MSC Orchestra Review - Morocco, Canaries & Mediterranean - 24/02 - 08/03

We arrived home yesterday after our cruise on MSC Orchestra, and subsequent night in Barcelona, and I thought I'd get started on a review of our experience. A little bit of background to help your frame of reference for this review. We booked this cruise in December 2017 as a last minute getaway to sunnier climes. The itinerary is below:

We decided on this ship and route after much consideration. We have been to the ports before, with the exception of Marseilles which was the only new port to us. An alternative was the Norwegian Spirit out of Barcelona, doing a similar route but without the Italian ports and an extra stop in Gran Canaria. However Spirit is a 20 year old ship, and although we are NCL Platinum and have been on more NCL cruises than any other line, we wanted to give Orchestra a shot. Spirit's cabins in particular are not up to the same level as those on Orchestra, based on the images we looked at. We know the main drawback with MSC, consistently, is the food, compared to NCL and other lines. However we were prepared to accept the compromise.

As is usual with MSC, there were some issues with the online experience when booking. The only cabin available in early December was a B2 Fantastica. We were reluctant to proceed with this, as we really wanted a table for 2 and know we are not guaranteed this with anything less than the Aurea experience. So the intention was always to upgrade to a B3 Aurea cabin, as we would be purchasing a drinks package with the B2 anyway, which is included with the B3. To cut a long story short, MSC drip fed cabin availability and it took several attempts to get the B3 (even although when they became available there were at least 6 showing as vacant all at once!).

After securing the B3, I thought we would appreciate the extra space of an S3 Suite due to the 12 night length of the cruise. Again availability was patchy but eventually I secured S3 Suite 15013. Total price was roughly £1375 p.p. for 12 nights which I thought reasonable for the "suite" plus Aurea perks - especially as we were purchasing the drinks package anyway, and we are prepared to pay a premium to ensure a table for 2 every night at dinner.

I do find MSC's policy of only allowing you to upgrade your cabin on the original 'rate code' you used to book the initial cabin to be very draconian - although I've been assured that works both ways, so that if I booked the B2 and then wanted to jump to the S3 at a later date, but the S3 was more expensive than when I originally booked the B2, I would get the lower price that was in effect when I booked the B2. Daft.

I don't plan to do a day by day account of the cruise, but rather summarise my thoughts & experiences under various categories. I have brought home all the dailies if anyone would like more specific detail.

Big thanks to Beamafar whose review of her Christmas cruise on Orchestra gave us a good idea of what to expect. I haven't taken photos of every menu or meal, but Beamafar covered this fantastically in her thread, so if you need more detail on this, please refer to her review. The menus were broadly the same apart from the Christmas theme menus of course.

This is cruise number 15 for us and third on MSC having been on Preziosa and Fantasia previously. This time, I did Status Match to Black Card level for the extra perks, although I appreciate how frustrating this is for those that earned that status the hard way!

Anyway on to the review.....

Looking forward to reading this, CJ. Appreciate the acknowledgement, bytheway! :*

Embarkation

As usual we find Barcelona a very convenient embarkation port, and the transfer is roughly 25 minutes from the airport to cruise port for a fixed rate of 39 Euro in a taxi. Our flight arrived around 10:30am and we got our luggage quickly and grabbed a taxi to head to the port. I was concerned we would have to wait to board, especially as MSC had given us a 15:45 boarding time on the tickets! I planned to disregard this anyway, and the Black Card privileges meant we had priority embarkation.

On arrival, our bags were duly tagged and we entered the terminal expecting a bit of a wait at 11:15. Check-in commenced at 11:45 and we were on board for 12. It was the smoothest embarkation to a ship I've ever encountered, and we were the first to check in due to having the priority boarding group card.

The ship was practically empty when we boarded, so I was able to take some photos of the empty venues. I don't like the sales pitch as you board regarding drinks packages and spa services, although they weren't at all pushy when we told them we were Aurea and had everything covered.

