This was the WORST cruise we have ever been on and we were not alone. It got off to a bad start when we all had to stand in lines to get on the ship for FOUR HOURS. People were actually passing out. So, we were all unhappy to begin with and sadly things never really improved. The food wasn’t good, as it was pretty much the same thing every day. Also, we never got to stop in Sydney, Nova Scotia, for which they gave everyone a $150 credit. There were always long lines at the reception desk because that was the only place you could get problems solved, questions answered, etc. and there were LOTS of problems. We ended up in that line for an hour and a half because charges were made to our account BEFORE I even activated our credit card. It was fixed, but....having to stand in another line didn’t make anybody any happier. Some people got to their cabin only to find there was either no bed...just a pull out sofa...or nothing else in the room to sit on except the bed. There was very little to do during the day, so we spent most of our time sitting in the promenade watching people. We kept striking up conversations with people and nobody we talked to was happy and everyone we talked to said they would never take another MSC cruise. We had made that decision while standing in line at the very beginning....unacceptable. We couldn’t believe that nobody from the cruise line ever apologized for that. A simple apology and explanation would have gone a long way. As it was, all we heard were rumors about what happened.

Someone fell in the auditorium because of the way they lighted the stairs and the cruise director called for help from Medical three times and nobody came. Luckily there was a doctor in the audience who went over to the person and checked him out. One day we had rough seas and lots of people were getting sea sick. We met a lady at the breakfast buffet who was sea sick so I told her husband to go down to Medical and get her some sea sick pills. He did, but came back and said there was a note on the door that said it didn’t open until 2 p.m. Unbelievable. So I went up to our room and got some pills for her. She felt better right away and proceeded to call me her “angel” every time she ran into us on the ship after that. We found out later from other passengers that if someone went down to medical for sea sick pills they were charged for them, but if you stood in that line at Reception, they were free. Again...unbelievable. There was very little communication about anything from the crew. We had to find out things through other passengers. It was the only ship we have ever been on that did not link your credit card to your cruise card right at the desk where they took your picture and gave you your cruise card. You had to do that by yourself at one of the kiosks on the ship that were “at various locations.” These resembled ATM machines and once again there was no guidance by anyone on the ship as to exactly how many there were, where they were located, or how to use them. We watched the people in front of us to see how it was done, then showed the people behind us how it was done. It was the “blind leading the blind” every day. The only good thing about the cruise was the shows we saw at night in the theatre and meeting a lot of people due to everyone sharing their horror stories about what happened to them on the cruise.

The only port we enjoyed was Quebec and that was the one we were really looking forward to so that was great. However, instead of spending two nights there, we had to leave early for which everyone on board was given another credit. While we were standing in line at Reception, we heard some people saying they were Canadian citizens and were planning to get off the ship in Quebec and drive home rather than finish the cruise, as they had had enough. Also...we heard that one of the crew members even abandoned ship while we were in Quebec. Luckily, we made it home safely and the disembarkation process went much smoother than the embarkation process. For us, it was too little too late. Never again.