We completed our first MSC cruise in Feb, we had no complaints whatsoever. We had only done RC in the past (x4, with our last being 2019) and went with MSC purely on price, we did 14 nights with drinks and Wifi for pretty much what 7 nights on RC with no drinks was going to be.
We found the ship at certain times crazy busy (pool deck sea days, buffet at peak breakfast and lunch times) but managed ourselves to avoid these times, for example, sea days in particular we would go up to the upper pool deck about 9am (no one up there) find ourselves some beds, kids (9 & 13) took themselves off to the buffet, we would have a coffee or two and then at about 10.30 go for some breakfast, much quieter. Some days we would just skip breakfast and go for lunch at about 11.45, again much quieter, I appreciate doing what we did wouldn't work for everyone but suited us fine.
From memory I don't think the MDR food is as good as RC but from what I have read all cruise lines standards have gone down in that area and to be honest I couldn't say we ever had a bad meal in the MDR. Not huge portions, maybe a little on the small side, particularly appetisers and deserts, but never left hungry.
All in all, we had a fantastic cruise and have two more booked on MSC, in fact one next year is with a big family group of 13, my mother and father in law are seasoned RC cruisers so hopefully they like MSC 😂
I can totally understand why some people wouldn't enjoy MSC though, busy, noisy ships with a very varied passenger demographic, not for everyone.
For us though, we loved it and no one can come near their prices so its a no brainer, oh also the ship, Seascape was stunning, one of the best if not the best we have been on.