Just returned from 11 days on the Lirica

The ship was lovely, the itinerary was great (the reason we chose this particular cruise),the food was not so good, the service was not so good, but we enjoyed it anyway. Anybody with questions, feel free to ask & I will be glad to try to answer them.

What was the age breakdown? What is your approx age bracket? How would you rate the entertainment? What kind of music for dancing? Never sailed with MSC but am tempted to give it a try.

Hi John - on our cruise, they had the Buddy Morrow band (formerly Tommy Dorsey), so it was a relatively older crowd. Not too many young people at all. Perhaps because of the Big Band advertising. In the other lounges they had latin music/dancing, pop music, and listening music. Then there was a disco up, separately, for the young people. Although they advertised country western there (our kind if music), starting at 10:00, we never made it. The entertainment was really great. Although after 11 nights, it did tend to get repetitious. Mostly dancing extravagansas, with a magician and juggler. No comedians. They also had a violinist, with a piano accompanist, who played for tea time, and was really quite talented, and enjoyable. Our age bracket is +65.

I think they are trying to change things to attract the American people, so these things may change next year.

We were also on the May 4 sailing. I was with my 81 year old father...I'll let you guess at my age! The Tommy Dorsey Band played in the Lirica Lounge 10 out of 11 nights. This was a "Big Band Cruise", but not like other BB cruises that had multiple big bands on board. We found the duo in the Cabaret to be fun and talented, playing a variety of music. The disco (Blue Room) is on deck 12. It is a beautiful room. They adjusted the music to the crowd...and it wasn't just young people there! I was there several nights...as late as 3a.m.

The crowd was "older" because of the billing of the BB music, but there were also a fair number of 25-40 year olds.

We didn't go to a single show in the theatre, but saw the Animation Crew at the Cabaret a few nights, and they were great fun.

We met new friends and had a great time. By all means, give MSC a try. You make your own good time.

I hope to do a review soon...have to catch up on household chores first! Happy sailing!