My husband and I like to travel and have done a total of 45 cruises. So I feel we have plenty of cruises to compare this cruise to. As Paul said when we got off the ship we would probably not go on this cruise line again even if they gave us a free cruise. The ship was beautiful and the best part of the cruise was that we were on the water and made some good friends. The status program was a joke and the items that we were entitled to, I had to fight to get. They never let us know that you had given us a laundry package - luckily I knew about it but I had to go to the guest service desk to make sure it was on our account and to get the paperwork for the laundry. When we went to guest services for anything else - the people were not very friendly or knowledgeable. They would give us an answer and then we would find out the information was incorrect. Paul ordered the same drink with dinner the first three nights. The first night it was $5.60, the second night it was $9.49 and the third night it was $10.79. He got upset and wanted to know why the difference and what it was going to be each night. After we got the maitre d' involved - he went and got it straighten out and told us the price would be the $9.49 each time that drink was ordered. I ordered a shrimp cocktail the first three nights of the cruise - the first two were the regular sized shrimp cocktails with the tails on the shrimp. The third night I got the tiny shrimp that comes in a can. The food most nights was not very good. Every thing was over cooked and lacked enjoyable taste. One night as the early seating was leaving they told the last seating not to order the prime rib - it was not even eatable. Even the vegetables were over cooked most days. When we went to the buffet for lunch it seemed that it was the same each day - the only difference seemed to be the carver station. The waiter and assistant waiter on the first cruise was never around - I started taking a bottle of water with me and also having them fill three glasses of water to get thru the meal. The waiter the second cruise - was over worked - he tried hard and spent each night running from table to table. When you book the cruise they do not tell you whats not included in the different levels. The level we chose was Bella - little did we know that things like room service (even thought the brochure said it was included) would come with a delivery charge. They never let us know at night when there was a time change - they just listed it on the daily planner and they didn't tell you what night it changed. The free dinner that was included in the status program - had 18 choices for the 1st course, 2 choices for the main course and 3 desserts. The first course was good, the main course was either fish soup or a sirloin steak. The soup was salty and not very good and the steak was not as good as the steak that you could get in the dinning room. Most of the ports were in freight yards - and when the other cruise lines that we have been on and stop in these type ports they have a free shuttle - but not MSC. We heard that the captain didn't want to pay for one. (Not sure if this was true or not but)