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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 |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
How about more details on things like food. What was in the breakfast and
lunch buffets? Omelet station? Pancakes & Waffles? How about lunch? What kinds of appetizers and main meals for dinner. Did salads come with dressing, or did they have a dressing plate? Size of dinner tables. Who sat with who? Were the waiters good? Bread on the tables of served from a basket? Please explain the smoking in a food like. What did the ship look like? We need some Ben Smith type observations. Whimsical? Classical? Art Deco? Color combinations. Use of marble, etc. What kind of activities? Pool games? Bingo in 30 languages? We've been to San Juan 30 times... nothing new there. But the ship is new for most of us. Give some details. Tell us about the MSC experience. What you liked. What you didn't like. --Tom "piperut" wrote in message oups.com... 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 |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
Smoking in a food line... opps
As far as what the ship looked like, I sent phil at www.seacruisechat.com some photos. He should post some of them in a day or so. I did not do bingo. Some of the people did. Marble floors. Waiters were good. We had a table for 6. Tobie and his wife Barbara were with us, and a couple that Cal Ford knew Richard and his wife were at our table. Then Ermalee and a group of people were at another table. I think I also sent photos of the tables to Phil. I am not sure just which photos made it to Phil, and which did not, as I was at the Ft. Lauderdale airport and some of the email bounced from him. I think sending him 100 photos at once was a bit more then his mail server could handle. I should not send that many photos. I have around 400 or so from the cruise. I really liked the shows, and what MSC is doing with the theatre. Not serving drinks in the theatre is a different concept for a cruise ship. Having the cocktail lounge outside the theatre like some real theatres (the one in Seattle comes to mind), just gives you the impression that the people are true actors and performers and not there just to entertain the passengers. On other ships, there have been a number of times that the cocktail waiters have interrupted the show to serve drinks or take orders from someone that showed up to the show late. This was a welcome change. I think I would almost book another MSC cruise just for this. I didn't care for the buffet on the first day. It was a mad house, and I really didn't go back to the buffet much after that if I could help it. I found out later in the week that the ship was under going a health inspection from ... which governmant agency is it that does the cruise ship sanitary inspections? That was the reason the buffet on the first day was delayed. Breads at dinner were served in a basket on the table. At breakfast you had to be real specific about what pastries you wanted to order. They did not bring around the pastry tray like other cruise lines. If you wanted a crossant, you had to ask for that. If you wanted a "Pain au chocolate" you had to ask the waiter for that. If you wanted toast, you had to ask for that. They were lacking in organized activities in the afternoon. Also, the ships shops were a bit different. They had mostly expensive items to purchase, and not really anything in the way of touristy souvineer type things to take home. They also had sort of different hours, more like the European Stores. Open in the Morning, and closed in the afternoon, and then open until late (11:00, 11:30 most nights) at night. Salads came with dressings, but if you wanted a different dressing most of the time they would see what they could do. I do not care for Blue Cheese dressing, and that was the dressing on the salad one night, and I asked if they could do it with ranch or thousand island and they managed to do ranch dressing. All the documents said you were not allowed to carry on you own booze, but we put a couple of bottles of mead in the suitcases and had no problem. Most of the group put wine in the suitcases and had no problem. Also, the package store on board would sell you a bottle to take back to your room, you just were not allowed to drink it in the public areas. The store cleck even said that to people. When you purchased it in port, they would check it for you until the last day, and then deliver it to your room. The lobster was not very good. Something else would have been a better choice that night. Hopefully Phil will get some photos up today or tomorrow on the Seacruise website. roland |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
In article , "Tom K"
wrote: How about more details on things like food. What was in the breakfast and lunch buffets? Omelet station? Pancakes & Waffles? How about lunch? What kinds of appetizers and main meals for dinner. Did salads come with dressing, or did they have a dressing plate? Size of dinner tables. Who sat with who? Were the waiters good? Bread on the tables of served from a basket? Please explain the smoking in a food like. What did the ship look like? We need some Ben Smith type observations. Whimsical? Classical? Art Deco? Color combinations. Use of marble, etc. What kind of activities? Pool games? Bingo in 30 languages? We've been to San Juan 30 times... nothing new there. But the ship is new for most of us. Give some details. Tell us about the MSC experience. What you liked. What you didn't like. --Tom I'll try a few things, although I'm not as observant as Ben... ;-) Appearance - I was struck with the subdued elegance, Opera reminded me of Millenium in many ways as far as appearance. Buffets - The regular buffet room served a large variety of breakfast foods during that period of time. Fruits, some smoked fishes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, Italian cold cuts and various breads. Weird part was that the butter wasn't anywhere near the bread, rather it was near the smoked fish, as was the cream cheese. While I noticed the cook-to-order buffet line, I never ate there. The other breakfast line had all I wanted. I noticed omelets and fried to order eggs, pancakes and waffles, but didn't notice if they had much variety in the pancakes and waffles. Lunch menu in the buffet was quite broad. Goodly selection of salad fixings and at least 4 dressings, including my favorite, blue cheese. There were always Italian cold cuts, cappicola, parma ham, proscuitto at least once and one variety of hard salami. Main dishes usually included a meat or fish stew and a carving station. One day they had roast suckling pig at lunch on the carving station. They also had a fair selection of deserts. Salt, pepper and sugar was not on the tables in the buffets. I never found where they kept the salt and pepper hidden. Also the silver is carried by you from the buffet line. Frankly the buffet was good, but nothing really stood out. It is certainly not up to say Princess' variety and quality, imo. Dining room - Dinner was a complete multi-course dinner... Appetizers were good and varied. Shrimp cocktail, a marinated pork dish, a parma ham dish, and a marinated beef dish were the ones that made an impression on me, a positive impression I might add. Salads were varied and included the dressing on the salad. I don't know if you could have asked for a side of dressing instead as no one at our dining table asked for that. I thought the salads were good, but not outstanding. All meals had either antipasto or rissotos offered. Some very good, some not so good. But they varied each night, I don't think there was any repeats. I usually had the antipasto, most tasty but some very bland. I had a shrimp rossoto that was very good, but the other rissotos didn't appeal to me. For the main course, they always had the 'available every night' part which included steak, grilled salmon and spaghetti bolognese. I had the steak one night because nothing appealed to me on the main dish portion. The steak was good, well cooked and tender. For the main selections they had a good variety. The Italian dishes were the best, imo. Beef dishes were very good, as was the pork dishes. Interesting combinations of spicing on these. Comments from those that had the fish dishes were similar, very good. They also had vegetarian dishes that I heard were good, but didn't try. For those that don't like sauces on their beef dishes, you can ask for them to be done that way, although it isn't indicated on the menu. Personally I liked their sauces, but some didn't. Deserts ranged from excellent to just so-so. The so-so was the cakes, very dry. The rest were wonderful, tasty and not as sugary as we are used to in the US. I loved the cheesecake. It was lighter and more moist than most I have had. 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. The wine list was quite extensive, imo. Prices ranged from $19 up to about $100, with many in the $30-40 range. We had red wine at every dinner. The first bottle was an Argentinian wine that was outstanding. A dry wine, but not as dry as say a Cabernet, and for once I could actually taste all those 'hints of...' that the wine gurus always mention. The second wine was an Italian red. Dry but light, not quite so full-bodied as the Argentinian one. Even the red table wine offering was quite good. I didn't write down the names of the two wines I really liked as I don't drink at all except on cruise. Delma did however, maybe she'll post somewhere what the wines were. If she does, I'll post them on RTC. Dining tables were 4, 6 and 8 person settings, some with partial booth seating. The sizes of the tables well fit the number of people, you never felt crowded. Breads were always on the table with both salted and unsalted butter in the butter dish. Silverware was done on an as needed basis, not the all is there that some lines do. The waiters were very good an ensuring that you had the proper silver for whatever course you were on. Oddities in dining .... Toothpicks -- not a one to be found anywhere on the ship. I finally absconded one of the umbrellas for drinks and it became my very close friend. Salt and Pepper -- outside of the dining room, this wasn't readily available. Seemed odd to me. The only real problem in the dining room, imo, was that the portions were pretty large. If you had an appetizer, salad, antipasto, soup, main course and desert; getting up from the table was an effort! ;-) I'll let someone else talk about pool and deck activities because I didn't participate much in them. Lloyd |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
I think I already covered the breakfast buffet yesterday, so if there's
