MSC Cruises Reviews 

This will be a bad experience ! When we have arrived we requested a baby crib and the crib was broken . My daughter had hit her face on the crib left a small mark on the face . Customer service replaced the crib . Room service took about 30-40 mins to come with my infant milk . Bottle warmer as well had my baby crying for 40 mins non stop waiting for her milk being warm . The bathroom sink was broken . Water will rise . I ask for it to be repair and it wasn’t ! The room keeper took hours before walking by . Or changing towels were a hassle ! The bathroom was so dirty like no one ever cleaned it! The room sheets smell dirty and it look dirty (stains on the covers) went to bars and they never acknowledged you so disappointed! The cruise was a waste!!!!!!

So many reasons. Don't really know where to begin. The World America is a gorgeous ship, but you need good people to make the trip special.....and that is not a concern for the ship staff.
The food was so lack luster. Ate at the table service, buffet, Italian, and Steak. All were low taste and quality. Mexican was good, but I had to pay for it..which is not good. Steakhouse forgot all 5 of our side dishes at dinner. ALL 5! (but we got 2 crappy wine bottles for our experience....blah)
The customer service was terrible. Nobody seemed to want to really help. Just going through the motions. At most bars, they would make you wait without even looking at your face to tell you...you just waited.
The worst was the kids day care, where they managed to physically lose my niece, as they let her go without parental consent, no phone calls, no nothing. 7-years old child left to roam the ship by herself. It took 30-minutes to find her.
Confronted (7) people on the ship in a private setting to discuss the incident, from customer service, translator, Managers, Security guards, Kid Care Managers, and not one apologized and they were all more concerned about MSC Policy, covering their own A%$, and letting my cousin know he signed a consent form. (which he did, but he thought he was just consenting to have his child in the daycare that night. No one explained.) No empathy, just pointless blabber about policy. We stormed out of the meeting. I guess they don't believe in Continuous Improvement and making sure this doesn't happen again.....IT'S CORPORATE POLICY TO LET THE KIDS GO IF A PARENT SIGNS A CONSENT FORM! RIDICULOUS, JUST RIDICULOUS.
Turns out the very same thing happened the prior cruise to ours(September 3rd) on World America, same day care, same 7-year old child. I guess they don't learn from their mistakes....
Very embarrassed for MSC and their company...There is no sense of worth for employees, its just a job to MSC employees, they don't represent nor care about MSC. I will never go on another MSC cruise as long as I live.

They are very hard to work with! The internal team doesn't know what the policies are and they don't provide support to TA's. Their food is not up to par. Carnival has better food and service than MSC.

My family and I took a one-week Alaska cruise with MSC after saving for a long time. We traveled from California to Seattle with a group of about 30 people and were extremely excited.

The staff was excellent—friendly, hardworking, and always willing to help. Unfortunately, the food was very disappointing. I mostly ate pizza and hamburgers because the quality and variety of other options did not meet our expectations. Even the Captain’s Dinner was disappointing.

Entertainment was also limited. Karaoke and the nightclub were our favorite activities, but they only lasted a short time.

Our biggest frustration came from approximately $1,300 in gratuity charges after we had already personally tipped workers, plus a $350 internet charge from a misunderstanding for service we didn’t use.

Alaska was beautiful and the staff deserves five stars, but considering the food, entertainment, unexpected charges, and customer service afterward, our overall experience was 2/5 stars.

We literally got our identity stolen on this cruise. They gave away our information. Our drink package was stolen along with every other perk we PAID FOR. What an awful company. It’s been 2 months and they still haven’t answered. I just came back from deployment and I would rather be in Kuwait get shot at then on this cruise. Customer service literally cursed us out when we asked what was going on. Better off swimming then going MSC. They do absolutely nothing. We’ve had to finally get a lawyer involved. Just insane.

Very disappointed with MSC’s Lost & Found service.

I accidentally left my iPad inside the locker in my cabin and immediately reported it to the Lost & Found team, providing all the necessary details.

