We had been happy on the NCL ships, even though there had always been things to aggravate us. On the last cruise, we were particularly unhappy with the booking process and the cruise line’s service before boarding and were, therefore, looking elsewhere. Over the five years, we’d been cruising with NCL, their customer service simply declined to a point where we were unwilling to spend more money with them. 

I often see MSC shipping vessels in the port of Gothenburg, and I know they’re a fairly big company having branched out into the cruise industry as recently as 1989. We booked ourselves on the Divina from Genoa, the same port where a certain Christopher Columbus got his sea legs. We had booked a suite in the Yacht Club, which is the MSC equivalent to NCLs Haven. More about that later.

We had arrived in Genoa the day before the cruise to see a bit of the city itself (we’d never been there before) and to be relaxed in the morning to get off to a great start. After breakfast at our hotel, we strolled down to the port to see where we’d have to leave our car. I had pre-booked parking and wasn’t entirely sure how it would work. Every port is different and while it’s easy enough reaching a terminal by cab, it can get dicey in your car. The offered valet service seemed easy enough, even though we first drove to the wrong place and had to make a detour, before we found the Yacht Club tent and drove up to it, unloaded our luggage and sort of expected the car to be picked up and parked. 

No such luck. I was asked to move my car and after the third person had told me to move my car elsewhere, I sort of lost it and began to curse in fluent Italian. It was scorching hot (first heat wave of the summer) and I wanted to get out of the sun and my car. I guess they are not accustomed to that sort of reaction and we managed to resolve the situation. Let me just say that this was the only trouble we had all week. After these strange ten minutes, everything else was near perfect, and I don’t say that lightly (and I’m not paid by MSC either…)

The keycard to our suite was waiting for us in the cabin. To register your credit card there are several machines on the ship and you do it in just a few seconds whenever it suits you within the first twenty-four hours aboard. I can add that disembarking was equally fast and painless. The whole process until we were at our car (parked next to the ship) didn’t take more than fifteen minutes.

Now, I’m not saying other cruise lines and their processes are worse, just different. At least on NCL, we got to enjoy the beautiful spread of snacks and drinks as we were waiting.  

The Yacht Club also includes a private restaurant in the aft of the ship, with different menus for every day of the cruise, and a menu-style breakfast for those who don’t like the buffet breakfast on the sundeck or the continental one in the lounge. Good wine and mineral water were included in every meal, and not just any water, but Aqua Panna, Italy’s finest.  

The food quality isn’t quite as high as on NCL. I’d give it a four out of five, where NCL scores a four-point-five in my experience. That doesn’t mean the food is bad, but there’s room for improvement.

I’ve also gotten used to hand sanitizers and “washy, washy, happy, happy”. MSC has them, too, but nobody reminds you to use them and most people don’t. An area of improvement. Who needs food poisoning (or any other illness) on vacation?

Having previously sailed on NCL ships only, my horizon is limited with regards to comparing to other cruise companies, I’ll grant you that, but I’ve noted that the suites we’ve been in on NCL ships generally had bigger bathrooms and somewhat more floor space overall. To be honest, the bathroom was the biggest disappointment for me, particularly when there are three of us sharing one. But in the end, we spent so much time in the lounge that the size of the suite didn’t matter.

Every announcement on the ship was made in five languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French and German. This was hilarious at the beginning of a show when the cruise director would introduce it. Allow me to linger with this announcement for a moment. On NCL, the announcer comes on stage and asks something along the line of “are you having a good time?” They do that on MSC, too, but while our Italian cruise director would be happy with the public’s response and move on to languages two to five, I’ve yet to see an American one who doesn’t add something along the lines of “I can’t hear you…” or simply asking the question again until they get an appropriately roaring response from the audience. To a European, that triggering can appear a bit “childish” or silly (my dad would always shake his head), while I’m sure Americans are bored having to listen to an announcement in five languages when they were barely able to understand the broken English one. Cultural differences. Neither’s better than the other, but they’re different. We may all speak English, but underneath the veneer of it all, there are cultural differences.

Another “European” (I’m not sure if that’s the right explanation) thing was that we’d sometimes catch crew members smoking in a corner or that our staff at the outdoor bar would be chatting a lot and sometimes not pay attention to the customers. That is something I’ve never encountered on an NCL ship. Staff is kept on a shorter leash on US ships.

Which is funny because the vast majority of the crew on board of these ships are neither European nor American. On NCL (except the Pride of America) crew members are often Filipinos or Indonesians and the ship’s senior officers Scandinavian. On MSC, the senior officers are predominantly Italian, while many of the crew come from Madagascar and Mauritius. Having said that, all these ships are extremely diverse with crew members from virtually the whole world. Yet the ships’ culture is very much influenced by the owners.

Is it this cultural difference aboard the ship that makes Americans feel disappointed? Maybe. Unlike a restaurant in Paris or Athens where you’re constantly reminded of being in a different country, a ship is still a ship and they all share common traits. Maybe it’s easier to forget that these steel and glass colossuses are saturated with culture, too, even though it’s as if it is the walls, invisible. As someone who’s always had one foot in both American and European cultures, I may not be the right person to provide the definitive answer. However, given that I live in Europe, I felt super comfortable on the ship and had it not been for the specific question asked by MMOB, I probably wouldn’t have reflected upon it. 

Maybe it could also be the fact that some Americans prefer to travel with people from their own country? Maybe it’s just the language thing? The food offered (we had snails on the menu one night and quail eggs, but never a burger.) What is your take? It would be interesting to hear other people’s perspectives.

We sailed on the back-end of the first heatwave of the 2019 summer and Rome and Palermo were unseasonably hot (35-40 degrees C.) But each city had a lot of things to show us and we now have a few new places we want to return to for a shorter city-break in the spring or fall.

With no sea days, the time to check out and enjoy things aboard ship was limited. We did see three shows (given twice daily) which were all good, a combination of acrobatics and song, differently themed. Once I got used to the thick English accents of the singers, I was fine.

There’s a fair bit of shopping which is closed during the day for tax reasons. A bummer when you need something and don’t want to go ashore (especially since most ports aren’t exactly downtown.) There’s plenty of entertainment on the pool deck, things like karaoke, dancing, and whatnot, and the Divina has an adult-only infinity pool aft with its bar. No kids allowed if that’s your thing. What we didn’t see was the kind of adult games “know your spouse” and whatnot (see previous paragraphs on cultural differences.) 

If like us, you travel with children, there’s a kids club open daily with loads of activities for various age groups. There are also video arcades, table soccer, and table tennis, etc. There’s also a tennis and a basketball court, plus two pools and a few jacuzzis (half of which is indoor with a retractable roof.)