| Holiday-Truth Readers Reports |
 mr&mrs nash from gravesend uk sailed on MSC Lirica with
future travel
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 8
2009 |
mr&mrs nash
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness |  | | Crew |  | | Ship Food |  | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| mr&mrs nash said: we just returned from lirica cruised amsterdam-bremerhaven30th august havd a great time dayout in land food not bad for the 1st or second day but if whole week would be boring staff some keen to give you a service some not be bother,very slow dinner serving we was joined with our group of 14 friend sit together food was late delivery and when the food turn up too cold some of us sent them back,breakfast toast was hard to bite.most of the worst thing happened I left my necklace under pillow forgot to wear it but when i came back the room 8106 was nice &clean by 2 maids,the necklace was missing I report reception take such long time to send staff who clean my room there both denied never see it if especially the man he was indonesian and did make my bed he said he didn't see it.who do you think?? we all tried to search but no sign of it,next day they sent security to come check my room suitcases but they not even told me they have been check 2 maids or not, who cleaning my room,they probrably thought I mighi made story up or somthing,they should investigate their staff but they didn't they said it procedure to get me loss property report to manager to sign that's it,nothing progress and they not very want to talk to you ,you can see there face.It is very upsetting.Anyway,that is a bad experience but it is not going to put me off the cruise but honestly not with lirica msc again. |
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V. Valentine from Tavistock, Devon sailed on MSC Lirica with
'Telegraph' Reader Offers
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 5
2009 |
V. Valentine
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness |  | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| V. Valentine said: We have recently returned from a cruise to Amsterdam, Bremerhaven and Norwegian ports on 'MSC Lirica' and apart from the final day we enjoyed it very much. The standard of cleanliness was outstanding (many people commented on it) and we wished that the same people were in charge of the hygiene in our hospitals! Absolutely everything was done by the crew to maintain hygiene but unfortunately some passengers found it too much trouble to use the hand gel provided. There was a good buffet for breakfast and luncheon but the evening meal was generally disappointing. The staff were without exception polite, charming, hard-working, efficient and keen to please. Our waiters were Balinese and our cabin stewards were from Madagascar. We very much looked forward to the evening entertainment: the classical musicians were world-class and the three Asian gymnasts were unparalleled. Lighting techniques and their totally amazing athleticism made an indelible impression. Now for the downside:-
Transfer from London Victoria by coach to the ship in Dover was included in the price. Those who travelled to Dover by car were allowed free parking there. After booking we received a letter to say that the ship would not be returning to Dover but to Tilbury. When I telephoned to ask how we were to get back to Victoria I was told to take a taxi for the 35 mile journey (and pay for it myself). The receptionists on the ship were somewhat dismissive of us and we were told that we were the only ones to complain (not true at all)and that we could not be expected to be taken back home (we were, of course, not expecting this but merely to be returned to our starting point of Victoria coach station). The journey from Tilbury to Victoria with lots of luggage would have been fraught with difficulties so together with about 30 other very dissatisfied passengers we boarded a coach at Tilbury for Dover Pencester coach station. The latter is a small building seemingly without any facilities and because it was a Sunday it was locked. Thirty, mainly elderly passengers, were left in a tarmaced area with a small bus shelter with seating for six. The rest of us stood, sat on suitcases or walls and waited for a coach to take us to Victoria using the ticket provided by the company. Our wait was three hours. The longest wait was five hours. Mercifully it was not raining! Why one coach could not have taken 30 passengers direct to Victoria from Tilbury was baffling |
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AngB from Toronto sailed on MSC Lirica with
Americas Vacation Centre
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 12
2008 |
AngB
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| AngB said: Our family had a good time on the Lirica. We enjoyed the shows. The kids had a blast. The ports were great. I was worried about the food on the Lirica because of the reviews I read before we sailed but I was very pleased with the food on the ship. My whole family enjoyed the food. The cleanliness was wonderful, the staff was very nice to us, (my kids just loved the entertainemnt Staff). I look forward to my next cruise with MSC. |
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Tozer from Miramichi sailed on MSC Lirica with
N/A
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2008 |
Tozer
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Tozer said: This ship was very clean, the staff were very efficient and the food was great, no complaints would sail again for sure. The kids club was a blessing and the children throughly enjoyed it, fun was had by all and best of all, the kids sailed for free.. |
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Frank DeTurse from Toronto Canada sailed on MSC Lirica with
MIM Marketing
on a friends holiday.
