raino144

From zero to gale force. It all depends on the ship and wind direction.

We’ve been out in the hot tub in apparent 40kt winds, apart from a bit of

whistling it didn’t bother us one jot.

You can see the hot tub covered in the photo - can’t be seen if you are at the back of the tub but can be seen if sat at the front of the tub. 
 

Smoking area is on the starboard side of the ship so busier than port side, should be quieter above 16003.

Photo taken from the outdoor Top Sail area, showing the view down to 16004/6/8.

16003 same but other side of the ship (the outdoor Top Sail is the entire width of the ship).

5 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Do you remember the cabin number on WA?  We ultimately went with the duplex and my understanding is they are all on deck 16. 

16006 was our duplex on World Europa.

12004 was our Grandiosa duplex, was below the bridge and so very private and peaceful.

We’re back on Grandiosa in October, might be the same duplex.

Checking in here as we have sailed both World Europa and Grandiosa in the duplexes.

Grandiosa is our pick of the two: on World Europa we were on Deck 16 directly below the Top Sail lounge, the balcony was not ‘private’ as the Top Sail outdoor area directly overlooked the balcony and jacuzzi, and we suffered from noise on 3 nights around 3am from the cleaners moving furniture. 
 

There was no noticeable issue on Grandiosa of the suites being outside the enclave, elevators came quickly to take us up to Top Sail.

And in a Voyagers Club quirk, I and my 6 year old son are both Diamond, my wife and 3 year old are both Gold. Not that it makes any difference on board, but just another example of MSC ‘strangeness’ going on.

I did have to call MSC to have the OBC added to the booking, but apart from that it has been a smooth booking experience so far. Our UK based TA managed to secure a reasonable discount from the published fare.

Checking online, only interior cabins are now offered for sale on the sailing so wondering if the RS upgrade is available or not.

As you’ll be aware, the Duplexes on Deck 12 are outside the YC ‘enclave’ but this has never been an issue for us, our kids make friends with the concierge as soon as they arrive and the staff love them, so when we arrive in Top Sail there’s no question of whether we ‘belong’ in YC 🙂 

Kids are already looking forward to Kids Club, Pepsi Max and lots of ice cream.

Looking forward to a smooth drive down to Marseille, a short stay there for a couple of nights before parking at the cruise terminal. We’ve visited al the destinations before, for us the ship is our ‘destination’. 
 

Let me know if there is anything you want to know about sailing in Europe with kids and I’ll try and answer here.

We’ll be back on Grandiosa out of Marseille 14th October with the kids now 6 and 3 1/2.

The upgrade ‘fairy’ has sent out the email to offer the RS upgrade for £1,370 bid - we are currently back in our favoured Duplex with Hot Tub suite as it has the full height glass balcony.

It’s still a bit tempting, but the balcony not being full height all the way round in the RS might just be a deal breaker for us. May be a useful data point for some.
 

Looking forward to being back on Grandiosa - our favourite MSC ship so far!

British family living in Switzerland here. We always book through UK travel agents as the prices are lower and agents can offer 10+% discounts over MSC website. We do have a UK address, bank account and credit cards etc… Never been an issue so far!

Just wanted to update the thread - we are now on World Europa, some ship this!

Plenty of kids in YC this week. My kids are both in Kids Club right now - our 3 year old is *not quite* 100% out of nappies but they happily let her in the kids club proper and gave me an onboard phone which they will call me on in case of an accident.

Kids club hours are 9-8 (or later!) every day, mine go in for a couple of hours in the afternoon before jumping into the hot tub to tire them out before dinner.

The kids club setup is definitely a step up from our Grandiosa trip last Oct.

When the kids go off to University, a 20+ night Transatlantic itinerary in Yacht Club! For me MSC is all about the ship.

Maybe Europe is different, my live thread from last October with much more baby club is here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2968848-live-from-the-grandiosa-october-21-28-yc-duplex-with-children-5-and-2/

Edit: key club times copy pasted from my review: There are 3 slots on port days (9-10, 13-15 and 18-20) of which you can book 2 to leave them with the kids club staff, the day before.

My kids are now 5 and 3 and we are on World Europa YC next week (3rd time with kids). Staff are amazing both in YC and also in the Kids Club (needed for them to burn off energy!)

At dinner there were some other cruisers who preferred to be sat away from families which is understandable, we were always in early and had as ‘our table’ a really lovely table by the window where we could entertain the kids with iPads and headphones so they were well behaved (an hour in the pool / jacuzzi beforehand suitably tired them out 🙂 )

I guess my post is more to provide pre-cruise reassurance- would love to see a live thread!

14 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Thanks for this, it appears our (just) 3 year old but who still wears pull-ups should be able to go in Baby Care again when we go on World Europa next Sunday… this info is literally nowhere on MSC!

Preziosa, Divina, Seaside, Grandiosa, with World Europa coming up in 2 weeks!

All YC 🙂

Have a look at the couple of threads I have posted, we have sailed both Seaside and Grandiosa with young children. MSC Baby club is excellent and allows 2x 2 hour slots per day. 

Looking forward to this. Newly minted MSC Diamond + travelling on this itinerary next Easter. Previously sailed Grandiosa (just!), Seaside, Divina and Preziosa so looking forward to your thoughts. Especially the expanded YC vs. other ships?

A fitting photo to end our voyage with. Goodnight Grandiosa!

10 minutes ago, voyagerL said:

We’re embarking on Tuesday! Thanks for the updates 😊 can you let me know what theme nights they had during your cruise? Gala + White Night + ? 
 

Thanks in advance (helps with the luggage debacle) lol! 

White night was leaving Barcelona, Gala night on the sea day. Also a 60/70/80s night leaving Genoa but we didn’t pack for that 😂

More F10 winds. With the balcony door open the cabin door is whistling, but perfectly pleasant in the hot tub!

Wishing Ted a full and speedy recovery. 

Ischia on the departure from Napoli. Week has absolutely flown by, another happy cruising week in YC!

14 hours ago, Captain-John said:

 

You must really have enjoyed it! It's a shame we don't have the same flexibility as our stateside cousins who can adjust pricing after booking without losing deposits etc. 

 

It's a shame booking onboard doesn't offer any advantage either.

We ended up negotiating with a couple of travel agents to get their quotes down from the initial £8,588(incl Voyagers Club discount) to £7,500. Still a jump on this year but the duplex is a brilliant space for the family.

We settled into a routine where we dropped the little one off 9-10, got off and had a few hours in port, both kids into kids club 13-15 and then enjoyed the cabin / hot tub / minibar until going to dinner when the restaurant opened at night.

Last night was quite wobbly, sea legs on land today! 

Seventy. Thousand. Dollars!! 

Napoli!

The Celebrity ship looks smart so for interest we priced up an equivalent suite for next October to Grandiosa.

I am still picking myself up off the floor….

News!!!!

We have rebooked Grandiosa next year in October out of Marseille.

After massive haggling with travel agents we have minimised the increase to 25pc. Still mega ouch.

Ouch!