maehara

Just boarded MSC Euribia today in Copenhagen, can report that no surcharge for 2nd mains seems to be being charged here. 

Boarded today, 2pm slot, process was reasonably efficient and we were on board by 2:30. Cabin was ready for us - there are several video tours of Fantastica balconies online, and ours was entirely in line with what we expected. Some videos have complained about the clotheslines in the bathroom being fractionally too short, that wasn’t a problem here. Our room is configured for 4 berths, with the sofa-come-bunkbed - photos of that when we’re back home. It’s far preferable to a double sofabed, IMO, as with 2 late-teen girls my wife and I would end up using that while they got the real beds. 
 

Dinner in Aurora Borealis MDR. Food hot, tasty, and what my late father-in-law would have referred to as “an elegant sufficiency” - portions not huge, but enough to leave us feeling full. Very attentive service from the MDR staff. No complaints here. 
 

Onboard practicalities: cancelled our final day excursion, as we came up with better plans; refunded as OBC before I’d gotten back to the cabin. Specialty dining at Le Grill & Kaito Robatayaki booked for later in the week. Talked to customer services about putting a spending limit on the kids’ cards, but that requires a cash deposit rather than just a link to a credit card, so bollocks to that. 

And perhaps most importantly: no surcharge on 2nd mains currently being charged on Euribia. I know this has been exercising the US contingent. 

Anyhoo. It’s now 8:40, I’m relaxing on our balcony ahead of the 9pm stage show (Julebox Live!) and the later Carousel Lounge show, Big Band Disco. And there’s a Pink Floyd tribute act in Masters of the Sea after that. In other words, a potentially decent night ahead. 

No Butcher’s Cut on Euribia; it’s been replaced by Le Grill, which has a lot of the same steakhouse items, plus fish dishes, all with allegedly a French twist. 

Long day travel yesterday, Belfast > Dublin > Copenhagen; then a canal cruise & pizza down in Hyhavn.
 

Today, Tivoli Gardens mainly (dodging the rain, which we’re due to get today). Then boarding tomorrow. ::anticipation: rising::

45 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

If you can pls take a look around the thermal spa area facilities, as we'll most likely book that, esp at $110 for the week...

We have thermal area passes ourselves, so will see what I can get if it’s not too crowded. One of those areas where I wouldn’t be comfortable pulling our the camera if others were around… 

How “live” this will be remains to be seen, but we’ll be on Euribia for a tour of the fjords, departing Copenhagen next Sunday (13th).

This has been a long time in the planning - our first attempt at cruising as a family was scheduled for summer ’21, but got cancelled due to COVID; then we’d booked the Baltics including an overnight stop in St Petersburg for last year, but Russian invaded Ukraine and put paid to that.  So 3rd time lucky.

For our girls (15 & 17) this will be their first cruise.  My other half went on several cruises with her parents in her late teens / 20s; while my only previous cruise was 2 weeks Cape Town > Southampton back in 1988.  2 port days, lots of sea days.  (One for trivia: that trip was on the MV Achille Lauro, which some folks will remember has A History without even having to Google it.  Not long after we sailed on her, the operator - Star Lauro Lines - was bought up by these folks called the Mediterranean Shipping Company, and went on to become MSC Cruises.  So from a certain point of view, I’ve been loyal to MSC for 35 years now...)

Anyhoo.  We’re in a Fantastica balcony on Deck 10, which may leave us with a wonderful view of the top of the lifeboats below.  We’ll see.  This sailing hasn’t been on sale for a while now, so expecting it to be fully booked / busy - we did have a bid in for an upgrade to a 6-berth Aurea Premium cabin, but not expecting to hit the jackpot on that.  Port activities we’ve largely booked ourselves rather than through MSC - sailing boat cruise on Geirangerfjord; the Flamsbana & a RIB tour at Flam.  Alesund and Kiel we’ll play by ear when we get there.  We have some specialty dining paid in advance - Kaito Robatayaki & Le Grill - and I suspect the girls will haul us into Hola! at some point.  Made no sense to pre-pay for that as the added cost is the same as the all-you-can-eat cost on board.

Plan is to do short updates each day on board, with photos & menus to follow when we’re back home and not relying on shipboard wifi.  Any questions, ask away and I’ll do my best to answer.

Looking ahead to booking our 2024 cruise, and with our girls getting older (they'll be 18 & 16 by then) we're looking at the possibility of 2 adjacent cabins instead of one 4-sleeper.  More space, more sanity for all concerned.

When booking 2 cabins, does MSC allow different drinks packages for each cabin (e.g an alchol package for cabin 1 / my wife and I; a non-alcohol package for the girls in cabin 2)?

Assuming my eyes aren’t failing me: That’s a sideways B on 9294, meaning bathtub instead of shower. 9290 would have a shower. 

£110 for a 7-night cruise, if you’re booking in the UK…

To add to OP’s “Hey! It worked!!” experience:

Yesterday, I had a pre-cruise satisfaction survey from MSC UK, asking for comments on our experience from booking to date. We sail on Euribia on the 11th. I answered honestly, including two items of complaint: a problem dealing with one of their departments by email, and a discrepancy between what the website said was included in our drinks plan and what our ticket said was included. 
 

Never have I had a company respond to a satisfaction survey. Until today, when MSC called re: the two items I’d complained about.
 

