercho d’Oro second dining room.

The upper level of the theatre, moving aft has the Transatlantico bar. Designed to remind you of transatlantic liners, the pillars are ships bows, the lights are portholes and the tables look like bollards or capstans. Aft again are the Manhattan Jazz Bar. A Dark space, illuminated by vivid striped patterns inset into bars and walls, this is quite cosy. To port here is a Sports bar complete with a motorbike.

Moving further aft is again the atrium, surrounded by more shops and a Cappuccino bar. Then one reaches the Tuscan Bar and dining, Tex Mex restaurant, Photo Gallery and finally all the way aft the Insolito lounge.

Up top are the Aurea Spa, the Solarium, the pool area, The Zanzibar and Africana buffets, the Liquid Disco and Virtual World.

There are lots of pictures doing the rounds on the internet so rather than post even more let me just give an overall impression of the décor and layout first. MSC have tried quite hard not to have the feeling of one long corridor or rooms with no real definition of entry and exit to any, which some large ships can suffer. They have done this by offsetting and obscuring the entrances to the spaces, which means sometimes as you try to proceed fore and aft, its not that obvious which way to head. It makes for discreet spaces but poor navigation.

As for the Décor. I mentioned at the start that I really was attracted to the idea of MSC Fantasia. But the actual implementation is really quite awful. For instance the Transatlantico bar, all the décor features are in shiny plastic. In the Piazza del Giorno, they are amateurishly painted bricks and similar effects. The atrium is 1980s bling Joan Collins. The Tuscan Bar and the Tex Mex are pale imitations. I was trying to think what the standard of finish reminded me of and then it came to me, my student hall of residence (not the crystals and marble stuff but the rest). It looks for all the world like some amateurs watched a home decorating programme and tried to cheaply create particular effects or ideas. Much of the furniture is colourful but seems to be covered in artificial plastic when the effect sought was, I suspect, leather.

I didn’t see the MSC yacht club, but it does occupy the only forward facing public space. And they have also reserved the entire sun deck above the bridge for yacht club guests.

But allow me if you will to reserve the greatest decorative scorn for the main restaurants and buffet, and for one simple reason. They are all utterly inadequate to the task in hand. The main restaurants are so unbearably crowded with tables and chairs that passengers must arrive and depart in formation in order to be able to access the seats. Many chairs from one table have their backs a matter or millimetres away from adjoining tables. Those with fixed banquettes and tables are in some cases so close together and tight in that we were joined at my table by a gentleman of no more than average size who had needed reseating because he simply couldn’t fit in to his chair. And a crowded dining room has a disastrous effect on dining room service. In some parts waiters simply cannot reach to put your plate in front of you. They cannot get round to take even your order. My seat was such that I needed to be first to arrive at any of the 3 adjoining tables and never had a single dish placed in front of me, I always had to reach across others to be handed it or hand back the empties.

And now for more scorn for the buffet space. I know buffets on large ships can be difficult, but never have I seen one so designed to be overcrowded and to separate parties from each other by virtue of getting lost. There are numerous ‘African’ screens separating tables and counters. The counters are arranged in a bizarre set of sometimes duplicating, sometimes unique, sometimes grouped, sometimes down a side alley fashion with no obvious logic. There are woefully inadequate seating places for the passenger loads and essentially this is best avoided at busy times.

This brings me to a related point. In summer, this ship will operate very post intensive itineraries, sometimes with a port everyday. As such most passengers will be ashore for lunch and presumably they anticipate this will ‘manage’ the crowds by itinerary. Should you wish to dine here in the evening though, plan very carefully for on many nights, the buffet simply wasn’t open. Whilst other lines operate these things almost as a 24hr food court, MSC work on very short, defined opening hours. At the appointed hour food is simply taken away whether there remain customers or not. At breakfast as it finishes (09:30 or 10:00) staff run around and lock away the coffee machines and take the cups back to the kitchens bang on closing time. Miss it miss out.

But its not all bad. I do really admire the way MSC handles the ‘extra tarrif’ dining venues. They are priced, fully acknowledging that you have paid for dinner in the main restaurant and reflect only a nominal extra. For instance in L’Etoile French gourmet restaurant starters are 3euro and mains around 9. In Tex Mex its 2 and 4-8 respectively. This is a much more reasonable approach than some other lines.

