MSC arranged Private Car or MSC arranged Bus to Mount Etna? - Anyone done either?

Hi there, we are on the Seaview August 5th and I am busy researching all of our excursions.

I am set on most of our activities but would appreciate any feedback folks have had with regard MSC's Etna excursions.

We are a family of 3 (mum, dad and 9 yr old).

We are travelling in the Yacht Club (we did Splendida's YC last year and loved it).

The MSC organised options are a bus excursion (4hrs ~£130 total) or a private car (£390 total).

Price difference isn't my main consideration, rather whether bus trip was worthwhile (higher vantage point in the bus, but a fixed route and potentially a lot of waiting around) v Private Car (but maybe not the best vehicle for going up Mount Etna?)

Is there anyone out there in the MSC community that has done either before and would be willing to offer their thoughts on their excursion and recommendations?

Thank you in advance.

We've done the MSC Mt. Etna tour (bus). Not bad, but extremely cold and windy and they don't go to the peak.

We did an MSC excursion which took in Mt Etna as well as Taormina. We thoroughly enjoyed it and felt it was great value. (I would highly recommend visiting Taormina).

The bus brings you to the visitors' centre on Mt Etna; our guide then gave us a tour of one of the lower craters (which was good enough for us) but you could head off towards the peak if you wanted to. As Stockjock has said, it is quite cold up there, so bring a sweater and/or jacket. I would also recommend that you wear closed-in footwear as the ground is very loose and 'stony' (small lava pebbles, basically).