MSC Preziosa – Waste of Money

My husband and I have cruised a total of 22 times between us and usually we choose P & O. We did not expect MSC to be the same standard as P & O but we certainly did not expect the poor standard we received aboard the ship.

Likes:

Excellent ship with lots of facilities (unfortunately you pay for most of them).

Cabins are a very good size and extremely comfortable.

Check- in process was very quick and easy and took much less time than usual.

Drinks Package was very good- 23 Euros per day (all you can drink coffee, soft drinks, wine, draft beer and cocktails).

Dislikes:

Service was appalling on MSC, with the exception of a few members of staff who did go out of their way. We not only received lazy service from waiters who spoke very little English and would prefer to have their own conversations rather then serve the passengers , but we were also witness to public shouting matches between members of staff!

Dress Code was not adhered to at all. My husband and I felt extremely out of place on informal and formal night when people were turning up to dinner in jeans and flip flops.

Children were running wild at all hours and there appeared to be many groups of ‘unsupervised’ European students aboard the ship who were extremely noisy on an evening. One night they were playing their musical instruments and singing loudly in their cabin next door and continued and got louder when we made them aware that it was extremely difficult to sleep. Thankfully, the reception manager (one of the excellent members of staff) dealt with the situation immediately and it ceased.

The Emergency Muster Drill was repeated on loud tannoys all over the public areas of the ship daily as there were passengers embarking and disembarking every day at port. It is unlike P & O where everybody gets on at one port and remains on until the end.

The food was extremely disappointing. Again, we cannot compare to P & O, however, many of the meals were of a lower quality than a Bird’s Eye Fish Pie! The food was served cold, was slopped all over the plate, limited choice on an evening and the quality of ingredients was poor. We had to send back dishes a number of times for example, being served cold, unopened mussels is rather worrying! The cheese platter consisted of three little balls of cheese about the size of a 20 – 50 pence and a piece of grapefruit and a small fruit tart with syrup inside it. By the end of the cruise, it became a joke amongst the English passengers as to what we would be served that evening. Dining aboard the cruise ship should be a dining experience – it felt like a routine cafeteria call 🙁

I would also reiterate what the other passengers said about the rudeness of the other passengers – we would struggle to get out of lifts as they were pushing themselves on to the lifts and closing the doors before we had left. Furthermore, the entertainment was poor, lacking in quanity and badly timed for the second sitting.

In summary, save your money and save for longer and go with P & O – MSC may have all of the outward marketing features of a good holiday but the internal components do not make an enjoyable experience.