Our first glance of Orchestra from the taxi:

From the terminal:

Our cabin was located on the port side, deck 15, fifth from the left of this image, under the Top 16 sun deck:

Next I'll do a bit of a photo tour of the ship (not complete by any means):

Casino:

Leading down to the Savannah Bar:

Theatre:

Savannah Bar:

Amber Bar:

Atrium:

Purple Bar (in front of L'Ibiscus dining room):

Aurea seating area of the L'Ibiscus dining room:

La Cantinella Wine Bar:

Buffet section in La Cantinella, operating for a few hours at lunch and dinner:

Shaker Lounge:

One of two outdoor pools:

The other pool:

Shanghai Oriental Restaurant:

So hopefully you found those images useful to give an idea of the condition & decor of the ship. We found her to be in good order throughout and they were constantly performing maintenance:

Here they are stripping the coating on the hot tubs (this was necessary as it was chipping away and I hope they move on to the tubs in the Aurea Spa next as those are heading the same way):

Cabin 15013 S3 Aurea Suite:

So after our dilemmas prior to booking and all of the upgrading and cabin switching, we were quite anxious about our cabin, and a particular concern was noise from the Top 16 sun deck directly above all of the S3 Suites. I'm pleased to report that we never once heard a noise from the sun deck, although that could be because it was closed more than it was open due to the winds we experienced!

Speaking of annoying noises, the balcony divider in this particular cabin is loose and it rattles in even a light wind - extremely irritating through the night. Both our neighbours and ourselves tried to manufacture wedges with bits of paper etc. to try and lodge in the mechanism to stop the rattle, to some success, before it would fall out and the rattling would be back to full strength.

It's the divider to the right of this image:

Close up:

The best cure was earplugs!

Rattles aside, we found the cabin to be very nice, spacious enough for two for 12 nights. Plenty of storage space and an 'almost' walk-in wardrobe. Really though this is just a big balcony cabin rather than being a Suite, and the bathroom did strike me as smaller than expected when I first seen it. By the end of the cruise however I was used to it and glad we opted for the larger room and extra space it afforded us.

The safe is James Bond style, hidden behind the mirror at the dressing table:

Wardrobe:

Bathroom:

Balcony:

This was a great cabin for our needs all told, and our cabin attendant Sitti was excellent, always cheerful and chatty, and always willing to open the door if I was carrying a couple of drinks back to the room. We didn't use all of the available storage space, and it would comfortably take luggage for a 30 day cruise if two were sharing.

Service:

Generally the service on board was very good, with a few exceptions which I'll detail. We didn't have to wait too long for drinks, although that could be because we almost always sat at the bar, rather than at a table in the lounges. The MyChoice dining benefit of the Aurea experience worked very well at evening meals, although I'm disappointed this doesn't extend to breakfast and lunch (more on that below). In the evenings, we would turn up whenever we wanted and we were never encouraged to pick a single time to keep for the rest of the cruise as I had read someone else had been asked to (possibly a different ship). The longest wait for a table for 2 was five minutes and not an inconvenience given the bar just outside the door to the restuarant. The hostess came to recognise us and we stopped having to produce our room card before long.

The waiters in the Aurea section were friendly and concerned that we were liking our meals, and drinks usually arrived promptly. There was no hurry to get us to vacate the table when we were finished eating, and many other tables had rounds of dessert wine and coffees and they were left in peace. Special requests such as swapping out side dishes from one main to another, having multiple starters or having a main course for a starter was no problem at all.

Unfortunately our experience at lunch time wasn't so good, and in fact we only went to the dining room for lunch once, it put us off so much. On the first sea day we went to the Villa Borghese restaurant for lunch (L'Ibiscus is only open for dinner). I specified to the Maitre D' we'd like a table for two, as did the couple in front of us. He gestured for both couples to follow a waiter to our tables - he said 'you go together' which I interpreted as we would be seated together - so I reiterated that I had asked for a table for two. He emphatically nodded 'Yes, yes, go' and we duly followed the waiter and the couple in front. I assumed this meant our individual tables for two just happened to be in the same section.

