MSC a Genoa-based relatively new entrant to cruising and long known mainly for container shipping, has ambitious plans to convert Americans to its sailing style.
Of course, its 8 ships have Awesome Pizza, but more important, one can savor the culinary specialties from a different region of Italy at each evening's dinner. You also get pasta cooking classes on pool deck and Italian Language lessons. Amusingly, MSC has found that Americans CAN NOT do without their Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Ribs, and have therefore added them.
The limited Room Service Menu and Charges are a shock to Americans, who are Not as prone to the Italian tradition of schmoozing with other passengers.
For other Italian touches, MSC proffers Pagliacci, a group of strolling minstrels that meanders the ship amusing passengers with song-and-dance frissons. The line also presents authentic European stage performances that appeal to its mostly international audience including contortionists, acrobats, stilt performers, and a tenor and soprano, plus a smattering of Vegas-style routines.
MSC's ship seem like a different species from today's brand of enormo-ships, lacking any kind of overt gimmicks -- no planetariums, no rock-climbing walls, no 'decorate-every-surface' design schemes. What they are are ships on which people can get together to talk, loll in the pool, throw away their inhibitions, and relax, without having their senses overwhelmed.Indeed, life aboard MSC vessels is serene, with action on pool deck more Cannes than Coney Island and a stroll on promenade deck more Via Veneto than Rodeo Drive. For Americans who forswear the glitz of mainstream ships such as Carnival's FunShips, Princess' Love Boats or Royal Caribbean's floating sports arenas, a cruise on MSC means tranquility. And lots of it. To put it another way: We were not bowled over by Lirica's printed list of daily activities. The ship does abound with bustling mini-cafes and comfy lounges, where, in typical European style, most passengers enjoy their after-dinner coffee. Notably, MSC is a line on which you'll get a big bang for your buck.
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The Good and Bad of European-style Cruising
The Chicago Tribune
By Arline and Sam Bleecker
Special to the TribuneMarch 25, 2007
When vacationers think "European-style cruising," what comes to mind may run along the lines of endless espresso, low-key conversations and highbrow entertainment -- aspects not typically found aboard the resort-style ships of many popular cruise lines.But when a cruise line actually promises a "European" experience, what exactly does that mean?On Italy-based MSC Cruises, it means, for one thing, superb pizza. For Iowa college student Lauren Hickman, MSC's pizza is "awesome, the best" at sea. For her dad, the pasta is "molto bene." And passengers can savor culinary specialties that hail from a different region of Italy at each evening's dinner. You also get pasta cooking classes on pool deck and Italian lessons in lieu of napkin-folding....But cruising with MSC doesn't mean having to forgo your favorite finger-lickin' food staples. The Genoa-based company, a relatively new entrant to cruising and long known mainly for container shipping, has ambitious plans to convert Americans to its sailing style. To woo those vacationers, particularly to its Caribbean itineraries, the line has added to its menus such customary standbys as hamburgers and hot dogs, and barbecued ribs.Most American cruisers hadn't even heard of MSC just five years ago. The line, which sails the Mediterranean year-round, Northern Europe, South America, South Africa and the Caribbean, had only three ships in 2002. Today, it has eight, with names that read like a libretto: Musica, Sinfonia, Opera, Armonia, Lirica, Melody, Rhapsody and Orchestra. The line will debut two more vessels by 2008. And by the end of the decade, when its fleet will swell to 11 ships, MSC will be the world's largest European cruise line, barring ambitious plans by its competitors, and predicts it will carry nearly a million passengers worldwide.Charging for room serviceSo, what does "European" mean for the Italian line's American cruisers? If our experience on Lirica's Christmas sailing last year is any indicator, it's all a matter of expectations.On its Caribbean itineraries, where the line attempts to Americanize the cruise experience, the result winds up a hybrid: not Italian enough, not American enough.With the bulk of its business still catering to Europeans, some MSC attributes may seem odd to American cruisers. For example, in Europe, the line charges for room service -- a policy quite acceptable to Europeans but unheard-of to American passengers. In fact, the line now jettisons those charges on sailings out of U.S. ports as an accommodation to its American passengers, but even at no charge, room service menus are meager. Opt for breakfast in your cabin, for instance, and you can select only one kind of juice: orange. Period.Effectively, the line's position is this: If there's something you want that isn't on the room service menu, eat breakfast elsewhere. After all, schmoozing is considered an art in Italy and, as Lirica's assistant maitre d' told us, "Breakfast and lunch, which are open seating, are for talking to other passengers, eh?"For other Italian touches, MSC proffers Pagliacci, a group of strolling minstrels that meanders the ship amusing passengers with song-and-dance frissons. The line also presents authentic European stage performances that appeal to its mostly international audience including contortionists, acrobats, stilt performers, and a tenor and soprano, plus a smattering of Vegas-style routines.European-style also translates MSC ships into floating Towers of Babel, as it does on other lines, such as Costa, that carry large international contingents. On MSC, announcements are in German, English, Spanish, French and, of course, Italian. Although, blessedly, these are kept to a minimumLanguage barriers, though, sometimes can get in the way. If timing is everything in comedy, a punch line in five languages isn't.Frommer guidebook editor Matt Hannafin says MSC's "[modest-sized 58,600-ton] Opera and Lirica almost seem like a different species from today's brand of enormo-ships, lacking any kind of overt gimmicks -- no planetariums, no rock-climbing walls, no 'decorate-every-surface' design schemes. What they are are ships on which people can get together to talk, loll in the pool, throw away their inhibitions, and relax, without having their senses overwhelmed."Indeed, life aboard MSC vessels is serene, with action on pool deck more Cannes than Coney Island and a stroll on promenade deck more Via Veneto than Rodeo Drive. For Americans who forswear the glitz of mainstream ships such as Carnival's FunShips, Princess' Love Boats or Royal Caribbean's floating sports arenas, a cruise on MSC means tranquility. And lots of it. To put it another way: We were not bowled over by Lirica's printed list of daily activities.The ship does abound with bustling mini-cafes and comfy lounges, where, in typical European style, most passengers enjoy their after-dinner coffee.Lirica's modest size renders the vessel quite intimate, and mirrored walls -- lots of them, on stairwells, in elevators, restaurants and cabins, and even on Lido deck -- offer reflection and light that make the ship seem twice its size.The gym, though, is inadequately equipped for a contingent of nearly 1,600 passengers. Americans with an appetite for exercise won't find feature-rich treadmills with personal TV screens here, but perhaps for not too much longer. According to the ship's purser, when Lirica gets its next face face-lift, the gym and spa areas will get pumped up to speedIf Italian-style means laid back, that can translate into a laissez-faire attitude on the part of staff and crew that some American passengers may not be used to. This is not a line that hand-holds its passengers. Some staff appeared to master a look that falls somewhere between a pout and a shrug, signaling either ennui or culture clash (we never figured out which). We were particularly puzzled by a lack of initiative on the part of the wait staff and their reluctance to accommodate off-menu requests.But cruisers who prefer the charm of quiet evenings, conversations with new-found friends from around the globe, demure decor and Italian sensibilities will find it here.Notably, MSC is a line on which you'll get a big bang for your buck. Travel agents on our sailing told us that many American passengers had opted for Lirica's Christmas cruise strictly on the basis of price. As a consequence, they were not disappointed.
----------For more information, visit msccruises.com or contact a travel agent.
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