I sailed MSC for the first time last month. I've recently booked a half dozen or so solo cruises on RC, Celebrity and even Carnival and while cruise shopping, I found a really good last-minute deal on MSC and I thought, "what the heck, give it try". I sailed on the Magnifica (in the cheap seats), and I had a very enjoyable cruise. My expectations were low after reading some reviews, but my experience was nowhere near what some of the reviewers experienced. I found MSC to be above Carnival and equal to RC in many ways. Their shows were not as good as RC but MSC has a lot more lounges and bar areas than RC and every time I walked in to one there was live music playing. RC I feel like only has live music playing at 2 or 3 of their lounges at one time and a lot of times in their lounges or bar areas it's just a DJ or music streaming through speakers.
I enjoyed MSC so much I am looking to cruise in the YC. I started looking yesterday to book for next year. In the meantime, I booked another short one in the cheap seats for next month. š