Cruise west med - msc in summer or royal October

[Laura2120]

We have never cruised before - trying to decide between MSC seaview in early july or allure of the seas royal Caribbean ship in October (royal is £ 700 cheaper due to being mid October)

both west med cruises - mainly Italy ports-
MSc looks slightly more crowded and more chaotic/ party type ship on videos but weather warmer in July- sea calmer hopefully then. But royal looks more family oriented slightly calmer. Thank you

I live in Trieste (NE Italy) where lots of cruises pass through as it’s the cheaper port for Venice.
The general opinion is that MSC, and even more so Costa, cruise with full ships. They lower the price until the ship is sold out, so they’re always going to be chaotic. And their style is more family friendly.

I’d go with Royal Caribbean.

Thank you so much. Do you know how the weather / seas are in mid October ? We would be visiting la spezia, Naples and Rome if we go with royal caribbean. I’m a bit concerned about October storms ! Thank you .

Royal - better quality everything- food, entertainment, staff. You will love it!

We were disappointed with royal Caribbean when we cruised with them for the first time this summer. We’ve done Carnival and Disney before

Was there something in particular that wasn’t good? - I know the ships can be variable in size and age. But I had read that carnival was not as good as royal so useful to hear another opinion.

It depends what you want from a cruise

i felt we were paying for facilities we didn’t use (rock climbing, surfing, sports court). What they didn’t have was as many food options, in particular no food option around the pool, so if you were on deck and wanted a drink or any food you had to throw some clothes on and go to the buffet. On carnival there were really good quick serve options around the pool.

Entertainment was pretty poor, but that always suffers by comparison with Disney.

Have a watch of some of the many cruise vlogs if you haven’t already. You can literally type in the cruise line and where it’s going into you tube and you’ll find so many. I get lost for ages watching all kinds of cruises. Personally from what I’ve seen I’d avoid MSC, they always seem so chaotic and crowded. But I have yet to actually go on one of their cruises! Like you I’m trying to pick where to go / which cruise line.

Cruise with Ben and David are particularly good for anything Royal. That’s mostly the line they cruise with. Some very detailed reviews etc.

Review of the RC ship here - https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/cruise/royal-caribbean/allure-of-the-seas

and the MSC Seaview here - https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/cruise/msc/msc-seaview

You can click on the different topics up the top

They are two very different companies - MSC are deemed a cheaper brand.

That Royal ship is quite elderly for a cruise ship - depending on what your children are into - some have theirs have things like Ice Skating Rinks and also Surf Flow Riders, dodgem cars etc etc.

Would young adults (late teens, early 20s) prefer a chaotic party cruise like MSC?

My family are going on our first cruise on MSC Virtuosa from Southampton this coming summer. Not sure what to expect.

Thank you - I think I have spent hours watching these videos/ reading reviews everyone has a different opinion ! Having never cruised, before until we do it we won’t know if we like it. But the allure is having a huge refurbishment before our cruise so it should be good. It’s just October, in the med- unpredictable- but the same ship in summer is £1500@ more !

Definitely spent hours on this ! They are expensive and don’t want to mate a mistake. Leaning towards RC in October -as the ship is being refurbished - just concerned re the weather / storms at seas.

I have been in the med in Late Spring and also July and had it a bit choppy. Not for the whole holiday but maybe a day or two. I've also been to the Canaries from the UK in October and its been like a pond.

It really is not that predictable as to how it could be. The med in the summer is scorching - so if you want to do some sight seeing and its +30 degrees it might be less enjoyable doing that in that heat. We have not got off the ship a few times due to it being just so meltingly hot and stayed on and enjoyed the pools with less folk onboard.

We did MSC last summer. First cruise so can't compare to other ships but we are not people or party people and were quite worried about some of the reviews.

Was it busy - yes but it was July school holidays, everywhere is busy!

We didn't really do any of the parties (stayed up for white night) but generally had dinner, played some cards in the bars and went to bed. There were places to avoid the crowds if it's not your thing.

We were also on one of the bigger ships, sailing from Southampton. The European ports tend to have 'quieter' sailings and also early July should be out of UK school holidays.

Where there a lot of young people on your cruise? I mean around late teens, early twenties.

I suspect I will be on the same MSC Cruise from Southampton. Also in early July 2025.

The weather in October is rather variable, I wouldn't book more than a few days ahead. We save up and book cruises a few days before sailing, you get better deals

I wouldn't worry about weather so much. October in the Med is not stormy and pretty warm ( more unpredictable than summer but you'd be unlucky to get " bad" weather)

Main things to consider are school holidays/ demographics and what you enjoy. If you like pools and it's school kids, you'll need to do the pools early morning if you like quiet. If it's adults, morning is packed but it's empty later/windy/stuff on.

Ports are the main thing. Which do you want to see more, versus ones you can stay on the ship.

I did MSC Virtuosua in the school summer hols . No one out on deck 7 at all. That's with 5,000 guests. There's always quiet spots.

I just came back from a cruise with MSC and was really pleasantly suprised. It was massive but didn't feel crowded at all. I will book with them again

There was a complete mix of people. Lots of families with children and teens. We sailed around 13th July, it was Scottish school holidays then so lots and lots of Scottish families but also couples, older people, pretty wide range.

I would actively choose to go in October. The schools are back and tourists have an easier time. There can be windy weather but those ships are huge!

I lived near La Spezia for more than a decade and still visit. I’d skip the town itself and go by bus to either Lerici or Portovenere, 2 beautiful villages on opposite sides of the bay. The Via dell’Amore is a bit over subscribed and you need serious walking skills to hike between the other villages in the Cinque Terre.

Avoid the electric tourist mini train around La Spezia- you see nothing of interest and they ring a bell like approaching lepers. The locals snigger as it goes past…