Can anyone give me any info on cruising with MSC Musica from Venice,Greece, Croatia & italy for 7 nights. Traveling with wife & 3 kids.
what to look out for & what was it like. Any info much appreciated. Australia

I will be going on this cruise on April 6, 2008. It seems like a good price for your money. You didn't say when you were going on this cruise.

Hi Norahe, thanks for the reply we are going in Nov 5th, would be great to hear from you when your back, Have a grat Cruise.

Norahe, we will be settin sail with you on the 6th.. is this ur first cruise as well?

cancelled
Kind Regards from Germany
Hans

We stay last year five weeks in Australia and make also a cruise from Sydney to Auckland with Sapphire Princess

Yes, this is my first cruise.

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. I went on the Musica from April 6 - 13, 2008. My husband, son (16 y.o.), and myself booked a balcony room. Overall we liked the cruise. The only thing we did not like was the reception desk. The reason we did not like the reception desk is because most of the people were Italian that manned it. If, I asked one of them a question I would get one answer, if I asked someone else I got a different answer. I think that this has more to do with culture, since I have many friends who have lived in Italy and they have experienced the same thing. On this cruise the only tour we did was in Olympia. We were a little disappointed with the tour because it was suppose to be an English only tour but the tour had both English and Spanish speaking. My husband speaks both language so he found that he was listening to both and sometimes the Spanish or English version was better. We found overall that it was better to do things on your own (better value for your money). We used the website Portreview.com which gave us excellent port information. For example when we went to Athens we followed the directions and paid 1 euro each to take the train into Athens. Be careful in Athens because of pickpockets. We encountered 2 episodes in Athens. One of the incidents the guy was posing as a tourist taking pictures but at the same time moving closer to the outdoor table the people behind us was sitting at. The guy was trying to take her purse off of the chair rail. The other incident was this lady who shoved me. When I told her in a loud voice to quit shoving me and she realized that my husband and son was walking in front of me and I was not alone, she then hit me and told me to quit hitting her. Overall I liked all of the ports except maybe Bari. I think that you and your family will have a nice time.

Thanks for your input,
our auntie we be travelling with us who speaks italian, and thanks for the tip regarding pick pockets. and web site info on ports, I will check it out. its should be great, kids can't wait.
thanks again.

Hello Aussie,

My partner and I just finished the MSC Musica cruise from June 15 to June 22 Venice to Greece to Croatia. This was my first cruise with MSC although I have previously cruised the Carribean with Celebrity, NCL, and and the Western Mediterranean with a Greek cruise line which has been since bought out.

I must say that the MSC cruise was a great disappointment to us. English language services such as reception and the accounting desk was very poor. It is great that your Aunt speaks Italian.

The food was bland and unimaginative. One fellow guest called it "hospital cafeteria food." We were doubly disappointed because we had had great food on our other cruises.

Also, there are blocks of time (up to 7 hours one day for those on the late dinner sitting) when no food is available. On my other cruises, complimentary food, coffee, tea, some juices were available 24 hours. Not so on the Musica.

The food and beverage service staff were overworked and thus tended to be unfriendly and sometimes rude.

Finally, unlike my other cruises, the Musica cabins tend to be noisy. I could hear toilets flush, closet and entry doors being opened and shut, as well as muffled conversations from other cabins. Since I tend to go to bed at midnight, these noises disturbed my sleep until about 2 am when most passengers have gone to bed.

On the upside, the ship itself is new. The ports are interesting especially Santorini and Dubrovnik. Unfortunately, the ship is in Mykonos for only about 5 hours.

Also, we met a lot of nice English-speaking passengers. There were also a lot of Italian passengers. They were more than willing to try to talk if they spoke a bit of English or you spoke a bit of Italian. There were quite a few children most of whom were extremely well-behaved.

I certainly do not intend going on an MSC cruise. However, I know that what people want out of a cruise differs. I hope you and your family have a better experience.