We returned yesterday from a wonderful 7 day cruise on the MSC Orchestra. This was my 8th cruise- I have been on Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Costa- this was the first time on MSC. We flew Iberia air from Washington to Venice with a stopover in Madrid. Iberia air allows you to stop in Madrid for a $25 charge and then continue the flight to Venice a few days later- we spent a day and a night in Madrid then flew on to Venice. We booked the MSC airport shuttle service ($18 from airport to ship)- when we got off the flight in Venice, we gathered our luggage and saw the MSC representative outside of the security area. This was the easiest way to get to the ship but be advised that no one explains anything once you get to the ship port. It turns out that when you get off the airport shuttle bus at the ship port, you have to get an electronic tag for your luggage from one of the MSC reps. Then they take away your luggage and you don't need to handle it again until it arrives in your cabin.

Check in went smoothly- the lines were short since we were there early (around 10 am). We were assigned a boarding number and told that boarding would begin around 12:30 noon- it actually began at 12:00 noon. We waited outside the ship until 12:00 watching the busy water taxis next to the ship. There is a duty free shop inside the registration area where you can buy wine and bring it right on board into your cabin. They also sell hard liquor at the shop and I think you are also allowed to bring that into your cabin but we only bought wine. Buy your wine at this shop- we bought Italian wines for around $8 per bottle. We were told it was okay to empty out the mini bar on the ship- the steward just placed all the items on the top of the fridge and then we were able to load the fridge in the room with our own wine. You can sign up for the ship's excursions in the registration area.

We booked an outside balcony room. It was a decent size and the bathroom was larger than expected. There were 2 plastic wicker type chairs and a small table on the balcony. There are outlets for both American appliances as well as European appliances in the room so adaptors are not needed. We asked for extra towels the first day and from then on the steward always put extra towels in our room. Our steward also brought us fresh wine glasses and left them in the room each day. As others have mentioned, there were no towel animals or chocolates on the beds each night but for the money saved on MSC, we did not need these little touches. Read more