We took an 11 day cruise out of Southampton to Northern Europe on the Opera ship. We booked a suite and it was roomy, it even had a walking closet, which was great. The ship, which is about 14 years is and has never been updated was fine. Personnel did a great job keeping in clean and in good shape. Overall, the services were not disappointing, however dinner (main dining was) was. Out of the 10 nights we dined there, there wasn't one main course that was worth eating. The dessert was just as bad. I have a sweet tooth, but never could have dessert, it was that bad. I don't understand why this is, since the dessert in the buffet area are quite good. The other courses, such as appetizer, soup, salad, past were very good, but the main courses were so tasteless. Another negative, we bought the alcoholic drinking package, in the main dining room we could only get red, white, and a sparkling wine, all by the glass, we weren't allowed to get a bottle. The wine was not good. The package also included specialty coffees, but those we couldn't get in the dining room at all, we had to get them at the bars were they were served. It doesn't make any sense that we would have to leave the dining room to get a specialty coffee. Cocktails, a variety of wines and specialty coffees should be offered at the main dining room.
The itineraries offered by MSC are very interesting, but the food is a deal breaker for us. We had reservations for an MSC cruise September 2015 and we just cancelled.