We choose this cruise due to travel dates and destinations. However if I’d known the minimal standard of this ship I would of seemed alternative options. On embarking it was chaos it clearly states on boarding papers that it commences at 11.30am. However didn’t get on board till 2.30pm. No crew took charge provided any updates. On board it clearly states where smoking is allowed and smoking in cabins or on cabin balconies is not permitted. Leaving Venice everyone was smoking flicking ash etc. contacted reception who advised us to contact them with cabins who were doing it so they could address it. We asked several guests not to flick there ash it was blowing on us but people were rude and aggressive in their response. We contacted reception who said security would speak to guests. However when security turned up they said it was an issue for housekeeping. Our issue with the smoking was that people were flicking aah and not been respectful of others. Mindue has to have a giggle when the ship sells cheap cigarettes onboard. the pool area was overcrowded with on average 40+ adults and minimum 10 children in each of the pools at one time. There is no adult only areas at all. The bars etc has no limitations either. One night we went down for disco at midnight and guests were turning up there with prams with young babies. The music was so loud and young children were grisly. Certainly not a place to take your young children. Excursions. We were meant to go to Mykonos but due to Weather we were diverted twice and arrived at Chania. However customer service could provide no information on the town and there response was they hadn’t been there before. No initiative to seek information for guests. We were then advised that they would discount the bus shuttle for £5. Upon arrival at port it was chaos no crew were there giving directions and the lines trying to get out gates were insane. Finally after people had been in line in the hot sun for over 30minutes the crew went out to assist. It was frustrating as people with young families had stood in line for a long time waiting for shuttles and when you got to gate you could get local bus following the same route for £3.40 and taxi one way was £10. To give them credit we enjoyed the excursions to Olympia, acropolis. However each one costs average of £60 Disembarking: Each person was allocated tags/colours along with times. Initially they were announcing groups then this ceased along with the updates on the screen s. It wasn’t until we approached crew that they advised we could disembark. Upon leaving ship there was one free shuttle to transport all passengers to the main terminal. Again no communication from crew. Terribly unorganised ship Read Less

This was my second msc cruise along with my wife and two boys (14,11) and it did not disappoint. Yes most people on the ship are european which i dont mind cause i am fluent in italian and spanish, yes many people smoke, yes people cut the lines but for an american if you can get passed this you will find that most people will go out of their way to help you or provide service to you! Probably your best tool in your belt if your an american is tipping. In europe its not customary but i always tip and always find that a small tip can yield unbelievable results. Any way the cruise the ports were fantastic, the ship was clean and easy to navigate, no days at sea so no need to worry about the kids and a water park as your not on the ship much. The food is definitely above average for the price point and the pizza Never disappoints. The crew was spectacular a special thanks to the assistant maitre’d giuseppe esposito who fulfilled our every request in the dining room. Also i had the pleasure to interact with the hotel director giuseppe russo, i have to admit the most gracious host i ever met on any cruise, he sat with us talked with us and was genuinely excited to see americans on the ship. He made us feel like a million dollars and sent us a special surprise with his compliments. Everything about the cruise was great and we will definitely be cruising with msc again! Don’t hesitate to give them a try you will not be disappointed! Read Less

Disappointed with MSC and state of cabin. Asked steward to bleach shower floor as covered in mould but he said it was a problem with the grout. Looked and smelled like mould and needed a good scrub. They also definitely need more staff to serve in bars and to clear tables. Tables are always left with plates and food and you have to call the staff over to clean your table. Was told in one bar that I needed to buy drinks to get food. Aren't they supposed to feed us whilst onboard? Drink prices are way too high. My gold card got me no benefits when disembarking and had to wait for all the lower cabins to disembark first. Was told if I booked Aurea class I would have been given priority. So the number of cruises you have done does not matter. Would prefer other cruise lines next time. Read Less

Our cruise on MSC’s Sinfonia was our 5th cruise. We have previously cruised with Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC. Our cruise last summer on MSC’s Musica was the reason we booked with MSC again. We are not picky and we had a great vacation on Sinfonia but it is definitely our least favorite of the cruises we have been on. The main reason was the food. The quality of the food was very good, but the selection was limited. I need to clarify that you will not go hungry and there is plenty to eat but in comparison to other cruises there are not near as many options. The food on the Musica last summer was excellent with many choices. It was the best food we had on a cruise and we had no idea if would differ so greatly on another of their ships. Embarkation was excellent and I think MSC does the best job of this. Getting off was another story. We were not let off until an hour later than the designated time with no explanation or any staff around to answer questions. Getting off at the ports also seemed to take longer than was anticipated. The shows were very good but not too much else for entertainment. The bar service was painfully slow. We did not get the drink package and everyday there was an advertised drink special but none of the bar staff seemed to be aware of it and we had to bring the flyer with us for them to honor it. One of the things we really enjoyed doing was sitting in the lounge chairs at the back of the boat reading in the evenings. But every evening around 7:30-8 they would come and make everyone get up so they could stack the chairs up. It was way before dark and would have been nice to sit and watch the sun set. We have never experienced this on another cruise before. The amount of chairs on the pool decks is the best of all the cruise lines we’ve been on. The cabin shower was the smallest we’ve encountered and there was no way to shower without the curtain sticking to your body. The shower curtain also had mold at the bottom of it. Other than that no complaints with the room. All in all we had a great vacation. Out of our five cruises this was the most expensive and we did not see the value in it. We may cruise with MSC again if the price is right, but definitely not on the Sinfonia. Read Less

