MSC Fantasia

08 Jul 2019

The ship was far too busy and not enough beds when we were the day at sea. Shower curtains in the toilet are old fashioned and the carpet edges had never been hoovered. I could feel the bobbly mattress protector through the sheets. The ships bars and restaurants were very nice and decadent and we always received great service. I reported things being stolen off my subbed and the receptionist just said fill out a lost property form and made out it was my fault for leaving the stuff on the bed, even though The majority of passengers left their stuff on the sun beds. The service at times was slow at the bars but again it was just far too busy. I have been on better class of ships before.

08 Jul 2019

Won't be cruising with MSC again , it was the first and last time , The ship was lovely , but hand washing and sanitizing was hardly ever enforced , in fact we had to go looking for the sanitizer every time we wanted to use it . The economy drinks package was very limited , 2 beers and small cocktails , no frozen large ones in package , so we had to upgrade on the 1st day . The food in the main restaurant was awful , small portions , luke warm and more like 3 star that 5 star fine dining , cheese board on Gala evening was 3 small triangles of cheese and 3 crackers in a packet put in front of you , baked alaska was a square piece of cake , looked more slice of ice cream , buffet food not much better , curry but no rice , lamb , beef etc , no veg or potatoes to go with them , people pushing and shouting everywhere , never known so many rude passengers on a cruise , mainly french and Italian on board , We have cruised more than 25 times and we can honestly say , if this was our first , we'd never have done a second one . don't waste your money , I can highly recommend RCI , NCL or P and O , food , entertainment and service on these other ships is excellent , but avoid MSC at all costs , they try and push to get you to eat in the better restaurants , this is at a cost of between 30 and 60 dollars a time , every announcement is made in 5 languages and can even be heard in the toilets , I could go on , but would be here all day :(

17 Jun 2019

We cruised on MSC Fantasia 1-8th June 2019...we had a lovely holiday and there were things we loved about the ship and others that were not so good! Firstly the ship is stunning! Very elegant and stylish. The layout of the cabin gave more usable floor space and therefore seemed bigger than other ships we’ve been on. The entertainment was not the greatest but I suppose there is a limit to acts that can perform to an international, multilingual audience. So it’s mainly singing and dancing of an evening with a wide variety of genres to suit all tastes. We took a couple of excursions and they were both great. The guides were very informative and extremely accommodating of my husband and his mobility needs. Word of caution book your trips online before you go as they are cheaper than when onboard. Most of the ports had a shuttle bus service to and from the main town/point of interest which seemed a reasonable price and the buses were located as soon as you got off the ship which avoided some very long cruise terminal walks to other forms of transportation etc. The not so good points... we were allocated first set dining at 6.30pm which is in fact WAY to early for most ports of call and the restaurant was always half full with no atmosphere! The food on the first few nights was cold! Then we were busy so didn’t bother going again... we met other people who were sharing our table and the said they’d been and the food was hot so we decided to try again on what was supposed to be a gala night... 6 people, 6 stone cold meals! We all complained and some meals were replaced and came out hot the 2nd time but by then I’d lost my appetite! For the last 2 nights we managed to get a table on the 2nd sitting which was a totally different experience! The atmosphere in the restaurant was buzzing and the food was hot! The times of the sittings are the problem I think, 6.30pm or 9pm... one is just a little too early and the other is just a little too late... The buffet is HUGE! At peak times it can get very busy and my husband found it difficult to get around with the amount of people and with them coming from all different directions! There was plenty of choice and mostly the food was hot but with all buffet type arrangements I’ve never found one that can keep food piping hot yet. So it was a bit of potluck as to whether you got hot food or not! The dress code was never enforced... we dressed up on the Captains night and found we were in a minority of about 20% of the boat. That’s fine if people don’t want to dress up but on other ships we’ve been on your not allowed in the main restaurant without at least a jacket and trouser in formal night and to be sitting there in full regalia to have someone next to you in shorts and a hoodie just ruined the occasion. So unfortunately this cruise didn’t live up to our usual expectations of the reason we fell in love with cruising. If you’re looking for AMAZING food and dressing elegantly at times this is not the cruise ship for you. We got an absolute bargain of a price for our cruise and the ports of call were varied and excellent which is what we chose the trip for. I’m not saying we wouldn’t ever cruise with MSC again we would for the right price and with ports of call that are of interest but we would definitely know what to expect re the food and dress code etc. Re the drinks package... we didn’t have it because my husband doesn’t drink much and so couldn’t justify the prepayment. We met friends who did have a drinks package and in some bars the staff allowed them to have as many drinks as they wanted so they got us the odd drink. Obviously at times they were refused the extras but that’s understandable as that’s the rules. A bottle of house wine worked out to just over 20€ a bottle with the tax whilst onboard and was very drinkable. Spirits are very expensive at around 15€ for a double! They are very strict with not allowing alcohol onboard at ports too... so depending on how much you drink etc decide whether the package is needed or not. I’ve tried to leave an honest review that may help people to decide whether MSC aid the cruise line for them etc...

17 May 2019

Nice ship, very attractive bars and common areas. Very good shows, daily. Cabins a bit small and poorly laid out, service very patchy, organisation very poor, excursions terrible value even by cruise ship standards, food not very good, customer service useless. If you do use Fantasia, tip the staff who serve you well and opt out of the flat service charge per cabin. Drinks packages (7 of them!) very confusing because you can have certain things in certain places, but not in others. It's stupid and embarrassing, but MSC don't care.