There were 3 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 2
2006 |
Frank DeTurse
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Frank DeTurse said: We just recently sailed on the Lirca to Panama from Ft. Lauderdale - a great choice of ports. This is our 3rd cruise and I found the ship very lovely - but the International mix was not for us.To much time consumed in translating and got on our nerves at times. The entertainment committee were super - we enjoyed dancing - games - stretching etc. The pool area is lovely but the lounges are horrendous. You could could not sit up and read or relax only made for sunning and we are seniors very difficult indeed.
Most other staff waiters on decks - by the pool - diningroom (majority) had long faces - never smiled - had no enthusiuasm - or laughter. Our table got screwed up three nights in a row and we sat in different places each time - Our waiter forgot many times to bring us variuous items ordered i.e. our soup - or salad or told us the dessert was not good tonight and never did bring it. The choices of desserts for an Italian ship was very very poor - Ice Cream - Sherbert and sometimes a mousse or cheese cake - rather boring. As for desserts on the buffet they were terrible - dried cake squares - jelly - Ice cream was only 3 flavours and could not believe that an Italian ship did not have GELATO... how disappointing. Oh yes you had to pay for the ice cream a terrible price... never paid on previous cruises. The food in general was not that great of quality and many times came luke warm - dinner rolls had to be asked for all the time never did they bring a plate of rolls and when they did they brought 3 rolls for 6 people?? Very poor decisions here. The waiters (most of them) looked like they hated the job they were doing - never having fun with us... possibly language was a problem. I am Italian myself so could understand well but my friends could not. The carrots served through the whole cruise were so hard to cut - and stringy - and the choice of vegetables were very poor again. The food on the buffet at lunch was poorly displayed - and cheese slices many times were dried out and curled up. The morning breakfast buffett had apples and green bananas (not yellow but green) they were always soaking wet and not displayed. The cutlery was all over the place had to go here for a knife and there for a spoon ... poor choices of cereals also... mostly with sugar no healthy foods at all. That I would think is the International diet these days. Also noted that where there was no smoking most Europeans lit up anyway and were told by many not to smoke there but go on the other side they started arguments all the time and the staff were not happy to tell them no smoking in that area. I gagged with the smoke and came home with a respiratory infection from the poor air quality of the rooms - smoke - the rooms are very small - and congested for two .. In the end we all did have a great lot of fun ( we made that ourselves as we had a group of over 200 people from Canada) The shows were so so - not intersted in vaudeville acts - and the long waits for costume changes etc. Overall we had fun - but would not travel on MSC again and would not recommend it to our friends at all. It was rather a bit pricey also for the size of the ship - accomodation size - food etc.
We will continue to cruise on Celebrity and in fact next Week we leave on Diamond Princess for a cruise to Australia... I hope you change some thingson the ship as it surely needs updating and better management... oh yes the shower drains are very slow - .... ciao Franco Toronto Canada |
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Gary from Olympia sailed on MSC Lirica with
vactionstogo.com
on a singles holiday.
There were 1 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 12
2005 |
Gary
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Gary said: Have just returned from the Lirica 17 December cruise in the Caribbean. I have been on numerous cruises and was looking for something a bit different than you find on the American lines. I found it, and rate this as my best cruise ever. I wanted to relax and did, not tons of activities if you like that. While some Americans coplained about the food I found it quite good with adequate selection. One real plus was the offering of two sugar free desserts. The gym was great, butr don't forget to convert the weights from kilos to pounds. The entertainment was varies and very good. The mix was about 50% Italian passengers and probably 40% U> S> and Canadian. Will go on MSC cruises again soon. The cleanest and best laid out ship I have been on, and just the right size. |
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Allan Stewart from Henley in Arden sailed on MSC Lirica with
MSC
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 7
2005 |
Allan Stewart
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Allan Stewart said: I,ve just returned from the Western Mediterranean cruise on the Lirica (Genoa, Civitavecchia for Rome, Sicily, Tunis, Palma, Barcelona and Marseille). This is my first cruise so I don't have anything to compare it with. Overall I thouroughly enjoyed the experience. The ship was very comfortable. The organisation was high tech and very slick (except a few hiccups in the accounting and a mix up in the retaurant on the first evening) The entertainment was always on hand but could easily be avoided.
