This was the Lirica's first cruise since being refurbished and I have to wonder if they were really ready to set sail. We have enjoyed several MSC cruises in the past but the service on this one was terrible. We paid extra for the Aurea package. We had many problems during the cruise from finding hair in food, to dirty plates and cups, to the toilet in our room not working and having to find a public toilet in the middle of the night (luckily this happened toward the end of the cruise as there was no attempt by staff to fix the toilet!). We paid for a photo package but found out the DVD was blank when we got home. Complaints were mainly dismissed by the staff which prompted me to write a formal letter of complaint to MSC when we returned home. I received the same dismissive treatment from head office!
The ports we visited where great as were the shore excursions (some English speaking excursions were cancelled at the last minute and we had to tag along with other groups). I did not enjoy the 5 consecutive days at sea as English speaking activities were very limited. They were not able to get the English TV channel working during the entire 3 weeks of the cruise. The Lirica is a smallish ship so public areas are limited.
We paid extra for the Aurea Suite which was the same standard balcony room offered on newer MSC ships. The cabin was comfortable. Our toilet stopped working and we had to use a public toilet toward the end of the cruise.