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Mediterranean Shipping Cruises

m/v MSC Lirica

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Reviewed by:Rich Turnwald
# previous cruises: 50 or more
Date of Trip: November 26, 2006
Itinerary: Caribbean - Western

There is definitely a different atmosphere from the major North American cruise lines; MSC offers a true European experience with multi-national passengers. Perhaps not for everyone, but if you are looking for something different, perhaps more culturally interesting, you may like MSC. The very few announcements are made in 5 languages, and you will encounter lots of people not typically found in your home town; this makes for an enhanced cruise experience in my opinion.

The ship is kept immaculately clean--personnel are constantly cleaning and scrubbing all areas. LIRICA is not huge in today's market, but she offers quite a large variety of public bars and lounges, with live music in different venues at night. The pools and deck areas are large and spacious. Casino was not as huge as on mass market vessels, but was large enough to offer all gambling amenities for the people who used it. No complete walk-around promenade under the lifeboats, but top-side there is a walk-around deck used by joggers and strollers.

I personally liked the food, which was heavily Italian--this may not have appealed to all North Americans. Every evening featured the food of a different region of Italy, but one could always order a standard steak, chicken, or fish as well. Pasta lovers will be in heaven. Quality and preparation were quite good in my opinion; again this is very subjective. If you like Italian food to begin with, you should love the menu selections. The buffets at the Lido Restaurant offered standard breakfast fare every day, and the luncheons were plentiful, although seemingly repetitive after 11 days. One could of course always have breakfast and lunch in the dining rooms.

I was in cabin 9127, outside on Deck 9. Adequate in size, at 140 square feet it was not huge but offered plenty of storage space in closets, cabinets and drawers. The bathroom shower was quite small--a large person will find themselves enveloped in the shower curtain. One minor complaint of mine would be the 2 miniscule shelves in a corner above the sink--I always prefer ships to offer more space to put one's toilet articles.

Every night offered a completely different show for the 11 nights, most nights utilizing the singers and dancers production team. Since there is an international audience, the shows were more visual, with little or no verbiage, but I must say the productions were excellent. There were great singers, and many of the shows had a "Cirque du Soleil" quality about them. Again, different from a mass-market ship, but quite entertaining and enjoyable in their own way.

The cruise staff, almost all Italian, were very energetic and were found all over the ship during the day and evening, mingling with passengers, making them laugh with street-like performances in various public areas. The typical cruise activities were offered, again being run in 4 or 5 languages; to me this only enhanced the whole experience of being on an Italian ship.

This cruise was 11 nights from Port Everglades to Montego Bay (the ship usually stops at Ocho Rios instead), Cartagena, San Blas, Cristobal, Puerto Limon, and Roatan. I had been to all of them except the last two, so I went about on my own; I speak Spanish so it was beneficial and easy for me. MSC offered many, many shore excursion options, with very informative talks to all guests. Tours were put together according to the various languages spoken, and were quite good. For most people going to these stops, I recommend taking a tour to maximize the time you're there; yes, it's possible to take a local cab and do things on your own, but if you don't speak Spanish, it could get a bit difficult.

Out of only 1300 passengers on this trip, I would guess about half to two-thirds were North American. There were many Italians, French, Germans, Spanish, and South Americans on board, as well. But this cruise is not for everyone; I heard a number of my fellow Americans complaining about the international atmosphere, the foreign languages, etc. Unfortunately they had booked the cruise on price alone, not realizing the MSC is a truly European company. No, it's NOT like they did things on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or Princess--in my book, that's the beauty and appeal of MSC; it's like Costa was in the old days before they became mass-market oriented.

I met up with several people from my town (Miami) and we had mutual friends so it made for a fun cruise; would I invite them for dinner? Yes, in fact we already have!