- Embarkation and disembarkation were normally late and very bad organised creating chaotic moments. Nobody gave us proper information or answers to our demands. - Food on the buffet were always the same, not very good quality. The bar service took a very long time to serve drinks when you tried so. You'd rather go to take it yourselve if you want to have something to drink while eating... However dinners were better. - Staff (unless few people) was quite impolite. However it is quite understandable having seen their shifts of work... 7 days a week, morning, evening and night... - Time for excursion is not enough - Pools were very small for the amount of people "staying" at the boat and it was quite difficult to take a free hammock In general, the experience was quite disappointing, they sell a "Magnificent" cruise but it is far away from that. Read Less

We have just returned from our 7 day cruise departing venice and travelling to Bari, Katakolon, Santorini, Pireas and Kotor in Montenegro and we couldnt recommend this cruise highly enough! We travelled on the much larger MSC Seaview last year and I have to say I much preferred this size of ship although we didnt spend much time in the pool area as we had access to the top 16 deck with its two large jacuzzis. it is more mangeable and I was able to find my way around far easier than on the larger ship. I found the food was good overall, the restaurant food was lovley but the buffet was a bit basic and we seemed to always be going there when they were closing some part of it so we hardly ever saw the full choices available. Breakfast for the kids was perfect, pancakes, fruit, waffles etc as well as the usual cooked breakfast and cold meats etc available for adults. Loved the fact that they had a large range of sauces from around the world including UK HP Sauce. Lunch was a bit basic but it could just have been that we were dining later than most people and they had closed off some areas. We only had dinner in the buffet once and to be honest I much preferred the restaurant as we were able to have a proper conversation without one of the kids wanting us to get them something else from the buffet. The restaurant food was lovely and our waiter was really nice, enjoyed the meal times there. We travelled with 2 kids and to be honest they would hardly leave the kids club so it felt like we had a real break! The kids club was excellent and there were lots more english speaking kids there this time. Staff were really nice and it was secure so I didnt have to worry about them. Loved the top 16 deck area, our kids could play in the jacuzzi and we could relax and read. All in all I really enjoyed my week on maginfica. Read Less

