MSC Cruises Reviews 98

Today we depart the cruise from Brazil to Genoa
The boat was useable and good in Brazil but the weather deemed the out door activities unusable after Tenerife
Food has been awful throughout the trip
I cannot upload pictures which would show quality and presentation of food
Our cabin steward Nick was fantastic and a massive thanks to our Goa new friend
Getting off and going to a restaurant that cares will be a delight, meals in the ports stopped at has been the highlight of the trip
Our last trip with MSC is a fact !!!
And just checking my on board account they overcharged me 78.44 which I have to go and claim back before we get off 😡😡
Everything about MSC is about taking your money for a bad return 🫩😞🙁
Use somebody else and have a good holiday please

I am rather stunned at the poor reviews of MSC as I had a very positive experience with this company in very difficult circumstances.I was on the Euribia due to sail from Dubai on the 28th February 2026, the day the US attacked Iran leading to the immediate cancellation of our cruise and us being effectively stranded onboard as the Dubai airspace closed. MSC went above and beyond in their efforts to look after everybody, the staff were exemplary in their kindness and professionalism and all facilities were available for our six days onboard. Basically relaxing by the pool, shopping, onboard entertainment and being dined and wined while MSC undertook the responsibility of getting everybody home, which they achieved admirably in the circumstances, no mean feat.In addition to daily information updates on the situation. On top of all that we received a full refund which I immediately reinvested by booking another cruise with MSC. We were Yacht Club guests so did have that extra mile of comfort and luxury, however the overwhelming feedback from that week is that all passengers were very well looked after. Top marks to MSC.

We haven’t even boarded our MSC cruise yet, and the customer experience has already been terrible.

We tried to organize a surprise for another passenger in our group, but because they have a different booking reference the system makes it almost impossible. Everything must be booked only through your own reservation.

Customer service has been unhelpful, with generic, robotic responses and no clear email support. They were even unable to explain what services the spa actually offers.

Very poor organization and customer support

Just returned from my latest MSC Cruuse. It was faultless from start to finish. The food seemed even better than before. Vegan corner introduced in the buffet and vegan deserts on the dining room menus Crew as ever are the best at sea. The MSC Musics is an absolutely beautiful ship and it doesn’t feel cramped. On busy days the crew bought the buffet out into the pool deck.

Save your money the food is awful. The service is awful. Communication is awful. They don’t understand boundaries when I was at guest services trying to work out an issue with the mini bar and they knew I was in guest waiting for them. They went to enter my room, not knowing my 14-year-old son was in there. My son told them they had to wait to enter but they went around my Son and enter the room anyways and locked the mini fridge.

Raised a complaint on board regarding excursion team manner regarding cancellation, miss lead with their response. Raised a complaint Nov 25 still ongoing correspondence as they have not addressed any of the 6 points of dissatisfaction that I have Raised with them and not even an apology! Princess, Cunard and PO cruises are far superior. I guess you get what you pay for. It's a shame because the dining staff were so helpful and friendly.

Sad company. Their "Grand Voyages" are just rebranded repositioning cruises.

I had a superb experience on MSC in 2008 from Genoa to Rome, Istanbul, Athens, etc. Excellent!

To go back on an MSC Cruise America, their supposed flagship in November 2025 was disgusting! Yes our cabin was clean and that's about the only good thing I can say. We paid the pool attendant 200 $ to reserve loungers and he earned 187 $ for the month because MSC had deducted his flight and baggage allowance from his salary of 1000$ per month ! This is below basic normal wage! 250 $ per week and he had a family to support ! Criminal, slavery!
Food and service ! Cold, or over-cooked, tasteless and basically disgusting. Sent back several meals. Replacement meals I left un-eaten. Other people seemed to wolf down the sub-standard food, but OK call me a snob but I know what cuisine is about and MSC need a huge amount of learning. Goodbye MSC.

