MSC Melody Reviews

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

I picked this cruise as a birthday surprise for my wife and at the last minute. Our BA flight to Genoa was as pleasant as it can be and the process of boarding was easy as I had checked in online. This meant a very much shorter queue. For those that had not taken this option there was a long wait! We had pid a little extra to select our cabin. This was not a good choice as it was over the engines and under the disco. We only spent one night there as our complaint was swiftly dealt with and our new cabin (on the same deck) was blissfully quiet. However the double bed was against a wall so not ideal. The cabin lighting, though not as bright or directed as we normally enjoy, was just about adequate, although, had I wished to read in bed (on the inside), I would have not been able to do so. Apart from that everything worked, it was clean and the cabin steward was attentive. The dining experience was somewhat mixed. We had, as they say, a "good table" and the conversation never flagged. Initially the food was excellent, and I have rarely enjoyed pasta more, but its quality deteriorated. For example, and we are talking about an Italian ship, four of the five of us left our pasta dish barely tasted one evening. It also proved difficult to get bread or biscuits to accompany the cheese. As for the activities we tried first to play table tennis (but there were no balls) and afterwards the table was taken over completly by youngsters. Nothing else attracted us and the water was too cold for swimming and the hot-tubs always too popular. The entertainment was acceptable, if not show-stopping, and the Classical Concerts on deck were enjoyable even if the content less classical than we havd enjoyed on other cruises. The ports were all easy to navigate and the two trips we took were well organised. However it is always disappointing arriving at a port on a Monday (when museums are closed). This trip had two and a strike on another day when many were disappointed to only hear about, and not see, the home of the Olympics. On the other hand, strolling through Marmaris (Turkey) and Katakolon (Greece) was easy, delightful, clean and safe. However the highlight was Haifa (Israel) with the magnificent Bahai gardens in walking distance and a circular tour available just outside the dock gates. Disembarcation was somewhat confusing as the sound system on the ship is somewhat distorted and, once ashore, I was left with the luggage whilst the coach with my wife drove away. We were fairly quickly re-united when another coach with space for luggage arrived. Our major criticims were the noise. i am never sure whether the popular music broadcast on deck or the Italian conversation won. It seemed that they competed in increasing levels of sound. When the weather was good it was also port to starboard loungers with little space between. There was no real quiet space to be found. The quietest area was also the smokers haven; the quiet bar used as a meeting room for some of the youngsters on board as a study trip. The libray, that great feature on, say, Fred Olsen, was a locked bookcase! My oher concern was the required safety drill. I have been on a cruise when the safety drill came after the fire but on the Melody it was somewhat haphazard. No roll-call was made at our Muster Station and I know that one member at our table did not leave the cabin.

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

We also were on the MSC Melody in April on the same cruise as previous reviewer and we had a fabulous time. We embarked in Genoa and had our bags delivered within a couple of hours. First port of call was Rome and we did the Rome on your Own excursion. We had thought about taking the train ourselves from the port to Rome but as it was Palm Sunday we decided not to risk the trains being over busy. The excursion was really just the coach travel to and from the port and then, pre armed with our own map and researched on the Internet at home, we trekked around Rome and saw everything we wanted to,although didn't go into the Colosseum and finished off walking along the Tiber back to St. Peters Square where we were able to walk around but because of the Palm Sunday service were unable to go into the Basilica...so we had an ice cream instead did some souvenir shopping and made our way back to the coach. We did our own thing travelling on local transport in Athens around the Acropolis area, in Yalta and Odessa, Ukraine, and Istanbul. As previously stated we had bad weather on Sunday night so we had to miss out Messina and Sorrento but went to Naples instead and did the Pompeii excursion from there and had an extremely knowledgeable guide who gave the tour in both English and German. It was fantastic. The ship is not one of the huge, all singing all dancing, stainless steel and mirrors one so I would not call the cruise luxurious but it was immaculately clean with staff polishing, sweeping, etc all the time. The food in the dining room was amazing 7 or 8 courses of delicious, hot food but we chose to eat some of the time in the buffet which had an array of different foods which again were lovely but could have sometimes been kept hotter. There were also chefs cooking a course to order and serving freshly cut fruits. Tea, coffee, water, ice and sometimes hot chocolate were available 24hrs a day on the sun deck. The staff were friendly and helpful and the couple of queries we had were addressed immediately. The entertainment evenings which we went to were very good, and yes, you did have to get used to listening to the announcements in different languages, but hey I wasn't going anywhere else and I just tried to pick up a couple of words in a new language!!! We had a fabulous cruise and would have loved to stop in Messina to go to Etna too but just after the Straits of Messina we passed the volcanic island of Stromboli which was erupting in front of our eyes as we sailed by so it was a bit of a consolation prize. Back at Genoa it did take a long time to start disembarkation but as soon as we were off the ship we had our luggage and got the taxi to the airport and home, sadly. Melody is a small, friendly and very clean ship. It is not luxurious and hasn't all the luxuries that go with the big, new ships. But Melody suited us beautifully and we would have no hesitation in sailing on her again.