For some background, my dad took me (19 years old) and my brother (27 years old) on our first cruise. Since this was my brother and I’s first cruise our expectations were not high. We saw a lot of bad reviews before coming but we decided to give the cruise line a shot. All of the ports on this cruise were gorgeous and we had a good time other than the ship being delayed causing us to get off early to make our flight back to Toronto. This is a long review but I hope it helps. Pros / SERVICE: Sheldon Dsouza the bartender and his girlfriend Maria are great! They were the best thing about the cruise! Sheldon is usually in the blue velvet lounge at night. They were also the best service we got on the ship. The ports were also beautiful. Time of ship / Communication of workers: I have heard cruises are usually on time but this one would arrive and leave late from the ports. Two days before the cruise ended, they notified us we would get into our last port late causing us to miss our flight. There was not much help from reception at all to help us figure something out and what we should do. We ended up getting off a day early, in Croatia. We dropped about $1400 on plane tickets to Venice so we could catch our flight from Venice to Toronto. Reception told us all we had to do was go to deck 4 and ask where immigration was. But nobody knew and was just sending us to different people. We were supposed to get off in Venice at 9 am, so the travel person with Expedia that we were organizing the trip with told us just not to book our flight before 12. We booked it for 12:30 and she said we would be fine. Now that we were getting in 2 hours late, we would miss our flight. (Note: Our friends we met told us they did not get to the airport till 1pm. Lesson learned to book a late flight or book one for the next day!) Boarding/First day: The day the cruise started, everyone seemed to get boarding passes/luggage tags in the mail but we got nothing. Disembarking at the ports were not organized at all unless you had an excursion it was pretty organized. Boarding in Brindisi took a long time to board, I guess since everyone got back at like the same time on the shuttles. For the restaurant seating arrangements; we did not have any arrangements till the day of. Unlike others had it done before they got there. Apparently, they have difficulties with the Canadian website so that may have been the problem. Kids/Activities: there were a lot of kids on the cruise and all were around the pool area so could not really “relax”. There was an adult’s only area on the top deck for an extra fee but it is not worth it. It is just a bar and some chairs. I also found there were not a lot of activities during the day which was fine since we would just spend the day at the port. Money: We choose MSC due to the fact it was cheaper. But a lot of added stuff just boosted up the price, like the fact water or soft drinks were not included so you had to buy the drink package. Free water in the caf, but buying water bottles at dinner was 2.90 euros for the big one. Not a big deal but even though we said no they added a unisef donation (1 euro/ person). Security: there was a lot of security to get off / on the boat. Which I think caused most of the delay to get onto to the boat. We had to keep retaking our picture since they did not like it and thought it was too blurry. Theme nights: the cruise line did not let us know the theme nights beforehand (formal, white, causal). So, we packed nice clothes for dinner of course, but my brother and my dad did not pack white. There was then a white party at night so they did not want to go and be the only ones not wearing white. So, would have been nice to know beforehand. Entertainment: Did not go to any during the day since we were enjoying ourselves at the ports. At night, we went to the shows. They were good. Some nights they had a party after but we did not attend any. We would just go hang out in the blue velvet lounge with our favourite bartender (Sheldon). I did not go to the disco but I heard from someone else they did dance lessons in there one night lol. Wi-fi: wi-fi sucked and gets used up very quickly. You can track the usage online though and see which person uses the most Wi-Fi. You can all use it at the same time but it does make it run a little slower. Food: food at dinner was very good. Breakfast and lunch were not as good. During breakfast once, there is a sit down one and there was a hair in my pineapple. They asked if I wanted anything but all I wanted was a fruit tray..without hair lol. They got my room number so we thought maybe they would do something but they did not, which is fine. It is also a mess trying to get around the buffet area since it is so busy. There was a snack bar open at night but it was very upsetting since there was barely any food (if you want pizza after 10:30 you have to pay for room service). Cabins: We had an oceanview balcony. It was small for three people but the balcony helped with getting air into the room. Our fridge did not work though; we let them know and they came two days later. We just wanted the fridge to keep our own water cooler but keeping it out in the room kept it colder than the fridge. Fitness & Rec: Gym was small. They also said there was a ‘golf practice’ on the ship but there was none. When I asked where it was they pointed me to the mini-golf even though on the signs on the ship it showed golf practice on deck 13 and mini gold on deck 15. Also said there was a ‘power walking track’ but there was no track either. Excursions: The most organized thing about the cruise. We did a “bus transfer to Olympia” in Katakolon and just bought our tickets to inside there. We saved about half the price without doing the tour and we loved it. They had signs explaining what everything was, so if you can read. I suggest doing this instead of the tour. In Athens, we did “Athens and the Acropolis”. Very busy but the tour guide was good. There was not much free time in Athens to eat so make sure you eat before or bring food. Then in Dubrovnik, we did the Kayak tour and it was beautiful. It is a lot of work but loads of fun. Lunch is included in the tour which is nice. Would I take this cruise line again or recommend it? Nope. WE ALL LOVED THE PORTS THOUGH! Read Less

From the moment we boarded in Venice to the time we left this cruise was an absolute nightmare. Firstly there were incredible lines waiting to board making everyone stand in the sun in above 40 degree temperatures. There were only two people handling this and it was so poorly run. Then we left the port 10 hours later than scheduled which then impacted on the time we spent in Split, Croatia. We spent the grand total of two hours in port!!!!There were four other cruise ships in port at the time and all of the others left at scheduled time. All of the port stops were short and rushed! The disembarkation procedures were appalling and poorly processed. The entertainment on board was pathetic and the activities did not cater for all passengers.The quality of the buffet food was terrible and was continually the same and some of the reception staff were rude and did not know what they were doing. This cruise was supposed to be the relaxing end to a wonderful European holiday but it turned out the be such a disappointment! Will NEVER use this cruise line again! Read Less

My two sisters and I (22, 28 and 32 yo) spent our last week of vacations in Europe on MSC Sinfonia. What was great? -Service in some areas (Dinner room and casino): Waiters went the extra mile to make sure we had what we needed. -Night shows: Dancers and performers are professionals and at times it felt like watching a circus show in Montreal. What was average? -Food overall: Not very tasty, not varied. Pizza was fresh, but it was barely decent. What sucked? -Embarkation/disembarkation + poor destination planning: We ended up spending less than 3 hours in Santorini due to the waiting times. This was also true (in different magnitudes) for many of the destinations in the cruise. For final disembarkation we ended up spending extra money on transportation to the airport because of these delays. -Insufficient spaces: Getting a table at the buffet (in different hours) or a spot to sunbath at any deck was very difficult. -Service in some areas (Pool and disco). Read Less

