The best holiday I have ever had. The entertainment was the best ever, every night we went to a show and in the afternoons there were always some participating sports to be had. The entertainment team were great, they made us feel so special, dancing with the ladies at night. I do not like to stand in queues to eat, so at lunch time I went into the dining room to eat, was served with smiling faces. At night we sat at the first sitting which was 6.30pm, i preferred the earliest sitting as it gave us enough time to listen to the music and dance abit before the show. The bonus on any trip is the stop overs at the different islands, Portuguese and Madagascar, this is always weather permitting, we had beautiful weather and the dismemberment on the small boats were so well organized, just well done to the boys. Our cabins were serviced twice a day, everything was spotless. We were a lot of ladies together and it was so much more fun, no nagging husbands!!!Will I do it again? Definitely, Mauritius 2016.

I sailed on Jan 31st 2013, aboard the Sinfonia which was supposed to go to Madagascar. Upon arriving at the embarkation tunnel, they were handing out flyers saying that we are no longer going to Madagascar due to a cyclone. Instead we were going to go to Maputo and Portuguese islands.

They were arranging to change our cruise dates but expected us to pay more. Totally outraged and disappointed I decided to board anyways. They were literally cruising at 5kms per hour, taking us two days to reach Maputo, which from previous cruise experience took us 10 hours.

The food was monotonous and average as compared to my last cruise in December 2009 Staff was excellent so well presented. I enjoyed the entertainment and atmosphere as well. Service and cleanliness was an A+. Would I go again, probably.

Most of the ship was spotlessly clean. However the toilet in the balcony suite had a terrible odour on the day of our arrival. Considering how much we paid for this suite, it was disappointing to know that we had to pay for the water as soon as you enter the cabin. The beds are made over everyday with the same bedding (it should have been changed at least once). although there is a variety of food in the buffet it is bland and almost tasteless. Obviously the Indian tastebud is not catered for. The cost of the photographs (118 dollars) for one A4 photo is a rip-off. An iron and kettle should be made available in the balcony suites. I'll still sail again because one can only hope that the reviews of your passengers will seriously be considered.

It is a beautifull ship but the food was a major disapointment and it was very difficult to commuticate with the staff even in English

My teenager daughter, her friend and I returned from a most enjoyable 4 night cruise on board the Sinfonia on Friday 18 February 2011.
It was interesting to read the various contradicting comments below. I feel very few people realize the amount of planning and work involved in catering for so many passengers. Of course sometimes things don’t work out as expected. No one is perfect. Whether on a cruise, at home or at work we have all experienced unpleasant situations. That’s life!
To expect our holidays to be perfect is unrealistic. So let’s enjoy them and take the good and bad happenings in our stride. Happiness is a choice.

We were a group of ladies who decided to go on The Love Boat with Jacaranda 94.2. Entertainment was never-ending and fantastic. We came to the conclusion that maybe it was cheap labour or something but seriously the staff were so unfriendly and could not speak any english. Our orders were always incorrect and noticed that they never wrote down what we ordered . From the time you embark, they try and sell you something and all you seem to do is pay pay pay.Is there any training involved with the staff or is it just a case of employing cheap labour. We only realised when we got our bill that they charged each of us to clean the cabin everyday, so they made R150 from each of us to make the bed? They closed the mini bar earlier than they were supposed to so we basically had nothing to drink for over 12 hours in our cabin. Please please please put little coffee/tea in the cabins, as it's nice to wake up with a cuppa and not have to wait hours in a queue to "pay" for coffe/tea. They say don't drink the water because they want you to buy water, however on the day you disembark they glady give you a glass? Why must everyone pay for everything, it's nice to get a freebie every now and then too. They must make an absolute fortune as you pay in dollars and with aprox 2500 people, you do the math. Thank you Jacaranda, you guys rocked that boat, but seriously do something about the staff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We spent 10 nights on the Msc Sinfonia over New year. As we arrived in our cabin with balcony, we saw that the bathroom was dirty and it smelt like urine. The rest of the cabin was clean and tidy.
The food on the ship was well presented at nigth, but tasteless. Our waiters were very friendly and helpfull at Il Covo. The waiters at the various bars where rude and very unfriendly, especially with the kids. If you do not eat at the restaurants, Il Covo or Galeone, be prepared to stand in a long line for food and wait for seats. Towards the end of our cruise, we just went to our cabin and ate on the balcony. There is no coffee making facilities in any cabin.
Our entertainment was good, but you have to be seated about 45 minutes before each show to find space. And it irritated the hell out of me how rude people was who came later, and then pushed in, nearly sitting on your lap. Not mentioning the groups of people "booking" seats for their friends prior to shows, and kids running up and down the stairs. The noise and the behaviour of the younger kids (and some adults) onboard, was getting to us. This is definately NOT a holiday where you will experience peace and quietness. Everything on board is charged in Euros....making it very expensive for South Africans.
We could not wait for the cruise to end.....there were alot of very unhappy South Africans onboard. All complaints fell on deaf ears. We felt that the Italians did not care if the passengers were happy or not. That was the way they do things and you have to just fall in or get off at the next port. This was a trip that I planned a year in advance, something I was very excited about.....what a dissapointment.