But surely on an Italian line the food in the main restaurant is so good you wouldn’t want to go elsewhere? As mentioned before, I thoroughly enjoy Italian food, but the service, appearance and overall quality control meant that dinner varied, in my view from Mediocre to downright poor. Some examples, almost every night hot entrees had to be sent back because they arrived cold. Some of the quality control on vegetables or cured meat appetizers was very poor (Parma ham that had dried out like cardboard, green or black tomatoes). Main course presentation was school dinners at best, although there were some moments (perhaps 3 out of 8) with decent taste. I mentioned that the dining room layout makes service difficult, and for some of the normal things the waiters simply gave up. Bread is a one shot deal, on your plate when you enter the dining room. MSC is famous for its ‘Ice water’ stinginess (I got it 2 nights out of 8, but asked on all of them and bought another drink too…). Parmesan only arrived with pasta dishes if especially asked for. Black Pepper – never. Deserts frequently tasted of artificial cream. Dinner never took less than 2hrs 15 mins. But after 1hr 40 they usually turned the dining room lights up to glare, to hurry you along – and noone was eating slowly it was entirely the slow service.

I wasn’t expecting a traditional Christmas dinner in the British sense (why should I on an Italian ship) but was disappointed that Christmas wasn’t marked at dinner at all. There was a Christmas eve dinner which was a tasteless shambles. It took place whilst alongside in Alexandria. So many people were on excursions returning late that they changed it to a free seating basis, with the result that despite our entire, now good friends, table being onboard together, we couldn’t sit together. Service took just short of 3hrs with the waiter ordering us out because people were waiting – before we had received our deserts. The waiter totally mixed up the order and for those who didn’t order every course, they waited over 90mins between 2 of them.

But slow service wasn’t limited to the dining room. I ordered a Cappuccino from the Coffee bar. I was one of 3 customers at the time. There were 4 staff. The drink took 15 mins. I ordered a drink by the pool, the waiter went away and came back 15 mins later to ask if I would like a drink – I said yes, the one I had ordered with him, he had forgotten. In the interim he has simply walked the length of the pool and not served anyone else…

Entertainment – Well the theatre is lovely but for me the lack of live music really takes away from the shows. The onboard ‘animation’ was the usual children’s party for grown ups stuff.

We encountered several periods of heavy seas on the trip, with the worst being one night when the Captain felt compelled to come over the tannoy and explain that the ship was ‘in no danger but it is windy and rough’as we passed through the Aegean during a period of Violent storm force 11 winds + gusts. Despite that, we ploughed on at almost 20 knots, and in my view as a pretty experienced sailor, the ship handled the seas remarkably well.

The ships accounting system seemed to be letting them down. 40% of the items on my bill were wrong, and there were prolonged discussions over 170euros worth of wine which I was charged for but hadn’t bought. Eventually resolved but it took 3 days and 4 visits to the office.

The Excursion staff were the most obstreperous and unhelpful people I’ve come across on a cruise. I wanted to change the excursion I was on, as per the T+C and well before the deadline. And they refused to allow me and gave me a dressing down like a naughty child ‘what if everyone wanted to’. I calmly and politely but firmly protested, pointed to the terms and conditions of sale written on the ticket, the sales leaflet and the daily programme to no avail. I asked politely to see a manager who was immediately deemed ‘unavailable’. In the end I went to the Pursers office and told them I would simply call by credit card company and report MSC for breach of contract and they eventually relented. One shouldn’t have to do that.

But this brings me to an overall point with MSC. No matter what you asked the staff, no matter how you asked, if you wanted something in any way different to what you were being given, the answer was ‘is no possible’. If you wanted to point out that something wasn’t working, the answer was ‘we have 3,000 other passengers’. In short the company, the ship and the shoreside operation simply cannot cope with a ship this big. The staff were rude and unhelpful. The food was poor – mediocre. And MSC have become the nickel and dime champions – as well as the famous water policy, they now want to charge you for a newspaper (I just would quite like a ‘Britain today’ like other lines do for free) and the best one of all, no maps are given out for ports of call but you can purchase a copy at reception.

With this ship, MSC clearly went looking at Carnival and said ‘lets us have a fun/ theme ship’ but did it on the cheap, they went to the accountants and said can we build it and the answer was yes but squeeze them in and milk them. There is simply less included in an MSC cruise fare than other lines (including NCL). The service was so poor that for the first time in my 40 cruises I asked for the service charge to be removed from my account and tipped directly just the 2 people who provided me directly with good service.

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Originally posted by Matts:
Personally I can't help hoping that MSC decide to focus on their core business of moving containers around the world and sell the passenger side to a company than knows how to deal with people...

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I'm sorry to hear about the food and service issues. Some things you can let slide because a ship is new, but rude service and an attitude of unwillingness is not one of them. Clearly MSC Cruises have major training issues, at least with MSC FANTASIA.

Between your report and the pictures I have seen of FANTASIA, I think I can mark this ship off my "must sail" list. Why waste my $$ when there are simply better choices? I will get on her eventually, but I'm in no rush.

Thanks for the review.

