We read all the reviews. We have a balcony cabin it is great, yes the shower is small but really it is good. The staff have been fantastic The food is good, really good. The buffers have everything thing you could need The beds are comfortable and bangs fit under the beds This is our second msc cruise and it is just plain good Value When we read the reviews we were suspicious, but on board we have been pleasantly surprised We are not looking for a party cruise we are looking for relaxation and good food. We had the fantastica package, this gave us a basic range of drinks, but the wines are good Overall we are very happy. The breads are great as are the snacks, pizza etc The restaurant meals were well presented and there was a range of seating so you could have an intimate meal with your spouse or sit with a group of people The buffets were busy and the normal push and shove by the Italians and the poms but this is normal. Read Less

The excursions were fairly good and so was the food and servers. Everything else was horrible. The beauty salon was awful, terrible communication skills and high pressure staff, like your money was their personal piggy bank. The cabin steward was obviously so badly trained he put dirty sheets with bedbugs on the bed. The Reception staff customer service skills were horrible, assumptions like offers to clean luggage as though I brought the bedbugs aboard, nasty responses to tired travelers in a bad mood, that you’re a bum if you forgot to register a credit card early on instead of a courteous reminder. There was garbage, water leaks and construction debris in the halls most of the time. At one point at dinner, the air had the smell of Depends undergarments and I had to leave before I puked. On one tour, woman behind me rudely talked on phone making hearing the guide impossible but the guide refused to address it. Found a bug on the table after room service arrived once. If you like nightmares, MSC is your best bet. Read Less

The ship is very unorganized. The food was the same every day. Front desk clerk named Barbara Uchiyama was always scowling and treating guests without the least education and attention. The tours were disorganized. The guides hired by MSC knew almost nothing about the tours, reaching the height of not wanting to take us to the Mount of Olives in Israel because he preferred to take it to a store that certainly earns commission. The drinks level was 0.50 cents more to force you to pay for a higher plan. Suite members, who have a golden package, have no privileges on board or on board as mentioned at the time of purchase. The only space reserved for member Aurea spent half of the trip closed for maintenance. The cleanliness of the ship's toilets was deplorable Excursion outings were tumultuous and always with guides who did not speak the languages ​​sold Read Less

SO DISAPPOINTED !! My husband and I were on our 20th Aniversary, we normally travel the first week of December. We arrived at Venece to embark and the first surprize we recieved was an unexpected 2 hour bus drive from Venece to Triste, no advance warning not even a bottle of water were we offered, much les an apology. We had booked the Aurea package directly over the phone, this being the most expensive package we were told drinks were included amoung other incentives, once on board the first thing we were told was that our package only covered drinks up to 6 Euros and 90% of the beverages cost more than the 6€ so we decided to upgrade our already expensive package. The ship only has 2 restaurantes aside from the buffet on the 13th floor and a Specialty Oriental Food Restaurant which wasn't included obviously. Food was HORRIBLE, we came to learn that apparently the ship would be on mantenance after this trip so it seems as though we were being given all that was left over on the ship in order to get rid of what hadn't been consumed on other ships. Chicken in wine sauce on day, chicken in curry sauce the next, chicken a la meditarena the other day, chicken and lamb in every which way you could imagine possible. We booked an excusion in Athens, the bus driver hit a taxi driver from behind, I asked to see the doctor once we were on board and was told that I'd have to pay separatly to have my head checked out after the crash, this is how MSC takes care of their customers, another excusion in Corfu riding Jeep and there were no Jeeps available for us so we were told we would could be provided with a shuttle bus to town but weren't sure that they could provide transportacion back, seriously. Entertainment was limited to one evening show at the theater, worst shows you'll ever see on a cruise ship. Costumes were old and music couldn't be enjoyed it just sounded like a really bad band playing from a box. Due to the problem in Venece with the rising water levels we'll be arriving at Trieste, Italy again at 8am on Sunday, our flights at noon, we asked to be provided with an early desembark in order to make it on time to our flight, the answer we recieved, we'll have to wait and see what is posible .... again seriouly !!! In a nutshell ... we've done many cruises but will NEVER again will we do a MSC CRUISE !!! PS. Our bed sheets had to be changed 3 times because of dirty sheets .... check your beds before lying in them !!!! Or better yet DON'T CRUISE WITH MSC CRUISES !!!!!! Read Less

we choose this ship because of the itinerary We wanted to see venice and hearing they might close the port we decided to go for it now..Unfortunately before we could go the water problems happened but as of the week prior to our trip msc assured us we would be sailing out of venice.. We found out we would be bused to trieste when we arrived at the port on sailing day--no email or text- However they were not prepared for this and didn t have the buses to transport so we had to wait several hours with no one knowing what was happening Finally after 2 !/2 hours arrived at ship Immediately barraged by a line of servers pushing the drink pkg We had purchased a package but were now informed it only included a few choices We had already upgraded to a suite that didn t include any perks so we upgraded Our room was very nice-lots of closets space and drawers and I proceeded to unpack as is my usual. When I returned to the room later to get dressed I opened my drawer and my personal items were missing-empty space on one side of the drawer. Went to customer service and reported- told to come back after they consulted superviser and they may want to do a room search I kept going back and it became a joke that they were all getting a laugh out of . finally insisted on speaking to supervisor and was taken back to our room with 2 security people who did a thorough room search-was told had to consult corporate. A missing item form that i filled out the first day was left on my bed the last morning and i was told someone would be in touch with me.. I did the survey when we returned as instructed and no one has contacted me nor can i get through on any web site. We overspent on this "once in a lifetime cruise" and regret it. Our bed linens were not changed the entire week altho he did keep the bathroom very clean, the quality of the food was not good and when we called to ask for our tissues to be replaced because my allergies were extremely bad, we were told we weren't eligible to get any even tho we were in a suite. The ship seemed to go downhill as the week went on. We did get to see wonderful sights and places but I wouldn't recommend this ship to anybody. We cruise quite often and have been on msc seaside which impressed us with the cleanliness and attention. most likely we won't be using msc as a vacation again. I have tried every web site I can find to contact and hit walls Very very poor To end this we again were bused out of trieste back to venice port and were just left in an empty parking lot (since the port was closed) with no means of transportation our of the port except walking a long distance carting all our luggage out of the port to the people mover to get into venice city to get a cab to our hotel There were maybe 3 msc employees who didn t seem to know any more than we did. A wonderful ending Read Less

