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

My wife and I were among the many who paid 5 star fare for a 2 star trip. I will not rehash what has been said by many others although I feel Porky 55 was a bit unkind to "Frankie Forever". Last Thursday I had a hip replacement and left hospital yesterday. I must say 35 days on Orchestra was a worse experience. Any thought MSC had of getting into the Australian market were certainly dashed by their sub standard 2 cruises from Dubai to Fremantle and Fremantle to Rome. I must say I also witnessed the handling of food by children and this alone could have contributed to the illness on the ship although I do know the coughing was there from the previous cruise. A reputable company would have made arrangements to cleanse the ship prior to our embarkation.(Speaking from experience Celebrity did it and also confined the ill passengers to their cabins). Read Less

Came with great expectations - none were met. The food was shameful - no way there was a chef in the galley, a home cook could put more flavour and could cook more authentic ethnic food than what we received. The Indonesian bar and cabin crew were amazing! The European crew were rude, lazy and just didn't care about the passengers concerns. Their infection control was non existent leading to a respiratory virus do the rounds up to three times, the only way to get better was to get off the boat. I felt sorry for Gallipoli cruises who were the meat in the sandwich. They chartered the ship feeling that if there were concerns from the passengers, MSC would address those. That most definately did not happen. What should have been an amazing holiday was marred by these memories of MSC. My recommendation to anyone looking at cruising - NEVER cruise with MSC! Read Less

As this was a charter cruise we paid above market price for this cruise and knew it. But even so we were expecting a 5 star ship and cruise because of the way MSC Orchestra had been sold to us. Also because of Orchestras own advertising - the ship looks much prettier in photos, boasts wonderful food and friendly staff. First - the ship itself was immaculate, it was so clean at times it actually inconvenienced passengers. There were days we couldn't use our balconies when they were being cleaned. This is this first ship we have been on that has no chairs on the promenade deck which was really odd and they were constantly washing it!! This was were the smokers also could linger, not a bad thing as they couldn't congregate, no chairs. Inside was as clean, but most ships are now maintained at this level. First time we were made to feel like we as passengers interfered with the schedules though. Embarkation - was quite fast and fairly smooth considering the fact that MSC had never docked at Fremantle before. It took some time to get our luggage to our rooms but I think most passengers had theirs before midnight. Service - well .... made the mistake (we think) of buying the Alegrissmo package. Service is slow to non existent. This wasn't helped by the fact that the ship was full of Aussies who insisted on fronting up to the bars themselves and insisted on face to face service from the bar staff. Then they remained at the bars!! This ship went through a lot of firsts I think, we drank them out of quite a few beers, wines, spirits etc. But aside from the bad behaviour of some of the passengers ( in the opinions of the staff ) service was the worst we have experienced!! If you got one coffee you were lucky, don't expect two! Though we had the package that included unlimited, silly us!! The staff were there they just ambled around, looked busy, served one of two, disappeared???? Dining - food was adequate. Again had been led to expect 5 star, it was just 3 star. Though there seemed to be plenty, there was no flavour in the meals, desserts were very ordinary, the breads were quite good. Our staff in the main dining room were excellent however as were our dining companions, every evening was a joy. Made the cruise!! The buffet served up a very ordinary, sufficient fare but nothing exciting or over the top. Entertainment - we actually provided a lot of our own Aussie entertainers on this cruise, who were great, but the MSC entertainers also had a night here and there. So, a couple of lovely female singers, a particularly strange Italian male singer who started off the cruise trying to sing like Frank Sinatra - downhill for him from there! They had some great acrobatic performers and dancers, though I found the dancing couple who do the daytime classes rather over rated! No band was also a bit disappointing. Activities - they ran a sort of bingo, but honestly the American cruise lines are so much better at this! I'm sure there were lots of other activities but again because it was a charter cruise, there were so many things that were done by our organisers and some by MSC it is a little hard to comment here. Disembarkation - was very fast and efficient in Rome. They have done this many times. Summary: At Istanbul we noticed a change in staff from predominately Asian to a lot more European. I would say Italian as this was an Italian line but not sure, they were rude, surly, not at all friendly or ready to smile and communicate like the previous staff members had been. Perhaps they didn't like Australians; but how would they know, I didn't see any new staff members in the bars, buffet or around the ship trying? Do I say something about everyone getting sick? This was not MSC's fault, this will happen in any environment were people group together for extended periods of time. We were our own worst enemies when it came to the floating flu!! So, this ship looks like a beautiful ship, acts like a beautiful ship but inside behaves and is a 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ship. 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