I am 100% certain it was left inside the locker, as it fit perfectly into the base and looked almost like part of the locker itself. I explained this clearly so the team knew exactly where to check.

Unfortunately, I have received no meaningful update or follow-up. I understand that lost items cannot always be recovered, but I expected MSC to at least check the cabin and locker thoroughly and provide a clear update.

The lack of communication has been extremely disappointing and has negatively affected my overall impression of MSC. I hope they improve their Lost & Found process and customer communication.

I booked a MSC cruise for my fiancée and me in July paying the trip in full. Today I contacted MSC cruise line with a question regarding excursions. Upon asking my question I was informed that there is approximately $700.00 in extra ship fees due. These extra fees appear no where in the booking information. Moreover, I was told by the customer service person “Clay”
These fees are for entertainment, embarkment, disembarkment, security and baggage handling. All extra fees which go directly to the cruise line. It's a big ponse scam and a shackdown. In fact if I paid today I would save 40% in the frivolous charges. However, as it turns out hackers diverted my call to 888-731-0054 which is a phone number in Texas. So beware of the impostors as they are convincing and somehow have your booking information. I will report this to the Texas AG’s office for investigation. MSC cruise line has done a good job with my booking thus far. By the way I paid no additional fees as the phone call seemed fishy.

Abysmal company right now.
Following an unexpected pregnancy of my stepdaughter, I informed msc who confirmed i could have a refund of her full booking amount provided I send them proof. I did so. (I had offered to pay a cost to change the name they told me no need we could have a full refund)
Following this, they cancelled her with no communication and when I questioned why no refund was received they told me they'd revalued the room and waved the "extra charge due". The room was booked 12 months ahead of time, this was 4 weeks before.
I complained at this. Asked them to listen back to phone calls, they came back saying they did and they would now refund me the full amount (2 weeks before embarkation)
Then they were "working on the refund" which made my boarding passes unavailable... I called every day until the day before when they finally agreed to email them over as I still couldn't get them on my account.

Fast forward a return from holiday and despite promising a full refund, ive called 6 times and each time they have refused a supervisor and told me they don't know what's happening. Now less than half of her amount has been refunded and ive asked for a breakdown of the calculation to understand why. They have ignored me completely.

How can a company get away with this when all the calls are recorded?

Well where shall I start, very dissapointed ship, poor and lack of shows,lack of staff which caused the service to be very poor they look tired and not very motivated, variety of food is very poor, buffet very disorganised, messy, when people are taking their food, looked like there was no tomorrow, the cabin are very small and outdated, plus the shuttle service is chargeable, which the service should be free, internet package chargeable which in other cruises are included once you purchased the cruise package, basically the only thing is positive is just some staff, the rest is better not mentioning , what you need do as company is to improve your service level and recruit more staff and pay them adequately, and remember that you live once like every other humans being in this world.

I am a Blue Diamond member. Over 50 cruises. MSC has fallen into the ghetto sewer. They do not enforce non smoking, drug use or vaping. Passengers freely smoke, vape or use drugs in restaurants, elevators and in open areas around children. Security and staff do do nothing. I will never go back.

Writing as sit aboard, this has been a terrible experience. Many of the services are not as advertised, the entertainers are making jokes about beating women, and the ship is over crowded. I've raised concerns with the management team, who were quick to dismiss me. In particular when I raised concerns that the punchline of a joke being 'you may now beat your wife' was inappropriate, I was accused that I couldn't take a joke and that comedy is subjective. Violence against women is no joke. Several members of my party were deeply upset about this experience and we were not taken seriously. There were also 'jokes' comparing gay men to insects and implying gay men are sexually aggressive.

The ship, while impressive looking, is lacking in space to enjoy yourself without being in a crowd of people.

I've been on a number of cruises with other providers and this is, by far, the worst. I regret spending my time and money on this trip and recommend you look elsewhere for your holiday.

