9-Day South America Cruise Aboard MSC SPLENDIDA

NEVER AGAIN – One of the Most Disappointing Cruise Experiences

Unfortunately, my experience with MSC Cruises was extremely disappointing. The ship may look impressive from the outside and have a modern interior, but behind that attractive appearance lies a guest experience that falls seriously short of expectations.

I went on this cruise expecting to relax, enjoy good food and be entertained. Instead, I spent far too much time dealing with queues, repetitive food, inflexible rules and entertainment so poor that I often preferred to go to bed early. For a cruise holiday, the overall experience was simply unacceptable.

1. Restaurants – Extremely Poor Food and Service

The buffet restaurant was one of the biggest disappointments of the entire cruise. The same basic selection appeared day after day: pizza, burgers, sausages, fish, fruit and vegetables, with very little meaningful variety. Even lunch and dinner were practically the same. To make matters worse, the food itself was often disappointing in taste.

Honestly, I would rate the buffet 1 or 2 out of 10 at most. For a cruise ship of this size, I expected considerably better.

And getting your food was only half the battle. You then had to search for an empty table and hunt for a waiter just to order a drink. It was ridiculous. Rather than feeling looked after, you felt as though you were doing the restaurant’s job yourself.

The restaurant was also unbearably crowded and noisy at times. When my wife went to get food, approximately 20 people asked whether they could take the empty chair she had left behind. This is supposed to be a holiday, not a daily struggle to find somewhere to sit and eat.

The à la carte restaurant was better in terms of food quality, but the dining arrangements were frustratingly rigid. Your dining time was decided for you, your table was allocated to you, and you were expected to fit your evening around the restaurant’s schedule.

The restaurant opened at 7 pm, and if you weren’t there at the designated time, your options became extremely limited. If you wanted to eat at 8 pm or 8:30 pm because you weren’t hungry earlier, that flexibility simply wasn’t there.

Why should paying guests have to follow such a rigid schedule just to enjoy dinner on their holiday? Guests should have reasonable flexibility, not be made to feel as though they are attending an appointment they cannot miss.

We also had to wait far too long for the meals we ordered.

Good food alone cannot justify a dining experience that feels so restrictive and poorly organised.

2. Entertainment – 0 Out of 10

The entertainment was, quite frankly, shocking.

My rating: 0 out of 10.

The programme was so repetitive that after the second day, you could practically predict the entire evening. Live music with different DJs, musical quizzes, karaoke and disco nights – essentially the same activities repeated day after day with very little variation.

Where was the creativity? Where was the effort to make each evening different? Where was the entertainment that should make a cruise memorable?

In my opinion, the animation team delivered one of the most disappointing entertainment programmes I have experienced on a holiday. It felt as though the same schedule was simply being recycled every day, with little consideration for whether guests were actually enjoying themselves.

I ended up going to bed early on several evenings because there was simply nothing worth staying up for. Think about that: you’re paying for a cruise holiday, yet the evening entertainment is so uninspiring that sleeping becomes the better option.

On some nights, the combination of the restaurant experience and the entertainment was genuinely depressing.

A cruise should give you something to look forward to every evening. This one repeatedly gave me reasons to go back to my cabin.

3. Cabins and Drinking Water – Basic Expectations Not Met

I was genuinely surprised by how inconvenient something as basic as drinking water could be.

There wasn’t even a complimentary bottle of water in the cabin, despite paying for a premium package. Instead, you were given a reusable bottle and a card to refill it at water stations. You had to carry the bottle around, find a refill station and remember to bring your card. Forget either of them, and even getting a drink of water could become an inconvenience or an extra expense.

Seriously, is providing drinking water in a guest’s cabin too much to ask on a cruise holiday?

This approach makes the whole experience feel unnecessarily restrictive. Guests should not have to think so much about obtaining basic refreshments when they have already paid for their holiday and, in many cases, a premium package.

To be fair, being able to order breakfast to the cabin and enjoy it peacefully on the balcony was a good feature. Being able to take buffet food back to the cabin was also convenient. Unfortunately, these positives were overshadowed by the wider experience.

4. Bars and the Card System – More Queues, More Hassle

Even ordering a drink became another process to deal with. You had to carry your card at all times, because without it you couldn’t order a drink. Some guests wore their cards around their necks on lanyards simply to avoid forgetting them.

The result? More queues and more unnecessary hassle. Instead of walking up to a bar and enjoying your holiday, you were regularly left waiting.

To be fair, the alcoholic drinks available with the premium package were good. The selection of vodka, whisky, gin and other spirits was a genuine positive.

But then comes the ice cream. You have to pay extra for an ice cream cone.

When guests are already dealing with the inconvenience of the water system and the constant need to carry cards, charging separately for such a simple pleasure only adds to the frustration.

The overall impression was that every small convenience had been removed or restricted, with additional payment required whenever possible. That is not the premium holiday experience I expected.

5. The Positives – Because There Were Some

To be fair, the ship itself looked impressive. The interior, lighting, walls, bars and restaurants appeared modern and high-quality. Visually, the ship made a very good first impression.

The alcoholic drinks included in the premium package were good, breakfast delivered to the cabin was enjoyable, and being able to take food back to the room was useful.

The protein shakes and smoothies at the Vitamin Bar were also good. I would particularly like to recognise Sanjay, who worked there. He was one of the few people who genuinely made us smile during the cruise. His friendly attitude made a positive difference, and he deserves credit for that.

