This was our 15th cruise and our first on MSC. Check in was very quick (Barcelona) as we had booked in on line and on entering the ship we were taken to our cabin by a very smart steward. The CABIN was more spacious than other large ships we have travelled on and had good storage and a good sized bathroom with easy to use shower. There was a plentiful supply of clean towels and bathrobes and the standard of cleanliness in cabin and all over the ship was first class. We ate breakfast and lunch in the Zanzibar restaurant which is the best designed and furnished of any of the large ships we have been on. The food was good and we could always find a quiet table even when the restaurant was busy. DINING We dined in the Il Cherchio d'Oro restaurant. The 6 course evening meal we thought was the best we had had since travelling on the old P & O Victoria in the early 90's. Although the ship is mainly Italian, French and Spanish mix with very few English we did not find this a problem and our waiter, who was Indonesian, had no problem changing from one language to another. ENTERTAINMENT The shows put on in the theatre were excellent with talented performers and fantastic costumes, but half an hour was just not long enough. DOWNSIDE This ship caters for families with children and there are lots of young babies in strollers which could be a problem if you are travelling in the summer months. We were also disappointed that the French Restaurant is only for the use of Yacht club Members and is their dining room so if you were celebrating a birthday or anniversary and wanted to eat somewhere special you could not book a table there. The only other restaurant is Tex Mex which was mostly empty, too bright and characterless. The Zanzibar and Africana self service restaurants were only open for the sale of pizza in the evening which was a shame as there was no alternative venue for families to eat who had young children and didn't want to eat formally in the restaurant where pushchairs are not allowed.
To sum up, this cruise was very reasonably priced and we did not expect to enjoy it quite so must as we did. We would certainly use it again but probably not during the summer months when there are probably a lot of children on board.
We were on deck 9 at the front of the boat. We have travelled on many large ships and thought the cabin was much larger than others we had travelled on when travelling in the same category. Hanging and draw space was good and the decorations pleasing. Bed was comfortable although pillows not of very high quality. Balcony was small and ours had an iron surround which mean that you could not see the sea when sitting down but cabins nearer the middle of the boat all had glass panels. On this boat if you are on an upper deck in the middle you will have the overhang of the upper deck above you which shades the balcony from the sun. Bathroom was a good size with easy to use shower.