Embarkation at Fremantle was slower than any we have previously experienced with the last of the luggage being delivered around midnight. The first week at sea was very unpleasant for us and for many other passengers, standing around in queues listening to the multitude of complaints from angry people trying to sort out the multitude of problems with pre ordered merchandise issues. This was not the fault of MSC – the ship was being charted by Travel Superstore who proved to be most inefficient in many areas, leading to much confusion between the two parties. My husband and I have done 23 cruises between us previously in all classes of ships and have a good idea what to expect for the money paid, $20,000 for an aft balcony cabin (not a suite). A similar time in a Queen Mary II balcony cabin costs around half that. Consequently we were entitled to 5 star accommodation and definitely 5 star service, particularly with Travel Superstore’s continuous pre-cruise advertising that this cruise would be the “Trip of a Lifetime!” However for our 6 star prices the eventual outcome was a 3 star ship with a 2 star experience. General feeling of many of the passengers we spoke to during this cruise was that we Australians and New Zealanders were taken considerable advantage of by Travel Superstore, because of our Anzac sentiments on this 100th anniversary. We were dismayed when we first saw our cabin. The room and ensuite were far smaller than any other we have experienced at close to a similar price. The quality of the soft furnishings was a disgraceful standard. For example our sheets were so thin they needed replacing twice because they tore, our threadbare blanket was unusable and was stored under the bed, pillows were appalling – lumpy, matted balls of synthetic substances, the plastic(!) curtains had holes in them, the lounge upholstery was torn and sagged right down in the middle caused by broken slats and should have been replaced long ago. Day 3 in Albany saw us and many passengers purchasing their own pillows, and we even saw one person with a new duvet! We also had to resort to purchasing our own shampoo, conditioner and soap as that supplied was anything but quality. The restaurants and public places were the most crowded we have ever experienced. The overcrowding was explained to us by MSC and Gallipoli staff who told us that the ship had recently been refurbished to increase capacity by 500 passengers. The restaurant staff did their best under the circumstances but were hopelessly understaffed. On this subject, we have never experienced a worse staff to passenger ratio previously. The original ship offered had a standard passenger to staff ratio of 2 to 1 but our ship ended up being less than 3 to 1! This refit, to squeeze in more paying passengers probably also explains the lack of alternative restaurants other than the Asian one. Imagine an Italian ship without an Italian restaurant! (Although the pasta in other venues was below standard so maybe MSC were doing us a favour!) The quality and the presentation of the food was generally anything but 5 star! MSC was most inventive at giving different descriptions and names to salads all consisting almost exclusively of limp Iceberg lettuce. The vegetables, in short supply, were tasteless and overcooked, meat generally tough, with most main courses arriving luke warm. Icecream and sorbets however usually arrived half melted. The many countries from which the menus were supposed to pertain tasted nothing like what they purported to be. Drinks Packages: Drinks were generally dispensed in a miserly fashion, although this can be partly explained by the shortage of staff, particularly in the restaurants. Bar Staff had no such excuse to explain their poor and rude behaviour that we witnessed. The quality of wine provided in our package (Unlimited wine and beer with our meals) was disgraceful. Most passengers on other packages complained about the ship running out of supplies, often early in the cruise. The most reprehensible aspect of the cruise however was the attitude taken to the health of the passengers. There had been an epidemic of flu like symptoms from the departing passengers in Fremantle, which