We are MSC Cruises Diamond Members and have been loyal customers for many years. Precisely because of this, this experience was especially disappointing.
We received a quotation from MSC which we confirmed correctly within its validity period. Afterwards, MSC informed us that an internal mistake had been made and that too much discount had been applied. As a result, we were asked to pay an additional €200, despite having a valid quotation.
We fully understand that mistakes can happen. What we do not understand is why no form of goodwill or compensation was possible for an error that was entirely on MSC’s side. Even a simple gesture such as onboard credit or a complimentary transfer was refused, although this would involve little to no real cost for the company.
Because of this inflexible approach, we ultimately decided not to proceed with the booking. It is very disappointing to see a cruise line that claims to value loyalty handle a situation like this with Diamond Members.
A missed opportunity for MSC to resolve a mistake in a customer-friendly way.

I have already written about the omnishambles of my most recent MSC Virtuosa cruise.
After missing two ports and sailing up and down the English Channel for three days, MSC said that all customers would get 20% off their next cruise (on the proviso that it is taken in the next 12 months).
Well, turns out that was another example of MSC bullsh1t. I have just received an email informing me that i will get £418 off my next voyage, which represents 20% of the fare i paid for the cruise from hell.
Therefore, the £418 will only actually be 20% off my next voyage if the price is exactly the same. Highly unlikely, given that fares will naturally rise and that i may have wanted to travel at a time where fares are higher anyway.
Do not trust this company!

The whole thing was a fast. 4 Adults squeezed into one cabin and no room to swing a cat. The food was Unpredictable and the staff were rude. In fact if you have ever been to a cattle market shuffle along with others was exactly what to expect. The cabin was cleaned 1 day out of 3 - the ship was diverted but passengers where not told until we were getting on the ship, Then told we had to have our cases outside the door by midnight, but make sure to leave out what you needed for the following morning Clothes toiletries etc ( no mention of this until the night before) so had to leave most of mine behind as had no where to put them. Then they give a time for you to leave the ship in the morning not leaving you much time to sort yourself out and have some breakfast before you leave. If you like to relax I would give MSC a miss.

the travel agent sold us a cruise on msc ship and said they had a cabin which was ok for a mobility scooter.
we paid all the money as the cruise was in a couple of weeks. two days after booking I got a phone call to say we could not go as there were no mobility chairs available. I was upset but that's that, the rub comes when the agent said I would have to wait 65 days to get my money back, they took the money within 24 hrs

Second cruise on the Virtuosa....although after the first one we said we would not cruise with them again, however price was good and liked the destinations. Anyway, nothing has improved, so definitely this was the last time we will cruise with MSC. Food quality and choice very poor. We prefer to eat in restaurants on all our cruises, can't be doing with the buffet and rudeness of other guests, one breakfast I had mushroom omelette...worst ever, to the point when I got to the mushroom I spat it out...tasted disgusting with the omelette being an egg roll ! Getting back on the ship after a day on shore was a nightmare. Queues were horrendous as security, which I don't have a problem with, is very slow....2 scanners for bags etc, but only 1 body scanner. Priority preference was given to disabled and children in buggies. This added to the delay...we had one family who tried to get a large buggy through the scanner...ended up having to dismantle it...more delay! We did the D Day excursions, they had 2 for Utah and Omaha beaches...one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We booked both as a package, quite a few others also booked the same. You would have thought a coach would have been used for the package excursion, so that it left the ship and stayed out all day..oh no. We returned to the ship lunchtime, had 20 minutes before the 'same' coach took us to the second destination....the ship provided a packed lunch....why not stay out all day, it meant we had very little time at these very moving locations...very badly thought out of the excursions team...complained when we eventually got back on board, but fell on deaf ears. The only good thing I can say about this cruise is as always, the waiting staff and cabin stewards are fantastic

We haven't even been on our cruise yet but it's already a big thumbs down from us for MSC.

We spotted a wonderful 12 day Baltic itinerary starting and finishing in Copenhagen next May, so we booked it as a package with an agent to include flights to Copenhagen and 2 nights' hotel stay.

