MSC Cruises

Name: MSC Cruises (MSC Crociere)
Founded: 1970
Headquartered: Geneva, Switzerland
Parent Company: Mediterranean Shipping Company
Focus Location: Mediterranean, Caribbean
Key Home Ports: Miami, Barcelona, Civitavecchia
Onboard Currency: Varies depending on sailing including Euros, Dollars (USD) and Sterling (GBP)
Website: MSCCruises.co.uk
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Hello and welcome to our review of MSC Cruises, the Italian cruise line headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that brings Italian style and Mediterranean touches to the cruise world.

It is a line that has plenty of fans but plenty of detractors, so we went into our first experience with them with little to no expectation but without giving too much away, we were pleasantly surprised.

The bulk of this review is based on our experience of cruising onboard the MSC Virtuosa, on a mini cruise to Zeebrugge and Cherbourg from Southampton in May 2024.

The onboard experience of MSC is certainty different form the other cruise lines that we have sailed with.

Something that surprised us was just how much was needed to be sorted once you got onboard as most things needed to be booked in advance, but you couldn’t use the app to do so for some things, even when onboard.

That meant having to go to video screens around the ship to book things such as the theatre and heading to a specific room to book things such as our pre-purchased Carousel show.

That is something that is likely more specific to the Virtuosa, the ship we sailed on, but is certainly something to keep in mind if you are booked with them.

Once sorted, the rest of the onboard experience on MSC is quite relaxed and whilst our own personal experience was onboard was more of a booze cruise than family friendly one, that was because it was a mini cruise and full of those celebrating birthdays, stags & hen dos and even a few weddings.

There were still plenty of families onboard and with all that is on offer on their larger ships, that is certainly the market that they aim at.

There is a big split in the onboard experience for cruisers however as our experience was that of a regular cruiser but they also offer a first-class experience known as the ‘Yacht-club’ that gains you access into special areas of the ship including lounges, swimming pool, sun-decks, restaurants and more.

There are often two different viewpoints when it comes to the cruising style of the line with some seeing them the cruising equivalent of a low-cost airline that get you from a to b and offer the minimum needed to fulfil that objective whilst others look at them as having a different style of cruising to every other line where you pay a budget base price for your cruise and then pay as you go to do anything whilst on holiday.

There is something true about both of those statements as so long as you are not cruising in the ‘yacht club’, MSC Cruises do offer a low-cost starting base for your holiday and if you just want the basics of a room, some food and some entertainment- you get all of that and plenty more.

You can even cruise on some of the biggest, newest and most expensive cruise ships in the world, but they do need to fund those behemoths of the sea and to do that, they try to get as much money out of you once onboard as possible.

That is of course the aim of every cruise line, they are businesses after all, but MSC have taken that to a whole new level.

For some that is a nuisance whilst for others it is a great way to do it as you only pay for what you use and to do the things that you want to do so even if you choose to sail on an all-action resort style ship, you are not paying for all the ‘flashy’ extras you won’t use.

It can often come down to how you view the business model of MSC as to whether you will like them and for us, so long as you understand what you are getting, it is perfectly fine.

It is certainly not a perfect system and is not our favourite way to cruise as we don’t want to constantly be thinking about how much we are spending once on holiday, we all do enough of that before we set sail from the moment we book, but so long as you keep in mind the cheap base cost and you can set yourself a budget for spending onboard.

We chose the most basic option available with the line, known as the Bella Experience, which is MSC’s version of a sail away price.

So, for us only the basics were included such as your cabin (although we couldn’t pick the actual one and were at the mercy of where they placed us), basic drinks in the buffet and main dining rooms, theatre performances, swimming pool, some activities such as table tennis and the aquapark.

For those who love to keep active, all ships have an onboard gym that is included in the cruise cost, and some have a sports plex for playing tennis, football and basketball.

Importantly for us, your gratuities were included as that can really make a cheap deal quickly look expensive, if you pay on top of the advertised rate.

As a quick and cheap getaway for us, we didn’t feel the need to pay for anything extra but as mentioned already, there is plenty that you can pay for all over the ship.

As is the case with most cruise line, especially mainstream lines, you will have to pay for most of your drinks onboard including all alcoholic drinks.

You have the option to either buy a drinks package, for which there are several different options or to pay per drink.

Even if you have the most premium drinks package, you will have to pay extra for drinks made and delivered to you by a robot at the lines Starship Club.

Whilst you will never do go hungry onboard a MSC ship, if you want a specific type of meal or a more intimate dining experience, there are several speciality restaurants that are all pay extra and offer cuisines including steak, Mexican, Japanese and more.

Performances in the main theatre are included but some ships have a second performance area known as Carousel Productions, where there are Cirque de Soleil style shows available at an extra cost.

The onboard spa offers lots of treatments, but they are all at an extra cost whilst it will be no surprise that the casino is all pay extra.