I am not much of a Hi de hi type but one of the highlights of the trip was leaving Palama at midnight with a Gala night in full swing on the upper decks.
The MSC Line is very definately Italian but dont let that put you off. All the crew that we met could more than get by in English. Our Cabin was specifically set up for English speakers (Signs, TV, Telephone responses, etc) as were many others around the ship.
The senior crew were Italian but those who matter to the passengers spoke the six main european languages. The rest of the crew were a mixture of Balinese, Rumanian etc and all spoke at least Italian and English
The evening meal was the usual six course Italian meal but in easily manageable portions and you could pick and choose. You can buy a book of vouchers that gets you 7 bottles of recommended wines (3 Red, 3 white and one rose) plus 7 bottles of Mineral water for 99 euros. This lasted for the week and proved to be good value for money compared with usual bottle prices and the wine was excellent.
The passangers were predominantly Italian but we met Poles. Russians, Canadian's, Americans and French so a truly mulinational bunch. The ship catered for families appearing to offer good facilities for children indeed many of the Italians came as family groups.
On board shopping was more limited than I expected and centered mainly on clothing, jewelry, booze and cosmetics.
The ship was cashless using an MSC card system that open your cabin, charged on board purchases to your account and acted as your ID card to get on and off the ship. Everything was priced and charged in euros.
There were some downsides.
1. The flight to Genoa from Heathrow leaves early and some passengers slept in the departure lounge overnight. (We got round that by using a deal that got us a bed for the night and parking for the duration of the trip at a heathrow hotel for £100 all in).
2. The flight is to Milan not Genoa which means a 1hr 45 min couch trip to the ship and you arrive late afternoon.
3. If you want to do the Rome trip the following day you need to be ready very early and the Rome trip (whilst worth it) is a long day.
4. This is a sprint round the western med (7 stops in 7 days) and most of the trips involve a resonably significant coach trip (albeit that they are all well worth the effort)
5. The journey home for the Brits really needs some improvement. You have to be out of your cabin at 8am on the morning of departure. Disembarkation plus the coach back to Milan takes you to about 11am the BA scheduled flight back to the UK is not till about 7pm (8 hours at the Airport!) but our flight did not leave till 8pm. It sould not be beyond MSC to organise a short trip to Genoa (which we never relly saw) before leaving for Milan.
One alternative may be to tap into the American version of the Cruise because they join at Civitavecchia for Rome. However they presumably miss Rome and a UK customer may have to DIY their flights etc.
All in all a great holiday visiting some fabulous places and I would certainly do it again and despite some gripes would definately use MSC again. |
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Jan Lowe from Newcastle Under Lyme sailed on MSC Lirica with
First Option Cruises
on a friends holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 4
2005 |
Jan Lowe
rated the MSC Lirica as follows:
| Ship Cleanliness | | | Crew | | | Ship Food | | |
| Onboard Entertainment | |
| Jan Lowe said: This was our 2nd cruise and after our 1st on the Carousel it was another world. Polished mirrors and brass everywhere, the crew were always cleaning something. The cabin was plenty big enough for my husband and myself, with mini bar, air con., t.v., safe and the cabin girls were wonderful and we wanted for nothing. The food was good with a large choice but, if there was nothing on the menu that took your fancy, every night you could have chicken or steak instead with no fuss. The breakfast we took on deck and were spoiled for choice as with the lunch which was sumptious to say the least. We could have had both in the restaurant but preferred to see the scenery as we docked etc.from the deck. I had to visit the well equipped gym every day for an hour to burn off some of the unwanted calories. There is something for everyone in the evenings, the theatre was not our cup of tea but with about 6 bars to visit, each one with some form of music (mostly live) we lacked nothing. The crew were friendly and the animation team wonderful and made you feel part of a huge party. They worked really hard. The only down side for us was the restricted dining, we felt the 1st sitting at 6.30 was too early yet the 2nd one at 8.30 was too late. We would prefer open sitting however, it has not put us off booking again. We did the Western Carribean in April with the Panama Canal and have just booked again for March 2006 to do the Eastern Carribean, Antigua, Barbados, Tortola etc and are travelling once more on the MSC Lirica. We would highly recommend the ship and company. Best value for money around. |
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