Iluvcruising2

As we walked along La Rambla, we spotted this market, which looked very interesting from the outside. Not know what this place was all about, we decided to walk in to take a look.

It was awesome! The colours, the smells, the vibrancy of the place. Check out the video I made.

[YOUTUBE]SI3nPyF49sE[/YOUTUBE]

So pretty and colourful!

Within the market, there were a good number of such eateries where people sat at the bar counter and had fresh seafood with wine. The smells were really good!

Staff were naturally very busy. Business was very good!

As we continued our walk along La Rambla, spotted these apartments.

We stopped at some gift shops to buy a couple of magnets (Kids wanted).

After lunch, it was time to head to La Rambla. The plan was to take a taxi there, explore the street and then head back to the ship. There were taxis waiting at a taxi stand outside Sagrada, so getting a cab was very easy. Again, it was by meter and the cost to La Rambla was about 10 Euros. Here is the video of the taxi ride.

[YOUTUBE]Ea_rfIG1mXA[/YOUTUBE]

The taxi driver dropped us off at the northern end of La Rambla, which was good, since we would want to walk southwards towards the cruise port. The weather was gorgeous, even though this was in the winter. Wonderful to walk around. The center of the street was pedestrainized, making it easy to walk.

Here is a video showing footage of our walk on La Rambla.

[YOUTUBE]DEsflWg6v9w[/YOUTUBE]

Pretty good crowds too. Not sure if they were locals or tourists.

We were in La Rambla, Barcelona.

Hotel Le Meridien was here. Centrally located.

The flowers were gorgeous! Bear in mind that this was in December. I didn't expect to see any flowers.

It was warm enough for people to be eating al fresco. There were many of such eateries, and the prices were in this ballpark.

There was a small museum in the basement that gives you a run through of the history of the Sagrada Familia. This place is always associated with Gaudi.

The most interesting artefact in the museum was this. What was this? An inverted model designed by Gaudi for structural calculations of the Cathedral. We are talking about 19th Century technology here. Anotonio Gaudi was reported to have said "the interior of the temple will be like a forest".

After the guided tour in English, we went up the tower. (We had bought our tickets online, earlier). There were lifts bringing you up. We didn't spend too long up there, just took some photos and came back down.

This completes our visit to the Sagrada. We decided to grab a quick bit at a McDonald's opposite before heading to La Rambla. Earlier in the morning, we had scouted around the area a bit. Here is a video of the McDonalds from the oustide. It is right beside a Costa Coffee. The McDonalds had complimentary Wi-Fi, which was useful!

[YOUTUBE]xbQmaK1ncMM[/YOUTUBE]

And here is what we ate for the light lunch. Total cost of 12.10Euros!

[YOUTUBE]i3tJvkckvOw[/YOUTUBE]

Here is a photo of the receipt.

Here is a video while touring the Sagrada Familia, and subsequently went up the tower. We bought our tickets in advance, and brought the print-outs. No problems using them. It was a good idea to buy tickets in advance. See 3:52 of the video for the long ticket line. I have been to a good number of Cathedrals in Europe and I must say that this one is very different. (Granted it is a minor basilica and not technically a cathedra) The design is very different. Gaudi, inspired by nature and the forest, designed the columns to look like a forest, so we were told.

[YOUTUBE]q41BJRb8uoU[/YOUTUBE]

Some pictures from our visit. Inside the Sagrada Familia.

Even though the place was crowded with people and the din from the construction was clearly audible, the entire place felt very peaceful.

This place would be magnificent when it is finally completed.

Outside, I spotted this turtle holding up the column. Tough job. I hope its shell doesn't crack.

This was a big poster covering a door that they would ultimately construct. Notice the words. It was the same verse from the Bible in many different languages. What was this famous verse? Easily spotted, just read a language that you know.

Another view.

Still a wonderful review, thank you! Kids are delighted that you can have hot chocolate in Le Muse [emoji847]. I also liked your Bagshopping-Video. I plan on purchasing one on my next cruise.

Thanks for your comment.

My kids reminded me that they loved the hot chocolate for breakfast in the Yacht Club restaurant.

Are the bags a good deal? My wife said prices were ok but she didn't plan on buying any that cruise.

We got off the ship and walked to the cruise port taxi stand which was very near. There was a long line of taxis. They all went by the meter. We asked how much it would cost to get to Sagrada Familia and the driver said 25 Euros. True enough, the meter read 25 Euros thereabouts by the time we got to the Sagrada. This is the route from the cruise port to the Sagrada Familia, from Google Maps.Distance about 8.5km.

