Worst Cruise Ever

The food was below even Carnival standards with limited availability. Again\, we've all been on several cruises\, and the one thing that is a constant is the continuous availability of food on a 24-hour basis. There's always a buffet open. There are always selections available for free room service around the clock. But not on the Musica\, where buffets are open only during selected hours (usually coinciding with the dining rooms' hours). In 25+ years of cruises\, not once have I been unable to locate something to eat whenever I'm hungry. Until we boarded the Musica\, that is. Here's the deal: we're on VACATION. We eat when we're hungry\, and not during designated hours. This isn't boot camp. This is a cruise. As I mentioned earlier\, the food was sub-par\, to the point that we stopped bothering to make an effort for the main dining rooms during dinner. For example\, the \"prime rib\" was carved roast beef about a half-inch thick with gravy\, something I'd expect at a cheap Vegas buffet.

Our cruise was also marred by missing two ports due to rough seas or inclement weather (you choose whichever is convenient - Costa and Princess didn't seem deterred by the same conditions). Several hours after we boarded in Bari\, we were notified that the ship would not be leaving port that evening as scheduled. So\, if we are stuck in Bari all night long\, why not let us off the ship so we can explore whatever Bari has to offer? No\, that wasn't the case. We had to remain on the ship despite being docked for another 12 hours. This also cost us a port stop in Corfu\, even though Katakolon was our scheduled destination for the following day. We also missed Mykonos\, our \"overnight\" port (from my experience\, leaving at 1 in the morning is not what most rational thinkers would consider \"overnight\")\, for the same inclement weather/winds/etc. We weren't notified until 45 minutes prior to our scheduled 10pm arrival that night. Nice.

Is rolling your eyes a European sign of respect that I am unaware of? Because we received a lot of that.

For a ship of that size\, it's mind-boggling how there are so few actual facilities on board. The ship only had two small pools on the main deck. There was no adults-only pool\, which basically meant that\, if you wanted to take a dip\, you'd be dodging kids running around the deck and splashing in the water. And you could forget about finding any opportunity to relax poolside and enjoy some peace and quiet. There were two 6-person jacuzzis on the entire ship. So\, at any time\, only 12 passengers (out of 2\,500) could enjoy them. Because there was only one pool deck\, it became a daily chore to scout out and reserve a poolside table since there weren't nearly enough to accommodate everybody. And the one time we actually found room in the jacuzzi was spent watching other passengers stand beside us and wait for us to leave so they could have a turn.

Stained carpet and bed covers - something I've never seen on a cruise ship. Our balcony was the smallest I've ever had and was absolutely filthy with floorboards in disrepair (see attached photos). We never spent a single moment on it. In addition\, each morning\, we would find new cigarette butts and other various pieces of trash on our balcony. In one instance\, the cigarette butt melted and burned into one of the plastic chairs\, adding an element of danger to an already disgusting facet of our cabin experience. In addition\, the vibrations and ensuing noise in our cabin made it impossible to sleep. Our balcony door rattled continuously (and loudly) while the front door squeaked. Things got so bad that we had to receive an interior cabin to use just for sleeping.