We got enticed by this Western Mediterranean 7-day cruise offered by MSC Cruises primarily because it visited a number of ports that we had not had the chance to visit before.
The itinerary included Valencia and Ibiza in Spain, Cagliari in Sardinia, and Rome and Genoa in Italy. It would start and end in Marseille, France, where we also added a few days of pre- and post-cruise to explore a city we had been hoping to visit.
It would also be our first time with MSC, and we had heard good things from some friends who sail with them often. The Musica is one of their older ships and it is not yet equipped with their Yacht Club updates (these are scheduled for November 2026).
We stayed in their Aurea Suites section on the top deck (deck 15) which was still a nice touch. The package included priority boarding and a decent sized cabin with lots of storage space, more than we needed with our carry-on only luggage.
The MSC Musica ship itself can accommodate 3,000 passengers and has a crew of just over one thousand. With 16 decks (including the sundeck above our cabin), 5 restaurants and 10 bars and lounges, the ship sounded like it was going to offer us some good choices. There was also a 3-floor theater putting on Broadway-style shows every night of the cruise. More about our overall impressions of the ship later.
Marseille, France
Boarding in Marseille was a nice experience for us as we had never been and it allowed us to add a night before the cruise and a couple of nights afterwards.
We wrote a separate post about our experience: A Pre- and Post-Cruise Stay in Marseille, France
It was also very convenient to leave from Marseille as we could take a direct flight to Paris and connect with their TGV (Très Grande Vitesse or Very High Speed) train at Charles de Gaulle airport to get right into Marseille in the South of France.
The cruise port is only a short 15-minute or €20 taxi ride from the Old Port area and I must say boarding the MSC Musica was a breeze.
Sailing out of Marseille was picturesque and we saw all the old Roman-like bridges along the coast forming part of the coastal road. Lovely scenery to start off the cruise.
Valencia, Spain
We had visited Valencia previously and knew some of the highlights already. Had we been on our own we would have loved to visit the aquarium but for first-time visitors (and this time we had my mom along and she had never been) seeing the Cathedral and scenic Old Town was a must.
We took the ship’s shuttle into Valencia’s historic center which ran every 30 minutes or so. The shuttle dropped us off across the old riverbed of the Turia River (now turned into a park) near the Serranos Towers, an imposing medieval gate to the city’s Old Town.
From here, it was a short walk to go visit the famous Valencia Cathedral which is definitely the must-do.
Read more about the specific sites to visit in Valencia in our post: What to See in Valencia’s Historic Center
We also saw a sign to what we originally thought was ‘Valencia’s Sistine Chapel’ that we had seen before but instead we paid to see another church with a copycat light show on the ceiling that was less interesting. They even tried to charge us an extra ticket but did refund it once we noticed and complained.
We went through the Silk Exchange, a UNESCO Heritage Site, and the Central Market again just to revisit.
While we would have loved to revisit the Ceramic Museum it was closing at 2pm and we would not make it on time.
We did find the historic Santa Catalina churro place decorated with beautiful ceramics and known for having the best churros in town. We have to agree with that. They had 200 years of experience making them, and it showed!
Last time we spent a couple of days in Valencia, and it gave us the time to plan out the visits and see the stuff that had split hours or limited hours. This was more difficult to do with the short time we were in port with the cruise. Still, it was nice to be back in the Old Town of this beautiful city.
Ibiza, Spain
Ibiza, one of the Balearic Islands, was a new cruise port for us. We took an excursion to see the ancient ruins of early settlers as well as doing a scenic panoramic drive around a nature reserve. We then stopped in Sa Caleta where the Phoenicians first settled in 8th century BCE.
This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and while there is very little left of the original structures an information center describes what these dwellings were thought to look like. Here, the views of the coastline were breathtaking!
We went by huge salt pans, Ses Salines, where they process and supply salt for both cooking and to export for use on streets to melt snow and ice. They produced 86,000 tones of salt last year. In ancient time 650 people were doing manual work here but today it is just 7 people with tractors and tools are needed to extract the salt. We assume it will soon be robots doing this.
The guide said that the word “salary” comes from salt, as the workers used to be paid in salt which was extremely valuable as it could be used to preserve food in olden days. Talk about working in a salt mine!
Along the way we saw some white flamingos. No real red crustaceans are present in the salt pans, so the flamingos don’t achieve their usual pink color we see elsewhere.
