8-Day Mediterranean Cruise Aboard MSC WORLD EUROPA

Summary Pros & Cons

​Pros:

​Hardworking onboard service staff and talented entertainment production team

​High-quality theater shows

​Fresh pizza and fries available in a pinch

​Cons:

​Complete lack of embarkation directions in Valletta (300m walk back for luggage)

​Poorly designed and malfunctioning cabin: sewer stench, missing safe, bright DND status light illuminating the room, thermostat resetting, and no facial tissues

​Main dining room service took 2+ hours with minimal vegetarian options

​Buffet was chaotic, loud, understocked, and served cold food

​Complete lack of crowd etiquette: elevator pushing, people blocking exits, and an overall unfriendly passenger atmosphere

​Housekeeping and public cleanliness issues, including food like fries left lying on stairs

​Kids' event location in the Panorama Lounge required walking through a heavy cigarette smoke bottleneck in the casino

​Detailed Review

​Embarkation & Initial Impressions (Valletta)

​Having completed nearly 50 cruises across lines like Royal Caribbean, NCL, Oceania, Disney, AIDA, and TUI, this was our fourth cruise of the year, but our first time ever on MSC.

​Embarkation in Valletta set the tone for the trip. No staff or signage directed arriving guests to luggage drop-off. We walked all the way into the terminal, only to be turned around and told to trek 300 meters back with all our bags to find the drop point.

​Cabin Flaws, Maintenance & Baffling Design

​For a brand-new flagship vessel, the cabin experience was fraught with functional and design errors:

​Sewer Smell: We experienced an persistent, objectionable sewer stench in the cabin on multiple occasions throughout the cruise.

​Missing Safe & Front Desk Response: Upon arrival, the drawer designated for the in-room safe was completely empty. Front desk staff acted as though we simply couldn't find it and offered to send someone to "help us locate it." The technician revealed the safe had been physically removed for repairs prior to our embarkation—something reception never checked before assuming user error.

​Baffling Lighting Design: The "Do Not Disturb" control is terribly engineered. Activating the DND switch turns on a bright white LED inside the room that shines through the dark. If you turn it off to keep the room dark, the cabin steward knocks at the door. Who designs a night switch that illuminates the sleeping area?

​Faulty Climate Control: The digital thermostat repeatedly lost its temperature settings, forcing us to re-enter our preferred temperature throughout the day—a surprising bug on such a new ship.

​Missing Amenities: Basic amenities were missing; there were no facial tissues provided anywhere in the cabin or bathroom.

​Dining & Food Quality

​Dining was the absolute lowest point of the voyage:

​Main Dining Room: On night one, we arrived at our scheduled table. It took 30 minutes and a direct request just to get drinking water. The bread basket arrived with no butter or spreads. The entire meal took over two hours for minimal portions, and options for vegetarians were practically non-existent. We never went back.

​Buffet: Crowded, loud, and poorly organized. Food was often lukewarm or cold, choices were limited, and quality was subpar.

​"Survival Mode": By our first stop in Barcelona (following a sea day), we were so frustrated that we looked into booking another ship in port just to escape MSC. Realizing that wasn't feasible, we spent the rest of the week in "survival mode," eating mostly French fries and pizza.

​Onboard Environment, Hygiene & Crowd Behavior

​The general atmosphere onboard was deeply unpleasant. The ship felt overcrowded and completely unmanaged:

​Elevator Behavior & Pushy Crowds: Basic elevator etiquette was nonexistent. Passengers routinely pushed their way into elevators before letting anyone step out, creating constant bottlenecks and friction.

​Guest Atmosphere: An unusually high number of unfriendly, inconsiderate passengers added to the stressful environment.

​Public Area Cleanliness: Maintenance and public area cleaning were noticeably lacking—we frequently encountered trash and food, such as French fries left lying scattered on the stairways.

​Casino Smoke Bottleneck: To reach the Panorama Lounge for scheduled children's activities, guests are forced to walk directly through the main casino. The cigarette smoke inside was so thick it literally burned our eyes—an inexcusable walkthrough design for family-oriented programming.

​Crew & Entertainment

​The frontline crew and performers were the single bright spot of the cruise. The production shows were well organized, and the service staff worked exceptionally hard despite the underlying system failures and difficult crowd environment. It is unfortunate that MSC’s management and crowd logistics undermine the hard work of their shipboard team.

​Final Verdict

​We went into this cruise with high hopes given the vessel's scale, but the combination of operational chaos, dismal dining, cabin maintenance bugs, lack of cleanliness, and an unpleasant passenger environment made this our first and last cruise with MSC.

Cabin: infinity in Aurea- loved the window- it performs equally to a balcony. Was it as good as yacht club dining? No. But you could show up when you wanted. But only dinner no breakfast. Same menu as the rest of the ship. Pasta consistently good and pizza great. Breakfast at the buffet wasn’t very good. Loved the Carmel rolls No omelet station- all pre prepared and bacon is awful. I wish they had other early options since many ports required us to leave early.

Entertainment- amazing! The panoramic lounge is the best. Make your reservations immediately when on board or every day around 5:00 for the next day. The male singer is incredible and the dancers and acrobats are stunning.

Grewr ports. However- our 2 tours booked through the ship were poor. Ourtour guides barely spoke English. Whereas our tours booked through TripAdvisor/Viator were all great. Much better Guides.

Ship is stunning, very clean. Staff are amazing and can’t do enough for you.

Cabins- we booked an infinite ocean view cabin and it was great. Had an issue with the window opening and this took two days and persistence from us to get sorted plus the disruption of not being able to use the cabin for most of the day the second day. This was fixed and the guest services manager Rita was extremely helpful.

Our cabin was spotless and our cabin attendant Melanie was faultless.

Food - this is the worst food we have ever had on any cruise ship and really lets it down massively. Very little choice and lukewarm warm at best. All restaurants serve the same menu.

Entertainment - this was amazing and literally something for every taste. Shows only 30min long and we felt this could be longer 45min would be better we feel

Other guests- this was absolutely horrendous, mostly European clientele and I have never encountered so many rude and disrespectful people ever. No queues no please or thank yous and children literally run wild. Ruined it for us

Tip- booked Aurea package if you can