3-Day Mediterranean Cruise Aboard MSC EURIBIA

MSC Euribia Yacht Club: a beautiful ship, but an inconsistent luxury experience

General overview

MSC Euribia is a beautiful, modern and exceptionally clean ship. Before travelling, I had read reviews describing crowded public areas, but that wasn’t my experience.

There was plenty to enjoy, particularly the entertainment, the attractive Yacht Club spaces and several excellent members of staff. However, the food and service were inconsistent. At approximately €7,000 for our week, or €1,000 per night, I expected a higher standard and greater attention to detail.

Yacht Club offers a comfortable and attractive experience, but on this sailing it fell short of the food quality and service I would expect at that price. For our next cruise, we are considering spending more on Regent Seven Seas or Explora Journeys, or trying Royal Caribbean again.

1. Entertainment and onboard atmosphere

I would rate the entertainment 8/10. The theatre shows were enjoyable and well produced. While not Broadway level, they were still high quality.

The White Party, followed by the continuation in the Attic nightclub, was great fun. The singers and pianist in Yacht Club were another highlight, bringing talent and elegance to the evenings.

The Helios wine-tasting experience was excellent and reasonably priced, with a very knowledgeable sommelier. This was one of the standout experiences of the cruise.

2. Dining, drinks and restaurant service

The Yacht Club restaurant has an elevated feel, with attractive décor, a pleasant atmosphere and lovely background music from the pianist. The included wines offered a good variety and quality.

Lunch and dinner generally ranged from good to very good, although rarely excellent. Highlights included the salmon, bluefin tuna tartare, snails and several delicious fish dishes. My partner found the beef average, while the lobster pasta had an overly strong fishy taste.

Desserts were a particular strength, with an excellent variety, including cakes, crêpes Suzette and crème brûlée.

Elvis deserves special recognition. He was extremely polite, knowledgeable about both the menu and wines, and attentive throughout our meals. Unfortunately, service across the restaurant was inconsistent. Sometimes staff did not know who had ordered each dish, or another waiter would arrive to take an order that had already been taken.

Small details also detracted from the setting. The cheap-looking plastic flowers on the tables felt out of place against the otherwise elegant décor.

Breakfast was particularly disappointing. Even a basic omelette was overcooked, dry and almost cardboard-like. The Yacht Club buffet food we tried on the first day was also bland and poor, and the server was not particularly courteous.

Outside Yacht Club, Hola! Tacos was delicious and good value. Our experience at the sushi restaurant was less positive. We asked about a walk-in when it appeared half empty. After checking with a supervisor, staff told us it was full and suggested returning in 40 minutes, which conflicted with our spa appointment. I appreciate that empty tables may be reserved, but the dismissive manner and lack of apology were disappointing. We raised this with the concierge and showed a photograph, but the issue remained unresolved.

Afternoon tea was excellent. However, having previously experienced it daily, finding it offered just once during this cruise was disappointing. Every other day would be a reasonable compromise.

The Top Sail Lounge was beautifully decorated, but its snacks did not match the surroundings. Some were soggy, and the crisps were poor quality. Cocktails were also mixed: the premixed Pornstar Martini was disappointing, while the Cosmopolitans, espresso martinis, salted caramel martinis and Hugo Spritzes were very good.

3. Suite, butler service and Yacht Club facilities

Our Deluxe Suite with terrace was spacious, clean and comfortable, with plenty of storage and a small walk-in wardrobe near the bathroom.

The minibar had a good selection of refreshments. On previous sailings, miniature spirits were available; this time, we were offered a choice of one complimentary full-sized bottle from a selected range at the start of the cruise.

English-language television options were limited, and there was no way to connect our streaming services, such as Netflix or Apple TV. We also experienced a problem with the on-demand movies. When it could not be fixed, the concierge offered to cover an alternative paid entertainment option, which was a thoughtful gesture.

The hairdryer could be improved. Its cable was fixed inside a drawer, making it awkward to use while seated. A better-quality hairdryer would also be welcome in a Yacht Club suite.

Our butler appeared stretched between too many responsibilities, including duties ashore during port calls. He provided the basics, such as delivering breakfast when requested, but we rarely saw him. My impression was that this reflected workload and staffing rather than a lack of effort.

Kumar, our junior butler, was excellent. Our suite was consistently spotless and beautifully organised, and his turndown service was impeccable.

The Yacht Club sun deck was spacious, with comfortable, premium-feeling loungers and a pleasant swimming pool. It was very quiet during our October Norway cruise, although that may be different in warmer weather. For such a large area, having only one small jacuzzi felt like a missed opportunity.

The forward-facing restaurant and Top Sail Lounge were among the most attractive spaces on the ship. Yacht Club’s quieter atmosphere suits us well, although the service and dining need to be more consistent to justify the premium.

4. Spa and treatments

The spa facilities were impressive, with several saunas and steam rooms, an ice room, a salt room and two jacuzzis. The main drawback was the enclosed location in the middle of the ship, with no outside views.

