MSC Sinfonia Review

July mediterranean cruise

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on MSC Sinfonia
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junebug99
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Jul 2018
Cabin: Fantastica Balcony Stateroom
Traveled with children

We did lots of research and compared prices between NCL, Royal Caribbean... MSC offered the lowest in price. the same amount of money we can get a balcony room instead a inside room with other company. so we went ahead booked with MSC Sinfonia. we arrived Venice by train at 11:30am . about 10 minutes walk and found the people mover station. it took us at least 20 minutes stand in line to buy ticket for 5 minutes train ride.. got off the train. we walked 15 minutes to arrived the embarkation area. ( I think there free shuttle bus available, but the bus stop is at a open area, that means you have stand under the sun for unknown time for the bus to arrive. so almost all people rather to just walk.) embarkation line wasn't too bad at the time. it took about 30 minutes. and finally we enter the ship at around 2 pm. our balcony state room is pretty small. I think the balcony room interior size is the same of the inside rooms, except you have a small balcony. room was dated but looks clean. bath towel and pool towel are very old and rough, bedding and pillow was OK. carpets are very old and no way you will feel clean to walk without slipper... Dinner, food at restaurant was in very nice presentation. but nothing taste good. we can't finish our plate every night although its very small portion. buffet has more food to choice. but always too busy and short handed. breakfast serve same kinds of tasteless food every morning. free coffee taste really bad, but if you pay to order cappuccino it will take very long time. and they always make you share table with different groups people every morning... they have total 5 night shows out of 7 nights. the shows are the part we enjoyed the most. we have to seen many Vegas show. I would say their show can compare with that. we call it big show in a small stage... we have 2 sea days, the sea day after we visit Mykonos is 36 hours long on sea. which is too long and too boring. no activates that we enjoy to do. no good food or snacks during the sea day...we didn't join any excursions, their overpriced and the ports that we are going are very easy to go around, just need to do so research and you can save hundreds of dollars.... Split, as soon as you walk out the port, you will see public flex bus station, we got bus tickets cost $10 for 3 peoples, 30 minutes bus ride to Trogir. spent 2 hours there and had a very nice seafood lunch. and other bus ride back to split. walk around the downtown area. the tourist area is very close to the port. only 15 minutes walk to the ship... next port Santorini, disembarkation will be carried out by tender boat form ship to the shore. most people joined excursion since very short time (7 hours) at this port. I agreed that if you want to see more or if you move slower due to bringing kids or seniors. then you should join excursions. but you have to book a little earlier because they can be sold out. another advantage joining excursions is you will have priority to get out the ship to start your tour early. For those whose doesn't want to join tours like us.. pick up your tender boat ticket as early as you can, they start passing tender boat ticket at 8 Am on the sea day before you arrived Santorini. my husband set up alarm clock and we got group 4 ticket. in the morning, the ship arrived at 7 AM. we were the first cruise ship arrived Santorini. we are schedule to leave the ship at 8:30 with group 4 ticket. people who joined excursions are start leaving at 7:15. we didn't get to the tender boat until 9:15am. and we arrived the short at 9:30. as soon as you arrived the short. you will have 3 transportation options to see the town. the cable car. donkey, speedboat to oia. we paid 15 eu per person took speedboat to oia. this was also including return bus to downtown fira town. we arrived oia at before 10 am. walk around, spent 2 hours there. by 11:30, we saw thousands of people with short excursions started to walk into Oia. that's also because many other cruise ship are arrived. we catch the 12 pm bus to fira. spent about 1 hour there, then took cable car back to the shore where we catch the tender boat back to the cruise. the last tender boat to the ship is 2 pm. so it was very limited time to spent at the place. but its was good enough to see around... Mykonos, many people complaints we arrived at night time. this is a party city where has lots of shops, bars, restaurants open until late night, after a few busy walking in hot days, we were very appreciated to have nice cool night out, not much to see here. but very relax...after Mykonos, the sea day was very long and very boring.... 36 hours on sea. ..Dubrovinik, the ship offered 13 eu per person round trip shuttle bus to old town, about 15 minutes ride. if your group has 3 to 4 peoples, it will be cheaper taking taxi which plenty of them waiting at the port.... Ancona, we just walk around the town and walked about 30 minutes to see the beach. nice to see a small town in Italy. Disembarkation day at Venice, too early to get force out the ship, we have to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to be able to leave the ship at the scheduled time. conclusion, we didn't pay premium price to the cruise, so of course not everything upscale. we get to see the places that we want to see. hope this review help you design your vacations.

Cabin Review

Fantastica Balcony Stateroom

Cabin B2

our balcony state room is pretty small. I think the balcony room interior size is the same of the inside rooms, except you have a small balcony. room was dated but clean. bath towel and pool towel are very old and rough, bedding and pillow was OK. carpets are very old and no way you will feel clean to walk without slipper.

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