MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)

MSC has some weird presentation at times...they could do that whole
"marketing thing" a bit slicker. I'd go work for them to help them
achieve that! I think I'd be a good menu writer. Plus their little
daily newsletters need help lol! Just give me a nice little cabin and
I'll be all set....

Jeff




Marsha L wrote:
I LOVE those things... have for years... but I couldn't understand why they
labeled them "chocolate buns" on Opera... the translation sells them short,
IMO.

Marsha

"Jeff" wrote in message
news:FyxIf.32818$lo3.17775@trnddc07...

I never did really write a review of my MSC Lirica sailing....maybe I'll
get to that this long weekend, but I remember just one and only one thing
about the breakfast buffet....pain au chocolat!!!!

Jeff

I agree! I liked that difference. Not everything was perfect by any
means on my Lirica cruise, but the activities staff was terrific and
most everyone nice nice nice. It was nice not to be "hustled" 24/7 on
my vacation....

Jeff



piperut wrote:

MSC is a good, stong product, and a different product then the main
U.S. lines. They need to market themselves as an Italian Cruis line,
something different then the run of the mill cruise line, and do away
with some of the "Americanized Food" at lunch and dinner. Keep the
"Americanized Breakfast" in the dinning room, and get a few more of the
wait staff to do a little better English.

Some people are going to argue with this statement. I think that most
the mass market cruise lines in the U.S. are pretty much the same
product. They have a few differences, but they all do things the same
way. They attrack the same market share, and go to the same ports.
There is not anybody really doing something different. Years ago, we
sailed on a Ukrainian flagged ship because it was different, and went
to Belize and Honduras. A few years later, the mainstream cruise lines
started calling at Belize and Honduras. Now, MSC is calling at the
Dominican Republic, and has an Italian themed cruise ship, which is
different. Not the run of the mill cruise.

Now, the Polka group out of I think New York likes MSC. They are going
to be using this cruise line for a while.

I think there is a market for non mainsteam cruise lines, if they
market themselves properly.
Some of us are a bit tired of the same old hat!

roland

piperut wrote:

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!


We had just the opposite experience with taxi's in Fort Lauderdale. We
arrived at the airport on sat. 2/4 and had no problem getting a cab
and he took us directly to our hotel. That night we meet a bunch of
people for dinner and shared a taxi back to our hotel. Then after we
got off the Infinity, MOAGC2, we got a taxi right away and he took us
to our hotel. We had no problem getting a taxi any of these times and
although we weren't familiar with the routes, we could see that they
took a direct route. Also the fare was what we had been told to
expect. Other then this we used hotel shuttles and that is a different
story.

sue

Sue and Kevin Mullen wrote:


piperut wrote:

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!



We had just the opposite experience with taxi's in Fort Lauderdale. We
arrived at the airport on sat. 2/4 and had no problem getting a cab and
he took us directly to our hotel. That night we meet a bunch of people
for dinner and shared a taxi back to our hotel. Then after we got off
the Infinity, MOAGC2, we got a taxi right away and he took us to our
hotel. We had no problem getting a taxi any of these times and although
we weren't familiar with the routes, we could see that they took a
direct route. Also the fare was what we had been told to expect. Other
then this we used hotel shuttles and that is a different story.

sue

I meant to add, thanks for your review!

sue

Lloyd Parsons wrote:

One thing they did do that I hadn't seen for awhile was have the baked
alaska parade, complete with flaming baked alaskas. Very nice and
delicious.

On the MOAGC2, the Infinity, they had the baked alaska, parade and
all. Our table walked out of the dining room before it started, we got
tired of waiting for our dessert. None of us really wanted the baked
alaska anyway.

sue

"Sue and Kevin Mullen" wrote in message
...


Lloyd Parsons wrote:

One thing they did do that I hadn't seen for awhile was have the baked
alaska parade, complete with flaming baked alaskas. Very nice and
delicious.

On the MOAGC2, the Infinity, they had the baked alaska, parade and all.
Our table walked out of the dining room before it started, we got tired of
waiting for our dessert. None of us really wanted the baked alaska anyway.


Did you guys do cappuccinos or those iced coffees at the Cova Cafe?

--Tom

Tom K wrote:
"Sue and Kevin Mullen" wrote in message
...


Lloyd Parsons wrote:


One thing they did do that I hadn't seen for awhile was have the baked
alaska parade, complete with flaming baked alaskas. Very nice and
delicious.

On the MOAGC2, the Infinity, they had the baked alaska, parade and all.
Our table walked out of the dining room before it started, we got tired of
waiting for our dessert. None of us really wanted the baked alaska anyway.



Did you guys do cappuccinos or those iced coffees at the Cova Cafe?

Not this time, I couldn't do any dairy. We did go there a couple of
mornings for there regular coffee and it was WONDERFUL!! I also had a
couple of their almond croissants and they were also WONDERFUL and
fresh. Next time on Celebrity I will be back to having my ice coffee
and chocolate croissants.

sue

I don't normally care for Baked Alaska (and certainly not for the "parade",
flaming or not), but this was actually good.

Marsha

"Sue and Kevin Mullen" wrote in message
...

On the MOAGC2, the Infinity, they had the baked alaska, parade and all.
Our table walked out of the dining room before it started, we got tired of
waiting for our dessert. None of us really wanted the baked alaska anyway.

sue

I like Baked Alaska, but this trip I could not eat it. Also we were
done with our dinner for about 45 minutes and were still waiting for
the parade, that is why we all walked.

sue

Marsha L wrote:
I don't normally care for Baked Alaska (and certainly not for the "parade",
flaming or not), but this was actually good.

Marsha

"Sue and Kevin Mullen" wrote in message
...

On the MOAGC2, the Infinity, they had the baked alaska, parade and all.
Our table walked out of the dining room before it started, we got tired of
waiting for our dessert. None of us really wanted the baked alaska anyway.

sue

"Sue and Kevin Mullen" wrote in message
...
I like Baked Alaska, but this trip I could not eat it. Also we were done
with our dinner for about 45 minutes and were still waiting for the parade,
that is why we all walked.

sue

I'd love to walk, any time I see baked alaska heading my way. But I must
say the way they did it on the MSC Opera was impressive. Still, I didn't
eat it!
Ermalee