I read many of these reviews and can relate to the disappointment lots of travelers have had with MSC Cruises. We recently did a Mediterranean cruise with MSC out of Barcelona and found the ship was good but the staff were lacking in excellence. We have cruised before on Royal Caribbean and they were fantastic. Food was amazing, staff were all excellent, organisation was also excellent. MSC could learn a lot from them.

Organisation was poor. We found ourselves in a huge group of people all pushing & shoving trying to get onto shuttle busses that we paid dearly for then later found out weren't needed at all as there were sightseeing buses just outside the port 300m away. It was not a nice experience. They seem to be a bit sneaky like this. We found the food was less than average in both the main restaurant and the buffet. Meat & chicken was dry, thin, tough & mostly just warm. We went to a specialty steak restaurant and that was no better especially for the pricy extra cost. Breakfast foods were were all low cost items. Cereals & bacon etc were all pretty average & always just warm if lucky. They even served up baked beans for breakfast. Not sure about everyone else but when I go on a cruise I expect better than that. Some mornings not all the serveries were open & this meant more shoving & less variety. Wines were very expensive for a very average wine.

Room was good, cabin staff where polite & helpful but didn't go that extra distance. A large majority of the staff had trouble comprehending English & most of the announcements on board and on the bus tours were impossible to understand for English speaking people. I agree with another review Italian staff don't smile. I must add to all this that we met many people on the cruise had the same complaints as us. There are many more disappointments but you get the idea by now. Also it's a waste of time complaining to MSC as they haven't returned my emails. Guess they just don't care?