MSC Cruises
View company profile →
Not bad, but also not great
We just returned from our mini cruise on MSC Virtuosa over the bank holiday weekend. It wasn't all bad, but it also wasn't great in our view. We went on Marella earlier in the year, and loved it, MSC definitely attracts a different clientele. Starting with the positive first - it is a nice ship in general, especially the Galleria Virtuosa is really nice - Good sized cabins overall, we had a balcony cabin. - friendly housekeeping staff in our part of the ship - good shows, we saw one extra show (was £9 with 1 drink, which i consider good value) and 1 included show Now coming to the negative points - be aware what you pay for, if you don't get a drinks packages, you can only get water from the buffet, they even charge you for water in the main dining room and there are no water dispensers anywhere. - food was average at best. We ate in the dining room on the first evening and we had a sadly looking chicken breast with some chips and 2 pieces of asparagus. We also didn't had the chance to have our dessert, as it is fixed dining times and we had a show booked (and it was 1.30h between the dinner time and the start of the show!). Also the food in the speciality restaurant was average, we went to Hola, and it felt overpriced for what we got. Overall the atmosphere in the dining room is also loud and quite crammed and there was barely any service. - food in the buffet is also average overall, it's always the same - there are queues everywhere, the staff / guest ratio is not enough for the amount of guests. Staff regularly seemed overwhelmed - definitely more of a booze cruise, might fit a lot of people, but not really our cup of tea, as also some of them got quite rowdy in the evenings. Overall be aware what you pay for upfront and what you will still pay for once on board