i have been on this cruise before and had the time of my life, needless to say this time round i had told all my friends and family join, we were about 21, adults and kids. I had elderly members in my group who had never traveled, now they get to enjoy the cruise and its luxuries with their kids and grand kids. I was to celebrate my daughters 1st and nieces 3rd birthday on board or so we planned. I know you cant control the weather so when we received text message no 5 after our cruise had a 2 day delay due to gale force winds we were still excited to make the most of our holiday. We were told to be in Cape Towns port by 8am the Saturday morning (26th January) for a swift embarkation, unfortunately i spent all of 4 hours in the line with a restless kid in arm.

By the time i eventually got onto the ship the halal buffet was anorexic with almost nothing available. The water was choppy but the ship was trying to make up as much time as possible, at one point i thought we were a speed boat, my entire party suffered from vertigo, mostly on the first night. Supper was mediocre and we didn't get a Gala evening. Our waiters seemed exhausted and unwilling to assist, not normally the case in my past experiences. I was on the melody, an extinct and ancient ship for 19 days in 2011 and had the time of my life, this cruise was supposed to be top all my expectations but was an anti climax.

We didnt stop in Port Elizabeth and got into Durban earlier than expected. on the brink of disembarkation i was told that i could not leave the ship because i had an outstanding balance on my account. i had to head back to reception where there was a 40 min line because of all the queries passengers had. They billed me $1.50 per person for a UNICEF donation. This should be optional and not a prerequisite payment before you leave the ship. I donate to my own organisations and how the hell do i know that MSC actually gives my money to UNICEF. based on this they removed my charges and i was allowed to leave the ship almost an hour later... Read more