We were pointed to a table for four, but there was an empty table for four right beside it, so the first couple sat at the first table and we sat at the second, leaving two empty places at each table - and we each got what we requested, a table for two. I wrongly assumed those empty places would not be filled. After our starter arrived, a French couple were seated opposite us. Their English was better than our French but although they were perfectly friendly, it was still an awkward experience that we could foresee and specifically wanted to avoid.

I made a vow that if we returned I would only take a seat at a table with two chairs at it rather than four so they couldn't play this trick on us again. As it was, we never made it back for lunch.

Because it was a sea day, the dining room was full and the staff were really feeling the strain. The drinks waiter was surly and quite firm when taking the drinks order. The drinks also didn't turn up until halfway through our main course. I suspect it could have been a combination of the waiter having a bad day, combined with the fact it was a sea day and so busy. Still, not a great experience.

These few aberrations aside, I was happy with the service provided in various other areas including the spa, bars and lounges, guest services and of course our room attendant.

Spa:

Prior to going to the spa for the first time, I was dreading the experience as I was expecting it to be a sales pitch from first introduction. I couldn't have been more surprised (or pleased) when we were simply shown to the thermal area and asked to have a think about when we wanted our complimentary massages. I didn't want a consultation with the 'spa doctor', luckily this wasn't forced upon us either.

Included with the Aurea experience is access to the 'thermal area' of the spa, which consists of three hot tubs, half a dozen or so loungers and simple tea and coffee facilities in one room, and access to the two steam rooms and two saunas in the the other area at the back of the spa. There was no access to the thalassotherapy rooms. I didn't get many pictures of this area as I'm not sure how happy people are to be photographed wearing less than usual, but here's the entrance and male changing room and showers (empty):

To be honest I felt this area could do with a bit of a facelift. The facilities were fine, but going Aurea on a newer ship with more spa facilities would give better value for money as they have more rooms available (snow room, salt room etc.). The hot tubs were well used, and the coating/lining on the inside was starting to chip and peel away. Also the sealant and grouting round the outside looked slightly mouldy and could do with replacement.

There was a papaya scented steam room, and a coconut scented steam room - neither of which smelled like the fruit they claimed to! The coconut room was the hotter of the two, in the papaya room you could see from one end to the other there was so little steam.

The hot tub area was usually always busy, the sweet spot seemed to be 6PM when perhaps people were getting ready for dinner. I suspect this was a full sailing, it was sometimes hard to get a space in the hot tub and the loungers were often occupied as well. The steam rooms are much larger so capacity not so much of a problem there. One sauna was hotter than the other too, with about 15C difference between the rooms.

Access to the thermal area is easy, you bypass the first reception and hand your room card over to the second desk where you are provided a locker key in the changing rooms. Going out you exchange the locker key for your room card.

The only other spa service we used was the included 45 minute massage as part of the Aurea package. We opted for the Bali hot stone massage which had a sticker value of €126.50 (incl. service charge) each. We don't normally get massages or frequent the spa, so can't effectively comment on this other than to say it was a pleasant enough experience but don't think we'd go out of our way to pay for it individually, however we'd take it again if it was included in our fare. They only asked once if we would like to book another massage, and if we did so immediately we would get our priority choice of time. A polite decline and we were free to leave.

To purchase a couple's thermal suite access for the duration of the cruise was €129, I think they were charging €39 for a day's access! This is too much for the limited facilities on offer and would probably be more worthwhile in a newer spa with a wider range of facilities available.

Looking forward to reading this, CJ. Appreciate the acknowledgement, bytheway! :*

Thanks Bea - hopefully it brings back some pleasant memories for you seeing the ship again! :D

Entertainment:

Again I'll preface this with the caveat that as a couple, we tend to make our own entertainment and don't need to 'be entertained' so our opinions on this might be more or less relevant to you depending on which side of the fence you sit. For example, we never went to see a show, and aren't sorry that we missed them. The entertainment mostly consisted of singers in the lounges, games in the lounges, board games on sea days, bingo, shopping sales etc.

