MSC Fantasia Reviews

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We had just gotten off an NCL transatlantic, which was heavenly, and stayed on La Rambla in Barcelona for a few days. Then we boarded the MSC Fantasia for Marseilles, France, Genoa, Naples, and Sicily, Italy, and then finally Tunis in Tunisia. We had been on the MSC Orchestra and Poesia in the Caribbean so we knew MSC was okay, or so we thought, but mostly it was the itinerary that caused us to choose this ship. We never had such an easy embarkation as we had in Barcelona. We and another couple were the only two registering at 12 noon, which surprised me a bit. Later I learned that the Fantasia picks up and leaves off passengers at every port. Therefore, there were just a few embarking in Barcelona. Only about 50 people showed up for the boat drill. The first culture shock was at dinner in the restaurant when we asked for water with ice. The waiters only serve BOTTLED WATER which you have to pay for. You cannot get a cup of coffee nor tea to have with dessert in the dining room. You have to go up to the buffet for these beverages, and the buffet was always a madhouse. Since we chose to dine in the restaurant as opposed to the buffet, at lunch and at dinner we had to purchase water. Second, the first night we embarked was the FAREWELL show and it was a formal night. Of course we learned later about the policy to pick up and drop off passengers at every port but who felt like dressing up on the first night? Third, english speaking people were in the minority. The only way to meet other english speakers was on excursions, which were usually spoken in 2 languages. And the people we met were getting off before we were so it was difficult to make any acquaintances. There is no trivia, movies, and no lectures because of the language problem. The english TV shows were very very limited and boring. Announcements were made in 5 languages. Even BINGO was played in 5 languages!!! Fourth, I didn't like the fact that MEN cleaned the WOMEN's bathroom. I didn't like entering a restroom and finding a man in there. This might be okay in Europe but it's uncomfortable for Americans. Fifth-the worst part of the journey was the smell of cigarette smoke everywhere! The lounges had a smoking and nonsmoking section but the smoke drifted and stunk up the entire lounge. The same is true in the indoor pool, which happens to be gorgeous, but the smell of smoke is a turnoff. You can also smell smoke in the hallways. It was everywhere! It was awful. One night while I was sleeping I smelled smoke seeping into my room. I called the customer service desk who said they'll take care of it. This also happened during the day one afternoon. Well, when they say they'll take care of it, they mean in a couple of hours if at all. Service is not a priority. Children under the age of 10 are free on MSC so there were kids everywhere! I felt sorry for the kids because of all the smoke getting into their little lungs. On the positive side, the food was very good. We enjoyed the different pastas and other italian food offered. The ship is the most beautiful ship we've ever been on in our 30 plus cruises and it is extremely well kept. Our balcony room was large by ship standards and very comfortable. Also, we enjoyed the ports very much. However, we will not be going on an MSC ship in the Mediterranean again.

