Embarkation went smooth, arrived around noon, in cabin by 12.45.Nice clean overal beautiful ship, cleanliness in public toilets could be better.The itinerary was great with the highlights, Venice ( perfect), Istanbul( visited Hagia Sophia, the blue mosque and the big bazaar, a very bustling city, great) and Dubrovnik( walked the wall, pfffff. a killer in the summer heat, but lovely views).Bari (we visited with the little train, which was good for a sunday). Izmir (we walked around a bit and returned to the ship to get a chair in the few calm moments when the crowds where not back yet).The port time was sometimes a bit short to see all we wanted, but we got a great impression off the places visited.Entertainment: shows were good, no pool side music band, entertainment team tried but it was not very classy.For us there were 3 problems with this ship, 1* very overcrowded, which means lesser service, chair hogs etc.all personel was friendly and they tried hard, but were overwhelmed by the crowds, Almost nowhere a shadow spot to be found which is hard in the Mediterrean summer sun. Swimmingpools were flooded with kids, not possible to swim.2* food choices, breakfast was good but every day exactly the same, we missed an ommelette and wafel station there. Midday buffet same problem, almost the same every day, here we missed an outside Grill, Pizzeria and a Pasta and Sandwich station. For an Italian ship the pizza was bad, 1 kind off pizza, very thick crust, nothing to do with "real" pizza. The grill was a very small piece off the inside buffet( 1 plate to be exactly), which gave hamburgers and that's it. Been on 11 cruises, never saw such poor choice off buffet. We had late seating which meant, no food available after "tea and cookies- nothing special, some dry biquits, a cake and a few kinds off dry breadrolls- from 4 - 5 until dinner at 9.15. First cruise i did not gain any weight.There was nothing to buy either except from some excellent ice cream at the Mojito bar.Pizzeria and Kebab was available ( at an extra cost, but reasonable) from 7.30.No buffet for dinner. A sushi place( at extra à la carte prices ) was always empty, no costumer in sight.Same for the wine bar and the 18euro per person place at the end off the ship.Dinner was ok, nothing special but fine, the Italian dishes like risotto and pasta were always very enjoyable.Beef were thin slices, never saw a steak. No lobster, but big shrimps on second gala night.Both off them were really nice, but not what we expected. Desserts, again nothing special, but ok.Dinner took 2 hours, but we like that, waiters friendly but did not have time to chat or smalltalk.3* the smoking policy, smoking was allowed in many places, some off the bars were disgusting with smokers everywhere. There were smokers in the forbidden areas, no one said anything!All in al we had a great cruise, but MSC is not for us, we prefer, Celebrity and Princess, mainly for the space ratio and the service and of course for the food.