On the MSC Preziosa (Scotland, Iceland) NOW

So cruise day has finally come.

We are lucky to be on board the beautiful Preziosa.

We spent 2 nights in Hamburg prior to embarcation and enjoyed wonderful sunshine and a stunningly beautiful city. Hamburg is by far my favourite german city!! Our hotel was near the central station so we had a vaste choice of restaurants on the Lange Reihe. Our favourite place was Frau Moeller. Should you fancy simple, german no frills non expensive food, this is the place to go. A lot of locals share my opinion, not easy to get a table!!!

Wednesday morning we left the parking garage (the narrowest I have ever been in) at 11:10, arrived at the terminal at 11:25. Parking is sooo convenient. We prebooked the spot and just had to scan our code and could park 20 m from the yacht club tent.

The nice butler took our luggage, labelled it again with different prio labels and asked us to wait for our escorts.

Another butler then took us to the check-in counter where we handed over our papers and passports. In a roped off area we were offered mimosas, prosecco, soda etc. and snacks while we waited for yet another butler to escort us on the ship.

skipping the lines of hundreds of waiting passengers we were ushered on board to wait at the concierge lounge.

What a wonderful person this concierge is. I believe the name is Elliot, will confirm later. he speaks about 100 different languages perfectly.

We also met the maitre D Luigi and our favourite Head Butler Kamil.

We love Kamil! He is so attentive, funny, nice (feal free to fill in all the favourable attributes that come to mind).

Our stateroom not being ready yet we had a cofee in the tsl and lunch in the op.

Salad, chicken and a fish dish. The choice is not overwhealming but it is OK.

( btw The coffee in the op is much better than in the tsl!)

20 minutes later we were able to inspect our staterooms, which are beautiful. A little wider than the average yc1 but also a little shorter. Closet space is similar. you do not have the extra closet vis à vis the walk in closet but you do have one behind the mirror which is deeper but has only 3 shelves.

There is also a closet beside the minibar, I do not recall if the other yc1 have one.

The balcony of course is magnificent.

We are really lucky to have Johnny as our butler. He is very nice and seems eager to help!

At 17:15 the safety drill was supposed to take place. of. course we were at the indicated place way ahead of the given time. Unfortunately it only started a relaxed 45 minutes later...

We had cancelled our dinner plans because we wanted to see the sailaway which is supposed to be amazingly beautiful in Hamburg and stayed on our balcony waiting for the pizza delivery.

Pizza came (later than expected and almost cold though still not bad) and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery. (you may have noticed that I am not a very patient person).

It was an amazing day and I slept like a baby - the matrasses are comfortable and the pillows perfect!

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Hi I know you are in YC but can you please find out the costings for all the restaurants on board (Galaxy, Eataly etc) and please can you find out if they do any dining packages.

Photos of the menus would be good!

Enjoy your cruise

thanks.

Hi Sandra ..................... wonderful to hear you're onboard the beautiful Preziosa. Have a great cruise! :)

Couldn't agree more with you about the head butler, Kamil. I was wondering which ship he was on as I was disappointed to find out that he wasn't on Meraviglia when we boarded - lucky you! Would you do me a big favour and ask him if he knows which ship he'll be on for his next contract and the dates? I know they don't always know. I'm looking at a YC Splendida cruise in Dubai next March and had been wondering if he'd be onboard for it.

It sounds like you have one of the bigger, square, cabins; are you planning to post pics? We have one booked for a 28 night cruise next year so I'd love to see what the cabin actually looks like. The YC balcony cabins on Meraviglia are similar - we loved the extra space, though, like yours, it didn't have the walk-in wardrobe plan, either.

I'm looking forward to reading more about your trip. It's rare to see a review from the region you're sailing in.

Best wishes for a fantastic cruise. :*

Hi Sandra ..................... wonderful to hear you're onboard the beautiful Preziosa. Have a great cruise! :)

 

 

 

Couldn't agree more with you about the head butler, Kamil. I was wondering which ship he was on as I was disappointed to find out that he wasn't on Meraviglia when we boarded - lucky you! Would you do me a big favour and ask him if he knows which ship he'll be on for his next contract and the dates? I know they don't always know. I'm looking at a YC Splendida cruise in Dubai next March and had been wondering if he'd be onboard for it.

 

 

 

It sounds like you have one of the bigger, square, cabins; are you planning to post pics? We have one booked for a 28 night cruise next year so I'd love to see what the cabin actually looks like. The YC balcony cabins on Meraviglia are similar - we loved the extra space, though, like yours, it didn't have the walk-in wardrobe plan, either.

 

 

 

I'm looking forward to reading more about your trip. It's rare to see a review from the region you're sailing in.

