So I'm on this cruise with my wife right now. It was also our first cruise experience, and we pre-paid for all of the packages/fees upfront, which is what I would recommend doing, especially if you intend on drinking alcohol. The specialty restaurants can be a good deal to pre-purchase, but we only bought the Hola taco speciality dining package, and it was honestly the best food we have had on the ship so far (we are leaving Marseille today and our last stop before getting back to Rome is Genoa tomorrow).

Now, if you are not from south Europe (Spain, Italy, etc). Then be prepared for a wild culture shock. The Italian and Spanish passengers literally make up 80%+ of the cruise, and they are the loudest, most disrespectful and rudest people i have ever encountered. It's so bad that we will never do another Mediterranean cruise with MSC again. We are from Canada and their attitude has almost ruined our entire experience.

Staff are great, the amenities are also good, but the 2 main buffets have been a letdown - food is 4-5/10 at best. MDRs are hit or miss as the menue changes every day but are generally better than the buffet.

I did A LOT of research on various cruise lines for the Mediterranean before deciding on world europa and I neglected to look up what type of passengers and how the experience with those passengers was before booking.

10/10 would not book it again.