We cruised the MSC Lirica for 11 days with stops in Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras. Our final stop was to be Grand Cayman but was cancelled due to weather conditions.
Prior to leaving, we had read 10 or so reviews that all seemed to indicate that the cruise while different from a typical American cruise was still enjoyable. I had never been on a cruise prior to this one and my wife had been on one over 10 years ago. Both of us have traveled a fair amount otherwise with multiple trips to Jamaica, Mexico, and Brazil.
Overall I would NEVER recommend this cruise line to anyone, European or American. The embarkation and disembarkation procedures were nothing short of a disaster and a complete joke. It took us over 4 hours to get on the ship, and then another 4 - 5 to get our luggage. Considering that we didn't have this problem when we went on excursions, I was stunned at how disorganized these procedures were. The two times I dealt with the reception desk, the attendants there were rude beyond belief and left me questioning why we had spent money here. The first was a question regarding their tipping policies and I was told that employees were NOT allowed to take cash. Then in the next sentence I was told we could give them extra but not stop the automatic charge per person per day and give them cash. In the end, I stopped the automatic deduction as no one would or could explain to me who was getting what and there were vague references to other staff and varying dollar amounts. We also had an unpleasant experience with a few ships officers who were quite arrogant and demanding. Again, I was so stunned, I didn't get names.