 

 

 

Best wishes for a fantastic cruise. :*

Hei Bea,

thanks for checking in. I will gladly post pictures of our suite. It is indeed one of the rectangular ones.

I will ask Kamil when I next see him!

We are in Invergordon today. Wheather is fine (it is not raining, so I call it fine). We prebooked a car, which I hope to collect and drive to Loch Ness and Urquart Castle. I did plan on stopping by Cowdor Castle after that but I don't wNt to overcharge our day. We will see how far we will go. We are a bit nervous because we are not used to driving on the left side of the road...

Had breakfast at the buffet at 6:30. Everyone was up already and standing in line! Not a very relaxed way to start your day. Food at the buffet is good, a very vaste choice. Coffee from the bar is ok(ish) not comparable to the coffee at the cappucchino bar, so if one is a coffee buff / connaisseur one should bring the coffee with them. Daughter enjoyed the hot chocolate immensely!

My poor son is going to lose a tooth, which is giving him a very hard time, he had to stick to baby food this morning.

I will not forget the question about the dinner package

and will also try to snack pictures of the menus!

I do know that it is cheaper to prebook the dinner packages online. There are different ones: just eataly, just galaxy (venu or saturn menu) and a package of eataly, italia, galaxy and pizza.

Will post prices etc. after our excursion!

whish us luck!

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Good luck, Sandra & family - have a wonderful day in Invergordon. :) Hope your son doesn't have too much more trouble with his loose tooth!

Have a great day, and good luck driving on the wrong side! I hope the weather holds off, it is not so nice further south today :(

Popped into Invergordon to have a look at the Preziosa as I was on my way down to Inverness. Big ship !

Invergordon

We wentdown to the conciergerie to get an escort to get off the ship only to beexplained by a very nice butler, how to find the way ourselves. While I am prettysure that we could have insisted on the escort, it was still a new situation –do they now only take down passengers that go on an excursion?

The lineswere not that long so we managed quite well on our own. Invergordon had sent a musicianwho played a very typical tune (on an instrument that I do not know the Englishname of). It was idyllic. The sun was shining, the town seemed quaint and easy to navigate. We found our car rentalstation (Ken’s garage) without a problem and were the second in line. In notime we sat in our Peugeot with an easy to use GPS System and were on our wayto Urquart castle. Scotland is so beautiful!

But I have never seen so many roundabouts – and ifyou are not used to driving on the left side of the road it is so easy to getlost… well anyhow, we did get lost right before Inverness and so we had to takeseveral detours. This however led us to get to know this beautiful town aswell.

When we finally arrived at Urquart Castle, we found ourselves standing in linebehind several MSC-tours…

There werea lot of people pushing their way around Urquart castle. It was still a very interestingexperience. We especially appreciated the video shown in the visitor centregiving interesting details of the historical background.

Back on theship we hat lunch at the buffet- again: a very good choice and decent qualitybut quite a lot of people even though it was not a seaday. There are waiterscoming around to get your drink orders.

So even though we only intended to have a saladgiven that we werde going to have dinner at La Palmeraie at night, we ate waytoo much: Curries, Hamburgers, Gulasch, Sauerkraut etc… it is hard to say no…

So we hadto find a way to get rid of some of the calories:

We wentbowling, swimming and even went to the gym. It is nice that they allowteenagers when accompanied by their parents. Normally I wouldn’t bring my kidsbecause it is always very crowded but today (port day) there were hardly any people at allso we took our son to use the tread mill without too much of a bad conscience.

Then it wasalready time for dinner.

They havechanged the menus a little bit.

Tonight wehad Tartare as a starter, pasta filled with lobster and bandera de carne mista(an old one) followed by a wonderful soufflet.

The mostinteresting change is the drink menu in the top sail lounge.

Anyoneremember when Celebrity got rid of the Molecular bar?

It wasright before I first got to sail an S-Class ship so I never got to taste one ofthose wonderful drinks.

Well –

Moleculardrinks have come to MSC Yacht club and I can tell you that they taste awesome!

Yesterday Ihad a B52 (wonderful) and tonight I had a Daiquiri (spectacular!!!)

If you havethe chance- try them.

They takequite some time to prepare but they are so worth it!

That is allfor today. Looking forward to our second Seaday!

Invergordon had sent a musician who played a very typical tune (on an instrument that I do not know the Englishname of)

Bagpipes, perhaps?

Sounds like you had a very full day today, Sandra. Fair play for managing driving on the 'wrong' side of the road - especially navigating roundabouts!

I think you're right about not getting a butler escort off the ship unless you're going on an excursion. I'd feel the same as you in not insisting on one, but you shouldn't have to! It's supposed to be one of the perks of YC!

Enjoy your sea day, tomorrow.

