This was our first cruise with MSC and we were super disappointed, especially after the big hype.

To start off, we were clearly instructed to not arrive before our embarkation time, which was 12pm. We got the just before 12, thinking it would be a smooth embarkation. We stood in 3 different queues. For 3 hours. They don’t have any way of stopping those that arrive too early (there were people in the queue that were only suppose to board at 2) first you stand in a MASSIVE line in a parking garage, then you move on to the next queue where you get your cruise cards, and then finally after standing in another queue, you get to customs where they stamp your passport.

Once we were finally on board, we grabbed a bite. We were barely finished when there was an announcement that a compulsory safety briefing will take place in 10 minutes and we have to move down to our cabins. This was at 3:30pm. Then you had to go to your muster station (the staff were quite helpful with that though) Read more