Curious about the pepper Matts, as MSC is the only line I have sailed where the huge Black Pepper grinder is offered at every course with every meal. Maybe those tables being so close make it awkward.

You should try Christmas on Costa - LOL, even worse. Spinach, Spinach and Spinach .. I don't think there was a meal all week without Spinach on the plate. Worse than sprouts. [Well I like both Spinach and Sprouts, but not with every meal every night, it became a standing joke].

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Originally posted by PamM:
One person's review puts you off?

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No Pam, not one person. Matt's review only confirms what I have read elsewhere. In addition, I have received emails from an acquaintance who was invited to the inaugural. The emails were not flattering, and this from a fellow "ship buff" who knows ships very well.

These reviews, along with my own personal feelings about the decor make me in no rush to sail on MSC FANTASTIA. Simply put, there are better ways to spend my money. I'm sure I'll eventually sail on her, but there is no urgency.

As for Costa, you would probably have to pay me to sail the line. I can sail on Carnival, experience the same type of ship, and have a far better experience. There is nothing about Costa that appeals to me, and unfortunately MSC FANTASIA seems to be taking MSC Cruises in the direction of Costa. Too bad.

On the other hand I still think the MUSICA-class ships look really nice and I am looking forward to a night on board ORCHESTRA in a couple of weeks. (And LIRICA/OPERA look quite lovely too, actually.)

What is bizarre is the whole Costa issue - owned by Carnival, sailing Carnival ships, even decorated by Carnival but the service and food........a Euro thing perhaps or is it they simply feel in both companies that they are only really competing with each other for much of their pax so neither feel the need to up the ante ?

There were staff of many nationalities on board: many Italian (most officers, most 'front of house' staff, senior staff in the restaurant e.g. the maitre d's, restaurant main waiters), many Balinese (drinks waiters, restaurant second waiters), and small numbers of other european e.g. Bulgarian, Croatian. The 'odd thing' was there didn't seem to be a common language between them. Many of the Italians simply spoke Italian, and communication between them and their (often Balinese) seconds looked to be very difficult. Many of the Balinese and other european staff had English as a second language, which meant that we (as two of the very few english-speaking people on board) did very well. But even then I could see the problems this lack of a common language was causing.

I've had good and bad experiences on Costa. I think I've decided they are simply inconsistent and that to choose them, for me, it will only be on the basis of price and previously unsailed ships rather than a burning desire to sail Costa. But even my worst Costa so far has been better than MSCs 'flagship'. The MSC problems this time weren't teething trouble they were attitude and service.

3 days into the cruise I went to the pursers office and asked how to go about making a formal complaint (the excursion cancellation point). I was told that I would 'get my chance to complain at the end on the questionnaire'. Contrast that with Celebrity Solstice and their 'how are we doing' little questionnaires, which were handed out 3 days in and I might add generally acted upon immediately. Anybody in a service industry surely knows that nipping a problem in the bud and solving it results in better overall view of them, but on this occasion MSC staff simply didn't care.

I forgot to add another couple of 'quirks' which I remembered this morning. If you book an excursion you do so without knowing what time it will depart. It doesn't say on the booking system or the ticket. The solution, look in the daily programme for the meeting time on the day. Fine except that the daily programme typically arrived around 04:30 each morning so how do you know when to get up for full day excursions.

On the full day tours many required you to be at the meeting point at 07:30. If doing so I would have had room service breakfast but guess what time the first possible room service is? - Thats right 07:30, too late.

Incidentally re room service, this is done a la carte and priced per item. On Fantasia only continental breakfast is possible and there is no 'lunch or dinner' per se.

I don't normally ever use room service, but it seemed to me to be just another example of nickel and diming, and service designed around the provider rather than the customer.

On my dining table were 2 ladies who were continuing onto the New Year's cruise too (albeit reluctantly by the time it approached). They were asked to see the Maitre D' and sort out their dinner seating for the folllowing cruise and were told then that the ship was so full, dinner would be arranged in the main Red Velvet restaurant around 3 sittings rather than 2. I don't envy them...

I know this all sounds very negative and I must add a point of praise about the overall build quality of the ship. There was nothing I saw on the ship that was unfinished, incorrectly installed or suffering 'teething troubles'. It was a very well built (if not well designed) ship in my view.

Worth noting that the Solstice style boat decks have caught on and are sported by this ship too. Also considerably more smoking that on American ships was allowed, beyond what was indicated in the onboard documents/ brochures.

[ 12-29-2008: Message edited by: Mattsudds ]

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Originally posted by PamM:
One person's review puts you off?

