Firstly the itinerary was excellent - including Suez Canal, Dead Sea, Seychelles, Mauritius and the highlight for me Petra, however Seychelles and Mauritius were marred by engine trouble which left only a few hours in each port, such a long way to go for such a short time.

We found the excursion prices quite reasonable (may be other writers' have not been on Cunard and seen their prices). We always use the cruise excursions for the security of if we are late back its MSC's problem, not ours. On a couple of occasions the ship was late sailing due to late returning passengers. Organisation of the disembarkation for excursions was hap hazard, there was even talk of scuffles between passengers where not enough transport was available in Seychelles.

The food on the ship was at best poor both in quality and presentation. There was only one meal where we thought 'wow this is good' other than that it was no where near our expectations for an Italian ship. MSC chefs must be trained in how to make high sugar content deserts so bland, even the tiny portions of jelly had colour but no flavour. Mice would have died of starvation if they had to live off the pathetic portions provided on the cheese board at the evening meal! Read more