A curt email on 2/9/25 from MSC informed us that they are shortening our precious cruise by 2 nights and now it's starting from Warnemunde instead of Copenhagen - this isn't even in the same country and 5-6 hours travel!

MSC have offered a pro-rata refund for the missing days and a whole 50 Euros PER CABIN as compensation - this doesn't even amount to £25 each and in no-way covers our extra costs, not forgetting the disappointment at missing 2 days of our cruise.

We now have to find our own way from Copenhagen (where are flights are booked to) at our own expense (the agent can' help on this one) and there will be other extra subsistence/hotel expenses to cover the missing days.

I have challenged MSC (particularly because we weeks later they were STILL advertising the cruise on their own site with the original itinerary. This has now been removed but only after I'd challenged it twice).

DO MSC VALUE THEIR CUSTOMERS? On the basis of the way we have been messed around and the derisory compensation offered, I'd say not - and we certainly won't be booking another cruise with them.

I am now nervous about the cruise itself.

I haven't even gone on my cruise for October 6, 2025 and it's been a disaster. When initially booking my cruise, I paid on the wrong credit card. MSC cruises switched payment methods no problem and I was told that it would take 30 days to process the refund on the other credit card. When I followed up at the 30 days, I was then told it was 30 business days. Then, when I followed up again, I was told that it could take up to 2 billing cycles to process the refund. I called so many times to try and deal with this issue and then ultimately was left with $125 of interest charges by the time the refund was processed. Then, it took multiple phones calls to try and get that interest charge refunded in what they called a "good will gesture". There has been nothing good about any of their "gestures". If I could give negative stars, I would. I'm still going on my cruise, but only because I don't want to deal with the same stupidity of another refund. I strongly caution anyone from crusing with MSC cruises. It might be good for you, but, if anything happens, they don't care one whit about you or your problems. I even asked to speak to a supervisor about the whole situation, because I wanted to help them improve customer relations and customer service to hopefully not have this happen to someone else. Not a single person has followed up with me and it's been months now. I had to call them back myself and finally spoke with a supervisor. All they did was parrot back to me their terms and conditions fine print and say sorry. Nothing they've done has made me feel at all good about this situation. They'd have to do something pretty spectacular at this point to make me ever consider cruising with them a second time or to keep me from making sure everyone I know doesn't ever use them. I don't ever want to cruise with them again after this and strongly advise anyone else to avoid them. MSC cruises doesn't give a crap about regular, everyday people.

P.S. Sorry for the long rant :)

We did the norway fjord cruise and honestly anyone complaining must be really fussy we can tell you from our experience the cruise was great all food was brilliant they cater for everyone yes the ship was busy but not busy enough to not enjoy yourself the staff always went beyond for us and all the small towns we stopped at were just as expected if you want to escape unwind and truly soak in some once in a life time views id highly recommend going the prices were quite expensive in the shops but all the staff told us save the spending for the last day due to big discounts which we did overall it was a life changing experience please dont read in to the bad reviews there is lots of entertainment on the ship throughout the day and everything you want to do i can assure you you will be able to.

I was unable to travel due to illness and had purchased a drink package for my wife and myself. My wife changed cabins to go in with my daughter and grandson. My granddaughter and her friend went into our cabin. we were not allowed to change the drink package to my granddaughter and her friend. When I applied for a refund on my drink package I was told to claim the money back on the travel insurance. Also the company was told my daughter was allergic to eggs and nuts, but on the final day there was a huge selection of cakes but no egg free ones.

I’m writing as a Diamond status guest, having just returned from a cruise on MSC World Europa (March 2–9, 2025, from Genoa). Unfortunately, this marks the second cruise in a row with unresolved issues — and broken promises from MSC.

We purchased the Easy Plus Drink Package and a 3-restaurant dining package, but again faced missing items, bar exclusions not mentioned during booking, and unavailable drinks in key venues. This was identical to what we experienced on the same ship in February 2024 — and at that time, MSC responded by saying stock levels and communication would improve. Clearly, they have not.

