We embarked of a 7 day western Caribbean cruise on 1/16/11 from Fort Lauderdale. The check in procedure was quite proficient and fast. The cabin was a veranda style cabin (only way to go), it was quite large as cabins go, the settee was long enough for me to recline with out touching the ends, I am over 6 foot tall. The service in the dinning room was excellent, however; we had to get used to ordering the entire meal, including desert and coffee at the same time. The quality and quantity of food was great. Selections could be made from the daily suggestions or the standard everyday offerings. The lounges were large and attractive, what was missing were the smaller cosy type lounges found on most other lines.

The problems arise from the lack of understanding english even though most of the crew spoke some english. Calls to room service were subject to 3 or 4 calls from them to verify the order even though the order was repeated several times when first placed. One morning I asked for a large V8 and was served orange juice it seem the large was mistaken for orange. We found this problem throughout the ship. Final billing: I back up my expenses with a credit card and signed the slip on embarkation to simplify handling of expenses and not having to wait on line to settle my account. The morning of disembarkation I was presented with my bill balance $0. I was required to sign it and bring it to the accounting desk(so much for not standing in line). Will I take another cruise on MSC? Probably NOT (this was our 12th cruise 1st on MSC)