Travel Tuesday: P&O vs MSC Cruises

Gabrielle Hammond

gabsbitesizeblogs@gmail.com

Hello! I'm back again with another cruise related review. I have just got back from a four night cruise to Amsterdam with Caitlyn. The difference this time was that it was on a different cruise line- P&O and I have only ever been on MSC. So, want to know my verdict on who does what better? Well stick around...

I will start off by saying a little disclaimer. When I have cruised with MSC it has always been on the MSC Virtuosa which is much bigger in size and capacity than the P&O Ventura (who I was on this time). The Virtuosa has a capacity of 6334 passengers and the Ventura an average of 3500 passengers. So, it is safe to say that some of these topics can't be compared fully but I will try my hardest on this whistle stop tour.

Food

The main takeaway for the buffet I could comment on myself is this- MSC has much more choice but P&O's quality is better. Now, like I said, this could just be because the P&O Ventura is a smaller ship, accommodating for less people so can be a smaller sized buffet. However, the buffet was always very busy and a few extra stations would have been helpful. P&O's food is very "English" heavy in what us Brits like; sausage and mash, roast dinners, chicken burgers, fish and chips and for dessert chocolate cake, crumble and always something on offer with custard. Whereas, MSC is an Italian cruise line so they have a massive homemade pizza station and pastas but also have a wide selection of cultures such as a world cuisine area, a grill section, rotisserie and vegan area to name a few (if you want a more in detail review of the MSC Virtuosa check out a previous review). I did enjoy both buffet food but for me, being fussy, I preferred P&O, but there is much more choice on MSC, so I can forsee that if you had a longer cruise MSC would be best.

Now onto the main dining room restaurants. I am not going to be speaking about service in this segment but only on the food choice and quality alone.

They are on equal par really with each other and this is why. I really appreciated the "Always Available" section that MSC has, so if you do not like or fancy anything on the main menu, this was always there. And they had some great options such as my favourite salmon. P&O don't really have this. However, I enjoyed my food on P&O and they even had fish and chips one day which was amazing and MSC never do, so that was a treat. The choice is again much better on MSC and the quality was about the same, however, I would say MSC's presentation is better.

Entertainment

I have a clear favourite on who has the best entertainment. And that's P&O. We only managed to see two shows in the theatre on P&O but these two shows were incredible. The vocals were phenomenal, the routines were great and the set and costumes were amazing. Really really enjoyable. MSC's theatre shows are great aswell but the two shows I saw on P&O blew me away whereas MSC's don't always do that (they're more there for something to do). Aside from shows, the daily schedule I found was better with P&O too- but that's just because I love a quiz and P&O seem to love them as well! MSC's daily schedule is also really good but as it's such a busy ship sometimes you cannot make everything you want to do due to the venue being at capacity. Safe to say, you won't ever get bored on either of them.

Service

The service I would say was better on MSC. Sometimes on P&O you could come across a few grumpy bartenders or waiters but on MSC I have never encountered this. In the main dining room, the service you get is pretty much the same in the sense that you get water, the napkins on your lap, bread etc. But, the friendliness was best on MSC. However, perhaps this was because on MSC you have the same waiter each time you dine and we didn't really know our waiters on P&O as they change each night as we opted for freedom dining.

Embarkation process

The embarkation process for both was similar but I would say MSC's is much less stressful. P&O's was so busy and did not have many people saying what to do or where to go especially once on the boat- you had to assume you had to go to your muster station and when it's your first time on a certain boat that can prove difficult! It was very hectic whereas I find on MSC it is much more calm, organised and stress-free for the most part.

MyHoliday/Horizon Vs MSC For Me

P&O operate their schedules of the day through a newspaper type thing (The Horizon) that arrives at your cabin the day before. This, for us, was the highlight of our day- lol. We really enjoyed this. While it does cause a lot of paper to be given out, it really is nice to be able to circle things and visually see what you want to. Whereas, MSC is fully online on their app- MSC For Me- or there are many screens around the ship to view daily schedules, dress codes and menus etc. I don't mind this either but I did really appreciate the Horizon though. P&O's "app", which is just a webpage, is nothing special, it allows you do join the queue for your freedom dining, view the Horizon digitally and drinks menus. But what we found was lacking was the main dining room menus. In order to view these you had to go to the restaurant itself which could prove annoying- lol. MSC has this all on the app or the screens around the ship to view.

Freedom Dining

P&O's freedom dining is something that MSC does not offer. We had the option of opting for fixed dining (where you get a fixed seating time each night and attend that) which is what MSC operates by, or freedom dining which is where you joined a virtual queue on your P&O My Holiday and just joined it when you were hungry so it could change each day when you actually ate. I enjoyed this for our four night cruise but I think for a longer cruise I would opt for the fixed dining.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions please don't hesitate in emailing gabsbitesizeblogs@gmail.com