MSC Poesia - a half term trip I will not be making again

I disembarked MSC Poesia following an October half term cruise around northern European cities. 

I booked this cruise with only a few weeks to go with my family staying in 2 balcony cabins and the cost for 7 days was £724 per person. Not bad at all! 

We parked up with ABP parking outside the terminal (well worth the money as transport to the ship would have cost us about the same and far less convenient) and it was seamless. Checked in - again seamless, there was no-one else around at the time we checked in. So within 10 minutes of parking the car we were on board and our rooms were ready on arrival. Perfect for us to drop our hand luggage and get ready for the muster drill. 

We had adjoining cabins and it was nice to see that the door between the cabins was locked on arrival as a lot of the time people who are not booked together will use these cabins. One call to reception and we had a cabin steward unlock it for us and it remained unlocked for the duration of our cruise. One thing we did not expect was that the minibar was locked. Again it got unlocked on request, we didn't use it except to keep some milk cold for tea in the cabin. 

The cabins were clean enough, comfortable and functional but dated. Some of the furniture was damaged, chipped and the drawers could have been cleaned out at some point. 

We watched the safety drill, dialed the number required on the in room phone, then headed down stairs to our muster station. We had our cruise cards scanned and that was it.  All done, super simple and quick. 

Our food experience on board was a bit mixed. The buffet was our go to for all food. The food was tasty and seemed fresh enough. My son wasn't super inspired by anything but always found something to eat. We went to breakfast in the main dining room on the first morning and never returned. We were given coffee, tea, bread rolls, pastries etc all by different members of staff but none of them took our order. We were sat there with menus for 1 hour before our order was even taken. Other diners around us were served before us and as each member of staff were doing a different role, we couldn't find the one who was taking orders, then two tables who had arrived after us were served (orders taken) and had food delivered before we had even been asked what our order was. Then the waiter didn't seem to understand what an omelette was - this is a standard breakfast item and there was no special requests to go with it, just a basic omelette from the menu. I fully understand that English is not the first language for many of the staff on board the ship and I am happy to make allowances for this, but knowing the standard items on the menu should be one of the first things to learn. The food was ok but nothing special and so we just kept to the buffet for the rest of the cruise. 

We had a good time but this ship would not be a first choice for me in the future. I was on Virtuosa last year and the atmosphere was totally different. The staff on Poesia were (for the most part) in a dour mood. Some were very kind, polite and smiley (Our cabin steward Jeffrey was lovely), but others just seemed like they couldn't wait to leave their posts.

We had rough weather during the trip and thankfully we didn't suffer too badly with seasickness thank goodness but were very wonky when walking around. We had cabins mid ship on deck 10 and I will always swear by the middle middle rule. (Mid-ship, mid-height deck on any ship as it is the most stable.) The crew couldn't do anything about the weather but an announcement at any point from the captain would have been nice (like they've done on other ships I've been on with different cruise lines). I would have taken my own seasickness tablets in advance if I knew the weather was going to be poor / rough. Communication on board was not the best and could easily be improved.

The cost of the shuttles was excessive for us (this isn't only this ship but a cruise wide problem) we actually got an Uber to and from Bruges as there were 4 of us and would have done the same in Le Havre if we got off the ship as it would have cost the same for us all to get one car than take the shuttles but with far more convenience.

The entertainment on board the ship was a bit cheesy and not the highest quality, but we did enjoy the theatre shows and there were so many different ones! On the 7 night cruise there was a different show each night! The white party (which is an MSC staple) was good, although the main atrium was so cramped that not much dancing could take place. Enjoyable, but there is nowhere on the ship to host it properly.

A few things were broken and the ship is due a refit in my opinion. As it seems to be for MSC as the ship will be having one in early spring before she makes her way across the Atlantic for the remainder of her sailing days. She will be spending Spring/Summer in Alaska and the Autumn/Winter sailing from Miami. What a life!

While this ship wasn't my favourite, I will be sailing with MSC again and at a cost of just £725 per person for a week in a balcony cabin it was a bargain when all things are considered. 

If you'd like to see my experiences on board then take a look at this playlist here => https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-UQNuwbT_jAG6-PMQh2q_Nk1dahBT9kG 

Until next time x