The ship was due to sail from Venice and we were advised that due to the weather, it was now leaving from Trieste but we needed to check in at Venice at usual from 11am. Of course, the weather is not their fault. We arrived early at 10:30 and proceeded to check in, it was fairly fast, we had done it online and the staff were fast to label our cases and clear us to the departure lounge, at this time we notices three empty buses outside the door and a couple more in the car park, all good, they told us it was 90 minutes to Trieste and we would be on our way at noon, maybe 12:30. At this time there was nowhere to get a drink and even though it was still not 11am, there were about 100-150 people in the lounge. We were given ticket number 12. For the best part of an hour no-one seemed to leave and when I asked, I was told we were on bus number 12, first in line were priority passengers, then number 10, 11 and then us. The buses were still there, empty, they were making everyone wait until the priority passengers were on the way, except... they hadn't arrived yet. When there were no announcements that you could hear and by the time we got on a bus for the 120km (at 57kph) journey at 13:50, no one was checking tickets and clearly we could have just got on the bus. Upon arrival at port, they take your boarding documents and say welcome aboard, your cabin is ready... erm, I've just given you the only thing with my cabin number on it... Grumpy passengers were everywhere but hey, we're on vacation and, this was SO cheap! From the moment you set foot on board, the staff are hassling you to take out the drink packages, we booked ours before departure but then they hassle you to upgrade it for another 10 euro per person per day. The ship is either garish or stunning depending on your frame of mind, we loved it, it shouted VACATION! Loads of places to sit and lots of comfort. The easy drinks package pays for itself at about 6 alcoholic drinks per day, or 11 coffees, we broke even on it but it is a tiny bit limited, of course, the staff are all top notch professionals and although, for example, a pina colada is not part of the deal, a virgin pina colada is, and so is white rum, they even give you a stirrer. The cabin, is what it is, we went inside, 9th floor, fore and it was really well sound insulated, the climate control is just about ok but as soon as you take your card out of the slot, it all goes off apart from the bathroom. Charge your stuff in there if you need to (shhh) You need a long lead though, the socket in in the roof. The 3rd bed is always a pain in these, you always bang your head on it. Like everything on the ship, it was spotless and given that the day after we left, it was going into dry dock for a deep clean, everything was in great order. Entertainment, it's a bit "MEH" lots of duos and shouty cruise staff better suited to a kids club. Theres a 4d cinema, never saw it used. Short ten pin bowling, a pool table, a tennis court, ping pong. Pools - the indoor pool was 77degrees and the outdoor pool was drained (it IS december) the hot tubs seat 6, but have a capacity of 4! There was 4 of them in use and 2 on the upper open deck roped off. The itinerary was superb, but that changes week to week The food. Oh dear. If you like bland, you'll love it as long as you don't also like variety. 4 pizzas every day seemingly from a selection of 6 in total. Filleted fish every day, with bones in. usually one roast meat, mostly pork, occasionally beef. Vegan? don't bother. Desserts - lots of little cakes, the same fruit all week fro breakfast lunch and dinner Late night sandwiches were nice, but no variety Best thing on the menu? 4-5pm burgers, bland and tasteless but with enough jalapenos, pretty good. Restaurant service was "ok" Menu was better but again lacking in imagination. We tried it once and gave up on it. Possibly more of a statement on our relaxed dining style. Only one "special restaurant" they really hate food don't they! The shops on board were brilliant, always a sale on though, but always still overpriced but a good range and actually, some of the MSC branded stuff was excellent value The casino has happy hours (NCL take note) with $3 blackjack and it's SO popular. Karaoke set up was superb (no I didn't) One other tiny but annoying thing, in the corridors around the cabins, it's easy to forget which way you are going, NCL have the fish carpets so you always know where front is, maybe a few arrows... just saying. I walked the entire length of the ship on day one, about 6 times before I realised where things were. The staff seem to be mainly filipino and all of them speak a number of languages, they are all so lovely and helpful, Beth and Amanda in the Sports bar get a special mention, but in truth every single member of staff we met was a joy to talk to. Would we book again? At this price yes, absolutely, about £55 a night, at "normal prices" no. Disembarkation was easy enough, followed by a 2 hour bus trip back to Venice. They tell you that you MUST put your cases out and you CANNOT carry them off yourself. Load of rot, we watched a number of passenger doing just that and no-one even commented on it. It's next trip is a 4 month world cruise, I rather suspect that I'd be looking for food ashore after 3 weeks of that. Read Less

Chose this cruise as it was a bargain. 2 x nights in Venice, 5 x day med cruise, 1 x night in Genoa. We had obstructed outside cabin. Opera is a very clean and tidy ship with an excellent crew. We purchased a drink package that was 29 euros plus service charge per night. I think we broke even and possibly drunk more than we would have done if we had just paid for drinks as we went. The entertainment on the boat was not the best but nether the less acceptable. The ship was full mainly of Italians and Germans us brits were in the minority. We ate in the main dining room for every meal and thought that the food was good but not gourmet. This was our first MSC Cruise and overall thought that it was value for money but not up to P & O standard and worth doing again. We were supposed to stop at Kotor but due to bad weather did not visit. Thanks to the captain and staff we made an unscheduled visit to Messina and did an organised trip up Etna. Read Less

This ship seemed to have a primarily European clientele. However, being American was not a detriment. Every staff person that we approached for whatever reason, spoke English. All messages were announced in English (as well as many other languages). The staff on board were exceptionally courteous. The ship was impeccably clean and any minor issues that we needed assistance with were handled instantly. The food was great for the most part. Breakfast eggs were a bit bland and some people complained about the lack of deep fried foods offered, but overall, the food was of great quality and good variety. Only one specialty restaurant which was primarily sushi. The shows at night were amateurish for the most part with a few good points. Not much in the way of on board activities. November was chilly so not much deck time. Excursions were well organized, but not available to book on the smart tv. You needed to book before sailing or wait on the excursion desk line. Ports were great. Genoa a bit boring. People embarking at different ports so not everyone gets on all at once, which was nice. Tenerife and Funchal were my favorites. Long wavy ride from Malaga back to Rome. Read Less