I'm sorry to say that the poor female singer in the Savannah lounge completely lost us with her rendition (read: butchering) of ABBA classics. I don't know if it was the heavily accented singing or just lack of ability but I've not heard quite such a bad iteration of ABBA in a long time. Non-English songs seemed to go down well with mainland European guests so perhaps I am being a little harsh.

A few evenings spent in the Shaker lounge, the entertainment ranged from a trivia show in five different languages, to a dancing competition to a Latin inspired disco. One evening they came round to generate interest for karaoke, at which point we promptly left!

The guitarist in La Cantinella wine bar was good, although we always seemed to arrive around 11PM just as he took his break. A particularly merry group of Italians took over the thoroughfare and were dancing like no tomorrow to Volare, Take Me Home, Country Roads, a few Sting numbers and various other special requests they made, which were all obliged. This was the evening before Genoa and I suspect it was their last evening and they made sure they enjoyed it!

I did want to see 'Masterchef at Sea' held in the theatre but never got round to it - it was the only thing in the theatre I was really keen to see.

In the atrium there was a female pianist who was very good, although this area was quiet and sometimes she was playing for only two or three people.

At meal times, the pianist was supported by two others playing the violin:

I remember Bea mentioned in her review that the ship felt very quiet at times. I didn't get the same feeling, and combined with my thoughts about how busy the spa was, I'm concluded I was on a full sailing. The few pictures I've taken at night show quite full lounges etc. which lent to a nice atmosphere. The Amber Bar was popular too:

Above, I categorised a sale in the shops as entertainment, and it certainly is - if you're watching the circus of people swooping in for the bargains! They cut the rope at the shop at X o'clock and the gathered crowd surges in, using walking sticks and elbows to keep others away from the discounted wares - hiliarious to watch, glad we didn't get involved, although we had the misfortune to pass through:

Ports:

Four sea days and seven ports on this one which felt about the right balance to be honest. We didn't use MSC much for our port experiences and having been to most places before we just did our own thing and walked about the town.

Casablanca, Morocco:

We booked an MSC excursion to Rabat here, as we've seen the Hassan II mosque before, and Casablanca has little else redeeming about it. I was really looking forward to this trip, but it was a cool and wet day and I think this impacted on our experience. Coupled with the transfer taking 90 minutes each way and the actual tour only lasting about 120 minutes, it was a missed opportunity to provide a fuller tour. I'm guessing MSC are hoping you'll do a Casablanca tour in the morning and book the Rabat excursion for the afternoon. The Royal Palace wasn't particularly grand, and we couldn't get very close to it due to security concerns. We had to battle through traffic to make it to the site of the Hassan Tower & the Mausoleum, the tour could have been better organised to avoid the peak traffic. The site itself was fine and better than the underwhelming Royal Palace.

Final stop was the Kasbah of the Udayas which was again an improvement on the previous stop. Then the tour ended. We had a pleasant drive along the coast and then rejoined the motorway back to the ship.

Not quite worth the £54 per head and I wouldn't recommend or do it again. I don't think I could bring myself to do the 3 hour transfer each way to Marrakech so if I stop in port here again I'l stay on the ship.

Santa Cruz, Tenerife:

Been here more times than I can count, so simply wandered the town, went round the botanical gardens and stopped off at the auditorium for some pictures and sun. Squeezed in some shopping too. The ship stops right in the centre of the city and it is very convenient.

On the second sea day, around 13:30, the captain addressed the whole ship and informed us we would not be stopping in Funchal, Madeira, due to forecast Force 9 winds. Indeed, this was a very choppy sea day and the ship was creaking and swaying in the swell. I think it was around Force 5 for us at this point so couldn't imagine Force 9. The right decision to make. We were to stop in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria instead which was no hardship for us - more Canary sun & that had been the draw of the Spirit cruise initially. However Funchal is a pretty port and I was sorry to missing it at the same time.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria:

Likewise just walked about soaking up the sun, we walked along the promenade to the auditorium and back, then browsed the shops before getting back on the ship. Again the ship docks only a few streets away from the beach/promenade and is very convenient to DIY. They did offer a choice of 3 tours for those that had booked excursions in Tenerife that had been cancelled, I guess 3 was all they could manage given the short notice. The also offered a refund to those who didn't want to switch excursions.

