MSC Cruises Reviews 98

Just on an MSC Cruise around the Med. Very poor quality on the Magnifica.
We are currently stuck out at sea until 7.30 pm whereas we should have docked in Naples at 8 am.

Will you be compensating us for the wasted day being trapped onboard.

Everything is an option we find - and costs are more than land prices unlike the MSC videos would have you believe.

Food is extremely average and we have to queue all the time.

Try to avoid MSC Cruises and always book your own excursions via an alternative local provider or pay the price of extremely prices.

Look forward to monetary compensation gesture if good will rather than a voucher off another cruise.

This was how first ever cruise it was fantastic the ship is massive the cabin and the stewards were brilliant nothing to much for them the restaurant we were allocated was fantastic our waiter was fantastic we found that all the crew and staff were brilliant we loved it so much we have booked on board for next September can't wait thank you MSC

I arrived at the port with no problems, found where I needed to go, and parked for a good price — only $72 for 4 days — and even scored a great spot on the 4th floor by the elevator. Dropping off bags was quick and easy. So far, so good.

Then I got to the terminal, and the escalators weren’t working. Bummer for anyone who wanted to use them. (1ST PROBLEM.) I had a kid and a stroller, so we used the elevator anyway.

Inside the terminal, I found my way around, got in line, and reached the counter quickly. There were plenty of staff at the counters, and the gentleman who helped us was fantastic! After that, my wife, mother-in-law, 1-year-old son, and I made our way to the ship.

Once onboard, we searched for the elevators. They use this terrible A/B/C/D system, which is confusing and painfully slow. There were way too many people needing to go up and down, forcing many passengers — including us — to carry bags up the stairs. (2ND PROBLEM.) It took us about 10 minutes to get from deck 6 to deck 12.

To make matters worse, the AC wasn’t working, so it was hot, humid, and suffocating. (3RD PROBLEM.)

When we finally got to our room, it reeked of bleach. It was still being cleaned at 3 PM, which was another issue. (4TH PROBLEM.)

We left our bags and walked up from deck 12 to deck 16 because the elevators were so unreliable. When we got to the buffet, the lines were outrageous — 15–20 minutes per person — and there were no available tables. The buffet was overcrowded, loud, and stressful. (5TH PROBLEM.)

On top of that, the buffet layout made no sense. It was arranged in a circular pattern with different stations, meaning you had to walk all over the deck chasing your food. Whoever designed that setup had no cruise experience. (6TH PROBLEM.)

As for the food itself — it was average at best. Mostly fast carbs, little-to-no protein, and when there was protein, it was mostly pork. That’s a problem for people following a proper diet, not to mention Jewish guests and others with dietary restrictions. Nearly everything was seasoned with strange spices or sauces. I didn’t enjoy the taste of anything. The food director should be replaced. (7TH PROBLEM.)

Back to the room — we had to use the stairs again. In fact, over the course of four days, we used the elevators maybe 10 times and the stairs around 40 times. I noticed a lot of unhappy guests on board. Every single day, there was arguing and frustration among passengers. I’ve never seen so many dissatisfied people, not even on the worst Carnival cruise. (8TH PROBLEM.)

The crew felt heavily scripted, and the managers seemed clueless. If a manager has to tell staff to smile, that’s a failure in leadership. Good managers create a positive environment where people naturally enjoy their work. MSC’s forced smiles were fake and obvious. (9TH PROBLEM.)

The water tasted like pure chlorine, so we had to buy bottled water. The free drinks were limited to lemonade and unsweetened tea — no juice options for kids. That’s incredibly disrespectful to families. (10TH PROBLEM.)

The app was basically useless. It didn’t answer common questions, so we constantly had to ask crew members. Two staff members told me we could get off at Nassau with just our ship card, but when we returned, security demanded photo IDs. Total setup. Luckily, we all had ours, but others were forced to go to the security station to prove their identities. (11TH PROBLEM.)

