MSC WORLD AMERICA Reviews

14 DAYS OF DISAPPOINTMENT – MSC WORLD AMERICA: OVERPRICED EXCURSIONS, SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERNS AND POOR ORGANISATION

We booked a 14-day cruise for two people on msc world america with high expectations. Unfortunately, our experience was extremely disappointing. Honestly, after this experience, i would think twice before booking another msc cruise.

1. Excursions: Extremely expensive and disappointing

Our first excursion cost $110 per person. The following day, we were surprised to discover that it had been cancelled. We had to choose another excursion and pay extra. We accepted this, hoping to enjoy a good experience, but unfortunately, we were disappointed again.

The replacement excursion cost $159 per person and was nothing special. It mainly involved watching a traditional dance performance on the island of roatán.

However, the biggest problem was the transportation. We were taken on a very small boat that was clearly overcrowded. There was not enough space for all the passengers on the boat. People were squeezed together, passengers started shouting, and the situation became extremely uncomfortable and potentially dangerous. We genuinely feared for our safety.

On the return journey, they had to use two separate boats because there was not enough space for everyone.

This is extremely serious. You cannot play with people’s lives just to organise an excursion. Msc has a responsibility to ensure that the boats used for its excursions are safe and have sufficient capacity for all passengers.

We paid $159 per person, and instead of enjoying our excursion, we were worried about our safety. This is completely unacceptable.

2. Second excursion: Disappointing experience, hidden costs and lack of transparency

Our second excursion cost approximately $150 per person and was equally disappointing.

We had to walk for around 45 minutes to reach the waterfalls, only to discover that there was very little water and almost nothing worth seeing. We managed to do just two jumps, had less than five minutes to swim, and then returned much faster than we had walked to get there.

The waterfalls were practically dry, with very little water and no particularly impressive scenery. For $150 per person, this experience was absolutely not worth the money.

But that was not the only problem.

Throughout the activity, the staff repeatedly insisted on taking photographs of us without first asking whether we wanted to be photographed or explaining that these photographs were part of a paid service.

At the end of the day, we were surprised to discover that they wanted to sell us these photographs for $70 per person.

This is unacceptable. If photographs are a paid service, customers should be clearly informed from the beginning. We should not have to stop repeatedly during an excursion to take photographs without knowing that we will later be asked to pay for them.

Customers must have the choice from the beginning. Do not waste people’s time repeatedly taking photographs if the intention is to sell them afterwards without having explained the price.

Furthermore, we were not properly informed beforehand about what we needed to bring or wear. We only discovered once we arrived that we had to pay extra to rent equipment such as appropriate shoes and lockers to store our personal belongings.

Why are customers not informed about these additional costs before booking? We should know what we need to wear, what equipment is required and what additional expenses we may face.

Between the excursion price, equipment rental and unexpected photo offers, the experience became much more expensive and frustrating than expected.

Customers deserve transparency. We should know exactly what is included in the price, what is optional and what additional costs we may have to pay before booking an excursion.

3. Other destinations

For the other destinations, we decided to organise our own activities independently. We spent less money and enjoyed much better experiences.

This makes us question why msc charges such high prices for excursions that do not offer the quality or experience customers expect.

4. Poor organisation of the 14-day cruise

For a 14-day cruise, we expected to discover many different destinations and enjoy a varied itinerary.

Instead, we were disappointed to find that we had to return to miami, go through the check-in process again and board the ship for the second part of the cruise.

We also had to visit ocean cay again, even though we had already visited this island. Repeating the same destination instead of offering more variety was disappointing.

When booking a 14-day cruise, customers expect a rich itinerary with several interesting destinations, not to spend so much time repeating places or remaining on the ship.

5. Overcrowding on board

Another major disappointment was the overcrowding on the ship.

The swimming pools, jacuzzis and buffet areas were constantly full. Finding a place to relax, enjoy the facilities or even have a comfortable meal was difficult.

We paid for a 14-day holiday, but often felt confined on a crowded ship rather than enjoying a relaxing cruise.

6. Final opinion

A cruise should be an opportunity to relax, discover beautiful destinations, enjoy activities and create unforgettable memories.

Unfortunately, our experience was very different. We paid a significant amount of money for this holiday, only to encounter:

* an excursion cancelled at the last minute.

* extremely expensive and disappointing replacement excursions.

* a dangerously overcrowded boat that raised serious safety concerns.

* waterfalls with almost no water after a 45-minute walk.

* unexpected photo sales costing $70 per person.

* additional equipment rental costs that were not communicated beforehand.

* repeated destinations and disappointing itinerary organisation.

* overcrowded swimming pools, jacuzzis and buffet areas.

Honestly, i would rather pay for flights and hotels, organise my own trips and enjoy each destination freely than spend another holiday feeling confined on a crowded cruise ship.

I am particularly disappointed by the excursion arrangements and the safety concerns we experienced. Passenger safety should always come before profit.

