MSC Poesia Day 5: Palma de Mallorca
I wanted to give you my full review before I leave as well as my overall value assessment.
BUFFET: I am never a fan of the buffet and this ship is no exception. The buffet is crowded at mealtimes. I decided that I had to try it to give my honest opinion. The selections were plenty adequate and the people were loading up and in full disorder with no particular line. People served themselves and there was no one to enforce washy washy happy happy.
Anytime pizza at the buffet is nice for an afternoon snack when it is not crowded.
PUBLIC AREAS: the ship is georgeous and there are two multifloor atriums on this ship. There are multiple places where live music often fills the public spaces.
SPECIALTY RESTAURANT: This ship only has one specialty restaurant and it is sushi. I never saw it.crowded and when I went there the food was excellent. In addition, it was quiet and peaceful. My waitress Sherpa was from Nepal and did an excellent job.
MAIN DINING ROOMS: There are two main dining rooms on the ship. Breakfast and Lunch are offered in only one of them. Dinner is at an assigned timed at an assigned table. Breakfast and lunch wait service were good but different for each meal. Dinner service was ecceptional with Adi remembering my water and coffee preferences after the first time I asked.
The food choices were somewhat limited compared to other cruiselines. The portions were smaller. I was free to order another selection if I wanted and service was always quick. I found the food to be better than I have eaten on other lines. The meat was cooked as requested. More prime cuts of meat and even lamb was available in the main dining room because there waa no steakhouse on board. I was extremely impressed with the food in the dining rooms. The couple I was assigned to sit with was simply delightful and we talked until we were politely encouraged to leave each night.
The promotion I booked was Fantastica plus some sort of basic bottled water and coffee paclage. Fantastica meant that I could choose early dining which is at 7PM. Had I booked Bella and been assigned late dining at 9:30PM I would have been forced to eat in the buffet and I may have felt differently. The way everything worked out was Fantastica. I should note that MSC also offers Aura which is basically dine.in the dining room any time you want.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: There were definitely long lines at customer service at times. However, I went down serveral times to review my bill as well as to request late checkout. There were many times thay there was a short line or no.line at all and I hardly had to wait for service. There is no app so customer service is done only face to face and staffed accordingly.
EXCURSIONS DESK: Catalogs and order forms are done manually. There was no need to stand in line unless you had a question. I asked about a tour and was helped promptly.
THERMAL SPA: I have never been to a spa on a ship before but this one seemed well staffed. I truly enjoyed the massage experience and it was extremely relaxing. For m6ly thermal.pass, I was initially given a key to a locker in the ladies changing room. Once I went back out front Karolina was helpful and gave me the correct key. She spent time with me to explain the sauna, steam room, and hot tub areas. There are also deck chairs. If I had had more time, it would be a nice place to read a book. The thermal spa is a quiet oasis on the ship with a view that is hard to beat. I only ever saw one other passenger and they were surprised to see me too.
After that my 80 minute massage with Nora was just heaven. Im not sure if I fell asleep or not because I was just totally floating on a cloud. Embarkation means they do the muster drill in 5 languages every single day before we pull our of port. I luckily scheduled my massage at this time and listened to soft relaxing music instead. When the massage was over, the ship was gently rocking as we were out to sea. It was a lovely experience.
THEATER: The theater is huge. Every night there is a different show.and it seems somewhat tailored to the port we were in that day. Classic rock show for Barcelona, Italian classics for Italy, Burlesque-ish show for France, you get the picture. I.wanted to like the shows and they were certainly a way to wind down before bed. I thihk I am spoiled by the broadway style productions on other ships.
ROOM SERVICE: I really enjoyed the free room service each morning and it would be very easy to get used to. Unfortunately, given that there is usually a €3.50 delivery fee each time, I don't want to get too used to it.
THE BALCONY STATEROOM: The room and the attemdent were amazing. Having my coffee and a croissant in the morning while watching the sunrise as we came into the ports was wonderful. I actually found.myself escaping the busy ship.tp head back to the room more than I have on other ships.
WIFI: The Internet wasn't blazing fast but it was good enough. My current contract doesn't require VPN access so it was good enough.
THE SOLO CRUISER EXPERIENCE: MSC offers low or no.solo.supplement on many of their cruises and these combine with other promotions such as the free balcony upgrade. Though they have a non-hosted Solo meeting each night, I never saw anyone there. Cruise staff seemed surprised I would want to cruise.alone when I.spoke to them about it in the dining room.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT: In my opinion, the MSC value is a very good value. If you can get a deal on your airfare and are considering MSC, I can absolutely recommend them! I will be very sad to leave tomorrow. I'm going to be looking for this promotion on other itineraries for sure.
What do you think? Do have questions or.comments?
Happy Cruising!
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