the MSC not so Magnifica ship visit

On Monday 14th April, I went to the port of Dover in Kent with my colleague Gina to visit the MSC Magnifica on her first day back into Europe from her transatlantic crossing from Brazil and experience a tour of the ship and lunch on board.  This to me is a vital part of my job, so that I am able to offer my own opinion of the ship, service, facilities and food when recommending a particular cruise line to my clients.

I have been fortunate to do many ship visits and I always get excited at seeing a ship I have never seen before and especially when I have never been on a particular cruise liners ship. In the past I have had some negative feedback regarding MSC more to do with the food than the actual facilities on board, so I was keeping negative thoughts from my mind and letting my own experience judge how I continue to represent MSC to my clients.

We arrived in plenty of time and as the ship was still busy, just in port for the day on her way to Hamburg, we did have to wait for passengers to disembark for their tour buses before we could board. Our lovely rep from MSC Ben was very welcoming and being fairly new to MSC was looking forward to experiencing his first ship visit with MSC too.  Our other representative was a lady called Rochelle. Now, normally when I attend a hosted ship visit, these events are normally with other cruise or travel agents and sometimes press. Our group was maybe 25 in total with only myself & Gina representing the cruise/travel industry as agents and 2 others whom was press representing an on-line travel advice service, the rest of the group had paid to come and visit the ship and have lunch.  This is not unusual at all as some cruise liners do offer this facility to encourage new clientèle. What was odd, was the fact we was kept together as a group because there was not enough agents/press to split the group in two.

It took an age to board due to the staff on the ship deciding to re-arrange the security area for embarkation & disembarkation just as we was trying to board. During this time one of the other ladies in the tour, took a funny turn during the wait on the gangway and had to be taken to the on-board medical centre to be checked out. This left us without Rochelle whom was meant to be taking the tour and giving us all the information we needed for a successful ship visit.

So the tour didn’t start on a good foot. We were then left to just stand in the Atrium area whilst they decided whom would chaperone us around the ship, which meant a great time to get some photos, good & bad.

Finally Victor decided he would take us on the tour of the ship, now during a normal ship visit I would expect to be given lots of information regarding the ship, the public areas, the facilities on board, the cabins… the list goes on. I would also expect to be able to ask lots of questions in order to feed back to my clients on my return. None of this happened, we was taken from place to place and didn’t have a clue half the time where we was on the ship or any facts and information received, I still no know more now then I did before I drove to Dover. Victor wasn’t very forthcoming in answering any questions asked by anyone, maybe it was our British accents but half the time he didn’t seem to understand the question.  I did however manage to take lots of photos so I could try and remember where I was on the ship… be warned, there are plenty of photos just not lots of information to go with it.  I can however, if required, find this information on the web or via their brochure which was more useful than Victor whom actually lives on the ship.

Bowling after cutting a rug

We only managed to see one cabin, which was a disappointment as I wasn’t able to compare the different cabin categories, but at least we saw a balcony cabin. A decent size, very similar to standard sized cabins I have seen on other ships with similar amenities. Shower only but a good sized bathroom. All in all an OK cabin that I wouldn’t have a problem staying in for a week or so’s cruise.

Rochelle the other MSC rep had finally rejoined us with the lady whom was taken poorly, thankfully she was feeling better and after being shown the ship (in a manner) we was then taken to one of the main dining rooms for lunch.  Now this is something I always look forward to when visiting a ship. I have never ever come across a bad meal or service on board a cruise ship. The food has always been to an exceptional standard worthy of Michelin start restaurants and the service impeccable. Until now…..

My worst fears seemed to be coming true, on the table we choose to sit at for lunch was Gina and I, Ben the MSC rep (who knew hardly anything about the ship as this was a first for him too), the two travel writers and two very well cruised clients. Pat & John, the two paying guests for MSC’s ship visit have been cruising for over 25 years and had experienced virtually all the different cruise liners except MSC. So for them as for me, lunch was a big deal as they loved the ship, as we all did, beautiful décor, spacious public areas, lots of facilities….

There seemed to be confusion with the drinks order at first, this was quickly resolved as the staff seemed to forget whom ordered what to drink. The menu’s was already placed on the table and there was a very good choice to order from an entrée, starter, main and desert.

I chose to have a classic crunchy salad for starters, with the minute beef steak with marinated aromatic herbs to be grilled and served with french fries and a roasted tomato.  Sounded delicious and although I am not a great red meat eater, I like a steak every now and again.  When my salad was placed in front of me it was nothing special, a few salad leaves, a bit of tomato, sliced carrot and some onion overflowing in the natural juices which made it very limp and not very crunchy. Although there was salt and pepper on the table, I was not given a choice of any form of salad dressing or any other condiments to go with my now very limp salad. OK, so a salad is a salad, but I have made and had much better salads at home! Some of the others had ordered a hot starter such as grilled vegetables or a pasta dish, when these arrived they was all cold, barely warm not a good start, but maybe they would redeem their selves with the main course.  Prepare yourself for the photo below to show my delicious looking main course.. drum roll time…

