MSC Cruises Reviews

Thursday 24th May 2012

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Msc Cruises

Msc Sinfonia

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Reviewed By: Barber, Salisbury UK on 7th Feb 2009
Cruise Line: MSC Cruises	Times cruised before: 3-5
Cruise Ship: MSC Sinfonia	Sailed: January, 2009
Destination: South America	Age: 56-65
Cabin: Balcony	Occasion: Birthday

We boarded the MSC Sinfonia at Rio de Janeiro Jan 24th for an 8 day round trip to Beunos Aires stopping at Punta de Este and Ilhabela. To fit in with a 60th Birthday celebration we managed to book a cruise not really intended for European (English speaking) guests! Although not sold in Europe we assumed that there would be many North Americans (English speaking) on board - not so! Only Brazilian and Argentinian. We were treated like Royalty! From the moment of embarkation at Rio we literally had the red carpet treatment - having MSC Club membership helped. We were whisked through the embarkation process (no standing in line) and boarded in about 15 minutes! Having cruised a few times, we know the 'get your table sorted' in the restaurant routine. (there are 2 restarants on the Sinfonia). No problem - we walked the restaurants, saw what we wanted and were allocated the table of our choice. Food was good and wines were excellent. The MSC staff quickly recognised that we were the only English speaking guests (most MSC staff/crew are Italian with excellent English) and went out of their way to ensure that we were truly looked after - on board and on-shore. Our balcony cabin was excellent, spacious (plenty of wardrobe space) and immaculately clean. Fresh fruit and excellent cabin service in abundance. The daily sheet delivered to our cabin (Ship's position / activities/ facilities etc) was at first in Portuguese - very quickly and daily thereafter an English version arrived. MSC attention to detail was superb. Having sailed with MSC in Caribbean and Mediterranean we had high expectations - given that this cruise was really intended for S.American guests, MSC went well out of their way to fuss and worry over us - certain crew members with whom we struck up a rapport really fussed and worried over us. In addition we met some very nice Brazilian guests (with pretty good English) with whom we enjoyed meals and excellent company on tours / trips. Because it was my 60th birthday the Cruise Director had champagne, strawberries etc delivered to our cabin with a note from the Captain - nice little touch. On shore trips were excellent and reasonably priced - the cabin staff and crew members in general went out of their way to help. The MSC Sinfonia is a medium / large cruise vessel - big enough to have all the right facilities but not so big that you feel like you are in an anonymous city. Most of the public addresses etc were in Portuguese - obviously all safety aspects were also in English - no language problems whatsoever. The language differences added a dimension of fun - the Brazilians (very warm people) love to practice their English on you! Because we had not booked this as a package, ie. we arrived at the quayside as 'individuals' MSC ensured our safe disembarkation - right down to appointing an officer to whisk us through customs and into our airport taxi. Well done MSC - professional, courteous and caring to the last detail. Great cruise - memorable 60th birthday with waiters and restaurant guests waving and swinging their napkins above their heads in celebration - great fun. Well done MSC.
Quality of Food

Entertainment

Shore Excursions
Tour guides made special effort to keep us up to speed in English - very accommodating
Staff
No bad experiences at all - all crew mwmbers were not only courteous but went out of their way to help us (as the English 'minority') What impressed us was the number of staff members who knew who we were!
Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities

Cabins

Overall Rating

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Opinion: Disagree Comment by Vallance, Basildon Court (03 Jun 09 21:49) about this REVIEW

I can not believe we have been on the same ship as you. Disagree about the food, i think it was a very poor standard. Found some of the staff rude, especially when we were boarding. We joined the ship in Barcelona and there was no one there to help with the luggage. My husband had a birthday and it was also our wedding anniversary while on board, and we received nothing.

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