My husband and I decided to book a very spontaneous trip on MSC Magnifica four days before the ship was to set sail through Expedia. We were coming from Boston, USA and took a non-stop flight to Rome, then a smaller flight to Bari, Italy where we embarked. We read some of the negative reviews (mostly about smoking on the ship and staff being rude) but decided to risk the trip anyway. We are so happy we did!! We found most of the criticisms of MSC and the crew to be completely inaccurate. From the moment we boarded, the staff, crew and bartenders were fantastic and very responsive to any of our needs. We did not have to wait very long for drinks, everyone was friendly to us and the ship was gorgeous. The cabin was ready when we arrived with our bags already in the room. The cabin was nicely furnished, very clean, comfortable bed and a beautiful room with a balcony. The dining in the main dining room at night wasn't my favorite. The food was good but nothing blew me away with flavor. If you are what we call in the states "a foodie", this is probably not the cruise for you. The buffet for breakfast and lunch was good, however. Very nice salad bar, hamburgers, french fries, pasta, homemade pizzas, rice, Thai dishes and lots of other choices. We went on the cruise for the Ports of calls and a spontaneous adventure. The dining portion and food were a low priority for us. The Activities on the crew were fun, we danced, had drinks at the cool bars, sat in the sun, and attended many of the Broadway-style shows. They were cute shows with skilled dancers and singers and a nice way to end the night. The thing we loved the most was the amazing ports of call. Every Greek island and/or city (Venice, Montenegro, Bari) was outstanding. Too much to write but a trip of a lifetime. Everything and more that we had hoped for. I highly recommend this cruise. The only small difficulties were lots of Europeans do smoke, but only outside. Not many people spoke English so we were a little isolated (but my husband found that to be a positive lol), the initial Embarkment was a 2.5 hour wait to get on board, and lines were a bit confusing in the buffet area for breakfast and lunch. I recommend going to the buffet right when it opens to avoid the frenzy. The only people I found to complain were the Americans who didn't have a lot of travel experience. Their expectations were too high for some of the places they visited off the ship. We understood that traveling to these ancient cities there would be lines and confusion since they are not equipped for the influx of thousands of tourists descending on their infrastructure at one time. Some of the ports of calls would have 5 cruise ships show up at one time letting 4,000 people off per ship. One last thing, I do believe you need to be average to good shape to walk around these ports of call. I am in good shape (45 year old female) and found it to be moderate to above moderate exercise to get around with lots of cobblestone walkways and uneven terrain. I was grateful my 80 year old parents decided not to attend the cruise with us as I don't think they would have had the energy to walk around. Overall I would rate this an excellent trip and would do it again with my family in a heartbeat. Read Less

Great destinations and most staff. However the ship is a disaster. They spent millions extending the ship when really they should have towed it to the middle of the Atlantic and used it as target practice.... The stairs and lifts are not logical. Some go all the way some stop a floor before you want and others stop before one before you want to get to.all If you have a window or an inside cabin don’t bother trying to sleep before well after midnight because the noise from discos and bars will definitely keep you awake. Even with the best possible earplugs I can STILL SING ALONG WITH THE MUSIC!! Guest relations offered me €100! So kind.... If I could get a flight home I would. If you have booked change it. If you are thinking about it DONT!! Go on something, anything else. I have done 17 cruises and this is the absolute WORST!! The entertainment crew were certainly enthusiastic. If a little loud, and mostly in Italian..... Dining is fine. Service in the MDR was excellent. The food was ok, portion size was small. One carrot does about three tables, the Buffet was a nightmare!! Pushing, shoving and loud. Forget if you want a table. The coffee was awful too. Thankfully the destinations was fantastic. Mykonos was lovely, Santorini was a bunfight. But the highlight was Corfu town. Lovely and lovely people. A couple of places were tender. A queue was ages but they dealt with it ok and they did use larger tender ships to get us off. A good idea that other cruise companies should adopt. All in all great destinations but a old tug and appalling ship and terrible terrible customer service. My view is the same AVOID even if it was free!! Read Less

We chose this cruise for a family reunion, with 14 people coming in from 4 different countries across 3 continents. The embarkation process was smooth and we were able to go to the buffet and seat ourselves right away. However, within the first day, the bathroom in one of our staterooms was clogged right away, and did not get fixed for over 48 hours. Even worse, this was grandma's room - so everyone was upset over this. The pool was rather small and definitely not swimmable -- too many people on the boat overall, so all you could do was really just stand in the water. The buffet was always crowded for all meals, and you had to circle a few times to get any kind of seating, even for 4 people. The pizza place was good and served really good pizza, so we often just went there instead. For dinner, the restaurants had nice wait staff and servers. The food was good, but we have had better on other cruises. The staff on the ship were very nice, but everytime we had issues with room keys, the bathroom repair, the internet, it was obvious that they are severely hampered by management and their policies - with apparently no one on board who could just make an executive decision. The disembarkation process everytime we went to shore and especially on the last day was a mess -- very crowded, unorganized, with everyone lined up for a long time just sweating it out -- they literally turned off the AC on the last day so there was no circulation as we waited over 2 hours to get off the ship. This was our first experience with MSC and sad to say, we will think long and hard before ever going on one of their cruises again. Our family has been on many cruises with different companies in the past - Holland America, Royal Carribean, and Disney -- all of those cruises were by far superior to what we experienced on this cruise. Read Less