I would not choose this experience again, and based on our experience, i would not recommend msc world america for a 14-day holiday.

I am sharing this honest review to help future passengers make an informed decision before spending their money.

Msc needs to take customer feedback seriously and improve the quality, transparency, organisation and safety of its excursions, as well as the overall onboard experience.

Customers pay a lot of money for their holidays. They deserve quality, safety, transparency and respect

I recently cruised on MSC World America from 9/12-9/19. The racism that I experienced from staff and cruisers was disgusting. I witnessed and experienced staff coughing on Black cruisers as well their children. I was also followed in the shopping center.I witnessed staff ignore and bump into Black patrons. I witnessed cruisers do the same as well as yell at us when we got off the elevator. I spoke to other Black cruisers who reported the same experiences. I was able to speak to 1 Black staff member and she quietly said that there is a lot of racism here. Here’s more examples of racism.

A Black woman, who wore an officers uniform, purposely bumped into my mother and I and Coco Cay. She walked away from one metal detector to one we were at to bump into us. This happened while we were embarking. A staff confirmed that I paid for an excursion. During that call, she said, “ if you did pay for it, you will get the ticket.” Also the food is disgusting. The lobby smelled like mold too. I paid for a double bed and they gave me a single one. It took housekeeping 6 hours to fix the bed. To this end, I won’t be cruising with them again

I had a wonderful time on my 7-night cruise in the Caribbean. The perfect weather also helped. I was a solo traveler and was pleased that meetings were scheduled for us every day. I met some nice people there, at mealtimes, and on my land tours. I was also placed at a dinner table with solo travelers, as I requested. My room was adequate, and attendants were helpful. Glad I can adjust the A/C to my liking. The TV acted up but Guest Services were there quickly. They also helped me set up my MSC app twice. The food was good. The buffet lines were not long at all. Activities and shows were available at times convenient to me so I made the most of them. I enjoyed my shore excursions. My room attendant left my info in my room every time, for the tour next day. The ship itself was awesome. So much to see and do. Disembarkation was smooth. Ocean Cay waters were beautiful. Could not see the Lighthouse Light Show because we had to board just as the show started. I hope MSC changes that and let us board half hour later. Enjoyed the special nights like Tropical, Gala, 70's & 80s, White Night ,,,,,,and the after parties. The captain addressed us and introduced Senior officers. I think there were too many jewelry shops. I needed a shop with household items, and OTC meds, as I needed some glue for my shoe .... smile.

We are currently on MSC World America (day 2) and so far we are very disappointed, even though we are loyal MSC guests with Diamond and Gold status.

Embarkation: Nobody explained where we needed to go, and we were sent back and forth. Since I have been sick for several days, this was extremely exhausting.

Cabin: None of the Voyagers Club benefits we are entitled to were there, not even the bathrobes. Our cabin steward told us he had not been informed about our Diamond status, although it is clearly shown on our booking. In addition, the USB-C outlets in our cabin do not work.

Restaurant: Although we had requested a table for two in writing before the cruise, we were given a shared table. Only after about 30 minutes of discussion, on an empty stomach, was this corrected.

General: The ship is very crowded and loud, and we have hardly found any quiet places to relax. Every time we tried to go to Guest Services, the line was so long that we still haven't been able to raise our concerns. We find the drink prices very high, and most of the service staff have not been particularly friendly so far.

The big positive: our cabin steward Nyuman. He is incredibly friendly and helpful, brought us the bathrobes right away and is taking care of the broken outlets. He is the only reason we are giving even one star. MSC, you should truly value this employee!

Unfortunately, our complaint by email has had no effect so far. We hope MSC will respond now so that we can still enjoy the rest of our cruise.

Fabulous, beautiful ship, great experience, excellent restaurants, great service....I will definitely cruise again on this ship. We love this cruise from the embarkation to desingbarkation...staff, food, drinking package, wifi, app...excellent. we choose infinite room...wow beautiful cabin, the staff went out of their way to please us. Parties are great. You will not be disappointed. I will recommend this ship! Specially restaurant ufff, hola taco great Mexican restaurant, butcher cut best stake house, eataly the best Italian restaurant, paxos amazing food tapaniaky excellent. This is our 3th MSC...and eveytime gets better. They have really listened to american. Thanks MSC for an amazing week... buffet was great, and regular dinning was good too. Bar experience not bad at all. For a ship with 6000 people never felt crowded. And the spa...wow truly the best. Keep the good work. Overall experience 10 out of 10. MSC have improved with the american market. .

Beautiful ship and well maintained . Food was mostly good. There were some quality issues but they were quickly taken care of, upon notification. Good specialty dining venues. My favorite was the Greek restaurant. Plenty of bars. Great experience in the yacht club which made embarkation and disembarkation easy.

The cabin was beautiful, but needed a finer cleaning. I found the staff on this ship very personable and professional. Friendly and approachable.

