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MSC Opera Review



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 13th, 2004, 09:10 PM
Dave&Mary
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Default MSC Opera Review

ABOUT US: We are 55 and 60 years old, and have traveled extensively.
We took the Westbound Transatlantic crossing of the Opera in Nov.,
2004, starting in Genoa, Italy and ending in Ft. Lauderdale. This was
our 7th cruise together.

ABOUT THE SHIP: If you have a specific idea of what cruising should be
like, with a thousand detailed requirements, you will not enjoy this
ship. It does not offer the same experience as Carnival, Royal
Caribbean or Norwegian and probably never will. If, on the other hand,
you find the interplay of cultures fascinating, and find differences
stimulating instead of just "wrong," you'll have a wonderful time.

MSC is an Italian company. They are the second largest cargo line in
the world and are relatively new to the cruise market so there are
some good values to be had.

At least half of the passengers on our ocean crossing were Europeans
and the blessedly few PA announcements were in five languages:
English, German, Italian, French and Spanish. Service personnel must
function in most of these languages. Some do this better than others,
but all seemed pleasant and patient.

The MSC Opera is new and is a sleek greyhound. It was designed for the
luxury trade before the decision was made to pursue the budget end of
the market. The interiors are quietly elegant in dark blues, smoky
plums, corals and creams. There's no art in particular but the
lighting fixtures are well designed like big sculptures. The ship
lacks glass-sided elevators, high atriums and Vegas-style metallic
glitz, but makes up for it by being really comfortable, human-scaled
like a good European hotel. Lots of small places to settle in. Lots of
glass and views of the sea.

We had an inside cabin. It was not the largest we've been in, but the
mirror layout was the best we've seen, giving more light and sense of
space than we expected. The bathroom was equally well-planned,
generously sized with an excellent shower. Water heat and pressure
were both good.

The smaller of the two restaurants, L'approdo, is a jewel box of red
and pink. The larger restaurant, La Caravella, is very sophisticated
in green, cream and yellow, with lots of columns and divisions so it
seems more intimate than its size would indicate.

There is a cafeteria on the top deck with indoor and outdoor
seating. The top deck also has two pools and is very lively. There
is often an excitable host screaming in 4 or 5 languages, running
incomprehensible games and contests with enthusiastic passengers,
Europop blaring on the speakers. If you want quiet, there are lounge
chairs on the Boat Deck most days and also at the stern of many of the
cabin decks.

ABOUT THE FOOD: Extraordinarily good. Northern Italian. We were on for
17 days and they didn't miss on a pasta or risotto once. Good pizza,
superb homemade ice cream, excellent bread, good soup. We found the
meat entrees a little lacking but others singled them out as
exceptional. You could always get a grilled sirloin or chicken if you
didn't like the chef's entrees.

The cakes were of the baba au rhum variety. Very airy and not
much chocolate, but plenty of variety. Lots of salads and fresh fruit,
plus fresh fruit in the rooms.

The waiters are Italian and joke a little heavily at first and
not always successfully in an attempt to charm you. On the whole they
are very good. When I expressed a preference for ice tea
and breadsticks rather than rolls, I found them waiting every
night. Luigi was an excellent waiter, Mario and Carlo excellent
maitre'd's (and Sylvie was a superb cabin steward too.)

MSC has a policy that you don't have to tip if you don't want to.
This is churlish, the staff deserves it, they work hard. We followed
the policy we have always followed. We ignored management's
guidelines and tipped what we wanted to and felt was appropriate.

THE BEST THING ABOUT THE SHIP: The intimacy and sheer livability of
the ship are the main virtues for us, but one of the most civilized
things is that they allow you to get duty free liquor and open it and
consume it in your room. They don't seal it for the voyage so you'll
order more from the bars like many lines do.

THE WORST THING ABOUT THE SHIP: There are two really bad things about
the ship:

1) SMOKING: Many Europeans smoke. Like chimneys. And seemingly they
aren't even aware it might hurt others. They are behind us on banning
smoking. Fortunately they were not allowed to smoke inside the
restaurants, but the outdoor patio area was rendered unusable for non
smokers. This was a big disappointment to us, but didn't ruin the
cruise. We don't go to the lounges at night
(we like to get up for the dawn) but we understand there were
fights in the lounges about people who ignored the non-smoking
area designations. And there's nothing like being in a jammed
corridor trying to exit the ship in a port and having someone light
up.