This was the only cruise that fit schedules for everyone in our family. We also thought maybe we should try new cruiseline after 5 cruises with the same company. Big mistake. The ship itself looks beautiful. Embarkation was fine. Excursions were fine. Cabin was fine except that some guests decided to smoke in their cabins so our cabin smelled smoky too. My cabin has “no smoking” sign inside not sure about others. Complained twice, nothing was done. The housekeeper even said he did not want to anger other guests. Bad smell aside, it’s for the ship safety. guess safety does not matter. Food was bad. Buffet breakfast was cold or overheated (rubbery) scramble eggs. Yogurt was in a big open bowl so gross that someone could easily spit on it. Buffet lunch or dinner was a collection of pasta and pizza, a little grilled chicken, grilled fish, nothing spectacular. Dinning room only went twice. Dining room did not serve any drink, not even regular tap water. You are forced to buy bottled water or wine. Definitely no coffee or tea after the meal. Meal was way below any cruise line standard. I could possibly do better at home in terms of taste and presentation! This cruise was 95% Italian focus. Shows were mostly in Italian and there was 1 in French. For my family, pure english speaking, no entertainment for the entire cruise. To be honest, the singing was ok, dance, acrobatics were below other cruise lines standard. Disembarkation was a disaster. 3 hours delay due to some event happening at Venice. We were expected to believe that this event was new and they knew nothing about it and did not think it would affect disembarkation. Really? According to our “daily program”, we should be out of the ship by 9:30 then changed to 10:30. We did not get off until 11:45. We missed our flight or many guests missed the flights or we had to scramble to look for alternatives paying extra. All we heard from the customer service, which probably more appropriate to call them customer no service, was that it was not their fault, there was nothing they could do. YES, you could do something and that was simply providing accurate information from the beginning! Being pure English speaking Asian from the North America, definitely minority in this trip, my family did not feel welcomed at all. No crew ever said a hello to us even if we walked right into each other. There was this lead Spanish officer, she was so cheerful and bubbly speaking in her language with her people but when she saw me, she took away the smile and simply looked and walked away. The worst I have ever been treated in my cruise experiences. MSC clearly is not ready to handle international guests in Europe, at least with this cruise and this crew. The whole cruise is tailored for Italian, Spanish or simply white. Going forward we will stick with more reputable cruise line, get our money worth. Read Less

I’m not even sure my words can accurately describe just how amazing this entire trip was. Our vacation started in the beautiful port of Venice, Italy. Highly recommend flying in at least 2 days before embarkation so you can explore a bit in Venice. Stay at the Hilton Molino Stucky if you want beautiful views! We were first time MSC cruisers so unsure exactly what to expect, as we are American and the ship is dominantly Italian folks. Embarkation was a breeze. We were settled on the ship with our luggage within an hour of boarding. We had a balcony on deck 12 towards the back of the boat and loved the sizing and layout of the room! Our bed was a bit shaky, which we blamed on the engines (maybe?) but it was certainly bearable. More than enough room for 2 people in the basic balcony! We had the Fantastica experience, as we did not need any bells and whistles but did want a bit more than the “Bella”. The itinerary was simply phenomenal. Each day we got off the boat more in awe of where we were. We booked excursions in every island that required us to walk and move around a lot. This was not your typical ‘relaxing’ vacation. This itinerary is heavily culturally enriching. You will gain a lot of knowledge of the ports and the history surrounding them. I am not a history gal, but I was mesmerized by the history I learned. It was fascinating to learn from the tour guides who were so proud and excited to share their wealth of knowledge. Our itinerary break down was as followed: -Venice, Italy (visit San Marco) -Bari, Italy (visit Matera) -Katakolon, Greece (you have to see Olympia here) -Santorini, Greece (go visit the famous Oia) -Piraeus, Greece (you have to visit the Acropolis) -Corfu, Greece (must visit paradise beach) -Kotor, Montenegro (do a boat tour of the bay) The food on the Magnifica was SOOO good! We tried to keep our buffet time to breakfast only. Which was perfect for our early docked days. For dinner, we ate at the same table with 6 other folks and LOVED who we sat with. At first, this seems a bit ridiculous to have the same server with the same guests but we genuinely valued this time to unwind and reconnect at the end of a busy day! The entertainment was decent, but certainly have seen better. However, the dancing was great! MSC brought on aerialists that were excellent to watch! They were the highlight of most shows! The cruise staff was the absolute best staff we have ever been around. We have cruised several times but found this staff to be the BEST. So engaging, kind, and genuine. They wanted to really get to know you and help you have the most enjoyable time on board. It really says a lot when out of 2,500 rotating guests, they still remember your name! We were so sad to leave this crew, as they truly helped create many memories. The ONLY downside of our trip were the amount of children aimlessly running around, pushing and shoving. Luckily, we quickly learned how to avoid them and kept our distance. MSC is very family oriented, which is great! Just beware, you will certainly come across kids in mot public areas! Overall, this trip was epic. One of the best, if not, the best trips I have ever taken. Do not hesitate to book this trip. Hurry before it sells. You will love every second of it!!!!!!! Read Less

