20-Day Mediterranean Cruise aboard MSC GRANDIOSA

Overall it was fine as it was very cheap and you get what you pay for. It is very crowded, people are loud and there is music almost everywhere on the ship. There are a lot of parties which is nice if you want that, but there are not a lot of places to relax. It is more of a party/booze cruise then a luxery vacation but that is to he expected for this pricerange.

The entertainment besides the dj's is average and the service is okay. It is very targeted towards Italian and Spanish tourists and that also reflects in the entertainment that is provided. A lot of spanish music and not that much live music, mostly just dj's.

We stayed in a room on the 8th floor, right on top of the galleria and we heard loud music every evening starting around 21.00 or 22.00. This wasn't great if we wanted to sleep early. Just bring some earplugs or stay on a higher floor.

This was our 5th cruise and first with MSC. We've been on P&O and Celebrity and enjoyed both. My expectations of MSC were not great due to reading reviews but I was keen to try this ship. Even though my expectations were low the experience was worse than expected.

Our cabin was dirty when we arrived and the bathroom was full of hair in the shower and under the toilet. There was also a brown stain in the middle of the duvet sheet! We had to request 3 times for the bedding to be changed. Each time they said they would send someone straight away but after 4 hours nobody came. We asked again and 3 hours later still nobody came and by this point it was getting late and we didn't want to be sleeping using this dirty sheet so we requested again and finally someone came to change the sheets! The bed wasn't very comfortable and both myself and my wife had a couple of bites on our legs after the first night. I understand these could have happened elsewhere and not from the bed so can't say for definite where we got them.

Hardly anyone washes their hands in the public toilets, including staff! A crew member even used one of the cubicles and left without washing his hands. I never saw anyone use the hand gel stations and staff never asked or encouraged people to use them or to wash their hands like they do on other cruise lines.

A lot of other guests were very rude, selfish and impolite throughout the cruise. We were regularly woken up at 2-3am by people talking and singing loudly whilst walking past the cabin. Many people smoke on their balconys often so when we opened our balcony door the smell of smoke would fill our cabin. There are lots of smoking areas all over the ship which was surprising so it was even more surprising that so many people smoke on their balcony! The smoking areas were located down the entire left side of the pool area so if you're a non smoker you've only got the right hand side if you want to sit or use a sunbed near the pool. All seating around the Horizon bar is smoking and also in the casino. Our cabin was on deck 9 and we could even smell smoke when walking past the rear stairs!

I enjoy using the casino when on cruise ships but it is unbearable for a non smoker so I only used the casino once for less than 10 minutes during our cruise which was during the day on a sea day as this was when it was a bit quieter.

They encourage you to pay for water on the ship so much that the free water has a bad taste to it. It's what I would imagine toilet water would taste like.

The buffet was chaos all the time especially at breakfast. People constantly pushing in front of others and leaning over each other to grab food. I witnessed a guest pick up food, put it to their nose to smell it and then put it back where they got it from!

I didn't like the lift system they use as we would be waiting several minutes for lifts most of the time. When trying to exit lifts other guests would regularly block my exit or try to push their way in because they couldn't wait a few seconds to let someone off.

The gym was surprisingly small with very little equipment compared to every other ship I've been on.

This holiday has put me off cruising and we wouldn't use MSC ever again. By the half way point I was looking forward to going home.

I decided to write a review since I spent a lot of time looking for reviews before our family cruise and hopefully this might be of help to someone.

This is only my second cruise and first with msc .

Firstly the ship is beautiful and I found all areas including the Cabin to be very clean . Public toilets always clean whenever I used them.

We sailed Fantastica level with a Balcony on level 12 .

We had 2 adults and 2 teens .

The room had a couch that was converted to bunk beds and remained that way for the week.

Space was tight and we had to keep on top of the kids clutter but it was manageable just about .

The beds were very comfortable and kids also found the bunks comfortable.

Bathroom was fine, occasionally a slight musty smell from the drain but not enough for us to complain about it .

Our room attendant was excellent and introduced himself on our first day asking us if we had any questions .

He was happy for us to remove the drinks from the cabinet and fill with our own water .we had the premium extra drinks package . This does not include the mini bar .

We had 4 msc aqua bottles waiting for us in the room and we used these to fill with water out and about the ship during the week.

I found the aqua station easy to use at buffet and we would hand our bottles to be filled when we passed a bar that was not busy and last thing at night we would pop up to the buffet for one last refill .

I do it think would be better to have far more refill stations around the ship that people could sort their own water.

It would also save the bar tenders time since between filling water , making coffee and getting drinks for people the bars were far far busier than they needed to be snd often did not have enough bar tenders to cope with demand.

We ate in 2 speciality restaurants, Hallo Taco and Butchers Cut . Butchers cut was very good .Our drinks package worked in both . With wine on the premium package you order by the glass and not bottle . In Butchers cut the waiter poured from the bottle and our glases were always topped up so that was no issue for us.

On all other evenings we ate in the MDR . We had fixed dining and that worked well for us. We requested a late sitting knowing we would be in port most days and allowing for teenagers to sleep in a little and have a swim or relax when we got back onto the ship.

We got 8pm sitting along with my sisters family .We had linked our booking in advance of the cruise so we had a table for 8 in total . 8pm worked perfect for us.

Our restaurant was The Purple Crab and our server , Mark, was a superstar! With 4 kids in our group we had sauces on the side , mains swapped out , special requests from kids for pasta or burgers or fries and he sorted everyone out . If we were unsure what to order he would bring a spare for us to try . I ordered Risotto on the first night and was warned I might find it a little firm. It was perfect and I would highly recommend it.

