MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)

Ship: MSC Opera
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan, St. Martin,
Dominican Republic, Ft. Lauderdale.)

Sailing Date: 28 January 2006

Reviewer: Roland Behunin

This was the GGC2006

Words of Caution: Watch out for the taxi drivers in Ft. Lauderdale as
they will attempt to take you on a ride to run up the fare. On our way
to the pier, the taxi drivers took the longest way they could to the
pier to run up the fare, and on the way back to the hotel, one driver
was trying to talk the other driver into taking a longer way to the
hotel to run up the fare. Ft. Lauderdale needs to police their taxi
drivers to try and get them to take the shortest route between two
points. Also, trying to get a taxi when getting off the ship was a
joke. So if you are dealing with taxi drivers in Ft. Lauderdale, be
prepared to be taken for a ride. So if you are disembarking a ship in
Ft. Lauderdale, and headed for the Airport, see about the cruise line
transfer. THIS WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF GRIEF!

Good points of the cruise: The entertainment was the best
entertainment we have had on a cruise line. The shows at night were
outstanding. The only really fair show was the magic show the second
night out. The other shows were really well done. The first night was
just an over view of the shows during the week. They had "Le Cirque
Immaginaire" one night that was really well done. Trapeze artists,
human pyramid (strong man), comic that seemed to go to the Red Skelton
school of comedy. Now, the same performers did the shows most nights.
They did have a "Classical Trio" that played in the lounge outside
the dinning room that did a show one night. Really wonderful music.
The theatre was a wonderful theatre. The ceiling was arranged with
baffling for concert hall sound. Also, for the people that wanted a
drink before the show there was a lounge outside the theatre, however
no drinks were allowed inside the theatre, and we did not have cocktail
waiters and cocktail waitresses interrupting the show to serve drinks.
This is the way most true theatrical productions operate, not the way
most cruise ships operate. (I enjoyed this change, as one of the
reasons I go on cruises is for the shows, and I find the waiters to be
a problem at times.)

The Dominican Republic was a nice change from the more heavily visited
ports. The people were really glad to see us. In the town square they
had a welcoming dance for the ship. The people were all dressed up in
festive costumes. La Roma was a fairly nice place, a bit of a third
world country. The ship was trying to sell their shore excursions
here, and the town was running shuttles buses for much less. The
shuttle buses were a much better deal. In the evening we went to the
Kandela show at Casa de Campo. The show was breath taking. This is a
huge resort, and one that it might be useful to stay at for a week
sometime. I am not sure how much this resort costs, but it might be
worth looking into?

The Private Island in the Dominican Republic was a bit of a welcome
change, and a nice relaxing note to finish the cruise on.

In St. Martin; Ed and Jean O'Boyle and us took a taxi over to the
French side and had a look at the town. The town on the French side
doesn't see as many people off the cruise ship, and the people were
fairly nice. Kristi was shopping, and I purchased a soda to drink
while she was looking in the shops. The lady at the Cafe tried to get
me to sit down to drink the soda instead of walking down the street.
More of an attitude toward life on the French Side of the Island... If
you are going to have a drink, take the time to enjoy it.

San Juan, PR was a evening port call. I am not really sure why the
ship stopped there. Some people boarded the ship there. However, for
the passengers on the ship, there really wasn't much to see as
everything was in the dark. It was cooler than during the day in San
Juan, and I managed to get a nice photo of the ship in San Juan.

Overall, the cruise on the MSC Opera reminded me a good deal of my
first cruise on NCL's Seaward back in 1990, before NCL was purchased by
Star cruises. This was when NCL had set dinner times, and did the full
Broadway productions on board ship. I think if MSC makes some minor
changes and keeps the good things they will be able to compete in the
Caribbean market. Mainly the waiters need to be able to explain the
food choices to the passengers. Once we had an idea what choices to
make on the menu, the food was fairly good. The problem came from not
understanding what you were actually ordering, and the waiters having
trouble explaining it.

We ate mostly in the dinning room. We only ate in the buffet if we did
not have the time for the dinning room. Perhaps we should have tried
the buffet for a few more meals.

The only time I really had a problem with second hand smoke was when I
decided to talk with people whom I knew to be smokers. My choice to
talk with them while they are sitting on the pool deck, or in a smoking
sections, so I have to put up the the second hand smoke.
Other then that, it was not too much of a problem. I did have run
into one lady who thought smoking in a food line was acceptable. Some
other people sort of told her it was not.

roland