Cost of Cruise - very reasonable - ours included a drinks package (anything on the bar lists barring ones marked with asterisk. The only Lager on this package was Heineken draught or bottled. Loads of different cocktails though or basic spirits, soft drinks, ice cream. Problem was getting served. Waiters preferred you to sit down and they come to you which could be quite a wait, then you have to wait for the waiters themselves to be served by the bar staff and bring the drinks to you. Whole process anything from 10 minutes to half an hour or more. Patience is a virtue. Staff are very busy and work very hard.

Embarkation – Easy – photo is taken as you get on board – our time was 2.30pm but we got on no problem at 12.30pm – Until you can get into your cabin to get your cabin card to start using your drinks package (if you have one) the bar staff need the MSC piece of paper which states your purchased services – Beverage Packages and cabin number which is on the bottom of that paper.

Disembarkation – Everyone has to leave cabins at 8.00am – Breakfast from 6.00am onwards as not every passenger gets off the ship. Our disembarkation time was 8.50am so went to breakfast at 8.00am. We abided by our time and when called we queued for a good 20 minutes to get off the ship. We now believe we could have left a lot earlier if we had wanted. Read more