Italy & France from Taranto, 29 June 2022 (7 nights)

28 Oct 2019

This was my first cruise and my wife’s second, and was for our honeymoon. We had a Bella outside cabin on the 5th deck. The room was larger than expected and was well set out. The TV had no English language channels, and films cost $8 each. The view was nice from the room. We were told everything was included with our booking, so it was an unwelcome surprise to get a $12.50 per day service charge each. We had the easy drinks package, but were unable to upgrade as we had prepaid when purchasing the cruise. The programme of day activities was not particularly full or appealing, especially on at sea days, and so more time was spent in the cabin than anticipated. The descriptions were misleading in some cases. “Romeo and Juliet” was more of a competition game show style event. Entertaining, but not what was expected. The ports of call were interesting (Nagasaki, Busan) and reading other reviews we were fortunate to have a free shuttle to town in Busan. Excursions seemed well over priced. Prior planning enabled us to do similar at a fraction of the cost. An at sea tour of the off limits areas of the ship sounded interesting, but not at $50 per person. The food was ok, but not a fine dining standard. The waiters were nice. The performances were really good, but didn’t make up the lack of other entertainment throughout the day. Everything was presented in English, Japanese and Chinese. It felt like the cruise was geared towards the Japanese guests. There were some language barriers. The ship was visibly, frequently cleaned. I forgot to pack toothpaste. That cost me $12.50 from the onboard shop which seemed expensive. MSC haven’t done enough to convince me to return. Too little to do at sea, and too costly unexpectedly which soured the experience for me.

06 Jul 2019

We went on this ship for a month in April. Firstly Captain not that friendly and NO welcome from him or cocktail night.. So disappointed. The food was boring lunchtime buffet.. pizza, salad and chef carving meat or fish. Which was good to start with but bored after the first week. Evening dinner in dining room was hugely disappointing. What ever you ordered for main meal it DIDN’T come with vegetables each night we asked for these and got carrots and courgettes. Twice got lovely veg but that was it twice in 28 days. Breakfast we enjoyed the best. Evening shows we enjoyed and were varied. Staff.. we loved the staff on this ship where ever we were they were excellent, friendly, kind and helpful. Cabin.. very tried.. and our cabin was dam disgraceful.. not cleaned properly and bedding was disappointing to say the least, we reported this and the manager came and he sorted it .. so we thought only to it still happening .. bedding looked like it had come from charity shop and was ripped and torn in many places..we have photos. And worse thing was leaving the ship as I am disabled and called front desk 5 times for help over an hour and still NO one came, as our taxi call to say it was waiting it put stress on us and in the end my husband pushed me to reception then went back twice to room to get baggage before complaining to staff and then they got someone to help us and not before time.. we left the ship to cross and saying we wouldn’t go back on M.S.C. The lad who helped was lovely but all to late. Maybe for short holiday but never again.. OH AND BE AWHERE we were charged for water..not had that before on other companies. I hope this has helped you.

20 May 2019

Undertook the MSC Grand Voyage from Abu Dhabi to Yokohama. This cruise was selected as it visited places I had been to before and wanted to see again. Better than expected The ship could carry more than 4000 passengers but that was not evident with the unexpected space in bars and restaurants on-board. I expected the service levels to be good but all the staff were engaging to ensure all passengers had a good time The itinerary gave most people the right amount of time in each port The embarkation and disembark - both in under 30 minutes. Wish the airlines were as organized. What could have been better very little to criticize, most issues were due to passengers not knowing what to expect would I book again with MSC - yes, they had the right balance of relaxation and entertainment for me. If I wanted a floating night show, I would have booked another cruise line

02 Apr 2019

Had a fantastic week on the MSC Splendida, there were positives and negatives regarding this holiday. The organisation of joining the ship was fantastic compared with our experience of two other cruises. The ship it’s self was lovely but we never felt that the higher ranking staff did anything for the passengers. The entertainment was a real let down without any variation within any of the bars, it was the same people in the same bars every night. The buffet food was ok but nothing was ever hot but this was the same in the main restaurant too and very average. We booked through igloo to take all the worry about organising flights and transfers. Couldn’t fault the company that did the transfers and we flew with gulf air who I couldn’t fault however the travelling was very tiring and wished I had looked into the flights myself. We flew from Heathrow to Bahrain and then Bahrain to Dubai, bad idea when we could have had a direct flight to Dubai. The return journey was not thought through and was a nightmare. We had to be off of the ship by 9am and our transfers were arranged to take us to the airport at 10am but our first flight wasn’t until 11.35 pm!!!! As we had already had two days in Dubai before the cruise and there wasn’t really anything else we wanted to do or see in Dubai this ended up a very long tiring day then we had to change again at Bahrain. Finally arriving at Heathrow at 6.35 am. The one thing that really did disappoint us overall was the fact we had purchased a premium inclusive package back in November but when we joined the ship we was asked if we would like to upgrade our package as ours wasn’t worth what we thought as they had put their drinks prices up in January therefore ours didn’t include what it should have originally, I was annoyed as neither igloo or msc notified us of this in advance therefore we paid another 140 Eros just to have the package we had already paid for, there were so many people who were also in the same situation

30 Mar 2019

Food in Buffet restaurant not very good . Food tepid. We didn't have a brochure in cabin informing us of excursions. We didn't know until Wednesday that we could use Reggia restaurant for breakfast and lunch. Crew were very polite and mannerly. The two waiters that attended to our table in the Reggio restaurant were both very polite and very efficient.

