This was my 9th cruise, and the third for my wife. We wanted to try MSC as we had never sailed with them before, plus we wanted to try a brand new ship and the price was pretty good.

Embarkation was fairly good. We got to the port around 10:15, had to wait in line for about 30 minutes before security opened up. From there, didn't take more than 25 minutes before we were onboard. Take note, you will have to tie your credit card to your ship card while onboard, not at check-in. We did this as soon as we found an empty station on board.

The ship was gorgeous. They say it was designed for guests to feel closer to the sea, and you kinda do. On a negative side, I saw several areas of damage already. 2 cracked windows, the fabric by the big screen outside tore, and some covering on a railing near our cabin was peeling. Also I found some chairs with gashes in them already. They have an app to use for various things, such as booking a reservation for the show (yes, you will need to book one,) booking specialty restaurants, etc. We couldn't get the app to work right, so we used the touch screens all over the ship. Read more