We are looking at a cruise that fits our "want to see" list most appropriately. We are looking at cruising on MSC. We have travelled on Holland America (loved it), Royal Caribbean (loved it), Norwegian (not our favorite, but had some good points), we are searching on cruise rating sites and seeing that MSC has problematic reviews. I was hoping to get some insight from some RS travelers.
Thank you for your input,
Stephanie
go to cruisecritic.com Hardly anyone around here cruises the Med (or anywhere else) so you are unlikely to get much info from us.
Cruise critic is wonderful for cruising research.
I would probably never go on MSC, but that is my choice.
We love Celebrity.
The MED has many choices. Generally, the choices are between the Western MED, Adriatic and Aegean.
The Greek islands are great in the Aegean, but Turkey is not on the list anymore due to the Syrian War etc.
Lots of choices, check out the reviews on cc for each cruise line and compare prices and ports.
Have done two Mediterranean cruises on Celebrity and loved them both.
Look closely at how much time you have in port, when comparing companies.
There are many people on this board that cruise so the question is not of line. I tend not to post much about cruising because it will generate of a number of negative rants on this site generally by people who have never been on a cruise but they are experts.
We are big fans of European cruising as a very economical way to see a lot of Europe on a tight schedule especially with kids. MSC is a couple of notches if not several below the cruise lines you mentioned. There is a reason for the problematic reviews. Pay attention. I think you would be better served by using Holland Am (our preference) or one of the other lines you mentioned. For us the critical factor is ship size.
Cruise critic will tell you a lot, but I find the crowd there is a different flavor than here. I'd check it out but take comments with a grain of salt. Sometimes you can tell, like other travel sights, from the kind of criticism whether it's something you would worry about or not. For me, who only travels with a carry-on bag, the size of the closet - as an example - isn't going to be an issue.
One thing I have used cruise critic for is to see options at different ports. Most people there take the ships tours. I avoid those like the plague. I've found that anything listed as a ship tour will be available, cheaper and better, by either doing it on your own or booking a local tour directly. In Cozumel, I booked a two dive day online with a guide, boat and their equipment. The price was less than half the cruise lines guided two dive package. I walked from the ship to the dive shop. After waiting awhile for a large group, who didn't show, we ended up going out on the boat, with the guide and boat driver, by myself - I could choose anywhere I wanted to dive.
I've been on four or five cruises, I'd have to think about which. Each time I've booked through vacationstogo.com. They are an online travel agent. Their prices are the same as all the other online agents, generally a lot cheaper than what you find on the cruise line sites. I like their search engine better than anywhere else I've tried. The cruises I booked were all done correctly with no unexpected headaches, so I have no complaints with them.
On their search engine you can find information about the ship, amenities, photos of cabins, deck plans, etc. to help you decide on what works for you. They have a star rating for each individual ships, when it was built, when it was last updated, etc.
