GUEST BLOG: A Day in the Life of Hubby

I love cruising!  I love giving over control of logistics to a trained team of hundreds and letting my hair down.  With this being our fifth cruise, I feel a bit knowledgeable about the cruise world – or at least I thought I was up until the point that we walked on board this MSC cruise ship.  Right from the 

dingy waiting room in the middle of nowhere in Ijmuiden, Netherlands and the disorganized and agonizingly slow check-in process, I realized things were different with this cruise line (and not in a good way).  This feeling was confirmed our first evening, with the food being very lackluster and the dessert options slim to none.  The real kicker, however, was

 the fact that the restaurant DOES NOT offer coffee with dessert.  An Italian cruise line not serving coffee?  My chin hit the table! 

Also, the ship itself just feels old. From the box tv set to the pillows that appear to be hold-overs from the 70s (no padding to speak of – really just a pillow case wrapped inside another pillow case, this ship feels thirty years old.  For example, the information channel that gives us info on ship’s location and current conditions is partially broken, with the temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity not changing one bit during the first two days of our trip (it’s always 68 on the MSC Opera!)  Plus there are mirrors EVERYWHERE!  Our last Princess cruise line ship had art everywhere, but all I see looking back at me…. Is me.  Also, the entertainment options are also wanting, as there is one 45 minute show available every night (which has its high and low points – I’ll leave it to Jo to discuss the g-strings and lack of male dancers later), with little else to offer save some middle of the road singing in a couple of piano bars. 

One last point, which I originally thought quaint and interesting, is now grating on my nerves – every announcement takes place in five languages.  During the safety briefing it was kinda cute to watch the staff smile as they went through the same procedure for putting on a life vest five times – once with each language.  Now, however, the novelty has worn off, and I find myself wondering what else I could be doing with my life during these long periods of re-translation.  I guess if it was my language that was not being translated if they did fewer languages I would feel differently, but that’s a different story….  One language I did understand, however, was the words in the multiple CHRISTMAS songs I have heard, both in the stairway (Little Drummer Boy) and on the in-room tv (Winter Wonderland).  In MAY!?!?