We have just returned from a 3 day cruise from Durban to the Portugese Islands. I found it a wonderful experience. Since this was our first cruise and after some reports that I read, I was quite reserved. But from the moment we queued to the moment we set foot back in SA, it was a good experience.
The ship was clean, the cabins immaculate, no smells whatsoever.
The food was good and tasty, however I expected more from a four star liner. But there were plenty and it felt as if we could eat all day.
The staff were friendly and helpful, but were strict on kids once or twice, which is not a bad thing, since unruly children can get hurt around a pool or running in corridors.
The prices of beverages were surprisingly reasonable.
The embarking, emergency drill, excursion to the island as well as disembarking were done professionally and with great planning. I will, however stress that you attend the information sessions.
There were only two irritations for me, firstly, since the deck is reletively small, the deck chairs are closely together, smokers do not seem to have much consideration for non smokers or even children. We had to get the kids to another location, since a group of young ladies, smoked us out of our seats.
The second thing was the locals at the Portugese Island, harrassing you to buy their goods.
Make sure that you keep both rands as well as US Dollars with you on the island, in small denominations, as locals see a loophole by claiming "No Change".
I can surely say that it was a wonderful experience. Thank you to the staff onboard the Msc Simfonia, you are doing a wonderful job.

Just come back from a 1 week cruise on Sinfonia. Journey encompassed departure at Livorno then Monte Carlo, Valencia, Ibiza, Tunisia, Sciliy, Naples, arriving back at Livorno (Florence).

Positives

Ship fantasically clean, from the cabin, corridors, landing areas, food areas, deck, lounges, reception, all perfectly clean and well represented.

Most of the staff spoke and understood English, ironically with the exception of the reception staff who did not communicate that well in English. However all staff were friendly and helpful as possible and generally very approachable and welcoming.

Now the negatives:

If you are a Brit you will probably not get on well with this cruise ship. Very geared up for its main clientele which is Italians. Nothing wrong with that but my wife and I were not aware so it came as something of a shock to find we were the only two brits on board. Main nationalities in abundance were Italians, Germans, French and Spanish.

As previously mentioned trying to cater for so many nationalities results in entertainment being a bit "vanilla", singing and dance routines being the natural compromise.

We struggled a bit with the Italian passengers culture in that they tend to jump queues, monopolise any area of the boat so that you feel in the way, allow their children to run riot, very rarely offer any courtesy to other passengers and will barge you out of the way whenever crossing paths. A couple of days into the cruise my wife and I adjusted our manners accordingly and discovered that if you take a similar tack to that used by the Italian passengers then they tend to make way for you, rather than barging you out of the way.

My wife and I are "foodies" so were somewhat surprised to discover that an Italian cruise liner did not offer fantastic food. With a couple of exceptions the food offered on board was absolutely terrible. Breakfast is divided between traditional fried breakfast or continental. Undercooked eggs (fried and scrambled), undercooked basic sausage, watery mushrooms and potatoes (boiled)!

