1. Food was very bad. Every afternoon and evening we had green beans and carrots. You could choose between cold and hot, cooked or raw and on one occation there was fish (It looked like tune)added to the green beans.
2. The pudding - afternoons and evenings - strawberry or chocolate mouse and jelly which tasted like sugar water whereto glycerine was added.
3. Salad - afternoons and evenings - tomato, onion rings, cucumber slices and lettuce. Not even a olive or some feta cheese in sight.
4. The afternoon tea/coffee was served with white sponge cake, green sponge cake or chocolate cake as well as tea biscuits - like the Baker's biscuits you buy in the shop.
5. The breakfast was fine except that you could taste that the viennas have been heated over and over again.
6. The midnight tropical explosion - a waiter standing around with a tray filled with white paper cookie cups with a sandwhich in.
I have e-mailed the above info to the offices and a certain Mr Tegan O'Flaherty responded thereto. Needles to say he did not read my e-mail or he does not understand English or Afrikaans. According to him I am the only one complaining but every time when we went for lunch or supper the passengers around me commented with the following : Öh no not again the same food.
I feel that I have dished out quite a few thousand rands for this trip and it was definitely not worth my while.
I suggest you rather change your advertisements and inform the people that the cruise to nowhere is a under low budget cruise because that is definitely the case.
In view of the above I have no desire to ever in my life take a cruise on one of your ships.
Hope the other passengers were happy and you keep your cruises full because with the new Buyers Act now in place I am quite sure that you are going to have a hell of a lot of problems if your chef keep on dishing up such low class of food.

it was a fantastic ride to thanks to the ships cleanliness,the food the staff and the onboard entainment

This was my husband & I's 2nd cruise having been on Ocean Village a couple of years ago. We were sold this by a very enthusiastic lady at Thomas Cook. She raved about the Italian Cruise line saying how fab the ships are; in reality it was not so. It is an old ship and it shows. The public areas are not too bad but our outside cabin on the continental deck was spacious but the decor dreadful. The singly beds were very uncomfortable, it was like trying to sleep on an ironing board.
The passengers were predominantely italian and spanish and included lots of noisy teenage schoolparties! Thankfully we were put on a table of english speakers that were great company in the evening. The food was not too bad, a 7 course dinner that you could pick different courses from (never all 7 for us). Must say the baby calf's leg did not appeal. The excursions were good but getting into Ibiza at 12.30 at night was not a great idea and you have to pay for the shuttle boat to get you there and back. Give Tunis a miss unless you are prepared to visit loo's with no running water or washing facilities. Another thing, you must get to your bus for return in plenty of time, we heard of some elderly people being left in Florence. It is a travel time of one and half hours back to port, I wonder if they are still there? Disembarkation was terrible, no instructions re buses for airport. One elderly couple had to be out of their rooms at 7am (as we were) and their flight was not until 6.30 pm. They were told nowhere to store their luggage. We will not be going on another MSC cruise.

