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Live from MSC Grandiosa, Genoa, September 6-13, 2020


petra75
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I also want to add my thanks to you Petra for all of this information.  My wife and I are supposed to be cruising again in January on the Grandeur out of Baltimore and then on a Princess Cruise to South America late February.  We are hoping that with all the cruise lines are doing to make it safe the CDC will allow us to cruise again.

 

Petra you are the best!

 

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Petra, in one of you posts you mentioned that while on an excursion people were reminded to wear their mask properly including the covering of their nose. Did you also see this taking place while on the ship?  This is one of my biggest concerns on getting back on a ship. I see it countless times while shopping where people put their mask on to get inside of the store and then immediately remove the mask or pull it down below their nose. Unfortunately the store workers when they see someone like this say nothing to them and allow them to continue about their way.

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Thanks so much Petra for providing this post.  I am scheduled for an April Dubai to Genoa MSC cruise and on the fence about it.  I tend to be an independent traveler and like to arrange my own port activities, so the extensive list of port options, pricing and how they run them is very helpful. Of course, the excursion list for my cruise is pretty limited at the moment, so not sure how or what they can add for some of our ports.  I guess it will all hinge on if Canada, and then work (I am essential services) will let me cruise, and or return without quarantine requirements. 

In the meantime, these types of posts give us hope.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that I appreciate your boyfriend's efforts at anonymity by blurring faces.  There is so much intrusion into people's lives with cameras as it is, that blurring those who did not give permission is a very considerate action.

 

 

Edited by mef_57
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Petra, I want to add my thanks for your efforts in sharing your experiences. As avid cruisers we are very anxious to get back on a ship and are hoping the US will open ports after seeing the success that MSC is having in Europe. We are booked on a New Years cruise on MSC Seaside and are very hopeful we will be able to be on the ship. It appears that MSC has a workable plan for keeping passengers safe and that is very encouraging. Thank you, again, and best wishes for a safe and happy future.

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Hallo all, thank you for you kind words!

 

Some other things I've not mention yet about life on ship that maybe of interest for somebody:

 

Gym is open, machines are available and at a good distance, except for treadmill and similar that are close, so available every other one. Fitness classes are available as well.

 

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The SPA is open for tratments only, we asked for prices for the usual day/half day entrance and we were told they are not available since for Covid19 sauna, turkish bath and so on are closed. It seems ot me that the services available are the same as before: massages, facials, hair salons...

 

Water slide and water park are open, not the himalayan bridge.

 

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The children's area, Doremiland, is open and well attended, with the usual anti Covid 19 rules for children and parents as well.

 

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Days on board were filled with the usual things: games, trivias, dance classes, stretching and so on. The entertainment team was good and always reminded, during activieties, to wear masks, loosing their voices... They organized even several pool deck parties, yes, we were really fortunate with the weather, hot and dry, so almost everything was done outside till late at night! At horizon pool,  that is the aft one, there was always the deejay and we could dance there as well.

 

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Around the ship there were several musicians, our favourites were 4 guys from UK, they are a Beatles tribute band and, other nights they changed show and sang 60s and 70s rock music

 

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They played in Carousel Lounge, one of our favourite places of the ship

 

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another one was sky louge, what a view!

 

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The decor of cabins' decks are beatiful, since all decks have a famous painter name on the walls there are some of their portraits merged with MSC ships images, a great idea to us, and some really well done. One of our favourites is this Raffaello:

 

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It was our first ship with promenade and we realized we don't care for that, a waste of space

 

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So, to summarise our first experience of a cruise during Covid19 pandemic: 

did we liked it? Yes

Will we do it again? Definitely!

 

In the meantime let's complain, just a little though!

We find that MSC health security stategy, in theory, is well done, the problem, as often, is how the rules are enforced. We saw many people everywhere going around with masks not properly worn or not worn at all, sometimes passing by an officer or supervisor meant you were asked to remedy that situation but we saw many times that be ignored by them. As I wrote before only the entertainment team was really consistent in reminding that to everybody. There was at least once a day a loudspeaker announcement reminding to wear masks and check temperature.

 

Another thing we thought we would not see during this cruise was the usual pre Covid19 crowd inside whirpool. MSC changed the maximum load number, on signs, to 1-2 people at a time for whirpools that could confortably accomodate 8, but the rule was not respected at all. We were on another MSC cruise a couple of years ago where a crew member had the job of managing the line of people that wanted to go into the jacuzzis, inviting the ones inside to exit when their time was over, we cannot understand why they didn't do it this time.

