I have been on a few cruises before on Regent Seven Seas and Celebrity. I know that has spoiled me, but I went into this with lowered expectations. We chose this cruise for the itinerary and reasonable price. MSC is a very competent cruise line, but I wouldn't sail with them again. Here are the key points:

Food: The food was mediocre on the whole. The pastas and risottos were generally good, but the meat dishes were often bland and poorly cooked. I found it irritating that you had to buy water all the time. They offer lots of "packages" you can buy for cocktails, wine, pop, even ice cream. We bought packages for wine and cocktails, but they just give you a little paper booklet of coupons which you have to carry with you. It seems it would be simple to code our room cards with our credits, but of course if you have to carry the vouchers and forget to use them, its guaranteed revenue for the cruise. I was not impressed. Also, the free room service available for breakfast was hardly worth it: basically only coffee and toast available. And their "juice" was some kind of nasty Tang-like mix. It was also frustrating that food was only available at certain mealtimes, and if you were hungry between those appointed hours, you had to pay for it.

Crew: The staff was very good. I was especially impressed with our cabin steward, who kept our stateroom very clean (despite having a messy toddler), kept us stocked with ice, and even provided cute towel animals on occasion. The dining staff was good, but clearly overworked and struggling to keep up. Also, one of the most irritating parts of the cruise was the not-so-subtle hint to vacate the dining room at the end of dinner. We were in the 1st seating at 6:30, and by 8:10 they would raise the lights to blinding levels to encourage people to leave...however often we wouldn't have even been served dessert yet! So we would feel rushed to scarf it down and get out quickly. If they need more time to serve dinner, they should schedule it accordingly. Still, the crew functioned very well. The cruise director was impressive as he gave announcements effortlessly switching from Italian to English to German to French to Spanish. Read more