many of us caught in the first few days. Subsequently almost everyone else eventually caught it. The ‘pharmacy’ ran out of supplies within a week and these were never replaced despite many requests and opportunities! The doctors, charging EU$80 per visit for dispensing disprin! and not much else, were often criticised for lack of expertise and dispensing half courses of antibiotics, an extremely dangerous practice, with the advice to get the other half at the next port! And although hand cleansing devices were available around the ship their use was unpoliced. Sadly, once we all departed in Rome, the next unsuspecting embarking passengers no doubt also suffered similarly in all of our germ ridden cabins. Surely it should be a requirement to fumigate or otherwise disinfect ships thoroughly under these circumstances, as should have happened in Fremantle before we embarked. The ship was spotlessly clean which was great, and the cleaning, painting, varnishing and general maintenance was constantly ongoing, very much ‘in your face’ but often to the inconvenience of passengers with stairs blocked off, strong paint smells, balconies constantly cleaned resulting in our cabin being used as the cleaners’ thoroughfare as our balcony door couldn’t lock. The Balinese staff in the dining rooms and cabins were very friendly and efficient. The Italian staff were often rude and surly and never friendly. The entertainment was generally very good, and almost the only thing we can be complimentary about. The entertainers brought from Australia were excellent and the ship board ones were usually more than adequate. The Gallipoli Peninsula and Anzac Day ‘pilgrimage’ aspect was handled very well although we were too ill at the time to appreciate it properly. Cozzi, Travel Superstore's ‘front man’ upset many people with erroneous, poorly timed and often poor taste announcements. Disembarkation: We arrived before the listed time in the listed location, only to find out that our group had already left. After rushing to the gangway, we were refused exit as our account hadn’t been paid, despite us giving you our credit card details. Of course this was another stuff up which nearly caused us to miss our hotel transfer. This may have been noted on our account’s hard copy however no time did we receive one but as we had seen it on the TV we had not been too concerned. The following are some of our observations of services that were either missing completely or were unsatisfactory to a level that we have never experienced previously in our 23 cruises. • Internet. We appreciate that ship internet services are restricted by their dependence on satellites, but this was the worst we have experienced in 10 years, despite being the most expensive. • Room TV service. The first time we have experienced a service lacking in news services such as BBC, CNN, Bloomberg etc. which were only included from the 3rd week of the cruise on. Also the first time we have been asked to pay for movies. Apart from a repeat of the previous day’s history lecture and one very dated movie each day, there was no free entertainment or other documentary channels, only MSC self-promoting recorded channels ad nauseum. • Port Information. The first cruise we have experienced that did not provide comprehensive information both via lectures and newsletter prior to each destination that we visited. This ship had no information available for any of the ports, other than the paid excursions. • Room service. The first cruise we have experienced that did not provide unlimited choices from all menus as part of complimentary room service. All was at an extra charge. • Laundry. The first cruise we have experienced that did not have a guest Laundry on board. • Reception. The first cruise we have experienced where the reception refused to change large currency notes– US & EU. Reception staff were generally unhelpful and often surly. • No deck chairs on the promenade deck, only around the pool, which were all occupied very early in the day, most inadequate for a ship with 3000 passengers. I strongly recommend that everyone steer very clear of both this ship and its chartering company, Travel Superstore. Read Less