Some Americans complained to the offenders but many of the smokers
didn't speak English, so it was futile. We never saw staff do anything
to enforce the no-smoking areas. I am asthmatic and suffer from smoke,
but I was able to get away from it OK. Judge for yourself whether it
makes a difference to you.

2) MANAGEMENT: Charming but utterly chaotic. Generally inefficient and
sometimes maddeningly so and in odd ways. The loading of the ship in
Genoa, for example, was the most efficient I have ever seen. You
checked in, reserved your dining table, and booked your shore
excursions in one very smooth line. But once on board, both the
purser's and excursion desks were uninformed and uncoordinated.

For example, we tried to book a transfer from the dock to Ft.
Lauderdale airport. Reception said Shore Excursions handled that,
Shore Excursions said Reception handled that, they bounced us back and
forth, called each other and yelled into the phone. We eventually did
get to the airport and make our flight, but a little more coordination
would have worked wonders with the experience.

Similarly the 24 hour internet service broke down periodically because
the satellite gave them problems. Nobody had any idea when it would be
fixed. There is a technician on board but service remained unreliable.

Our two valiant American hostesses, Amanda and Vanessa, bravely took a
barrage of passenger criticism, justified and otherwise, and relayed
the complaints to management. Often the response from the bridge was
an automatic "no," but then the problem would be mysteriously solved
24 hours later.

THE PEOPLE ON BOARD: The Americans on board this repositioning cruise
were largely retired people, many from Florida. They are very
experienced budget cruisers. They have taken every line and they have
very set expectations about what they like and want from a cruise.
When they don't get what they are used to from Carnival, Royal
Caribbean, etc., they don't perceive this European ship as different,
they perceive it as WRONG! This makes some of them very hostile.

For example, there are only small cups of ice water on a hot day.
Not spigots of iced tea or fruit juice like on other ships. There is
iced tea but only in the dining rooms. Not in the cafeteria or on the
outdoor patio. This one thing made a lot of people hostile. (Until
management gets around to this one, bring a tall insulated mug and
make your own).

We were told there is little music for ballroom dancing at night. Only
disco (I guess their Mediterranean cruises have more young people
-Europeans have longer vacations than us and the American passengers
skewed older).

There are movies on the TV but they are dubbed in many languages. And
the English-language originals are often not on at convenient times,
nor are the schedules reliable. "Welcome to Mooseport" loses something
when dubbed in German (I'm not kidding).

And some passengers just don't like it when they are so many people
on board that they can't talk to, and they grow impatient when
instructions have to be translated. Also, some cultures are trained to
get on line, while others just crowd in, which makes for conflict. If
management would put rope lines like a bank in front of the reception
counter, that might defuse a lot of bad feeling.

We read some hostile reviews of this ship and its sister ship,
the Lirica before we booked this, but we must say we enjoyed the
experience thoroughly and found it a phenomenal value. You just have
to know what you are getting in to.

SHOPS: Very tasteful and very expensive, which made no sense at all.
The shops were one part of the ship not recalibrated for budget
cruising. The stock was entirely for the European market, the wrong
weight clothing and not even in American sizes. They didn't sell
bottles of aspirin or Tylenol, but did sell several kinds of expensive
anti-cellulite cream. Considering the average age and needs of the
Caribbean cruisers this is pretty odd. Also, one lone bottle of SPF
sunblock shared shelf space with plentiful supplies of old-fashioned
tanning butter.

If they sold some insulated mugs with the ship's logo, they'd clean up
and stop the no iced tea hostility, but they are not yet that
sensible. The $350 dollar sweaters didn't sell even at 50% off. When
the temperature outside went to 90 degrees, people wanted tee shirts.
They only had a few, they were expensive and for sale only in the
liquor store! A simple $29 item in the jewelry shop would have sold
out. But they didn't have anything at all in that category.

SHORE EXCURSIONS: The stops on our crossing we Barcelona,
Casablanca, Funchal, Barbados, Antigua, Tortola, St. Maarten, and
Nassau. Generally well run. Remember to bring Euros for Barcelona
and Funchal (not all the Americans on board did). The ship charges 3
percent to change money. This includes 3 percent to cash travelers
checks which is a bum deal. They're supposed to be cash.