Another interesting sighting (but no photo stop) was Es Vedrà, a special magnetic mountain on a small limestone island which is said to vibrate at a high frequency. We didn’t quite understand why but the guide told us that stargazers can see constellations here that are not visible elsewhere. It’s also considered a spiritual place.
The tour also included a stop in the hilltop village of Es Cubells where we saw the exterior of the Santa Maria dels Cubells church and spent time admiring the view from the observation deck.
Then we had one final super short stop at a beach on the western side of Ibiza.
Ultimately, the ship’s excursion was rushed with barely enough time to get off the bus to see what was there. Never mind using the washroom before being hastily herded back into the bus.
Getting back to the ship we were excited to go visit the port itself and to explore the interior streets and passageways of the ancient city, Dalt Vila.
Dalt Vila (Old Town)
From the cruise port we immediately hopped on a taxi (only €15) that took us up the hill to the fortified walled city of Ibiza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the ramparts we got great views of the city, the Balearic Sea, and our cruise ship.
Unfortunately, the Cathedral was closed but we still appreciated its exterior and exploring the Castle of Ibiza next to it.
Note: There are public bathrooms at the of top of the hill where the entrance to the old city is and where the taxi drops you off.
While the Old Town was beautiful and charming with stone steps it had lots of stairs with uneven pavement. To go down, we thought it would be easy, but the cobblestone streets and uneven walkways proved more of a challenge for my mom. She was a trooper though, and we sat down at a cafe to rest and admired the views before making our way down to grab a taxi back to the boat.
Ibiza is known as a party place for the rich and famous. Our guide told us some of the dance clubs had a cover charge of €150 (but it would be waived if you ordered the €3,000 champaign!). Even our fruit juices at the café were €10 each!
It was actually a real fiasco in the port area as it was a Friday night and there was a music festival starting with famous directors flying in for the weekend. We were happy to get a taxi back at all. At first, the driver didn’t want to take us, too much traffic and we had to offer him more money.
Cagliari, Sardinia
Sardinia is a large Italian Island in the Mediterranean Sea and Cagliari is its capital. The island is located about 125 nautical miles from de mainland of Italy. Arriving here was very scenic with the historic center as a backdrop. This area would be where we would spend most of our time in port.
This cruise port would be new for us, and we opted not to take an excursion here which was a good idea.
Tourist bus tour
We found a local hop-on hop-off bus right at the Cagliari cruise terminal that took us past the nature reserve where we got a glimpse of the local flamingoes.
Here the flamingos hanging around the salt pans were light pink unlike the white ones we saw in Ibiza. These mediterranean flamingos are on the island in late April but migrate to Mallorca and Cadiz in the summer.
We also drove by a big park (Parco di Monte Urpinu) named after the foxes that used to be there. Monte Urpinu holds various fortifications from World War II. On the way we also drove by a beautiful beach stretching 5 miles (8km). In the area we also saw a lake with scenic paths that looked like a good place to go birdwatching.
The bus then dropped us off at the top of the hill where we explored the old fortress and got more great views before starting our way back down to the port on foot.
Castello district of Cagliari
Following the medieval cobblestone streets down towards the harbor along the way we visited some of the landmarks of Cagliari’s Old Town. This area is also known as the “District of Seven Churches” with the stunning 13th century Cathedral of Santa Maria being the most important.
Grateful that our timing worked out well as we were here on a Sunday and the church closes during Mass, this was our favorite site in Cagliari. A definite must-see! The interior is a harmonious mix of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles.
We loved the beautiful silver altar and intricate marble work. Be sure to peek into the Shrine of the Martyrs by the opening to the left of the lion staircase leading to the altar. Admission was free but making a small donation to help maintain this marvel will be greatly appreciated, I’m sure.
Nearby, there was the lavish Palazzo Regio, a former royal residence during the Aragonese, Spanish, and Savoy periods. Admission was only €3. It is now the seat of Metropolitan City of Cagliari.
The interior was nicely decorated and contained some antique furniture and lots of portrait paintings. Be sure to look up at the ceilings and peek out the window for a lovely view of the city.