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Check in procedure: It is strongly recommended to do the Internet check in. It saves you enormous time on arrival. With this little pre-work done check in goes smooth. "Valet" parking worked very well for us, turn over and return of the car was one of the most positive experiences of the trip. Cabin: We booked a balcony cabin on 10th floor in the center of the boat. Sufficient space available both in cabin and bathroom. We recommend to take two things along: Hooks to be attached to the cabinet doors for jackets as well as a multiple socket to charge your electronic equipment (There is only one socket available in the cabin) Facilities: The description on the web site is in line with what we found on board. the facilities are mostly well maintained. Enjoy the fitness area early morning on arrival in the new harbour. You have the best view and hardly anyone is up there at 7 am in the morning. Meals: On board you have the option to go for assigned tables in the Red Velvet restaurant at two different times (6.30 pm and 8.30 pm) or you choose the buffet breakfast/lunch/dinner on Deck 14. Our initial desire to be in the first flight was ignored, the restaurant manager was willing to change our assignment starting on day 2 of the cruise. This happened to many passengers, question is why does MSC ask your before starting the cruise if they finally ignore majority of the choices. We considered the food quality as good for both the buffet restaurant and the Red Velvet. All food comes with an Italian touch, different variations of pasta/pizza define the base. For the buffet: Prepare your mind for Chaos. Best strategy: find a table first as an "anchor" point for you and your company. Only then go for hunting food. Food will always be replenished. Once we overcame the first Chaos experience we enjoyed the buffet more than the seated dining. Service: Big compliment to the cabin cleaner, waiters in the restaurant and different barkeepers. The cabin cleaners were very attentive, efficient and nearly invisible. Cabin was made up in the morning and evening. Towels changed twice a day on request. Very good job. The waiters were very attentive also catered for special dietary needs with no hesitation. Very professional in remembering names and special wishes already on day 2, excellent job. Exception: Receptionists were not always supportive, it sometimes takes minutes before they answer the phone. Accounting staff extremely arrogant and inefficient. Excursions: This is where the negative touch came in. The excursions are by far overpriced. Transfers to the cities (Barcelona, Marseille) way too high, you can easily get a taxi transfer for the charge of the bus transfer. Excursion to Vesuvio was done despite the fact that there was no visibility. It is a phone call away to check these things out, it was a big disappointment and waste of time and energy, no visibility at all on the peak. Our recommendation is dare to organize your own excursion. Even in Tunis we managed to organize our private tour with a local Taxi driver. We saw all the highlights mentioned in the combination of three offered excursions, paid a fraction of the price and had a lot of individual, local touch to it. Italian Management: Disaster from the beginning to the end. Each and any disembarkation was delayed. Information was given only on request, not proactively. Our recommendation: Add one hour to the planed disembarkation time. Enjoy a prolonged breakfast on Deck 14 while most guests are stress-fully waiting in the lobby for the doors to open. You will arrive relaxed for your trip, no queues when leaving the boat. Final disembarkation back in Genoa peaked all previous experience. Leaving the cabin was requested at 7 am, we finally managed to leave the boat by 10.30 am. 3 1/2 hours of wasted time sitting on your hand luggage with hundreds of stressed co-travellers. Complete chaos with returning passports for all "Extra-Schengen" guests. We received a time schedule the night before, planed out to 5 minute intervals. All a joke, not a single time target was kept. Our recommendation: Extend the time in the cabin to minimum 8 am. Leave some extra tip for the cabin cleaning staff to compensate. You will evade the stress created by poor process management on your final hours on the boat. One additional point became annoying over time. All activities on the boat and outside the boat are an effort to maximize your spend during your trip. Be aware of the fact, MSC tries to take money out of your pocket at any moment of the trip. The 15% service charge on top of the 7 Euro/day is only one example. It is ridiculous and obviously contributing to finance the staff costs. In summary we enjoyed our first cruise to full extent, exceptions as written above. Fantasia is a great ship, with unlimited opportunities during a 7 days cruise. We received a service level that met our expectations, especially from the Asian staff members. We chose our trip outside of main holiday season. This helped a lot to limit the negative experiences other travelers shared in their comments.

