Mediterranean MSC Cruise suggestion?

We have done 21 ocean cruises, but none on MSC. Everyone we know that took one hated it.

Still, if you are determined to do it, both itineraries are similar.
If you do the one with Marseille, don't do that city, but go to Arles, Avignon and Aix en Provence. Also, the ancient Roman aqueduct at Ponte du Guard is great.

Our travel agent also advised recently against MSC.

We've been thru the Western Med and were in the Eastern Med in June.

I'd rather take a cruise out of Italy or Greece to the Eastern Med and/or the Adriatic.

We do love travel to inland Spain, but not the Med coastline via cruises..

Thanks for the feedback and input
Its interesting that you are all against MSC ship
I mean my purpose is more like travelling inland so the best bit is that we are on the land almost daily from 9 to 6pm, so we are treating it like staying overnight as a hotel, I guess
If we had more holiday leave, we would prefer against travelling on a cruise and go to via plane, train like we used to do a couple of times spending for a month or so but unfortunately, we just do not have the time as we have 10 days to do, so yeah
In a few week's time, we are spending 10 days (including return flight from Australia) in Santorini, spending 6 days there and 1 1/2 days in Athens before flying back to Australia

hey hey chan
we have taken a MSC cruise and we really enjoyed it. many people have different thoughts about all cruise lines, pros & cons, some don't recommend a cruise name and have never been on the line. (your ship is seaview)
look at the ports you arrive at and see if at port or a tendered stop (anchor out and boat to shore), in barcelona we walked down las ramblas, took a hop on hop off bus to see part of city, stopped at a restaurant/cafe for the best sangria and appetizers,
discoverwalks.com/ barcelona
took cab to ship. always watch your time on shore not to miss boat.
cannes: looks like a tender stop
petit train tour around cannes (combo with history & croisette tours) one hour and maybe 10E
palma de majorca: trendesoller.com
we took this historic wooden train down to the port of soller, about an hour ride. i think the palma station was close by or we took a taxi, my brain is fuzzy and "old", bought round trip ticket at station, think was about 20E RT, check times and off we went on our fun train adventure through mountains and rural areas. down to port. we walked around the plaza, shops, narrow alleyways, window shopping, people watching while having lunch, there is a tram but i forget. back on train to palma. if you have time to roam around mallorca we asked a taxi for a short tour of town for a certain fare, some said no some said yes then back to port. great day
genoa: home to pesto & focaccia
take a tour on a rickshaw, learning the neighborhoods, small alleyways, maybe take a pesto making class. treecycle.eu
la spezia: entry to cinque terre
train to the 5 villages, get off and see what they have offer, have lunch/glass of wine, next stop, many love vernazza.
getyourguide.com/ cinque tour by train with limoncello, don't know your wants, but florence is too far (2+ hours one way train) for your short visit, so stay nearby
rome: know that the port is 1+ hours to rome center, you can't see it all. share a cab to town and back with cruisers. reserve one round trip, enjoy your day and then meet up with cruisers at designated spot and off to port, so so worth it. don't know if ship has a shuttle
register on cruisecritic.com, look for your ship and roll calls. you can post what you want and also ask if people want to share tours in ports to cut costs. look at private/public tours first, see what it entails, if agreement between cruiser, how many and cost. we did that with a few ports and didn't take long to get answers. we also planned a meet & greet at cruise depart, night before, at cafe/bar and had a greet time finally meeting the cruise critic forum/roll calls. you can always ask questions, just getting you started,
aloha

Regarding cruises, we have done 21 ocean cruises in the past 12 years and our preferences are in this order:

1) Celebrity
2)Royal Caribbean
3) Norwegian Cruise Line

Also, we have a lot of cruise friends that we still keep in touch with and some have tried MSC and they said never again.
Reportedly Princess and HAL are good cruise lines.

Carnival is fine if you are under 40.

We also cruise primarily for the itinerary, but still you are onboard for much of the time and the quality of dining, service and entertainment are important. Before you book, I recommend checking reviews.

Cruises are great for visiting ports like the Greek Islands or in the Med that you don't want to spend more than one day.

However, you can do some cities like Rome, Florence and Barcelona in one day.

Cannes is a tender port. Yesterday, September 27, my cousin's ship couldn't tender due to winds, so they kept chugging on over to Barcelona. There went her one day on the Riviera and the planned private tour. I know the Riviera fairly well and think of all the cities, towns, villages on the Riviera, Cannes is the least interesting--though our favorite seafood restaurant is there.

I wouldn't want to waste my time going to Genoa unless there were an excursion to the Cinque Terre. Was La Spezia a tender port Princess? Portofino is a port for the Cinq Terre, too. The Marseille port is not near the main sites, but at least you don't have to tender.