Here is a video of the taxi ride. The driver was a chatty guy who could speak English well. He told us that he also doubled up as a tour guide and showed us some brochures on his day packages for cruise ship passengers. He tried his best to convince us to book him for the day, but we decided against it since we didn't have plans to see so many places. Just wanted to do the Sagrada and the La Rambla.

[YOUTUBE]yUFkWw6dxU8[/YOUTUBE]

The sight that greeted us when we arrived. Impressive.

.

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Catalan pronunciation: [səˈɣɾaðə fəˈmiɫiə]; English: Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family) is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor basilica, as distinct from a cathedral, which must be the seat of a bishop. (From wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia)

The construction was ongoing, at a fairly rapid pace. Later, within the cathedral, we could hear all the construction noises. We were told that all the ticket entrance money was used to fund the continued building of this Cathedral.

After breakfast, there was time to walk around the ship, as she was in the process of docking and seeking clearance. Some photos from the Garden pool area (which is located at aft of the ship). You can see the coaches.

A bridge linking the cruise terminals to the main land.

A clearer view of the bridge.

And here is a video I made while standing near the Garden pool. Saw many new cars being driven on a Ro-Ro ship too.

[YOUTUBE]_W2TjtFStu8[/YOUTUBE]

This morning, we had breakfast in the Yacht Club, as per our usual practice.

This was a video I made of the breakfast. As the ship docked only at 0900hrs, there was plenty of time for time for breakfast.

[YOUTUBE]Q_X81D_7uq0[/YOUTUBE]

Today, the ship will dock in Barcelona and we will spend some time to view the Sagrada Familia and La Rambla. As I was going through my videos and pictures for the trip report, I came across this video footage which I had forgotten about. This was taken as we walked along La Rambla, in the direction of the cruise port. Suddenly, these illegal hawkers packed up their wares and disappeared into the side alleys.

Why? I figured that a police patrol or some law enforcement was approach. They obviously had a good early warning system. Which makes you wonder - in this day and age, shouldn't there be video cameras along such a busy and touristy street to assist law enforcement? Anyway, here is the short clip.

[YOUTUBE]0Uhf_SHVE0Y[/YOUTUBE]

Later that evening, we went to the theatre to catch the show, which was a night of Italian songs. This was the later show. Overall, we found that the theatre was often not very full. Not too difficult to find a seat, even if you went late.

We preferred to sit on the upper level, and not the main level. From here, you could look down at all the other passengers.

I managed to take this video of the "time to say goodbye" performance. Well, because the ship takes on pax at every port, there is no way they can ensure that the goodbye show is the correct one for all passengers! hah.

[YOUTUBE]jf7HKyi1ksg[/YOUTUBE]

All right, this wraps up our only sea day on this 7N sailing. Tomorrow, we arrive in Barcelona!

The main centrum - atmosphere was pretty good. Everybody seemed relaxed and having a good time.

I am pretty sure these were the same instrumentalists who performed beautifully at the private party for Yacht Club guests earlier. A violinist and pianist duo.

Walked into a shop that sold nutella. Cute.

I stopped by at the American Sports Bar to check out the place. This place sold food like burgers too. Here is a video I made of the Sports Bar (which was showing Italian football that evening) as well as the menu of this eatery. You have to pay for the food. However, the prices looked ok for a cruise ship. E.g. Club Sandwich, 3.5Euro. Chicken wrap 4 Euros. Check out the menu!

[YOUTUBE]G-9tNi5Oq5g[/YOUTUBE]

Here is a photo. Sorry i can't get it to stand upright.

An MSC Preziosa jersey? Cool eh.

Later that evening of the sea day, after dinner, we went around exploring the ship again. This was the cafeteria italiano.

This looked delicious. The prices were reasonable, I thought. But we didn't buy any since we already had too much to eat.

And we came to this bag shop, which somehow we hadn't really explored before!

Plenty of bags on display sale today.

Decided to make a video and show you some of the prices of the bags on board. I am not expert in such bags so I have no idea whether the prices were good. You tell me.

[YOUTUBE]TfqfewFJqAk[/YOUTUBE]

Thank you for the photos of the MSC Daily. This is exactly what I have been looking for.

Glad to be of assistance. Happy cruising! :)

What an excellent review, we love the YC experience (we did YC on the Divina 2015).

I'm loving the photos and video, makes me hungry and I love seeing the lay out again as its identical to the Divina, makes me home sick.... ;)

Cant wait for our next cruise.

 

Keep up the good work.

Thanks for your comment. Happy cruising!

Having stayed in a YC3 cabin on MSC Preziosa and having walked around to look at the various cabins, I don't see how it would be even possible to have a degraded level of service just because you are in a YC inside.

