Royal Caribbean or MSC for Mediterranean cruise?

Question

We are planning a cruise for our honeymoon, and are deciding between 2 similar cruises leaving at the same time.

Royal Caribbean: Venice, Athens, Mykonos, Katakolon, Corfu, Split, and back to Venice.

MSC: Venice, Bari, Katakolon, Santorini and Mykonos on the same day, Athens, Corfu, Dubrovnik, and back to Venice

We are in our mid 20s, so it would be nice to have other people closer to our age on the boat, but not absolutely necessary. We would prefer a more "relaxed" atmosphere on the boat as opposed to feeling scheduled in. Has anyone had experiences with either of these cruiselines? What do you think?

Answer 1

Royal Caribbean   is the best

Answer 2

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreview...

Answer 3

I have never been on a MSC ship as its an Italian cruise line that does not advertise in the US.  But, I have been on many cruises and several of them were on Royal Caribbean ships.

Royal Caribbean is my favorite cruise line and their ship, the Brilliance of the Seas which does their Mediterranean itineraries, is my favorite of their ships.  We did a 12 day Mediterranean cruise on RC a couple years ago.  The ship had a good mixture of passengers from their 30's to 60's and not many kids since our cruise was in October.  The ship has great features, food and staff.

I know very little about MSC but read one review of a person from the US who cruised with them who said that it catered mostly to Italians and European tastes.  So if you are European you may love that line and ship.  I will stick with RC.

You can be as relaxed as you want on any cruise.  There are a lot of formal activities that go on, like formal dress nights and meet the captain events, but you do not have to do those unless you want.  There is always a place on ship where you can dine (breakfast, lunch and dinner) informally, i.e., the Windjammer Cafe buffet, so you do not have to dress up unless you want to.  If you really want a cruise line where you can be informal ALL of the time then you should consider a cruise on a Norwegian cruise where they have their "freestyle" cruising and you go to dinner any time of the evening that you want.

As I look at the itineraries of the cruises you are looking at I recommend that you choose a cruise that includes Rome.  The ones you have chosen include two Greek isles which are great, plus Athens and Venice.  

That's what I think and recommend.