Essentially, this was the ‘cruise from hell’ to say the very least.
Firstly the representation on board ship for English speaking people was virtually non existent, no English speaking tour guides, very little information / announcements in English and worst of all NO emergency drill for English speaking passengers, the first time in many previous cruises that this had not been carried out. We were actually twice asked to cancel excursions because of no English representation / English speaking guides!! How fortunate that my wife has an excellent understanding of Spanish. We clearly feel that this is absolutely appalling marketing, selling /advertising a totally Italian orientated holiday to British people, in fact I feel that this is a very arrogant / discourteous method of selling cruises. We have both experienced several previous cruises, needless to say with English / Northern European Cruise Lines without the hassles etc of this cruise!!
As far as the food is concerned, again quoting MSC’s “Truly Italian” experience, and also the fact that Italian food is one of the best in the world, we were expecting truly gastronomic Italian Food, again a real let down!! Very little of the food served was at all representative of “Truly Italian” style food, most of it being pre-prepared and mostly cold, occasionally luke-warm. Probably one of the causes of the virus like symptoms that both I and my wife are still experiencing at the present time or it could have been the ridiculous disparity between the outside temperatures, often 35-40 degrees, and the inside temperatures of 16-18 degrees with no possible way of regulation by passenger control especially in our own private cabins!
Moreover, everyday, published in the daily bulletin was a specific reference to passengers punctuality for meal times (our sitting was 2130) and unfortunately the Restaurant doors were never opened before 2145, quite often 2155, hence COLD FOOD!!!
Interestingly, the above opinions regarding food etc were also shared with an Italian family from Naples that we became very friendly with.
The disembarkation process was to put it mildly, a FIASCO!! To be asked to have all our luggage packed , labelled and outside our cabin at 0300hrs itself was bad enough, but to be asked to vacate our cabins by 0700 was absolutely ludicrous, bearing in mind our flight was at 1830!! And the ship wasn’t scheduled to sale until 1430.The Italian information assistants had no idea when we were to be transferred, it seemed quite simply that we had had our cruise, they had our money and as long as they escorted us off of their ship, that was all that they were concerned with.
Why, if you knew the disembarkation details, were we booked on such a late flight when there was in fact 2 earlier flights, at 1230 & 1325 to LHR instead of making passengers, who had already spent 4 hrs or so uncomfortably waiting on board the ship, now having to wait 6 or so hours in packed, uncomfortable airport lounges, when we actually know that there were seats on both earlier flights, but BA / Iberia were very un co-operative or unhelpful in this matter?
To conclude, we would NEVER spend another holiday on an Italian ship again and we will certainly NOT be recommending the same to any family / friends / colleagues. The whole experience seemed to be misguided / mis sold as far as English Holidaymakers are concerned and I will be placing most of this information on a review website for MSC and specifically The ‘Melody’ and I am also forwarding a copy to MSC Cruises. Finally, a word about Fast Track Holidays customer service. Very Very Poor, 45 – 50 minutes wait on the phone is absolutely appalling under any circumstances and this has been the problem both pre and post holiday!!! Also these comments herein were also echoed by several other English passengers booked with yourselves, who felt like us the whole experience was abominable.

We joined the three week, repositioning cruise from it's Southern Africa cruise schedule back to it's base in Genoa.

What's good about the Melody?
* Mostly the people you travel with - if you're lucky & we were!
* The cabins are a good size and we were fortunate to be able to open our square porthole (Premier deck).
* It's a stable ship, despite it's height and age.
* The wine and spirit prices were low.

What's bad about the Melody?
*It's an old, ugly, characterless, block of a ship, with no promenade deck. The public areas give one the impression of remoteness from the sea around. The opposite to the connection most "cruisers" seek.
* The decor is drab and must be heaven for the lover of purple or grey, crushed velvet!
* The entertainment was the worst we have experienced and the showroom bad unless you were right at the front. This was offset by management by the addition of large, blurry pictured plasma screens.
* The food was very ordinary, but plentiful.

In a nutshell, this ship is best enjoyed through the blur of an alcohol induced coma on a cruise lasting no longer than three days! Thankfully, this is made possible by the low alcohol prices.

I saw there were some negative reviews about this cruise, I wonder if those were mainly the longer northern cruises?

We've actually been on 2 cruises on this ship, and both were similar in experience, so I'll just describe the first cruise!

Our port of call was Mozambique, Barra Lodge. Since departure was from South Africa, passengers were South African and mainly English-speaking. The staff and guides were also all English speaking, no problems with language-barriers.

The staff were all very friendly and competent. We were very impressed with the service. Food was excellent! We enjoyed every single meal, including the buffets and breakfasts. We never felt hungry or wanting for more. Only small complaint is that the buffet queues were a bit long.

Ship cleanliness was perfect, I was surprised to hear after these two experiences that public toilets are a problem on cruises, we didn't have any complaints.

The entertainment... was enthusiastic. I'm not a big fan of the Animation team's style, but they certainly try very hard, and I was impressed with their honest enthusiasm at entertainment. Lots of trying to involve the audience/passengers, and it was actually a lot of fun on the first cruise. The second cruise was very similar, with similar acts and jokes, so it fell a bit flat on me. The bands were very good, we really enjoyed a 4-person spanish band who seemed to really enjoy their guitar playing.

The stage acts (Magician, cabarets, music) were all very good.

One thing you can skip on these cruises are the excursions to other towns, especially if you're stopping at Mozambique or one of the islands. Just relax and enjoy the beach! The excursions are outsourced to 3rd parties, with varying degrees of quality and value-for-money.

On the first cruise (Barra Lodge) we went into a town, which was a 40min drive in an old, rusty taxi. It was a rather unpleasant and frightening experience, as we were dropped off in the local market and pestered by locals trying to sell their wares. On the beach itself you also got accosted by locals trying to sell you trinkets (and sometimes illegal items from the beach like shells). Your mileage may vary, our friends enjoyed this excursion very much.