However, a beautiful ship, decent drinks and a friendly member of staff cannot compensate for so many problems with the overall guest experience.

Final Verdict – NEVER AGAIN

Overall, this was a seriously disappointing cruise, and I would not choose MSC Cruises again based on this experience.

The ship looks premium, but far too many aspects of the service do not live up to that image. The repetitive and underwhelming buffet, inflexible dining arrangements, painfully repetitive entertainment, queues at the bars and the unnecessary complications surrounding basic drinking water all contributed to a holiday that felt more frustrating than enjoyable.

The biggest problem is the gap between the premium image MSC presents and the actual experience delivered to its guests.

A holiday should be about relaxing, enjoying good food, having fun and feeling valued as a paying customer. Instead, too much of this cruise felt like following instructions, waiting in queues and paying extra for basic pleasures.

I do not expect perfection, but I do expect reasonable food quality and variety, enjoyable entertainment, convenient service and some flexibility during a holiday I have paid for.

MSC Cruises seriously needs to reconsider its priorities. A modern-looking ship is not enough. The quality of the actual experience matters far more than appearances.

I left feeling disappointed rather than refreshed, frustrated rather than entertained, and genuinely relieved that the cruise was over.

Based on my experience, I would not recommend MSC Cruises to my family or friends, and I certainly would not choose to spend my money on another cruise with them.

NEVER AGAIN.

A disappointing cruise experience. I will personally not travel on an MSC cruise again. Ship was over crowded, with hordes of feral children running riot with little or no supervision. Restaurants and buffet were packed with long lines and wait for tables. Food was largely mediocre. Common ship areas were hot with little or no air conditioning. Open decks were packed with people, with difficulty getting free sun lounges, especially on sea day. Music by the pool was raucous and excessively loud. Gym area was packed with children playing on the machines, with no space for regular exercising guests. Crew were tired and largely indifferent. Saving grace was our main dining room waiter who served us well.

Entertainment, especially in the main theatre, was very mediocre and largely disappointing. The elevators took an age to arrive and were frequently full, necessitating long waits and sometimes having to resort to climbing stairs to several decks.

Overall a dispiriting and tiring experience, with MSC seeming to prefer packing guests onto their ships like sardines and little concept of quality or service.

Even though MSC have a reputation for low fares, these are not enough to compensate for the overall experience, in my opinion.

From the moment we boarded MSC, we immediately noticed a significant lack of warmth and hospitality from the crew. Unfortunately, we did not feel welcomed at all. Very few crew members smiled, and many appeared disengaged, unwilling to make eye contact, or uninterested in assisting guests. Rather than feeling valued as passengers, we often felt like an inconvenience.

After settling into our stateroom, we discovered that there were no hand towels in the restroom. I went out to locate our stateroom steward but encountered another crew member instead, who informed me that the towels would be delivered later that day. We waited, but no towels arrived on our first day. When I finally met our steward, the interaction was disappointing. He barely spoke unless spoken to and avoided eye contact entirely, giving the impression that guests were interrupting his work rather than being his priority. I was simply told that the towels were still being washed.

My wife and I understand that first impressions are not always fair, so we intentionally chose not to judge the experience based on the first day alone. However, as the days passed, the same pattern continued throughout the ship. At the buffet, crew members rarely acknowledged guests warmly. No greetings, no smiles, no effort to create a welcoming atmosphere. Staff would only approach our table once our plates were ready to be cleared, and even then, interactions felt robotic and emotionless.

We have cruised many times over the years, and this was honestly the very first time we experienced such an unfriendly and unwelcoming environment onboard a cruise ship. Hospitality is the heart of the cruise industry, and sadly, that essential element felt missing throughout much of our MSC experience.

To make matters worse, we encountered a serious issue in our stateroom when we were awakened from a nap by loud water drips coming from the ceiling directly onto our bed. I had to immediately jump out of bed and place a trash bin underneath the leak to prevent further soaking of the bedding. While we appreciate that someone responded after we called guest services and eventually sent a plumber, it took nearly three hours for the issue to be fully resolved, including replacing the bed linens. This was extremely disruptive and concerning.

Additionally, our assigned dinner seating was scheduled at 8:30 PM, which was far too late for us, leaving us no choice but to dine at the buffet most evenings.

The one truly outstanding part of our MSC experience was the nightly entertainment. The shows were absolutely spectacular, world-class performances that deserve tremendous recognition. Without question, we give the entertainment team 5 stars for delivering unforgettable productions night after night.

However, exceptional entertainment alone cannot compensate for poor customer service and a lack of genuine hospitality. Cruise passengers invest not only their money, but also their trust and expectations in choosing a cruise line. Guests should feel welcomed, appreciated, and cared for from the moment they step onboard until the moment they disembark.

MSC leadership and management should seriously reevaluate and reinforce the importance of customer service culture across the fleet. Smiles, warmth, attentiveness, and simple human connection are not minor details in this industry. They are the foundation of the guest experience. Without passengers, there is no cruise industry. Guests should never feel ignored, unwanted, or burdensome while onboard.

At this time, if asked whether we would sail with MSC again, our honest answer would unfortunately be a strong “no.” We sincerely hope MSC takes guest feedback seriously and makes meaningful improvements in crew engagement, hospitality training, and overall customer care. We would love to see future reviews and experiences reflect positive change because MSC has tremendous potential to be exceptional.