I am not sure about this cruise company. Most will have a soft drink package which you can buy at the beginning of the cruise. Some ships will have a self service laundry. Room service has always been free on any cruise company I have travelled with (Cunard Celebrity Princess P&O) but I have heard that some make a charge for the delivery.

Hopefully you will find someone who has cruised with them. Also look at Cruise Critic and go to the part which deals with your particular cruise line. There may even be a forum for your particular cruise.

Good luck.

Sue

MSC will run the cashless system the same as every one else.

You will need a credit card or a cash deposit. and will just sign for stuff.

need a list of ports for shore excurtion options but most will not be regular ports of call so few will have any clue what the options are.

If it is the April 17 cruise you have left it a bit late for planning,

Have you read reviews of the ship?

Check the seatings for dinner you will want early with kids. 9:15 will probably be too late.

NO sign of a roll call on CC for this one so try here for info on MSC.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=80

Have you read the reviews here:

http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-reviews/search/?reviewcruiselineid=21&reviewcruiseshipid=111&reviewdestinationid=

It sounds as though you should not go with too high expectations, though the reviews do vary. I'm sure you can still have a great holiday, but forewarned is fore-armed!

Thanks for the advise, I have read the mixed reviews and have expectations set accordingly (I think). We're on a long trip that began in August 08 and this cruise is part transportation, part adventure.
I've done some research into the ports of call, but hope more experienced travellers might have some tips.
.... and I read that the ship has a bad reputation for unexpected charges, such as water.

I have yet to be on a ship with "unexpected" charges.

Bottled water is charged on most ships.

Drink from the taps, it should be potable.

You cannot have an "unexpected" charge on board with the possible exception of the service charge (gratuity/tip), as everything else charged is via your on-board card which you need to present even to buy bottled water. You will be served non-bottled water free of charge at the dining table. I have read some people claiming to have been unaware of the service charge, which is always clearly set out, but not charged via your on-board card!

I should rephrase, "unexpected" valid charges.

Had a few "unexpected" charges in error, but these get removed once pointed out to accounts.

One of the links I received lead me to a web page stating that you could buy a soft drink card for $8.50/ per person/per day and adult could pay $16.50 (for soft drink and wine/beer at dinner )per person/per day, and everyone in the cabin must have a card. Roughly $1230, for this cruise, or $900 if we choose to buy wine by the bottle at dinner. (I guess it sounds a lot better on a 3-7 day cruise)

For those of you experienced cruisers... does this sound about right? THX --K

I would not have thought that everyone in the room needs to have a card. I have travelled with my Sister a couple of times on Princess and she drinks a lot of Diet Coke so bought a card but I didn't no problem with this and I think the card was around $35 for 15 night cruise. Not certain how much that would be now but she felt she saved a fortune with it. Me I just bought a drink if I needed it which was about once a day so no contest.
All the Ships I have been on have had soft drinks on tap (lemonade fruit punch orange juice iced tea etc) in the casual dining area and this was free. You may find that there is a similar situation another question to ask on CC boards.

Sue

Alcohol packages will almost certainly require everyone in the cabin/booking to have the package, that is common practice.

Some lines are OK with one person in a cabin having soda packages, I would not be suprised if the all must have rule applied to others.

Do you have the link for the MSC packages?

$8.50pppd is a little high for a kids soft drink package(NCL $4.50ch/$7ad) you need to drink a lot but the port/sea day mix is critical to value, $16.50 for adult soda(all day?) with alcohol at dinner is good. NCL charges $22 for this option.

ON a 21 day trip with one bottle pn at dinner I would look at around $30-$35pb(what are MSC prices like for wine?) so $700ish on NCL/celeb/princess etc, go over the 1 bottle for two of you and you get close to the package price for all of you on wine alone anyway.

This trip has a lot of sea days so it may be worth "fixing" the cost especialy if the kids are soda drinkers and you can optimise your dinner drinks.

I have looked at CC and there is a link which states that the charge for soft drinks is $8.50 per day and that it applies to all clients in the cabin.
Not a good deal in my opinion.
Sue

MSC must be different from other cruise lines as on Princess and RCI I had a soda card and my husband didn't as he's not a big coke or lemonade drinker. I think if I had more than 3 or 4 drinks a day it worked out cheaper than buying each one separately. I suppose that's to stop one of you 'buying' the others a drink with your card. They think of everything to stop you getting something for nothing.