We arrived in Fort Lauderdale the day prior to the cruise.Stayed at the Hampton Inn - Plantation.The hotel was great, very clean, good breakfast in the mornings and offers shuttle service to and from both the airport and cruise terminals.We were part of a fairly large group of Cruise Critic members on this sailing, and the roll call on the forum board was amazing.  It gave everyone a chance to get to know a bit about each other before the sailing.Embarkation - the smoothest, fastest embarkation I have seen.  MSC really seems to have this under control.   We arrived at the terminal around 11:15 and were on the ship about 45 minutes after we arrived.We headed up to the buffet and grabbed a burger. The burgers were cooked well that day but seemed a bit undercooked when we tried them later in the week.After a bite we headed down to the pursers counter to inquire about a beer package that MSC had told us just 3 days earlier would be available for purchase once we boarded.We asked the person at the desk about the beer package and with out even blinking an eye she replied "beer is at bar". 

 Well we know that.   What we are asking about is the discount package that  MSC customer service had told us we could purchase at this desk on embarkation day. 

She repeats "beer is at bar".      Not getting anywhere with her, lets cross the floor to the bar.   The fellow manning the bar was a whole lot more help, and did confirm that such a package exists but that they no longer sell them on board and it is only available by advance purchase.   Another member of the bar staff came up and started to tell him that he was wrong and that the package we are looking for is available.  They talked back and forth between themselves and then both came to the decision that it wasn't available after all.    Oh well - definitely not the end of the world.   On shore customer service provides different info than the ship staff.  I'm sure that is true for most cruise lines.The bar prices are quite good compared to other cruises even with out a package deal.Two 16 oz aluminum Bud's were setting us back $11.40 or so on Carnival, the same beers on MSC were only $7.40 and you could get 4 for 12 bucks in a ice bucket. Read more