2016 May 30, Southampton, England.

Rotterdam is not that far from Southampton and thus we sailed yesterday at a warp speed of 7.5 knots through a smooth and flat sea. Sun had been shining all day but today was overcast although still warm, so good weather to travel home in. Tomorrow and the day after most of the UK is expecting torrential rain, always a sort of follow up to very warm days here, but it seems that our region of Norfolk (already the driest county in the country since times immemorial) will miss most of it.

By 05.30 am. we were docked and by 07.30 all our luggage was ashore and we could disembark by 07.45. hrs. We were ordered to leave the cabin by 07.30 hrs. but when we complained about this, the Concierge Desk said that they could easily extend this to later. If you can…………………. why even say 07.30 hrs. ?  It is nice to go back to the cabin to brush your teeth after breakfast (which runs to 08.30). That would have been a perfect ending to the cruise.

And so I come to my last blog for this cruise which is my review of these 5 days and the verdict. It is as usual a very personal verdict  as I am not beholden to any secondary interest in the background nor do I feel the need to please anybody. But  if you decide to take a cruise on MSC  I hope what I have discussed  in the past 5 days and now below, will help you with making a well-balanced and informed decision.

The verdict.

We knew that the ship was a high density ship, although it had a good space ratio, due to to the sheer number of people. Most guests will always be milling around in the same area. What we had expected happened, but which helped to see how the ship operated, was that instead of the 4000+ lower bed capacity, it went up to 6200, due to the school holiday time in England. So it was a full house, a REAL full house.

Unless you like mayhem all day long and dense groups of people being together, then MSC is only workable when booking a cabin in the Yacht Club. And that Yacht club is not on all MSC ships, only on the bigger ones. And we needed it badly to keep our sanity.

So lets start with that Yacht Club, as it was really, really good in general.

The dining and the day lounge were perfect with attentive and impeccable service. Over the whole 5 nights, we only came across one issue in the Dining room. They had run out of Port Wine. We found that out on the second night when I wanted a cheese plate. The service being  6-7 star I was expecting that it would have been resolved the next night but it was not. On the one but last night, the neigbouring table asked for Port Wine as well …… still not available, e.g. not on board. They were offered a good quality sherry instead but that is not the same.  I had really expected that Beverage would have  run ashore in Zeebrugge or Rotterdam to get a few bottles as the supermarkets were very close by. We even did that on the Prinsendam (5 star) and I was told the same also on Azamara (6+).  This did not spoil the cruise of course but it showed that they focussed on the product but did not think outside the box. For the rest, perfect dining experience.

Day lounge: Drinks are all included (except some very top premium drinks and wines) and service in the Bar is extremely fast, good and with attention to detail. There is a buffet with nibbles all day long and changed several times a day and there is constant  live (background) music from 18.30 to 23.00 hrs. I wish we would have that on every 6 or 7 star ship that we sailed or will sail on. The is the one aspect where The Yacht Club really stands out.

The Glare: (how many crew react: Smile/greet) when I look at them: 100%.  Perfect score.

Cabin  service was slightly less good. Officially there is a butler and a cabin steward but most of the work is done by the cabin steward who seem to have more cabins than he/she  can really handle. The Butler concentrates on the paper work (very little), the mini bar, running errands, escorting to the evening shows  and also butlers in the day lounge. Every day there was something missing or not completed. To my opinion due to  too many cabins.

There is something called a “perfect cabin setup” to ensure it is 100% faultless each day. But if you are under time pressure you can’t.  That was confirmed to me on Southampton day when suddenly our cabin steward got help from a 2nd person.   A butler was there but it was not our “personal butler”,  as our butler was constantly called away by the Concierge Desk to run errands. Those “errands” gives the service that makes the Yacht Club product so good but it is not personal.  Our butler only showed up from somewhere when it was time to take us ashore for disembarkation.