 

Anyway, we believe in social distancing and  the number of people on the ship always allowed to find places where we could enjoy everything without standing in a crowd! 

 

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2 hours ago, petra75 said:

t was our first ship with promenade and we realized we don't care for that, a waste of space

 

Comments that follow are based on my Meraviglia experience:

 

Disagree:  I enjoyed the open feeling of the area and the easy access to other venues on that deck.  Not sure if Grandiosa has a Dome Show, but Meraviglia did several times a night.  Short, but each were enjoyable and unique, in my opinion.

 

 

2 hours ago, petra75 said:

another one was sky louge, what a view!

 

The best Lounge on the ship.

 

2 hours ago, petra75 said:

They played in Carousel Lounge

 

I wonder if this is not the same Lounge where the Cirque shows were performed on Meraviglia.  Only one experience in that venue, but I liked it's set-up for entertainment.

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On 9/14/2020 at 3:08 AM, carol326 said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experience Petra. I am curious about the elevator. I have read before that they are allowing only 4 to an elevator, but why do the have the footprints facing? Any idea? It seems you would want to face forward as usual rather than facing each other?

 

Hi Carol, sorry but I don't know why there is that layout, looks strange to me as well but I'm sure there would be no complains if people face forward instead!

 

On 9/14/2020 at 4:58 AM, tiger-91 said:

Thank you very much for this live review! I have seen Youtube videos of the buffet. But I couldn't figure out if, say you wanted a piece of bread, you had to go back to the sink area to rejoin the buffet line, or could you cross the roped barrier to get it handed to you?

 

Also, did you keep any of the daily newspapers? i'm sure they're in Italian, but it would be great to post them in the F B group of MSC menus and daily programs.

 

Thanks again!

 

Hi tiger-91, as usually when there is one single long line for buffet and you need just something else you can try and see, if there are not many people you can just enter in the middle of the line, there are some "holes" in the separators between entrance and exit side even now. Anyway, since you are already at the buffet there is no need to go back to the entrance just for grabbing something else.

 

I kept just one daily, of the last sea day, of course is in Italian, I don't know where is that FB group you mention, here it is, I will be happy to attach that where you like. If you or somebody else are courios about something you read just ask!

 

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On 9/14/2020 at 2:14 PM, ddled said:

Thank you Petra for the excellent review. It lt lets me know what I want to do with the 3 cruises I have booked for next year and gives me things to tell my family and friends that threaten to put us in a closet if we think about going!

 

Ha Ha! Funny, it's the same for us, but they know they cannot stop us from traveling, and when there are cruises around that's our choice! We hope you will cruise soon too!

 

On 9/14/2020 at 3:40 PM, bafinegan said:

Let me add my thanks Petra.  It gives us same idea what to expect for our upcoming Jan cruise.  

 

I also wanted to ask, how was room service handled?  Thanks again!

 

baf

 

Hi bafinegan, we didn't use room service but we have been told it runs just like in pre Covid19 times.

 

On 9/14/2020 at 7:29 PM, Dimension02000 said:

Petra, in one of you posts you mentioned that while on an excursion people were reminded to wear their mask properly including the covering of their nose. Did you also see this taking place while on the ship?  This is one of my biggest concerns on getting back on a ship. I see it countless times while shopping where people put their mask on to get inside of the store and then immediately remove the mask or pull it down below their nose. Unfortunately the store workers when they see someone like this say nothing to them and allow them to continue about their way.

 

Hi, as you would have seen I answered your questions in one of my last post. It did took place on ship just like on land, unfortunately. Everywhere we find many respectful people but some others, not so much!

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Thanks for this Petra .. Excellent.. I think you will always get a % of unavoidable disrespectors but tbf I see this in Supermarkets now  Art galleries, Cinemas and Museums.. And dont mention pubs and bars which are packed shoulder to shoulder with facemasks not required.

 

Itstime to get back on a cruise 😉 I think I would feel safer there

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Hi Petra. I read that there were only about 1500 passengers. Why was that so? Some cruiselines say they will start at 50%, but I don't understand, if the sailing is fully booked, how they determine which people get to go.  It seems to me that your cruise was available for booking pre-covid.

When did you book this cruise? Perhaps everyone was "cancelled" and first to rebook got to go? 

I understand if the only question you can answer is when you booked.

 

Thanks!

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