MSC World Europa April 21st - April 28th, 2023

[ReneePaulie1993]

Ahoy!  Just booked this Mediterranean cruise for our 30th Anniversary.  Flying out of Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona a couple of days before.  Can anyone recommend a place for us to stay?  This is our first time cruising to Europe.  Any advise will be appreciated.  Thank you! 

[tbdb2]

Barcelona is a wonderful city. Last time I booked an Airbnb in the old quarter and was quite convenient and fun. 

[ReneePaulie1993]

Thank you for your reply.  I did some research and ended up booking the Hotel Barcelona Universal. 

[Kidminder]

Booked back in 2021; only just found the roll call.

have recently had 2 excursions that I had booked and paid for cancelled by MSC 😔 

first time onboard this ship, previous cruises with MSC on Virtuosa 

[heathstockton4]

On 3/18/2023 at 8:40 PM, Kidminder said:

Booked back in 2021; only just found the roll call.

have recently had 2 excursions that I had booked and paid for cancelled by MSC 😔 

first time onboard this ship, previous cruises with MSC on Virtuosa 

which were cancelled please, we are on this itinerary and have booked Pompei on 24th April, it hasn't been cancelled yet in my app?

[Kidminder]

36 minutes ago, heathstockton4 said:

which were cancelled please, we are on this itinerary and have booked Pompei on 24th April, it hasn't been cancelled yet in my app?

Saviour the sweeter side in Messina

+

essential Malta 

[heathstockton4]

2 minutes ago, Kidminder said:

Saviour the sweeter side in Messina

+

essential Malta 

Thanks for the update, any reason why they were cancelled

[Kidminder]

12 minutes ago, heathstockton4 said:

Thanks for the update, any reason why they were cancelled

No just advised on different days the trips were cancelled and that a refund would come back within 14 days 🥺

[ReneePaulie1993]

Well, this was a very disappointing cruise.  First of all, the two shore excursions we booked (1) in Marseille, France and (1) Naples, Italy were duds.  The tour guides were very informative, but the places we went were not "historical" as far as I'm concerned.  On both tours, after walking around quite a bit, the ending seemed to be the best part.  Another thing hubby and I didn't enjoy was the fact that the ship is like a revolving door at each port.  Passengers getting on and off.  Not a big fan!!!  Being inconvenienced every time a new group of passengers boards by venues, elevators, bars, etc. being shutdown for 45 mins. to an hour for the safety drill.  I think MSC is the only cruise line that does that.  The ports hubby and I did on our own (Genoa, Messina, Malta) were very enjoyable.  I loved Valletta, Malta.  Gorgeous!!  We also enjoyed Barcelona, Spain.  We came in a day earlier and explored.  What a beautiful city.  We saw La Sagrada Familia.  What a stunning, breathtaking place.  Highly recommend it if visiting Barcelona.  The food onboard was okay. Main dining was the way to go as the buffet was mediocre.   The only specialty restaurant we did was HOLA! Tacos & Cantina , and it was very good.  The ship was pretty, but I wasn't blown away by it.  The entire bow of the ship was the Yacht Club.  Only way to access outside was aft, portside or starboard.  I love to be at the bow of the boat for sail away from ports.  Couldn't do it on this ship.  Well that's about it.  Sorry if I sound like a Debbie Downer.  I've sailed MSC Divina and MSC Meraviglia and those two cruises were enjoyable. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by ReneePaulie1993

[Rumtreiber10]

Ahoy,

we just booked the same tour for Apr 2024. I was wondering how fast you can get off the ship? I'm trying to book flights back to KC and I only see noon flights. I'm worried that we wouldn't make those flights. How was disembarkation for you?

TY

[ReneePaulie1993]

Hi Sorry, just now seeing this.  Disembarkation was the same as embarkation.  It went quickly.  Lots of waiting in line at customs.  Things went smooth once they opened a couple of windows.  We had a late flight so we weren't worried about missing it.  Hope you have an enjoyable trip. 

[Bungus]

On 5/9/2023 at 8:30 AM, ReneePaulie1993 said:

Well, this was a very disappointing cruise.  First of all, the two shore excursions we booked (1) in Marseille, France and (1) Naples, Italy were duds.  The tour guides were very informative, but the places we went were not "historical" as far as I'm concerned.  On both tours, after walking around quite a bit, the ending seemed to be the best part.  Another thing hubby and I didn't enjoy was the fact that the ship is like a revolving door at each port.  Passengers getting on and off.  Not a big fan!!!  Being inconvenienced every time a new group of passengers boards by venues, elevators, bars, etc. being shutdown for 45 mins. to an hour for the safety drill.  I think MSC is the only cruise line that does that.  The ports hubby and I did on our own (Genoa, Messina, Malta) were very enjoyable.  I loved Valletta, Malta.  Gorgeous!!  We also enjoyed Barcelona, Spain.  We came in a day earlier and explored.  What a beautiful city.  We saw La Sagrada Familia.  What a stunning, breathtaking place.  Highly recommend it if visiting Barcelona.  The food onboard was okay. Main dining was the way to go as the buffet was mediocre.   The only specialty restaurant we did was HOLA! Tacos & Cantina , and it was very good.  The ship was pretty, but I wasn't blown away by it.  The entire bow of the ship was the Yacht Club.  Only way to access outside was aft, portside or starboard.  I love to be at the bow of the boat for sail away from ports.  Couldn't do it on this ship.  Well that's about it.  Sorry if I sound like a Debbie Downer.  I've sailed MSC Divina and MSC Meraviglia and those two cruises were enjoyable. 

Thanks for the review. We can only hope it gets better by the time we sail :^). What did you do at the places you didn't take a ship excursion? Did you or did anyone take an independent they lkied?