LasseKjus

Its listed as an interior, but it has a window that basically lets light in, but you can't see anything but another part of the ship, typically a lifeboat or a wall of some sort. I would book interiors if it weren't for the lack of light coming in. I don't spend much time in the room other than to sleep and shower, but I abhor sleeping in absolute darkness.

I changed cabins (Pride, June 30). The PVP originally told me they couldn't do it, but I booked on a Casino Rate and they sent me to a casino PVP. I had already paid for both my rooms in full, even though the pay by date wasn't for a month or so. That was quick and easy with the casino PVP. They upgraded our room from hidden window interior to balcony for what the difference was. They had to find a booking code to match, which was the only challenge. It was like $350 to upgrade from hidden window interior to balcony. HOWEVER, like a week after upgrading and paying in full the difference, I got an upgrade offer from Carnival. My second room was also hidden-window balcony and I was able to upgrade it for just $90 to balcony so we'd have side by side staterooms. Maybe if I'd have been patient, I'd have gotten a cheaper upgrade. I have since received an additional upgrade offer. $40 to go from deck 4 to deck 8 balcony, $260 to go from regular balcony to extended balcony, or a strange $640 to upgrade to obstructed view balcony. I'm waiting for the suite if we're going to upgrade further, which I'm confident won't happen.

Coming out of Covid pause, about 8ish months after the restart, I was getting all kinds of offers for Carnival, with the best being $4 (not including taxes) per person for an inside state room for a 10-day Australian cruise in October. I did book a 5-day cruise over Thanksgiving 2021 for $25 per person, not including taxes. I did book 9-day Norwegian itinerary for this summer which includes a $500 OBC, which is a casino rate. I'm not a huge gambler. I usually lose about $250 per cruise, but often that includes some winnings that I give back.

It was such a fun trip. In our 17 days, we flew 12,593 miles and were in 14 different airports. With a family of five, to keep costs down, I found the cheapest flights possible. We drove to Atlanta and did ATL->LGA; JFK->MAD->LGW; LGW->CDG all in one day (costing just $370 per person, including bags). Then ORY->NAP. After the cruise, FCO->CMH->MIA, then FLL->TPA->home airport. We walked more than a quarter million steps and 106 miles per my phone. It was amazing that everything went according to plan.

The first couple of days, the entertainment team was almost non-existent. Once we hit Barcelona, it was a different vibe. More sail away parties and the activities animation team had pool side games. There was one group of three singers (who weren't very good) singing a random assortment of late 80s/early 90s songs. There was karaoke. The theater shows were not very good, but being MSC, we had zero expectations. We weren't there for the ships, but the stops.

With things ever changing from a COVID standpoint, I though i’d give a review of our MSC Opera May 21-28 Mediterranean cruise. This was supposed to be a May 2020 cruise, then a July 2020 cruise and it ended up being a May 2021 cruise. We went from a five person balcony on a newer ship, to two ocean views on a ship we last sailed 17 years ago. We did four days in Paris before our cruise, which was incredibly fun to start. Most of this review is how COVID affected the trip. EMBARKATION — We boarded in Naples, Italy. Naples is a bit run down, it seems and can be sketchy. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and took a cab to the port at 8 a.m., arriving at 8:10 a.m. There was no real idea or order of what to do. There was one security officer checking documents prior to entering the terminal. We had to show tickets, passports and COVID vaccinations. We get to enter the terminal and wait in a long line to enter the terminal building. The seemingly are letting in a handful of embarking passengers a little at a time. This line was over an hour of waiting outside. When we we get to enter, we are again in a queue, this time its nearly an hour and half. So we don’t board until 11 a.m., nearly three hours after arrival at the port. One of the most interesting things is that despite being told we need travel insurance WE NEVER HAD TO SHOW IT. I originally bought insurance and then found it didn’t meet their requirements. I bought more and never showed it to anyone. I was a bit frustrated, but it wasn’t the end of the world. COVID PRECAUTIONS ON THE SHIP — The crew wore masks, but there was very little in the way of mask wearing except in the nightly shows. The crew enforced masks in the theater. Apparently the muster drill was virtual, watching on the TV and calling a number to say you watched. We apparently missed that and had to go to an in person makeup drill, which was not very time consuming. We tried to play ping pong, golf and table soccer. Those were being cleaned regularly and we were limited to half hour increments of playing. There was an attendant at the hot tubs. There were only 7 allowed in the hot tubs and the attendant was tracking time. People were asked to leave the hot tub after 15 minutes. It didn’t feel like we were very crowded until about day four. We had rolling embarkation, but it seemed like we turned over half the ship in Barcelona. It also seemed as if they were only using half the dining room. We didn’t take any excursions through the ship. THE SHIP — The ship is old and shows wear (like some of the elevator buttons you couldn’t even see the number they were so run down), but she is in good shape. She was very clean. Food was plentiful and in typical MSC fashion not super but never bad. We were never hungry. Only juice is served at breakfast. Water is for purchase at dinner unless you book from the USA (which we are) and water is then included. Tips were only 10 Euro per person. I budgeted 15 Euro. THE STOPS — OK, now is the cruise review. Genoa. Cruise port is run down, but once you get away, it’s a crazy beautiful place. We seemingly walked straight up to an old castle which also held the Genoa World Cultures Museum. We navigated local transportation and found so many wonderful areas to explore. We had street pizza and gelato. We took a train back to the ship area after a long day of walking. Marseilles. We got off the ship late. Apparently there was some sort of strike that was keeping us from getting off. We got off the ship two hours late and they let us have an extra hour. There was a shuttle to town, that you had to pay for, 16 euro per person. Didn’t expect that. We walked around Marseilles and hit many of the main stops. The old port, MuCum, the fort. Last shuttle back was an hour and a half prior to all aboard. Barcelona. I could go back 100 times. It was so nice. We went to the Olympic museum and Olympic stadium area. We toured Montjuic and the palace and the Arenas de Barcelona. We bussed to Las Ramblas and explored there and trained back to the shuttle drop off. There was a shuttle to the main part of town which was 8 Euro. La Goulette (Tunis, Tunisia). First time in Africa. We contemplated doing a shore excursion, but we did a private cab and did more than the excursions that we could do via the ship. We also did it for 1/3 of the price. We toured Tunis and its Medina area. We went to three stops in the archaeological area of Carthage and the went to Sidi Bou Said. On the way back to the ship, the cab driver took us through a tour of La Goulette. Palermo. We were tired by now after four days in Paris and four days of heavy walking on the ship. We walked to the Palermo Cathedral and then to Ballaro street market. So incredible! We then wandered the streets of Palermo doing some shopping. DISEMBARKATION — We had what we thought was a tight squeeze. We had a 10:31 train to Rome. I worried about how long it was going to take to get off. We were instructed that we would be called at 8:40 a.m. to disembark and I was worried how long passport/border control/customs would take. We eat breakfast, then we head to the theater to wait to be called. After 15 minutes of waiting, we get called to disembark right at 8:40 a.m. Our bags are waiting for us and there is literally no one checking passports or customs. We walk right out and by 8:50 a.m. we’re getting our cab to the train station. AFTER THE CRUISE — Our flight was from Rome to Miami via Casablanca, Morocco, with a 20 hour layover. Casablanca was crazy amazing. So many nice people and so much to see and do. Everyone wants to do this trip all over again. Prior to the cruise, we toured Paris and spent two days in Disneyland Paris. It was a crazy fun two weeks and would love to do it all over again.

Similar situation for me. I called MSC directly and they said that they do not have any testing aboard any of their ships.