Finally arrived home late last nite after a scary experience with MSC. first time and last time with that company. Ship is filthy. embarking is very unorganized and filled with long lines and no drinks or snacks. No one meets you and handles your bags either. our itinerary was changed 4 times....never got to Israel- the reason we took this cruise- they subbed it for Istanbul instead....never got to Venice and docked 2 hours away from Venice and got everyone to the airport late and did not care. Ship is filthy- no had sanitizers were filled- all empty. not required either. yuk!!! buffet floor was gross and so were the tables and chairs on the entire ship. The staff are rude, and just don't care. The shows are like middle school shows- we went to one ad that was enough. No onboard activities on sea days. Food is terrible and plates and silverware is dirty. Food choices were minimal and meats were disgusting. Cabins were not cleaned and bedding was old and shower had lots of mold and water problems. do not take mac...there are many ships out there and this was the worst. i am done with that company. Read Less

We boarded the Magnifica the day that Venice flooded - the water was already calf-deep in the morning, very sad. The boarding process was very smooth, and so was our departure. Our interior cabin was always clean and well tended; make sure you bring tissues (kleenex) as they aren't provided. The TV only showed news, news, and the view from the bow of the ship. You want movies? You have to pay for it. (MSC does nickle-and-dime you a lot.) The food in the restaurant was excellent for lunch and dinner. The Bistro was almost always chaotic, and it could be hard to find a table during peak hours, but the variety of food was really good, the food was fresh and tasty, and the crew took care that it was all hygienic. We didn't buy a drinks package and packages were pushed pretty hard the first couple of days, but otherwise the service was always quick, polite and friendly. We sometimes wanted to try more than one main course - the service staff was happy to get an extra serving for us to try, and was quick to bring extra vegetables if asked. The restaurant people were very responsive and the food was always hot and tasty. I was very impressed by the evening shows. The dancers did a great job, the costumes were lovely and the acrobatic performers did a fantastic job considering the sway of the ship. Each night had a different theme. The singers were really good, and a lot of the songs were in English. I was very impressed with their operatic performances. The MC spoke a great many languages and I think the crowd all felt included. The couple of dance classes I attended were fun. We didn't do any of the optional tours: they are extremely expensive and we were able to get around easily without taking them. Don't fall for the optional 10 Euro bus rides they offer to get you from the ship to the port frontages - the walks were often very short and bus rides not necessary. Sometimes there were even free port buses. My husband and I are in our mid-50s and relatively fit, but our mid-60s companions had no issues with the walking either. The stops were generally long enough to have a good walk and look at the place - a taste of each place rather than a chance to really look around. The only hassle with the stops is the crowded wait before getting off the ship, but the MSC security staff handle the exits and re-entries quickly. We had to skip Katakalon due to weather, and weren't able to dock back at Venice because of the flooding. MSC organised a comfortable bus to take us from Trieste to Venice airport. Read Less