For lunch, near the Bastione di Santa Croce, we found a great terrace-restaurant (Libarium Nostrum) to rest and try some fresh pastas and enjoy the views. Do try the local specialty pasta with some kind of fish egg powder called: bottarga (also called Sardinian Gold). It’s delicious. Here, we also got to try some oysters from Sardinia, and these too got our seal of approval!
Then, we walked by the Elephant Tower with its impressive, spiked steel gate as we made our way down the hill where we found a great spot for some gelato (Kremet Gelateria) before visiting a few local shops on our way back to Piazza Yenne to catch the cruise ship shuttle.
We bought some souvenirs such as a Christmas ornament, scarves, and t-shirts. My husband tried on a t-shirt but being too small the shopkeeper brought out a larger one which he bought without trying. We laughed once back in our cabin when this turned out to be a woman’s cut and even tighter on him. It fit me though, so I just said thank you!
A great cruise port to visit and definitely worth staying in the port area.
Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
We’d been hoping to have an excuse to head back to Gelateria Della Palmas (our favorite) for a gelato. And of course, see some of the beautiful fountains and churches but instead of going into Rome we ended up renting a car from Budget literally a 3-minute walk from the cruise ship port exit and did our own excursion to Tuscania and Tarquinia.
It was a great tour and because it’s a good idea for anyone coming into the port with a cruise or even as a day trip from the airport, we opted to write it up separately.
See our write up: Day Trip to Tarquinia and Tuscania from the Rome Cruise Port
Note also that those questioning the cruise ship excursion prices may want to wait to get off the ship. We saw companies offering transfers into Rome for under €20 (over €100 on the ship) as well as many other options. There are also tours of local sites around Civitavecchia such as the Forte Michelangelo and the Taurine Baths and other ancient Roman ruins close by.
Genoa, Italy
This was again a big industrial port but a beautiful town with a backdrop of mountains. It would be nice to return one day and explore more of Genoa. But this time around we opted for an excursion that would take us by bus and boat to Portofino and a couple of other scenic towns along the Ligurian Coast (or the Italian Riviera).
The bus started off taking us through lots of tunnels and mountainous terrain where we saw many colorful and beautiful towns nestled in ravines between the mountains and the sea. The whole area looked like a postcard.
First stop: Camogli
This charming seaside town turned out to be our favorite. The whole area was so picturesque with colorful buildings, sparkling water, and a lovely little beach. But what we loved more was the quaint atmosphere despite the many tourists.
As we walked down to the town, the guide pointed out that many of the houses had painted windows. She explained that a long time ago the city had imposed a new tax that taxed a home by the number of windows it had. So, some owners filled in some of their windows with bricks and just painted fake windows on the façade to avoid the tax. An ingenious way to beat the system!
We really loved the artisanal stores. We walked into a t-shirt store where the artist makes her own silk screens and explained how she did everything from the artwork to the silk screen to the printing. None of this was ordered in bulk from overseas. It was made right there in Italy from scratch. They were also beautiful and we had to get one.
Another store was making little leather sardine keychains, and we saw the patterns being cut out and handsewn together on the desk which served both as a sales counter and workshop. Again, not a cheap mass-produced import brought in by the thousands but rather handmade right there in the store. When she didn’t have a color, she offered to make us one in the color we wanted.
Camogli is know for its traditional focaccias. So, of course, we had to sample some. The local flavor is like a cold thick focaccia bread but topped with onions making it more like a cold open-faced pizza. Delicious.
Then we boarded a boat for a 45-minute transfer to Portofino. On the way we had a brief photo stop off the shore of the Camogli to see the Abbey of San Fruttuoso.
Second stop: Portofino
Next, we docked in Portofino as part of the tour and really enjoyed the picturesque port with its colorful buildings and many small fishing boats and sail boats in the small harbor.
While beautiful too, it was somehow missing the charm of Camogli (and the focaccia cost €5 instead of €1 and wasn’t as good). All the same, we enjoyed our brief visit with some gelato and exploring the narrow streets and many shops.
Third stop: Recco
From Portofino we boarded the ferry boat for an hour-long ride along the Ligurian Coast to Recco. Unlike Camogli and Portofino we found that this town lacked the same charm. I think it was more of a convenient stop to disembark to take us back to the bus and get us back to the ship.
Overall, we very much enjoyed this excursion as it gave us ample time at the sites allowing us to sample the shops and restaurants and not have to run to make the bus!