We choose this cruise due to destinations it sailed to. After reading so many negative reviews I was a little bit worried about going with MSC. But let me be honest. EMBARKING After reading about chaos at embarking, this chaos comes due to witnessing the most impatient people I've ever seen trying to get on ship first. People that don't think they should queue. Your given a number and when it's called you go to security. If you can be patient everything is fine, if being impatient bothers you, you'll ruin your own holiday yourself. Watching people having a paddy cause they want to board on number 5 instead of 6 was actually hilarious. CABINS OK so when we got to enter the cabin it nice, not the best cleaning Ive seen ( a few smudges on a mirror) but at end of day it wasn't going to ruin my holiday and make me complain. The cleaner did nice touches and even left us cakes one night, I acknowledged this with a thank you note back. RESTAURANT we had 2 amazing waiters Michael from South Africa and Juni from Indonesia. We had a laugh with them every night, nothing to much trouble. If I didn't like any starters I had 2 mains instead. If you don't ask you don't get, but the problem seems to be witnessing the manner in which people ask. Talk to them in a rude manner you'll get one back, be polite and they will go above and beyond for you. Portions are small but I never went hungry. MSC are not your royal carribean or princess standard, but we didn't pay those prices to start with so don't compare the two otherwise pay more for your holiday. OVERALL We couldn't really find any faults with the ship at all. After reading so many bad reviews I soon came to realise that some people expect to much. The ships very clean, the staff work extremely hard and have been on the ship many months without a break, they may be at your disposal but treat them like humans and with respect to get the same back. Don't be put off by the hard hotdog cob review (we never found that). Also didn't get my food luke warm, weather that's because we was on first sitting. Our food always came out at a good temperature. Beware of the passengers who act like animals at feeding time in a zoo, racing up and down acting like its all going to go in a flash, this isn't Msc fault, it's your fellow passangers behaving like that, way to avoid is to go at quiter times I.E just before all trips come back to ship. Read Less

I have read a lot of bad reviews about the MSC Musica and was very worried but it was amazing! Embarkation and Disembarkation were not great experiences however apart from that everything was great. The staff are second to none and cannot do enough for you. The shows were fabulous and the entertainment staff work non stop to make sure everyone is having fun. The bar staff are so friendly and the cleaners keep the place spotless. Food was great, my son loved the pizza especially. We only used the buffet as have no complaints. The ship never felt overly busy and you could always find a space for yourself. We had a balcony room which was fabulous and had everything we needed. The Itinerary was the reason I booked this cruise and it didn’t disappoint with the highlights being Mykonos, Dubrovnik and Venice. Brindisi was a surprise too such a beautiful little town. This was a first cruise for myself and my son and we loved everything about it from start to finish. I set my expectations low and everything exceeded my expectations! Read Less

Have you ever been to a buffet where the labels are in place, promising tasty treats and then you find that all the food is already gone? That is how this MSC cruise felt in most respects. There is definitely potential and in better hands this could be a great cruise, but MSC and its employees just turns this into a bad experience. Embarkation in Venice was slow. There is a shuttle bus from port entrance to boat, but apparently the one bus they have suffered a breakdown so everybody was lugging luggage through 100 degree weather. Meanwhile an entire fleet of Royal Caribbean busses was standing by for their guests. Disembarking was even worse - they have staggered departure times, but everybody has to leave their cabins at the same time, 8 am. So you have thousands of people descending on the breakfast buffet which can accommodate only a quarter of the guests at any given time, everybody fighting over table space. 40 minutes after the posted departure time we were able to leave for the transfer busses. We did all our own excursions, except for Dubrovnik where we wanted to use MSC’s offering. It took the excursion desk a few attempts, but eventually we got the correct tickets. The excursion got cancelled the day before arrival because MSC did not have as many participants as they had hoped for. I have had many jaw-dropping experiences during the cruise where the crew does the absolute minimum amount of work, but I am just going to leave you with the first such encounter: shortly after check-in I found that somebody else’s luggage had been delivered to our door instead of their cabin which was on a different floor. There was an MSC crew member with a radio posted on nearby stairs in anticipation of the safety drill later that day. I let him know that I found some suitcases that people are waiting for on a different floor. His reply: that is not my responsibility - please go down to the front desk and let them know. The one great thing about this cruise was their main band which plays ballroom music. There were surprisingly few dancers on this ship, so they kept asking us for our song requests and made recommendations. Having a private band is awesome! Read Less

This cruise was a good price, but it seems that’s because everything was a la cart. We didn’t even get tissues in our stateroom and couldn’t find a place aboard to buy them. If you had the sautés package, you received tissues - but this was not something MSC listed when we booked. Entertainment was opera/ballet type - not our cup of tea and as it was a cruise that left out of Venice was more geared for Europeans. Some rude people on the ship - pushed to the front of the line. Not enough common area on the ship so it gets very crowded especially by pool area. Some passengers moved loungers into space that blocked the entrance of the pool and could care less about inconveniencing others. Poolside entertainers fun and nice and some of the servers very nice and helpful. But overall we did not find the cabin stewards or reception to be easily accessible or helpful. They were not knowledgeable or helpful about ports unless you were taking one of their excursions. They seemed annoyed at Reception when you asked a question. Good luck if you have dietary restrictions - no ingredients listed at buffet and no brewed decaf coffee/non dairy milk. Getting on/off ship fine. Make sure cruise cards for everyone in your cabin are linked so when you pay your bill at the end you pay for all. We didn’t realize that and had to step out of line disembarking to pay for the other cruise card’s bill. Read Less