20 Mar 2019

It was the first time we had been on a MSC cruise having previously been with P&O, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Cunard and others. The cruise was very enjoyable and the itinerary was fabulous. Embarkation was very good with no waiting. Our cabin 13012 was fine and our steward Wakiman from Bali was first class. We were on my choice dining which we always prefer. The La Reggia restaurant was our preferred venue for breakfast and dinner. We were in Aurea class and we found ourselves sitting with people who were on similar packages. The food was good with plenty of choice and the service from Harry Potter(Rofik) was exceptional. We used the Piazzeta cafe for lunch and drinks and we liked the environment there. We had the Aurea drinks package was good(except for plastic glasses on the outside decks which I dislike) and there was a large selection of bars to choose from. The Aurea deck area was excellent for sun bathing as it was never crowded and I would recommend the package if only for that. Unfortunately we never had time to go to the theatre shows but we listened to the music in the Atrium. Not bothered about shopping or the casino, so no comment. But overall excellent.

02 Mar 2019

A good itinerary around the Arabian Sea, especially ports of call in Oman - Khasab and Muscat. Efficient embarkation & disembarkation. Staff were friendly on the ship and it was spotlessly clean. The public areas were well furnished. The food in the main restaurant was a bit disappointing - portions were not huge but more than that, the dishes lacked 'finesse' of an a la carte menu. We were on a Bella package without a drinks package & it was disappointing that water and coffee would have been an extra charge - we took our own bottle water in refilled from the buffet where free water was available & then had a coffee afterwards from the buffet - it wouldn't take much to include water & coffee as standard. Our cabin was as any other, although noisy at times in the middle of the night at times as it seemed to back onto a service area corridor. However, minor niggles - a good cruise.

19 Jan 2019

Had a very enjoyable cruise on Splendida from 8th to 15th December. Everything went well from very quick and efficient boarding in Dubai.Trips to Abu Dhabi the Private Island and Qatar were excellent. Our overnight in Dubai was good too. We had booked the trips on line so saving time in the queues on board. We thought the food had improved from our last cruise on Preziosa but we still had problems with the lifeboat drilll having to return to the cabin for the lifejackets not easy when one is elderly and with walking problems. A very good cruise lovely weather and very good value for hotel stay and transfers included

11 Jan 2019

Arrival at the airport and embankment were well organised and easy. My card did. It have the inclusive drinks package and we were refused drinks. Had to go to reception to sort it out. Reception staff very unprofessional ignoring you, talking to each other and taking calls while trying to sort out problems. Rooms and room service very good. Food was extremely disappointing, I expected a higher standard. Our first night in the restaurant consisted of breaded pork and chips, no vege no salad. And this pretty much continued throughout the cruise. We were put on a 8 seater table with 10 people. It was cramped and an extremely unpleasant experience. The itinerary was excellent and I enjoyed the different ports. I would never use MSC again, other cruise liners offer better food options.

05 Sep 2017

Just returned from a fabulous cruise in the MSC Yacht club. Having previously experienced the many benefits of the Yacht club several years earlier on the Fantasia the sister ship Splendida exceeded our expectations and while much costlier than a balcony the exceptional service we experienced made our wedding anniversary a very special occasion. Iglu provided the flights and transfers and everything went very well.

01 Jun 2017

We have cruised with MSC twice before - once 20 years ago, and once 12 years ago. The ships were much smaller then. Splendida is massive. Nearly 4000 passengers, so it's like a small town. This is good for stability in rough seas, but not so good for personalised service. The ship was very clean. Cabins (we had a balcony) of a good size and well-equipped. Many things come at an additional cost, and although gratuities are added to the final bill, there is a 15% service charge on all drinks. Various "packages" are available to buy (Wi-Fi, wine, coffee etc) so it is worth looking at these to see if you could get better value than buying ad hoc. There was also a charge for shuttle buses to get you into town at the various ports of call. A bit of a cheek. If the ship is so big that you cannot moor it close to town, there should not be a charge for a shuttle. In Parma you can walk to the dock gate and catch a local bus or on/off tour bus, but nobody told you that! Entertainment shows were dancing shows of a reasonable standard, but very short - only about half an hour. Not a patch on Royal Caribbean. Our main gripe was the evening meal. We had opted for 2nd sitting, and I'm sure I read that this would be at 8.30 pm, but it was 9.30. Presumably this suited Spanish passengers, but everyone else thought it much too late. Service was slow, food of average quality, and portions very small. MSC used to provide silver service and there was always a fish course. Not any more. We complained on the second night, and a procession of restaurant managers came to see us. Things did improve after that, but it seems that the MSC glory days have gone. A real shame.

12 May 2017

We tried the liner MSC Splendida. Everything was excellent. Highly recommended