European Family Cruise (8 of us ranging in ages from 26 to 89)

To begin with before the cruise there was not good comunication with MSC reps., they stated things that were not provided.  The cruise check-in proceedure could have been extremely long except  for the fact my 89 yr old mother was on the trip and they put us is a quick line.  Then they let my brother and mother go through security onto the ship but made the rest of us (6) wait to board.  The ship is beautiful and the staterooms are large and beautiful with lots of storage space! The food in the dinning room was good overall with some excellent desserts and the pasta dishes were superb!  Our waiter Jose Cabrera from Honduras was fantastic. The buffet in the Inca and Maya was chaotic, 1st you had to find a table, then the service to clear & clean the table was slow, I cleaned it my self.  You went around in circles trying to find food with 3000 other people.  The food was just average. There are no other non paying places to eat on the ship, only dinning room or buffet.  All other ships I have been on have various places to eat so you don't have the conjested area in the buffet restaurant.

I was told Americans received 1 lt. of bottled water at dinner, we didn't receive them, I asked at the reception and they said it didn't matter what MSC reservations said, they don't give them. From other passengers review, they did receive coupons on there check in. MSC only serves bottled water in the dinning room. No coffee or Iced Tea! They do have water, coffee and hot water for tea in the buffet.  They only have juices until 10:00am in the buffet.  Also a pre package beer option I ordered they had no record of, when I showed them my print out, they said I wasn't charged and they would honor it.  "I had to go with what they sold on board the ship".

Our room attendant Johnny was  great, I asked him to make me towel animals and he did every night but only for my stateroom, we had 4 staterooms. I know the animals are an American ship thing but they are fun! 

The ports of call were fantastic but too short of time.  In Croatia by the time we got off the ship you had about 4 1/2 hrs. before you had to be back on the ship. 

I enjoyed the shows each night, same people but different themes.  They don't really have a lot of other fun activities to do unless you pay for it.  Also the web site on and MSC cruises is not up to date.

  I have cruised over 10 times, on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and MSC.