My husband, child (age 13), and I along with another family of three decided to sail on the MSC Splendida during the Christmas season. This is our second cruise (first cruise was with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines). The U.S. website was not user friendly when accessing the web check-in. After many calls to both my travel agent and MSC, I finally received our tickets and luggage tags (the day before sailing). The check-in process went very smoothly without long waits. Initially, we were impressed with the ship and then it slowly went down hill. Luggage took about 5-6 hours to arrive at our door. The room was your typical stateroom with balcony with minimal clothes storage. Our throw pillows were piling and our comforter had a hole in it. We opted for the Alligrissmo Drink Package which was well worth it if you want endless water (natural and sparkling), expressos, cappuccinos, soda, ice cream, mixed drinks, wine, and a limited variety of beer. We saved our receipts and added them up at the end of our stay and we surpassed the cost of the package.

When we stopped at the ports, MSC charged passengers to take them out of port to be dropped off at the city centers. I fell that this service should have been included. Another charge was to enter areas of the ship for a fee, such as the solarium. Activities for the kids are very, very limited in my opinion compared to Royal Caribbean. The kids didn't even want to look at us or get off of the ship when we sailed with Royal Caribbean since the kid's club was a blast for them. It's not really enjoyable when you're trying to enjoy a drink at 2300 in the adult lounge area and little kids turn it into a romper room on the MSC Splendida. Watch so you don't trip over a stroller! Stateroom cleanings where never consistent with the timing. The night before check out, we received a notice stating our minibar would be locked at 1800 but then we received a knock on our door at 2245 to lock the minibar. Needless to say, I did not let them enter since we were ready to go to bed. The nightly entertainment was good and some of the employees in the smaller bars were very personable. Everyone on board spoke english-some much better then others. Needless to say, this was probably our first and last cruise with MSC.