I tend to write long reviews, so here it goes! My husband and I cruised on MSC on a 12 day itinerary RT Venice and the Mediterranean. We are seasoned cruisers, having cruised on Holland America, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Princess, but we had not cruised with MSC before. We chose this particular cruise because of the itinerary which included an overnight in Haifa, Israel and departure from Venice. We flew into Venice early to spend a few days before the cruise. Embarkation -- We took the vaparetto (water bus) in Venice to Piazza Roma and then took the "people mover" to the Venice Port. It was a LONG walk to the farthest pier where the Lirica was docked. If I did it again, I think I would take a taxi from Piazza Roma or take a vaparetto to a stop nearer the cruise dock. We noticed people still leaving the ship when we arrived around 12:30 pm. Turns out the ship had gotten into Venice late, so boarding was delayed. I must say that I had never seen such a chaotic boarding process. Signage was minimal, There were two security checks as well as the actual check-in with the ship personnel and then another long line once on the ship to turn in passports. (We later found out this was because of the stop in Israel, but there was no explanation at the time). There was minimal seating in the terminal and the entrance to the line to get onboard was in the midst of the seats, so you had to maneuver between people to get into the queue. There were announcements, but they were impossible to hear (and, of course, in several languages). Some simple TV monitors with instructions in several languages would have improved matters tremendously. Crew and personnel seemed harrassed and not very welcoming. We tried to ask about our cruise cards which we had never received during the check-in process, but no one seemed to know how that was handled. The first crew person we encountered out of the passport process tried to sell us a drink package and we had a definite sense of being herded to the buffet to await the announcement of the cabins being ready. Knowing that the buffet would be a nightmare of people, we decided to see if our cabin was ready -- we thought also that our cruise cards might be in the cabin. Our cabin was ready and our cards were on the bed, so that was good. We also met our room steward who was a wonderful guy! We booked an inside cabin -- it was like all inside cabins and was clean and nice. I will say that the shower was the tiniest shower I've ever seen! It was impossible to shower without the curtain clinging to one. There were dispensers with body wash and shampoo in the shower and another with hand soap by the sink. Towels were nice, the bed was pretty firm, and storage was about what one would expect for an inside room. We travel light and carried on our own bags, so we unpacked and then went up to the Lido (La Pergola). It was still terribly crowded up there. Food was decent -- we did like the much less crowded pizza station on one side nearer the pool deck and the hamburger station with hot fresh french fries on the other. The beverage stations with water and coffee (and juice at breakfast) were in the corners right by the doors going out to the open back deck -- very poor traffic pattern there and always snarled up. Beverage stations by the pizza and burgers were much easier to navigate. The lifeboat drill was one of the best managed drills I have seen. Very organized and the cruise card was scanned as you first arrived and it went quickly and smoothly. We LOVED the sailaway at sunset through the Venetian lagoon. The ship went by the most beautiful parts of Venice when the lighting was just lovely. If you go on Deck 9 to the very front of the ship, you can get out onto an outdoor deck right under the bridge. Hardly anyone knew the doors were there, so there was hardly anyone ever out there. There was also a staircase there to go to a similar area on Deck 8. The ship itself was nice -- nothing flashy, but comfortable. It did have some weird traffic patterns -- in some places, you could only go through on one side of the ship and you had to walk through the dining room. Other places, you had to go up or down a floor to go all the way through. A little confusing at first, but we got used to it. One thing I do like on the older ships are the open back decks. On many of the newer ships, these are taken up by aft balcony cabins, but on the Lirica they were all open and had lounge chairs. We spent alot of time on the back decks and also used the stairs there for quicker access to the Lido buffet area. We had early dining at 6:00 pm and a table for four with a Canadian couple. We got along very well with them and they were excellent table mates. They told us about a bar on Deck 12 on the back deck which we hadn't discovered yet. We loved this area as it had great views. I'm still puzzled why this area (it was the disco in the late evenings) was mostly underutilized. We played cards in there several evenings and it was virtually deserted despite having the best views on the ship. The bar was unattended and there was no music. I was really surprised, since the "crow's nest" areas are usually amongst the most crowded areas on the ships that I've been on. They did have a couple "private events" up there in the evenings that were closed to other guests. We poked our heads into a couple of the entertainments in the main theatre, but were underwhelmed. There were broadway production shows almost every night -- not our favorite, but we know that some like them. There were three bars with musicians and they seemed to draw some people into dancing. All in all, though, much less in the way of entertainment from other ships I have been on. The library and internet center is simply not worth mentioning. It was a sad little corner in Lord Nelson's pub -- a pub in which people could smoke. We knew that there would be much more smoking since it was a European cruise, but we've gotten pretty spoiled by not having to deal with indoor smoking. The smell in the pub was too thick to deal with. The smoking was also bad on the one side of the pool deck that allowed it. We had purchased a laundry package online before arriving in Venice -- there was no information in our room about it, so we went to the front desk to ask. They checked and told us to use the bag that our steward would give us and send out our 40 items at any time throughout the cruise. This worked out really well for us since we had packed light. The food in the dining room in the evenings was excellent. We were pleasantly surprised. The selection was good, portions were reasonable and our two waiters were excellent. Water is not provided in the dining room unless you have a drink package. Apparently, though, they have had enough North Americans complain about this that a dining room "water" package was automatically included in our cruise fair. We asked our waiter about it on the first night, since our paperwork indicated "water drink package" and he said, "Oh yes, that's the American thing." So we got a big bottle of water at the table each night -- and we could get more if we drank that one. We had to sign for it like a bar drink but then it was automatically subtracted from our bill. It worked out well. We specifically booked this cruise for the itinerary, especially Venice, Italy, and Haifa Israel. When we boarded the ship, we found out that they had engine troubles, so the itinerary times were changed slightly. No big deal. We had booked one independent shore excursion in Rhodes, Greece and ship excursions in Haifa (Israel), Limassol (Cyprus), Iraklion (Greece) and Bari (Italy). Unfortunately, a couple days into the cruise we found out that there was a spate of rocket fire and violence in Israel, so the ship made the decision not to dock in Haifa, Israel. This meant that 1.The other ports would occur in a different order and 2.The port of Istanbul (overnight) was substituted for Haifa. We were vastly disappointed, but understood how safety must come first. One incidence of violence affecting passengers would be a nightmare for the cruise company. This also meant, however, that our independent excursion in Rhodes (booked through Viator) was now supposed to be a different day and our stop in Rhodes would be both immediate (the next day) and also several hours shorter. We contacted the company as soon as we arrived in Rhodes and were able to cancel the excursion and get our money back. We were glad the Israel excursions were through the ship since they automatically refunded our account for those. The ship excursions were OK -- the places were interesting, but it's really frustrating to be on a huge tour bus trying to keep everyone relatively on task and on schedule. The shore excursion staff was VERY good -- they had the process very smooth, spoke several languages fluently and divided up the participants by language. There were relatively few English speakers, so most of the time we were paired up with another language and had a guide that spoke both languages. The multiple translations do take up a good deal of time, though. I appreciated the tour company that had the headsets for everyone -- much easier to hear and to gather people together without shouting. We liked all the ports and were pleasantly surprised by Istanbul since it was a last-minute overnight addition. Our weather was good, for the most part except for driving rain in Dubrovnik, Croatia. There was also historic flooding in Venice two days after the ship departed, so we could not return to Venice and instead docked in Trieste and were bussed to either Venice port or Venice airport. That had to be a major undertaking for the ship company to organize at the last minute! The seas were smooth -- except for the day we saw the waterspouts at sea! I've never seen that before! All in all, we really enjoyed a little taste of the Mediterranean and are looking forward to going back to spend a longer time in some of the places. I would be hesitant to sail with MSC again -- just not our style of cruising -- but if the itinerary and price were right.....maybe. Read Less

We chose the Sinfonia for our November cruise as we'd had a brilliant experience on the same ship in May. Unfortunately, six months is a lifetime for this ship. Departing from Venice, the embarkation was chaotic, unlike the earlier easy and almost seamless experience in Genoa. Not enough staff and a shoving of Italians all trying to push past made the experience one to forget. The lifeboat drill took 45 minutes to complete, with none of us any the wiser as to what we were supposed to do. No instructions, just bored and confused staff walking around scanning people's room cards. Unprofessional and downright dangerous in the event of anything really happening. Didn't instil any of us with confidence of how a real emergency would be handled. We had two tender ports on this cruise and the embarkation fiasco was repeated all over again, compounded by choppy waters and a complete lack of information from the staff. No explanations for the long delays or even staff to talk to. When the tendering began, the two staff allocated were literally shoved aside by the Italians, leaving one of the female attendants in tears. Again, the lack of thought and staff led to chaos. The buffet was a joke. Hardly any choice when compared to other lines and chaos trying to find anywhere to sit. It was obvious they prefer people to use the main dining rooms where they can control portion sizes. Waiter service in the bars started off slow but improved by the third day. On the plus side, the rooms were clean and to a good standard but the shower curtains really should be replaced with screens. Our steward was friendly, as was the majority of staff, apart from the surly security guards checking you in and out. Miserable lot. Entertainment was OK, if a bit samey. No waiter service in the theatre but that's hardly the end of the world. Due to the flooding of Venice, we were redirected to Trieste, where coaches were laid on to take us to the airport. Nice touch. However, this was spoiled by the cack-handed way they dealt with people trying to get on them. Instead of allocating dozens of staff to send groups off to the twenty or so coaches waiting, they insisted on filling each coach, one by one. With lots olf slow, older people, this took ages. Luckily, we were at the front of the queue to get a coach but those behind us must have been spitting feathers with worry at missing their flights. We have another cruise already booked for next April and if this is just as bad, MSC will lose our custom permanently, although I doubt they will care. Shame, as we had such a good time on the same ship earlier in the year. Read Less

