My husband and I have taken many cruises including three transatlantic, one South American and the rest Caribbean. As Florida residents, we get to take advantage of great last minute deals. The deal we saw for Poesia for a 10 day cruise that included a back to back to the Bahamas combined with a 7 day Caribbean cruise was the lowest we'd ever seen. We chose the balcony guarantee and were upgraded to a superior balcony room. We were thrilled as we always look forward to any type of vacation. We are still happy we went, but we would not choose MSC again.

Our first bad experience was at check in. I have never waited as long to get on a boat. We finally got to the head of the line. We told the agent that we wished to pay our bill in cash. We tendered our credit card for security and she told us to just pay cash at check out. So far, not too bad. Our cabin was OK but I don't know what was superior about it. It had just enough room for the bed, one chair and a desk. The shower was the typical tiny space with the clingy curtain. No nice toiletries were provided, just body wash and shampoo in a dispenser in the shower. The TV showed movies on TNT and TCM (I think) but the screen was often so dark you couldn't tell what was happening. A friend we made on board complained about this to no avail.

We made our way to the buffet for a late lunch and there is where the big problems began. The buffet was laid out in such a way that there was always a huge line, with people trying to cut in. The area to get drinks was just in front of this line, so that was always a mess too. The food served there was very disappointing. Hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, rice dishes made from the previous nights dinners, and mostly boring desserts were the choices EVERY DAY. Sometimes the pasta was good and the best thing was the salad bar (thankfully away from the crowded area) that had lots of good choices for a nice salad. At breakfast, every day was also the same with scrambled eggs, over or undercooked bacon, hard as rock omelettes, sunny side up eggs with lots of white runny stuff, beans, baked tomatoes and sausage. Some of the bread was good, including pan de chocolate. My husband started eating cereal for breakfast about half way in. We are used to choices and lovely surprises on cruise ships, not military cafeterias. Read more