We had cruised previously on the msc opera and had a fantastic experiance ,so chose a xmas cruise on the magnifica and booked an aurea suite cabin . On boarding in genoa we had to kill time as our suite would not be ready until 14.00 ,but as we had hand luggage we chanced going to drop it off early and were shocked when we saw our balcony suite with ''ocean views''?? ,as our balcony faced a steel barrier and was roped off which allowed passengers to walk along the area an invaded on our privacy ,which many did during the cruise,despite a sign on the accestess door it was forbidden to enter this area. When we were standing we could see the ocean ,but whilst seated only the steel barrier was visable ,not the romantic experiance we had dreamed about. We went down to customer services and put forward our disappointment and asked if we could be moved to a suite or even just a balcony cabin ,but were told the ship was full. We asked to leave the ship and be given a full refund as the cabin did not meet our expectations. that suggestion was frowned upon and the best answer was to take it up with our booking agent .we booked direct through msc direct ,but they insisted the above suggestion was our only course available . early on the cruise , our cabin ceiling was vibrating and made it impossible to sleep ,so we lodged a complaint and an engineer came up and asked if we could vacate the cabin. We did but alas the noise was even worse that night so we called the desk again and a man came up and acknowledged the noise was very disturbing and suggested a pair of ear plugs was the only solution at this time .2 pairs were delivered to our cabin and they were useless . The next day a team arrived and spent quite a long time trying to repair the airconditioning which they said was the problem but on our return the engineer said it was a motor on the above deck causing the problem ,but it had been fixed.

three nights of very little sleep and engineers keeping us out of our cabin was not what we paid for. The nice aspects were that the waiting staff were very good but the maitre de's were bullies and rude and the food was very mediocre ,fancy an italian ship with no ceasar salad ,no steak dishes and the only lager on the alchohol package was heiniken [no italian brands] to finish it when leaving the ship we had cued early to catch our train and when our turn to disembark arrived we were told we could not leave the ship before going to the services desk and when we asked why the staff were very rude and even laid hands on my partner . It turned out they owed us money from our deposit and we asked why it could not be transfered into the account it came out of were again rudely told this was the process . We then had to go back to the disembarking area with all our luggage and wait in line.. Our complaint to m.s.c. WAS MET WITH A PALTRY OFFER OFF OUR NEXT CRUISE AND ACCEPTED NO LIABILITY ABOUT ALL THE ABOVE MATTERS .IN CLOSING A VERY DISAPPOINTING CRUISE AND VERY DISAPPOINTING COMPANY KEN