MSC Fantasia Western Med NOW

plucasana · August 12, 2016

Napoli

We had been to Naples 3 years ago, where we took the Circumvesuvia train to see Pompeii.

The Fantasia docks near the train station. If you go straight on, you automatically reach the signs pointing you to the station.

To take the hydrofoil to Capri you have to turn left.

For us, this time, it was going to be our “sea day”, so a day without plans.

Do you know what a Pokemon is?

2 weeks ago, I didn’t know what a Pokemon was.

Today, I do. It has to do with walking around, your smartphone in your hand, not looking where you are going and stopping rather suddenly whenever your smartphone purrs no matter who is walking right behind you / bumping into you.

This is pretty much what we did today. My daughter knew that you could catch plenty of said Pokemon in Naples, so her task was just that.

I still got to see some of Naples though. The city center is not really beautiful but if you walk past the excursion center (for the ships to Capri) and past the little park you arrive at a very nice promenade with expensive looking hotels, with a beautiful fort/castle and yachts and a harbor and a lot of locals lying on the big stones as if it were a beach. The sun was shining, the sea was deep blue so how can this not be beautiful.

Back on the ship we headed to the One Bar to enjoy another great pasta dish and have a glass of Fantinel (me) / Pepsi (daughter).

The dinner was not as good as the night before: While I really enjoyed the dim sum, the duck breast was rather bland and tasteless. The daughter had the onion soup (always available menu) which tasted of nothing but pepper and a pasta dish which was ok.

The Tiramisu was OK but again, nothing to write home about (and it tasted much better on the Divina…). Did I mention that we didn’t meet the maître d’ yet? I am beginning to suspect, that there is none…? There isn’t ever anyone to greet you at l’Etoile’s entrance. I really liked that on the Divina: Guiseppe making a joke about my dad’s inappropriate outfit (not having the right colors on Italian night) or about german punctuality (we always arrived at exactly 18.30). Here, they greet you but that is about it. That does not mean that they aren’t friendly, because they really are, they are just different, sort of distant.

This is nearly our last evening. This is usually where I start to plan my next trip in order not to feel too sad about this trip ending. Fortunately, we will be back in only 7 weeks (Preciosa out of Genoa) so I don’t have to cry too much.

I am very sorry to report, that again, we will not make it to the show tonight, but as tomorrow will be the Starwalker (Michael Jackson) Show, I am confident that my daughter will make me go there…

plucasana · August 12, 2016

today's menu

Beamafar · August 12, 2016

I'm surprised to hear the french onion soup wasn't good - it was the one thing I ordered almost every night on Divina (in the Med) last year. Not surprised about the duck, though. I've yet to have a good duck meal on MSC!

As for the reception at the entrance to the restaurant - I've found the same in 2 out of 3 of my YC experiences. Only once did we have a fantastic head waiter - Georgio - who made every evening so special on Preziosa. Alas, it was his last contract with MSC as he went on to open his own restaurant in Rome. I hope he's doing really well - such a gent!

plucasana · August 12, 2016

I heard the nothing but praises about the onion soup that is why I recommended it to my daughter... Maybe it was a bad day...so I guess I will skip the duck dishes from now on [emoji15].

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Beamafar · August 12, 2016

How is the internet package onboard working out for you, Plucasana?

plucasana · August 13, 2016

the speed is surprisingly good and I still have 500 MB left. But As we are almost always near the coast by day often use my cell phone which has an international data plan, so the internet package was only used by night. if you only use it for tapatalk, a little surfing and email polling it does seem to use up extremely little mb. (the only time I used up a comparatively large amount of mb was when I connected via my macbook. It seems to have background updates running that I am not aware of. so I used the ipad from that time on). With the surfer package you get 800 mb and can connect via two devices. those are actually registered so it doesn't mean you can use no matter what two devices at one time but really two specific devices.

I never had a problem logging on.

my daughter's social package worked perfectly too. she mainly used it for what's app and twitter. tapatalk does NOT work with the social package, neither does imessage.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Beamafar · August 13, 2016

Great to know, thanks :)

plucasana · August 14, 2016

We are back in Genoa [emoji45]

Due to vacate the cabins at 8, suitcases had to be outside the door at 7.

Our transfer is supposed to be at 8 also, so we will have a lot of time to explire the msc loznge at genoa airport as our flight is at 12:15.

We had a very good time on board the fantasia and are sas to leave!

plucasana · August 14, 2016

from cabin to shuttle in less than 20 minutes. the butler esc orted us through the crowds to the shuttle and made sure we got our luggage and that our luggage got on the bus alright. That is a difference to what we experienced in. miami. there the service stopped at the ship's exit.

Edited August 14, 2016 by plucasana

Mikesa1721 · August 14, 2016

Hey Pluca,,,,did you happen to run into our favorite butler Johnny?? He was onboard MSC Divina before being transferred to MSC Fantasia??

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