There was a line of about 500 guests trying to disembark at the same time, but with the butler we by passed it all as she took us all the way into the terminal and helped locate our suitcases. That was a perk we have never seen before but with 6000 people trying to get off, it made sense, although it is very time consuming for the butlers. I would have been happy to say goodbye at security.

Main irritating thing for our cabin was on Rotterdam night, when our fruit suddenly disappeared with still a sea day to go and he also took away our front door cabin operating card. The cabin has a hotel lock, so you need to insert your cabin key to get the light on and to get the air conditioning going and keep it going. Our windows were baking in the full sun all day and it made the cabin very warm, so we had arranged via the butler to have a dedicated card. (your own credit card or related does not work it has to be programmed) to keep inserted and keep the cabin cool. He took the card out and yes our cabin had started to warm up again while we were away  So we had to get that card back.
Talking about A.C: a good thing is that when you open the balcony door, the A.C goes off, stopping guests from sleeping with the AC on and the balcony door open. And that is good for saving energy and keeping the temperatures down in the hallways.

An irritant was the MSC Foundation. This is a MSC setup that provides help and support for all sorts of good things in the world. They have a big “outlet store” in the ship, among the shops so you can see what they do. But without telling us they added on day 3, 1 pound to each charge account. So that is 6200 pounds for everybody. The money is for us absolutely not the problem but I do not like to be charged for something I did not order nor perviously agreed to.  I looked through all the whole “App” but nothing there to alert you that it was coming. According to the Concierge Desk, “it was on the pre cruise paper work”. But I could not find anything on line either. MSC does not issue paperwork, it is all supposed to be on the website or on the “App”. They offered to take the money off, and we said no as that was not the  point. But it was irritating that they took money without prior consent.

The cabin itself 16005, was well appointed and the only thing I missed was a power socket away from the desk so I could work on my laptop and charge at the same time. There are 4 sockets at the desk. Two European and two American and two USB ports. Then at each bedside there is another USB port but not so easy to reach as it is located under the rim of the lamp base, meaning it takes some poking around to find the hole while hoping that you have your USB plug the right way around as you cannot seen the socket unless you go on your knees to look under the rim.  There are no hooks in the cabin to hang up your coats if you are on a cruise with colder days. So it has to hang on the back of your chairs. (straight backed but with very little padding)  Another thing we like is a small light in the bathroom so you can see if you have to go in during tthe night. Not there, but the magnifing mirrow has a light and we left that on all night, with the door slightly ajar. Luckily not moving ship this cruise.

The only BIG ommission we had and we are very irritated about it: is that we missed the “Welcome Briefing.” We found out that the idea was, that the butler who brought you on board, would ensure that you received a 1 on1 briefing with him/her or another butler about all the perks that came with the Yacht Club. We did not get one, although we were for more than 30 minutes in the Lounge having our welcome on board drink, but the butler taking us on board did not mention  that is was supposed to happen and nobody came over.

With all the perks going, the Concierge Desk / Butler does not offer anything. They expect you to know from the briefing, or that you will to ask, and ask, and ask.  We had to piece this all together during the first 3 days and when we mentioned it at the Concierge Desk, they were fully taken aback, “startled” is the word, but they did not apologize nor still offer to do a session. And that gave me a firm indicator that they were running on auto pilot within their system. Convinced that their product was wonderful but not stepping outside the box to ensure that it remained that way. We saw the same thing at Silverseas and Azamara.

What was different to Silverseas, Azamara and even Cunard and Fred Olsen, is that you have to pay for your shuttle service in port when in the posh Yacht Club. And that is something that should not be. You get preferential tender service but you have to pay extra for a port shuttle. Nobody we spoke to in the Yacht Club raised their eyebrows if the ticket fare would have gone up by a few pounds to make it included. But it is irritating to have been sold a posh product and then having to pay for transport. MSC could do much better here.

Back to The Glare:

In the Yacht Club, 100%. Always a friendly meet & greet always immediatelly at your side to ask if you want something to drink . This is on the same level as Azamara and Silver Seas.