Malaga, Spain:

You guessed, it more wandering. We went in to the Cathedral and also walked up the Alcazaba. We didn't make it up to the Gibralfaro castle but we did stop by the local market, which reminded me of the just off the Ramblas in Barcelona.

Rather cheekily MSC were selling tickets at €6.90 return for a shuttle bus to the port entrance/city centre - the Daily states it's 2.5km distance from ship to city centre, but I think this is quite a loose estimate. I was shocked when I seen where the busses were dropping people off, barely out the port gate.

Civitavecchia, Italy:

We booked a private bus transfer to Rome, as we didn't want to risk getting on a commuter train at that time in the morning, but we also didn't want to pay nearly £50 a head for the MSC transfer. I got it for €19 a head. We got the free port shuttle bus to the tour meeting point and the bus left about 09:45. We were dropped off at the Palace of Justice, just down from the Vatican. We covered a lot of ground despite the pouring rain, and we arrived back at the bus at 16:00 drenched. We were back on the ship for 17:30.

A rather loud American who was off Meraviglia (also docked in Civitavecchia that day) wasn't happy, as we hadn't yet departed 15 minutes after the scheduled time. His wife needed to 'use the restroom' - assuming we had left on time, she still would have needed the restroom and I wouldn't have been happy if we had to stop en-route to accommodate her call of nature! He was trying to score a point but it fell a bit flat and we found it rather amusing. If he was unhappy we were late, he could have just said so rather than coming up with a contrived reason to 'bolster' his case.

Note - here the shuttle bus is free but you can't walk through the port.

Genoa, Italy:

Previously in Genoa we visited the aquarium and spent a lot of time in the Porto Antico area, going up the bigo (lift) for a view over the port.

This time we went into Genoa itself, which is a bit grubby round the edges to be honest. Fine to see and glad we did it but next time we'll probably take a tour to Portofino or further afield.

Marseilles, France:

Again MSC were a bit cheeky and charged €15.90 each for a return shuttle to the Vieux Port area, despite there being a free shuttle offered from within the port confines - you just have to know it's there and walk to the stop. No mention of that in the daily!

Found the old part of Marseilles (back streets) to be very run down and full of graffiti - such a shame. Vieux Port was nicer and the main shopping streets were OK too. Wouldn't go out of my way to return to the town proper although there is other things to do in the wider Provence area.

I have plenty of pictures of all the ports if anyone would like to see anything specific but thought I wouldn't include them here as the review is mainly about the ship.

Food & Drink:

I was leaving this category until last as it's the most subjective and controversial, and my feelings are still fluid.

The dining experience I covered above under 'Service' but the food itself I deliberately left out.

We had the basic drinks package included with the Aurea experience, and I've just totted up all our receipts - suffice to say the package was more than paid for and to that extent I have no complaints. The basic package provides a wide range of cocktails (sorry I forgot to photograph a bar menu), which would take the whole cruise to sample each. Less good is the range of wines offered, 2 reds, 1 rose, 2 whites, 2 prosecco (one dry, one not so dry). I preferred the Merlot on the red side although it isn't the best, but drinkable with a meal. I believe the only draught beer available is Heineken. I did like the Kir Royale cocktail although I'm sure it would be better with champagne! Spirits are a generous 40 ml measure (here in the UK the standard is 25ml or 35ml), although sometimes that is too strong as the glasses aren't tall enough to get in enough mixer (for my taste anyway). I would find myself taking a few sips and asking for a top-up of mixer to get it to my taste.

So on to the food. This cruise started strong in both menus and food quality and declined as we came towards the end. I would say from day 8 onwards the menus were not very strong and the quality not as good as at the start of the trip.

