MSC Cruises has room for improvement based on customer feedback. Customers particularly appreciate service and professional, though some mention concerns about customer service and expensive.
Prima ervaring met Msc Virtuosa naar Spanje vertrokken 12 Juli tot 26 juli vanuit Southampton. Heel veel vermaak aan boord voor onze tieners. Prima personeel, het is druk maar niet te druk. Eten gewoon, maar voor ons goed genoeg. Geoliede machine ook wat betreft het van boord gaan in een stad, ik ben zeer positief, vorig jaar met Norwegian Viva was ook al zeer positief.
I was unable to travel due to illness and had purchased a drink package for my wife and myself. My wife changed cabins to go in with my daughter and grandson. My granddaughter and her friend went into our cabin. we were not allowed to change the drink package to my granddaughter and her friend. When I applied for a refund on my drink package I was told to claim the money back on the travel insurance. Also the company was told my daughter was allergic to eggs and nuts, but on the final day there was a huge selection of cakes but no egg free ones.
Hice un crucero en el msc grandiosa del 5 al 12 de junio, el barco es espectacular, pero pierde todo su glamour al meter a tantísima gente, el bufet parece Benidorm es un extres impresionante, el día de navegación es horroroso no hay amacas , los camareros del buffet no te dan descafeinado, te gritan como si fueras una oveja, a la hora de desembarcar en Ibiza nos quedamos en un pasillo afixiados más de media hora por poco no me da una lipotimia. Quieren seguir vendiendote el glamour con las noches de gala y demás, pero hay tanta gente Quevedo parece el metro, de glamour tiene poco. Me vendieron un pack de bebidas diciéndome me entraba la sin alcohol y resulta que no entraba, todo el crucero luchando por la sin alcohol los camareros me hablaban mal. En los jacuzzi tienes a los niños encima de ti. Conclusión cuando decidas hacer un crucero busca otra compañía msc está saturando sus barcos de gente parecemos piojos entre costuras.
I’m writing as a Diamond status guest, having just returned from a cruise on MSC World Europa (March 2–9, 2025, from Genoa). Unfortunately, this marks the second cruise in a row with unresolved issues — and broken promises from MSC. We purchased the Easy Plus Drink Package and a 3-restaurant dining package, but again faced missing items, bar exclusions not mentioned during booking, and unavailable drinks in key venues. This was identical to what we experienced on the same ship in February 2024 — and at that time, MSC responded by saying stock levels and communication would improve. Clearly, they have not. The lack of transparency is especially disappointing. For example, on MSC Euribia, the drink package was not accepted in the wine bar — something we only discovered onboard. On World Europa, the Elixir Bar was also excluded, even though this was not listed online before purchase. Staff simply referred us to “fine print” on the menu — which is of no help to passengers who booked from home, based on incomplete or misleading information. We expected better. When a guest is paying €54/day for a beverage package, it’s reasonable to expect the advertised items to be available, and for the inclusions/exclusions to be made clear up front. MSC offered us a €30 future cruise credit per cabin, but this feels like an empty gesture — especially since it’s not combinable with other offers, like our 10% loyalty code. It does not address the core issue: we paid for services that were not fully delivered, and our loyalty as returning guests has been met with generic replies and no meaningful resolution. After multiple disappointing experiences, we now feel compelled to warn other potential guests. We’ll be sharing this review in multiple languages across all platforms, so that others are fully informed before purchasing onboard packages. MSC needs to do better — especially for loyal guests. Johann Holzmann MSC Voyagers Club — Diamond Status
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PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS RIDICULOUSLY OVER CROWDED BUFFET WAS LIKE QUEUING AT A CATTLE MARKET NO WAY NEAR ENOUGH SEATS TO ACCOMMODATE THE VOLUME OF PEOPLE ABOAD IF YOU ENJOY QUEUES THEN BOOK MSC THEY ARE SPECIALISTS 30MINS EVERYTIME FOR A DRINK NO SEATING VERY VERY VERY POOR FUN PASS COULDNT EVEN BE SPENT AS BOWLING AND OTHER THINGS WAS FULLY BOOKED SO HAD OVER £100 LEFT ON THE FUN PASS AND THEY WOULD NOT REFUND AFTER 2 EMAILS THEY INSULTINGLY OFFERED ME £50 OFF VOUCHER AGAINST A FUTURE CRUISE HOW GENEROUS I WOULDNT WANT A FREE CRUISE FROM THEM COULDNT WAIT TO GET HOME PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE AVOID AVOID AVOID
It was my first cruise on the Euribia to Norway. It was fantastic! We had a balcony hut with a lovely host - Manda. He took care of our hut and was always in for a chat or a joke. The ship was amazing. It was a bit busy on sea days but overall it was a great experience. The only thing that could be better is the volume of the music in the lounges. That was very loud sometimes. We loved the cruise, the ship and especially the employees on the Euribia. Respect for these hard working people who are always happy. We will meet again!
