Just so you know where we're coming from, this was our first cruise with no experience or expectation, read of some mixed reviews of MSC on the' cruise critic' website. We took the plunge on a good value October half term holiday on the Musica, touring Venice, Bari, Katakolon, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, Corfu, Dubrovnik, hopefully with an open mind. For week we'd stomach most things if we didn't like it.

To cut to the quick this was one the greatest experiences we've ever had had as family in 15 years, including luxury holidays to the US theme parks and the leisure palaces of Dubai. MSC created memories to last a lifetime as promised in their brochure. Thanks MSC for making dreams come true.

Have to report that the start of the holiday was abominable. Due to bad weather and the Venice marathon what should have been an hour's transfer from plane to ship to turned into an 8 hour wait as the ship was transferred to Ravenna. Spent several hours on coaches, departure lounges, a couple of hours in freezing canvas warehouse that doubled refugee centre and finally a nice wait to board in the dark outdoor quayside in the freezing cold for an hour. No information, no food, no water for 8 hours. C'est la vie. Read more