Originally published: March 2017 — Last updated: October 2025

Booking with MSC cruises is different than booking with other cruise lines.  Guests customize their cruise by selecting from several experiences.   The experience based pricing structure allows guests to personalize their cruise based on their unique needs and wants.   We purchased the MSC Aurea Experience during our recent sailing on the MSC Magnifica.  Since we weren’t entirely sure what to expect with the experience, we’ve created this article to help you understand what’s included and to help you determine if it’s worth the cost.

The MSC Area experience has changed drastically over the years. Previously, the benefits far exceeded the cost, in my opinion. As the benefits have changed (been reduced), you need to do a little research to see what’s right for you.

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We’re avid cruisers and love traveling by sea.  We recently sailed onboard the MSC Magnifica and felt compelled to share some of our MSC cruise travel secrets with you!  MSC Cruises is completely different from the other cruise lines we’ve sailed – Royal Caribbean, Disney, Carnival, NCL and Virgin Voyages.  It’s a European cruise line and, as an American, that takes some getting used to. But that’s all part of the experience!

MSC stands for Mediterranean Shipping Company and, just as the name implies, they were originally a container shipping company.   In 1988, the Aponte family got into the cruising business making MSC the largest privately owned cruise company in the world.   Today, MSC Cruises is the leading cruise company in the Mediterranean, South Africa and Brazil.

MSC Cruise Travel Secrets: Tips & Tricks for Sailing with MSC

Don’t over pay – The tips start even before you sail!  MSC is always offering some type of deal, so you should never pay full price for a cruise. During our recent sailing, they were offering kids sail free and two for one. We’ve found MSC to be competitively priced and a good value for the money. MSC has also been offering special rates with drinks and wifi included.

Sign up for the MSC newsletter, so you’re aware of new special offers.

Kids sail free – Look for kids sail free offers. Kids 11 and under sail free and special rates are given to kids aged 12 – 17.  You’ll only pay taxes and port charges!  This helped make sailing with MSC extremely affordable for families.  I couldn’t feed the kids for 11 nights at home for the amount we spent for their tickets. This is not offered on all sailings, so keep a look at current offers.

Choose your experience – MSC has several experiences you can purchase to enhance your cruise. Each experience provides different benefits and also dictates which staterooms are available for booking.

• The “Bella” Experience is perfect for budget savvy travelers.
• The “Fantastica” Experience offers more ideally located staterooms, free room service, and a discounted drink package.
• The “Aurea” Experience offers access to the thermal area, access to the solarium, free room service and more. Read our review of the Aurea experience HERE.
• The MSC Yacht Club offers all-inclusive amenities and is the top tier experience for cruisers.

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You’ve booked a cruise, but want to know a bit more about the MSC Magnifica cruise ship before you sail off on the high seas? We’ve got that info for you!! We came back from an 11 night cruise on the MSC Magnifica a few weeks ago.   It was a fun trip and we learned a ton of information about the ship.  We’ll break down some of the data, so you’ll be prepared for your sailing.

The MSC Magnifica cruise ship is a Musica-class ship. It was the 4th and final ship of this class.  The ship was nice ,but a bit worn, having been in service since 2010.  It helped that the crew did a good job of keeping it clean.  The ship carries just over 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew.   This is not a Mega ship, but still had plenty of amenities to keep my kids entertained and it was a good size for cruising around Europe.

We were lucky during our sailing as the ship wasn’t at full capacity.  There was plenty of space to get away from the crowds and relax with a drink as we glided across the sea.

Staff – 

Most of the staff were friendly & great with the kids. We had read reviews of extremely rude staff, but for the most part, we didn’t find this to be the case.  That’s not to say we didn’t come across some rude crew members, it just means that most were friendly, considerate and tried to make our cruise pleasurable.

Our room steward and waiters at dinner were especially great.  Our room steward was on top of things.  Most mornings we left the room for breakfast and returned an hour later to find the room already cleaned.  We didn’t get towel animals, but I’ll take  a clean room and fresh towels over lame towel animal art any day.

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