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Mediterranean Shipping Cruises

MV Sinfonia

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Victor Joseph
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: December 18, 2006
Itinerary: South America

Well, as most people know, MSC is the only 100 per cent Italian Company, but to tell you the truth once you're onboard you hardly notice that. Some years ago as Starlauro Cruises i think that she was really cruising as "Italian Style" but now they're a mix of nationalities. Many Filipinos, latins and some brazilians (just because it's brazilian season, in the Europe you will not find them). The ship was the ex-Festival Cruises European Stars build in 2002 and she is very good shape. Her sister ship is the MSC Sinfonia, the ex-Festival Cruises European Vision. She's a lengthened Mistral Class, and MSC builded two more with some modifications, the MSC Lirica in 2003 and the MSC Opera in 2004. As a medium ship you can find everything you need on her, she's almost in a exact size.

The MSC Sinfonia is beautifully decorated, with lounges for all tastes. The decoration is very cosy with dark tones and lot's of marbles, very italian to be honest. Even though she was a french ship she never had a major refit so if you cruised before on her you will see that she's the same ship as before. My favourite lounge was the Le Baroque, a small and intimate coffee bar that have a view to the ship's lobby. The Shellag's House is an irish pub, very nice but it isn't very well used. You can listen to a piano (well, i did not listened because there wasn't a pianist in our cruise) in the Buddha Bar, with green colors next to the Photo Gallery. This bar is mainly used to the passengers who have dinner at the Il Covo Restaurant. The ones who have dinner at Il Galeone will enjoy the bigger Manhattan Bar, with a nice dance floor in the middle. The Sinfonia Lounge is an optional show lounge instead of the two floors San Carlo Theatre. It's mainly used for games at night. In one of her sides is located the library and the games room. The Pasha Club Disco is on the 12 floor in the aft of the ship, during the day it can be used as a reading room, it was just another bad used lounge.

The ship have a two floors lobby with a waterfall that is always turned off, nothing sumptuous. They obviously were trying to put cabins in all places that they could find, that's why her Lido and Pool is a "little bit" crowded. If you are on the pool you can have lunch at the La Terrazza buffet, but i never had (i do not advise you to lunch there). The Gym and Beauty Salon are very nice. Located on front of the ship you have great views from them. As amenities you have a basket court and a mini-golf track. The Golf Simulator never worked as the Escalade Wall.

The food was very tasteless for me. The "pastas" were really simple, just with a tomato sauce and just that. I really do not recommend the La Terrazza Buffet, is always crowded and the food is horrible (well, maybe because was brazilian season, in Europe i don't know). In the Christmas Dinner no typical food, not even a turkey. And in the midnight buffet i wanted to laugh, just some fruits (maybe they think that we are animals or so...). The service in the restaurant is very good as in the cabins, but only in these places. The crew in general is rude (avoid the shops, they almost spanked me there) and impatient.

The ship have numerous categories but at the end you just have four. The inside cabins, the outside cabins, the suites (an outside with a small verandah) and the CATEGORY 7 (in which i traveled). NEVER choose this category because this is not an "obstructed view" as they sell, it is a NO VIEW at all and to complete they're much smaller than an standard outside cabin. The decoration is the same in all cabins, with a very, but very small bathroom. You have a tv, bar, phone, hairdresser, vault and wireless internet.

Another disaster in my cruise! Well, the entertainment or better, the absence of entertainment was ridiculous. The Cruise Director Enzo was ridiculous too. In all shows (ok, it was supposed to be a show...) he was always asking for applause and cheering even though it was a really bad show. The animators were mediocre, it's just like the ship have only the pool for the games. The lounges during the days were always empty, no music, no entertainment, nothing! If they think a little bit more, they could transfer the games that happen in the pool to the lounges and that way the pool would not be so crowded.

There were no activities during the day, if you want to do something during the day go to the crowded pool. The itinerary was quite simple: Rio, Santos, Punta del Este, Buenos Aires, Ilhabela and Rio. The ship arrived at 12:00 am in BUE and departed 1:00 AM, just the time needed to came back from the Tango Show. It was insufficient time to know a beautiful city as Buenos Aires.

The majority was Argentinians, and old ones. Brazilians were something about 30 per cent, but they are mainly families with children. No americans or europeans. I think that the mid age of the ship's passenger was 50-60 years.