This was my first time on MSC and we had read good reviews about one of their newest ships. Some things were disappointing. A review told of the three story waterfall in the atrium, but it was dry while we were on board. Our stateroom with balcony was fine and our steward did a good job, We did find the traffic pattern in the room a bit cramped and the fact that all the lights in the cabin operate on one switch was surprising (except for over the desk and out on the balcony). We soon discovered that you had to leave you door key card in a special slot if you wanted to keep them on. No instructions provided. Dining room experience was also good for us, but others had problems. The wait staff was as attentive as possible considering the waiter had 5 tables nd about 24 people to tend to at each seating. I always found something on the menu I liked, but the lobster tail was minuscule and dry, no drawn butter came with it, but was served after I had finished. We tried the buffet for breakfast and it was fine and plentiful. The lunch buffet was virtually always the same, the food barely warm and very limited on dessert choices. Ice cream was available on the pool deck at extra cost. Coke, etc also available at extra cost. We had read reviews stating that coffee with meals was only available at extra cost, but this was not found to be true. On board activities were few and seem to be mostly concentrated on the pool deck creating more congestion and noise for the sun worshipers and readers. The common areas are well appointed but I found the bench seats uncomfortable as compared to the individual chairs. Same was true in the dining rooms. The auditorium/theatre was spacious, a bit overdone decoratively, with comfortable seats. The balcony was good except for the railings between rows. An average height person view line to the stage was somewhat impeded by the rail and if it had been about 6 inches lower would have functioned well and not obscured peoples view. The most actively used elevators were frustrating as they would frequently go right bye you without stopping and two of them were broken (surprising for a new ship). On our second week of cruising on a back to back, the menus and entertainment was identical to the first week (not unexpected), but there was a baseball theme for the week which I enjoyed. Five former major league players were on board to meet and greet, share stories and sign autographs. Andre Dawson, Rick Burleson, Cookie Rojas, Stan Bahnsen and Gary Peters were featured. This was the best activity the cruise featured in my opinion. They do the same thing once every month during the winter if anyone is interested. All during the cruise we experienced a strange vibration throughout the ship, more pronounced on the upper level for some reason. Another passenger said he was told that it was caused by the diesel generators they use on board, but most of us who had cruised before had never felt this on any other ship.

Prior to my cruise I had attempted to book an excursion by using the method described in my MSC literature. They said to go to their web site in the USA and we could see what was offered and book. I attempted to do so for about two weeks and was constantly kicked off the Internet as the site was trying to load. I called them in FL and asked them about excursions and was again referred to the Internet. I explained that I had been trying to do that but the site kept kicking me off. I was told "Oh yes, we've been having trouble with that". Why keep referring people to it? I then asked if they could e-mail them to me. I was told no, I was told that once I had the number of the tour and the date, I could book it. I had to go through my travel agent to get the information, which I did. After receiving the material, I pick out what I wanted and again called the MSC office, I was told I could not book and had to go through my travel agent. I again went to my travel agent and she attempted to book it, but was unable to do so. When we got on board, we again attempted to book it but were refused because we wanted to do it on our second week and they were only booking for this week. We had also been informed in December that we would receive a refund of our fuel surcharge in the form of an shipboard credit. Our travel agent had also given us a $50 shipboard credit each when we paid our final payment (in October). When we inquired at the accounting dept. where was our fuel supplement credit, they claimed it was the $50 already on our account. As we should have received a total of about $168 and knew the credit on our account was from our travel agent, I was not pleased. I showed them the letter I had from the President of MSC, USA and was told that "it meant nothing, he has no authority". I went to the accounting manager the next day and showed him all my documents and restated my case and the time frame of everything. He said I should receive the credit, but they would have to get authorization from the home office. It took ten days. I would have to say that there seemed to be no attitude that the customer is always right nor that they were in the customer satisfaction business. While many spoke some English, at least enough so I understood what they were telling me, I got the sense that they did not fully comprehend what I was saying (and did not care) Typical communication problem was the lady who asked for lox and bagels and received a bowl full of bagels (lots of bagels).