My party booked a private car to shuttle us from our airport hotel in Fiumicino to our ship, which w

My party booked a private car to shuttle us from our airport hotel in Fiumicino to our ship, which was docked in a little seaside town called Civitavecchia. The drive to Civitavecchia took about an hour, and the scenery was beautiful. Lush green hills and olive groves accent rent a car rolled past my window for the first half of the drive, before being joined by the Tyrrhenian Sea as we neared the port.
As I walked to the buffet, I was curious about what awaited me. During the months leading up to this cruise, I periodically browsed the MSC forum on Cruise Critics and found that most cruisers thought accent rent a car the food on their ships was either delicious or disgusting. Now, I know food is a very subjective topic, but since this was my first time cruising accent rent a car with MSC, I was a bit concerned.
The first thing I spotted was a tabletop full of pizzas. Since MSC touts its Italian-influenced accent rent a car ambiance, I figured pizza would be a good place to start. I grabbed a slice of basic Margherita, along with a tiny calzone, a burger and some fries, and sat down for my first bite.
The pizza was pretty good, although not as fresh as I d hoped. The crust was also a bit bland and tough. Definitely one of those pizzas where you d only eat the parts covered accent rent a car in cheese and tomato sauce.
The burger left a lot to be desired. It wasn t very warm. The patty, supposedly accent rent a car a beef one, was thin and didn t taste very beefy. The patty s texture accent rent a car was also soft, almost spongy, like a veggie burger. While the tomatoes and lettuce were fresh and fine, the overall flavor was bland compared to burgers you could get at places like In-N-Out or even McDonald s back in the US. Pass.
This is where MSC hits a home run. The pastas were hearty and cooked perfectly al dente . The ingredients, from the cheese in the tortellini, to the fish, to the pork, were all very flavorful. I ve also never seen these dishes (pasta with pork and bacon sauce?!) in the US, so it all felt refreshingly unique from the usual spaghetti Bolognese and fettuccine Alfredo you see a lot of back home.
With my stomach stuffed, I had a few hours to explore the ship, take the mandatory emergency-at-sea drill, and relax. Dinner would start later in the evening, and I d get another chance to see what types of Italian dishes I was being deprived of back in America.