MarionMat

Hi Kim, we had an early flight and arrived at the port at around 12.30pm which was before the official boarding time but they had already started boarding. Our oldest boy loved the catacombs, he's 9 but the younger 7 year old was scared and I had to take him out early while the older one stayed on with my husband. I think it depends on the child, the 9 year old would probably still have loved it when he was 6 and our 7 year old will probably still be spooked by something like that when he is 9! It is quite gruesome. I did also look into the puppet museum which looked good but the 9 year old really wanted to see the catacombs. Enjoy the trip, marion

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Sunday in bocadasse was very busy with Italian families going for lunch and all the restaurants we tried were fully booked so I would recommend booking in advance. We ended up eating at a pizza place about 10-15 minutes walk back towards genoa but I would recommend booking lunch before you leave for your trip. There are some good recommendations on tripadvisor and the waterside restaurants looked lovely. Also be sure you have the number of a taxi company to call, we failed to get one and walked most of the way back, eventually asking the security person at the exhibition centre to call one for us!

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old age pensioners! I'm irish so not sure if the phrase is used internationally?

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Ps the restaurant we went to was da spirito they have a Facebook page and you can find them on tripadvisor. We loved it

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We pre booked with http://www.ncctaxisicilia.it/en/ they were waiting for us at the port, great service and they text us when we got to the catacombs with the number to call when we wanted to get back on the ship. In the end we walked most of the way and there was a taxi rank with an 8 seater available when we were ready to go so we ended up getting that. Catacombs are a little out of the way but really interesting if a little gorey!

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Just back from a 7 night cruise with extended family on msc splendida. We had 3 oap's, one with reduced mobility and two children ages 7 and 9 as well as my husband and I in our group. It was our first time cruising with msc, we have cruised Norwegian before. We embarked in Rome. We used Antonio cagnoli for our transfer from the airport, very good service. Embarkation was quite cumbersome. We dropped our bags and got given numbers to queue, our group was split as we got given different numbers. Around half an hour queuing, then another queue for security then another queue then a further queue to get on the ship and one more security screen at which point the six year old badly needed the bathroom. Nobody explained anything about the ship, where to go etc we asked and were told cards would be in our room went to rooms they weren't ready. Went to buffet very little seating available, eventually got a seat with all hand luggage in tow. It was overall a stressful experience with kids and elderly. Overall ship is beautiful and kept spotlessly clean. Cabins are great. Staff are really helpful and there was never any problem getting a drink promptly in any bar or restaurant. Food is ok. Like a three star hotel. We had the allegrissimo package. Wines included were disappointing compared to Norwegian. First stop was Sicily I booked a cab to take us to the catacombs (€40 for 8 seater with ncc) he dropped the oap's in the city on the way. Catacombs were great and we ate at a great little local restaurant afterwards, €3 for a big bowl of great carbonara, delicious canoli. We walked back to the centre through the food market to pick up the golden oldies and got a cab back to the ship (€20).

Malta - was fab apart from Disembarkation which took 40 minutes and was chaotic. We had arranged a transfer to the playmobil fun park with John from Malta taxi online for €25- great service. The golden oldies opted to do the ships excursionto Valletta and mdina and they all named it as the highlight of the trip. The playmobil factory tour needs to be booked in advance and is well worth it for any playmobil fans. The park is small but good.

Barcelona - it was raining so we got a taxi to placa Catalonia and hung out in el corte ingles. Highly recommend the top floor cafe for stunning views of the city. Taxi was €12. Marseille - my biggest tip is to get the ships shuttle for €15 per person. I had done some research and we decided to get the free shuttle. It is a 15 minute walk from where the ship docked and when we got there it was packed. We queued for 45 minutes before we squeezed onto a packed bus and it dropped us far from the old port. We would happily have paid the €15 or gotten a taxi if we had known it would be so much hassle and it meant we didn't have time to do the little train or bus tour. We got a taxi back. The old port is beautiful and we had a really nice lunch there.

Genoa - we went to the aquarium then got a taxi to bocadasse, a beautiful fishing village near genoa. It was difficult to get a taxi back though so we walked most of it. The oap's got a rickshaw tour from the port which they enjoyed. Genoa's aquarium is really good. Overall the things we liked about the ship were the great service, the ship itself, nice coffee and ice cream, some of the evening musicians, especially the classical trio on deck 5 and the opera singers. We didn't like the constant long waits for lifts (we just took the stairs but my 80 year old father in law has reduced mobility and sometimes the wait times were ridiculous). As people embarked at each port the safety drill took place each day and was piped right into your cabin in 5 or 6 languages. This generally took place at around 5pm so right around the time we wanted a little downtime before dinner. It really did get annoying after the third or fourth day. Overall I thought the cruise represented good value for money, not sure we would cruise with them again because of the hassle element and the limited dining choices but we did enjoy our holiday and and it was definitely worth the price we paid. Any questions feel free to ask.

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I used the online live chat with the TA I had booked with and they assured me there was no issue, I could check in at the port even though the information on their system said I was a US citizen. I have no doubt that that would have been the case, but they did say I wouldn't be able to check in online because I booked in the US. I just didn't want the hassle as I am managing both children and OAP's in an extended family group so I decided it was worth loosing the deposit. I would say if you are OK with checking in at the port you won't have an issue.

The exact same thing happened to me and it turns out that you can't check in online if you are an EU citizen and book through a U.S. Agent. Added to this if you want to add the drinks package you have to pay the higher U.S. Price and can only do it through your agent. As I am managing the booking for our whole group including 3 oap's I didn't want the extra hassle of having to process a paperwork at the cruise terminal so I cancelled my booking with the U.S. Operator loosing my deposit and rebooked direct with MSC. An expensive mistake for me!

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Thanks so much doing this exact itinerary on the 28th of October!