georgiapeach84

This is my issue! The western route is an enjoyable known since I've been to a lot of the places and countries. But the eastern- it just looks so interesting! Such an intriguing unknown! Ahhh! I am grateful that these are the kind of *tough* decisions to be facing at the moment. 😄

Those are two I've itineraries looked at! We've never sailed on the Splendida, but we've spent a couple weeks on the Divina and really liked the ship. I'll have to check out the Poesia one as well. Thanks for the insights 🙂 And I hope you do a review of the transatlantic trip! That's on my bucket list!

We're not planning to do Northern Europe at this time. What did you like most about the Eastern routes?

We're planning a 7-10ish day cruise in 2024 (either May or Sept/Oct). We'll have our 2 kids with us who are pretty easygoing travelers (at the time they'll be 4 and 8- they don't need screen time to be constantly entertained and mix well-ish for their ages with adults). We travel at a pretty leisurely pace and enjoy equal times being touristy and relaxing with a book, are more likely to visit a museum, check out historical sites, or have beach days than go skydiving or speedboating. We have been on several MSC cruises in the Caribbean and already are familiar with and fans of the line 😄 so no surprises there. I've traveled a bit by land in Western Europe, but have never been to Eastern Europe. There is a strong likelihood we'll be traveling by land in Spain, France, and Italy sometime again in the next few years, but unlikely that we'll go to Eastern Europe any time soon. That said- if you've experienced either or both- by land, air, or sea- what are your thoughts? Western Europe is more of a known trip that I personally already know I'd enjoy, but I've never experienced southern Italy (anywhere past Naples/Amalfi Coast), Greece, Turkey, Croatia, etc. Also if you have been on either east or west cruises: what port or ports are your favorite(s)? Thanks!

Has anyone stayed at the Beachside Hotel in Cocoa Beach? They have a variety of fly snooze cruise packages. We're flying in from MCO the afternoon before and their rates including shuttles to/from airport and to/from port are about the same price as just the hotel of some other big name chains nearby. It looks like it has a good vibe and is in a great location (near Ron Jon's)- curious if anyone had stayed there before? Thanks! https://beachsidehotelcocoabeach.com/

To be fair, thinking in retro, this alone might make it worth it 😁 (re: priority embarkation)

We haven't sailed since 2019, but our past two cruises were with MSC with and Aurea suite (Divina) and Aurea balcony (Seaside). This was back when a free massage and the drink plus package included all specialty coffee and gelato from the 3rd party spots (chances are they discontinued this because of the amount of gelato our kids alone consumed that week :D) Needless to say we enjoyed the MSC charm and rolled well with all it's quirks. Other perks that we enjoyed: *we loved the (at the time) thermal spa on the Seaside *flexible dining *access to the top solarium We're looking at Seaside or Meraviglia sometime in the next several months- Caribbean/Bahamas for 4 or 7 nights. Thoughts from recent travelers? Any other perks I'm missing? (Also please don't say Yacht Club...my heart says yes but my bank account says no.) Cheers!