The email problem is at least moving again - I was promised they’d be back in though shortly, and lo an email arrived 5mins after the call ended; and on the drinks plan, I’m told the ticket trumps the website text. We’ll see how accurate that info is in due course, but I’m pleasantly surprised they made the effort to reach out on survey comments…

Refresh / replacement of the smaller ships in the fleet with something similarly-sized but less dated.  We've got our eyes on some itineraries that currently use Lirica-class ships, but the combination of limited accommodation options on the ships for families, dated interiors, and looks that could charitably be described as car-ferry-like are putting us off.

10 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Everytime I read one of these MSC complaint threads, I feel that the MSC in the USA and the MSC in Europe are two different companies.

 

We too had our butler escort us from the YC then off the ship to where a taxi was waiting in Genoa, about a four minute walk. One of the reasons that the butlers can maybe take the time to do that is most cruises in Europe do "bus stop" embarkation. Only a percentage of the passengers actually disembark at each port.

Also remember that US-based cruises are crossing borders where border checks are in place, so they'll not let anyone off the ship without going through immigration. 

Western Med cruises, on many itineraries all stops are within the Shengen free-travel zone.  Won't be anyone on board that hasn't already been through the required immigration checks before boarding in the first place.

Ask me in a couple of weeks - we're on Euribia, sailing 13 August, and I've bought the 4-devices pack against my own name rather than 4 1-device plans.  Soon find out how well that works for us...

Hey, I had reason to call CS today to add the Minors drink package for our kids (website wouldn’t let me do it there).  Seems to have been a successful engagement. 
 

Although I guess I should wait for our updated e-ticket to arrive before celebrating… 😬🤞

I’ve seen mention in several places that the Carousel Lounge on Euribia does breakfasts & daytime snacks & nibbles, as part of the inclusive dining.  Sadly can’t confirm myself for another few weeks… 

Short version: Is mixing some diners on a pre-paid dining package & some not at the one table likely to pose a problem?

Long version: pondering getting the Duo speciality package for my partner & myself on our upcoming Euribia cruise, and while we're up for both Kaito Robatayaki & Le Grill, our late-teen kids would prefer to give Le Grill a miss.  Gives us a chance for a quiet parents' dinner, and the Duo package for us would make it cheaper.  Just wanting to get a pointer on whether doing Kaito with 2 on a package and 2 off would unnecessarily confuse things. 

Don’t they also offer a price guarantee if booked on board? (See the same cruise cheaper after booking and they’ll match the price.)

That’s just from what I’ve seen online & not from experience. 

We have a RIB trip from Flam booked for our trip next month.  My thinking from having been on similar trips elsewhere is that the experience of being on the fjords will be very different from a RIB (very close to the water and the feeling of speed that gives, able to get up close to the shore & waterfalls) than being on a cruise ship (much more leisurely pace, different viewpoint from the high decks, can't get too close to shore because of draught limitations / water depth).  Very much not the same thing.

19 minutes ago, P2l said:

Oddly, there is no deck 17

17 is considered unlucky by Italians, so no deck 17 on MSC. 

41 minutes ago, Coral said:

Since you are a local - are more ships going to the new pier? Are certain types of ships going to one pier over the other?

New pier is the closer one, and seems to be the default - I pass by the harbour fairly often, and usually only see ships at the 'old' quay when there's more than one visiting.  

Looks like Regal Princess is the only ship in town for both its May 2020 visits, so likely the new terminal - but I'm speculating there, don't hold me to it..!

Two quays in Belfast Harbour where cruise ships dock.  The closer one is ~5min taxi / shuttle bus from the Titanic centre; the further one, about 20mins - but involves going over the harbour bridge, which would suffer from bad traffic at rush hours, when you'd want to allow extra time.

I see Belfast on your itinerary, grab yourself an Ulster Fry while here.  Heart attack on a plate, but oh so good. 

Precise contents vary depending on where you get it from, but as a minimum expect sausage, bacon, potato & soda breads, fried or scrambled egg.  Common add-ons: mushrooms, tomato, beans.  Traditionally fried (surprise!), but these days often grilled to make it marginally less deadly; and most places will offer vegetarian versions.

Hungry now...

10 hours ago, Marseydotes said:

Can anyone tell me just how “fit” one should be to walk to and from the stones? Balance issues and asthma make many walks difficult!

thanks....

Shortest route down is just under a mile each way.  I'm not in the best physical shape & wouldn't have an issue, but the path is gravelly in places and slopes are involved which sounds like it may be a concern?  If in doubt, there's a shuttle bus run by Ulsterbus that runs between the visitor centre & the Causeway.  £1 each way.

Has been said of the Causeway that it's worth seeing, but not worth going to see - which is a fair enough assessment.  That said, the rest of the north coast road & Carrick-a-Rede absolutely are worth visiting.  Views from the coast road are beautiful, and while the current incarnation of the rope bridge is far more sturdy than you'd expect (I distinctly remember it being more rickety when I was younger, and more tricky / thrilling / fun to cross than it is now), it's still worth doing.

Belfast's Titanic obsession has always seemed a bit... off to me. Very strange thing to build a tourism industry around. 

Emailed them a few weeks ago as I was having problems booking a cruise on the website and wanted to flag up that there was a problem.  Took them a while (6 days), but I'd included my 'phone number on the email & they called me to see if I was still having problems & run through the booking over the 'phone if I'd still not gotten anywhere.

Problem turned out to be transient and I'd already booked by the time they called, but the effort was appreciated.  This was just a few days after Thomas Cook went under, so I expect that the delay was at least partly down to their UK call centre being swamped at the time...