Thread: MSC Orchestra 4/18/09

Embarkation:
Embarkation was the easiest of any cruise I have been on! Our rooms were to be ready by 1 pm, but we dropped off our luggage and headed to the buffet area for lunch! Lunch offerings were the typical and the food was warm, and tasty! There was a nice European flair to many of the dishes! The staff were mostly Italian, and many were going out of their way to assist us. There were two in particular that we enjoyed! The first was a cute Italian guy with a fabulous smile! The second sang in Italian as he served the food...

First Impressions:
The ship is spotless! Shiney, clean and beautiful. Reminded me of Princess in many ways. I haven't seen so much gorgeous marble! The burgundy color was my favorite. We found the ship easy to navigate...pool area very nice, although I think maybe a cover over the hot tubs would be good? The movie screen on deck impressed the kids (age 16) of course...

Cabin:
Our room was very nice, roomy, and the set up was very Disney like! The bed was comfortable and we slept vey well.... the top bunk was claimed by my son, age 16, my little one age 7 took the pull out love seat. The balcony was roomy approximately 4 feet by 9 feet (ish)! There was plenty of room to put clothes away, there were 4 of us and I overpacked! We had to double up a few things in the closet, but really not a big deal at all! The bathroom was typical...they could use better shower curtains though. I usually put the kids in an adjoining cabin, but it worked out fine and when my son strolled in at 2 am, he didn't disturb me, lol.

Buffet:
We were very pleased... comparing to my last Royal Caribbean cruise, MSC was much better (but no chocolate croissants, lol) The deli meat was very good, Fresh fruit always plentiful...Always a fresh hot pasta dish or two. There were aout 4 + choices for cold salads, pasta, potato, couscous etc. The hamburgers were okay, according to my son, but he LOVED the hotdogs and the hotdog rolls were made fresh, not from a bag. (My son is NOT a hot dog eater at home, lol) The pizza during the day was thick crust, not my style, BUT from 6 pm - 9 pm, they make a REAL pizza, thin crust, light on the sauce and yummy toppings. If you like the NY style pizza, you will enjoy this, it is the best of any of the cruise lines I have sailed. There was a ton of lamb served... different ways. There was a carving station, there was turkey, roast leg of lamb, roast beef, roast pork etc. served on different days. The most impressive thing I noticed about the buffet, was that it was NOT made from leftovers the night before, which is apparant on other lines. The food is on the bland side and in need of a touch of salt...which is fine by me. Not everything, just some of the items. The desserts were LOW on chocolate!! They were okay, not great. The cream puff however was beyond excellent!

Cabin Steward:
His name was Gino... he was okay... did the job, but certainly didn't go above and beyond...we had asked to have the mini bar emptied...which wasn't done, and we didn't receive ice in the ice bucket everyday... If you like towel animals, which the kids do, you will be disappointed, as there are none. The room was kept tidy and clean though.

Dining Room:
Staff:
Hmmmm, they were okay... it appears that the waiter does MOST of the work, ours was Radu... I don't know the assistant waiters name, only that he spoke very little English and was Italian. Our waiter always seemed rushed, and when I asked where the chocolate fudge cake was, he just looked at me...he had no problem bringing double the entrees, as I got a few on a couple nights, and the boys got two of alot of items, including desserts, and appetizers. Coffee with dessert...well.... I always like coffee after dinner... at least two of the nights it never came, and I am not used to having to actually ask for it... other cruise lines just bring the cups and know what you like after the first night. There is no singing and dancing, except for the second to last night where they have baked Alaska and introduce the head kitchen staff... Water... most of us just had water with our dinner... on two of the nights the glasses were refilled without asking... one night we were dying of thirst, after our Antigua excursion...so they just put 3 pitchers of ice water on the table, lol. Overall, they were okay... and even brought extra desserts, I have had better and I have had worse.
Food:
The menu always had the "available anytime" items, steak, salmon and I think chicken, pasta ceasar salad.
The appetizers were pretty good, I had the escargot one night, they were cooked different than I had in the past but were tender and not chewy. I had the polenta which was excellent! Melon with Proscuitto... btw, the proscuitto was the best I ever had. The chilled soups were very good. The New England clam chowder was pretty good, the onion soup was good. The salads... only complaint was that they put wayyyy too much dressing on them... when my son asked for no dressing, put it on the side... the waiter looked at him like he had rocks in his head. The entrees... the prime rib was excellent, the lamb was excellent, the veal chop was excellent, the veal that was "breaded" was more like an egg coating... I didn't like the coating, but the veal was good. My husband said the chicken cacciatore was very good. The risotto dishes were excellent. The spaghetti bolognese was good, the linguine alfredo was good... OH, OH... I wanted to try something different...so I ordered the spinach and mushroom "whatever they called it", lol... the description made it sound more like a crabcake style item without crab of course. Well, it actually looked like cow patties on my plate and really were pretty gross. They were green flat splats... I didn't get a picture, but I should have! The lobster... wellll, it was not Maine lobster, but they were pretty large... they were whole lobsters ... cut in half lengthwise, so you got one half of the tail.... which was tasty in parts, but mostly mushy and eating just that would leave you starving! There was no claw, although I wouldn't want to take apart a claw in formal clothes... The filet mignon was tender, but lacked alot of good flavor... the prime rib was much better and the sirloin steaks were very good.
Desserts... Like I mentioned... NO chocolate really... there was a chocolate hazelnut thing that tasted okay, but it has crushed hazelnuts, which I can't have... there was a sorbet of the day... these were okay but rather bland and lacked good strong fruit flavor. The icecream options were good, chocolate and vanilla, but that was it. The baked alaska was good. There was a parfait of like a white chocolate and chocolate mousse that was very good...overall, considering this is an Italian cruise line... I was disappointed... Oh, my husband said the cheesecake was very good... instead of cheesecake, why not cannoli? Riccota cheese pie?? There are so many wonderful Italian desserts..