The private island was mostly under construction, with poor-quality facilities. The seating was in the sand, constantly swarmed by birds, and there were only a few restrooms — each with 1–2 stalls, 2–3 urinals, and a couple of sinks for thousands of guests. It was chaos. The beach had rocks everywhere, making it difficult to swim, and umbrellas had to be rented. The island staff did everything possible to ignore passengers. (12TH PROBLEM.)

Every night, there were drunk people and even fights — in the rooms, by the bars, and in the hallways. We didn’t feel safe. (13TH PROBLEM.)

People were loud at 3 AM, and no one did anything about it. I couldn’t sleep a single night because of the constant noise. (14TH PROBLEM.)

I was hungry every day and night. I’ve never felt so starved in my life. Climbing up and down the stairs made me lose nearly 10 pounds. I’m only 165 lbs at 6 feet tall — it was miserable. When I finally got home, I ate like a man just released from prison. It took me two days to recover from this awful experience. (15TH PROBLEM.)

Honestly, I could go on, but I’m tired of typing.

I will never recommend MSC to anyone. And I’ll never sail with them again.

The only thing I liked was that the ship was new.

MSC desperately needs professional, experienced leaders — people who understand what it’s like to be a passenger. That’s how you fix problems from the inside and improve the experience for the 100,000+ future guests.

MSC Virtuosa a beautiful modern ship with great facilities, but that's it. Prepare to break the bank by paying for all the extras on board (Drinks including water at dinner in the main dining rooms). Service is horrible and staff seem unhappy,overworked and overwhelmed by the amount of passengers. Had dinner in Hola and to wait for almost 30mins to be acknowledged by the waitress and food was nothing special. The ship is more of a booze cruise and the atmosphere can be very rowdy with drunk, aggressive and antisocial behaviour. A fight broke out on my cruise and a passenger was killed. The food in general was average and very repetitive and boring in the buffet. Pool and decks can be very overcrowded. Not the ideal ship if you are looking for a bit of piece and quiet and want to relax, approach with caution and be prepared to spend a lot.

We just returned from our mini cruise on MSC Virtuosa over the bank holiday weekend.

It wasn't all bad, but it also wasn't great in our view.
We went on Marella earlier in the year, and loved it, MSC definitely attracts a different clientele.

Starting with the positive first
- it is a nice ship in general, especially the Galleria Virtuosa is really nice
- Good sized cabins overall, we had a balcony cabin.
- friendly housekeeping staff in our part of the ship
- good shows, we saw one extra show (was £9 with 1 drink, which i consider good value) and 1 included show

Now coming to the negative points
- be aware what you pay for, if you don't get a drinks packages, you can only get water from the buffet, they even charge you for water in the main dining room and there are no water dispensers anywhere.
- food was average at best. We ate in the dining room on the first evening and we had a sadly looking chicken breast with some chips and 2 pieces of asparagus. We also didn't had the chance to have our dessert, as it is fixed dining times and we had a show booked (and it was 1.30h between the dinner time and the start of the show!). Also the food in the speciality restaurant was average, we went to Hola, and it felt overpriced for what we got. Overall the atmosphere in the dining room is also loud and quite crammed and there was barely any service.
- food in the buffet is also average overall, it's always the same
- there are queues everywhere, the staff / guest ratio is not enough for the amount of guests. Staff regularly seemed overwhelmed
- definitely more of a booze cruise, might fit a lot of people, but not really our cup of tea, as also some of them got quite rowdy in the evenings.

Overall be aware what you pay for upfront and what you will still pay for once on board

Some of the 1- star reviews on here are quite obviously false and others write about issues nothing to do with MSC. We have taken four Yacht Club cruises in the last 6 months and each has been exceptional. Friendly crew, fantastic service and very comfortable accommodation. The Yacht Club restaurant offered excellent food.
MSC need to start responding to these reviews because I'm pretty sure they won't have guest records for most of the comments.

