The claenliness of the ship was good, but the bad smell in our cabin was horrible.
We had booked our breakfast, dinner table in advance, and were served by friendly staff.
Not all of the staff were friendly or helpfull.


The onboard entertainment was very good. The entertainers try to get everyone involved.


No, we would not! There are hidden costs that you only learn about once you are on the ship.

My wife and I sailed from Durban, South Africa to the Portuguese islands and back. This ship and crew is immaculately presented. Although the ship is large, landlubbers should take note that there is a considerable amount of roll during a storm, resulting in sea sickness. The prices of drinks and cocktails were surprisingly fair, costing approx. 15% more than your upmarket South African bar. The food was excellent but be on time, as being late results in an empty tummy. Onboard entertainment was good depending where you were on the ship(some fabulously sexy dancers and very good piano playing and singing.) Care is taken to involve as many passengers - a huge party!! The Ship staff was generally friendly and helpful but beware: some of the Italians were downright arrogant, rude and unhelpful. REFUSE THE 15% SERVICE FEE ADDED TO EVERY DRINKS PURCHASE AS WELL AS THE SERVICE FEE FOR CABIN STAFF. Rather tip for excellent service:it gives an incentive!All prospective passengers beware:The staff(again Italians) doing the money exchanging are a bunch of thieves. I was swindled out of R235 during the exchange. The same thing happened to two of my friends. When exchanging money, ask what the rate of exchange is and divide it youself; dont be hurried - these crooks rely upon people being in a holiday mood. If the ship owners can address these few problems it will be a FANTASTIC experience

We were one of the suckers that was on the Sinfonia on his way from Italy via Cape Town to Durban.
It was given in writing and by mouth that it was a dollar cruise.
On our way to Durban we received a letter in the cabin to let us know it was a Euro trip and not a dollar as given the previous day, when I phoned their Milnerton Offices to make sure.
We hav'nt had a safety drill before we left, and it was bad sea as well that night, so they put our lives on stake.
Everything was then so expensive because to travel from Dollar to Euro, it makes a big difference.
The drinks was so expensive, to pay R72-00 for a beer, is redicuilous. Even the tip's was 6euro and not the 4 dollar as they stated in their Msc Booklet that we got before hand.
They gave us old food, the desert was every day old dry cake that was standing on ice.
Their was no entertainment during the day.
At night we were only 5 to 6 people in the Manhattan bar were a band was playing.
We demand to see the managment before we would left the boat and it was all the people that got on in Cape Town, 70 couples, and they promised us the moon and stars, and nothing came from it.
It was supposed to be a 4day's and 3 night cruise, but at the end it was only 3night and 2 days.
The Friday morning we had to get up at 5 in the morning to have breakfast so that we could have been out of our cabin at 7.
I will never ever set my feet on a MSC boat again.
I have travelled with Carnival Cruises in America, and I would rather save my money to go on a cruise their or on the Costa Serena.

Our cruise from Genoa to Durban, South Africa began with a 6 hour wait on the dock for the ship to arrive, and be serviced. The embarkation process was ablolutely shambolic. The fast track process the Company offered online to get you aboard more quickly was a total waste of time. Whether you did it or not made no difference. You just joined the queue like everybody else. The ship itself was fine, the waiters were on the whole very good, as were the bar staff. They seemed pleased to see anybody who could afford to buy a drink in any of the bars. My friends and I have been on many cruises in the past and this ship has got to be the most expensive ever, not only in the bars, but everywhere else on board. Come 11pm the ship was like the Marie Celeste, nearly everbody was in bed either through lack of adult entertainment or depression through not being able to afford a drink. The same applied to the Casino where you would expect a litte action. The only people in there on most nights were the lonely croupiers and the odd couples playing the slot machines. They looked as bored as we were. This was probably due to the high minimum stakes at the tables. In the MSC brochure it states that for cruises in the Caribbean, North America and South Africa the currency onboard is the US dollar. We were being charged in Euros. One passenger checked his onboard account via a ships computer and found his bill was in dollars. Following his complaint to the head of accounts, these computers were unavailable for some 5 days through "technical problems". When they were activated it was not possible to use them to check accounts. Some 200 passengers were so angry about this that a petition was signed and 2 South Africans represented the group at meetings with the ships management. MSC argued that the cruise was originally due to sail along the East coast to South Africa, where the currency would have been dollars, but because of the possible dangers from Somali pirates it was re-routed along the West coast, where all prices were Euros. As a guesture of good will they promised a 5% discount off our bills, later ammended to our bar bills, later ammended not to include the very, very rare 2 for one drinks. This offer was derisory. Who said pirates were only in Somalia ! Entertainment in the theatre was good, but elsewhere it was spoilt by the childish loud antics of the ships animation team, who should all have walked the plank and given us all some peace. These people would be better suited to children's parties than their pathetic attempts of trying to entertain adults. All in all a very disappointing and expensive time. The initials MSC would be better read as Money Syphoning Company. Would I travel with them again ? About as much chance of that as me being elected the next Pope.