The extra cost for snorkeling is highly recommended! Bring your own kit to ensure you have fitting equipment. The coral reefs are amazing! (Please, please try not to touch any of the reef with hands or fins, as this destroys hundreds of years of coral growth....)

We also paid for the tour of the beach with a guide, which was excellent and decent value for money, although you could have just walked around and pottered around the pools for free.

The ship itself is beautiful, I'm not sure if my tastes are different, or maybe it's been revamped (Or maybe I have low expectations!), but everything looked glamorous in an old-fashioned manner. Walking into the ship, you really feel like you're entering a 5 star hotel. Everything might not be blitzy like the modern ships, but it really has a wonderful charm.

I highly recommend any of the MSC cruises, especially the ones departing from South Africa. I can't vouch for the northern cruises though.

We are a couple in our 30's and we were first time cruisers. The ports of call were Sicily, Tunis, Ibiza, Monte Carlo & Genoa. We booked a standard inside cabin and to our surprise when our tickets arrived we had been allocated a superior inside cabin on Premier Deck.

When we arrived in Naples we were met at the airport by a Topflight Rep who accompanied us in the coach to the Port. We checked in our bags but couldn't board the ship until later that afternoon. We were given directions to go upstairs at a designated time to check in. We then had three hours to kill at the Port. There were a few snack bars but it was quite a long time to wait. You could have gone into Naples but the Rep didn't recommend it as she said it is a very busy place and you could get lost easily.

At our allocated time we went upstairs in the MSC building where there was complementary juice and wine. We were given leaflets about the wine packages and the tours etc available. When our number was called, we went up to a row of desks where our passports were check and we were given our MSC "Credit Card" onto which all charges would be added and the bill paid at the end of the cruise. We were also given a booklet of what was happening on the ship that day and what time we were leaving etc.

We then boarded the ship where we were allocated our table for dinner. We opted to sit with English speaking passengers and chose a table of six. We were then shown to our cabin by our Steward Eddie. Our suitbases arrived soon after. Our cabin on Premier Deck was larger than we had imagined. It was dark wood with red checked bed linen. We had a large wardrobe, mirror and TV. The bathroom had a shower, basin, toilet and mirror. We also had air conditioning.

The events booklet for the next day was put under the door of your cabin every night and was invaluable. It had details of what time we would be arriving and leaving the next port, times and meeting points for tours, times of events that were happening on the ship, daily cocktails, type of dress required for dinner etc. We were also given a booklet with information about the next port of call for example the culture, food, places of interest etc.

Breakfast could be taken in either the restaurant or buffet style. This was the same for lunch. We always chose buffet style breakfast. The choice was very good. Loads of fresh melon, pineapple and watermelon. Prunes, yoghurt, cereals, muesli, bacon, eggs, croissants etc.
We tried the buffet style lunch but there was always a very big queue and quite a lot of pushing!! After two buffet lunches we went to the main restaurant where we were served lunch which was much more relaxing, also the food in the main restaurant was nicer.
Afternoon tea was served at 4.00 - 5.00 pm and consisted of sandwiches and cakes etc. Dinner was always eaten in the restaurant at two different sittings. We chose the later of the two at 9.30 pm. The meal was four courses and the choice of dishes was excellent. Salads, soup, pasta, chicken, fish, pork, fresh fruit and cakes. On Gala Night there was a special menu where we had lobster and Baked Alaska.
The midnight buffet was always themed i.e. pasta, crepes, pastry, pizza and Magnifique Buffet! On this particular night the presentation and amount of food was incredible. Cameras were required!

The dress code in the restaurant was always stated on your info booklet. Casual, smart or formal. Many of the men on board wore suits on Gala Night but not many wore tuxedos. The men also wore open neck shirts and trousers. The dress code was quite relaxed. Just no swim suits etc. On Gala Night we went for pre-dinner cocktails in one of the lounges and met the captain.

The onboard card was very important. It was used to purchase everything onboard the ship and also used as your ID card when we stopped at the Ports of Call. The tours are a little on the expensive side but sometimes a tour was required because the Port was quite a way from the centre of the town.

We were informed that an amount of money would be automatically added to our bill to account for tips for the staff. This was "voluntary" so you could request that this be removed from your bill. After talking to our restaurant waiter, he informed us that the staff do not get this money so not to pay it. We had the amount removed from our bill and tipped at our own discretion.