Where do i start too many people onboard for the facilities mo sunbeds,no seats in the bar ,could not get in the theatre. Not enough waiters to get drinks so all these things are a necessity which we did not get there were 8 of us so was not a cheap holiday it was hell on sea days arguments and fights over sunbeds and no security to help teens running around banging on cabin doors throwing food and acting like animals. Thank goodness the food was good and the staff great we felt sorry for the staff we all think they should have been allowed to stop the teens but they told us they would get in trouble how they work for a company like that I dont know they are treated awfully. Wish I had never gone been cruising for 25 years never experienced anything like it . Never again msc money wasted . We were on virtuosa cruise ship please dont go on it

MSC Cruise Review — Extremely Disappointed

We recently took an MSC cruise from June 11–14, and unfortunately, this was not the experience we were hoping for. Overall, we were extremely disappointed with both the cruise and, most importantly, the customer service we received.

The air conditioning in our room was not working properly, and we complained about it pretty much every night. Unfortunately, we felt like our concerns were not taken seriously, and very little was done to help resolve the issue during our cruise.

The photo situation was another major disappointment. As compensation for the issues with our room, MSC removed the cost of our photo package, which we appreciated. However, we were told our pictures would be emailed to us. At no point were we clearly told that we had to go to the photo area before getting off the ship to download them.

We even went to look at our pictures while we were still on the ship, and no one told us that we needed to download them before disembarking.

After the cruise, I called and spoke with a man on the ship while we still had family members onboard. I specifically explained the situation, and I was told not to worry about it and that we would be able to get our pictures by contacting customer service after the cruise.

Unfortunately, that is not what happened.

We are now two months later, and getting someone to actually help us—or even call us back—has been nearly impossible. We were repeatedly told that someone would contact us within a couple of hours, but those calls never came. We kept getting the runaround and had to continue reaching out ourselves.

We finally received an email, only to essentially be told that we were out of luck and there was nothing MSC could do.

That is extremely frustrating, especially because we followed the instructions we were given by MSC staff. We didn’t know we were supposed to download the pictures before leaving because no one told us. Then, when we called for help, we were specifically told that we would be able to get them afterward.

At this point, it’s not even just about the pictures. It’s about the way the entire situation was handled. Poor communication, poor follow-through, and extremely disappointing customer service.

Unfortunately, after this experience, I don’t see MSC being a cruise line we choose in the future. We paid for a vacation and expected to feel taken care of when problems came up. Instead, we felt ignored and passed from one person to another.

Overall rating: 0/10 for customer service.

Very disappointed with our experience and with the way MSC handled our concerns from beginning to end.

Just got home from an MSC cruise on Meraviglia, and I’m genuinely disappointed — not what I expected after my first-ever cruise, especially given how many great things I’d heard about MSC.
The ship felt far too crowded, and the pool areas simply weren’t adequate for the number of guests onboard. The market-style dining area was chaotic — honestly like a cattle market at times — with little consideration for people trying to move around or enjoy their meal. On top of that, the food was very bland, which was a real surprise because I’d been told it was meant to be amazing.
Even though we bought a drinks package, we were still charged €1 for water, which felt petty and frustrating. The only real positives were the bar and restaurant staff, who were consistently friendly, and Bee the karaoke queen — a truly lovely person who stood out as a highlight of the trip.
Sadly, I won’t be sailing with MSC again. In my opinion, MSC really needs to up their game before their 2027 sailings from Southampton.

April 29th 2023 my wife and I went in the Merveglia out of New York, in a nutshell the next morning I was given orange juice that contained bacteria, that had me end up in the ICU at west palm beach as they had to speed the ship up to coast guard us off. I was given a 10 percent chance to live, as the doctor in the ER said what the doctor on the ship was injecting me with was actually hurting me more and having my organs shut down. After being stranded in Florida after being released we had to rent a car, and an extra overnight stay to get home. MSC did reimburse the medical and initial cost of the cruise only if I signed not to bring legal to it. Then they told me they would take care of me to enjoy the experience we missed the next time we would travel with them if we decided to try them again. Well I just had the opportunity and not only would they not honor that one lady named Simone became extremely mouthy and argumentative on the phone.

