Hello my fellow American cruisers. Stay far - far away from this cruise ship. We just returned yesterday from a 7 night Mediterranean Cruise on the MSC Spendida. The cruise was over booked with over 4,000 passengers. It was so crowded that you could hardly walk on deck 14 - much less getting something to eat without getting trampled and no place to sit. The elevators were always so crowded with passengers that most rides were passing by our 9th floor. Never in my cruising history (many cruises over the years) did I experience paying for water at dinner and no coffee served ever with dessert. The ship was fairly clean with only some carpeting throughout the ship soiled. One day I was planning to sit on our balcony, however, the ship's crew was cleaning balconies that day and I had 2 inches of water on the deck of the balcony for most of the day. So much for sitting on the balcony!!! There was also no free TV - you could pay for a movie but even the movies were not new releases and we had seen most of them.
The balcony room was fairly nice - which was good as there was no place otherwise to go. Fellow cruisers - stay with Princess, Carnival, etc. Do not book with this cruise company - you will regret it. The food also at dinner was disappointing. The last day of the cruise they served Wiener Schnizel as a main course. It was pounded meat and very dry with only a few French fried potatoes thrown on the plate. (That is supposed to be gourmet food?)
Cabin was nice. No free TV. Never ice in the room - lights only went on when you inserted your cruise card - otherwise no lights.