For awhile now I've been recommending people to cruise with MSC. They're a great cruise line, with amazing ships and they offer really great deals, especially for families, (free kids places for children under 18).
However one of the big complaints I hear back from people is that they're un-happy sailing with MSC in the Mediterranean as they felt the ships would be full of Italians. Instead they book with an English or American cruise line like P&O or Royal Caribbean as they feel there will be a much higher percentage of English speaking people onboard.
Now whilst this is correct for P&O as they're an English cruise line sailing out of Southampton, by the sounds of things it's not for Royal Caribbean anymore.
A passenger of mine has just returned from a cruise on the Mariner of the Seas with Royal Caribbean on a round trip from Rome. She had been speaking to a member of the crew onboard as she was surprised by the high number of Italians onboard and was even more surprised to find that Italian passengers accounted for 80% of the guests onboard. Now obviously this will vary from sailing to sailing but it's been like this, (according to the crew member she spoke to), for a year or so now.
Royal Caribbean have, apparently, been struggling to fill their ships with American or English guests so have been offering good cruise only deals to the Italian market.
Now I've sailed with both MSC and P&O and can honestly say I'm not to bothered with the nationality of other guests onboard but I also know, along with the price, it's a big deciding factor for some people - So it might be time to look at some of those cheap MSC deals again!
What do you think? Have you sailed with Royal Caribbean in the last year or so out of Italy. Did you notice this? Would you have been bothered if you did? Did it make/ruin your cruise? Let me know here.
Happy cruising
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