Cruiseswithfamilyornot

Sorry I didn't see this and I don't recall but didn't remember it being green.

Sorry as I put in my post of 9/8 I did not take pics of the room. No one slept on the sofa bed so can't advise about mattress or how comfortable the bed was.

I was not on another MSC ship, but I can tell you @Georgia_Peaches that you did need to have the concierge call down for a reservation for you. They would handle that for you, but you did need a reservation. Unless it was a day when many were in a port(or so they told my companions), you weren't able to just walk down unfortunately. I did hear another passenger complain that's not how it was on another MSC ship. So I guess it's just a function of the timing as if the spa is busy they won't just let you in. One in my party found that out the hard way unfortunately.

PS You have to make a reservation to use the Thermal Spa area even if you're in the yacht club. They try to monitor the number of people there for overcrowding reasons which is very smart

The ship is beautiful. IMHO it's the nicest looking ship of all of the main stream cruise lines, which is something MSC is apparently known for. The casino isn't as pretty as the rest of the areas, again IMHO. Also, it's not as busy, no poker except on seadays(with the exception of the texas hold em table game which I like, but others in my party did not). So not as pretty of an area, and not as much action going on. I just walked through the Thermal Suite to see it on the first day. Some others did spend time one day and they felt it was a little overcrowded, smaller space, but they enjoyed it. Aesthetically, it's very nice though as I think someone else said here the waterfall is a little overpowering.

Having been on many Royal ships, World Europa was built by the same company that builds Royal's ships and there are many parts of the ships that clearly were taken right from Royal's ships. The back of the ship is 100% like the Oasis ships, except it doesn't have anything in the rear of the ship and the "boardwalk" they have on Royal is replaced with a walkway with the Coffee Emporium, some restaurants, a bar, shops and Sweet Sensations off of it(ice cream, yogurt, and waffles/crepes). They also have a light show there every night. The inside of the ship their Panorama Lounge is identical to 270 on the Quantum Ships. There were other similarities, and some differences. La Brasserie was great, we are all still talking about it, but not necessarily the healthiest food. Some of the desserts were amazing.

I'm sorry that I didn't take pictures of the cabin . There is a round lounge chair on the balcony

La Brasserie was excellent, but if you've seen the menu it's a lot of fried and rich food but I was surprised how it was. The Maitre D' there, I forget her name, is excellent as was the wait staff. On non sea days, no crowding of course on the sun deck. On the one sea day we had, it was packed. Not like the main pool area, but pretty full with one pool and one hot tub. The top sail lounge was never crowded and the restaurant was packed around 8 30 at night, and in the morning from 8 am to 9 am. Service suffered at these times, you could get seated. The drinks in the speak easy are not included, they make that very clear. But very worthwhile and again want to leave some things a secret lol. For Speak easy tickets, if you are in the yacht club, just go to the concierge and they will help you get tickets right away. If you wait for an "invitation" you won't get one. Sorry that my kids are all 21+ so can't help with anything related to the kids club, though I will tell you kids seemed to be having a fantastic time on board and there was a ton for them to do. I'll leave for someone else to advise. I did not take pics of my room, I should have, but honestly didn't want to remember the people sitting outside seeing most of our veranda and the small shower was also not a memory I wanted to keep. Prefer to focus on the spaciousness of the room(we had all 16 in the living/dining area without an issue). I hope you do have our butler, but I know he is moving to another MSC ship shortly but I don't know exactly when. Enjoy your cruises! Any other questions I'd be happy to try to answer