My experience on MSC Splendida was honestly not a relaxing holiday. For me it felt like a constant struggle for very basic things: having breakfast, finding a table, getting into a lift or simply finding somewhere quiet to sit.

I’ll start with the good things, because there were some. I really liked the cabin and the bed was fantastic. I slept incredibly well throughout the whole cruise.

I also want to mention the Asian crew members I came across in the restaurants, housekeeping and other areas of the ship. They were excellent: friendly, hardworking, attentive and always willing to help. For me, they were one of the best things about MSC Splendida.

But unfortunately, there were far more negatives.

There are simply too many people to enjoy the ship in any kind of relaxed way. At breakfast, lunch and dinner it was often difficult even to find a free table. Port mornings were even worse because everybody wanted to have breakfast and get off the ship at the same time.

In Malta, for example, the breakfast queue went all the way to the stairs. In the end I got off the ship without having breakfast. When I went to reception and explained this to a member of staff called Ariana, she told me they couldn’t do anything and that I should wake up earlier.

She didn’t even try to offer another option. That was what bothered me most. I wasn’t asking for any special treatment. I simply wanted to have breakfast.

The pool area was another story. It was absolutely packed with people — literally like sardines in a tin. I have photos and I think they show perfectly what I mean. For me there was absolutely nothing relaxing about being around the pools.

There are also many things you have to pay extra for: internet, bottled water, some coffees and other services. And honestly, I was lucky that I could afford to pay extra, because very often paying more was the only way to escape some of the queues, noise and crowds.

The ship is also enormous. Finding your cabin can be surprisingly difficult, especially at the beginning. There are very long corridors, turns and then more corridors, and sometimes it feels as if you’re walking around in circles. At least I got some exercise out of it 😄, but I can imagine this being quite difficult for older people or anyone who has trouble walking.

So yes, the bed was fantastic, the cabin was very good and some of the crew were absolutely excellent.

But that doesn’t change my overall experience. I spent far too much of this cruise looking for somewhere to sit, standing in queues, avoiding overcrowded areas or paying extra just to get a little peace and quiet.

For me, that is not a holiday.

I would not choose a cruise ship this size again.

I recently completed a 7-night Scandinavian & Baltic cruise with MSC together with my partner. I have to start by saying that the ship itself is beautiful, elegant, and clearly represents a significant investment. The décor, public spaces, and overall appearance are impressive and create a very positive first impression.
Unfortunately, beneath the impressive appearance lies a fundamental problem: organisation.
In fact, around ten years ago I cruised with MSC and was so disappointed by the lack of organisation that I avoided cruise holidays altogether for many years. My partner recently convinced me to give cruising another chance, and sadly I found that the very same issues still exist.
The buffet experience was one of the biggest frustrations. There appears to be little or no effort to manage passenger flow. Instead of clear queues and an organised system, people approach from every direction, cutting in front of each other and reaching over one another. At times it genuinely felt less like dining and more like competing for food. A simple queueing system with clear entry and exit points would make a huge difference.
What made this even more confusing was that additional buffet sections were often opened during lunchtime when many passengers were off the ship on excursions. Yet in the evenings, when almost everyone was back on board and demand was at its highest, sections were closed and only the minimum number of serving areas remained open, creating unnecessary congestion.
The same lack of organisation was evident around the lifts. It was common to wait 10 minutes or more, only to have people walk straight past those who had been waiting and jump in first. Simple barriers, queue lines, and signs encouraging passengers to queue properly would significantly improve the experience.
Customer service was also inconsistent. While many staff members were pleasant, our experience in the Tiger Bar Lounge was particularly disappointing. One staff member spoke to us in an unnecessarily aggressive manner and almost shouted at us regarding an area he claimed was closed, despite it being accessible and open. The interaction lacked even basic courtesy.
Another frustrating incident occurred when we attempted to purchase cigarettes. Different staff members provided conflicting information about whether sales were permitted at that time. After finally paying, confusion arose about whether the transaction had gone through, and we were left waiting around 10–15 minutes for another staff member to return and confirm the sale before receiving the product. It was a simple transaction that became unnecessarily complicated.
The spa is beautiful and the staff provide good service, but the pricing is extremely difficult to justify. We paid €115 for a couple's day pass, only to find the facilities so crowded that there was little opportunity to actually enjoy them. Charging premium prices for an overcrowded experience leaves poor value for money.
The pool facilities suffer from a similar problem. The outdoor pools are relatively small for a ship carrying thousands of passengers. They quickly become overcrowded, making it difficult to find space and enjoy what should be one of the highlights of a cruise holiday.
Even ordering drinks could be frustrating. In several bars it was difficult to get the attention of staff, often leaving us to wait for extended periods or walk to the bar ourselves to place orders.
Ultimately, my biggest criticism is that the ship appears to prioritise carrying as many passengers as possible without providing the infrastructure, organisation, or staffing levels needed to deliver a comfortable experience. Beautiful surroundings can only compensate so much when guests are constantly dealing with queues, overcrowding, confusion, and inconsistent service.
I genuinely wanted to enjoy this cruise and give MSC a second chance after my previous experience a decade ago. Sadly, while the ships may have become more beautiful, many of the organisational issues that disappointed me then still seem to remain today.