On the pool deck there is an ice cream station, but it will cost extra, although ice cream sundaes are often available in the MDR’s.

If you want a fancier room, access to special pools, sun lounging areas and lounges and lots of extra perks, you can have all of it but at a huge extra cost to join the ‘Yacht Club’.

The line has lots of activities and attractions that can be enjoyed depending on the ship you sail with the Virtuosa, the ship we sailed on first with the line offering things such as 10 pin bowling, a F1 simulator, an arcade and a 4D cinema but they all come at a pretty steep extra cost.

Whilst the gym is free to use, several different classes that are offered in their cost extra.

Just like on the majority of cruise lines, especially mainstream ones, your shore excursions will costs extra and the line also offer pay extra shuttles in a number of different ports.

The entertainment offered by MSC is very similar to what you find on other mainstream lines with inhouse performers doing music shows in the main theatre and around the ship.

In our experience, there were also performers playing in the atrium, in the lounge and on pool deck whilst the inside promenade deck was a place for parades, parties and discos.

You could also enjoy a light show there on the impressive LED screen and all those things mentioned so far are free for all.

There are some pay extra entertainment offerings including shows in the Carousel Lounge, but you’ll be able to stay entertained onboard MSC ships without splashing the cash.

Before we first sailed with the line, a few people we knew who had already sailed with them weren’t fans of the food onboard MSC and in doing our research, issues with the food would come up time and time again.

In our own personal experience, we had absolutely no issues with the food we ate, in fact it was better than some other similar lines, but we should also say that that is based solely on eating only in the buffet and only for 3 days on a mini cruise.

Its hard to know why there was such a discrepancy with what we heard and what we experienced but we did have some theories on it.

It could just be the case that the quality has gone downhill over the years, so those who have sailed with the line for some time will not like the food as much as they used to but that wasn’t our number 1 theory.

As an Italian line, with a Mediterranean focus, it was not too surprising that the best food on offer was Italian food, followed by Mediterranean dishes and then for us it was the Indian dishes followed by the British/American dishes in last place.

So, if you want the comforts of home, they will not be the best option for you but it you want to experiment and try some new food, there should be no issues.

Amongst the best food we had was Pizza, mozzarella (which is made onboard) and focaccia bread.

Drinks wise, you get all you would expect with a range of beers, cocktails, wines, soft drinks, juices, teas, coffees and hot chocolates and they are available in a wide range of bars but one thing we would have liked was a tearoom or coffee shop where you could sit and relax.

On our first sailing with the line, we had an inside cabin onboard the MSC Virtuosa and could have no complaints, aside from a lack of a proper chair to sit on.

The bed was large and comfy, there was space under it to put our bags and the pillows were not too hard or too soft.

One big issue we did have with the room was that although it was a good size overall, there was very little storage.

That seems to be consistent across most MSC ships and whilst it wasn’t too much of an issue on our mini cruise, it would likely be on a longer ship.

That was highlighted by the lack of hanging space for your clothes with only a small wardrobe.

The bathroom was also spacious, had everything you could need and had the all important glass shower door.

As you would likely expect from a cruise line owned by the Mediterranean Shipping Line, MSC Cruises have a focus the Mediterranean with most of their ship either based there or offering sailing to there.

With a huge fleet of ships, you will likely be able to sail with the line no matter where you want to visit as they truly have a global presence.

After the Med, it is the Caribbean that has the biggest focus for the line, especially in the northern hemisphere winter.

Aside from those two behemoths of the cruising world, regions such as the Greek Isles, Northern Europe, the Middle East, the Norwegian Fjords, the British Isles, South America, Asia, Australasia, Hawaii, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Panama Canal, the Arctic and even World Cruises are all offered.

MSC Cruises From Southampton

Southampton is actually one of the leading turnaround ports for the line and thanks to the building of the new Horizon Terminal, they are now based in the UK’s leading cruise port all year around.

From Southampton, you can sail with MSC to Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Norwegian Fjords, around the British Isles, the Canary Isles, the Azores, the Arctic and transatlantic repositioning cruises onboard a selection of ships.

MSC have one of the biggest and most varied fleet of ships of any cruise line but for the purpose of this page, we are only focussing on the mainstream MSC cruise line and not their recently launched Explora ships.

There ships are always relatively easy to spot thanks to a mostly white design and a blue funnel whilst their newer ships are known for there sleek designed with curved top decks.

Amongst their main fleet, their ships can be split into a number of different classes; the Mistral class of ships that include ships built in the early 2000’s, the Musica class of ships that we built between the mid 2000’s and 2010, the Fantasia class of ship from the late 2000’s to 2013, the Meraviglia class of ships from 2017 and 2019 plus the bigger versions of that class known as Meraviglia class class which were built between 2019 and 2023, the Seaside and Seaside Evo class of ships built between 2017 and 2022.