The lunch buffet was reasonable, offering some variety and some dishes changed daily. Others remained constant: pizza, burgers, hot dogs, salad bar, cold meats & cheeses, breads. Some of the dishes changing daily: chicken wings, deep fried chicken, fish curry, pork ribs, the meat carvery changed between turkey, lamb, beef, veal and chicken on different days, the pasta would be different etc. Some of the dishes repeated, but not consecutively. One of the pizzas changed from day to day, but your staple margherita remained constant. The Four Cheese pizza was very good!

Breakfast offered the usual bacon, sausage, eggs, pre-made omelettes occasionally but there are no 'live' cooking stands to make fresh omelettes or pancakes, waffles etc. - all pre-made and kept warm under the lamps.

Good fruit selection, cereals and yogurts were available and a few sweet things - hot doughnuts featuring every day. Fresh bread, cheeses and cold cuts of meat.

We didn't go to the buffet for dinner, but I did pass through and noted a very limited selection for dinner (I did not see a roast joint of meat like at lunch, which I would expect at an evening buffet) - this is unusual as other cruise lines put more effort into the evening buffet that makes it a viable alternative to the MDR.

Buffet shuts quite early and then reverts to a pizza only offering - stretching the definition of offering food 20 hours a day I think!

The MDR meals - I've got a selection menus as well as pictures of some dishes but as mentioned earlier I didn't photograph every menu or every dish as I thought the menus were the same as Bea's and she has already done that hard work. Quality wise the food ranged from 2.5 to 4 out of 5. The usual complaints surfaced about cool or cold food, although I did find when they offered beef (prime rib and slices of fillet) it was very tasty and surpassed my expectations.

A steak was offered one night (photo below), which was a bit chewy but tasty (despite greasy appearances!). Not top quality by any means but not full of fat or chuck either.

Dishes falling below par included cold Spanakopita (cold soggy pastry is the worst!), aubergine featuring in nearly every dish (they must get a bulk discount) and a pork dish which was quite fatty (even for pork). Oddly though the pork dish was very tasty. All of the sauces with every dish were full of flavour, no doubt intended to elevate the sub-par cut of meat they were serving.

I had a couple of pasta dishes which were nice, as you would expect.

The soups were broadly good, although the gazpacho on Mediterranean night was too spicy for me. Fresh bread was always tasty and butter always available.

Desserts were consistently good, we never had a bad dessert and sometimes found ourselves sneaking up to the buffet after dinner to see if they had any more up there.

Selection of menus to give an idea of the types of dishes and a photo of the odd dish, as well as a couple of buffet pictures in the posts to follow.

Gala menu:

A lunch menu:

Beef fillet, no peppercorn sauce:

Prime rib, minus a roast potato:

The steak mentioned above:

White chocolate mousse:

Buffet:

Med night menu (only time I remembered to photograph the dessert offering):

And best 'till last - the most amazing steak offered in the MDR one night (!):

(Sadly I'm kidding about that one, this is from a restaurant in Barcelona after the cruise) - oh to dream to be offered that on the ship. All of that was for about £13.00/ €14.90. Best meal of the holiday.

Before I forget, I'll touch on the Black Card meal in Shanghai Oriental restaurant. We booked in for 20:30 one night and got out around 22:00. The restaurant was half full but there appeared to be only two waiters on duty and service was patchy. Asian cuisine wouldn't be my first choice for a speciality dining meal, but it's the only one offered on Orchestra and I wasn't willing to lose the benefit. I decided to order off the main menu whilst DW took the set Black Card menu. I specifically asked to substitute the items I was selecting with the (more expensive) Black Card set menu. The items I chose came to c. €14, and I believe the set menu is something like €28, so a clear win for MSC there! We had taken drinks in with us, but ran out - we also ordered water for the table. Our top-us and the water never arrived, although the staff were apologetic at the end.