I was on the MSC World Europa cruise for one week roundtrip from Barcelona on 9/1 through 9/8. We travelled in the Yacht Club(all) and were a group of 16 people spread out over 9 rooms including singles. I have been on well over 50 cruises, but this was my first time on MSC. I found alot of the other reviews on MSC World Europa to be spot on. While there has been some time to refine/improve in some areas, some things are what they are. Overall, I would say we enjoyed our cruise and the itinerary and found the Yacht Club to be very much worth it, despite some snafus. Would be go on MSC again? Really that depends on who you ask and what's more important to them as my more detailed review will show below. In a nut shell, if you prefer the American way of cruising including more trivias, game shows and the like, then this is not the cruise for you. But if being able to have that ship within a ship experience at reasonable price is the most important thing to you, this is the ship for you. I'm going to be blunt and honest here, but as I've said above, overall it was a very enjoyable experience but there were some things that were not. Embarkation in Barcelona. 10/10. We were in Yacht Club so separate line, we were on the ship in no time and received an overview and off to our room Pre-boarding items: In a word, poor. You can book a massage and specialty restaurants, but you cannot set dates and times until you are on the ship. That was crazy. Likewise, cannot book shows in advance. They also send you a questionnaire a few days before sailing with your choice of pillows, what you want the minibar stocked with, and which daily newspaper you want. Then you get the EXACT SAME questionnaire when you board. Then none of it is in your room anyway and you speak to your butler(which is fine btw) and things get done. The newspaper never came till the last 2 days(which is fine honestly). Major area of improvement. Yacht Club amenities. Some GREAT ones honestly. #1 on the list for me, is each person in a room has two free internet sign ins on different devices. My last 3 cruises were all luxury cruise lines and premium +(Oceania) and none of them gave you that. I work full time as did some others so this was big. Drinks covered up to 14 euros each, very nice. There was a separate location to disembark the ship for yacht club guests and we never had a line one day, our butler insisted on walking us out. Great lounge with entertainment every night, never crowded. They opened a place called La Brasserie as a second venue for the yacht club located in the buffet on deck 19. The buffet is closed for just yacht club guests, and you require a reservation. Food there was shockingly very good, though not the healthiest of fare. The desserts, especially the warm chocolate chip cookie, were insanely good. One of the biggies is the ability to use your card to have the elevator come privately for you(ones used exclusively by you). There are many others honestly. Yacht Club was as advertised to me. Biggest Positives: Ship is BEAUTIFUL(except for the casino). Really much nicer than other main stream cruise lines. Most servers have a smile. The chocolate shop and the gelato in particular was great. Panorama Lounge, although a rip off of 270 on Royal, was a great room with great shows. Great use of elevators where you push a button for your floor and they tell you which elevator to go to. Elevators much more efficient. Our butler, Sandor, was fantastic. Shows were really better than expected, and some of the best on mainstream lines. The speak easy room was a HUGE hit, and I can't recommend it enough. Won't spoil all the details here. The other big positives were all a part of the yacht club as itemized above. Biggest Negatives: MASSIVE crowds sometimes on the ship. Not in Yacht Club but main part of ship. It was shocking though you learned what times to stay away. Inconsistency of food and service. The first night 7 people in our party said they had the worst dinner in the yacht club restaurant they've ever had on a cruise ship. Most nights it was very good. Just very inconsistent, sometimes the same dish from one day to the next. Service also suffered often, especially when busy. Usually, it was good. But sometimes they just forget anything asked for and took a long a time to serve. The third big one was the lack of trivias/game shows and what they had, was terribly overcrowded to the point you couldn't get in. They need a large room for these activites---and they have the rooms on the ship already in existence. The ship also had some funky designs that you never got fully used to. Teppanyaki was the only specialty we went to as we usually love it, it was good, but better on both Royal and Norwegian. I was in Room 18001, which is one of the Owner Suites. Great room. Comfortable bed, plenty of storage, walk in closet, and our butler Sandor deserves medals he was that good. Negatives were shower was shockingly small and tight(smaller and tighter than a regular yacht club deluxe suite), and the 2/3 of the balcony was in easy viewing distance from the outside area of the Top Sail Lounge, which was not great. Due to weather we had to miss our last stop in Malta, but they rescheduled us to Palermo immediately. Very good communication and well handled. So overall, nice itinerary, beautiful ship, but if you are at all crowd adverse you won't be happy if not in yacht club and somethings to get used to as a european line vs america.

As I've seen a few posts about certain areas feeling more crowded I was curious how full the ship was? As some of the inaugural voyages and I've read that they are not sold out, what that will mean for crowding when they are more full. Thank you for taking the time to post your review, much appreciated.

Thank you, Keith. Very happy to hear this and would appreciate any updates/insights you get as you are on board now. Hope you continue to have a great cruise.

I had a very similar experience as @Dr. Cocktailon a very recent Regent cruise. In fact, based on feedback I received from crew and some fellow passengers, I booked an Explora cruise while I was still on the Regent cruise. My butler on Regent had been with them for 15 years and said he couldn't wait to go to Explora. There is a general feeling among the crew that there is more financial stability with Explora based on their owners, and there are some changes that are new exciting. Personally, there are a few things I question how it will work, but am very willing to give them a try. I like how they try to spend more time in ports and will be glued to read initial reviews, while recognizing there will be some kinks to work out.

I have been on two Oceania cruises and I have to agree with others here that their entertainment is not as good as others. I found it to be subpar as well. That said, I am going on Oceania Vista in a few months and they have made a big deal about their improved entertainment for that ship and curious to see if that is the case. Back to OP question, with old Crystal's demise I have been trying other lines out again. Regent would be my favorite one thus far. I was shocked that I liked the service as much as I did on old Crystal and the food was very good, entertainment and most things relatively comparable. The only big negative for me on Regent was the included excursions were sub par(some, not most) and based on pricing that should not be. I am excited to try Explora Journeys based on all I read.

Regent, Silversea, Seabourn and most luxury ships have smaller casinos like this one on their ship. As always, if you don't want to partake you can steer away. But for those that enjoy that as a part of their nightly entertainment, it's nice to have that option.

Crystal was my favorite luxury cruise line. When the news of no casinos was announced, I cancelled my pre bookings and am taking a more wait and see attitude as I like some others I really enjoy gambling as a night time activity. There is no doubt I am not in the majority not just from this poll, but anyone that has taken a luxury cruise can tell you their casinos are not crowded. I get the decision, and I don't like it, but combined with itineraries I didn't find very exciting I decided to back out and instead try out Explora and others. That said, I am positive that as long as reviews are good I will give Crystal a try at some point, but the removal of a casino all together is a negative for me.