I was so excited to go on my first ever cruise. I have heard such great things about MSC, only to find my experience totally opposite from great. The staff were horribly rude all the time. Waiters complaining in the restaurant and buffet areas about their working hours and the fact that passengers don't tip them.

Our food was served late at sit down dinners. For example our table 586 were only served starters when the table next to us had already finished their desserts, this made us late for the show we wanted to go see that night. The buffet food was below standard as expected for those sort of quantities, but we expected a level of excellence in the Il Galione - it's almost like the buffet food was just neatly presented in glass plates except plastic ones. The Il Galione restaurant was clean, whereas the buffet areas were really dirty. The tables and chairs were always sticky. It was heart-breaking to see the waste of food on the ship during the cruise, not a fault of MSC, but people who do not pay for food is bound to waste and it was really sad to see how much food was wasted by the people because there were no limits placed on food items.

I found that all the Chinese and Italian staff on the boat is very friendly, respectful and at least greets when you greet them but the others are just rude. The most rude of all is the reception staff. I get that they get a thousand different questions and gets irritated about answering the same question to a thousand different passengers over and over again, but for some of us asking those stupid questions its the first time travelling on the ship. It would help if they can be just a bit friendlier and answering your stupid questions in a kind manner regardless how much that irritates them. Read more