Worst cruise we have ever taken!

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Worst cruise we have ever taken!
Reviewed By: Hankey, Braintree on 6th Apr 2009
Cruise Line: MSC Cruises	Times cruised before: 6-10
Cruise Ship: MSC Musica	Sailed: March, 2009
Destination: South America	Age: 46-55

This was without a doubt the worst cruise we have ever taken. Embarkation was a shambles, we waited for 4 hours after a three hour coach ride from the airport and an eleven hour flight. By the time we boarded we had been up for at least 36 hours and not once provided with any assistance or refreshment by MSC. Once on board we were not greeted by any staff and were left to find our own way to the cabin. The ship is beautiful and kept very clean but there it ends. There were no tea and coffee facilities in the cabin despite assurances directly from MSC at the time of booking that there would be and for the first 3 days, none anywhere else apart from at breakfast. We had to purchase all other drinks including drinking water at the table at $4.80 per bottle. After the first 3 days afternoon tea was laid on which at least enabled us to get a cup of tea or coffee without paying exhorbitant costs. The food was generally poor, often overcooked in the case of meat or fish and undercooked in the case of vegetables. Everything was very oversalted. The best food was the bread. Coffee was not offered after the evening meal unless purchased in one of the bars. Presentation of food was slapdash and in the case of our waiter, service was poor. We often waited for long periods of time between courses, 35 minutes in one case. We were expected to use the same cutlery for our appetiser and salad course, the waiter simply removed it from our plate and placed it on the tablecloth or side plate for re-use. Napkins were often dirty from previous sittings. Not exactly a high-class dining experience such as we have experienced on other cruise lines. The published dress code was not adhered to, people were even wearing jeans and t-shirts on formal nights and entering dining areas in swimsuits during the day. Staff either didn't notice or didn't care. Entertainment is poor and often childish and is a waste of the magnificent theatre facilities on board. Daytime activities were also poor, the emphasis seemed to be on Bingo. Fortunately we enjoyed the company of some lovely English speaking people otherwise we would have been quite bored on the sea-days, particularly with the lack of English satellite channels on the TV and films at $10.99 a go. There was a good variety of excursions on port days although these were quite expensive and had the usual emphasis on "shopping time". Charges for shuttle buses were high and the distances covered easily walkable by the able-bodied. ( on previous cruises the same distanceat the same port has often been offered as a complimentary service) It would seem that MSC is only interested in getting passengers on board and then charging them for absolutley everything they can. Other than by our cabin steward there was no real service and staff in general were rude and dismissive. Disembarkation was as much a shambles as embarkation, it took 5 hours from leaving our cabin to finally get off and retrieve our cases in the terminal building where there were insufficient luggage trolleys and we had to man-handle them ourselves to our transfer coach. In summary,I would not recommend this cruise line to anyone and will never be tempted to cruise with them again however tempting the destination or fare.
Quality of Food
Some of the past and risotto dishes were OK although in general over salted. The bread was always good. Th lunch time buffet was like school dinners and equally as unappetising. The alternative was a slow service in the dining room.
Entertainment
Very poor all round
Shore Excursions
Corcarvero in Rio de Janiero by Jeep
Staff
There was a lovelyyoung girl on the entertainment team who spoke Italian and German and id her very best with English. We enjoyed helping her with pronunciation
Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities

Cabins

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Opinion: Agree Comment by Russell, Swindon (18 Jul 09 18:02) about this REVIEW

We did the outbound cruise from Venice to Santos in Nov 2008. In reading your report I thought you were writing about our cruise - your experience was so similar to our own. I have just published our review entitled 'No Samba on Musica to Brazil'. We have sailed with MSC a number of times and feel that they have really declined - either a specific policy to deliver fewer benefits for more money, or simply critical management problems of running large over mid-sized ships.

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Opinion: Disagree Comment by Rabone, Sandefjord, Norway (29 Apr 09 11:33) about this REVIEW

We were on the same cruise and my wife and I cannot disagree more with this review. It is correct about the coffee after dinner, but the service that we received on board was very good. When boarding at Santos we thought that the check-in went quite well considering the number of passengers. We were shown to our cabin and was greeted by our cabin stewardess. The food was mainly satisfactory, the meat a bit dry for my taste but the fish courses were mainly very good. The ship was kept very clean. We found the entertainment mainly good. Agreed that the water was expensive and should have been provided free of charge. Agreed also that the excursions etc were quite expensive. It was also true that the dress code was not adhered to by all the passengers. I noticed that our waiters appreciated that we adhered to the code. The standard of English on board could have been better but we were advised by our travel agents that this was a"Latin Amercan" cruise with the majority of the passengers from Southern Europe or South America. I think that al in all my wife and I enjoyed our cruise and could not find that much to complain about. Peter, Norway

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Opinion: Agree Comment by Warne, Benidorm (06 Apr 09 17:19) about this REVIEW

I agree in principal, but do have to say that our waiter at dinner was fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble for him and we always had clean cutlery and napkins. Out of 10 people on our table none of them will be going with MSC again. It is a shame a beautiful ship but they need someone with customer service experience to listen to what people are saying and do something about it. Also I felt the ship was for the Italian Brazialian and Portuguese not for the British EW

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