MED Euro Cruise options and questions

[love to cruise 2017]

Hi 

 

we just came off MSC Grandsioa in Europe, like most it was our first time on them, we heard the goood,  the bad, the OMG why are you sailing with them comment. 

 

we have done over 25 cruises and we were pretty amazed by the standard of service, the food was even good and the shows were ok....but he ship was clean, didn't penny pinch u like some.....only ***** was customer service staff and officers they think they are better than the crew and some passengers.

 

the crew them self....were great!!! 

 

would be go again....Yes we would.... 

[slidergirl]

Allow me to pop in with some beach info.  I did the beach in Barcelona - brown sand, big.  i didn't notice any lounger/chair rentals, but the 3 of us were not interested in that.   Ravenna has nice beaches and day beach 'clubs' where you can rent loungers and umbrellas.  I'm thinking of it as a day trip from Bologna.  Cannes has beach clubs, also.  If you get a cruise that stops in Cararra, there are a few beaches in that area.

 

[fountain44]

1 hour ago, love to cruise 2017 said:

Hi 

 

we just came off MSC Grandsioa in Europe, like most it was our first time on them, we heard the goood,  the bad, the OMG why are you sailing with them comment. 

 

we have done over 25 cruises and we were pretty amazed by the standard of service, the food was even good and the shows were ok....but he ship was clean, didn't penny pinch u like some.....only ***** was customer service staff and officers they think they are better than the crew and some passengers.

 

the crew them self....were great!!! 

 

would be go again....Yes we would.... 

 

Thanks for the info.  I have done RC, Carnival, and princess, and half dozen one half the other, kind of my thing.   Not really concerned with a major cruise line being garbage.  

[iancal]

If you are doing seven days with lots of port stops you will be tired in the evening.  With a potential  cruise  like that I would be looking at itinerary and price.

 

Keep in mind that prices change.  Up and down.  And they can change overnight.  Pre covid we primarily did last minutes/late bookings.  Our custom was to watch and understand pricing. 

 

 Some cruise lines run artificial sales by bundling product.  Don't get fooled...especially when they bundle items that you typically would not buy or not care about.

 

Get to  a point in your shopping where you can discern a good price from an average one.

Edited June 26, 2022 by iancal

[cruisemom42]

18 hours ago, fountain44 said:

MSC actually had really good times from what we have seen most were close to 12 hours, one had an over night stay in mykonos which we have never had an overnight stay, might be cool for night life.

 

Hmm.....that Mykonos stop isn't an overnight (leaves at 2:00 am) but it is a generous stay.  However other ports on the same cruise have some pretty short times:  Bari (7am to 1pm) and Kotor (2pm to 8pm) for example.

 

Also bear in mind what's been said about Venice. At best you'll be going out of a nearby industrial port, not Venice with the beautiful sail-in/sail-out of years past. 

Edited June 26, 2022 by cruisemom42

[fountain44]

43 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Hmm.....that Mykonos stop isn't an overnight (leaves at 2:00 am) but it is a generous stay.  However other ports on the same cruise have some pretty short times:  Bari (7am to 1pm) and Kotor (2pm to 8pm) for example.

 

Also bear in mind what's been said about Venice. At best you'll be going out of a nearby industrial port, not Venice with the beautiful sail-in/sail-out of years past. 

 

I think based off everything so far we would like eastern and due ease and cost flying to Rome then  athens as a second choice is probably our best bet.  Otherwise Barcelona looks easy enough if we go western. 

 

Right now RC and Celeb really just dont offer a lot.  

 

Things can change in 9-12 months and we will be out of the winter season, but our other concern is playing the covid games.  Got the wonder elixir vaccines, but I see the standard is a neg covid test 2 days prior which if we leave 2-3 days prior, going to have to figure that one out in another country.  

Edited June 26, 2022 by fountain44

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, fountain44 said:

 

I think based off everything so far we would like eastern and due ease and cost flying to Rome then  athens as a second choice is probably our best bet.  Otherwise Barcelona looks easy enough if we go western. 

 

Right now RC and Celeb really just dont offer a lot.  

 

Things can change in 9-12 months and we will be out of the winter season, but our other concern is playing the covid games.  Got the wonder elixir vaccines, but I see the standard is a neg covid test 2 days prior which if we leave 2-3 days prior, going to have to figure that one out in another country.  