We chose MSC cruises based on their "family friendly" policies and although the reviews weren't great we were willing to give it a go. I have previously cruised with many other lines, however these were all pre-children and so i was interested to see if this was going to be a good way to travel with a small child. I will state that not all my findings were within MSC's control and some things are observations that will hopefully assist others when planning their trips. Some things i never in my life thought would be annoy me...but did, perhaps i am not so easy going now i've entered motherhood! MSC boats appear to have 2 family rooms, these are a such a perk when booking with young children, on the Sinfonia these are rooms 9002 and 9006. They are at the very front of the boat and give you a bedroom and a sitting room (that can be converted to another bedroom). Plenty of storage and loads of rooms travel cots. I pre-booked a travel cot via email before travelling. When reading the pre-boarding FAQ's it did say you are meant to declare pushchairs upon booking, but when i rang them prior to our trip they said this was unnecessary...which brings me to the first "annoyance" Their website is rubbish, lots of misinformation...such as timings for the baby and mini club. Advertised Mini Explorer tours for some of the ports we were visiting but not available when going to check on excursions, when i emailed to ask they said to keep checking back as it may open up closer to disembarkation time. These were never available on this boat so might be worth bearing in mind if it's something that is swaying your decision to book with them. Embarkation in Venice was ok, you get to the terminal and then go on a bus to the actual check in, after that it was fairly quick, we embarked after 2 so our cabin was ready and our cruise cards were available. The muster was awful, we got there on time but it didnt seem to start until the last person arrived (30 minutes later) and took almost an hour to complete, 30 minutes of which is explaining everything in 5 different languages. The buffet closes in the evenings from 4 until 7, we didn't realise this would be the case every night and it was tricky to feed the little people...the grill is open, offering burgers, hot dogs, chips and pizza. There is a small selection on healthier food available as well. No highchairs in these areas though. We ended up eating in the restaurant in the end as they had special children's menus available, this wasn't our plan originally as we were worried about taking them into a formal setting every night but actually it was fairly nice and they behaved well. The worst part of this cruise was the tenders, they were very disorganised. In MSC's defence, it was a slow process due to the weather conditions but there was no real communications or estimates and this made it extremely frustrating. First tender in Santorini took almost 3hrs from when they expected us to leave on our tender number to when we actually made it to the tender, we spent 40 minutes queuing in the stairwell with 2 (tired, over crowded and fed up) toddlers and in the end i found it so overwhelming that i ended up crying. Thankfully the very short time we have remaining to explore Santorini made it worth it, but it is certainly something that i would not like to experience again. Tender off at Sarande was not much better but i think we were more prepared for it. We did not go to the waiting area until they started to call and thankfully as we were on earlier tenders we managed to get off fairly quickly. The major issue experienced was the complete lack of organisation, people waiting everywhere, later number numbers clogging the entrance and not allowing people to pass, later numbers in with the earlier numbers causing some anger amongst other guests. If they adopt n approach similar to disembarkation it would be much easier. People in general were fairly rude, elevators were a nightmare (one of the things i didn't think i'd moan about!), people press the button to close the doors as soon as they open, preventing entry. If you are in there they push and push as many people in as possible and they do not make it easy for you to get out on your floor. My baby got backpacked in the face a couple of times and i managed to not to lash out, so i'm proud of that! You have to book into all but the first and last show, for most this will be fine, but we didn't know what timings we following being out of routine, we did manage to see a few though and our small people LOVED the shows! I thought they were fairly good but this could be more the joy of seeing how excited my little was watching them. Most of the staff on board seemed friendly enough, appreciate that English isn't their first language and most made an effort. The guys in the restaurant made a real effort at dinner times. The food was OK, not as bad as most make it out to be, portions are small but this was enough for us. Our 3 year old went to the mini cub a couple of times and enjoyed it, i took the baby to baby club (where the parent stays with them) a couple of times and there was a good selection on chicco toys to play with and the place is very clean. I didn't leave the baby in the babycare service, it's not something i am comfortable doing. The timings on the website do not match the timings available on the ship, it may differ per MSC trip but it made it tricky to determine when you would use it. It's not as available during the sea days as it is when in port, which seems odd as this is when we need to entertain them more. Disembarkation - due to the weather we were unable to go to Venice and had to be re-routed to Treist, from previous experiences on the tenders we anticipated this to be a nightmare but actually it was fairly good. they assigned colours and asked you to wait in specific lounges at specific times and this was adhered to and was fairly easy to get off the boat.As we then had to bus back to Venice they put on different buses to the port or airport, so we were able to go straight back to the airport where we had booked our hotel. All in all, it was a good way to see lots of places with small people in tow, but i perhaps chose a cruise that had too many stops and it was a fairly hectic itinerary. I'm also not sure I would chose to travel with MSC again. Read Less

having done 23 other cruises this was the worst one,and one of the most expensive, tha cabin was very good,clean and comfortable,the public rooms were nice and good service,but thats were it stops,the 2 bars with entertainment was very poor,very armaturish,the shows well thery were terrible not worth watching,i felt embarased to watch them.moveing on to the food its was like hospital food,poorly cooked very salty,bad menu planning and poor quality of meat.for 6 meals in a row they seved pork neck,diferent ways but they hadent been trained hoew to cook it,it was as tough as old boots.one night i complaned to the chef the meat selection was,pork neck chicken leg,meat loaf,and a sausage stew(which was also on at lunchtime) finding a table was like a allin wrestling compertition,and having bought the drinks package it was so difficult to get served so one had to go to the bar yourself(when you rang the bell on the table nobody came) aslo it is very anoying the amount of selling they do tables set up eveywhere,even in the afternoon over the tanoy of bargains to be had in the shops which were always on the move into lounges etc overall a very poor experience and i woud recomend you to avoid this ship Read Less

