A quick look at the cruises that had a negative impact on my experience. Let’s say it : if I had discovered cruises with one of them, I probably wouldn’t have started again so soon!
An opportunity to remind that when we remain attached to a single company (sometimes with good reasons such as the benefits of loyalty), we reduce the risk of being disappointed by a competing company… but we also take the risk of remaining confined to a company that is much more mediocre than we think. Message intended in particular for my French compatriots, who often limit themselves to MSC and/or Costa… if you only knew!
MSC Fantasia and MSC Seashore
I discovered cruises with Norwegian Cruise Lines. It was the kingdom of Freestyle: everything was free, no fixed schedule or imposed table, no first or second service, unlimited freedom on board. This is probably one of the reasons why, when I tried another company, I was hit hard by another vision of the cruise, certainly more historical…
That company was MSC, the ship, Fantasia. And the list of my disappointments just kept getting longer.
- I opt for the second service (what? We couldn’t eat at the time we wanted???), but once on board a maitre d’hotel tells me that I am on the first service. I try to correct what could only be a mistake (since I had chosen the second service option months in advance). Very unpleasant, this manager tells me that there is no point in complaining and that that’s how it is. I ask to be put on a waiting list if ever an opportunity arises (and saves me from eating at 6:30 p.m., like in the hospital). He barely deigns to write down my name and cabin number… and in any case never contacts me again.
- I was seated at a table of French people (same table every night). I, who like to discover other cultures, other stories of the World, find myself with other “Frenchies” who only talk about football and their love for MSC. Glurps.
- One evening during a stopover and returning from an excursion that was ultimately well behind schedule, I found the restaurant door closed (I was 25 minutes late). I was told that it was not possible to enter, the meal had already started, and I was sent back to the buffet. I went to my cabin to take a shower after a day in the sun… and I arrived at the buffet, it was barely 8pm. But the buffet was exceptionally closed because they were preparing a special pasta service… which would open at midnight…
- The excursions are systematically a total anarchy. Information is lacking to find the departure point and the right bus. No one really seems to know. It is up to the passenger to follow an obstacle course and find the person who will confirm that he is on the list and that he has (finally) found the right bus.
- A trip that was missed because of a wrong schedule. The bus had left an hour earlier. But he had told it in the morning. To whom? We don’t know.
- The food is ok but after Norwegian… it was still much less good.
- I booked a bus transfer from Genoa to Nice, at the end of the cruise. When I was about to board, I was told that I was not on the list. And it took me a long time of negotiation to convince the Italian watchman to let me board, with my ticket in good and due form (but I was not on his list!).
I tried my luck on the Seashore again more recently, wanting to try the Yacht Club, with the secret hope that it would go better. I’ll make it short: it didn’t really. The service is still deplorable. Not that the staff is unpleasant, on the contrary, they are always pleasant and smiling, but the general organization is still as chaotic. The Covid period has not helped. And the Yacht Club does very little to improve the experience. A large part of the passengers have no manners. They paid to be here so they think they have all the rights. Unbearable.
My article on this cruise, aboard the MSC Seashore.
Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas
This 7-day cruise in the Caribbean was not catastrophic in itself. Discovering one of the largest cruise ships in the world (in 2011) is in itself an incredible experience. However, I was traveling with my boyfriend and it did not suit everyone. First some passengers, mainly groups of Puerto Ricans, who, when they understood that we were together, tried to intimidate us to make their exuberant girlfriends believe that they were real guys. Failed, most of the time. But more embarrassing, some waiters too. To the point, for example, of not being served at the table, the waiter having decided that he would not come to our table. One of his colleagues, having noticed the discomfort, ended up coming to serve us…
This was not a good point for this company, because even if it is not a generalized behavior, it is the only time I had to endure such homophobic attitudes during a cruise.
Norwegian Joy, Asia
I absolutely wanted to discover the Norwegian Joy after its launch, as I have done for years for all the new ships of the Norwegian Cruise Line. It started with the Epic (June 2010), and it continued with the Breakaway, the Getaway, the Escape, the Joy, the Bliss and the Encore (and I have already booked the Prima!).
The Joy had a special feature: it was built for the Asian market. And to book it, it was mandatory to go through a Chinese travel agency at the time (because it has since been reintegrated into the NCL fleet and is no longer specific to the Asian market). Thanks to good connections in China, I was able to book a cruise from Shanghai on board the Joy. But nothing works like it is used to in Europe or the United States. Passengers do not deal with the company, but only with the travel agency that took their reservation. Each agency sends a representative who will take care of an entire group (about thirty people). We therefore have no autonomy outside of this group and any request must go through the representative.
I had never been immersed in a 100% Chinese universe, and I discovered, to my cost, the totally disrespectful behavior of these groups. You are at the back of a crowded elevator? No one will move to let you out. You are waiting in line somewhere? Everyone will try to get in front of you, without looking at you. You want to take some shrimps at the buffet, in a tank that contains hundreds of them? You will be jostled by passengers who use 2 plates to serve themselves, one serving as a kind of shovel to grab the largest possible quantity and push it into the 2nd plate. I had never seen that. You want to find a place to sit? There is none. The children are sent out as scouts to block tables and chairs before the parents arrive. You get up from your seat to go get a dish and come back? As soon as you get up, someone takes your chair to add it to the family table next to you because there are still several missing to seat everyone. People are eating standing up, right next to the dishes.
The groups are spread over several adjoining cabins. And they are all permanently open, the corridor having been annexed to make a single place where everyone passes from room to room as they please. All the verandas are open, creating a current of warm air throughout the entire floor.
An experience that I will not repeat, obviously! And I was not surprised, some time later, when NCL announced that it was giving up on keeping this dedicated boat and was converting it (for a “few” dollars) for the American market. End of the adventure!
Enchanted Princess
A 14-day transatlantic cruise, solo, to test the promises of Princess Cruises, its Medallion and the “best internet connection at sea”…
In reality, a crossing with almost no internet, lies from the company about the real origin of the problem and promises of a return to normal that were never kept… and the feeling of having chosen this cruise and this company based on a lie.
The deterioration in the overall quality of Princess Cruises is blatant. I have seen this decline, from cruise to cruise, which has reached its peak post-covid, and which has unfortunately brought this company closer to its cousins in the same group, Carnival and Costa.
The buffet has also been aligned with Costa’s practices in this area. Limited choice (part of the buffet lines are regularly closed, even at peak times), disappointing taste quality most of the time. And a practice also shared with Costa: preparing small portions, well in advance, in mini-plates. We can see the anti-waste desire (but especially cost-killing), with the result that the portions are dried out or even stale in the majority of cases.
My article about this cruise, aboard the Enchanted Princess.
Costa Smeralda
I probably avoided the worst by boarding this ship. Obviously planned to be overloaded with passengers, the Covid period forced the Carnival group company to limit capacity to 25%. But it was the food that bothered me the most. Probably the worst I have had to endure at sea. The prize was given to an omelette ordered in the morning for breakfast… it arrived swimming in water because it was a frozen omelette and barely reheated before being served. And I won’t even mention the taste! You had to dare to have a defrosted omelette… Costa did it.
I had been warned about this company with its unbeatable prices. Even MSC fans, who are used to low-cost cruises, find Costa to be avoided…
Noisy, saturated, poorly organized, information on the life of the boat, the stops, the excursions, impossible to find. The information office is closed most of the time, and a message refers to a telephone number… which does not answer.
And all that, with only a 25% occupancy rate for this new ship… no question of coming to see what it could be like when it’s packed to the rafters!