The food was quite tasty it must be said but something odd happened around 21:30 - the lights went out in the kitchen and the chef walked out the front door of the restaurant. I don't know if it was an industrial dispute or they had equipment problems but the chef did not return. The food kept coming, albeit it at a slower pace, so presumably it was being prepared in another kitchen. No explanation and very strange. As service had slowed considerably, when I was presented with the receipts to sign at the end of the meal, I was expecting the charges to be cancelled due to the Black Card benefit. Only the set Black Card menu was cancelled and there was a receipt there for my €14 worth of a la carte items. As the staff were a bit harassed and we had spent longer than intended in there, I only signed the €0 receipt and decided to sort the other charge at guest services. I could understand if I ordered the a la carte items in addition to the set menu but I was quite clear it was 'instead of' and I hadn't been served the set menu anyway.

No matter, guest services took care of the charge quite painlessly the next day. No pictures other than the one of the restaurant I included earlier.

Truthfully I didn't think I would get as much of this review done today, but I think I've covered most of the key points so time for a summary and any questions.

Disembarkation was easy and we were allowed to keep the room until 10AM due to the Black Card perk. We walked off about 10:30 after having breakfast and hopped in a taxi to our hotel in Barcelona. Just as smooth as embarkation was.

I forgot to mention earlier, we were in our cabin for 12:30 on embarkation day and our luggage arrived about 14:30 - very impressed with the speed of all of this and far better than hanging about all day.

We were also lucky in our hotel in Barcelona and we were able to take our room from our arrival at 10.45AM which makes things much easier than having to wander about the city for hours before settling in the room.

Summary:

Having sailed MSC before, we had a good idea of what we would get and set our expectations accordingly. We know we will get a glitzy, clean and modern ship. We know we'll get reasonably good service and get it for a reasonable price. We did receive all of this. We know we will not get the best food and sadly we were proven correct, in line with others' assessment of the food.

However I am quite balanced about it and I am not assessing it as extreme in any regard (good or bad), just OK, not great, but not awful. Whilst I think I enjoyed it slightly more and for slightly longer than others have, and it wouldn't put me off cruising MSC again, it always comes back to the food. Before this cruise, I noted on Bea's review that this was a 'make or break' cruise for MSC for me - I gave them every opportunity to impress, by sailing in the best category cabin available on this ship, and getting the top experience offered for this type of ship (Aurea).

I'm pleased to say that I have not disregarded MSC as a result of this trip, and I'd be glad to sail MSC again - compromising the food quality for the price of the trip and the itinerary.

Our thinking has turned more towards the Yacht Club - we think all of the fundamentals for MSC are broadly right, and they just need to up the quality factor (in food, and some other areas, such as lounge entertainment). I'm hoping the YC will deliver some if not all of that and consequently we've decided next time we sail with MSC it will be in the YC. We are eyeing Splendida out of Dubai this winter.

That's not to say we won't sail MSC in a category below YC again if the price and itinerary are right, but we wouldn't go below Aurea purely due to the MyChoice dining perk and it would have to be a very good price. MyChoice IS make or break for us as we are so used to the Freestyle dining concept on NCL.

Our next cruise is back with NCL in July, to the Baltics, but I will be ramping up my interest in the YC in the meantime and researching the Middle East route for a YC experience which we're sure we would enjoy.

We liked this cruise overall, and would do it over again, all told. I hope this has been helpful to those considering Orchestra and if there are any specific questions I will do my very best to answer them. :)

Thank you so much for your review!

I'd love any more photos or info on the ports if you have them. We are also going to Civitavecchia, Genoa and Marseilles.

You say there is a free port shuttle in Marseilles. Can you tell me where I would look for that?

Is there a shuttle in Genoa or you just walk off? Did you enjoy the aquarium previously? We are from Florida in the US and have seen many aquariums, so may pass, but curious how good this one is. We did do the Monterey Aquarium in California last year and it was fabulous.

Who did you use for the private bus to Rome? We may just take the train, but like to weigh my options.

Thanks again for your great review. We sail Orchestra in April.

Thanks for the review.