We wanted to cruise to the Greek islands and chose MSC Magnifica. After the first night my daughter woke up with several bug bites. We moved to a second cabin were she managed to trap a bed bug and take it to customer service. Someone came to inspect the cabin and it must have been heavily infested as we were forced to move immediately although it was past midnight. The third cabin was below the pool deck and we couldn’t sleep due to people jogging or walking all through the night and the movement of furniture beginning at 6:00 am. On the fourth cabin we found bed bugs on two different occasions, one we found on the pillow and killed it and it was full of blood. MSC compensation for all the aggravation; lack of sleep, rest and relaxation; packing and unpacking; bug bites; and damaged clothing sent to laundry: a mere $240, even though it was also disputed with their Miami office. Avoid this ship and this cruise line by all means! Venice is a great departure port. Lots of history, art, St Mark’s Cathedral and Square. Embarkation did not go very smoothly. They couldn’t find our reservation and when they finally did about 2 hours later their system had a glitch and that cabin was not available until the next evening and we stayed in a lower category cabin for the night. Disembarkation was very smooth and did not take very long. The dining was average, servers were very good but very slow. The dining room didn’t had too many choices on the menu. The entertainment was very good, especially for a smaller ship like Magnifica. The service was very good especially our cabin attendant. The ports and shore excursions were excellent, beautiful ports and an ample supply of excursions to choose from. Because of our experience with bed bugs and customer service I will never choose another cruise with MSC. Read Less

Despite my friends and work colleagues telling me to stear clear of this company, the Itinerary was the thing that I required...Venice and Greek Islands. I had booked a late flight back after the cruise so I could go on the Venice Excursion...All booked last year. The embarkation process was a nightmare with people pushing, shoving like animals. No organised lines. 4 hours to get from the embarkation point to the boat...150 feet!!..I booked a balcony cabin on the 11th deck and it was tiny. This was the fantastica experience. there was nothing fantastic about it. The shower cubicle was tiny, whole cabin tiny. It is amazing what PHOTOSHOP can do with a picture. The boat was filled with thick smoke as the Italians and Germans smoked in restaurants, bars, pool decks, corridors, lifts, everywhere despite notices. The buffet would have failed food and hygiene standards as the food was usually luke warm if you were lucky. People behaved in an appalling way, snatching food, pushing in, expletives in whatever language. The boat holds just under 3000 people and less than 100 were English speaking. Because of this, MSC cancelled one of our trips and gave them out to other nationalities because their guide couldn`t speak English. When I wrote a complaint to the head of the excursion team (Stating that the terms and conditions say that smaller groups will be placed with multilingual guides and I also stated that MSC had made an assumption that none of its UK citizens can speak another language - I speak portuguese) the complaint, though handed to her in person, was LOST....REALLY!!...The entertainment was worse than you would get at a cheap holiday camp and lasted half hour. All announcements were made in 5 different languages with English being last...unfortunately we couldn`t hear the announcements as other loud nationalities would start shouting and talking after they heard their announcement. So, I ended up paying £2800 for a week on a floating ashtray with rude people, terrible food, no excursions and didn`t even get to see Venice as the boat arrived late and the excursions people would not advise me how to get to the city centre and instead made me and my friends sit on a concrete bollard by the coaches for an hour before realising they had forgotten about us. we then spent 11 hours at Venice airport....I IMPLORE ANYONE THINKING OF USING THIS COMPANY - PLEASE DON`T...you will regret it....they are not ready to break into the UK market. Perhaps when sailing from Southampton, they are different but I have been on numerous cruise lines and I have never encountered such a shambolic company. Even the ship itself looks ugly...like a giant old tower block. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED... Read Less

We had an absolutely amazing vacation on Magnifica Was really nervous based on the mixed reviews but the cabin was spacious and well cleaned. The main dining room had good selection and great service. Didn’t use the buffet for meals but it was definitely adequate for an afternoon/late evening snack (pizza, pasta, deserts) We met so many wonders people from around the world and spent most of our week socializing and exploring ports with our new friends. Due to the heavy fog, Venice closed the port so we ended up docking 3 hours late and many of us missed our flights but that wasn’t MSC’s fault. 3 other cruise ships also had the same issue. We ended up renting rooms at Hotel Altieri in Meistre with 2 other couples we met on-board and had a great final evening in Venice. I previously only cruised once before on the Grand Princess our of Florida and much preferred MSC. Found the average age of cruisers on this ship was 35-55 and they wanted more of a social, fun, relaxed atmosphere rather than the Princess who had an older clientele looking for a more upscale, refined experience Already looking for our next MSC adventure If you want to meet people and make amazing friendships- deck 13 on Magnifica is the place to be. Read Less

Choose this cruise as dates fitted with school holidays.we're do I start! embarkation was very disorganised and took over an hour.when we arrived at our cabin there was a letter saying the itinary had been changed due to unscheduled maintenance activity which would slightly reduce our speed when I went to reception was told all agents had been informed I phoned my agent and spoke to other passengers and they hadn't been informed. As a result of the change we were docking two hours later which meant we were going to miss out flight.Reception staff kept telling us they would find a solution and to go back in a couple of days .I'm the meantime we carried on with our cruise, bar staff on the pool deck are very rude also in the buffet .food was terrible wasn't very hot and very repetitive we never used the main dining room so can't comment.back to reception for our solution to get home well basically it was our own fault as we'd only given ourselves two hours fifty five minutes for our flight so they gave us a list of flights we could get at our own expense if they'd told us this was their solution to begin with we could have got direct flights home instead we had to fly to Manchester and hire a car to drive to edinburgh to retrieve our car from edinburgh airport we arrived home ten hours later than we were supposed to.reception staff were very rude it was like they had a script to read of .Seemingly the ship had been in dry dock in June and in my opinion should have stayed there a member of staff told us this late docking and shorter stats in port has been going on for weeks.I had sailed on msc twice before this so thought it would be ok but will never sail msc ever again. Read Less

