This was my first cruise with MSC and it was my eighth cruise. Previously, I've cruised once with Carnival, once with RCL, twice with Holland America and three times with NCL.

We flew down to Fort Lauderdale on US Airways from Columbus, Ohio. We had a short 40 minute layover in Charlotte. Even with the short layover, our luggage arrived in Fort Lauderdale with our flight. We did arrive late at Fort Lauderdale by a few minutes after inexplicably sitting on the Charlotte runway for about 30 minutes.

We rented a car through the Hotel from Budget. The wait to get the vehicle was extremely long, taking 45 minutes. Budget must have had great prices as none of the other rental agencies were busy. Read more