Confused about MSC's reputation!

Embarkation took a long time, but it was mostly due to a coast guard inspection delay. The staff were friendly and tried to handle it the best they could. The problem is that the terminal just isn't suited for the amount of people they were trying to process. They had way too few seats for the bodies in the space and the operations of terminal 10 as far as the announcement system (can't hear it), layout (confusing and awkward) all need a rework. I'd probably be more frustrated if we had to wait as long as some of the other folks after us supposedly did.

We were honestly SO blown away by the MSC food. It was better than Royal and Carnival in our opinion, and we really were expecting to hate it based on what we read. We saw so many comments about the ship's style being "European" for food or something like that. It may have been at one point, but to see recent reviews say this is pretty laughable. I mean they have fricking premade cheeseburgers and hot dogs in the buffet, and those gross super sugary coffee creamers instead of regular cream. That's as American as it gets. The food is just not as greasy and overly salty as what we've seen in some parts of the states, and is probably closer to what we'd eat at home in Canada. They're not going to cook a steak with liquid smoke like they would on Carnival. The food was perfect every time, for every meal, and the service was knockout. I didn't feel the need to do a premium dining since we loved the black crab. The steak was better than what we had at the steakhouse on royal and carnival (and we really liked those!) We mostly skipped the buffet since we're more MDR people, but the times we went it was solid. Great prime rib for lunch on embarkation day. Great selection of snacks and fresh pizza even late at night. All in all, we loved the food. Looking at other recent reviews, either MSC has a huge consistency problem, or they're being written by people who want a heart attack stack and only eat at the buffet Now, I rarely see this being said but the quality of the drinks was extremely high. When we had the drink package on royal, about 1/3 were nasty or undrinkable, often depending on the bar. All of the drinks we had on MSC were delicious and the bartenders were top notch. The servers will keep a good eye on you, and even take your order from the bar when the bartender is busy with others, and bring it back to your table.

We spent most of our time in the lounges on this one, didn't seek out the activities. That being said, all of the music was FANTASTIC. I was a full time working musician for years so I have a picky ear, but my mind was blown by incredible players around the ship. Most cruise musicians are good, but this was something else.

As mentioned in "activities" the individual musicians around the ship were outstanding. The actual shows felt like "we need to have a show of some kind" and not something inspired/intentional. Singers and dancers were good but the whole thing was sort of just "okay." Still better than Carnival.

No kids!

Unbelievably good. Never met the room steward but they did a great job. Our dinner service was perfect. Drink service was also outstanding- specifically great service at the garden bar and piazo del doge, our favourite spots on the ship to hang out.. And drink, lol.

So much personality, like an older ship, but very clean as well. We did an oasis class ship with RCL last time and I honestly prefer this more old-school layout, even though I would have said the opposite about the Carnival Liberty.

Cabin was perfectly adequate

Easy and painless!