The reason is simple - all the additional perks and facilities are OUTSIDE your cabin. Boarding the ship, YC Concierge, Top Sail Lounge, YC Pool area, YC restaurant etc.

In fact, I would say that staying in a YC3 is NOT WORTH THE MONEY (unless you really need the space, and for us we had 4 pax so the space was good) because I didn't feel that we got any additional perks just because we were in the 'ROYAL SUITE', so to speak. We were treated the same as any other YC pax.

My conclusion is that once your are in YC, your treatment will be like any other YC pax, based on my one experience so far.

Going forward, I think I will choose to stay in a YC inside (when sailing with my wife) as this would give me the greatest bang for the buck!

Thanks for the review.

I' m interested of activitis on sea day. Do you have the "Daily" for the sea day?

I found it! Hope this is useful.

As requested, some photos of the MSC Daily for this sea day. Main theatre tonight was a night of Italian songs.

Here are the activities for the day. Top half of the page.

Activities - bottom half of the page.

Happy New Year to you and your family. I'm still enjoying your review.

Heather

Thank you and thanks for following along this review.

Thanks for the review.

I' m interested of activitis on sea day. Do you have the "Daily" for the sea day?

I should have it somewhere, but I need to look for it. Will post here if I can find it!

Yes, there would be plenty of taxis, assuming you are outside the peak hours.

Let's move on to dinner. It was Italian night and the waiters were appropriately dressed!

The menu, in a different colour this evening.

Here is the video I made of the dinner experience. Very nice dinner, as usual!

[YOUTUBE]1NqHiNAVIdQ[/YOUTUBE]

This was the menu.

The house white for this evening.

This was the main course - beef. This was well done.

This was my portion, which I asked for medium.

We left the party shortly after speaking with the Captain, but not before stopping to admire some music from the violinist and pianist! They were cool. See this video.

[YOUTUBE]jQVLuwfzlVU[/YOUTUBE]

Here is a picture of the duo. The violin is a beautiful instrument and the piano provides perfect accompaniment.

For some reason, before dinner that evening, I went to check out the food in the buffet area. Can't remember why I did so, maybe we were too early for dinner. The YC restaurant opens at 6:30pm and we usually eat around that time. Well, I managed to get these pictures. The chef was preparing the pizza.

More pizza preparation.

Freshly baked pizza!!

Bar seating area in the buffet.

This afternoon, sea day, was the private party in the Top Sail lounge for Yacht Club guests. The place was rather full when we got there. While waiting, the butlers were serving drinks.

Can't remember what this drink was, but it was most certainly alcoholic!

I made several videos of the party, as follows. In this first video, we arrive at the Top Sail lounge and found a place to sit. Many other YC guests had already arrived. Butlers were serving drinks and canapes. As we waited, the Cruise Director appeared and announced that there would first be a soprano performance.

[YOUTUBE]ZFDcadBEhM0 [/YOUTUBE]

In this second video, the Captain and the Hotel Director arrives. They go around from table to table, having a brief chat with guests. When they arrived at our table, the Captain told us that he had sailed to Singapore many times in the past (with different cruise lines) and he enjoyed Singapore very much. We thanked him for his kind words and complimented him on the wonderful time we were having on the MSC Preziosa! Our kids took a photo with the Captain too.

[YOUTUBE]Asul3w4eM1k[/YOUTUBE]

Some more pictures. This was the tray of canapes. I tried a few.

A closer look. Rather exquisite. Just pop the whole thing into my mouth. Chomp.

The Captain and Hotel Director speaking with other guests.

We're flying from Gatwick and only have to travel down (by train) from Manchester:) We're hoping to do an Asia cruise in 2018 as would love to see Singapore so might be experiencing that long flight in the future!

Nice. From Gatwick, that would be via British Airways? We flew back from Genoa to Gatwick on BA. The plane was full of passengers of the cruise.

Yes, please do visit Asia and come to Singapore! :):)

Yes we are sailing out of Genoa, our first time there too. Flying to Genoa the day before sailing so we'll have the day to have a look around before we board the next day.

Cool. So we did something similar - flew to Genoa from London Stanstead. I guess the difference was that we had to fly all the way from Singapore to London first! :):)

Really enjoying reading you review so much so that we have upgraded our balcony on Preziosa to a YC1 in Yacht Club and can't wait to experience it for ourselves. Thank you.

Oh wow! Thanks for letting me know. Yes, the Yacht Club is a wonderful product relative to its price point. Definitely worth a try. Over time, if the demand is strong, I am sure MSC will raise the price of this product, so better try it while it is still relatively unknown!

Are you sailing out of Genoa too?