I went on the two day cruise to no-where in Jan 2010. Having read many bad reviews before leaving I was quite nervous. Embarkation is very slow and quite inefficient, but nothing to make you miserable. They tried to make the waiting less of a pain. The ship is beautiful. Having sailed on the Symphony and Monterey, this ship is sooo much better. The staff were visibly exhausted (especially the catering team), but were always polite, looked immaculate and did their best. The entertainment was superb and the entertainers took time out to acknowledge my daughter who was captivated. The Pinnochio club which takes care of the kids is superbly run. All the staff were teaching students, the programme was comprehensive and the place was kept spick and span. Yes, the food is not gourmet, but the pasta was real, the variety abundant and every single staff member was trying so hard. We were lucky enough to have good weather, so that made a difference. I would go back and hope to soon. I wish the entire team a well deserved rest. I can only imagine how they feel after shlepping over 20 000 passengers up and down. Thank you, grazie!

The ship is an excellent state-of-the-art vessel, spotlessly clean, with well appointed bars and lounges. Smokers and non-smokers are catered for equally so as not to spoil anyones enjoyment.

The Evening meals were selected from menus of various regions of Italy and not to our particular tastes generally. It seemed more about presentation than substance and indeed it was very difficult to recognise the delivered meal from the description in the menu. Having Water with your meal is a chargeable extra believe it or not! We were perhaps unlucky but we found our Dining Room waiter to be the most arrogant and unhelpful waiter we have ever encountered anywhere, let alone on a cruise vessel.

Deck side restaurants and grill bars were opened and closed at stupid-o-clock times and this is NOT a 24/7 food available ship by any stretch of the imagination. There were times during the day when the only way to get a cup of coffee or tea was to BUY it in the bar.
When it says the closing time will be 9:30 am for breakfast, it means exactly that..swoosshhhhh the plates and food are gone!

The Bar Staff and particularly our Cabin Steward were excellent, though the language barrier did provide some minor problems. Prices were not cheap, a cocktail of the day averaging around £5 per drink and even a beer at around £4. and not large portions either.

The Entertainment was another kettle of fish, from a Cruise Director who's only claim to fame seems to be to be able prattle on in multi-languages for 10 minutes introducing a 45 minute show, to a Show team of dancers seemingly without any passion for what they were doing, to amatuerish entertainers such as jugglers, magicians and contortionists. Opera seemed also to be an over indulgement of the staged shows. All of which led to a wonderful Theatre being wasted... at least.. wasted if you didnt enjoy Opera!

We never use Ship Excursions so I cannot comment on them.

One final comment, something I have never heard of before and find outrageous is the practice of adding about £5 a day PER ADULT and £2 PER CHILD to your bill for tips! YOU have to tell them not to, or it is done automatically. (Trying to find the accounts department open is an experience all of its own) Laughingly Tips are called a forfeit in the information books...how apt.. imagine a family of four, tips would amount to £250 alone..for goodness sake are these people real? and I wonder how much actually reaches the waiters and stewards?

In fairness this was an Italian ship and catering mainly for Italians so some of my comments must be viewed in this context.... SOME...but NOT all. It was also a very cheap cruise and perhaps some of the service content is reflected in this.

Would we sail on this ship again? ... NO

We booked this cruise just 8 weeks before departure and it was our first cruise holiday. We had our flights included but had not confirmation of the flight details until one week before departure, as the flight was at 7.35 in the morning from Heathrow we booked an overnight hotel with car parking. Check in at Heathrow takes an age with over a hour in the queue. We were met at Milan and transported by mini bus to Genoa, took about 1 1/2 hours. The check in for the boat did take a long time, however there were plenty of seats and free fruit juice. We were shown to our cabin and it was spotless, very comfortable bed and cleaned every day.

The life boat drill was not well done, we were told to assemble at our life boat stations with our life jackets on. No-one counted the passengers to ensure that the correct number were present. We sat around for over half an hour and then were given a demonstration of how to put on a life jacket! Would have made more sense to show us this first?