Good: - The ship itself was lovely. - the staff were very helpful. - cleanliness was great. Poor: - ship has flu on it and they don't do much to contain this or get rid of before next cruise starts. 98% of passengers got sick. - the food was very poor...in buffet, everything was overcooked, bland...even pasta. - in restaurant food sometimes undercooked but mostly overcooked...steak very poor quality. Maitre D listened but chefs did nothing about the food. - food monotonous as well. - Soups were over salted. - internet was appalling...designed to make u use as much time as possible. System not big enough for a ship full...2500 passengers...too expensive since it took so long to get into sights and send anything. - Staff infexible...coffee package means ONLY coffee...no tea or hot choc even though we were told we could have other hot drinks. Read Less

We joined the MSC Orchestra cruise, a 35 day voyage from Fremantle to Rome via Gallipoli for the 100th Gallipoli anniversary. A number of things with the ship and service were good but all up leaves plenty of room for improvement. Three key issues, 1 massive flu on board, which was on board from the prior cruise, 2 very very crowded public spaces, 3 extremely poor bar service Even though the ship was aware of the flu on the cruise from Dubai to Perth, they carried very limited (none after several days) of basic medicines in the pharmacy, ie no cold and flu tablets, no strepsils, no cough mixture, they knew of the problem and did not stock up. Yes you could see the doc on board at Euro 90 a time, but there was always along line. The public areas were crowded, could not get a seat near the pool, unless you were on deck prior to 7 am on warm days, the chairs in the dining room from adjacent tables kept hitting each others, waiters bumped into chairs as they passed as the area was over crowded. The bars were far too crowded, associated with the appalling bar service, it made getting a drink an unpleasant experience. The bar service was appalling, especially was we had paid $150 a day for the two of us to have the premium drinks package. Very early on I learnt not to go to certain bars as you could not get service, ie the pool bar or the Savannah Bar, we were regulars at the wine bar, that was the best of the bad service. On the 4th day, I spoke with the guest relations manager about the shocking service ie 22 and 25 minutes to get two consecutive rounds of drinks. The following few days the service was far better, as they had an officer in the bar as well. The bar service often was embarrassing, it would make you cringe with the incompetence. You would order a drink, which was an endless task, then they would put the drink slip down and the barman would pick up the slips in any order to serve, so a person who ordered 5 or 8 minutes after you may get their drinks first. It was a disaster. The ship ran out of a large number of drinks for a majority of the trip, ie quite a few wines (ie no Sauvignon blank), no baileys, no drambuie, no Tanqueray, no Jack Daniels, even no beer (particular brands) at some times, which made farce of buying a $150/day drink package when you could not get drinks. Generally the bar service in the casino was good. The table service in the dining rooms was very good and quite good in the buffet. The cabin room service was excellent. The ships entertainment was very good, each concert/show was well worth seeing. But they did not allow drinks in the theatre, which I guess is a way of controlling drinks consumption when folks are on a pre-paid ($150/day) drinks package. The part of the cruise that was organised by Gallipoli Cruises was excellent, great organisation, great entertainment, great speakers a real 10/10. We have been on 9 cruises in the past 4 years, including Princess Cruises, Holland America, Star Lines, Uniworld, so I believe that I have a good basis to judge from. Read Less

Firstly the positives - the restaurant, bar and entertainment staff were fantastic, always smiling and wanting to help. We were a family of 4 with 2 teenage chlldren. We booked 2 years before cruising when the children were smaller (due to special nature of the Gallipoli Cruise that we went on). In that 2 years my 2 boys grew into adult sized pubescent smelly 'little adults'. Despite several emails to the organiser of the cruise mentioning the cabin suitability for what is essentially 4 adults - I was reassured that all would be fine. So in the end we paid A LOT of money to have 4 adult sized people crammed into a tiny cabin (with no doors or windows or ventilation) that stank of smelly teenage boys after the second day, so the next 34 days were very uncomfortable. I went to speak to the organisers after 2 days to request to upgrade to a cabin that would actually accommodate us in more humane conditions - to be told they were very busy and would get back to me within 24hours. Despite offering to pay the difference in price to a larger cabin, I never heard from them again. We had 2 other lots of friends who complained on the ship about their cabins (noise from decks above and and odour) and they were upgraded (at no cost), but they didn't even bother to answer our plea for a more humane trip. Needless to say only 10 days into a 36 day trip I got sick with flu like symptoms, fever and cough, and then for the rest of our cabin - all 4 of us were infected and at varying stages of illness and recovery for the rest of the cruise. The medical facilities were seriously inadequate with English language issues (medical staff were Croatian???), the "pharmacy" ran out of Paracetamol in the first week and never restocked??? The medical centre charged a fee of $90 just to see the Doctor to get paracetamol (without even an examination). I am a nurse and my husband is a doctor and we were stunned at the lack of English and poor medical treatment. Combine this with the total lack of supervision of passengers at crucial places like the buffet - where we witnessed sniffling children with their hands in parmesan cheese, adults putting their hands all over the spouts of water dispensers etc etc. with no supervision or guidance by staff. It is NO WONDER over half the ship was sick by halfway through the cruise. So disappointed with the performance of this company and this cruise. The kids activities for children aged 12-14 were much younger than was appropriate for their age, and mine were (understandably) not interested in attending after a couple of sessions. Nothing like previous cruise experiences we have had. Read Less

