I was very anxious to take an "Italian" cruise since I love Italy. This was not what I expected. I have been on 4 other cruise lines, so I believe that I know what I like. MSC has a great price for families - kids under 17 are free - so I was checking out the line to see if it would be good for a family reunion next year. I am not sure we will be taking a cruise on MSC after all.

The good: beautiful ship; good entertainment; excellent cabin staff; and there were enough deck chairs for everyone during a day at sea. The ship was supposed to have been full so this is a good thing to be able to accommodate everyone for sunning.

The bad: shore excursions were very poorly handled, especially if ship is not docked; no information is ever given to passengers to explain the long delays; the staff, especially the Italian staff, are rude and brusque with passengers; food is only fair and not always available before/after shore excursions. We paid for an advertised 4 hour excursion but were only off of the ship for 2 1/2 hours. The other 1 1/2 hours was spent waiting to leave the ship. Read more