I spent two weeks on the MSC Virtuosa in the Yacht Club. While the destinations were beautiful and the Yacht Club staff were exceptionally kind, the overall experience was an absolute disaster. I strongly DO NOT recommend spending money on this cruise, and here’s why:

THE GOOD
• The Yacht Club staff were fantastic—attentive, professional, and kind. I wish I could list them all because they truly made an effort.
• The food in the Yacht Club was excellent, and the drink selection was great.
• The paid theatre show was absolutely worth it! The free entertainment was mediocre, but the premium show was incredible—though barely anyone attended. If you’re going, book in advance, as it’s cheaper.

THE BAD

1. The Bed – A Joke!

The mattress was beyond terrible—just a 40 cm thick piece of cheap foam with zero support. It was impossible to sleep on. When I asked for a replacement, they said there were no extra beds on the entire ship. So for two nights, I slept in a 90-degree position, unable to rest. Their “solution”? They put a dining table top of my mattress to stop it from sinking. Imagine trying to sleep on a dining table.

After I refused to accept this for the price I paid, suddenly they found another bed. They placed extra mattress protectors on it for the rest of the trip. It was still not comfortable, but at least bearable. I wasn’t expecting a Hilton-quality bed, but I’ve never experienced such a horrendous sleeping arrangement—not even in a budget hotel like Hampton. Even those have better beds!

2. The Itinerary – A Complete Waste of Time
• Every Sunday, the ship stopped at a French island where everything was closed—completely pointless.
• Every Tuesday, we spent the day at sea, instead of stopping in a city where we could have explored, visited markets, or done something meaningful. This makes no sense for travelers.

3. Horrible Service Outside the Yacht Club
• The bar staff were exhausted and unfriendly—a stark contrast to the Yacht Club.
• Freshly squeezed juice? Forget it! Out of two weeks, I was able to buy fresh juice only twice. Every other time, they just said an ingredient was missing and refused to make even a simple apple-carrot juice.
• The ice cream bar was a joke. After waiting in line for 30–40 minutes, I was told that I could only order one portion at a time. If I wanted another, I had to stand in line again.
• We went to a yoga class, but it was in a tiny room, so guests were crammed inside while others tried to participate from the hallway. Many gave up and walked out.

THE UGLY

4. The Flight – An Absolute Nightmare!

I requested a dairy-free meal in advance. What did I get?
• Cheesy pasta with side a block of cheese.
• Later, a cheese sandwich.
• Even the dry bread roll came with butter!
So I had nothing to eat for 9 hours.

I reported this issue on the ship. First, they told me to fill out another form. Later, they said they couldn’t do anything and that I should contact their headquarters. I did, and they apologized, promising that my return flight wouldn’t have the same issue.

Guess what? It happened again!
• My “dairy-free meal” was lasagna, cheese, and crackers.
• They didn’t even have one dairy-free meal on board—not even a spare from business class.
• This was a Virgin Atlantic charter flight, so calling or emailing them in advance was useless.

5. Passport Control – Suspiciously Nonexistent

When we landed in Barbados, we were put straight onto a transfer bus and taken to the ship—without a single passport check. My passport has no stamp, no official record of me being in that country, and no border control. How is this even legal?!

6. Internet – A Total Scam!
• The Wi-Fi was completely useless.
• It was good enough for video calls but too slow to load a single webpage.
• No YouTube, no Netflix, no Instagram videos.
• Even hotel booking sites wouldn’t load!
• DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS WIFI. Get an eSIM instead and use it when docked at islands.

7. Billing System – A Disaster!
• You can’t even see what they’re charging you for.
• The system told me to download my bill before disembarking, as it would be unavailable later. But even the staff couldn’t access it! They had to print it out manually.

FINAL VERDICT – NEVER AGAIN!