We chose this cruise because the kids were free and since we were getting married it seemed like a good choice to offset some of the costs. This was my first cruise but my husband had previously cruised before on many other ships and if it was just for me I would never cruise again based on my experience on MSC but my husband swears that he's never had such bad experience on other cruises. I don't know where to begin. First, our pool towels were never changed even if I left the dirty ones in the shower, they would get folded and put back on our bed. The embarcation and debarcation was a fiasco at each port. It was disorganized like it was their first time which created long waits. The food in the buffet was limited and always running out, long waits for them to refill the food. There was never any ice at the machine except very early morning. ALL the food buffet and restaurant were "ok", nothing special just ordinary. Everything tasted the same because it lacked seasoning. Usually you have a big "always available menu" for when you don't like the dining menu but there was only 2 options there for the entire week, grilled chicken and fries. The portions were very small, we often had to get 2 dishes because of the size. The service in the dining room was awful. Given the wedding, we had a group of 17 seated together but at different tables next to each other. We never (both tables) ate together the entire week. Their table was always finished 45-60 minutes before us. At our own table, we were never served at the same time either since they would bring out dishes as they were ready and not per table which meant that sometimes 3 people would be eating then 5-10 mins later 2 more plates came then 2 more etc. On the night of the wedding, we decided to treat ourselves to the steak (20EURO/person). The steak was undercooked when we received it (20 minutes after our guests received their regular meals) so by the time we got it back it was 45 minutes later. The whole table was done eating and of course the other table in our group had already left which made it hard to serve the wedding cake (which they brought out as I was eating my steak). They then rushed us out because of the next seating was starting to come in which was the case all week but worse that night considering the circumstances of the wedding and cake. After the ceremony, we were taken all over the ship for pictures with the ship photographer which meant we left the ceremony hall with our personal decorations. We called and asked at service desk for the following 3 days (multiple times per day) and nobody knew where our stuff was and they kept saying that someone would get back to us but never did. We FINALLY received our stuff 1 hour before leaving the cruise. The entertainment was "ok". I expected a different act each night but it was the same all week but with different music and outfits. The dances are basically the same. I wanted magic one night, comedy another, dance another, acrobatic another etc. Also, on special nights such as 70's or white etc, they would close the lounges and disco to force you to go to their activity. That was frustrating. We wanted to go dance but couldn't because it would only open after the other thing was done, usually at midnight so on most nights we just went to bed early. My daughter (15) wanted to check out the teen club, we got there and there were young men (20's) hanging out with the kids and couldn't see any MSC cruise member supervising which is how this happened. I don't want my 15 year old hanging out with 20 year old men. Last issue, we had onboard credits while booking our cruise but the reception desk refused to let us use them. We only found out when we settled our bill at the end of the week. If we would of known, we wouldn't of spent to much. We were spending because we thought we had those extra credits. Read Less

We often go on different cruise companies, and we have a large experience of service on cruise ships, but we were 1st time on the Opera MSC ship And unfortunately our vacation was very poor :( As soon as we entered the ship, we were surprised about the small the size of the cabin, although we had a cabin with a balcony, there were not even napkins in the cabin. On the diversity in the restaurant and the buffet, it is better not to remember. The food was from low-quality products and there was no varied choice. Its was no season fruits , except for melons and apples, there was nothing, only apricots were given on the last day Excursions were also not on the high level Where it was possible to stay a little longer, time was abbreviated and one day they just stole from us. We planned this trip mainly because of the city of Mykonos, so this port was canceled altogether and went to another completely un interesting city Chaina The captain's squad referred to bad weather with a storm warning,  although we looked on the Internet, the weather was good everywhere. It was also very economical with parking and time in another port because Chaina was cheaper port than Mykonos The people understand that they not stupid, that on our ship there was an accident on June 2 in the city of Venice and compensation was paid to the people. But we were suffered in the capital, they were saving money on us We decided that we would never again use the services of the company. MSC P.S It was not possible to go out on the balcony and open it, because smoke stood all the time people was smoking on their balconys The administration of the ship did not announced  to prohibit smoking on the balconies, without at all caring for the fire safety of the people and the ship itself. And the night disco started at 9.30 and ended 1.30 -2.00 From loud speakers it was not possible to fall asleep   Read Less

We have been with msc before but this cruise from Venice was full of very noisy children and Italians. It was extremely noisy and we were on second sitting and could not hear yourself think. The food was reasonable and the service ok . The balcony cabin was very good as was the service from the steward. The boat was also noisy with strong vibrations , we were on deck 10 middle ship and it was difficult to get a good night sleep. They charge for every extra you could think of and for shuttles to the ports.The ports were good and Albania was a highlight The evening shows were first class the best we have seen and included magic , acrobats and comedy . We really enjoyed them. The reason for the average mark was mainly because of the noise and number of children on the cruise, this spoilt it for us as we are 70 years old and it was just too much. Read Less