My mouth is watering, Dolores!

I had heard that the service style was not what Americans have come to enjoy on our regular US ported cruise lines and you confirmed it.

I'm waiting to hear about the entertainment now.

Oh, by the way, were announcements made in several languages?

I have to say, the cruise director was blah, but I have only met one that was outstanding... Richard Spacey... with Royal Caribbean.

The singers and dancers were the best of any cruise line I have been on... Their rendition of Phantom of the Opera was wayyyyyy better than what I saw in Boston!

Yes, Char, the announcements were made in 4 or 5 languages... BUT... English was first, then I made them like background noise and didn't pay attention so it didn't bother me at all. That being said... keep in mind, that they make a daily announcement at 9:30 am the Captain says good morning blah blah... in one language, lol, English... then the cruise director would come on and give an overview of the days activities. You would not hear announcements all day long reminding you to get to bingo, or the art auction is starting in 15 minutes, then in 10 minutes then 5 then OH MY GOD the art auction is beginning, lol. It appears that MSC feels that people can read their daily planner, and decide if and what they want to participate in.

I personally loved the ship and MSC... most of the negative reviews I have read, are really what seems to be people that expect Celebrity, or an American cruise line way of cruising, and it is NOT... I blame their travel agents for not forwarning them, and if they were forwarned then they really can't complain, lol.

D

Originally Posted by djgifford

I personally loved the ship and MSC... most of the negative reviews I have read, are really what seems to be people that expect Celebrity, or an American cruise line way of cruising, and it is NOT... I blame their travel agents for not forwarning them, and if they were forwarned then they really can't complain, lol.

D

This is what one of the BDMs told us at lunch on the ship tour, Dolores, travel agents should forewarn their clients about the Italian differences. This discussion always come up on Costa also.
Don't know if you knew this or not D, but the Italians do not include the closet and bathroom space in the total square footage of the cabin. Not sure if this applies to Costa though since it's owned by a US Corp, Carnival and MSC is privately owned. I will be speaking with my Costa BDM on Monday and will enquire if it's the same with them.
There are anouncements in 5 languages as is the case on Costa.
As you know, I was happy with our Costa cruise and I'm looking forward to our MSC cruise on the Poesia next year.

Glad you enjoyed the Orchestra. That was the second MSC ship I've been on and both were very nice ships. Seems they decorate their ships very elegantly as they are a Premium line, like Princess.

Well, it makes sense not to include the closet in the sq footage of the room, lol.

I have been working with Rosalie alot recently and picked up group space on the Poesia for November and December... I wish I could go, lol.

Thanks so much Delores!

Loved the part about the PROSCUITTO! So crazy how it varies! When it's good "it's very very good", but when "it's bad it's horrid"!

Originally Posted by djgifford

Well, it makes sense not to include the closet in the sq footage of the room, lol.

I have been working with Rosalie alot recently and picked up group space on the Poesia for November and December... I wish I could go, lol.

She sent me an email yesterday( saw a few hours earlier) too. I am going on the Poesia.

Hi, Dolores

We are interested in Poesia for next April. Since this ship is the same as Orchestra, perhaps you can answer a balcony question for me.

Were you in a regular balcony (164 sq. ft) or a superior balcony (191 sq. ft)? 164 sq. ft. seems pretty small to me, but it would be just dh and I so I wonder if it would "feel" small.

Also, the larger balconies are indented. Do they look down on the lifeboats?

Also (I have a lot of also's), the aft balconies. Do you know if those balconies are larger. They appear to be so in the brochure but what's confusing to me is that the higher cat. balconies are on the lower decks (8 and 9) while the regular balconies are on decks 10 and 11, which made me wonder if that meant that decks 8 and 9 have larger balconies.