Meraviglia YC Experience - Baltic Itinerary

[thecruisers6]

7 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

 

Had a scan through my archives as well, seems I never keep that final notice either (it's a very cruel, sad notice 😞 ).

 

33 days until the cruise, 32 until we leave - spending the day/night in London beforehand as no direct flights to Genoa from Edinburgh.

Captain you could ask Bea to look next week for you. Ask her on her thread in case she doesn’t get chance to look through all this! 

[Captain-John]

Ah , good idea. She definitely won't want to plough through all this on holiday on her phone. On the other hand, I don't want to mention 'the end' on her thread just now either - how long is she away for? I'll try and time it so my question's nearer the end of her cruise. Right enough, she's only back a few weeks before going on Meraviglia so I'm sure it won't depress her too much!

[Captain-John]

30 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Right. We just (as in yesterday) did this on both ends of a Ponant cruise around Iceland—and added hours to our sightseeing time in Reykjavik. 

 

What a lovely cruise. I've seen cruises that do the British Isles, Ireland and Iceland combined -- I think Princess do some like that - but never Iceland in isolation.

[thecruisers6]

3 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

Ah , good idea. She definitely won't want to plough through all this on holiday on her phone. On the other hand, I don't want to mention 'the end' on her thread just now either - how long is she away for? I'll try and time it so my question's nearer the end of her cruise. Right enough, she's only back a few weeks before going on Meraviglia so I'm sure it won't depress her too much!

I’m pretty sure she disembarks on Wednesday. It will be such a laugh on Meraviglia. 

Bea, CF and us 17 paces to the TSL 😂

[CruisingFox27]

24 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

 

Had a scan through my archives as well, seems I never keep that final notice either (it's a very cruel, sad notice 😞 ).

 

33 days until the cruise, 32 until we leave - spending the day/night in London beforehand as no direct flights to Genoa from Edinburgh.

 

Indeed, probably why I've not got one.  I'm so nice to MSC and all of the staff, and THAT notice is the 'thanks' you get, please disembark now 😥

[CruisingFox27]

10 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

I’m pretty sure she disembarks on Wednesday. It will be such a laugh on Meraviglia. 

Bea, CF and us 17 paces to the TSL 😂

 

Yes, Seaview back to Rome on 4th Sept.

 

49 days! Not sure it'll be 17 each way 🤣🥂

[thecruisers6]

25 minutes ago, CruisingFox27 said:

 

Yes, Seaview back to Rome on 4th Sept.

 

49 days! Not sure it'll be 17 each way 🤣🥂

Haha if we go the long way we could make Captain’s 40 over 100 😂

[Host Jazzbeau]

39 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

 

What a lovely cruise. I've seen cruises that do the British Isles, Ireland and Iceland combined -- I think Princess do some like that - but never Iceland in isolation.

 

[not to hijack your thread, but...]  Yes it was a terrific cruise.  Quite the opposite of MSC:  186 passengers, 116 crew.  We were scheduled to do a clockwise Circumnavigation of Iceland in 7 days.  Had great weather through day 3, then the Captain held a meeting to show us the weather maps: big Nor'easter sitting off the SW corner of Iceland, causing a counterclockwise flow all around the island.  We would be heading into a bit of it to the day 4 port, and then into the thick of it for day 5 [which is a tricky harbor to enter].  In the end we sailed into the day 4 port very easily, but had to backtrack up and over the north of Iceland [with a sea day replacing our day 5 port] to get back to Reykjavik for days 6-7 [as planned].  The Captain held a second meeting to explain his final decision, and everybody applauded. Northing he could do about the weather, but he kept us out of the worst of the weather [it was much easier sailing with the wind and swells than against them] and explained everything in great detail – wonderful communication.  We will be back on Ponant in March for an all-New Zealand cruise [avoiding the dreaded Tasman Sea by not going to Australia].

[CruisingFox27]

24 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

Haha if we go the long way we could make Captain’s 40 over 100 😂

 

😂 As long as you're not expecting me to do the counting! 

[adelaidefc]

Hi @Captain-John - awesome review thanks very much!

A belated question: I'm looking at a Fjords cruise next year and noticed you saved money by booking a 6-day cruise embarking at Copenhagen and disembarking at Kiel. This would definitely work for us but I can't find a way to book that online.

Did you go through a TA or through MSC directly?

That sort of cost saving would put YC within reach for us potentially.

[Captain-John]

3 hours ago, adelaidefc said:

Hi @Captain-John - awesome review thanks very much!

A belated question: I'm looking at a Fjords cruise next year and noticed you saved money by booking a 6-day cruise embarking at Copenhagen and disembarking at Kiel. This would definitely work for us but I can't find a way to book that online.

Did you go through a TA or through MSC directly?

That sort of cost saving would put YC within reach for us potentially.

 

Glad you found it useful.

 

The 6 day itinerary was offered on both MSC's own website and through my usual TA. I can't remember on which site I found the route, I had just been playing about with various filters and stumbled across it at a good price. I was actually reluctant to book such a short cruise, but, given the pricing differential between that and the 7 and 14 night cruises it was a no-brainer. Plus it enabled me to see Hamburg which was a new destination whereas we have visited Copenhagen before. All the stars aligned.

 

You're definitely more likely to find a cruise with different embarkation and disembarkation ports with MSC compared to any other line. Play about with the filters on your TA or MSC's own site to filter out anything longer than 7 days and narrow it down from there if you're set on a shorter cruise?

[mom2tcdx2]

I noticed the 6 day sailing as well, but it was after we had booked the round trip from Copenhagen.  We leave on Sept. 15, and noticed there was the 6 day that got off in Germany on the 21st, rather than the 22nd.  Honestly we didn't want to really mess with flying in and out of different airports, etc so we just stuck with Copenhagen.  

 

I have enjoyed your review, though we will only be in a lowly inside cabin.  Honestly this will be our 4th MSC cruise and we have greatly enjoyed the previous three.  The Yacht Club really just isn't something we could afford.  We absolutely loved the Seaside, so hoping this will be fairly comparable.  At at least these will be all new ports for us, though we have only set up to do an excursion in Russia.  

[skings]

Thank you Captain, for this in depth review. Enjoyed the food pictures, yummy. Commentary was excellent.  I will be sailing solo cabin Transatlantic next

April. Will have to suffer the crowds and main dining room because cant afford Yacht Club, but hey get to cruise for 21 days LOL!

Looking forward to reading the October Transatlantic reviews that will be coming up. Hoping someone from the lower decks LOL! posts a favorable report.

[mom2tcdx2]

26 minutes ago, skings said:

  I will be sailing solo cabin Transatlantic next April. Will have to suffer the crowds and main dining room because cant afford Yacht Club, but hey get to cruise for 21 days LOL!

Looking forward to reading the October Transatlantic reviews that will be coming up. Hoping someone from the lower decks LOL! posts a favorable report.

 

Well we aren't doing the TA (which I would have loved to do), we have 4 cabins booked with three of them insides and one balcony.  We can't ever afford the yacht club either so we get to travel with the lower ranks LOL. I am absolutely ready to go.  Hope we have a great trip to report back about.  

[skings]

Hey mom2tcdx2  we are  member of the "insiders club"  LOL