I found the fish a little overcooked but everything else was really good. Again our drink choices were remembered and brought without asking on the second night . Really good service.

Thoughts on the buffet : I brought the kids at around 10am every day for breakfast , we went straight to the back towards the sliding door to pool area. It was quiet there and the choices are mostly repeated at the different stations . When the kids wanted pancakes or waffles we didnt need to go to the indoor buffet at all as the station outside the buffet next to main pool had waffles and pancakes ready to go. This same outside pool station had burgers , pizzas and hotdogs available all day from 12 until about 5pm to grab and go .

The lunch at buffet was from 12( I think ) until 3pm . We were mostly off the ship but when we came back early the middle section was very busy so we moved to the back and found it fine.

The only day the buffet seemed bad was the sea day and we just by luck missed the chaos that seemed to begin around 2pm . We were leaving and groups came in and staff seemed to have trouble coping .

Given the choice I would only use the buffet for quick snacks but all the food I tasted from it was good and they seemed to have a good variety of food in my opinion. More staff helping to move the flow of people and perhaps guiding to free seating would improve the experience .

There was always plenty of food available between sittings and especially late at night, pizzas constantly also fries, burgers and plenty of left over dinner items still being served after midnight. You will not go hungry on this cruise. I always went to the buffet to get a cup of tea before bed and was astonished at the amount of food being eaten at all hours !

The pool area we did not love . It was packed always like human soup.

The weather was incredibly hot so the kids would cool off in the aqua park and I would find somewhere on the shady side of the ship to sit . I was always able to find a sunbed but never close to the pool which was fine by me. The sunbeds do not have attached sunshade which is a pity as the sun was relentless .

The gallery area inside the ship was lovely and cool. The edge bar was nice to have a coffee or drink at any time.

Almost everyone made an effort to wear white on " White night " and msc make a big effort with the evening time parties . If you are a night owl you will be well catered for .

We only had 1 sea day and I'm not sure how I would feel about more sea days . The younger kids on the cruise seemed well catered for but our teens struggled a little on the sea day. I think they would have liked more organsed games of basketball or soccer outside of the teen clubs that they refused to go to or just a few more activities .

We had the fun pass and it was well worth it . The formula 1 was a hit and expensive at I think 12euro a go . The VR was also good and perhaps 10euro a go but it adds up quick. We only ever had to wait 10mins to use the formula 1 car or VR cinema. Bowling we booked the day before.

We went to see 3 shows all at 1030 pm and the shows are between 35 and 45 mins long . The Abba show we enjoyed and the kids really enjoyed the starwalker mJ show. The shows book out fast on the app so you need to book them fast. Each show was released at about 3pm the day before as far as I can remember.

We really enjoyed our days off the ship although the heat made excursions difficult.

We boarded in Palma so our first port stop was Barcelona. We took the msc shuttle to the trade centre and walked from there along las Ramblas and the Gothic quarter. We had a snack and refreshment in a pleasant plaza and then a little shopping before making our way back to the shuttle and ship . We did pay for the shuttle I think 9euro each .

In Cannes we wandered off the ship at around 11am onto a waiting tender to bring us to Port and from there we walked to the beach and got in the sea. It was seriously hot so our plans to wander around town were curtailed.

In Genoa our group split up . The kids all walked to the aquarium with my husband and the rest of us went on an excursion to Portifino and Camogli. We loved this trip . The excursion was listed as 140euro but the night before the the price dropped while we had dinner to 98euro per adult . We felt this was good value and booked it . Great trip would recommend.

In La spezia we got off the ship to free waiting shuttles that took us to the edge of the port . From there we walked 5/10 mins to the public ferry and paid for a return trip to Portovenere . We did not have time to go to Cinque Terre as it was after 11am when we got off the ship. As it happens Portovenere was a great choice for us. We wandered to a lovely little pebble public beach with a pier that the kids enjoyed jumping into the sea from . We really enjoyed this little town and caught the 1445 ferry back to Port . The ferry trip took about 35mins giving us plenty of time to get the shuttle back to the ship .

Our final stop was Rome and as we have been to Rome before many times as a family we decided with the temperatures so high to just take a wander around the Port and use the pool while it was quiet.

Disembarking at Palma was very simple and hassle free. We left our cases outside our room the night before between 10pm and 1am . Woke up at our leisure , had breakfast and walked off the ship at around midday . No issues , our cases waiting for us when we got off .

Would we sail with MSC again ?

Yes absolutely. We did go on the ship with our eyes open . We live in Ireland and holiday in Europe every year so we are used to the various personalities . Bring your patience and take your time . This is a big ship with a lot of people on it. With so many people queuing systems for the buffet and bars would make life easier for everyone and I think the staff struggled at times. Personally I prefer my space and slow travel on land but the grandosia is a lovely ship and cruising is a nice way to see Ports and places we otherwise may not choose to go to for an extended holiday and I now have more places in Italy on my list for a repeat visit !

The kids all enjoyed themselves but they would have enjoyed more use of the soccer hall or basketball had it been available more often outside of the clubs . Amongst kids English language was in the minority , Italian and Spanish being the majority just something to be aware of if traveling with a lone child but the kids clubs appeared to be well attended and our kids had a great time overall.

I rated thso review " Average " but it is really a solid " good" just not quite " very good" yet.