The ship was very nice and clean i really like the food but it seemed like the same things every day not much of a veriety but part from that it was very good the staff was very nice and the entertianment was also good

This cruise was almost a year in the planning as a belated 40th Anniversary celebration for ourselves and the actual 40th Anniversary for one other couple in our party of six persons. We have all travelled with MSC before. My husband and I were on the smaller ships in the fleet so were looking forward to being on one of the larger ships and one of the newest in the fleet. Poesia was the only ship where the itinerary and dates fitted in with our celebration plans. We were assigned first sitting in Le Fontaine restaurant (Table 519) and on the very first evening it became clear that the waiter had trouble understanding what we wanted. He got orders wrong, kept us waiting between courses and persisted in leaning across people to serve dishes instead of serving from the side. He was bringing main course dishes to us before we had even had our salads/soups and all he could do was smile! We attracted the attention of the Head Waiter, Luigi, and he explained to the waiter (quite sternly in fact) why we were
unhappy. Each evening Luigi would be hovering to ensure things were going smoothly and in fairness to Gede, the waiter, within a day or so he was more alert and coped well. He actually thanked us for helping him improve his skills. It should not have been the passengers responsiblity to train the staff who need to be taught the basic techniques of waiting on tables and need to be able to converse with passengers in order to do their job properly. Other English couples were also compalining of the lack of training the waiter seemed to have had but at least ours improved with a little help from us!

Breakfast and lunch times were open seating and you could not be guaranteed your usual waiter. The problems with service, wrong order and a general bad attitude were much in evidence throughout the restaurant at these mealtimes. We did tried the self-service restaurant on a couple of days, but this was no better. Staff there served tea/coffee and were responsible for clearing tables but invariably they had to be asked for this to be done. In the main dining room one morning I got my eggs and bacon served before my cereals and the waiter could not understand why I was complaining. My husband ordered fried eggs with sausage, bacon and hash browns only to be given scrambled egg and tomato! They could not tell the difference between orange and grapefruit juice and did not understand when asked for marmalade/orange jam. Trying to get a jug of cold milk for cereals and or tea was a nightmare - we were given hot milk and then had to wait whilst they found some cold milk which often came in a plastic beaker! Simple requests which they could have handled had they received the proper basic training. Staff would be standing around chatting when out of sight of the Head Waiter.

The bar staff on the other hand were excellent, especially those on Deck 13, Mojito Bar, where we spent many a pleasant evening. Our cabin steward was excellent, always cheerful and helpful and the cabin was kept spotless.

Afternoon tea in the Villa Pompeiana Cafeteria on Deck 13 was every day at 4 pm. Here I encountered some of the rudest cruise line staff ever. The tea and coffee station had no English Breakfast Tea Bags. When I asked for some the waiter serving the tea and coffee told me there were none but I could have fruit tea or Earl Grey. I went to one of the senior waiters who was just idly standing around, requested some tea bags only to be told "Why don't you go and look at the other serving stations, you might be lucky. I am too busy" I then said he was responsible for ensuring there were adequate stocks of all types of tea bags and would he kindly find some for me and bring them to my table. He knew by my tone I would not be swayed and eventually I was brought the tea bags but only with a lot of muttering and glares. I objected to the attitude and noticed other passengers also having trouble getting what they wanted.

Although the ship was spotlessly clean we noticed that the use of hand sanitizers was not strictly enforced (and some of them were not working properly during the cruise). On other ships we've been on there has been a member of staff strategically positioned at all entrances to the food areas to ensure passengers use the hand sanitizers. We saw numerous people just walking past the machines on their way to meals

Food was good and there was plenty of choice. We feel that water with evening meals should be free as should tea/coffee after a meal - this was always the case previously and I know that whilst MSC sails the Caribbean water, coffee and room service are all free - the American market would not accept such charges so why should the Europeans have to pay extra for these things?

We always managed to find a sunbed on deck and it was pleasing to note that the Pool Attendants were very strict on people insisting on trying to save sun beds all day and not actually being there. They soon learned that if they were away from the sunbeds for more than 40 mins towels and belongings would be removed. Some culprits certainly caused uproar when this happened and italian tempers certainly did fly on a couple of occasions but the attendants won the case.