The Italian staff on this ship were rude, arrogant and often told us lies. They need the sack! The Balinese staff, on the other hand were excellent - friendly, helpful, caring, considerate and could not do enough for you. The food was a disgrace. I got food poisoning 3 times - twice from milk that had gone off and once from apricots that had been dried and then re-hydrated. The chefs tried to make food from different nationalities, but failed miserably. The Australian food night had sushi for an entree, for example. The chef had obviously done no research into what Australians ate. The food on the Thai night was so bland we could not taste any spices at all. There was not a single night where I could say that the food tasted authentic to the particular nationality being claimed to be served. On an Italian ship even the pasta was gluggy. The buffet was badly laid out. The bread and toast were about 30 m away from the margarine and jams, for instance. On such a long cruise they kept running out of more and more foods. These were not replaced / restocked during the cruise. During embarkation we saw frozen meat fall out of its packaging onto the port. It was picked up and pushed back onto the crate, presumably to be served to some unwitting passenger. The meat was definitely not thrown away as it should have been. Many passengers caught the flu from each other. The staff did not put any disinfectant into the air conditioning system (as is done on oil riggs) to try to prevent the spread of the germs. When passengers went to see the doctor they were given only enough medicine to get them to the next port, as the doctor was running out of stock of vital medicines including antibiotics and paracetamol. Passengers were told to buy their own at the next port, as the ship was not restocking on medicines till after the cruise had finished. In my opinion this is pure neglect of the passengers safety. Embarkation and disembarkation were both done poorly. If you did not know better you would have thought that they had never done this before. The staff seemed to have no systems in place. Different passengers were asked for different information on embarkation, which caused embarrassing situations later for those of us that had never been asked for our credit card details, for instance. The entertainment on the ship was quite good, the cabins were clean and well maintained. The captain did seem to know what he was doing and steered the ship well. The shore excursions went well, as they were not organised by MSC. The value for money was definitely not there. Overall, I would not recommend MSC Cruises to my worst enemy. Read Less

My wife and I embarked in Fremantle with our young Son in Perth, it was super slow embarkation. We left our bags with MSC staff as requested at 3pm, we did not get our bags again until 10:30pm when they were delivered to our room. We had all the baby things in those bags and all essentials for us. There was no reason given to why it could take 7.5 hours for us to receive these bags. This was the start of a disappointing display by MSC! Service is the slowest, especially at the bars and coffee bars. The food was terrible, the coffee was terrible, the restaurants are cramped, the buffet was slop!! But the worst thing was that the vast majority of passengers were sick, there was no policing of this, including usage of utensils and sanitizer at the entrance to the restaurants. Or sterilization of the ship. The Internet was a huge ripoff, the photos were a massive rip off!! The MSC dvd set was €49 and if I can convince anyone not to buy this then please save your money, it looks like a 5 year old filmed it on a old camera and doesn't represent your actual shore excursions. As ours had a port we attended after receiving the dvd. Save your money and sail with the best reviewed ship on cruise critic is my suggestion!! Read Less

What a waste of 36 days except for the few days in Gallipoli the trip was a total waste of time and a lot of money. Just finished my third course of anti-biotics and happy to be home. Ship arrived in Oz full of illness and we were none the wiser. The food was a disgrace especially in the buffet. Cabin staff and bar staff great but the Italian staff could not have cared less, I tried to change my meal time to earlier as health reasons made it hard to wait till 8.15 the Italian head waiter just told me NO it could not be done, really did not care ! Tours ran late and the FREE movie that ran for a 24 hr period to all cabins, not one of the movies was made before 1960, being cheap to avoid the copyright fees I wonder? really!! Could not even purchase a deodorant or toothbrush on board, what kind of a ship is this? Never again (and I have cruised with several companies) and would advise anyone to be very wary of MSC, they just don't work well can't even grill a piece of steak turns out broiled, wet and tasteless with no colour. The organisers of the tour Gallipoli Tour 2015 with their exclusive booking terms must take responsibility as well Yes we went to visit Gallipoli but the service, food and comfort on your chosen ship was a huge mistake, did they put this cruise out to tender or just pick one to suit their costing? Read Less

Returned home from 36 days on MSC Gallipoli absolute nightmare. 2500 hundred on the ship 80%-90% were ill within a week. We believe the ship carried down a virus from the Northern Hemisphere and passed it along to all on board. The Italian staff were not helpful, the doctor did very little and the ship ran out of paracemetol within days. The food was terrible both dining room and buffet, our drinks package could not always be honoured (again out of stock) The Asian staff and mid European staff were very good. I tried to change my dining time as 8.15 was too late for me with a medical condition the head waiter was just not interested in my problem and told me he could not assist!! The two days in Gallipoli were great the rest of the cruise was overpriced and horrible. The FREE movie each days on a 24 loop into your cabin there was not one movie shown made after 1960 to watch and no channel for kids on board. Entertainment supplied by MSC was shocking. Aussie entertainers on board were great. Never travel with MSC they may offer great prices with some European trips but be warned you will get what you pay for !! Read Less