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Just back from a 7 night Med cruise on the MSC Fantasia The ship itself and the cabin staff and cleaners were fantastic...that's about it. Heres my complaints from a list which could go on and on (ATTENTION CRUISERS THINKING ABOUT MSC - BELIEVE THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS!!!): Reception and waitresses who roll their eyes at you. The Tex-Mex restaurant... an insult to every Texan & Mexican to walk the earth. Melted sandwich slice cheese on tortilla chips is nachos? Really? The Lifts -- Seems to only have 1 out of the 4 in each section operational, a simple cheap software upgrade can fix this. Children gambling in the casino -- wonderful examples of parenting! Prepaid Newspaper deliveries -- New exclusive MSC deal, Buy 7 papers and get 5 delivered. 3-4 phone calls will result in you possibly getting the missing paper. Room service Breakfast -- Cold toast, cold coffee, wrong cereal, no sugar... something different everyday! The Sports Bar -- Thinking of sitting down to watch some NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs? Not on MSC after 10pm... mid-way through Game 3, all 15 TV's switch to Karaoke! English Language Pompeii Tour -- guide could not speak English very well at all, they really should test services they are selling. The Pool Areas - crowded with fat men in budgie smugglers and fat women in bikinis wrapped in ancient brown leather. Not a site for the squeamish! Neither myself, my wife or her 3 kids swam once on this trip. The Room -- booked a double cabin with a balcony on the port side of the ship, got a twin cabin on the starboard side! The Italian guests - no etiquette, no manners, no idea how to queue, don't wait for you to exit the lift before getting in, their kids run riot all over the ship & called one of my wife's kids a catso while he was by himself. We requested that our service charges be removed from our bill as we were not happy with what we received. It took us 4 attempts to get them taken off and were ushered from Accounting to Reception and back in order to get it done. Not once were we asked why, they really couldn't care less. There is a massive difference to what the English speaking world consider 5 star and luxury and what the Europeans do. It's really a 4 star ship at best. I recommend people stick to British, American and Scandinavian cruise ships where you will be treated right. MSC - it is painfully obvious that its a shipping company playing with rubber duckies in the luxury cruise market.... send your packages with them, not your loved ones!

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We are a very quiet, mid 40's UK couple and this was our first cruise; our children are grown-up, so we were on our own. We were nervous of what to expect, especially after we read some of the negative reviews on here. We boarded the MSC Fantasia in Barcelona on 13th April 2012 and disembarked 20th April back in Barcelona. Here is what we thought: EMBARKATION: Was reasonably smooth and straight forward, although it wasn't immediately clear which way to go to board. We were approached straight away by ship's staff handing out flyers advertising their restaurants and wine packages. Also grabbed for a photograph! SHIP: We couldn't fault it. It was massive, extremely clean and everywhere there appeared to be someone cleaning, sweeping, polishing or brushing. It really was immaculate. The decor was luxurious and the glitzy, sparkly staircase was stunning. S STAFF: We found all staff friendly and polite, particularly the room cleaning staff. They all said "hello" or "Good morning" as we passed in the corridor, or at the very least - smiled. The reception staff were helpful. DO CHECK YOUR ACCOUNT AS WE WERE GIVEN ??100 ON BOARD SPEND BY VIRGIN, BUT IT DIDNT APPEAR ON OUR BILL. We are phoning them to claim it back. SAFETY: We were asked to attend a safety demonstration in the Theatre, but we noted that they told us about the excursions first before they showed us how to put on a life jacket (in about 7 different languages!!) CABIN: We had a balcony cabin on deck 13. It was very clean, and well maintained. The bed was made for us every morning and turned down for us at night. The towels were fluffy and changed every day. We also had a bath robe each; a hairdryer, a TV, minibar (you have to pay for any drink you have). Our particular cabin had an interconnecting door and we could hear the guests in the next room quite clearly; it was two middle aged Italian women and one of them had a very shrill voice, but because we couldn't understand them, it wasn't that intrusive. We didn't hear a peep from the room the other side. The safe was VERY useful and easy to use. FOOD: The Zanzibar catered for the buffet style dining. There was plenty of varied food, tea, coffee and water. The food wasn't boiling hot, but it was perfectly acceptable. We didn't see that much pushing and shoving that has been described in other reviews, but we did comment on the amount people put on their plates! We always found a seat. There was always plenty of waiters but occasionally we felt a little uncomfortable as they did tend to "hang around" a bit waiting to snatch your empty plate! A number of times the hand sanitizers were empty, but that wasn't a big problem to us as we took