The Yacht Club itself was amazing, but beyond that, this cruise was a complete disaster. The horrible beds, useless itinerary, terrible service outside the Yacht Club, flight nightmare, and scam-level internet made it one of the worst travel experiences of my life.

I strongly recommend against spending your money on this cruise unless you are prepared for frustration, exhaustion, and disappointment.

We might take another cruise someday, but after this experience, I’ve had enough.

Avoid this cruise line at all costs. Their so-called "Yacht Club" is a complete ripoff—outrageously overpriced and nowhere near the luxury they promise. The ships are packed like sardines, and you’ll be stuck waiting in endless lines for everything. The specialty restaurants? A total waste of money. The Japanese one is downright embarrassing. Service is awful, and to top it off, their filthy air conditioning will probably make you sick. Do yourself a favor and book elsewhere.

Just the Cruise where i was looking for!

Nice trip from NYC to the Bahamas, just enough to cover all te details and be there also on the sea itself. MSC Meraviglia is a very nice ship, also wen you compare it to other cruiselines like Carnival for example with there rusty ships. For me as a ex navy employee, was it a very good experience, i wil look for msc by future cruises.

Never buy another ticket on board. They promise that they will match the price if it drops over time, that you have complete flexibility to change the dates (at least after 30+ days), that it always gives the best price on board etc. all are bs, I bought on-board and now I am tied to a expensive price, no flexibility, no drinking packages (it costs +300€ more than buying right now for the same trip, date, etc).

Just returned from MSC Virtuosa 25 Oct to 8 Nov the worst cruise of my life! The cruise was geared up for families with lots of kids!!! Could not get near the Pool as it was always full of shouting screaming kids Kids touching food - 2 boys riding around on a mobility shooter a couple of evenings hitting the pole on the ship Kids running around 12.0clock at nights There was nowhere to get any peace and quiet at all for older guests - it was horrendous. Kids just ran riot no one stopped them MSC should be ashamed of themselves because lots of them should have been back at school!
I needed to complain about a waiter - tried a couple of times but due to the lack of English speaking staff it was impossible so left it But I would like to warn ladies traveling alone as there were a couple of incidents concerning waiters bringing breakfasts to our cabins early in the mornings which should not have occurred There was scruffy attire worn in the dining rooms shorts and hats - a very cheap low-class cruise! It's right folks you get what you pay for!!!!!

Extremely disappointed with MSC Cruises' handling of our damaged baggage!!
During our October 2024 cruise, they required us to leave our bags outside the ship for transport to our cabin. In that short transfer, they somehow managed to ruin all three of our bags, making them completely unusable. When we filed a claim, they told us there’s a two-month processing time due to "holiday season"—a weak excuse, especially since it’s not even holiday season.

This level of service is unacceptable for a company of MSC's size. They damage our luggage, offer a dismissive response, and then expect us to wait months for any action. MSC needs to take responsibility and seriously improve their customer service if they want to maintain any credibility!!

personal items stolen from room!

I had my wallet with Money and credit/bank cards stolen from out of my room. I then had my room and cases searched as though I was the criminal! we heard no outcome about it.

food was boring and repetitive and not many options for allergies and they don't seem to care.

Don't go to cassablanca! worse port ever

Parties at night are too late for younger/older passengers. so basically a teenage free for all with underage drinking and drug use. Doesn't seem to be policed and not a nice experience.

dissenbakation was an absolute chaotic mess. They started putting cases in the right place but didn't do in the same order as bringing passengers down. They ended up just throwing the cases around the room and everyone had to go searching for their cases. It was madness

We are a group of 9 currently on MSC opera. One of our group is cealiac and we were assured by our travel
Agent that the msc pride themselves in catering for this specific dietary needs. MSC also state this on their website. Our experience has been absolute awful as they do not cater or even care about the needs of cealiac suffered. My sister received a meal in our first day as was subsequently bed bound for 2 days as she had been given food with gluten in it. We have complained numerous times
But to no avail as they just keep saying ‘there is no guarantee our food does not have gluten in it. In this day and age, this is appalling and has ruined our holiday which for 9
People was not cheap at all. We are disgusted at this and will never sail with MSC again