Yep, that was my main course, not very appetising at all. The food was cold, not even the plates had been warmed. The chips was of a frozen variety and looked to be the scraps from the end of the bag chucked in a fryer, the steak was not marinated with aromatic herbs, there was no roasted tomato as described in the menu and it was very greasy with big bits of gristle running through the steak. Again, no condiments offered to any of the table. I asked the waiter “should I not have a roasted tomato with this” to which he responded “No” and walked off. Gina actually returned her dish, asking for something else off of the menu which was no better, one of the travel writers ordered the salmon with vegetables and potatoes and received just a minute portion of salmon and nothing else. When he enquired where the rest of his food was the waiter shrugged and walked off. The travel writer declared “oh well maybe I can make up my meal with some cheese and biscuits after”, to then have a plate of cheese, grapes and marmalade (no biscuits as there was none available) placed in front of him once they had removed his empty salmon plate. Yes proactive on the waiters part, but not an explanation or an apology of why half the menu was missing from our dishes. All the dishes served on our table was cold, not quite what was offered on the menu and very, very disappointing.  We also had to ask for our drinks to be replenished during the service, which normally as any cruiser will know never happens, there is always a waiter waiting to refill your glass be it water, wine or a soft drink.

The only good thing about the whole lunch experience was the chocolate and raspberry cake with ice cream that everyone on the table ordered, no photo I’m afraid as we was all sooooooo very hungry it got demolished.

Ben, our inexperienced new rep from MSC was mortified and during the meal had messaged with his boss to let them know all was not going well. Rochelle came over to our table and seemed surprised that we had not enjoyed our meal, then admitted others too had had problems with dishes they had ordered and by way of an explanation (if you can call it that) advised that the ship was low on stock having just completed a transatlantic journey and that really she should have organised for us to of eaten in the buffet dining restaurant instead. Also, that the not so great service we had received may be because the waiters (at least all 3 of them for our table) was having a bad day?!?!?!

The ship had been in port at Dover since early hours of the morning, plenty of time to replenish the stocks after a long transatlantic crossing. The buffet restaurant had plenty of food so why had the main dining kitchens not?  They knew we was coming on board? The waiters may be having a bad day? Sorry, these are very poor excuses and when trying to impress cruise agents, travel writers and possible new clientèle this was just not good enough.

In fairness one table had great service and fantastic (hot) food so they say, had travelled with MSC on several occasions and never once had any issues on board and was booked to cruise with them in a few months time. So not everyone was disgruntled with lunch.

We was then taken to the Tiger lounge for refreshments before it was time for us to leave the ship. Now I do not drink coffee and rarely drink tea, preferring a soft drink over a hot drink. On arrival into the Tiger lounge the waitress came over to take our order, I asked for a soft drink to be told I could only have coffee! I asked her to check with the bar and a senior member of the ships crew very rudely advised NO only coffee. By the time the others had finished their coffees, Rochelle had re joined us again and seemed very embarrassed when I addressed this issue with her and she advised that they only budget for 1 cup of coffee per person for the ship visits and nothing else. However, she did offer to see if she could get me any water to which I declined, we was getting ready to leave the ship by then.

Rochelle did say, if we so wished, we could pop up to the buffet restaurant before we left to grab something to eat up there if we was still hungry.  I suppose it meant we didn’t have to stop at the golden arches of McDonald’s for a cheeky cheeseburger on the way home. On our arrival Gina and myself at first seemed impressed with the amount on offer and being just after 2.30pm was not too surprised some of the food stations had already cleaned and closed down. We also found some of the other day visitors here (from one of the other tables) grabbing something quickly to eat after their terrible lunch from the main dining. One of these guests turned out to be Rochelle’s sister.. say no more.

It was coming up to 3pm and we needed to be off the ship, so we noticed that they had burgers already wrapped and in a box ready to go. Great, so we took one each, it sounded nice on the card – beefburger topped with mozzarella cheese, beef tomato, lettuce and onion in a seeded bun.  With our burgers in hand we disembarked from the ship and was back in the Dover cruise terminal, we opened our burgers took a bite or two and threw in the bin, it was disgusting leaving a horrible after taste in my mouth. It was a frozen burger, cheap cheese slice and limp salad yet again.  The only positive thing about the burger was it was hot!!!

So MSC Magnifica, a beautiful large ship from what we saw but with terrible food and service.  What a shame, as I so wanted to be wowed liked I have with other cruise liners, and if I’m honest, some ships I have been on may need a refurbish or a bit of TLC but the food and service has always outweighed the rest. So for me it was a big thumbs down on the way the ship visit ended.

I just hope the next few ships I am due to sail on and visit over the coming months do not let me down like this visit has. Some of my other colleagues are due  to visit this ship later in the year at different ports around the country and I hope by then that MSC have taken on board the comments from us all on this visit that we expect better.  I am just glad, unlike most of the guests I did not actually pay to experience this ship visit, because I would have demanded a refund.

Still I got a nice photo of me on deck….

Dawn x