We originally were looking into taking a Hurtigruten cruise (on one of their smaller boats) up the Norwegian coast. I had seen an amazing video on Netflix documenting the beautiful scenery. My son and I started planning our trip, and were dissappointed that Huritgruten was so expensive! My son then suggested that we check out an MSC cruise up the Norwegian coast instead. I was hesitant at first because their ships are so big. We then decided to book our family in Yacht Club, the most exclusive level of the MSC Preziosa. We are so glad we did. Our room was very comfortable, near the top of the ship and in the front. We were only steps away from the Yacht Club private lounge, which was hardly ever crowded, and superbly staffed. We had unlimited alcohol and were surprised at the high quality and variety of the wines. For meals we headed to the Yacht Club private restaurant in the back. This was perhaps the highlight of the cruise. The staff were so welcoming, and got to know us and our preferences. The food was incredible, offering many excellent choices, as well as the option to order more if you were still hungry. My complaints: the musical entertainment, overall... in the Yacht Club Lounge (in the front) it was too sleepy. I believe that the musicians were instructed to keep it very mellow at all times. As a musician myself, I thrive on contrasts. One pianist obviously had talent and a great harmonic understating, but never played with a beat or performed anything medium or up-tempo. Elsewhere on the boat, many of the musicians relied on tacky rhythm accompaniment from their computer.

We enjoyed the excursions, especially the bike rides. We arranged for our own excursions with third party companies on two occasions, and enjoyed kayaking in beautiful fjords and rivers. Recommendation can be found on TripAdvisor.

We found that the areas outside of Yacht Club were chaotic and mostly unappealing. Overall, we were able to afford a Yacht Club experience for our family for a longer cruise than Hirtigruten. What I regret is the the MSC boat did not hug the Norwegian coast, so I feel that I missed a lot of the scenery as we were often at open sea or far from the shore. Read more