Invergordon

 

We wentdown to the conciergerie to get an escort to get off the ship only to beexplained by a very nice butler, how to find the way ourselves. While I am prettysure that we could have insisted on the escort, it was still a new situation –do they now only take down passengers that go on an excursion?

 

The lineswere not that long so we managed quite well on our own. Invergordon had sent a musicianwho played a very typical tune (on an instrument that I do not know the Englishname of). It was idyllic. The sun was shining, the town seemed quaint and easy to navigate. We found our car rentalstation (Ken’s garage) without a problem and were the second in line. In notime we sat in our Peugeot with an easy to use GPS System and were on our wayto Urquart castle. Scotland is so beautiful!

But I have never seen so many roundabouts – and ifyou are not used to driving on the left side of the road it is so easy to getlost… well anyhow, we did get lost right before Inverness and so we had to takeseveral detours. This however led us to get to know this beautiful town aswell.

When we finally arrived at Urquart Castle, we found ourselves standing in linebehind several MSC-tours…

 

There werea lot of people pushing their way around Urquart castle. It was still a very interestingexperience. We especially appreciated the video shown in the visitor centregiving interesting details of the historical background.

 

Back on theship we hat lunch at the buffet- again: a very good choice and decent qualitybut quite a lot of people even though it was not a seaday. There are waiterscoming around to get your drink orders.

 

So even though we only intended to have a saladgiven that we werde going to have dinner at La Palmeraie at night, we ate waytoo much: Curries, Hamburgers, Gulasch, Sauerkraut etc… it is hard to say no…

 

So we hadto find a way to get rid of some of the calories:

We wentbowling, swimming and even went to the gym. It is nice that they allowteenagers when accompanied by their parents. Normally I wouldn’t bring my kidsbecause it is always very crowded but today (port day) there were hardly any people at allso we took our son to use the tread mill without too much of a bad conscience.

 

Then it wasalready time for dinner.

They havechanged the menus a little bit.

Tonight wehad Tartare as a starter, pasta filled with lobster and bandera de carne mista(an old one) followed by a wonderful soufflet.

 

The mostinteresting change is the drink menu in the top sail lounge.

 

Anyoneremember when Celebrity got rid of the Molecular bar?

It wasright before I first got to sail an S-Class ship so I never got to taste one ofthose wonderful drinks.

Well –

Moleculardrinks have come to MSC Yacht club and I can tell you that they taste awesome!

 

Yesterday Ihad a B52 (wonderful) and tonight I had a Daiquiri (spectacular!!!)

 

If you havethe chance- try them.

They takequite some time to prepare but they are so worth it!

 

 

That is allfor today. Looking forward to our second Seaday!

The roads around Inverness were pretty busy today and with the amount of busses etc from the ship the roads to Urquhart Castle would be pretty busy with it also being a 2 lane road not motorway or dual carriageway. Where is the next stop on the itinerary ?

The roads around Inverness were pretty busy today and with the amount of busses etc from the ship the roads to Urquhart Castle would be pretty busy with it also being a 2 lane road not motorway or dual carriageway. Where is the next stop on the itinerary ?

are you coming from scotland?

it is beautiful! one port day surely does not suffice to get to know it. I am thinking of planning a land based holiday gb/scotland next year.

next stop is akureyri.

Had to turn back the clock an hour again tonight...

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Bagpipes, perhaps?

 

 

 

Sounds like you had a very full day today, Sandra. Fair play for managing driving on the 'wrong' side of the road - especially navigating roundabouts!

 

 

 

I think you're right about not getting a butler escort off the ship unless you're going on an excursion. I'd feel the same as you in not insisting on one, but you shouldn't have to! It's supposed to be one of the perks of YC!

 

 

 

Enjoy your sea day, tomorrow.

I think you are right about the bagpipes bea, thanks!

when we were standing in line coming back to the ship a butler walked by with this little yc sign. he recognised us and took us with him. that was very nice and welcome.

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are you coming from scotland?

it is beautiful! one port day surely does not suffice to get to know it. I am thinking of planning a land based holiday gb/scotland next year.

 

next stop is akureyri.

Had to turn back the clock an hour again tonight...

 

 

 

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Yes I stay as far North in mainland Scotkand as you can go. Scotland truly is a beautiful country, the bit you saw is not the bonniest to be honest, Invergordon is a bit 'grey' but heading up around the north west and also Glencoe is stunning.

Have a great trip and hopefully you will come back someday.

still loving it so far. Wheather is sooo nice. had sun in akureyri, went to see the dettifoss waterfall. in invergordon we walked around and enjoyed the scenery. lovely!!!

I will post pictures as soon as I get home. I will also post pics of the menus and the food! I took pictures of the menus in eataly.

