Jordanp77

Thank you all for the valuable tips. I'll take a look at the port of call board. Still fairly new to this site. Ports of call are Marseille, Genoa, Naples, Messina, and Valletta. We have some ideas - including trip to Portofino (Genoa), and lagoon in Comino (Valletta). We're curious in other's opinions on how safe we need to be when it comes to excursions like those that involve some travels to the destination - in terms of going with cruise line excursion products or booking on our own and making it back to ship in time.

Thanks for the feedback. All good points and it will be interesting to see more reviews as the ship begins its Europe itineraries. This will be my 9th overall cruise, my wife has been on double that, and our kids have been on 4-5 cruises. With your MSC Cruise experience (potentially many Europe cruises), do you typically book shore excursions with the cruise line or on your own?

Family of 4 from Florida super excited for our first European cruise! A bit concerned about some of the reviews - given it's our first MSC ship experience, but hopefully it's just the complainers outweighing the positive reviewers. Seems like a beautiful new ship with plenty to do for the family, and lots of fun ports. Thoughts on booking excursions with the cruise line or on your own?