Always wanted to sail the Mediterranean! First ever cruise and included my kids. Really enjoyed the Musica. She is beautiful and versatile all restaurants are amazing. I will definitely want to sail again. Buffet area needs more control as guests hold up tables as well as deck chairs. Great time and a wonderful experience. Will definately do it again. Loved the cruise life and excursions and City visits Did not get the opportunity to use the jacuzzis as again guests are not controlled and usage should be timed. Maybe a displayed timer? Anil our cleaning person was awesome and very helpful. Could not afford the cocktails to our desire as the Rand is much weaker than the euro so costs were too much. But I am really looking forward to another cruise. Maybe the Caribbean will suite us next. My wife and kids was so amazed with my gift to them. Loved it Read Less

I have cruised 6 times before but never with MSC. I was impressed with the embarkation process but it went downhill from there. The first thing I needed to do when I got to my cabin was use the bathroom. The previous passenger had used the toilet and it had not been cleaned. I tried to flush the toilet but it didn't work. We had on going problems with the toilet for 3 days. The ship was full so they couldn't change our cabin. On day 6 our toilet problems returned. I went to reception to advise them and they said they will send someone straight away as he could see on the computer that we had previous problems. We waited for an hour and a half and phoned reception to let them know that we were still waiting. They sent housekeeping to our cabin. She asked to see our toilet, lifted the lid and made a phone call to say Yes, it was true, the toilet was blocked. I said " Don't they believe us" and she said "No, they think you are lying". I have no idea why anyone would want to lie about a toilet that wouldn't flush! This is the first cruise line that I have sailed with who charges for water in the dining room at dinner time. 2 euro 90 for a bottle of water. There was no other water on offer. Activities were limited unless you wanted to learn to dance. An extensive selection of books in the library was mentioned in the daily newsletter but there were only 4 books for English passengers. The ports of call were good but we didn't get to go to Mykonos as it was too windy for the tender boats. The bar service was really slow We were meant to arrive back in Venice at 8am but didn't dock until 10.30 and as disembarkation was via colour coding we didn't disembark until 12.45 which meant we missed our train to Genoa. Read Less

CONS -Embarkation - we were waiting for two hours in the port. The port guy was constantly shouting at you and people waiting. People in the queue were very poorly mannered, kicking, pushing you and trying to skip the long queues -MSC gave us incorrect drinks package and then blamed our travel agent saying travel agent provided incorrect info ( not true) -MSC allocated our preferred restaurant incorrectly and blamed our travel agent asking for that specific restaurant as per our request (not true) -Dirty bedlinen in the cabin ( stains) -Dirty bathroom ( dirty door, mirror, rust and dirt in the shower) -The balcony cabin is old and carpet/ furniture needs to be replaced very badly - The balcony is dirty and rusty - Customer service is non existent -at the very best they will ignore your complaints, otherwise they will shout at you , they could not care less about your comfort or satisfaction -Cold water at all tea stations- impossible to make a cup of tea -The pool was impossible to get into- too many poorly mannered people pushing you out of the way and kicking you ( we have got a balcony cabin Fantastica experience, which was supposed to be a luxury experience- what a joke!) -The Italian staff were very rude , inpatient, poorly mannered. They were constantly raising their voice and shouting at you. Anything we were asking for was too much of a trouble for them - Our waiter at dinner was really good but service in the restaurant during lunchtime was awful - the waiting staff was ignoring you, you could sit there for 30 min waiting to get a menu, the waiter at the door shouted at you when asked to take order ( shouting that he is not taking orders as he is a door waiter) -They will charge you for water in the cabin even when water is included with your package - They will add Unicef charge to your bill without asking you - I have got a severe allergic reaction within 10 minutes of drinking their cheap pina colada at the pool -They will mix french and english speaking groups together on excursions to earn more money, pure greed ( and will still charge you 90 euro per person). -Disembarking was terrible, staff were treating you like a cattle, long queues again for 3 hours, staff shouting at you, people kicking and pushing you, arrival was also late -Buffet was a mess, people running around, pushing you out of the way and trying to skip long queues - The wines included in the 30 euro per day package were very cheap and of a very bad quality , MSC cocktails gave me a severe allergic reaction PROS -The food was very tasty -Ports / towns where we stopped were very nice - especially Dubrovnik , Venice, Lecce, Mykonos, Olympia -Some Asian staff were very good, polite and friendly -Excursions were interesting and well organised ( except for the guide called Eva in Athens - Acropolis, Plaka and Museum tour- my advice would be to avoid this one) -Entertainment was really good Read Less

My Wife & I did a 7 night cruise through Croatia & the Greek Islands. The excursions were a good option if you want to see and know the history, some were brief visits , but you will know that when you see the intinery that you have booked for the particular Cruise. The entertainment and shows are amazing top[ notch. Staff were helpful and obliging . If you want top class meals they are in the restaurant, you will have a set time sitting for your room, we did not have the same menu at all, it was different night for dinner. If you want to eat in the buffet, the food a similar, but for the moaning people out there, look at you options, the food was 5 star in the restaurants, and some of the buffet lunched in the restaurants was the same. Boarding and disembarking was a breeze. The only moan for me is the bar service is slow. Read Less