@bea. kamil will probably stay on the

preziosa until december and does not have any information on what ship he will be on after that.

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Delighted to hear you're having good weather. That area is so unpredictable - you've been very lucky.

Thanks for the heads-up about Kamil. I hope we'll see him again on one of our future cruises.

Continue enjoying your cruise, Sandra & family. :)

Have you been in the Sports Bar? Can you post menu from there also?

thank you somuc for your wishes bea, they predict rough seas for our next sea day... I hope the captain will fimd a way around it...

have been to the sports bar lots of times but never saw anyone have food there! there is a beer menu on the table but no food menu. I will ask this afternoon!

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Don't stay up in the Yacht Club area during the rough seas - that's a mistake I made once! Go down to mid-ships and hang out down there. If you have any sea-sickness medication with you, take it early. Don't wait 'til you start feeling any ill-effects - prevention is the key here. I believe one of the first symptoms is yawning! Don't know how true that is; I read it somewhere once.

We've been in rough seas on quite a few occasions; but the only time I was seasick was when we were in Yacht Club.

thank you somuc for your wishes bea, they predict rough seas for our next sea day... I hope the captain will fimd a way around it...

 

have been to the sports bar lots of times but never saw anyone have food there! there is a beer menu on the table but no food menu. I will ask this afternoon!

 

 

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Thank you! On an old menu they had chicken nuggets for about 5€. Hoping they still have them for my picky 3 and 4 year olds!

Thank you! On an old menu they had chicken nuggets for about 5€. Hoping they still have them for my picky 3 and 4 year olds!

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that seems to be all...

we had. terribly rough night and morning. blue bags hanging everywhere as a reminder that you might get sick. we used medication but unfortunately it did not help my son. He feels better now, thank god!

in the tsl they had crackers and appleslices for those who felt sick.

the sun has come out now and it seems as though the sea is getting calmer. We had such beautiful wheather in iceland, I suppose, that was all the luck we were supposed to have!

looking forward to docking in kirkwall!!!

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I wanted to add something about our cavin location. We have the two cabins at the end of the aisle on deck 16. as I said, I wS happy to snatch those as they are wider and seem bigger. It turns out though, that the choice is less than ideal. They start cleaning the roof/one pool etc around 3 o clock in the mornings. after 3 nights I spoke to the concierge and he made them stop for the night, only to start again at 5:30. That is an ok time for me but I cannot run to the concierge every night to get my sleep.

In rough seas like now, the door to deck 14 keeps banging.

The cabin is extremely noisy.

I did not have this problem when we had cabin 16035 on the other side... but that may also be due to the different itinerary.

If you have the choice pick the rectangular ones on deck 15!

food in la palmeraie is awesome.

the little hor d'hoeuvres and desserts in the tsl are quite boring, repetitive and were better on the divina. (still waiting for this cheesecake in a cup dessert they always offered)

breakfast on one pool is marvellous, they prepare eggs, pancakes, service is fast and good.

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had coffee yesterday in the espresso bar and the waitrss told us that every drink is included for the yc.

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I wanted to add something about our cavin location. We have the two cabins at the end of the aisle on deck 16. as I said, I wS happy to snatch those as they are wider and seem bigger. It turns out though, that the choice is less than ideal. They start cleaning the roof/one pool etc around 3 o clock in the mornings. after 3 nights I spoke to the concierge and he made them stop for the night, only to start again at 5:30. That is an ok time for me but I cannot run to the concierge every night to get my sleep.

In rough seas like now, the door to deck 14 keeps banging.

 

The cabin is extremely noisy.

I did not have this problem when we had cabin 16035 on the other side... but that may also be due to the different itinerary.

 

If you have the choice pick the rectangular ones on deck 15!

 

food in la palmeraie is awesome.

 

the little hor d'hoeuvres and desserts in the tsl are quite boring, repetitive and were better on the divina. (still waiting for this cheesecake in a cup dessert they always offered)

 

breakfast on one pool is marvellous, they prepare eggs, pancakes, service is fast and good.

 

 

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So ............... lots of good points - and some bad ones! Sorry about your rough sea experience. We had a front-facing YC cabin once in rough weather. The wind whistled and rattled our balcony door all night. I'd never have a front-facing cabin again!

We've been lucky to get a square cabin on deck 15 on Splendida so we probably won't have the disturbance from above that you did.

Great to hear that you're enjoying the meals in La Palmerie. We've had good and not so good on different occasions. The food on Meraviglia was fabulous - best YC restaurant experience we've had in our 4 YC cruises.

The premium drinks package is now included for Yacht Club guests so you're covered for everything on the menus except items with 2 asterisks. :)

 

 

 

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Thank you so much!