The lack of transparency is especially disappointing. For example, on MSC Euribia, the drink package was not accepted in the wine bar — something we only discovered onboard. On World Europa, the Elixir Bar was also excluded, even though this was not listed online before purchase. Staff simply referred us to “fine print” on the menu — which is of no help to passengers who booked from home, based on incomplete or misleading information.

We expected better. When a guest is paying €54/day for a beverage package, it’s reasonable to expect the advertised items to be available, and for the inclusions/exclusions to be made clear up front.

MSC offered us a €30 future cruise credit per cabin, but this feels like an empty gesture — especially since it’s not combinable with other offers, like our 10% loyalty code. It does not address the core issue: we paid for services that were not fully delivered, and our loyalty as returning guests has been met with generic replies and no meaningful resolution.

After multiple disappointing experiences, we now feel compelled to warn other potential guests. We’ll be sharing this review in multiple languages across all platforms, so that others are fully informed before purchasing onboard packages.

MSC needs to do better — especially for loyal guests.

Johann Holzmann
MSC Voyagers Club — Diamond Status

I have just returned from a Yacht club experience with my family. I have been on 4 MSC cruises, including the Grandiousa, Virtuosa, and Europa (sorry about the spelling). I am about one more cruise away from Diamond status. This is my experience of MSC. I have also travelled in many various levels of both 5 star and 1 star hotels and resorts, throughout my life, as I used to work in travel. I will bullet point the pros and cons;

Pros;
MSC is very relaxed, regarding it's dress codes and dinning. (This is great, as you can dress up if you wish, and stick to your football shirt if you don't, though for heaven sake make an effort, your mum would be proud).

The shows are a good length and fun.

Food is good, if you step out of the buffet once in a while.

The facilities, like the spa and thermal areas, including the bars and tea rooms, are excellent.

The ships are beautiful and the staff, usually friendly.

The cleaning staff, are always excellent, and the rooms were kept very well, with a turndown service.

Speciality dinning is a must.

Cons on this trip;
When I booked this weekends yacht club, I did so, firstly by paying for two people, in order to book myself a room, and then for 4 people to share a room, (My Father, sister and her children aged 14, and 12). At no point was it pointed out to me this booking cost the same as a booking of Three rooms, nor that the 4 berth cabin, did not provide 4 beds, only a sofa bed which according to my sister, had a metal bar in the centre making sleeping very difficult. Sleeping on a sofa bed, when you have paid the same as all other guest, for your room, is not a premium experience, regardless of its comfort. This also meant that 4 paying adults were sharing a bathroom. All in all, I paid full price, for 6 people, and received facilities for 4 people, this is not how 5 star service, should be provided. MSC should be doing their best to ensure, we get the best they can offer.

Multiple requests, throughout the trip went unmet, such as;

Butler not answering my one and only call, nor meeting me except by chance at the end of the evening. (worth saying that the concierge, held most of the experience together).

Room service took over an hour for a pizza, to be bought, Could they not jump the queue for their Yacht club guests?

Service was slow, (which is expected in Europe, though it is generally nice to know you are being served, if the drinks do take a while). They lacked enough staff to take orders at the bar and prepare meals. All in all, it could take longer to get a drink, in Yacht Club, than during the packed bar, at the white party.

Overall I feel that MSC, after several trips, does not seam to value me as a customer, and lacks the service or treatment I've come to expect from other 5 star resorts or experiences I frequent.

I will be thinking long and hard about, my next cruise (grand tour, through the east of Africa), next year, and whether or not to book something else instead.

It pains me to say this, but I have given MSC more than one exception throughout my time with them, I wish only to save anyone else from having to do the same.

I used the Yacht Club weekend to determine if it would be worth it for a longer stay. Thinking that MSC would put their best foot forward (I'm sure other guest planned the same). Sadly they did not, and I with MSC there is no real complaints procedure or customer service you can go to, to resolve any issues (from previous experience). So ultimately, I can not recommend MSC, as a luxury cruise liner.