Thought we were getting a special deal but couldn't be further from the truth Within minutes of embarking had been told we needed to upgrade even although we had already paid to upgrade. Basically we were stolen from by MSC . The safety drill was very poor and was ignored by many. The staff who were in charge seemed very lax and poorly trained Food was dire, miserable and tasteless and was clear what we were eating at night was left over from during the day. Dont bother going to reception to complain as we were told it wasnt their problem and to contact head office. A few nice staff but nothing compared to other cruise ships . Didn't use their excursions as had already been ripped off so done our own thing . If it was half the price tomorrow I still would not book with MSC again, very poor Read Less

This was our first cruise with M.S.C. cruises and we chose this cruise for the itinerary not the ship. Before we booked our cruise we looked on various websites for reviews on the Opera but there was not many, and what there was were not very good. The majority of the passengers were from Italy as you would expect as this cruise line is Italian and sailing from Venice. If anyone is looking for a sedate cruise then give this ship a wide berth. Italians like to party and constantly clap. They clapped at anything that moved, they have no concept of queuing for anything or anyone. Because there was about 95% Italians on board they just took over the ship. If you are thinking of dressing up for both the Captain Night or the Gala Night don't bother as M.S.C. do not stick to the dress code for their formal nights as more or less anything goes. The cleaning staff were busy all the time keeping the ship clean and shining. All of the crew members we met were very polite and wanted to make sure passengers have a good time. We chose the All Inclusive Drinks Package which worked well but don't expect top of the range drinks and be prepared for a long wait in the bars Embarkation/Disembarkation: was very good. Smooth with no hitches. Cabin: Outside cabin number 8143 was a little on the small size but kept very clean by our cabin steward Mr. Escobar. He made sure we didn't want for anything. He was very chatty and gave us some good advise to make sure we had a good experience. Bathroom was very small but as we were only on the ship for 7 nights it was fine. Dining: Buffet Restaurant was more like a works canteen. We had to eat there on two occasions as we had early stars for an excursion. La Caravella Restaurant was nice. You could choose to eat from the buffet or from the menu. This went for the lunch meal as well. Not sure about the dinner menu as I think this was open seating and we did not dine there in the evening. L'Approdo Restaurant only open in the evening where you had your own table. The food was excellent and our two waiters Siswahyudi and Artha Kory looked after us very well. Nothing was to much trouble and they constantly smiling. The Aroma Coffee Bar was a nice place to relax and they served excellent coffee. Both Apple and Rij Kumar were lovely and looked after us very well. Bars: There are numerous bars dotted around the ship but we found there was never enough bar staff and you had to wait sometime to get a drink There is a so called English type pub near the library and this was a smoker paradise. This was as far as I know was the only place inside the ship for smokers. being non smokers we gave this a very wide berth. The Teatro Del Opera: We watched some very good entertainment here, perhaps some of the best acts we have seen on cruises. Excursions: A little over priced. Don't bother going on an excursion on an excursion in Bari. This was the worst place the ship docked at. M.S.C. use this port to take on passengers other than that there was nothing much to see here. Read Less

Chose this cruise for the itinerary as places we hadn't been before . Have cruised with other companies , Royal Caribbean, Celebrity , P & O previously. Lovely start to the holiday with 3 days in lake Garda prior to picking up the ship in Venice. Boarding at Venice a nightmare took over 2 1/2 hours all down to only having 3 security scanners working for over 3200 people , come on MSC sort yourselves out this is not rocket science open more scanners ! Cabin OK very clean and lovely balcony, the ship is very clean except if you eat in the buffet restaurant which is little better than a poor cafeteria , plates not cleaned away and food left everywhere , get more staff, I have never experienced this on other ships very off putting when you are trying to eat . Also food Luke warm never had a hot meal in there. Main restaurant good food but lacking in service we waited 45 minutes between starter and main course and the waiter only had 4 tables to take care off !! Why is that ? Had the full drinks package which was great , especially the Aperol Spritz ! Now we come to the last day on ship due back into Venice ! We were cursed with thick fog which no one can help its how the communication was handled that I have an issue with . We were told initially that the dock time of 10am had moved to 12pm fair enough . At 2.20pm still no news and then we were told that we would dock at 3.45pm . People had flights that they had missed etc and with no information this made a bad situation worse its all about communicating with your customers guys, people were fuming. We were lucky and had a late flight so all OK for us. When they eventually docked no announcements about getting off the ship so a bun fight ensued and it was pretty much a free for all , I feared someone would get trampled on ! In summary MSC are not of the same quality as the premium brands , granted they are cheaper but have cut corners in the wrong places eg no tissues in the tissue dispenser in the bathroom when asked told ' we don't provide these anymore' really !!! Sorry to rant on but its important people know what to expect Personally MSC not for us prefer better quality and service at a higher cost Read Less