In 2022, the lines biggest ever class of ship debuted when the World Europa became the first World Class of ship to enter service.

The ships of MSC can be split into a number of classes of size and style including.

These are all smaller ships of under 100,000 tonnage and whilst they cannot match the facilities and activities of the larger ships, they can visit ports that the larger ships cannot.

Mistral Class:- MSC Armonia (built 2001, joined MSC in 2004), MSC Sinfonia (built 2001, joined MSC in 2004), MSC Lirica (built 2003), MSC Opera (built 2004)

Musica Class:- MSC Musica (built 2006), MSC Orchestra (built 2007), MSC Poesia (built 2008), MSC Magnifica (built 2010)

These are larger cruise ships that are over 100,000 tonnes and below 200,000, that offering the full Yacht Club experience and the widest range of onboard facilities.

Fantasia Class:- MSC Fantasia (built 2008), MSC Splendida (built 2009), MSC Divina (built 2012), MSC Preziosa (built 2013)

Meraviglia Class:- MSC Meraviglia (built 2017), MSC Bellissima (built 2019)

Meraviglia Plus Class:- MSC Grandiosa (built 2019), MSC Virtuosa (built 2021), MSC Euribia (built 2023), Norwegian Encore (built 2019)

Seaside Class:- MSC Seashore (built 2021), MSC Seascape (built 2022)

These are some of the biggest ships in the world that are capable of hosting around 7,000 passengers and offer the widest range of facilities for the line

World Class:- MSC World Europa (built 2022), MSC World America (built 2025), MSC World Asia (built 2026)

With a huge fleet and a long history, there are big differences between their ships with some of their older and smaller ships more suitable for couples and those who prefer a slower pace of cruising whilst their modern ultra-ships are ideal for groups and families or for those who want an all-action getaway.

There smaller and older ship are perhaps best for couples or for those who like a more relaxed cruising holiday whilst there bigger mega-ships are perhaps better for families, groups or those who love to keep busy when away.

Of course with such a big fleet, the majority of their fall somewhere in the middle and are well suited to the vast majority of cruisers.

As is the case for every line there are some things that you need to keep in mind when cruising with them, or when looking to book a getaway with them.

The biggest issue we had on our journey was the muster drill in which everybody as to go to their rooms at the same time, watch a video and then everyone must go to their muster station at the same time.

As you can imagine, that leads to chaos on staircases and at the stations and if you hate crowds, have mobility issues (all lifts are not to be used) or are travelling with young children, this something that would put us off travelling with them as to be honest it was such an unorganised way of doing it that it made the ‘safety drill’ anything but safe.

Another issue to keep in mind is that their ships are targeted mainly at European travellers, which means that were they excel maybe not in areas that you like.

Food wise, it is in Mediterranean and especially Italian food where they do best, and their entertainment is aimed at a broad audience but certainly has a European influence to it.

The service onboard is also of a more continental style where the staff are there to the there job as best as possible and not to offer a service that gets as many tips as possible, so that small difference could come as a culture shock for those who have only sailed on US owned ships/lines.

All of that wasn’t an issue for us, but we did here some complaining about things that really needn’t be complained about

Originally formed as Lauro Lines (Flotta Lauro in Italian) in the city of Napoli (Naples) by Achille Lauro in 1960, MSC cruises first started out with just 2 ships, the MS Angelina Lauro and the MS Achille Lauro.

It was a rough start for the line however as the latter would be destroyed by fire in 1979 and the former was hijacked in 1985.

That would see the small company struggle financially and in 1988, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, who had just entered the cruise line industry by purchasing the liner Monterey just a year earlier, would buy out Lauro lines.

The new line would be call StarLauro Cruises before renaming as MSC Cruises in 1995.

In 2014, the line would undertake its first major renovation plan with their four Mistral class of ships been renovated under the ‘Renaissance Programme’.

In 2015, the line signed 100-year lease for a private island in the Bahamas that would become their own Marine Reserve known as Ocean Cay

In 2018, the line started their entry into the megaship market with the announcement of a new terminal building g to be built at PortMiami for its soon be launched World class of ships.

A year later, they would launch a virtual personnel assistant, known as Zoe, that would feature on all new builds and help cruisers when onboard their ships.

MSC Cruises Review

MSC is a great line for those who are wanting a budget getaway as they offer some of the cheapest cruise fares on the market.

When you add in some of the most modest ships and you have all that many need for a great holiday but with all the extra costs, those wanting a more inclusive all action style holiday may prefer to look at other lines.

The line also offers one of the better first-class options with their Yacht Club, which strangely makes them a great option for those wanting a budget or luxury experience.

If you are looking for MSC Cruises reviews, you are in the right place, as we bring you our honest review of MSC Cruises.