The excursions with interesting and mostly worth the price.

I did use the spa and enjoyed the services I received. I didn’t appreciate products being delivered to my cabin that I had not agreed to purchase.

Overwhelming amount of children on board. Many children were disruptive and not adequately parented. Bringing children to restaurants at 8:30 pm was a disaster. Quite whiny, restless unhappy children resorting to throwing food, marching around the tables, screaming, etc. ignored by parents mostly. Certain parents were extremely permissive. It was unfortunate that the staff had to add distraction of children to their duties.

The breakfast of the restaurant at 6 is really not up to par: 40 minutes of waiting for a simple espresso and latte coffee is not audible so that we finally deign to bring us our coffee orders, my husband even gave up. We see favoritism by some waiters on families who arrive later and as all attention is paid to them they are served before to the detriment of those who have been waiting longer!

Despite all the efforts, the factory side remains strongly felt.

Regarding the CostaMaya stopover I don't know if it's the responsibility of MSC but docoing 3 boats at the same time on this small port is not normal: we pile up in a very dirty and hyper populated pool, it's shameful!

Finally the shows are very cheap: the most mediocre moment is the performance of the magician Reed something was absolutely not a magic show worthy of the name, I don't know how MSC can offer this kind of service so bad, you have to pay real artists!!!

Accustomed to MSC cruises and really disappointed, I plan to change brands to try to find what I really expect from a cruise.

One last thing but I wouldn't really hold it: we have the impression that the room cleaners want to avoid cleaning the room and ask if it suits us if they don't clean it or if it doesn't matter if in the evening they don't come to prepare the room under the pretext that they have a lot of work and that it suits them if we don't need it.

I know that there have been budget cuts on staff and that they are responsible for many more rooms than before

But definitely we won’t use anymore MSC after 4 cruises with them!

Went yacht club this time. Ship-beautiful. Staff-friendly. Our butler was overwkd w/3 jobs & never available to us when we called. Twice we reached him & he directed us to concierge.

Bedding had a hole in it & a yellow color to it. For $11k i shouldn’t see that kind of linen.

Wheelchair needed an adapter! That wasn’t on my paperwork.

Couldn’t use the pool-kids jumping in it! Not ada friendly without the use of the lift! No walk in steps-just 2 ladders, u can barely hold w/wet hands!

Denied service at lunch due to son’s white outfit having no sleeves by day. Lots of young boys running around in speedos. Girls of all ages w/bikinis that barely cover their parts and a netted something over it.

Lots of kids in the yacht club also! (that wasn’t on my paperwork either)! Must fall under the whole kids sale free thing!

There are many issues regarding this trip, but I’d like to begin with the positives. The staff for the most part are lovely people, they are willing to converse with you, and you might even make a friend or two within the staff. That’s an experience I’ve never personally had, so it was definitely nice. The food was honestly okay, some days were better than others, but it was food! I’ve definitely had better on cruise ships.

Now let’s start with what even triggered me to write this review. The yacht club.

From my understanding the yacht club comes with certain features that essentially makes the experience for them better, for example, on the main deck, nobody other than yacht club members can sit view the ocean, it is reserved for the members. Now I don’t particularly have an issue with that because it is a feature of the yacht club. My issue is the operation of the elevators. On the few last days of my cruise it became clear to me that yacht club members have priority in the elevators. And when I say priority it means that if you are on deck 6 and want to go to deck 7, a member of the club can come in, simply tap their card and completely cancel out your reservation to go to deck 7 to go to deck 18. Today, I was in the elevator with my little sister and my cousin. We waited for an elevator, and got on it. We were making our way up from deck 5 to 12. On our way up, the elevator stops to pick up someone, that’s okay! However this man makes his way into the elevator with his child, taps his card and clicks 18. I look up at the board to see his number pop up because this was new to me, and it completely cancels out our ride to floor 12 and immediately takes us up to 18. How is this okay? This enables rude behaviors from people like this man, to think they have some kind of authority to take over things like this. Personally I’ve already been on edge this entire trip, because a lot of the passengers on this trip seem to be either racist or have some sort of prejudice, and this honestly really solidifies it for me, regardless of the rude man’s intentions. I’m not being accusatory or saying this blindly either, because a few days prior to this incident, there was a drunken man referring to these young children as derogatory slurs and hitting on the kids younger sister, claiming he’d sexually assault her.

Another issue I’ve run into, is the food. The food honestly is mediocre one day, and then another good. It’s never consistent. They also seem to be on this frenzy of constantly cooking pork dishes. I stray away from pork as it makes me sick, so when they have, pork loins, and pork chimichangas, and PORK EVERYTHING, it makes it hard to look forward to eating my meals.

The entertainment was honestly mid, I enjoyed the cinesonic, but the parties felt soulless especially within the crowd, as if nobody was happy to be there.