There's no doubt that the MSC Poesia is a gorgeous ship and the public areas are beautifully decorated. If my visit had been a ship inspection only, I would have been wowed. Unfortunately, the food and service were disappointing.
If I had spent the entire week indulging in Italian cuisine such as pasta, risotto and gelato, I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven. The pasta dishes from the different Italian regions were delicious. However, the fish, poultry and beef dishes that I had were bland and dry. And if you like strong coffee, MSC Cruises comes out on top. I particularly like coffee that's robust and I've found that most of the cruise lines serve coffee that tastes like flavored water with a touch of cardboard. Come on now -- I want to wake up and smell the coffee! There's nothing like a great cup of java to get the day going.
And another thing I should mention -- alcoholic beverages are very reasonably priced. The same could not be said for salon services, however. I went up there for a nail polish change and decided against it after they quoted me $30. After finding some $3 nail polish remover in St. Maarten I was content to do it myself.
Being in the cruise business, I feel the need to keep in touch with my clients while I'm gone. Unfortunately, the Internet service on board the MSC Poesia was intermittent and slow compared to what I've experienced on other lines. My bill for wireless Internet service made me cringe. I don't expect the Internet service on board ship to be any where near as fast as my broadband connection at home but I don't expect it to be an experience akin to watching grass grow either. Of course, if you're not a workaholic and are cruising to get away from it all you won't care about the speed of the Internet connection.
Although we had a very attentive, friendly and humorous Italian waiter from Calabria in the dining room, he was the exception rather than the rule. I was rarely greeted with a smile or a "Good Morning" by any of the staff as I wandered around the ship. Most would not acknowledge me until I acknowledged them. I spoke about this with my colleagues on board and some of them thought this was perhaps a cultural thing as Europeans prefer staff to remain in the background. I realize that MSC is an Italian cruise line with mainly a European clientele, but over 90% of the passengers aboard the MSC Poesia on this Eastern Caribbean cruise were from North America and we generally like cheerful, outgoing staff.
The conference facility was small, which is fine for a cohesive group of around 20-30. However, it's important to bring transformers and/or adapters as the room had only one outlet for an American-style plug.
MSC Cruises also plays by a different set of rules than most American cruise lines. Most cruise lines don't allow women on board who are past their 24th week of pregnancy and infants under the age of six months. I saw infants who were obviously less than six months old and a woman on board actually gave birth in the casino one night which caused an unexpected stop in Freeport.
Pictures of the MSC Poesia
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