For those of you who don't know already, we were lucky enough to win a ticket to an MSC Splendida cruise departing from our charming island, Malta. It was short notice so my partner and I were forced to check what dates we could take leave from work. We settled on 11th to 18th April. It was my 3rd cruise but my partner's and our 2 ½ year old daughter's first cruise.

Embarkation

We were told to meet at Magazino (the Maltese departures port) at 12pm. Of course, we arranged to be there a little bit earlier, worrying that we could find traffic and be late. They made us wait till 12.20pm because they needed permission from onboard the ship but then the check-in was really quick. Our group consisted of around 50 people and there were about 4 people doing the check-in at a time. We were on the ship in around half an hour. Everyone was very nice and helpful as they even took our daughter's stroller up the ramp themselves. We ate lunch at the Bora Bora at noon and we were given a quick emergency drill later in the day. Read more