The full day excursion to Marrakesh from Casablanca which
includes a 4 hour bus trip both ways is exhausting but sooo worth
it! Don't miss this one. In Madeira, we found riding a wicker basket
down a mountain in Funchal is terrifying without much thrill. They
don't tell you you're riding down a HIGHWAY with trucks coming at you
and you're being steered by 2 guys with string. Phooey! Take a cab to
the top of the cable car instead. Also, Tortola is the most beautiful
place I ever saw in the Caribbean.

A NOTE ON LUGGAGE: Our luggage was lost between Paris and Genoa. The
idea of a 17 day cruise with no luggage was really frightening for us.
It was found and delivered to our hotel at midnight the night before
we departed. We met people whose luggage was lost connecting from
Rome, Frankfurt and London. Some bags caught up with the ship before
we left, some joined us at our first stop in Barcelona, some never
caught up at all. Since the art of transferring baggage seems to have
been lost, travel insurance is a good idea, at least giving you some
money for replacement clothing. And pack your carry-on bags carefully
in case your big suitcase(s) go AWOL.

HOPE FOR THE FUTU
MSC has hired management from American cruise lines to explain
American cruise culture to them, so improvement should be swift. They
are really trying hard. But we don't expect they'll ever be "plain
vanilla." If you like, by all means give them a try, but only if you
understand going in it's going to be different, and that's not a bad
thing.

  #2  
Old December 13th, 2004, 09:55 PM
jcoulter
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Posts: n/a
Default

Dave&Mary wrote in
:


ervice remained unreliable.

Our two valiant American hostesses, Amanda and Vanessa, bravely took a
barrage of passenger criticism, justified and otherwise, and relayed
the complaints to management. Often the response from the bridge was
an automatic "no," but then the problem would be mysteriously solved
24 hours later.

I will be sure to relay that message to Vanessa and her roomate Amanda
Not that I am a proud father or anything!



HOPE FOR THE FUTU
MSC has hired management from American cruise lines to explain
American cruise culture to them, so improvement should be swift. They
are really trying hard. But we don't expect they'll ever be "plain
vanilla." If you like, by all means give them a try, but only if you
understand going in it's going to be different, and that's not a bad
thing.


Thank you for what sounds like a balanced and honest review, It meshes
with what I saw on board and what my daugther (the aforementioned
Vanessa) said about her experience on the crossing.




  #3  
Old December 13th, 2004, 09:55 PM
jcoulter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Dave&Mary wrote in
:


ervice remained unreliable.

Our two valiant American hostesses, Amanda and Vanessa, bravely took a
barrage of passenger criticism, justified and otherwise, and relayed
the complaints to management. Often the response from the bridge was
an automatic "no," but then the problem would be mysteriously solved
24 hours later.

I will be sure to relay that message to Vanessa and her roomate Amanda
Not that I am a proud father or anything!



HOPE FOR THE FUTU
MSC has hired management from American cruise lines to explain
American cruise culture to them, so improvement should be swift. They
are really trying hard. But we don't expect they'll ever be "plain
vanilla." If you like, by all means give them a try, but only if you
understand going in it's going to be different, and that's not a bad
thing.


Thank you for what sounds like a balanced and honest review, It meshes
with what I saw on board and what my daugther (the aforementioned
Vanessa) said about her experience on the crossing.




  #4  
Old December 13th, 2004, 10:38 PM
Rick Chambon
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Default

Am I correct in understanding that "Opera" does have lounge chairs on
promenade deck? That is my favorite place to sit on any cruise and a
ship without a beautiful promenade with comfortable seating is no high
on my list.

I would love to try the "Opera" and wish MSC the very best of luck.
Rick

  #5  
Old December 13th, 2004, 10:38 PM
Rick Chambon
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Posts: n/a
Default

Am I correct in understanding that "Opera" does have lounge chairs on
promenade deck? That is my favorite place to sit on any cruise and a
ship without a beautiful promenade with comfortable seating is no high
on my list.

I would love to try the "Opera" and wish MSC the very best of luck.
Rick

  #6  
Old December 14th, 2004, 12:18 AM
E.k.R.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Dave&Mary" wrote in message
...
ABOUT US: We are 55 and 60 years old, and have traveled extensively.
We took the Westbound Transatlantic crossing of the Opera in Nov.,
2004, starting in Genoa, Italy and ending in Ft. Lauderdale. This was
our 7th cruise together.



