This was our first time sailing MSC and we were very excited to try a NON-major line. Our embarkations started our cruise with a pleasant beginning as we basically whisked right through and were on board within minutes of entering the terminal. The ships beauty caught us right off and it was obvious that great detail had consistently been paid attention to. Every aspect of the ship was gleaming. After enjoying a delicious buffet lunch we headed to the dinning room to have our dinning assignment changed to the late seating. (MSC assigns your sinning on board and does not take request for dinning with your reservation. A little odd considering they inform you, you should make your arrangements with the maitre' d on ship? The maitre' D was extremely polite and promptly fulfilled our request for a table for 2 at late seating. However when we arrived for dinner we discovered that all of the tables for 2 were next to the waiters stations where you not only had to talk over the noise of plates, silverware and utensils clattering, you looked at the garbage from all of the other tables being scraped into a pile to be sent back to the galley. Not exactly the most appetizing of venues. Our wait staff were courteous and tried to serve the needs of all of the guests, however after a couple of nights it was clear that their training was not up to what we had come to expect from most of the major cruise lines. The little things were missing. (IE having to ask for drink refills; being served a half of whole lobster and the meat not removed; when they did refill our glasses as much went on the floor as in our glass; etc.) The class of cruising we felt had been lost until the last day of the cruise when we lunched in the upper dinning room. Here we noticed a completely different environment. The wait staff was not rushed. Drinking water was always filled and they even cleaned the breadcrumbs off the tables, as we became accustomed to on earlier cruises. This was the dinning experience we thought we would have enjoyed the entire cruise. In talking with several other guest later in the day and the next, we discovered they also had the same view and disappointment of this dinning room. Our dismay came from the fact that we had booked the best stateroom available and were placed in what we (and others) considered to be a training facility for our meals. While the food on board, in our opinion, was very good, their cakes were absolutely wonderful, we were disappointed that being an Italian cruise line we never enjoyed Calamari as an appetizer or Canolli's for dessert. There was octopus almost daily on the buffet (a couple of days served day-old) however the classic Italian specialties were missing. Actually I expected more real Italian cuisine then was served from a ship whose origin and lifeline is Italian. Our sinning room was extremely top heavy in personnel. There was the maitre d; 3 assistant maitre d's; and something like 10 Crew leaders. The crew leaders position, from what we were able to observe was to fulfill the Headwaiter position on other lines. However for the most part all we could witness was them running around getting numbers from the waiters and what appeared to be scolding the waiters and assistants for various things. There was as many heads was there was arms in our particular dinning room when it came to staff. Completely unnecessary.

There was excellent pizza everyday made in the traditional Napoli style from 12:00 until 8:30 PM. We enjoyed several visits here as everyday there was different type to sample or devour. On the other side of the ship was the grill which served up burgers (excellent I might add), dogs and chicken, pork, steak, or turkey depending on the day, along with fries and a salad bar. This easily provided a very satisfying lunch for the heartiest of eater. The grill also doubled in the AM for cooked to order eggs, omelets, pancakes and sometimes French toast. As well as freshly prepared bacon and sausage. Now to our stateroom: In a word, outside of our Holland deluxe verandah suite, this had to be the most spacious, well designed stateroom we have enjoyed. With a walk-in closet (my wife still talks about how much she "loved" it) to the multiple storage places. Every inch possible was used to make the room most comfortable. The balcony was normal size, thus not being larger than the smallest on the major cruise lines. It would have been nice to have the small "S" shape lounge chairs on the balcony instead of the typical outside chairs. However we made do just fine. (One thing that we missed was that room service did not offer the dinner menu for dinning on your balcony. We have traditionally enjoyed dinner one evening on our balcony with the serenity of the ocean passing under us and the peacefulness of the seas as the backdrop.) Our only real complaint about our balcony was our neighbors forward. This was a German couple who smoked and although there was an international sign for no smoking on the balconies they disregarded this and smoked every day on their balcony. The stench was more than we could bear as the wind forced it directly into our balcony. After bringing this to the attention of our cabin steward, the couple resorted to leaving their balcony door open and smoking just inside and blowing the smoke outside thus still preventing us from enjoying our balcony smoke-free. If the cruise lines are going to allow smokers to smoke in their cabins (I know they must) then they should assign them smoking cabins to the aft of the ships to prevent non-smokers from being forced to tolerate the abuse of second hand smoke occupying a previous smoker's cabin. The bathroom was wonderful with a tub and shower and plenty of amenities for hair, shower and lotion. The towels were a pleasant surprise as instead of a normal bath towel, we were graced with oversized bath sheets. At 6'2" I actually did not need another towel to dry after showering. Very nice!

Now for the most disappointing part of the cruise. Entertainment. First off, the Cruise Manager or Director Franco, seems like a likable enough man, however after about 30 seconds it appeared very obvious that he was at least 20 years passed his prime. His routine was the exact same every night and might be entertaining in Europe, however was laughable to most Americans. Despite the fact that with all of the technical advancements the world has made, MSC does not seem willing to make an effort to come up with another way of communicating with the guest other than doing every announcement in 5 languages. Power point could assist in this greatly and eliminate the repetition and dragging on that doing things 5 times incur. Franco's staff worked hard to try to entertain however Dr. Viagra or Mr. Lirica (which ever one he was on whatever day) was most exasperating. Extremely loud, obnoxious and actually annoying for the most part. Even to the point that one time to make sure I heard about an event taking place at 11:30 PM he actually yelled in my ear. I was just walking around ship when I encountered him and several other members of the staff cruising the ships public areas promoting this event, when he just jumped over to me and yelled in my ear. I did not go to the event. Read more