Pam

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I have been reading lots of similar reports on a British cruise review site for a long time now of all their ships. So this is basically a confirmation of what I feared.
The Musica sisters are getting the same ratings. Nickle and diming for simple things like coffee, tea and water. Bad customer service, mediocre food etc etc.

I don't think MSC will be on my list soon.

I enjoy the mix of Nationalities on MSC v either a bunch of Brits or bunch of US citizens, and their customs which makes for a more interesting experience overall, non-queuing being part of that and one accepts it. Try Genova Cruise Terminal when there is both an MSC and Costa vessel trying to get their passengers checked in - LOL, chaos is not the word, but it's part of life in the Med, shrug, observe and move on; not something one would put up with in Miami or Southampton, but I don't expect or want the same experince the world over.

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Originally posted by PamM:
To get water at the table on MSC you ask for a *jug* of water, always worked for me.
Pam

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I tried this. I tried, Jug of water, tap water, iced water and free water. On any normal cruise line the waiters would remember your preference and work in advance to satisfy them.

I asked each and every night of 8 and any lunch where I wasn't buffet. In total some water actually arrived 2 out of 8 nights. The first night 'is no possible'. Second night it arrived after I pointed to an adjacent table being served ice water (having gotten the 'is no possible'). Third night nothing. On the last nights they had made sure the place where I sat had only 1 glass (for the drink I normally buy) rather than the 2 everyone else had (wine + bought water). Whenever I asked, politely, the reaction was the same. Feigned incomprehension, further explanation, eyes rolled and on those 2 occasions grudging compliance. The overall service in the dining room not just to do with water was 3G. Grudging, Graceless and Glacial. In the end the water isn't the issue, its the attitude and service.

On even my worst Costa cruises they were better than MSCs flagship. MSC is a line I really want to like but I give up. One wag on cruise critic (on the same cruise, cruise first timers) has summed it up MSC= Must Steer Clear

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Originally posted by Mattsudds:
In total some water actually arrived 2 out of 8 nights.

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I can't help thinking, If they can't get a glass/jug of water right, what hope is there for the rest of the operation!

It really reminds me what a wonderful job RCI do on their very big ships.

[ 12-29-2008: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

quote:

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Originally posted by PamM:

Try Genova Cruise Terminal when there is both an MSC and Costa vessel trying to get their passengers checked in - LOL, chaos is not the word, but it's part of life in the Med, shrug, observe and move on; not something one would put up with in Miami or Southampton, but I don't expect or want the same experince the world over.

Pam

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Variety may be the spice of life, but not where embarking/disembarking is concerned, for me anyway! I certainly cannot imagine anything more horrific than the images (I now have) of embarking at ports like Genoa on the larger Costa and/or MSC ships and indeed sailing on them. Travel is stressful enough as it is.

As far as Miami is concerned, reviews I've read led me to believe that the port's newer (ie RCI and Carnival) terminals provided quick and easy embarkation. If this is not the case, heaven help future OASIS passengers!

I can deal with slow service and disorganization, especially on an inaugural. Things are never going to be perfect, but I at least expect the crew to try. A "no can do", unwillingness attitude is unacceptable in the service industry. This stems from a lack of training, poor management, no accountability, and a lack of leadership. It sounded like the crew just didn't care.

I hope this is short lived and the reviews improve. Even though I think MSC FANTASIA looks fairly hideous, I still have high hopes for MSC Cruises. Like Pam, I loved my experience on MSC Cruises and one reason was because things were very different than the N. American based lines. Different in a good way.

It is clear that among English speaking guests (mostly UK and US) they are not delivering a product that is acceptable to them as a market, I have not look ed at foreign langauage reveiws as I do not speak or read the lingos so am not qualified to discuss.

65% - 70% of the reviews I read had rated MSC either the equivilent of poor, or very poor.

Almost every one said the ships were lovely, nicely decorated, spotlessly clean, nice cabins and good to reasonable cabin service (as long as you didn't want or need anything unusual like ice or room service in which case the rating dropped) so it seems the hardware section is by and large pretty much as good as if not better than the competition.

However the ratings on the "software" aspect of cruising has been less than good. Service generally scored poorly, food is mentioned very often, and very often the food is served cold right through the cruise, lack of choice, being made to buy water at dinner, charged for coffee at dinner etc have all been highlighted. It seems MSC do not deal with complaints well. There have also on occasion been issues with the safety proceedures on board raised.

For instance on one of those other boards (which none of read except for research purposes!) there are a surprising number of reviews about Orchestra's new season of cruises just started out of Lauderdale, every single review is negative and badly so. Now MSC is very experienced in dealing with US pax in the US, if they have not got it right yet it might seem they never will regardless of Mr Sasco's comments to the media.

I also noted that even their homeland cruises regularly attract negative comments- more so than others as a % of comments in total.