DYKWIA

My wife has just returned from a 7 day cruise around the UK on the MSC Virtuosa. The cost was £1500 for the "all-inclusive" package, plus, they also upgraded to a premium drinks package that also included tray charge and in cabin mini-bar. All in all, it was very disappointing experience (it was her first cruise).

I'd just like to hear whether her complaints are normal / justified. This is a summary of what she told me :-

1. Very few staff. And what staff were there only had a basic grasp of English. Probably not helped with the number of different UK accents that would cause an issue.
2. Very difficult to get served. It was table service only in the bars, and it could be up to an hour before they got served. Plus then a long wait for the drinks.
3. Despite having the premium drinks package, the staff had no clue what this meant. So, asking for a glass of premium wine got nowhere. Eventually, they just gave up and ordered the standard drinks.
4. Only allowed to order 1 drink at a time, so it all became pretty pointless in the end. As there were 3 of them, they asked if they could just get a bottle of wine to share at their leisure - no dice.
5. The in-cabin mini-bar contained 2 bottles of beer. No wine.
6. Chaos in the restaurants. 30 minute wait for breakfast - and then an hour before getting food. When ordering tea, a teabag would be delivered, followed later by hot water, and then later still, some milk (by which time the hot water was not hot!). They all gave up on tea and switched to coffee.
7. Nowhere to sit in the bars. They just had to wait around until somebody left and hope they got to the seats before anybody else (no formal queueing system).
8. Initially, breakfast was a buffet, but half way through the cruise they switched to table service. This coincided with tannoy announcements requesting people go for Covid tests. My wife and her friends went for a test - but said the tester barely touched her nose, so she believes the tests were not done correctly. I noticed this report earlier :- Pensioner couple split up on MSC Virtuosa as covid cases found on cruise ship - Liverpool Echo

All in all, not the most enjoyable 7 days. If it was an airline, I'd probably complain, and get a £100 voucher. Would the above warrant a complaint, or was she expecting too much?

Thanks

Randyk47

This really sounds like a flashback to MSC’s early ventures in the US. They had been very much an Italian cruise line catering to mostly Italian cruisers. I particularly remember the initial language issues and slow and inconsistent service. You didn’t mention it but the food quality back then was not up to other cruise lines in their market niche. Sounds like when they reconstituted their staff they relied more heavy on their old ways and drew from their basically Italian legacy staff. Supposedly this had all gotten better in the US and the line had started to establish a loyalist clientele here. I would not consider this typical of cruising but I also think lines are trying to adjust to whatever the “new normal” is and MSC has done a very poor job of it. I don’t track what cruising is like right now on the mainstream lines but reports I’ve read from luxury lines like Silversea are very positive.

wrp96

No that’s not typical cruising. And if they were still onboard I would advise them to go to guest relations and discuss their concerns. As it is now post cruise, if they get a post cruise survey they should fill it out in depth. Most cruiselines do read and act on those to at least make changes going forward.

I’m on Celebrity right now and there are more crew than passengers. No waits for anything. The buffet is not self serve but rather served to you at various stations which I actually like. There is no confusion or question over anything. Just yesterday as we were waiting (an entire 30 seconds) for an elevator to arrive, a cleaner stopped to let us know how happy he is all of us passengers are back onboard.

gretchendz

Totally NOT normal--except maybe for MSC which does not have a great reputation to begin with. I suspect management did a terrible job of training staff. On better cruise lines you have much higher staff to guest ratios, making for a better experience.

I would encourage you to not give up on crusing but try again sometime on a better cruise line. Most cruisers now are reporting wonderful experiences, especially since most lines are restricting the number of guests.

Need

They are not normal except for #4. I think on some cruise lines with included drink package, you are only allowed to order 1 drink at a time. I have read some people complained about that because they like to nurse 2 different types of drinks, but I don't drink so I have no first hand experience.

HPN-HRL

I just want to echo the bolded sentence; it is not a typical cruise experience.

YVR Cockroach

Sounds chaotic but I've read that for those wanting a better experience on MSC, it's Yacht Club or stay home.

The wait for drinks has been reported on other cruise lines (namely, Holland America) shortly after staffing cuts to wine stewards were instituted (I've never bought a drinks package on mass market cruises so have not encountered difficulty in that department). Can also be slow on a fully-booked cruise. Last fully-sold cruise I was on, a huge number of the pax were east asian (HongKong in particular) so lower-than-expected demand for the bar (some of which got pretty packed at times).

not2017

Actually your wife's experience is typical for MSC. MSC standards are not like the rest of cruise lines. MSC attracts guests with low prices. Because of that low price, you get a lower amount of services. I suggest to your wife to try another line, as her experiences are not typical of all the other cruise lines.

david55

I thought the same thing...100 pounds per person per day is not much for a cruise.....you choose a low end cruise line and I would expect these hiccups.....