We wanted to experience an Inaugural Cruise and the Seaside transatlantic from Trieste to Miami fit the bill. The ship is beautiful and glitzy and very stable--sometimes we didn't even feel like we were moving. The shows are extraordinary and the Jungle area for children and the child in each of us was wonderful. The dancing instructors were fabulous, especially the Argentinian Dance Academy of Erin and Alex as well as the MSC instructors, Pat and Leo. The balcony cabin was well-appointed and the bathroom shower was well-designed. The closet space is tight and hard to access--but if you are going on a 7 day caribbean jaunt clothing is not that big an issue---however on a 20 day transatlantic with 4 formals, it is. Taking into account the fact this was the first cruise for the staff it was still unsatisfactory. There were days we never say our cabin steward, the satellite connections went dead for the 5 days at sea and until we arrived in Miami. The venue for ballroom dancing--the Piazza Grande shut down early at night with no recorded music to dance to and a crew that refused to do anything about it for about a week.

Another disconcerting fact is the inability to do a promenade around the entire ship. The Yacht Club passengers have the entire front 3rd of the ship making it inaccessible to the rest of the guests and quite frankly making you feel like a 2nd class citizen.

The dining experience was awful--the dining room at night was understaffed, over-crowded and the food was constantly served lukewarm. Perhaps there were 5 memorable entrees--on an Italian ship to think you could get nondescript food is unimaginable. At lunch, service was slow and erratic. The Marketplace buffet is a disaster--poorly set up, you wander around to collect all your food. Even the pizza was never served hot. The specialty restaurants, especially the seafood one is beautiful, but the service was again spotty, the food marginally better. Roy's 3 restaurants have promise. Read more