The overnight stay in Havana was why I chose this trip. The itinerary was good for a seven day cruise. MSC is a low cost cruise line that I have never sailed on before. This was my 24th cruise. You should not expect great food or entertainment. The ship although older, is in great repair, it is very clean throughout. There was no rust found anywhere on this ship. It is very well kept. The balcony stateroom 9097 was the smallest room in our cruising experience. Yes the bathroom is tighter than most. Electrical outlets (two) are inadequate for todays cruiser. The phone system does not allow messages be sent to other guest rooms. WIFI is very slow and not always easy to connect to. In port in Cozumel on my balcony I had one bar showing with a poor signal while I saw four bars and a strong signal from the NCL ship docked next to us.
Announcements are made in five languages and one tour in Jamaica an English speaking island did the tour mainly in French. The ship and its food and music seems to favor non Americans. Most music was with Latin beat.
The food was adequate but tasteless. Nothing seemed to be seasoned except with salt. The LaBrassiere dining layout is not well layed out. If you get toast, there is no butter or jellies in the vicinity. Staff was lacking to clear and clean tables and there was no one providing refills on juice or coffee.The Pizza that some rave about must never had really good pizza as the sauce was tasteless and always slightly undercooked.
Smallest balcony cabin we have been in. Built to accommodate four but was tight with two. Bathroom was very tight, especially if shower doors were in closed position. The room was clean and the bed was comfortable. The TV was a 22 inch flat screen with minimal English programming and no consistent news but for France 24. How about CNN or BBC Only two 110V outlets.
Depite five ships being in port all tendering guests the downtown offers good shopping and restaurants. The time in port is too short as all were back on board at 2:30PM and with all excursions being tendered in first we did not get off the ship until 10:45PM not allowing enough time to go Seven Mile Beach and spend any real time there.
Since our last visit (twenty years ago) the port has been expanded and offers good shopping, good restaurants and friendly people.