Perhaps one day we will be back to explore more of the Italian Riviera. We’d love to spend some time in Genoa to visit Porto Antico and visit Acquario di Genova, Europe’s largest aquarium.
And with that it was already time to get back to the boat and pack up as we approached our debarkation point back in Marseille.
Conclusion
We truly enjoyed all the ports on this Mediterranean Cruise. Starting and ending in Marseille gave us the opportunity to visit France’s second largest city and we liked what we saw.
It was nice to revisit Valencia’s Old Town. There is so much history there. The island of Ibiza was picturesque, but Dalt Vila was definitely the must-see here. It’s lovely with splendid views from the ramparts.
Cagliari in Sardinia was one of our favorite stops. It was nice to simply wander around and enjoy the sites. Visiting Tarquinia and Tuscania instead of taking a long transfer into Rome was a great idea too as both of these small towns were charming and well worth a visit. Our only regret is that we didn’t have more time to explore them.
We missed out on Genoa, but we really enjoyed spending time in Camogli and Portofino along the Ligurian Coast. I have an inkling that we will be back to see more of this beautiful area of Italy.
Overall impression of MSC Cruises
Boarding was a breeze because not everyone embarks at the same time. The itinerary allows people to board and disembark in multiple ports. We boarded in Marseille, but people got on and off in Valencia, Rome, or Genoa. Basically, all along the route.
We opted for one of the Aurea suites on Deck 15. Theses cabins come with extra perks such as priority embarkation (but unfortunately not disembarkation at the ports of call). There was also access to a sundeck and spa but with the cooler weather and a packed itinerary of excursions and port visits we did not indulge in these. Note, that the MSC in Aurea class did have some lotion and conditioner which most reviews said they didn’t have. A nice surprise.
The cabin service was friendly and more than adequate with our room steward coming twice a day and changing towels and replenishing coffees. Minibar was paid (and generally €4 a soft drink) so unless you took a drink package (something they tried pushing on you quite aggressively) you felt nickel and dimed.
The food was surprisingly disappointing with the mad rush at the buffet truly a poor experience. Choices were limited and often repeating throughout the week. Plates were often empty or limited and little control was exerted on where guests put the serving spoons and these quickly got mixed between plates.
We thought we’d do the sit-down breakfast one day, but after a lengthy wait the food came out cold and orders were mixed up and some missing. Further, they squeezed us into a tightly packed corner with 4 couples to a table (despite the rest of the dining room being empty).
The sit-down dinner was generally good but not excellent. Even what was dubbed as fresh pasta came out with dried edges and we had fish that was completely dry like it may have sat under heating lamps for 10 minutes too long.
The shows were very good and while the seats at the theater were often crooked or bent out of shape, we understood the ship would be in dry dock soon, so these were likely on their last legs. The dancers and singers and acrobats were all great. There was less variety than other ships (no comedians or magicians) but we did enjoy the 30-45 minutes shows every night.
The excursions were good, but we were disappointed with the pace (never enough time to see anything at leisure) and also with the Rome transfer that went just to the train station far from the attractions. Glad we noticed in time to cancel it! One of our favorites excursions was the one that included boats and transfers in Genoa. This could have been harder to arrange on our own, so it was nice to visit these scenic towns.
Things we liked
• Wi-Fi was good albeit not cheap
• Sit down dining (evening) was enjoyable
• Cabin was spacious with lots of storage
• Shows were great
• Itinerary was what attracted us initially, and was good
What we liked less
• Disembarkation at the ports, a giant scramble with long lines. Especially without a paid excursion
• The food, especially at the buffet
• Even the suite experience didn’t provide priority disembarkation at the ports of call
• Deck 15 only had one bank of elevators so always had to walk over to the front of ship
• The nickel and diming. We even had to slide our cruise card into a reader for bubbly water at the buffet
• The lack of a paper cruise planner, we missed having this in the room for planning the next day
• The lack of activities on board (towel folding, cooking, port talks) maybe they were in the app but hard to find
We usually choose a cruise for its itinerary anyway, and some of these problems are inherent with all cruise lines to varying degrees.
Overall, we tend to look at cruises as a way to get between interesting ports, and usually choose those that have the fewest, ideally no, sea days. In some cases, we actually think of a short day in port as a way of sampling a place to see if we would return for a longer period. In this case, we really enjoyed the area and may indeed return for a longer trip by land.