 

Self-tests proctored online are a favorite. Also most of the ports of call boards have helped identify pharmacies or testing places in  the popular embarkation ports (e.g., Rome, Athens, Barcelona, etc.) if you look on the boards.

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Self-tests proctored online are a favorite. Also most of the ports of call boards have helped identify pharmacies or testing places in  the popular embarkation ports (e.g., Rome, Athens, Barcelona, etc.) if you look on the boards.

And Princees currently offer free tests at the pier in Athens.

However,  by next year hopefully testing will no longer be needed. 

[Znjan]

On 6/24/2022 at 10:22 PM, Hlitner said:

As to topless, while it does exist in Europe it is not as common as one might expect. 

Correct, here in Croatia It is a no no on public beaches. We have plenty of nudist beaches and islands if you want to go au naturel.

[Znjan]

On 6/24/2022 at 3:53 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Beaches in the Med are not anywhere near the concepts of beaches in the Caribbean

Sad generalisation, I sailed out of Miami for twelve years. There are some wonderful beaches in the Carib and Med. Where do you think this one is 

[Znjan]

On 6/24/2022 at 10:52 PM, pris993 said:

The ship is less important in the Mediterranean because cruises are very port intensive.

Correct, there is also an old saying about Caribbean cruising. The best Island in the Caribbean has propellers

[Hlitner]

18 minutes ago, Znjan said:

Sad generalisation, I sailed out of Miami for twelve years. There are some wonderful beaches in the Carib and Med. Where do you think this one is 

I will admit to being underwhelmed by most European beaches.  Yes, there are some places in Europe that have excellent sandy beaches on bodies of water great for swimming, but many are in places not frequented by the large number of tourists that travel around Eastern and Western Europe.  We are currently vacationing in South Carolina which has numerous sandy beaches only dreamed about on mainland Europe.  Consider that we were recently in Kiawah which has a 9-10 mile long sandy beach with clean, warm (in the 80s F) sea water and a nice sandy bottom.  And that long beach is never crowded, and one can always find lots of empty space (measured in dozens of yards).  We than drove a few hours up to Myrtle Beach where there are more than 10 miles of sandy beaches with nice clean warm sea water.  In fact, we could drive just about anywhere from NY to Florida (over 1000 miles) where there are numerous excellent sandy beaches.  Now consider the famous French Riviera where many of the beaches are full of rocks/pebbles and folks sunbathe on wooden platforms (to avoid the rocks).  And then we have some excellent beaches further North in Europe where the water is always too chilly for most folks (try swimming in the seas of Western UK.

 

In fact, we have long been amazed at some of the places that Europeans call "beaches" which would not even carry that moniker in our part of the world.  There is a very good reason why hoards of Europeans visit (or own property) in Florida and the Carolinas and it is called "beaches and warm water."  DW and I love to visit (and drive around) Europe and recently returned from several weeks in the Czech Republic, France, Poland and Germany where we never spent any time at the beach because there were either no beaches or the water was not very inviting.  If we had been plying the Greek Islands or Croatia than we certainly would have spent some days at the beach, but that is only a very tiny part of Europe.   In the USA we have fabulous beaches throughtout the East Coast, South (Gulf Coast) and West Coast.  We are talking thousands of miles of decent sandy beaches, much with clean swimmable sea water.  And we are not even talking about the thousands of Lakes scattered all over our country many of which have their own beaches with clean, clear, water.

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

And Princees currently offer free tests at the pier in Athens.

However,  by next year hopefully testing will no longer be needed. 

 

Not this year. They are charging $60 if you wait until you get to the pier and use their test.  Under their FAQs, for cruises embarking in Greece: 

"For fully vaccinated guests, we will be able to provide a limited number of antigen tests that meet our requirements, at or near the terminal. For those that wish to take advantage of this convenience, a fee of $60 USD per person will apply as a stateroom folio charge to cover our internal costs."

[wowzz]

21 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Not this year. They are charging $60 if you wait until you get to the pier and use their test.  Under their FAQs, for cruises embarking in Greece: 

"For fully vaccinated guests, we will be able to provide a limited number of antigen tests that meet our requirements, at or near the terminal. For those that wish to take advantage of this convenience, a fee of $60 USD per person will apply as a stateroom folio charge to cover our internal costs."

When Greece required a test to be taken in the 24 hours prior to boarding, Princess tests at the port were free. I see that Greece has now come into line with elsewhere, with tests required in the three days prior to boarding,  so Princess have withdrawn free tests.

My apolgies for not noticing this change.