We realised when we got to our cabin that our dinner sitting was incorrect, we had requested second sitting, after trying unsuccussfully to track down the Maitre 'D' my husband eventually found him at 6.30pm He was very abrupt and grudgingly changed our sitting, throwing the altered cruise ID card across the table. We had been told on booking that we could have a table for 2 or chose to be seated with others, we had stated we preferred a table for 2 as we had had previous bad experiences at shared tables. We were dimayed to find on arriving at Il Galleone that we were on a table with 6 others. We immediately spoke to the Maitre 'D' again. He was abrupt to the point of rudeness, insisted there were no tables for 2, I pointed out that there were in fact several couples sat on their own and there were a number of empty table. He very grudgingly sat us on another table which had been laid up for 8 people. The waiter was charming and tried his best. The next day we found a note informing us we had been moved to another table. Was this a table for 2? No we were yet again on a table for 6. Luckily we were seated with a charming Australian couple and we thoroughly enjoyed eating with then each evening. However, this might not have been the case and I have complianed directly to MSC about the Maitre 'D' and his attitude. The waiters and all other staff were lovely. The food in the evening was very good with a wide choice. Breakfast and lunch buffets were good with a wide choice, we did not use Il Galleone for either breakfast or lunch. We would have liked a kettle in our cabin so that we could make early morning tea and a late night drink and why is coffee not served after dinner?

We went to the shows each night and thought they were very good. It is difficult to provide entertainment when the guests speak so many languages so the emphasis is on the visual. The singers were very talented and the dancers highly trained. There was a guest illusionist who was excellent.

We went on two organised tours
1) Tunis - Cultural
Not a good experience, too little time at each of the sites we visited no time in the museum. On to Sidi Bou Said where we were constantly harrassed by street traders, would not want to visit Tunis again and not a safe country to explore on your own.

2)Baroque Tour of Rome
Excellent, Tour guide very knowledgeble and with a great love of the city which came over. A very good way to get a taste of the wonders of Rome.

We would have liked more time in Malta as we only had an afternoon. Would be a good idea to tell guests that there is a bus for just 1 euro return fare. We used a taxi and had a real arguement with the driver who was trying to persuade us to pay for a tour and not take us to Valetta city as requested. He was telling us all the shops would be shut and there was nothing to see. St John's Co-Cathedral is a must! especially the pictures by Caravaggio.

Valencia - perhaps MSC could consider going somewhere else as there is very little to see and do here.

Monte Carlo - we were given an excellent guide pack and map as we left the ship and were able to find our way around very easily

We had a wonderful holiday and would book with MSC again

It seems bizzare that this company is in the business of doing tours as they were not the epitome of organization. Everything was done in series, getting your room assignmnet and your dinner table.

I had no complaints about the food but the idea of the assigned seating was a bit bizzare as any thought of changing the plan was resisted vigourously. Given the linguistic variety on the ship, this delivered some very quiet meals.

Everything was an additinal cost, water, coffee, etc.

The advertised internet service was so slow as to be unusable and expensive even if it was fast.

The entertainment was accpetable but Paulo the entertainment director thinks his acts are ready for Las Vegas. The highlite of the tour was the performance of a rising Italian tenor. Most of it was pretty plain vanilla.

The tours at the stops left little time for actual sightseeing and seemed to be organized for shopping. The tour co-ordinator was actually encouraging people to self guide.

We took the tour at Genoa to Portofino but once there you were expected to make your own fun. We had a good group, created our own impromptu wine tasting and had fun. We also took the tour in Tunis but most of that was dedicated to shopping couched in terms of buying ceramics.

Malta was given too little time. We organized our tour, renting taxis to visit Mdina but there was much more to see.

In the end we had a good time but only because we reached out and formed a group of 13-14 who encouraged each other to try things.

The tour operator needs to put terminals in each suite and really do some workj to create databases on each of their stops.

Given that they haven't you are strongly advised to do your own research before you go.

A most enjoyable experience, only marred by the prolonged embarkation,it must have been very difficult to organise with so many different nationalities,but, had the dining room seating been arranged at the same time as the cabin allocation it would have saved one queue, most people like ourselves were up very early to start their journey and this did tend to take the gilt off the gingerbread,but, after settling in and finding our way round the ship it was one of the best cruises we had been on. The ship itself was palatial, everything shone and sparkled it was a sheer delight to be on her for our vacation. I must not forget the journey back to Nice which gave everyone a chance to see some of the countryside another 10/10.we certainly would not hesitate to sail in her again as the crewe were most helpful,caring and attentive to all our needs in fact nothing was too much trouble for them, plus they always had a lovely smile for the passenger.

The ship is very nice with excellent cabins. The food was not up to an acceptable standard and was not always warm. Some meals that were served to our table in the evening resteraunt were sent back because of their poor quality and tastelessness.
Considering this was a Christmas Cruise the entertainment was awful. It was all so boring with no modern music at all. There were no special celebrations for Christmas, no decorations,crackers or carols, in fact there was no mention of it being Christmas Day from any of the crew.
When we complained to Reception they just did not want to know. We were so disappointed that ourselves and another couple left the ship in Madeira and got a flight home. We certainly would never cruise with MSC again