MSC Opera Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise because of the great ports and we were not disappointed! We loved every place we went and had beautiful weather. We got to Venice several days in advance and took a Viator tour to the Dolmites the day before the cruise. It was incredible and I'd recommend it to anyone who has extra time in Venice and has been to Venice before. We stayed at the Hotel Papadopoli, which was very close to Piazalle Roma and easy to get to with suitcases from the airport bus. It was also very easy to get to the port using the People Mover from that hotel. The hotel is very nice. The room was a good size for Europe and the service was excellent. We never ate at the hotel because their restaurant is very expensive, but there are cheaper restaurants right across the canal from the hotel.
The embarkation was OK. We waited in line for about 40 minutes, which wasn't bad. Our balcony room was nice-small, but you don't notice it with the balcony. The ship is very clean, but it was extremely crowded. The food in the buffet and dining room is not great, but the pizza by the pool was outstanding. The shows were fine-average for this kind of cruise.
It was very difficult to get off the ship on the two days we had to tender-Kotor and Santorini. We had to stand in a line half-way around the ship to get off when we went to Kotor (and also Corfu, even though we didn't tender), and we got to our excursion (which we organized through Kotor Tours) half an hour late.
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
Small but nice. It seems bigger with the balcony. The TV was not interactive and just had news channels in English. There was a wider variety of programs in Italian. The beds were Ok but a little too hard for my taste. the pillows were fine, and there was enough room to put our suitcases under the beds.
Port Reviews
Mykonos
We got off the ship and walked. You can see Mykonos on your own. It's a picturesque town but is very crowded and full of shops. We did our souvenir shopping there.
Corfu
We got off the ship and took a taxi to the old town, not knowing there was a free bus since MSC tries to charge you 9 Euros a piece for their transportation to town. The town was very crowded since it was Good Friday in the Orthodox church and the hop on hop off bus was not running. We were lucky to see two Good Friday processions with bands.
Split
You can get off the ship and find a taxi driver to take you wherever you want to go . We went to Trogir, which is a beautiful walled city, to some Roman ruins and then went back to the ship for lunch. After lunch we went to the Diocelin Palace, which is in walking distance ot the ship. We took a walking tour there which we got when we arrived. We found the palace very interesting, with parts from different eras. If you go, take a tour because, if you don't, you won't know what you are seeing.