MSC Review

Unfortunately, our experience with MSC was a real mixed bag.

The cabin was an absolute dream — clean, modern and a genuinely lovely space to stay in. The ship itself was also amazing and certainly made a great first impression.

Sadly, the food was a completely different story. The quality was extremely poor, and on several occasions I found it genuinely inedible.

What really let the experience down, though, was the service. Some staff came across as rude and argumentative, which simply isn’t the level of customer service I would expect from a brand like MSC.

Would I sail with MSC again? Very unlikely. For me, there are other cruise lines that consistently deliver the high-quality service and overall experience I’m looking for.

Beautiful ship, fantastic cabin — but unfortunately, the food and service left far too much to be desired.

MSC CRUISES WANTS US TO PAY FOR THE MISTAKE MADE BY THEIR STAFF
WE LEFT OUR LUGGAGE OUTSIDE OUR CABIN THE NIGHT BEFORE DISEMBARKATION WITH ALL THE LABELS AND TAGS WITH ADDRESS.
NEXT DAY ON ,8 AUGUST 2026 WE WENT DOWN TO THE BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA AND FOUND THAT ONE BAG WAS MISSING. AFTER 3 DAYS THEY FOUND THE BAG BUT THEY WANT US TO PAY £72 TO DELIVER THE BAG TO OUR ADDRESS.

MSC Grandiosa: A very disappointing family holiday

We booked a one-week family cruise on MSC Grandiosa expecting a comfortable and enjoyable holiday. Unfortunately, our experience has been extremely disappointing.

The ship was consistently overcrowded, particularly around the swimming pools. It was extremely difficult to find space to use the facilities we had paid to enjoy. The situation became so overwhelming that my son and I experienced a panic attack while trying to access the pool area.

The buffet restaurants were also extremely crowded, with very long queues that significantly affected our holiday.

The most serious issue, however, was a four-hour toilet failure in our cabin. We contacted the ship repeatedly and made FOUR separate complaints, yet the problem was not effectively resolved for approximately four hours. We were travelling with our young son, who urgently needed to use the bathroom.

A functioning toilet is a basic requirement of a cabin. Having to repeatedly call and complain before receiving an effective response is unacceptable.

We paid for a family holiday and instead experienced overcrowding, excessive queues, significant distress and poor responsiveness to a basic cabin problem.

We have formally requested appropriate compensation from MSC. I hope the company will take this complaint seriously rather than responding with a generic apology.

Based on this experience, I would strongly recommend that potential customers carefully consider the level of service and overcrowding they may encounter before booking MSC Grandiosa.