The theatre is directly above the spa treatment area, and noise from it could be heard during treatments, detracting from the relaxing atmosphere.

At busy times, the spa became less relaxing. Some guests ignored the quiet areas and left towels everywhere. More active monitoring by staff would help maintain the environment.

Our massage was excellent. The facial, however, was disappointing. It was presented as a deep-cleansing treatment with pore extraction, but the extraction felt cursory. A warm towel was used rather than a steamer, and the overall experience felt much closer to a facial massage than the thorough cleansing treatment advertised.

Overall, the spa facilities and massage impressed us, but the noise and disappointing facial detracted from the experience.

If you need a gluten free diet, this is not the cruise for you. In the buffet there is not a dedicated gluten free area. You have to ask for GF bread and they keep sending you to the next station. When someone does help you, there is only pre packaged nan bread and a pre packaged hot dog bun. The nan bread is what you will get in the restaurants, too. It is not very good and is prepackaged. The restaurant manager does a good job of ensuring you have a good gluten free meal. There are 6k passengers and many people are sick. They have a store, but no acetaminophen or lozenges. There is just a very small area with some shelves for pharmaceuticals and essentials which seemed depleted on day two and they aren't getting more supplies.. The vast majority of the store is high priced perfume, purses, electronics..... The food is mediocre. There are too many people to accommodate in the buffet. They actually stop you from entering the buffet because it is so congested.The nightly shows are sold out from the beginning of the cruise and there aren't enough seats for a cruise ship with this many people. This my last MSC cruise. I'm currently on this cruise and sitting out on my balcony at 0500 because I am sick and can't even get Tylenol or a throat loosened. Incredible.

msc was the worst cruise i have ever…

msc was the worst cruise i have ever made

1. Food quality and presentation

The overall quality of the food in the buffet was very basic compared with what we expected from MSC.

• Pizza was frequently served cold, while the hot pizza was kept in a less accessible and less visible location.

• Better-quality food was sometimes placed in less prominent areas, after passengers had already passed numerous stations offering more basic food.

• The salmon at breakfast was hidden and was not openly available to passengers. In order to receive salmon, we had to specifically ask a member of staff for it. It was not presented as an ordinary, freely accessible breakfast item. A passenger had to know that it was available and specifically request it. This created the impression that access to higher-quality food was being deliberately restricted.

• For example There was also a restriction on the amount of lamb ribs passengers could take.

• Even when salmon was available, its quality was disappointing and it was not prepared properly.

• The steaks were of poor quality and did not meet the standard we expected.

• On one occasion, when I received a steak in the steak restaurant that was not satisfactory, I was not offered a replacement at no additional charge and was instead directed to the order other steak, where an additional payment was required.(after I already paid extra money for the restaurant).

• Surprisingly, the food in the restaurants was in some cases of lower quality than the buffet food. This is contrary to what passengers would reasonably expect from a restaurant compared with a buffet. As a result, many passengers preferred to eat at the buffet.

• The better-quality cakes were placed at the back and were difficult to access, while the less appealing cakes were placed prominently at the front.

• Chamomile tea was unavailable because the supply had run out, and it was not replenished.

Overall, the food experience gave us the impression that higher-quality items were being limited or made less accessible, which is not what we expected from an MSC cruise.

2. Additional charges and high prices

Throughout the cruise, there was a strong impression that passengers were repeatedly being asked to pay additional amounts for services.

For example:

• The internet package cost approximately €40 per day, which is a very high price.

• The beverage package cost approximately €140 per day.

• Regular water served at the tables in the restaurants was charged separately.

• The transfer/visit to Kiel involved an additional charge.

The overall impression was that the price paid for the cruise did not reflect the actual cost of the holiday, with passengers repeatedly being asked to pay additional amounts for services that we would reasonably expect to be included or more fairly priced.

3. Flåm Railway – approximately four times the market price

One of the issues that particularly concerned us was the handling of tickets for the Flåm Railway (Flåmsbana).

The price offered by MSC was approximately four times higher than the price available online when purchasing independently.

Despite this very high price through MSC, passengers who attempted to purchase tickets independently discovered that no tickets were available.

The impression was that MSC had purchased a very large number of tickets in advance, leaving passengers with little or no opportunity to purchase tickets independently at the normal market price.

We find it very difficult to understand why passengers should be effectively left with the choice of paying approximately four times the market price through MSC, when tickets at the regular price were no longer available.

This situation was, in our view, unfair and damaging to passenger trust.

4. Severe overcrowding

The ship was extremely crowded in many areas:

• The jacuzzi areas were very crowded.

• The dining areas were overcrowded.

• Shows and entertainment venues were extremely crowded.

• It was often difficult to find available seating.

In addition, some tables in the lobby were apparently reserved or closed approximately two hours in advance. For example, passengers arriving at around 5:00 PM were not allowed to use certain tables even though they were not actually being used at that time.

This significantly reduced the comfort and enjoyment of the cruise.