maehara

Don't have online payment options for my next trip either - I was assuming it's because it was booked via the Future Cruise desk on our last trip & their system sees them as a TA.

From when we were on Euribia last year: You get one towel each left in your cabin in embarkation; you can swap used towels for clean ones at a booth on the pool deck. So swap after you’ve had a swim & take the clean one back to your cabin. 
 

Not sure about taking them ashore, haven’t needed to try yet. 
 

You’re charged for any pool towels that aren’t left in your cabin on disembarkation (€30, if I remember correctly…)

YouTube video I saw (that I can't find again now!) had them tendering over.

Don't know what other options there are if you wanted to make your own way.

We’re on Lirica out of Marghera next year, so this was puzzling me as well…

Apparently they transfer you to the old cruise terminal at Stazione Marittima and you’ll be reunited with your luggage there. (Reverse for boarding at Marghera, check in at the old terminal, then get transferred to the ship.)

6 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

We walked around for a little bit, stared at some hardened lava, and got back into the bus.

To be fair, yours isn't the first experience we've heard of this, and it does give me cause for doubt.

The particular excursion we'd been looking at is the "monster truck / bus" trip up to (near) the top - I hear better things from folks who go up that far - but that does have the disadvantage of being hella expensive. Hmmm.

With the exception of Civitavecchia you're visiting the same ports as our trip in October.  Some of the ports are a gimme for what to do (Pompeii from Naples & Mt Etna from Messina), others not so much, so particularly following for the excursions.  Hope you enjoy the trip!

1 hour ago, jcollin said:

We are booked in an Aurea balcony in April.  Then main reason to get it was spa access.  Where in my reservation can I see that it's included?  I want to print that off and bring it with me just in case it's needed.  Thanks

Log into the Plan My Cruise section of the website, then click on the Booking Details tab.  Under the Included in My Booking part, there'll be a + sign against 'Aurea Experience Benefits' - click that to expand the full list.  Should be same as / similar to this:

Not being included in any of the drinks packages probably limits the potential damage. 😏

@Stockjock is just off the Europa, and has provided an impressive amount of information on their travels, so I'd suggest you start with his thread:

(We'll be making our first trip on Europa ourselves later in the year, and I've found that thread very useful.)

Once you’ve made a booking then the terms that applied at time of booking would need to stick. Concern would be for new bookings from the point of the change onwards. 
 

Online details for our 2024 & 2025 bookings, both in Aurea, is still showing the newly-missing perks. 

Well, that seems to be the case. 
Makes going Fantastica next time we book far more likely. More money for other things, I guess. 

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

He brought up the origins starting with the Achille Lauro and Captain Achille Lauro said "Never Again" hiring the best security in the world for his ships.

Sailed on the Achille Lauro way back in 1988 (I was 15 then; you can do the maths from there) - that would've been a few years after the hijacking, and our youth leaders made a point of showing us where certain events had happened (allegedly - couldn't exactly confirm it ourselves!).

On the one hand, brought to life things we'd only knew about from the news; on the other, not necessarily what you want to know when you're stuck on the ship for 2 weeks...

11 hours ago, Stockjock said:

but I really miss the nice casual, mellow chill out lounges that we find on many other classes of MSC ships. I think it’s the sky lounge that I’m thinking of, where you can just chill out looking out over the pool area and they will have a band with maybe a piano or a singer or a guitar player or something like that. I can’t find this on World Europa, unless I’m just looking in the wrong places. 

Yeah, this is something we've noticed doing our reading up in advance of our sailing.  We really enjoyed both Sky Lounge and L'Atelier du Voyageurs on Euribia, and as you say, can't see any equivalents on Europa. 

Raj Tea House is something my other half is looking forward to trying & that isn't available elsewhere and appears to be quite relaxed, but that I assume will be fully-chargeable so hardly an alternative for an included venue.

Don’t suppose you snapped a copy of the Speakeasy drink menu?

1) Top Sail Lounge is YC-exclusive

2) Ask nicely at the YC concierge desk, it'll be up to the YC director.  I've seen videos / photos from folks who've said they've been allowed in for a quick tour, but it's by no means guaranteed.

3) Depends on what country you've booked in - some include, some don't. If you've already booked, check your booking on the website, on the Booking Details tab it'll show "Service Charges - Gratuities included" if they are.  If you haven't, it'll tell you during the booking process.  Note that that's for the daily gratuities only; anything you spend on-board gets a 15% gratuity added.

4) Yes, there's an alcohol-free package.  I see the UK pricing, as that's where I am - for a 7-day cruise, £147 per adult; kids get it for less, but mine are beyond that now so it doesn't show me the current price.  Includes

Non-alcoholic cocktails

Fresh fruit and protein cocktails

Energy drinks

Sodas

Energy drinks

Flavored water

Soda by glass and bottle

Wide range of hot drinks

Soft serve ice cream

Beverage gratuities included

57 minutes ago, greg898 said:

Oh strange. I wonder if it's still too early then because nothing is showing up under the disembarkation excursions for me yet.

Had a dig through my emails - excursion code was COP01D (City Tour & Tivoli), maybe worth giving them a call and seeing if it’s available via the call centre?

We had one booked when we were on Euribia in August - pre-booked via the Excursions page on the website.
 

Although we cancelled on-board as we came up with another plan that gave us more time before going to the airport (there’s a luggage service at CPH that will collect your bags from the ship & hold them at the airport for you while you do your own thing).

You can mix’n’match people in your group on the package or a la carte - we did that in both Hola & Kaito Robatayaki on our last trip (Euribia - package for the adults, kids were old enough to have it but are fussy enough eaters that we didn’t want to chance them not finding anything they wanted so they went a la carte).  Staff were clearly used to dealing with this, didn’t cause any problems, just make it clear when you’re booking your table. 

Pricing on the menus is for a la carte, not the pre-order package; package will usually get you the “Dining Experience” - one starter, main & dessert from a selection included, with certain more expensive options labelled as extra-charge - in which case it’ll cost you half of the a la carte price. Anything else (extra sides, 2nd desserts etc) will cost the full listed price. Easy Plus and Premium drinks packages are honoured. 

28 minutes ago, sidari said:

Preziosa was built for Gadaffi and his family complete with a shark tank,

"James Bond villain" vibes intensity....

Filed under "the more you know!".  And yes, this is exactly the sort of nerdy detail I love. 😅

For some reason had it in my head that all of MSC's current fleet had been built specifically for them, but always happy to be corrected.

25 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Thanks for posting.  We just made our booking for next November.  I’m so excited…but 300+ days away is a loooong time.  I’ll be looking for everyone’s posts and pics.

We're end of October.  It's the anticipation that's the killer! 😅

We'll be on Europa ourselves next year (which is why I've been nabbing what menus I can find!), so all impressions welcome!

Here you go - can't remember where I gleaned this from, but it wasn't too long ago.

Euribia back in August, we got a paper copy the night before disembarkation.