My day finding out if MSC are Magnifica Part 2

So as I was saying on my first update I still have lots to say about my day and experience I had onboard the Magnifica in the not so sunny Port of Tyne on the day we visited.

As MSC are rapidly growing and turning into one of the very biggest players in the cruise market especially for us here in the UK I thought it was really important to get a feel of life onboard. We book so many MSC cruises now I wanted to sample the atmosphere as unlike other cruise lines such as P&O and Marella it is not a British cruise line full of British people. They are Itailian owned and based in the Med ( And actually the biggest cruise line in the med ) so it is only right that the majority of the guests are not British. You will have a mixture of Nationalities onboard and then upto around 15% British guests but I would say that is growing all the time. This cruise that we got to sample for the day was different as it was sailing out of the UK so had many more Brits onboard but still had a mix.

As the Magnifica has done several cruises out of the UK this year I have booked lots and lots of people on her and generally had great feedback even from colleagues who had done there own holidays. I was told the ship although not the newest had charm and was lovely which I can understand why they would say that. It’s not the biggest by modern standards or the newest but not everybody wants to cruise on something which is like a floating island with Waterparks or Go cart tracks.

On thing I and am sure most of you adore on cruises is the food and this to me is one of the main selling points of MSC after all who does like great food and on an Italian ship how could it be better. Now I had one or two guests who had told me the food was ok but not fantastic and then had others who raved about it. Well one thing I love about a ship visit is they always blow you away with lunch so you get see first hand just how good the food is.

My expectations had become really high as when we sat in our presentation I could smell something that smelt devine. It was a freshly baked onboard Italian bread which they brought round for us to nibble on and it was so fresh and full of flavour and had just literally been baked.

So after our tour had finished we headed off to the main dinning restaurant for lunch and at this point I was ready for something to eat an really looking forward to it. On reading the menu we had a choice of a few starters, mains and desserts but nothing that jumped out as a main. I was a little surprised to see a burger listed as one of the options as it is not something I would ever eat in a main dinning room I would go to the buffet or on deck if I wanted something like that. So i made my choices and opted for New Zealand Mussels in breadcrumbs to start, Pork Escalope for main and a chocolate and raspberry cake for dessert.

So first of all came the starters came and I picked the best one by a mile. I only got 3 mussels but they were huge, so fresh and really really tasty. The breadcrumbs and a hint of lime with the freshness of the mussels was to die for so course one so far so good.

Magic Mussels to die for…..

Next was the main and this time I’m not sure if I choose so well the meat was nicely cooked however as was expecting to be blown away by flavour and there was none it was a tad on the bland side and I have to admit did not look as appetizing as I thought. Dont get me wrong it was ok but I did get a bit jealous of the few with burgers. Maybe for that course I should of had a look at the buffet which we could also have done.

My Pork Escalope Main

Finally was dessert and we were very much back on track it was lovely just the right balance on raspberry and chocolate and just big enough to satisfy without overfilling you.

The perfect size pudding for me

The wine was lunch was great as you would expect on an Italian ship so overall apart from the main it was lovely but I can understand why a few had mentioned it.

Overall I had a great day onboard and would recommend MSC to almost anyone and I think as they grow more and more of us will take our own cruises with them. I for one would love to sail on one of the bigger newer ships in the next few years and the fact they seem committed to giving us a ship each summer out of Southampton is a great statement to say how important to the British market will be in there growth.

If you have not yet already give MSC a try after all if they are the biggest in the Med they must be doing something right! For details on any MSC cruises give me a call on 0330 303 8382 or email me at [email protected]