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

This is the first negative review we have ever written. 1)Diningroom service very slow and meals usually cold, at best lukewarm. Meat too tough to eat. 2) Buffet did not change the entire cruise, same with afternoon tea. Previous MSC cruise had fantastic food, not so Melody. No jugs of water on table,only bottled water for sale, plus 15% service charge. 2) only water freely available was outside Buffet on pool deck, also tea/coffee. Only juice available was at breakfast and this so diluted that it had no taste. No fresh juice unless you paid for it. 3) SMOKE. Travelling with children, and being asthmatic we made sure that we stayed away from smoking areas. Pity the smokers didn't stay away from non smoking areas. Our muster station was in a smoking area and respirators rather than life jackets were needed. Travel tip. Take extra ventolin inhalers with you. 4) The mini club staff were very kind and our children enjoyed it but we were concerned to see a number of adults using the children's private paddling pool area for sun bathing and reading. This could lead to dangerous situations as no checks are made on passengers.

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

We did our first cruise in Feb 2012, Cape Town to Walvisbay and back on the MSC Melody. We did our homework before cruising so we knew it was the smaller of the fleet and quite old too. We budgeted for spending the same amount as our cruise fare and only used half of what we budgeted. We booked a month before the cruise, still got discount and could upgrade for a lot less than once on the ship. Embarkation was 2-3 hours. We had a mini suite (Cat 10). The rooms were tidy. Bedding was a bit old. Small space between the toilet & bath. If you are tall or large rather opt for a Cat 11 suite. No mini bar as we were told. Food was excellent in the restaurant, but a bit predictable at the buffet. If you got there late, the food were dry or soggy. By day 3 we ate all our meals in the restaurant...bye bye buffet. Water, coffee, tea are free at buffet area, everywhere else you have to pay. Alcohol wasn't that expensive compared to bars/hotels in South Africa. Cocktails was very reasonably priced. Entertainment was excellent. We did realise for a pleasurable cruise we had to take part in most activities on board. The people that didn't, were disappointed with the entertainment. Duty free shops....wonderful. Hard liquor is cheap, chocolates a few rands cheaper, perfume/cosmetics very cheap. Excursions were pricey but well worth it, we did quad biking on the dunes. The cleaning staff (Filipinos) were friendly & helpful. Our waiter (Filipino) was excellent. All bar staff/waiters (mixed cultures) were friendly. The Italian staff was arrogant. According to some regular cruisers, you always wait on these ships...to get on, to get off, to meet the captain etc. We fully experienced that! What we will do differently next time: * Take priority boarding * Take the cabin upgrade and pay for it with a smile upon booking. * Take part in all the activities from the start * Eat at the formal restaurants from the start * Skip the whole cocktails with the Captain event. * No punctuality next time, only when boarding. Overall, would we do it again, YES. We are planning another trip, this time on the MSC Sinfonia.

Hide this review

Ship Ratings
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Areas
Entertainment
Cabin
Spa & Fitness
Shore Excursions
Rates

Our flight to Cape Town and our hotel, The Cape Town Hollow were excellent. We had pre-booked an add-on to our cruise. We had a wonderful time riding around on the 'red bus'. Our troubles started when we embarked the MSC Melody. Our upgraded cabin was smaller than our boxroom at home and the bedding had seen better days. We had asked for a double bedded cabin but got singles. We found out later that the single occupancy was cheap and most of the singles onboard had the double staterooms. My suitcase, when it appeared ,had had the pulling handle ripped from its casing. When we reported this we were told that it had been damaged in-port and not onboard although we had seen the case on deck in perfect condition.When we asked if we could change our cabin to a double bedded one we were told that the ship was full and this would not be possible. We were told to try at the next port when someone might be dis-embarking. We were eventually offered a double cabin but the mattress on the bed was ancient and getting out of bed involved climbing over my husband every time. we decided to stay put. The food was reasonable but we had to have frazzled bacon at breakfast and undercooked eggs. This was preferred to the cold food served in the free dining area on pool deck. Water at the table had to be paid for in the Galaxy restaurant but free tea, coffee and iced water was available on pool deck. The entertainment was poor with no stage as such in the Club Universe but lots of fog 'dry ice'which obscured the action. The overhead monitors were worse than useless. The classical singers were brilliant but their voices were wasted in the pool bar area. Both of us got the proverbial coughing bug and I had to pay for medical treatment. The ports of call were very interesting but the tours were expensive and time ashore was not long enough. We spent our time in Las Palmas looking for a new suitcase, which cost us 100 Euros. Our last port of call was the straw that broke the camels back. Perhaps we should have passed Palamos by but we sailed in nevertheless to high gusty winds which blew two ladies over. We could not leave port due to the bad weather. Pandamonium broke out and staff were indifferent to passengers worries of getting home. We had a piece of paper with a number on it to use the radioroom phone which never materialised. When we eventually got to Genoa we had to be bussed to Milan for our onward journery. By this time we had paid for a new suitcase, medical expenses, we had no recompense for our lost train fairs and had to pay for a coach to get home. All in all we made some very nice friends and without them our holiday would have been a disaster. The restaurant cabin and barstaff were excellent but the officers and reception staff were arrogant and not very helpful at all. The first and last time we shall sail with MSC. The Melody, bless her 'SINK IT'.

Hide this review