My 4 companions and I had a fabulous time on MSc virtuoso mini cruise to Cherbourg and zeebrugee
From start to finish we had a ball
Special thanks to Mecixo and Mohammed in
The restaurant
Exceptional customer care
A credit to the ship
Looking forward to the next one
Kind Regards Janet Lyndon

Can't really add more to what has been said in the negative reviews, it is all true. The best experience was getting off.

The absolute worst cruise line in the planet. 6 of us still on the Mac Meravglia ( still on it). Unbelievably disappointing. Nothing is done properly, nothing works properly, nobody in management cares. They have managed to ruin the vacation of 6 guests. I asked 8 times to speak to someone to help, never got a response. Stay as far away as you possibly can from Msc Daniel O'Brien 973-214-7870. Anyone that wants more details, feel free to call me

Never again.

My 3 year old son was on an IV drip with steroids in the medical bay for 6 hours because MSC failed to take allergies into account.

Food is poor for people with allergies and intolerances. A small 'vegan' section at the buffet exists, mostly of fruit. No pastries in the morning are vegan, despite asking, no desserts, poor signage, catering staff have absolutely no idea what they are serving and have to ask in the back which is about a 10 minute wait every time - just so poor of an experience.

Tours. Insanely overpriced, again, despite filling in all the necessary forms 72 hours in advance, not catered for. On a 4.5 hour trip, we stopped off at 2 places for 15 minutes each. That's it. 30 mins cost me £170. Asked for a refund due to no food on a particular tour, got nothing (the others on this tour got freshly baked waffles by the way).

Some of the dining staff are excellent - we loved our staff member - Megan - others can do with an improvement.

Worst experience I’ve ever had on a holiday. Ship was so overcrowded and completely understaffed. Queues everywhere, waiting times for lifts mainly about 5-10 minutes each time and we were like sardines in each lift when it arrived. The bars & restaurants were always packed with very limited seating space and about 60% of people having to stand in bars and wait for a seat at the buffets. Food was of carry out standards and tasteless. Same food served everyday. Dinner in the evening was seated with table service. Service there was great but food terrible. One night for example I chose duck for my main course, it was a duck leg I was served ,it was like a kids meal with one scoop of potatoes and two minute potato croquettes, no vegetables any night with meals. I couldn’t believe it and actually thought it was funny. (a case of either laugh or cry)
We had full drinks package but it was a of money as our food was always ate by the time we were eventually served our drink . Ship staff we spoke to were were all from under privileged countries on an 8 month contract for 7 days a week working 12 hours per day. ( That is slave labour in my opinion) The staff were of superior quality despite their need to work so hard and so courteous and respectful.
Our cruise was booked as a package but MSC obvious put no consideration for their passengers when arranging it.
On last day of cruise we had to be out of our room at 8 AM. Pick up to airport @ 3 PM and flight home not until 11.30 PM therefore last day was a waste of a full day as it was so boring as there was so much sitting about and waiting. Restless and bored kids everywhere. We didn’t get home to our own house until 4.00 AM next morning which was almost 24 hours from being out of our room in Barcelona..
The driver of the bus who did our transfer to the airport left us at terminal 1 in Barcelona airport and told us that was where we were flying from. After a lot of walking about and making enquiries we discovered we were flying from terminal 2 which was a shuttle bus drive away. So much walking for anyone with mobility issues.
I certainly regret not doing my research on Trust pilot before booking my cruise which could have saved me a lot of stress and inconvenience as my husband has mobility issues and our experience was really bad.
Any one we spoke to on our way home at the airport were of the same opinion.

Not enough staff for number of passengers. Bars like a pub on cup final day