I wouldn't consider the age of the ship mainly because I dislike these new giant monsters and prefer the older ships.

Neither itinerary is ideal. Have you looked at Celebrity, Holland America, or Norwegian Cruise Line?

Have you looked at the Cruise Critic Website? Honest reviews by travelers. I would go in October for the weather and slightly longer days. The nice thing with a cruise is you don't need to pack up for each new destination so I can see why the Cruise is attractive for a short visit. I would look at booking your own shore excursions to save money and have a more authentic and unique experience, unless the offerings are exactly what you were looking to do. You can look on Trip Advisor and just search "Shore excursions in XYZ Port" and also on the AirBNB website they have an "experiences" section which will give you some options as well.

YouTube has many crouise-ship company reviews. I particularly trust the
Vlogs of Gary Bembridge and Emma Cruises, one travelling in middle-range accommodations and the other in the cheapest inside cabins. Both characterize MCS as budget travel but appreciate it for what it delivers.

I haven’t been to most of the ports or taken MSC. However here’s my opinion ! #2 looks like the better choice with Valletta and Palermo. I would look at excursions rather than stay in Marseille. I have never heard anyone recommend it. MSC gets a bad rap from many Americans because it is European centric with different food and entertainment than on the US lines. It didn’t help that there were severe toilet problems on their first cruise out of the US.

As mentioned, Youtuber Emma Cruises is a good source for info and videos on cruising. She has been on a few MSC cruises. She has an hour long livestream almost every week - usually Fridays. She answers lots of questions. Watch it and ask her questions.f

Cruise with Ben and David on Youtube are also good. I’m sure they have been on MSC and they had a nice video on their stop in Valletta

There are a lot of good ideas and recommendations here. I think the CruiseCritic website would be especially helpful to you. For me, I would be concerned primarily about your time zone jet lag. Coming from Australia, allowing about a day for each time zone to adjust, and you're never going to feel great. Add to that the fact that European cruises are notoriously difficult for many cruisers, new and old alike-- different port every day, on and off the ship or tender, back in time to sail out again in the evening. Late dinner, and a show perhaps and you're looking at getting to bed pretty late. Only to start again in the morning. It can be exhausting. Having done a zillion cruises, I would mention a couple of things.

1. The actual time in port is less than what it appears. If you arrive at 7, getting off by 8, depending on the port, the number and inclination of the other passengers and whether or not you are an early riser/diner could mean that you're already and hour behind. Getting off early means some things won't even be open yet. Waiting around for a 10 am museum opening also chops away at your usable in-port time. Tendering in takes more time, depending on the size of the ship and number of people each tender can hold. There's also wait time involved at both ends of the trip. Some ports (Rome, e.g., which is Civitavecchia, and La Spezia (for Florence) are an 1-2 hours+ from the city, sometimes more with traffic. You have to factor that in both ways. If you're in port until 7 say, that means you have to be onboard again at least 30 minutes before sailing. More time used up. So, draw up a short time line for each port with realistic amounts of time for each task. It might mean you have a heck of a lot less time in port than meets the eye. From there you can decide what to do in each.

European cruises are always like this. They are not relaxing. I think you made a good point saying you can always go back the next year. Use the cruise as a European smorgasbord -- figure out the vibe of each port as a sample of that country and if you'd like to see more.
2. I would suggest that unless there is some must-visit-before-I-die spot in the interior, just stay in port (or take the excursion bus to far-away destinations). Being a newbie, I'd stick with the cruise line excursions and/or transportation. They are more expensive and less personal for sure, but they do offer a bit of piece of mind until you get your sea legs under you enough to strike out on your own. Of these ports, I think I'd suggest a ship excursion for Rome or Florence. Not much to see in Civitavecchia or La Spezia, and it's a job to get to Rome and Florence from their "ports". Valletta and Palermo you don't need an excursion. Walk off the ship and you're in town. The towns are small enough to make you way around on foot. You might want to consider a local guide for Genoa or Marseille. (try ToursbyLocals, shore excursion planner) but that's not absolutely necessary to have a nice time. Just do your research ahead of time. A lot of people don't particularly like Genoa and Marseille, and I haven't visited these on a ship, only on land. There's enough in both cities to keep you busy for an 8 hour port call.

As far as the age of the ships, it doesn't matter all that much, except with the brand-new ships sometimes it takes a month or two to work out the kinks with the staff and just their way of running the show. Often new ships mean new crew. Not something you should be overly concerned about, unless they are different classes (sizes) of ships offering different entertainment, dining options, spa options. That may lead you in one direction or another. Whichever you choose, take an earlier (October) option. The days are shorter the later you get into fall.

Lots to consider. Have fun on your cruise.