anything else, just ask. On the lunch buffet some salads came dressed others not. I particularly liked the one with tuna and tomatoes. Only salads I can remember seeing at dinner came dressed just as the entrees came sauced. I don't think it would be a big deal to ask for that to be changed though. The green salads on the buffet weren't dressed, but since I didn't have any I didn't pay too much attention to what dressings were available. Yes there was a bread basket on the table in the dining room. Different contents each night. Tables were of varied size. Roland already described his table, also at early seating was a medium sized table with Erm & Bill, Jean & Ed, Barbara & Cotton. Mary, Cecil and I were seated at a table intended for four. I prefer a larger table. Our group also had a table at late seating. Pat & Cal were there along with Joyce & Rusty (friends of theirs), Delma & Harry, and Lloyd. Although that was neither my assigned time or table, I ate with them most nights, while still spending some time at the early seating too. I thought the waiters were great... but my requirements might be different than some other people's. I would describe the decor as "understated", a big plus for me. Some spaces were "intimate" in size, some of those were generously mirrored. Of interest along those lines... inside cabins had a large mirror over the bed instead of the more usual curtain mimicking a window. There was another mirror over the desk and a full length one on another wall. That all helped make the space appear larger than it might have otherwise seem. There were lots of mirrors and marble in and near the elevators. Nice touch. Things were done (generally) in five languages. Yes there were pool activities, Lloyd mentioned that even he got involved in them. There was the most amusing game of musical chairs I've ever seenVBG. Liquor can still be purchased on board and taken back to the cabin although that policy isn't in writing anywhere. The gift shops have more logo items than they did the last time I cruised with MSC although they are all general MSC Crociere rather than specific ships. A simple baseball cap cost $4.80 (I got one to keep my hair out of my mouth and eyes) and a polo shirt $13 until the last day when they were 3 for something a bit less. I had already purchased one and didn't need/want three, so I didn't feel too badly about that. The Italian clothing is expensive and I don't know that they sell too much of it. They have a perfume shop and a jewelry store too along with the clothing and duty free shops. Marsha "Tom K" wrote in message ... How about more details on things like food. What was in the breakfast and lunch buffets? Omelet station? Pancakes & Waffles? How about lunch? What kinds of appetizers and main meals for dinner. Did salads come with dressing, or did they have a dressing plate? Size of dinner tables. Who sat with who? Were the waiters good? Bread on the tables of served from a basket? Please explain the smoking in a food like. What did the ship look like? We need some Ben Smith type observations. Whimsical? Classical? Art Deco? Color combinations. Use of marble, etc. What kind of activities? Pool games? Bingo in 30 languages? We've been to San Juan 30 times... nothing new there. But the ship is new for most of us. Give some details. Tell us about the MSC experience. What you liked. What you didn't like. --Tom |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
Someone asked about condiments in the buffet... if one walked all the way
forward there was a table on each side with condiments. Did anyone look at it to know if salt and pepper were there? The first day I didn't go that far and in fact wasn't even aware that there was a drink station in each forward corner. Marsha |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
In article ,
"Marsha L" wrote: Someone asked about condiments in the buffet... if one walked all the way forward there was a table on each side with condiments. Did anyone look at it to know if salt and pepper were there? The first day I didn't go that far and in fact wasn't even aware that there was a drink station in each forward corner. Marsha Ah.. Another hidden gem, huh? G Lloyd |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
LOL! That's the thing... it wasn't hidden at all... but if one just went
down either buffet line and then sat at a table on the same side they missed a lot and that's what I did at lunch on sailing day. But there was another section all the way forward that had desserts at lunch and cold cereals, yogurt and fruit salad at breakfast. The condiment tables were on either side of that. I had coffee this morning... French Roast tasted really good... will be drinking more than I usually do so I can feel free to try out the four pounds of I bought during the Great Coffee QuestG. Marsha "Lloyd Parsons" wrote in message ... Marsha Ah.. Another hidden gem, huh? G Lloyd |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
Thank you, Roland, Lloyd & Marsha L, for providing feedback on your MSC
Opera cruise. It sounds like y'all liked the cruise product, plus had great big fun with the GGC gang. I like what I'm hearing and am thinking MSC will be a strong candidate for us when they start cruising out of NYC. Diana Ball near Houston, TX |
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MSC Opera Review (GGC2006)
"Marsha L" wrote in message ... LOL! That's the thing... it wasn't hidden at all... but if one just went down either buffet line and then sat at a table on the same side they missed a lot and that's what I did at lunch on sailing day. But there was another section all the way forward that had desserts at lunch and cold cereals, yogurt and fruit salad at breakfast. The condiment tables were on either side of that. I had coffee this morning... French Roast tasted really good... will be drinking more than I usually do so I can feel free to try out the four pounds of I bought during the Great Coffee QuestG. Marsha John S. mentioned that they had a Tang type breakfast drink instead of Real Orange Juice? Did you guys have the same, or real OJ? |
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