My second time trying to book with MSC. Both times the cruise has been rescheduled to different dates with the original cancelled. They didn't want to refund but offer an alternative instead - which I couldn't do. It took them a month to refund the deposit
To start off, 1 star is 2 or 3 too many. I sailed with my wife to Spain and France July this year. I chose this company because it was said that your holiday starts when you board the bus, as next time you see your luggage is at your cabin door, to take you to the port. I got the bus from Preston to Southampton. Wrong!! when we got to the port we were told to take out own luggage to the ship. I am recovering from a broken hip and my wife from full hip replacement, I was in agony and only got help on the 3rd request. 2 days into the cruise i developed a slight tummy bug and spent 2 hours at the ships sick bay, resulting ina 20 minute drip, 4 Imodium equivalents, resulting in a bill very near £300, the insurance paid this bill. 1st excursion went well, I use a walking stick and was slower than most, the bus left without us, wonderful, they clearly did not check passenger listings for the trip. Now the mini bar, a 10cl bottle of whiskey was £9, that works out at £90 a bottle, some price hike. a can of shaving foam from tesco was £1.5o, on board £5.50. Irish coffee £9.00 each seems all they wanted to do was fleece everyone at every opportunity. The ship was fine, just far to many passengers. Got to be honest, staff were excellent on all levels. Lunch and evening meals were set menus, food was very good but choice was very limited. You had to set your alarm for 5 am to get a sunbed notices saying not to do this were there , but I saw some sunbeds with personal towels on it for 4/5 hours and no sign of the owners. Notices were there telling bathers not to do this and towels would be removed, never saw that happen.
We booked a cruise in July so high season, overall good experience, very busy but well that was expected. The offer for little kids was not as good as pools were mainly for adults and older kids and the kids club was not engaging the littles ones, hence the 4 stars. The rest of team on board was great though.
MSC Virtuosa Southampton, Spain, France, Portugal The good parts: Plenty of choice for food at the buffet Cabin attendant was fantastic The bad parts: The ship was overcrowded, everything was busy almost all the time. Not enough bar staff, even double the number of allocated staff would not have been enough in most cases. MSC cruises are a budget option (compared to the likes of Princess) however, everything costs money on the ship. Surprised that you get air conditioning for free to be honest as MSC seem to try their best to monetise everything. The Arcade was run down, and the prices of the machines were just unbelievable given the quality. The kids had been promised some time on the games, but it was money not well spent. 3 evenings in the first week I had cold showers. No management of people ‘reserving’ loungers with towels. There were cases where people would ‘reserve’ a lounger by the pool at 5am, get off the ship at dock and not actually come to their lounger until 3-4pm. Given that people were already having to sit on the floor because there weren’t enough loungers for the number of customers (see point 1) … You can’t do your own laundry; you must buy a package which, like everything else on the cruise is overpriced. The terrible: There was a single lifeguard for the indoor pool, shared by at least 2 members of staff at any one time. Both staff spent time on their mobile phones instead of doing their job, given the nature of the job this is just unbelievable. They got called out by paying customers. The people on the ground are largely over worked. There appears to be next to no management happening on board. Two examples: 1. It appeared that each bar was allocated 2 staff behind the bar and up to 2 staff taking orders from tables. Some bars are smaller than others and some bars are in far greater demand. I.e., the outdoor bars were in higher demand on warm evenings. However, there was no reactive measures taken when bars filled up with customers. It’s almost as if the company expects customers to manage the bar numbers their staff. Why not have members of staff acting as floaters that move between bars based on the demand at each bar?? 2. Disembarkation. The ‘plan’ was that ‘self-assisted’ customers would leave from the two gangways from 0700-0730. All other customers had been assigned groups and would be called down by group every 5 minutes from 0730. However, one gangway was down from 0700 until 0730 at the latest (possibly earlier). This meant that groups could not exit as scheduled and had to wait in their designated waiting areas. This was the first issue. The designated areas were only set up to take 2-3 groups at a time. The delay went on for nearly 2 hours, which meant the designated areas now contained up to 12 groups instead of the planned 2-3. During this time there was no member of staff allocated to the designated area to provide updates. There was no air conditioning, there was no way to get water or food. The only updates were that there was a ‘delay’. No members of staff took responsibility. How can one of two gangways being down for 30 minutes result in the ‘self-assisted’ customers taking 120 minutes to disembark instead of 30 minutes. Surely if x number of people that were due to disembark in 30 minutes via two gangways would take 60 minutes to disembark, maybe 75 minutes at most?? Bearing in mind that the second gangway was available after 30 minutes at most it should not have taken 120 minutes. In the end we just left, I refused to be stopped. My young children were in tears and my elderly father in law was suffering. Here’s some advice for MSC: You should be able to obtain an average time to disembark a customer. You know the number of customers requesting self-assisted disembarkment 2 days before the cruise reaches destination, so this first group will have an expected processing