The trip was sold as a luxury cruise it was NOT The idea of sailing to Gallipoli and following in the footsteps of our soldiers was a good one but that was where the dream ended.In fairness the Gallipoli component was very well done and there could be no complaints about that, the lectures were wonderful and going onto the peninsular was very emotional but that was no thanks to the MSC cruise line. As I read someone else wrote we only saw the captain twice , first night and second last night, he nor any of his underlings had the decency to make their presence felt on the actual Anzac Day dawn service or any time during that day. How rude!!!!!!!! The food was woeful, and don't even talk about the buffet, it was the worst array of excuse for meals that we have ever had the misfortune to have to eat. So many meals were not touched and just sent back from rotten prawns to a roast lamb dish with a side of baked beans!!!!!! I got so very ill with a lung infection, and believe me I was not the only person with the most vicious cough, it seemed like the entire ship was infected. Three days in a row down to the medical centre, 2800passangers 960 crew, ONE doctor ONE nurse at any one time-a disgrace, and the doctor I did see made Dr. Martin look like Santa Clause. The excursions were expensive and a waste of time ,no such thing as English speaking guides, I couldn't understand most of the spiel and just gave up trying. I would NEVER EVER recommend MSC to anyone and do not even think of coming into the Australian market, we expect a better class of cruise for the money they charged and we were also led to believe the $700 we had to pay up front for gratuities would never be given to the staff that we were led to believe would receive their tips. How disgusting!!!!!! If I could sue someone I would. Read Less

Most of the staff were fantastic. Food was below average. Buffet was disgusting. Nearly all passengers got the flu/virus and were very ill. Doctor was poor. No medication. Service was slow. Internet was so expensive and disgusting. Could hardly get internet most of the time. Staff at reception were not nice most of the time. Entertainment could have been better. Got repetitive and boring over the 35 days. Casino was very poor. For the amount of Australian passengers there was not enough entertainment. Ran out of lot of alcohol. The gym staff were fantastic. Everything was expensive. Spa was expensive Read Less

My friend and I joined the MSC Orchestra in Fremantle for a 35 day cruise retracing the voyage of the ANZACS to Gallipoli and then ending in Rome. The ship was very clean and the decor very nice. The cabin attendant was excellent and our cabin was always clean and tidy. The staff overall were very pleasant and helpful apart from some Italian staff who were somewhat arrogant. The dining room was overcrowded and after being consistently being knocked by wait staff I refused to be seated in some locations. The food was inconsistent and overall of a very poor standard with fish and meat almost always overcooked and inedible. The salads were unimaginative and without much variation. The pasta was generally disappointing for an Italian shipping line. The dessert was generally quite good overall although it often did not fit with the description on the menu. The embarcation process was disorganised and long and whilst the first MSC staff member swiped my credit card she neglected to give me my cruise card and after completing the immigration and customs and security procedures I was not allowed to board the ship and was told I had to go back to the beginning of the process. As this had already taken 90 minutes And I no longer had my passport I refused and eventually after making a fuss the card was brought to me. Others who were not so assertive did not fare so well. One of my pieces of luggage did not reach the cabin until 10.30pm. There were no laundry/ironing facilities for passengers so you needed to launder in the room or pay for drycleaning/pressing etc. We had an all inclusive drinks package however two weeks into the cruise the ship ran out of a range of common liqueurs and spirits. Apart from Baileys nothing else appeared to be replenished for the remainder of the cruise an absolute rip off. The bar service was at times very slow with a long queue to order drinks. The MSC entertainment was poor compared to other cruise lines fortunately the Australian singers were excellent. There were virtually no daytime activities unless you are into salsa dancing or the like. The lectures were very good and the speakers experts in their field. It was too hot for us to walk around the top deck particularly whilst in the tropics and Deck 7 was undergoing maintenance and was only partially open or sometimes not at all. The gym had good equipment and was fine in non peak times. The tours particularly in Egypt did not leave on time and were almost always rushed and often returned late which meant that you had missed the restaurant dinner sitting and had to go to the cafeteria which was crowded and not very good. The Internet was expensive and did not function very well. The ship had an outbreak of an upper respiratory tract infection which lasted for the entire 5 weeks. Some passengers were quite sick with secondary infections requiring a number courses of antibiotics. I found the practice of giving Intramuscular injections to some passengers concerning as this is a very outdated practice. The ship quickly ran out of cold and flu type tablets and throat lozenges these were not replenished requiring passenger to find onshore pharmacies. Read Less