Absolutely great and well rounded review! Thank you. I'll be sailing on
MSC OPERA next month and I'm really counting on something different than the
mainstream American cruise lines. It sounds like MSC might just be the
ticket. All the things that annoyed the demanding Florida passengers I will
take in stride. I don't let the small things get to me, and it sounds like
you don't as well. I think the most successful travelers are those that can
roll with the punches and enjoy experiences that are different rather than
the same. Isn't that the point of traveling anyway? Too bad many American
cruisers have gotten used to getting their way and having their hand held.
It makes for some very unfriendly people .... and we have all come across
them on cruises.

One thing .... MSC Cruises does not plan to be a budget line in the US.
Their prices are on the budget level now to attract customers since they are
relatively unknown. They plan to offer a premium product with an Italian
flair that will be a notch above Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and NCL. I
imagine we will see their prices rise as they infiltrate the market and
offer an alternative to Holland America and Celebrity.

Thanks again for the review!

Ernie



  #7  
Old December 14th, 2004, 12:18 AM
E.k.R.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Dave&Mary" wrote in message
...
ABOUT US: We are 55 and 60 years old, and have traveled extensively.
We took the Westbound Transatlantic crossing of the Opera in Nov.,
2004, starting in Genoa, Italy and ending in Ft. Lauderdale. This was
our 7th cruise together.



Absolutely great and well rounded review! Thank you. I'll be sailing on
MSC OPERA next month and I'm really counting on something different than the
mainstream American cruise lines. It sounds like MSC might just be the
ticket. All the things that annoyed the demanding Florida passengers I will
take in stride. I don't let the small things get to me, and it sounds like
you don't as well. I think the most successful travelers are those that can
roll with the punches and enjoy experiences that are different rather than
the same. Isn't that the point of traveling anyway? Too bad many American
cruisers have gotten used to getting their way and having their hand held.
It makes for some very unfriendly people .... and we have all come across
them on cruises.

One thing .... MSC Cruises does not plan to be a budget line in the US.
Their prices are on the budget level now to attract customers since they are
relatively unknown. They plan to offer a premium product with an Italian
flair that will be a notch above Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and NCL. I
imagine we will see their prices rise as they infiltrate the market and
offer an alternative to Holland America and Celebrity.

Thanks again for the review!

Ernie



  #8  
Old December 14th, 2004, 12:41 AM
Charles
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article , Dave&Mary
wrote:

1) SMOKING: Many Europeans smoke. Like chimneys. And seemingly they
aren't even aware it might hurt others. They are behind us on banning
smoking. Fortunately they were not allowed to smoke inside the
restaurants, but the outdoor patio area was rendered unusable for non
smokers. This was a big disappointment to us, but didn't ruin the
cruise. We don't go to the lounges at night
(we like to get up for the dawn) but we understand there were
fights in the lounges about people who ignored the non-smoking
area designations. And there's nothing like being in a jammed
corridor trying to exit the ship in a port and having someone light
up.


Thanks for the review. The above scratches the idea that I will try MSC
anytime soon.

--
Charles
  #9  
Old December 14th, 2004, 12:49 AM
Becca
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Default

Thanks for posting your cruise review, I enjoyed reading it. You are a
good writer, every entertaining.

Many people may want to try this ship, but I am afraid the smoking
problem will keep a lot of people away. OTOH, it may attract a few
smokers.

Becca -----avoids smoke when I can...

MOAGC http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com/
Miracle in May http://www.cruisemaster.com/miracle.htm
Canada - New England http://www.cruisemaster.com/carnivalFall.htm
Caribbean Princess http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
  #10  
Old December 14th, 2004, 12:49 AM
Becca
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Thanks for posting your cruise review, I enjoyed reading it. You are a
good writer, every entertaining.

Many people may want to try this ship, but I am afraid the smoking
problem will keep a lot of people away. OTOH, it may attract a few
smokers.

Becca -----avoids smoke when I can...

MOAGC http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com/
Miracle in May http://www.cruisemaster.com/miracle.htm
Canada - New England http://www.cruisemaster.com/carnivalFall.htm
Caribbean Princess http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
 




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