10 Nov 2018

The employees are overworked, they all seem very tired. The services are overall very good, but they clearly have to hire more resources, everyone was looking exhausted during the entire cruise. The cabins look pretty good, the only thing that I didn't like was the fact the the most of the tv shows were in Italian. The ship is a little crowded. Other ships with the same size have half of th number of passengers. Also, they don't have a lot of shops and most of the prices exceed the ones from the shore, so they're not real duty free. The games that they have for the kids are not free, which was an unpleasant surprise. The food is pretty good. The entertainment needs an upgrade, they don't have a live band so the experience is not complete. The activities that they have during the day aren't very so much fun and there's not many of them. Even though it was a 5 days cruise, I found myself bored during the day because of the lack of entertaning activities. I filled in a form in order to receive the survey from them, it's been 6 days since the disembarkation and didn't get it yet. The organization is terrible, starting with the checkin and disembarkation. We bought a transfer from them and because of the fact that we bought it on board, out names didn't show up on their lists. Due to this, ourselves and the rest of the passengers that were on the same transfer had to wait for them to clear things up. Some of the passangers lost their train because of this. During the discussions that we had we them they were just asking us to wait and explaining that they're very busy. Some of the guys that were coordinationg this were really rude to us. Even though the services were good, I wouldn't recommend anyone to go on a cruise with them, it's just not worth the stress and to be treated like they're doing us a favor for a service that we paid.

15 Oct 2018

Room and public areas clean and staff friendly and helpful (mostly). Embarkation was terrible, had no idea what was going on or where we should go. Food was abysmal.

01 Oct 2018

Having previously cruised with Royal Caribbean we were somewhat disappointed with this cruise. It was like comparing a 5 star hotel with Butlins. The food in the formal dining room was disappointing though the buffet food was excellent if you were prepared to queue and fight for a table. The outside space was noisy with constant "entertainment" involving shouting through a microphone in 5 different languages. Nowhere, other than one's balcony, to sit quietly with a book. The cabins were good, the bed exceptionally comfortable. The evening shows were good on the whole. Perhaps it is just our preference but we much preferred the more formal atmosphere on Royal Caribbean and enjoyed the outdoor space and activities that they offered. We did have a chance to disembark every day, which was good. We thought that 12.99 euros each for a bus shuttle at Palma, Majorca was extortionate and virtually compulsory if you wished to leave the ship.

29 Sep 2018

I returned from Rome after a cruise and stay with MSC Fantasia, the ship is amazing and we didn't manage to see all areas in the wee., I have medical problems I was concerned about long waits to board but I along with my friend who was travelling with me from arriving at the port to boarding was 10mins excellent service from MSC. All the stops we enjoyed and I wouldn't like to chose one over another and the hotel stay in Rome was excellent so well done for arranging an amazing holiday again.

24 Sep 2018

On arrival the customer service was excellent but drifted a little from there .we were 2 friends travelling and requested twin beds it took 4 requests to get this changed. Problems with wi fi 2 visits to customer services to sort this eventually charge was taken off our account. Zanzibar restaurant was awful very noisy ,difficult to get a table and tables not being cleared so we used the red velvet which was fantastic. My fried had a fall on a wet area near one of the pools there wasn't a wet area sign showing and we could not praise the medical team more.Departure day well as we couldn't pay our bill the night before we got up early as thinking the queue would be long ,good job we did as only 2 assistants on duty.we were asked to be in one of the lounges at 8am thinking we would be told when we would be asked to leave the ship as our flight wasn't until 7ish. We left the ship at approx 8.30 to go to the airport and on arrival at approximately 10.45 we were not allowed to check in until 16.30 ish . We sat in a cafe area as long as possible and then walked around the airport and found a departures board where earlier flights to Heathrow were shown and luckily enough 2 seats were available so we left at 15.30 ish. It would be helpful to get departure time from the ship when booking so passengers can be aware of what they can do within the time wait

23 Sep 2018

The ship was fine. The cabin and Food were excellent. The crew also were excellent. The main problem was the noise. Everywhere you went on board there was loud thumping music. If you tried to lay on the pool deck you had to contend with loud music and crazy Italians screaming into microphones. The only place you could get any Peace was in your cabin. Also everything was extra including water which I thought was a human right. Their sense of organisation was very strange, I think it was the only thing more chaotic than the army. I never want to travel by MSC every again.

07 Sep 2018

A good ship but aging. Staff are fantastic especially the wonderful assistant haute D'hotel! Third time on the Fantasia. Would recommend Yacht Club for the best experience. Shows good not as good as in the past. Food needs improving and needs to arrive hot.Top floor cabins are noisy and some have limited views due being set back under the restaurant above. Good itinerary and access to places visited.No extras for travel out of the port. Drinks package is very limited. One choice of beer. Heineken or nothing! Compared to Celebrity very poor. I still like MSC and the Italian influence is one of looking after you. A good cruise line for families and can sail from Southampton. Diffucult to get a table for two so for us it will be Yacht Club from now on as we have retired and are seeking a quiet and more private experience. Very good value for money.

22 Aug 2018

Embarking a little disorganised, disembarking very good. Beautiful ship, lovely room although very noisy as balcony as right at the back. A lot of vibration when docking, woke us and the baby up several mornings very early . No free room service despite paper work saying “free room service”. What it really meant was no service charge but you pay for food on a limited menu. Breakfast free but not available till 7.30am. No dinning room lunch time or breakfast. Most of bars don’t open until 7pm making a drink before early dinning difficult. Drinks package good value. Good bar service when bars open. Dinning room good but choice very limited. Ports of call good. Overall will go back to Celebrity for better service and quality.