In the ship 0%. Not a single crewmember looks at you, smiles when walking by, or wishes you good morning or a good day. They are simply too busy and too stretched for time. When you approach them, they help you, help you very efficiently, and then move on to the next person in line, as there is always somebody in line behind you. We saw a few times some very senior hotel staff  in the ship but they were everytime in a huddle, jabbering away in Italian and totally oblivious to the guests around them.

The whole cruise is run by App. There is the daily program and your personal agenda, digitally on the phone, which you can also see on your TV. They have a lot of TV channels, including all BBC reg channels , German, Italian and the movies are not too old. That is really better than many other company’s such as Cunard, Fred Olsen etc. which only show Sky News as British News. Compliments there.  Only complaint was there was no music channel.  Only some sort of barbed wire music on the Bow Camera , which on Holland America it is were they also make the Cruise Director’s  announments.  It is very nice that they are only are only made in the hallways  (Fred Olsen please note) and not in the cabin but it would be nice if you had the option to flip the TV on and go to the bow channel.

On day three we found out that if you do not like the App, then the Concierge Desk will print out the complete daily program for you but they do not offer it. We saw the hard copy’s and then found out that repeat guests had figured that out during a previous cruise.

In the ship there is a large emphasis on retail. Nearly everything has a sales handle and not a service handle. Not my piece of cake but the 6000 guests marching around down stairs did not seem to mind so the product works.

Would I recommend MSC, from my point of view, who likes good service in general and lack of crowds: NO.

But if decide to you go, book the Yacht Club, Day Lounge, Dinning and the private sun deck (with bar and small buffet, and small swiming pool with life guard) are VERY Good. So for that one YES. (We met several guests, who purely live in the Yacht Club and only go down for the Shows and the Spa)

Will we return ? NO.

First of all, we have seen the product now and it is not ours. Secondly I did not like the Concierge Desk. They are really convinced that they are God’s gift to the world and will obfuscate any question they cannot directly answer or do not want to answer. I prefer a straight “I do not know” instead of going around the houses. Plus we never got our boarding meeting on embarkation day and you really need that to find out what the Yacht Club can offer.

Dresscodes: in the Yacht Club. Everything is casual, very casual, except the evenings, then it is smart casual. With that you seem to comply if the gentlemen switch from shorts to a long pair of trousers. They do theme nights but it is not in the pre cruise communication. So Lesley sent an email to MSC asking if there would be a white night (we had heard about on Face book) during this 5 day cruise. There was, so we brought white clothes. The white night popped up on the App for the first night, then disappeared again and then popped up again for Rotterdam night. They put the hour back to the UK on that evening as well, so people could/would stay out longer. On longer cruises they also do formal nights, so we asked the Concierge Desk how that worked, as it was not on the website.

The Answer was:
We do not pre-publish theme nights, we decide during the cruise what we are going to do.

So taking all your formal gear with you is a gamble as during the cruise you might not even HAVE a formal night. The first night was a 60’s.70’s. 80’s theme night and nobody knew about it. I overheard a few ladies in the staircase say that they would have loved to bring their “Abba Gear” with them. For the evening, for the show and for the Disco………………….   MSC really has to do better here.

Final: The Yacht club Dining and Lounge service is extremely good and on par with 7 star cruise ships. Cabin service slightly less but still good.   Outside the “Yacht club bubble”, everything is Sales Driven and with only the basic free / included service in the dining rooms and Market (Lido) Restaurant. Speciality Resturants start at 55 pounds a person.  Also being charged in pounds adds more as when you look on the MSC web site it say $55  so they make more money there.  The Cruise staff seem to do a great job with their activities but with such a crowded ship, not all who want to can participate.

Our next cruise is in coming July with the Sky Princess, Princess Cruises also from Southampton. This is a 3000+ ship, so also a lot of people . But it will not be  as bulky as the MSC Magnifica, where you have to live in splended isolation , far from the Maddening Crowd. I will hope that you will then follow our escapedes again.