I did not have great expectations of MSC, I researched thoroughly via this website. The entertainment was outstanding, with the exception of "Frankie", Australians are too polite to walk out. The enrichment lectures were again, outstanding. The food was awful, I knew it would be - was not disappointed. I was at a table with three (including me) passengers who were gluten free, our menu was horrible, including (as per the menu) "steamed hound" which caused much hilarity at the table. We had an appointment with the Food Manager, who endeavoured to help, however I think the chefs had him 'over a barrel'. I brought the Food Manager's attention to the reviews his ship was getting via Cruise Critic, he feigned ignorance. The Italian crew, did their best to ignore the passengers, the rest of the crew were very pleased to help and happy however due to lack of experience were not so good at coffee making and drink mixing. Would I travel MSC again, no, would prefer to stay home. Read Less

OK, 35 nights cruising for one's first cruise could be problematic! NOT loved the cruising, despised the European cruise staff. Best bits: Our dinner table companions (overwhelmingly the best thing about the cruise) Visiting Gallipoli Nice cabin (balcony on deck 12) - clean, adequate storage, comfy bed, good maid. Tour out of Naples to Sorrento & Amalfi Coast Dinner waiters Days at sea (lots) - peaceful etc. History lecture series - unparalleled I'm told by many (I didn't attend) OK bits: Entertainment. Good variety of Australian artists. Impressive cruise staff performances. Theatre was usually full. Coffee (paid for) once you sorted out how you liked your coffee (inevitable differences between countries). Visiting the various countries/sights. Although, be warned - one day stops make it a brief & stressful race to get off, get somewhere & get back on the ship. NOT leisurely, you don't get to see much or experience the ambience. The rest of it: Food was appalling - not even one-star. All tasted pretty much the same & was out of bain-maries - warm & re-heated tasting. Apart from ordering poached eggs etc or smoked salmon in the dining room at breakfast. Of course you could live off the adequate muesli & fruit selection. But that was not the way the ship was advertised. However I did lose weight (7kg) - not a bad thing but unexpected. Italian staff would smile but were inanimate, disinterested & only helpful if really really pushed (politely). Drinks packages were a joke. They saw us coming - premium allegrissimo alcoholic & non-alcoholic. No way we could come close to getting value for money ($4500). Other reviewers have said it all. Running out of drinks, no service etc etc. We even had the bar staff refuse to serve us an icecream in a cone (at the icecream bar with cones in sight). The wretched respiratory bug - nightmare. Duty of care non-existent. One wonders, was the ship working to a budget? The food was so so bad. Where did all our money go? About $50,000. Yes. Plus the pre-paid gratuities. We worked out every staff member could have received approx. 600 Euro - bet they didn't. I don't regret the cruise - Gallipoli etc - but feel a bit foolish & cheated - captive for 5 weeks with crap food on a beautiful looking, clean & glamorous floating hotel. Read Less

Background We were certainly looking forward to a wonderful adventure. We have previously cruised in Pacific and Inside passage with other cruise lines. Our first time with MSC. Cabin We went for top level 15. Cabin was OK but smaller than premium cabins on other lines that provide a suite. This cabin was one room with couch and separate toilet. Overall ok. Dining on Board A bit disappointing all round with bland food. Service in restaurants was very good. Casino A highlight. Great staff, great ambience, good selection of games. Gym and Spa A highlight. Great instructors and daily pilates prior to catching the flu was excellent. Staff very friendly. Excursions Logistics were amazing and smooth. Lot of waiting but that's what happens when there are 2500 others to join you. Egypt was particularly well handled given the state the country tourism is in. Sri Lanka golf excursion was overpriced and poorly handled. Entertainment The aussie entertainment were great and a real treat. The European entertainment was ho hum. Illness I caught a flu like respiratory virus causing a rasping cough in the first few days of this cruise. The medical treatment on board medical centre was ineffectual and expensive. After I returned I spent nearly three weeks in bed, and after two more lots of double antibiotics I had tests indicating I had an antibiotic resistant infection known as pseudo mons aeruginosa. Many others had a similar rasping cough and were ill. In reading reviews of passengers on the prior leg from Dubai many of the passengers were ill, so it seems the infection was on the boat prior to our embarkation. I reported my concern to MSC who simply maintain there was no outbreak and they maintain the highest standards. Very frustrating as many other critiques also estimate 80% to 90% of passengers caught the cough. Disembarkation Bit of a long wait but understand there was a medical emergency. Overall was handled OK. Read Less