Entertainment was adequate but not up to the standard on other MSC cruises and other cruise lines we have used. Personally we did not bother with the bingo, dance lessons or the spa (far to expensive!) and the art auction left us cold but that is personal choice.

Information we received with our MSC Club Card led us to believe that we would be entitled to certain discounts on shore excursions, the onboard shops, the spa etc. etc. We had a letter sent with the issue of our cards back in February, a newletter in March and there was information about the MSC Club in the Cabin Information Book. We were told the rules had changed on 2nd April so we would not be entitled to certain discounts and certainly not on excursions (we tried to book and claim the discount which was refused). On taking it up with the Reception Desk we were told that all our information was out of date and our cabin details were also wrong. I mentioned that everyone in our party had the same details in their cabin book so presumably every cabin throughout the ship also had the wrong information. We got nowhere and in the end did not bother to book any excursions and did everything independently and probably saved a fortune!! I have taken this matter up with MSC Club but doubt if they will act on the information.

We enjoyed the various ports of call and enjoyed each other's company. This holiday was a special celebration for four members of our party and we were looking forward to the same previous good service we had when we all first met on Melody in 2001. The smaller ships had a more personal approach - the captain and his officers could be seen around the ship and they would mingle with the passengers. We appreciate that on a larger vessel this is not possible but if the crew have the basic training skills at their finger tips then they will keep the passengers happy. These good standards start at the top where sadly some of the more senior crew members did not set a good example.

We feel that MSC has grown too big, too quickly and do not give good service. We have travelled with several other cruise lines, some big and some small (Princess, Costa, Thomson, Star Cruise Lines, First Choice and the former Airtours and Royal Olympic). If we were to book another cruise we would be very wary about booking with MSC since our latest cruise was such a disappointment.

A letter has been sent to the Customer Services Dept in the UK and I am awaiting their response.

ship launched in April 2008, beautifull ship,Many a hospital would be proud of such cleanliness.
Food buffet style breakfast and dinner time ,you have to time it right then nine out ten times food was cold.Evening dinner was a Joke,
Ship cabin staff 10/10
NO Xmas atmosphere on board.Theatre productions 30 to 40 minute duration but good.
Very expensive holiday 8 euros per ptBecks GT and small beer 11.60 euros even had to pay for drinking water 2.9 euros half litre bottle.Trips expensive
Weather terrible 130Knot wind going down to Egypt.Sand storm when we were at the Pyramids, still emptying sand out of our close. MSC never again.
1euro £1 -$1

We arrived by water taxi in Venice and the ship looked huge and amazing from the water we couldn't wait to board and look around it.

The brand new ship Poesia was absolutelty gorgeous the bars lounges and cabins were beautifully decorated, we loved the zebra bar with it's stripes, the theatre was stunning and the dining rooms were lovely too. The reception area with the waterfall and glass floor beneath the piano looked fantastic, the whole place was gleaming. But there were areas still being finished during our trip such as handrail on the sundeck which was not in use.

We cruised the western Med, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, they were all nice but stops were quite short in places and not really a lot to see. easten Med last year was much better. Prices on board were in Euros which made everything expensive with our exchange rate.

EXCURSIONS; as usual excursions booked on board were expensive and we did all ours independentely by taxi which was very easy and much cheaper.

STAFF; The waiters and bar staff on board were hard working and friendly, cleaners were polishing and cleaning 24hrs a day, on the whole excellant.

FOOD; food was good and plentiful, buffet for breakfast and lunch was very busy but if we timed it right managed to find a table most of the time. But unfortunetly we weren't keen on fixed dining time of 6.15 and no choice of restaurant or time, and there was no buffet in the evening to eat at later times as an alternative. One night we went to the pizza restaurant which was just ok, but we had to pay for it, which was really not worth it.

BARS; lots of bars to choose from and all with a different look and music style, we tried out most and enjoyed them all (except the one playing Jazz!!)Some had piano playing or singer or dancing we often used the beer bar or zebra bar.