time. You have a member of staff at each designated grouping point, this person is there to provide updates to the group and call each number as they should start their move to disembark. A disaster happens, you can’t disembark as planned. Suddenly planned time to disembark self-assisted is going to take more time than planned. You provide the waiting customers with an ETA. You’ve already planned for a disaster, so the designated grouping plans are already capable of supplying waiting customers with water, food, air conditioning and entertainment. You open staff elevators and corridors to support the unexpected movement of customers. You open all restaurants with the offer of free food and water whilst they wait. What you don’t do is just leave everyone without any update, hot, tired, hungry, thirsty, and unable to use toilets due to the unexpected numbers trying to share the location. I'll never cruise with MSC again, I'll tell everyone to avoid
3rd - 17th June - MSC Virtuosa - Scotland, Iceland and Norway cruise. Don't go on this ship if you are disabled. On 8th June we were taken to Isafjordur in Iceland. A tender service was required. This was a total, unorganised disaster. Only two tender boats were in operation to get 4000 passengers onto shore. A lift that they were using for the disabled, broke and we were asked to go to the other side of the ship. We finally reached shore only to find that there was absolutely nothing at Isafjordur. We then had to try and get back. We waited several hours! When we finally were able to get off the tender boat, my disabled husband's rollator (walking aid) had been put somewhere else and he was left trying to balance on a moving platform until it finally appeared. Disaster happened again the following morning when we were docked in Reykjavik. We had a coach trip booked for 9.30. We tried to leave the ship, only to find that, at that time, the only access was one steep access ramp at deck 6. Dangerous even for the able bodied and someone fell down it. We were then sent to various decks only to find unorganised crew members trying to get suitable ramps arranged. When the ship docked all ramps should have been safely in place and organised ready for passengers to get off. This has been the case when we have travelled with other cruise companies. At every port it wasnt easy getting on and off the vessel. We have cruised before but have never experienced such appalling service. For the reasons stated we would never cruise with MSC again. We would worry about getting off one of their ships if there was an emergency. There seemed to be a lack of experienced officers onboard. It was also mentioned several times by various passengers that for a large ship and the volume of passengers involved, there didn't seem to be enough lifeboats and 4 tenders should have been used when we went to Isafjordur. The whole ship seemed to be run by young, poorly trained, inexperienced people. It was badly managed. Don't go on an MSC cruise, even if it is cheap, if you are disabled. It wasnt a pleasant experience.
Overcrowded hellish experience , Misery Sea Cruises. The ship is impressive , however running at full capacity should never of happened as staff and venues cannot cope. This causes passengers to become irate having to queue for the MDR's, Buffet and Bar's then once drinks ordered there was never enough seating so left to stand having pre dinner drinks. Before then onto a queue of over 1000 people to get into the main restaurant. Alternatively enter the very definition of chaos that was the Buffett , an experience similar to a school dinner hall with decibel levels so loud you cannot have a conversation with your family and again no where to sit. We are a fortunate and well travelled family with a positive mindset , who have been lucky enough to have travelled many countries throughout the world , staying at some fantastic and beautiful locations in brilliant hotels. We have also in recent years got into cruising and MSC is the 4th cruise line we have travelled with. I can honestly say the 5 nights we endured with this shambolic company onboard with their unfortunate staff was the worst experience of our travelling life. Take notes MSC , your staff are at breaking point (after an interesting chat with the bar staff) , your passengers are disappointed and future repeat business will not happen. Senior level management need to address these major issues, the dedicated crew providing the customer service cannot deliver a good experience for passengers if the ship is over crowded , reduce the numbers and give your paying customers a better experience.
Just got back from a 5 night cruise. The ship was packed to the gunnels with an extra 2000 children of the 4300 capacity. They se e Ed to enjoy themselves and naturally confined themselves voluntarily to the children’s zone. All the parents I met said their kids loved it in there. Yes stuff was busy but the crew were always friendly and there was always somewhere else to be if a place was too busy. Passengers I encountered were all friendly and happy. I enjoyed the food (& the drinks) and being looked after for s few days. Overall unbeatable value and really enjoyable. (I’m sure the weather contributed too)
if i could give this company 0 stars i would. got back from a cruise today and iv never been treated so badly in my entire life. last night i went to the med centre where i was kept prisoner against my will, i was assaulted lied to and man handled because i went there because i was upset they said i had threatened to throw my self off the side which is a total lie. They threatened to handcuff me to the bed and tie my legs together to stop me from moving i asked to speak to my family it was refused i was told that they didnt want to speak to me which is also a lie.I was then dumped at the hospital with no money and no battery power on my phone and had to get back to nottingham from southampton on my own and the trains on strike i had to hitch a ride a lone woman on her own who got locked up for crying