We were quite apprehensive before coming on the cruise as some reviews had described the ship as old and dated. This was not our opinion at all. We both thought the ship was extremely clean and nicely decortated. We had also read that it was very noisy but we only experienced this a few times when the ship was docking. The staff were extremely helpful and courteous. There was good entertainment around the pool during the day but the entertainment at night time was poor. As we chose the later seating for dinner, we always stayed and had a chat with the other guests at our table so the lack of good entertainment was not a real problem.

We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, met some great people and would not hesitate in recommending the Melody!

This ship is of an older style not like the new big cruises. I found this nice. It was not so big that you got lost in it.
The mixture of nationalities on this ship (Italian, Dutch, German, English, a Few Americans and Australians)give it a good international feel which I enjoyed.
The entertainments team worked hard both day and night and I thought they created a feel good/party atmosphere. The entertainment was there if you wanted to join it but you never felt pressure to do so.
The room service facitity for drinks was excellent. With free tea/coffee/juice delivered to your cabin on request 24 hours a day. I never waited more than five minutes for this service, however, I do believe in tipping staff for their quick, friendly and efficient service. I also found the food in both the restaurant and buffet very good.
I enjoyed the itinery offered by this liner (Naples, Tunis,Malta, Ibiza and St. Tropez) and would book to go with MSC again.

Having waited for almost iternity, it seemed, I was at Heathrow and met up with Vivien and Christine, walking to the check in desk, we spotted 4 other souls who had the look of disbeleaf, and on bveeing asked admitted to being Daily Express/Rise Travel weary souls.

The journey to Gonoa was stright forward quick via plane (which was i hour late taking off), due to there being no ground staff on hand to check us onto the aircraft.
Finaly on board ship at around 3.45 and being aloted cabins we met up for afternoon tea in the forward pool area. Being an 'Old Man' I crashed out in my very spacious cabin to be awoken at 21.45 by the phone and a lady asking why I had missed
dinner.
I reawoke at 03.30 and went up for air this became my routine each morning the 'night staff' sdoon got used to my wanderings and a pot of tea was always on hand from the kitchen. (downside of this was the U.H.T. milk). The staff are all from Bali, that work the night shift and are vastly underpaid. although an Italian ship it is registered in Panama, so aviods the Europian Pay Diretive.

The food at dinner each night is plate served with vegitables being on the scarce side, although very well presented and the service being 1st class, the food is cook chilled, and at each port of call you can see the big metal containers coming on board. The food because of the cook chill and reheating was never hot.

The entertainemnt was good but at times boring, how many times must a dancer repeat the steps and although the balding singer had a very good voice indeed ghow long can eeee, ohhhh, eeeee - ahhhhhh be repeated for audence particpation ? The puppets were very cleverly done and deserve more praise as does the magician. (his close up magic at the poolside tables was magic.

The ship is a very old liner that has had stablisors fitted including the fitting of floatition chambers welded to the sides giving it a greater beam., which reaulting in greater sideways motion than a wollowing motion.


(As an ex marine engineer I make the following
judgement) The engine nose and vibration were a constent nuisence and I suspect the shock absorbers/engine mounts need replacing, under steam it was like sleeping on top of a washing machine

The costs on board ship were a plain old fashion rip off, from photographs to bingo - although to be fair the duty free was quite cheap but quite limiteed in choice.

Talking to pasengers of the 'Ocean Village' in Tunis we were being ripped off on the tours as they paid on averidge E40 for a day trip including lunch, bicycles could be hired for E3 deposit and in Tunis a beach party was organised for those wishing to just laze on the beach, at no charge

On the 31st Oct the Melody sails for Brazil, I shall be pleased not to be on board.

In conclusion I must state that for the £150 I paid it was tremendious value. Both my neighbours and old ship-mates are very enviouse indeed on my trip

after such a long wait it was good to be on my way. met up with chris63 then phil(plus purple wig) a couple of hours later. flight and transfers went fairly smoothly cases delivered to cabin quite quickly. like phil I missed out on the first night's entertainment as after dinner I just crashed out till morning. ayesha the english speaking hostess was always very helpful. cabin and restaurant staff could'nt have been more helpful, they were lovely.excursions and photo's rather pricey, on the last morning I asked if they would be half price but got rather a dirty look.
naples too much traffic for me but enjoyed the open top bus trips.
malta loved malta would like to spend more time there
tunis stayed on board and sunbathed, very hot, lovely
ibiza just strolled around the town, not too impressed, lovely coffee though.
st tropez invaded by porches when we were there. lots of artists selling their paintings on the quayside.
all in all a great cruise made even better by the good company. (chris, phil, jean, and bill & joan) thank you all for being so much fun. would love to meet you all on another cruise