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Mediterranean Shipping Cruises

MV Sinfonia

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Reviewed by: Ann Moxley
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: April 2, 2006
Itinerary: Mediterranean

Designed for the European market, this ship does not cater to Americans or English speaking passengers. The ship was clean and the cabins well-appointed but staff were disorganized, events started late often or not at all, and service was below par.

Public areas were attractive and comfortable. One cannot walk completely around any deck nor can one get to all areas of the ship from each deck as a middle section was added to this vessel at some point giving the layout an unusual configuration.

We were expecting excellent Italian meals but were very disappointed in the quality of the food. The best food was on the pool deck--the hamburgers and french fries! Meat was tough, soups and pastas were bland, and salads were uninspired. Service was sub par, too. Our waiter could not speak enough English to understand what we were ordering unless we pointed to the menu. Nor did he regularly fill our water glasses or remember my husband wanted coffee after his meal.

We had a standard outside cabin. Cabin was nicely appointed with generous storage even with all of our formal clothing for the 12 night cruise. There were 2 single beds originally pushed together in the middle but because there were two more upper berths on the wall we could not easily get around the bed and had to have the beds separated for more space. Cabin steward spoke almost no English but did an adequate job cleaning the cabin and servicing it.

Attended only one show but we do not tend to like this type of entertainment anyway so cannot really judge its quality. There were several venues for ballroom dancing but the largest lounge with the best band often did not play during the announced time period because there were not many people in the lounge. They sat around talking and ignoring the few passengers who wanted to dance. The best dance music turned out to be in a bar with a piano player but no dance floor so we danced on the carpet and other couples would often join us.

The itinerary was the best part of this trip. We chose the cruise for the Total Solar Eclipse which we saw in Libya. Our second favorite stop was Leptis Magna with spectacular Roman ruins and also in Libya. We also stopped at Alexandria, Egypt for the pyramids in Giza; Malta ( a wonderful island); Salerno for the Doric temples of Paestum; Syracuse, Sicily; and Naples for Pompeii. There was a nice pool and a jacuzzi but it was too cold in March to go in. The spa was nice with a range of services but over-priced.

Because of the eclipse, Travel Quest International had booked over 70% of the ship. Thus, most of the passengers spoke English and Americans were in the majority. This is not usually the case on this vessel. Passengers on our cruise were not representative of the usual group on this ship.