tampacruiser

I did not find it chaotic at all. We watched a short video in our cabin at 4:15. Once done dialed a 4 digit code in our phone. Walked to our Muster Station. Scanned our card with the crew and were on our way. I would say once the video was done the process was about 5 minutes

I went into this cruise with skepticism! This was my 14th cruise. Have sailed Royal, NCL, HAL, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess and after spending some time on these pages I thought I made a huge mistake! I will keep this short and sweet but here are my thoughts. Embarkation: Smooth and quick. Have your paperwork ready and you will fly through...be organized people! Ship: Clean, elegant, yes it's older but it looks great. Room: Great, typical of most balcony cabins except small TV but I am not there to watch TV Staff: Amazing. Friendly, attentive, knowledgeable, best dining room team I have had in a long time Overall Customer Service: Great! We spoke with a few officers with some minor suggestions and immediately they pulled a little pad out of their pocket and took notes. I believe they are trying to learn and improve! Entertainment: Main theater shows could be a bit better, however the quality of the singers themselves surpassed most other lines ( I am a musician and toured professionally so I am a bit critical in this area). The other entertainers around the ship were great (bands, ensembles, etc) Food: Very good exceeded my expectations. Did no specialty locations just used MDR, Buffett and Piazza Del Doge and all were good, and selection was adequate. Totally blew away the slop and lack of choice on the Carnival Panorama that I sailed in April! Private Island Ocean Cay: one word...AMAZING! best beaches, multiple to choose from. No theme park atmosphere like some islands. Food on island was actually really good, yet another surprise and if you have a drink package and WIFI it works on the island as well! Ship was clean, rooms were clean. Cruise staff made game time fun (trivia, name that tune, etc) I typically do not cruises less than 7 days but this was a last minute decision and a gift to my daughter who is about to graduate college. We were very much surprised with MSC and will now include them in our future decisions! HAL and Celebrity are our favorites, Carnival and NCL are at the bottom of our list and Royal and Princess were just ok in our opinion. MSC will now jump into our top 3 based on our Davina experience last week. I think this company had a rough start breaking into the US market, but it is apparent they are learning, and they are putting a great product out there at a great price with some new amazing ships under construction! I say if you are on the fence give it a try. We were pleasantly surprised!