Just back from an Eastern Med cruise on the MSC Magnifica. Stayed in Venice at the Domina Home Ca Zusto hotel in Santa Croce near the Piazzale Roma. Its a small boutique hotel and I would highly recommend it. Its easily reached from the airport on the number 5 bus (or airport express bus) to the Piazzale Roma and then take a Waterbus 2 stops to the Riva Di Biaiso stop. The hotel is about 100m away from the stop and you can roll your suitcase easily along the path. There are no bridges to cross. On the day of the cruise we took the waterbus from the hotel to the Piazzale Roma and a taxi out to the port. The taxi cost €15 euro - a minimum charge applies.

Embarkation was initially a bit chaotic, which I had expected from the comments I had read on cruise critic. It wasn't clear where you should begin queuing and many people skipped the queue ahead of us which was annoying. However when we actually checked our luggage in (the first of 4 different queues you have to go through) it became a bit more orderly. We arrived at the port around 11.00 am and were allowed on the ship around 12.45pm.

The ship itself is beautiful, spotlessly clean and very new! We had a balcony cabin on deck 10. We didn't have any problems getting a lift from this floor, although I met some passengers on deck 15 who said it was difficult to get a lift in the morning. I thought the food was fine however if you are a bit of a 'gourmet' then you might be disappointed. We were assigned to the L'Edera restaurant on deck 5 on a table for 8. We ate at this restaurant for breakfast also. Passengers with children tended to go to the Sahara cafeteria on the 13th deck as it was a buffet style restaurant and service was faster. My sister needed a gluten free diet and she had her own waiter assigned to her, her own menu and was very well looked after. I would give MSC top marks for the way she was treated. Read more