Ocean Voyages - Italy to South Africa, 23rd October 2010

Absolutely fantastic holiday, this was our first cruise, the ship was spotless, the food was great, the classical concerts were marvellous, you would have paid at least £25 per ticket for a comparable performance on land, we personally felt that the price of drinks on board was very reasonable, bottles of wine started at $8 plus the 15% surcharge, we bought quite a lot of cocktail packages as well as having wine at dinner each night, but we did not find the prices too expensive. We found it a totally relaxing experience, we did not take any of the shore excursions as being confined on a tour bus is not to our taste, but we went ashore at each stop and walked and took local transport and really enjoyed it. The cabin staff were great, we had an interior cabin which was very comfortable, we only used it to shower, get changed and sleep, we used the lounges for reading and relaxing during the day or we sunbathed on deck. Obviously we would have liked a cabin with a balcony, but given the big difference in price we felt the interior cabin was great value for money. We can not praise the staff enough, the bar staff were lovely, the staff in the restaurants were great, nothing was too much trouble, we were really impressed by the deck staff and cleaning staff who kept the ship immaculate. The Italian officers were very professional and the captains’ presence was evident most evenings. Overall we would really recommend the cruise from Cape Town to Genoa with MSC, we had an exceptionally good package which let us fly out via Dubai and have 5 days in Cape Town before joining the ship, we stayed in a lovely hotel and hired a car, we had a great time, our only regret is that we should have had a 1 or 2 night stopover at Dubai as flying directly out from Manchester left us exhausted. So next time we will stopover and hopefully have a marvellous cruise again with MSC.