ENTERTAINMENT; 1st night there was a variety show which was quite good but the 2nd show was very similar the 3rd the same with a bit of singing in Italian, 4th we lasted 10mins before leaving!! there was lots of dancing, singers, juggler, contortionist, clown? costumes were excellant but I think it was aimed mainly at children. Some people seemed to enjoy the entertainment but shows started at 9pm or 11pm which we thought was rather late.

CABINS; WE had a balcony cabin on floor 8 at the back of the ship, it was well fitted out and a lovely bathroom, plenty of storage space, fab colour scheme, comfy bed, TV only had a couple of news channels in English (thank goodness for I Pod)

BUT..... unfortunetly it was impossible to sleep due to the vibrations in the cabin when the ship was sailing, everything including the curtains the mirror, pictures, bed, coat hangers in the wardrobe, lights even the bottles in the mini bar shook and rattled all night long!!! Instead of a rest I was exhauted most of the time and longed for home and sleep.
I fear the ship will shake to pieces before long!!! Something was definetely not right there and we weren't the only ones who noticed. It felt like being in a rickerty old train instead of a luxury liner.
Also when the ship sailed the pool area soon emptied as it became like a wind tunnel and was freezing even though it was hot and sunny there was not much shelter from the wind which was dissapointing.

All things considered I enjoyed the cruise but would not book MSC again, We all preferred the NCL Norwiegen Jewel freestyle cruise last year where we could eat anytime in any one of 7 restaurants and the entertainment was much better. And there were no vibrations or sensation of movement at all a much better expierience of cruising.

It was with real surprise to have received a letter MSC Club asking if I would contribute ‘a short, impartial review of your experience of your cruise with us’ to this web site. Why you might ask, well simply put our cruise was the worst we have ever experienced. You might think that MSC would have done a little more background checking before mass mailing a letter to all its previous cruisers, especially when we spent 6 months trying to get some form of acceptable compensation from them.

Anyway some background. Having cruised before we thought we would try something different and so choose MSC’s ‘Italian’ sophistication for my milestone 40th. We really wish we hadn’t. We chose the inaugural sailing of the MSC Poesia taking in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy with a two night stay in Venice at the end. Now with anything new I expect some issues it’s only natural, however I didn’t expect them to happen before we even boarded. The major problem was when MSC changed our specifically booked hotel accommodation without notice and instead gave us a room in business hotel situated by the junction of a motorway, which we got a nice view of from our window. After I didn’t some comparisons I found that the hotel we got was over £200 cheaper for the two nights than the one we booked and paid extra for. I raised the issue with reservations in the UK before we boarded and then again when we got on board. All I got was assurances it would be sorted out before we departed the ship in Venice – in short it wasn’t.

As for the ship well when we got on the ship things started ok but it didn’t take long before a number of other things came up. For instance

- The gym did not have a supply of water, you were expected to pay for it at the bar just outside.
- Tap water was not freely available and took the restaurant staff 3 days to get to grips with the idea.
- Tea and coffee – not specialities, had to be bought everywhere except in the restaurants.
- Only one English speaking hostess available on the entire ship that was carrying over 1500 people who spoke English as their first language.
- The Italian crew members were at best unhelpful, probably due to their lack of understanding basic English, thank God for my Italian which was better than their English and that is saying something!
- Oh and of course being Italian they and were more concerned with their appearance and self importance to be of any use when you were able to communicate your needs.
- Cabin staff that needed to pay more attention to actually dusting and cleaning the glass and mirrors.
- The cinema mentioned in the literature that wasn’t available/finished - we never did find out which.

I could go on with numerous other small points that when you put them altogether really puts a large black cloud over the whole experience.

At the end of the day my numerous letters of complaint did nothing to sway MSC and in general they just weren’t interested in resolving anything once they had our money.

Would I cruise with MSC again? Well not at my expense. However, if anyone wants to send me on one to see if anything’s changed and provide another impartial review on that feel free to get in touch.

In short, my opinion - 5 star hotel, 3 star food and 2 star service. If MSC are trying to develop their business in the UK market, they have a long, long way to go. I know of other lines that for less than the £3,000 we spent give better service, have friendlier staff and are more customer focus than this lot.