Lunchtime buffet pretty bad too. On offer was chicken hotdog, pork burger in some sort of weak gravy, raw onions, undercooked fried chips. On balance fruit offered at lunchtime was fantastic - super friend pineapple, mango and kiwi fruit.

Evening meal formal dining was a very mixed bag. Couple of options were fantastic - scallop and leak soup, smoked tuna starter, oxtail consomme - however other than that the food was awful - examples include overcooked/tough Duck a la orange, Turkey escalope with cheese and ham (was akin to something from frozen food section of a supermarket), overcooked salmon fillet with what was described as a marsalla sauce but was like gravy granules etc. etc.

Drinks hugely expensive - 6 Euros on average for a drink be it a cocktail/spirt and mixer, beer, wine etc. Us and the Germans were the only people on board who regularly had drinks at our tables of an evening, I guess the other nationalities were put off by the high costs.

Overall very disappointing including the night before disembarking. Having not been advised of the procedure for disemarking we went to reception to discover we would need to vacate our cabin by 7:30am the next morning, that our cases needed to be outside our room by 2am the next morning. Given that our transfer from port to airport was 50 minutes and our flight did not leave the airport until 6:10pm we ended up at the airport for nearly 7 hours, so not overly well organised.

We have previously cruised with Princess Lines/P&O and I guess that cruise has become a benchmark for all others. This MSC cruise was very expensive (we spent £3,200K including tips and drinks) for a week and the whole affair was really 2* rather than the 5* we were hoping for.

We wouldn't holiday with MSC again following on from this experience as we would consider it too expensive to risk another cruise with them only to be dissapointed.

Me and my husband as well as my sister and her husband have been on the MSC Sinfonia cruise from 15 March 2010 - 17 March 2010. It was the worst experience ever! We are also going again on a European cruise next year but as a result of the bad service and rudeness of most of the staff on board the Sinfonia, we have decided to go with Costa cruises next year. We have also been sharing our disappointment with all of our friends, colleagues etc.
Following our complaints:

1.) We were not taken to our cabin but merely dropped off at the elevator and told us on which deck our cabin was....
2.a) The bath in the cabin were dirty and had body hair in it, b) the bedcover were unevenly draped over the bed, given it an unmade look, c) the cushions were thin and hard d) the shower curtain smelled like urine!Now this is the more luxury cabins with its own balcony...
3.) The information session was really of no use to us and many other people, as there was no room left in the theatre and people were standing and thronging outside the doors and in the corridor trying to hear what was said. Thus, no information!
4.) The next morning we went to the "Terrace buffet restaurant" and we had to wait for a table to open, with plates of food in our hands, and looking helplessly at the waiters that did not even try to assist us with a table! Eventually when a table opened we had to - still with plates of food in our hands - asked the waiter twice to clean the table before he responded with a dirty cloth and just smeared the leftover food around the table and onto the chairs! We reprimanded him but he just ignored us and walked away! I could scarcely eat the now cold food on my plate!!!
5.) And why does an ice-cream parlour, at a pool area, only opens at 12:00? By the time it eventually opens, the queue is so long that the idea to get an ice-cream has passed.
6.) The staff at the casino, photo gallery was very rude.
7.) The Italian staffs' English language skills is non-existent as well as their mannerisms and as most of the crew is also Italian I am just wondering how this will affect the safety of your passengers in an emergency?
8.) We managed to see one show because we went an hour before the time to get seats. In all the other instances there was not even standing space available at the shows!
9.) The day of disembarkation we were one of the first people to wait for disembarkation as our flight was early. We did not even have breakfast. All the other people who had breakfast, later on started to queue on the side of reception where we were told not to stand thus we waited on our chairs in the front at the right side of the "ropes'. A young Italian crew girl started to arrange the disembarkation at the exit and when we moved on to our place in front she chased me away saying I must not try and jump the queue! Who the hell gave her the authority to speak to me as if I am a dog and falsely accuse me? I am a paying customer and three times her age and she doesn't even blink to behave in this manner??? That was the worst, never in my life has someone spoke to me with such disrespect like she did and embarrassed me by falsely and openly accuses me!!! An officer also emerged but did nothing!