We picked this cruise because of the itinerary. We have cruised with MSC's bigger ships (Divina, Preziosa, and Seaside). So our expectation at least for the ship experience is a tad lower than the ships we've been. Ship Ship is showing its age but still pretty decent. It is a mid-size ship. It looks a bit crowded in some common areas (like the buffet, theater, upper open deck, etc.) but there are some spaces where you can hang out in peace. Common areas are maintained well. We have used the open area in Decks 13 & 14, mostly in Deck 14. The open section of Deck 13 is designated smoking area. Try to avoid it if you do not like the smell of cigarette or cigar. There are 2 pools in Deck 13 which I find not used a lot during our cruise. The weather was great most of our 7-night cruise. We were surprised that there were vacant lounge chairs in Deck 13 & 14. We were able to use them several days during our cruise. The shops and boutiques are pretty standard. There are enough variety of goods. The theater is big considering the age of the ship. However, the seats are not as comfortable compared to the newer MSC ships we have been. Itinerary This itinerary didn't have a sea-day. We were on land (on port or tendered) everyday of this 7-night cruise. The itinerary is great. Except for one day when it rained while we were tendered in Sarande, the weather was great and the places needed a second visit. I wish we had more time in Pireaus/Athens, Dubrobnik, and Mykonos. If you don't pace yourself, you will get exhausted easily. The timing of arrival in Pireaus and Dubrobnik were perfect. Tourist attractions are not yet so crowded. If you don't like to be stressed-out in Athens, take the excursion from the ship (a bit expensive but stress-free) or take the Hop-On-Hop-Off just outside of the cruise terminal/port gate in Pireaus. If it your first time in Dubronik, go to the Old City and circle the city walls. A little bit expensive (€29) but it gives you a good view of the sea, the mountain, and the Old City. Walking in Acropolis and Dubrobnik's Old City walls or even in the Old City streets might be slippery when raining. Food/Evening Show/Dance lessons The buffet area is relatively small compared to the bigger ships but we were always able to find a table. Table clean-up in some areas of the buffet is slow. One of the things I've learned when using the cruise buffet is getting there at the right time to have a hot meal. Food is good for the most part. There were some fish dishes that were not to my liking but that is a matter of preference. Their pizza never fails. Sometimes there is a line up on the pizza isle. We used the MDR for most of our evening meals. We also used it a couple times for lunch. We used it to have a less-hurried meal time. The food/menu is good. Nothing special but decent meal. The waiters are nice. You can tell them if you want your meal to be served quickly. There was a meal that I find a bit salty. The waiter even asked me if I want to pick another from the menu but I declined. It was not a big issue to me. The Evening Shows were nothing special. Every night there is a theme but basically singing and dancing, some acrobat, and some magic trick. I find the sound volume is a bit loud. Production quality is about average (like your high school musical production). Talent quality - singing, dancing, acrobat, and magic trick is like the elimination round of America's Got Talent. There are other singers and musicians that plays in various lounges in the ship. Talent quality is not great. We didn't participate in any dance lessons but we were in the same location where the lessons were conducted. The dance instructors were good and has the talent to encourage the participants to be comfortable at dancing. Embarkation The Embarkation process needs some work. We arrived at the cruise terminal from Marco Polo airport around 11:45am. The bag drop-off line up is already long, however, it was moving decently. We entered the cruise terminal after 12:00 noon and the line up was almost to the terminal doors. There were no annoucements or information posted what to do. The line up was slowly moving. We got our Priority Boarding number tags (#22) at 12:15pm. We stood at the line that wasn't moving until 1:00pm when an announcement came that they are starting to board Priority Boarding #1. We broke-off from our line and moved to a more comfortable section of the cruise terminal at this time while watching the display screen show the Priority Boarding numbers that are boarding. We started boarding (get through port security) at 2:15pm - 2 hours since we arrived at the terminal. It took us another 15 minutes to line up and board the ship. We were able to locate our cabin quickly and have our lunch at the buffet. It was our worst and chaotic embarkation so far. Disembarkation Other than the itinerary, we also picked this cruise because it disembarks in Venice which will give us enough time to visit the other parts of the city we missed when we visited Venice 4 years ago. Because of weather (foggy morning), we were not able to dock on the scheduled (even the revised) time. We were disappointed that we won't have time to visit Venice. Our only consolation was that 1) we don't have stress-out ourselves rebooking our flight because our flight out of Venice is the day after, and 2) the buffet was open and we had our breakfast and lunch on the ship. We docked at 3:45pm. There wasn't an explicit announcement which group was disembarking but display screens in the ship showed which (color) group are being processed for disembarkation. Our group started lining up from the back lounge of the ship at 5:00pm. We were out of the cruise terminal at 5:20pm. Final thoughts This cruise was the most expensive cruise (fare) we had compared to the other cruises with MSC. But we enjoyed it as much as the other cruises we had. Room Service is included in our Fantastica cabin which we used several mornings for breakfast. Embarkation was a disappointment which I hope MSC will address in the near future. It is always best to stay in Venice on the day of disembarkation. I've noticed that the ship is trying to lessen single-use plastics by using a refillable shampoo and soap dispenser, no plastic sache for food condiments, and paper bag or no bags at all at boutique stores. I'll give MSC brownie points for that initiative. Food wastages in the buffet is still a common thing. I may sound like a wet-blanket with this observation but it appears that there are people who feels no obligation to minimize waste. I've seen plates upon plates of food that appears not to have been touched at all left on tables in the buffet restaurants. The ship (MSC Musica) will be refurbished later this year but I think we like to cruise the bigger ships. Read Less

I will not cruise with this line or ship again the staff were rude as was the service in general, the food was not good and the entertainment was even worse, there were only three staff members that were worthy of note, a girl named Anne Carolina Silvera our table waiter called Muliaty and the cabin person (cannot remember his name), they were helpful and did their job amicably and all received a well earned tip. The thermal spa package that we purchased prior to embarking, because it was cheaper, did not live up to expectations and was falsely advertised. The internet service we paid for did not work properly throughout the ship it continually came up with "No Service". Don't start me on the drink package which we purchased it was a rip off, example if the drink you ordered was more than 6 euro you wouldn't just get charged the difference but would be charged the total amount even when the difference was .50cents more. We never went past customer service without there being a long queue and mostly everyone was complaining about something. This was an end to a month long journey around Italy and we ended the trip with the cruise to rest up before coming home to Australia, luckily for us. I could go on and on but you get the idea. Read Less

Never ever again will I ever step foot on this cruise company!!!! One activity every hour. For 2500 passengers!!! Boring! Not enough restaurants to feed people resulting in very long queues with a lot of angry people! Rude and extremely ignorant staff!!! A lady fainted in front of me and not one staff member went to help her! This ship is unsafe as the crew have no idea of what they are doing!........ oh and did I mention that when you do eat the food is no better than hospital food!. I am going to take this further and not with the cruise company as this cruise line Cleary has no interest in passenger safety and that includes food hygiene....... we even had a woman fall into the water and it took the passengers to save her...... I will warn everyone I know not to book with msc.......... very angry Read Less

Just returned from an amazing cruise on Sinfonia. I’ve cruised Celebrity, Scenic, Royal Caribbean and P&O and I can say MSC were fantastic. Food was absolutely delicious, the Italians know how to cook. I can only assume others have killed their tastebuds if they didn’t like the food. Please ignore negative comments about the food, it’s simply not true. Yes the itinerary is tight but that is no surprise. Just line up and get in early for tender tickets so you are first off the ship and make the most of your time in each port. Santorini and Mykonos were both spectacular. Cabins were comfortable and roomy, I had an inside cabin. Staff were so friendly and helpful. I got calls to my cabin making sure I was happy with everything, Entertainment was fantastic too, good singers and guitarists in the lounges. Only negative was the fact you can’t get second cabin keys when you are a family sharing two cabins with children. This is very problematic and frustrating. Read Less