our own. The restaurant was great, we had the 1st seating at 6:30pm. The food was faultless and our waiter perfectly friendly and charming. We were seated with two UK couples, a lovely couple on their own and a couple with two immaculately behaved daughters. Be aware that you have to pay extra for your drinks, including bottled water. SMOKING: We are both non-smokers and people did appear to smoke where they wanted, but there wasn't too much of it and we can't say that it was too bothersome. To get to the Theatre, you do have to walk through the casino which was very smoky. We did see a few people smoking on their balconies. SHOWS: The shows lasted about 40 minutes each and were well done. The girl singers were great and the costumes gorgeous. The Michael Jackson tribute was very good. EXCURSIONS: As with most other Cruise Lines, they were over priced, but we did the open top bus tour of Genoa (lasted 20 mins and people kept talking) then to the Aquarium, which was fab. We also did the Pompeii trip in Naples and that was FANTASTIC and we loved it. Beware if you stop in Marseille and you have small children; the roads and pavements seem to blend into one, so watch the traffic! In all of the ports the drivers pay no attention to the traffic lights, so don't assume they're going to stop. DISEMBARKATION: We were asked to leave suitcases (they gave us coloured labels to attach) outside our room by 1am the previous night and to vacate our room by 8am and meet in designated lounges at around 9am (we were a bit late docking). We were then led outside to meet our transfer driver to take us to the airport. IN SUMMARY: We enjoyed ourselves on the whole, but as this was our first cruise, we have nothing to compare it to. I daresay once we try Royal Caribbean, we'll change our tune.

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We have only sailed with Costa before so I can only compare these two lines. Embarking was pretty painless but you are not given the warm and cozy feelings from customer service. The ship is beautiful and big. It took me almost the entire cruise to figure out where everything was (I still don't think I saw everything). We had 2 rooms (a balcony for us and an inside stateroom for the kids). Here are some pros and cons: The good and bad: -Nice rooms (especially the inside stateroom-it was larger than on the Costa Pacifica). -Good food-especially in the dining rooms. The food quality and portion sizes were better on the Fantasia than the Pacifica. I think food is very subjective though. Others we knew on this cruise didn't care for the food very much. -Most of the shows were good and there was always something going on in one of the bars. -The kids club was OK. My daughter like the one on the Costa Pacifica much better. Our cruise with Costa was only 2/3 full and had very few children on board. This time our cruise coincided with a European school holiday and it was completely full with a ton of kids. I think the crew was overwelmed by all of the kids. -The room service as a whole wasn't very good. I never saw my room attendant (he never gave us ice or restocked the mini bar). He did the minimum-clean towels and made the bed. Our room attendant on Costa would wait outside the rooms after dinner to see if there was anything else you needed for the evening. -Dinner service was pretty good. We got off to a bad start when the waitress gave us a bottle of wine that was not on our wine package (b/c they had not delivered the coupon book to us yet). It was a cheaper bottle of wine than we had in our coupons but they still made us pay for it because we didn't have a coupon for it. We told them to take one of our coupons for it (the bottle they gave us was 1/2 the price of the bottles in our coupon book)but she couldn't. I guess they don't trust the wait staff and keep a tight record of the wine bottles. Those coupon books are retarded-why can't they just upload everything to your card? It was uphill from there and we received pretty good service. The dinner service on Costa was much better though-our drinks were poured and ready for us every night and several bottles of wine were waiting for us to try and choose from. I think the full ship had the waitstaff overwhelmed on Fantasia. On Costa we had much better service I'm sure due in part to the ship not being full. -I would suggest eating in the dining rooms most of the time. Unless you hit the buffet for a late lunch it was really busy (the breakfast was crazy most of the time too). The dining rooms never seemed too busy. -We do our own excursions-the shuttle buses and excursions are too expensive on these boats (especially for 5). -Disembarking was chaotic for those who needed to retrieve their passports. My advice to Americans is to go ahead and try MSC. You might want to do it with one of those last minute discount fares. See if it is for you. Try to go when the schools are not on holiday. We really did have fun and I loved sitting out on the balcony and relaxing while looking at the beautiful French Riviera. We live in Europe now so I know about the customer service (or lack of)and was prepared for it. I have never cruised on an American line though. I was told the American lines spoil you. MSC was fun though, and I thought a really good value.

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