heatherb1958

Enjoy Euribia , we disembarked on 8th March , our 15th MSC cruise , been on all the sister ships plus others . Don't miss the Carousel lounge big band experience , absolutely fantastic new use of the space compared to her sisters. There is singing , dancing and of course the big band playing different genres. Check the planner . We ate in the Le Grill. Fab meal. Disappointingly on Euribia the Sky lounge is not adults only like her sisters so consequently there were screaming kids at night in there on our trip.... love the free chocolate in there though so that made up for it 😆. Look forward to the rest of your report .

We had what they call a Junior Ocean view on deck 8 on Virtuosa , same as Meraviglia more or less . We chose the cabin , It was one of the smallest cabins we have ever had , even the bed was small . Never going to book one of those again . The inside cabin we had on Meraviglia was bigger !

It was at the Salford branch. Walkden is our nearest one but you don't walk past the currency exchange booth at that one to exit the store . The sign was big enough so hope you have it at yours tomorrow .

We were told by guest services that all those 1 and 2 dollar tips that we give out with each drink soon come back to them when the crew change them for larger notes.

Casino or Guest services, either one will do. You say you are not American , are you from the UK? We saw something in one of our local Tescos last week at their currency exchange booth never ever seen before . It was a sign that said " ask us about our $1 tip packs " !!

With regards the interporting , people getting on and off at each port, we think it is absolutely fantastic , every port is like a B2B day. You don't have a full ship trying to get on and off at once when it is your embarking/disembarking day. You can stay on the ship for as long as you want on disembarking day if you have a later flight and have lunch onboard too. We know when we hear Charlie Charlie that the crew are getting ready for drill for the new arrivals and so get a drink quick if we need one before the bars close for the period of the drill. The announcements are always done in English first so once we hear the English one we switch off to the others . Our only bug bear with the interporting itineraries is if we are in our room the announcements come into the cabin , solution to that problem is go and find somewhere cosy/comfortable to sit on the ship and wait until drill is over or take a shower 😆. There were some procedures we thought strange on our first MSC trip on Splendida but at the end of the 14 nights we thought everything that was strange we wished other cruiselines did .

It is a pity you couldn't be more specific and compare an equal experience on MSC and one of your other cruises. A blanket statement doesn't provide enough detail. We have cruised Celebrity 5 times and have Elite status through Royal, we have 100 nights now with MSC on several ships.. I know which line I prefer now , cost isn't the first factor, I have more fun with MSC. I am always willing to give companies a second chance, heck it was 15 years before we gave Princess one 😂. We went on Enchanted in 2022 and now are hooked . I would say if you had your first MSC experience out of Barcelona, which we did, I think your feedback would perhaps be more positive, we disliked our first UK sailing with them but knew what the problem was and ignored it. Enjoy your next cruise wherever it may take you, ours is on Euribia 2 weeks today and I can't wait. Edit :- We started cruising with P&O October 21, nothing is perfect with them either but we still have 3 cruises booked .

Cabin 8334, I repeat 8334 is definitely NOT a hump cabin , on Silhouette it is 2 in from the aft . The equivalent cabin on Equinox is 8330...

Oh I see.. from 3 decks up never noticed anything and as a life time non smoker believe me I would have ...

No obstruction of view at all ... Smoke? Not sure what type of smoke you are referring too but no obnoxious smells that I recall.

1st March Euribia , booked Bella inside on 25th Jan got assigned Fantastica Balcony on 29th Jan. Result .

Thank you for the tip. X

Thank you for the info , I am also on Anthem B2B this year to the Fjiords but my understanding reading the OP's post fully is that they are looking at 2025 .

This is so so true. We had priority boarding of 11.45am for Iona for the NYE cruise because we had a mini suite , never able to use it because we were arriving by the coach that got in at approx 2.30pm. At least I will give Royal and Princess a thumbs up with that regard because in their app when checking in online you select an arrival time . Seems the fairest way of doing it , check in online early get an early time slot .

Hope you got home safely . Found out a cruise friend who lives in Spain joined Iona today, first time on Iona and I think for them first time with P&O . They have already posted on social media lots of photos . Hope they enjoy it as much as you did ..

Hi there, don't know where your MSC cruises have been sailing from but here in the Med all the lounges have live music with more than a solo artist , especially the older ships as they have more and bigger lounges , love Preziosa and Magnifica for that. It was one of the things we noticed on our first cruise on Splendida out of Barcelona , even the cafe had a live group playing fab music . Granted this was all before Covid and we have only sailed on Meraviglia class since start up and that class of ship has fewer venues for music , Pub has a guitar player/ singer, Galleria lounge has the party band and Sky lounge as a jazz set up of some sort . MSC don't have pool bands , at least we have never seen one , they do have great parties though , love their White night ..

Fab report @Eddie99, may I ask what is the name of the restaurant with the tux guy 😆. We have an overnight in Lisbon on a cruise , we usually take the train to Cascais and have dinner out there , might be nice to stay local for a change but not at a price ! 😄😄

Ignore the naysayers re you must only sail in YC if you do MSC . If you are cruising In the Med where people are getting on and off the ship at each port , which we love because it makes each day feel like a B2B change over day , the demographic changes constantly so it is refreshing. We have done 14 cruises with MSC and only one of them was in YC , we decided unless we got a fab deal like the one we had we would never book YC again. Yes the service was excellent, the enclave was a haven of peace , the pool deck area was gorgeous , we were on Grandiosa , but we have always been more than happy with 'Downtown ' as the YC director called the rest of the ship and didn't feel our experience exceeded expectations as the service has always been good in Downtown. We enjoy MSC food and they have the best pizza , crew are not in your face like on American lines but if you are friendly towards them they respond likewise. Having said all that I would still not cruise out of the USA with MSC , the company have dumbed down their Italian experience from what I have read on here to try and satisfy the market... 😔. MSC Cruise prices are excellent value , the ships are beautifully maintained , the shows we enjoy , the cabins are comfortable . I can't think of anything we don't like. We have done 5 cruises with Celebrity, last one was Silhouette to the Baltics September 23, we liked the ship, the entertainment , disliked the food in the dining room though our servers were very good and changing dishes out , the buffet was amazing . Celebrity prices are expensive , MSC wins for us .

No to the wine question , their drinks packages are very reasonable. There should be 2 formal nights on a 7 night cruise , they call them Gala nights on MSC , there will also be a white night, wear anything white ... the Italians are big into that . We have done quite a few MSC cruises and FYI just literally booked this cruise 20 mins ago 😆. 😆. We did the drinks included .. see ya there ..

When we arrived for Ventura by coach on 5th December us coach people were all given red cards with letters on and told to by pass all the queuing people who were stood in at least 3 lines A,B,C outside Ocean Terminal . Each queue had a stand at the beginning with a time period on it . When we got inside the building there were no long lines , check in was quick , the only slight hold up was at security ..couldn’t understand why people were being made to wait outside in the cold , it was already gone 3pm . We cruise with Royal and MSC too, much prefer security after check in than before , at least there is seating if check in is before and you can use that if there is a jam of people at security point . MSC's before point at security is the worst , far too small a foyer area though there are 2 entrances to the security line . Royal's is like a queue for a ride at Disney but at least they have the indoor covered space. I quite like Mayflower terminal, seems very spacious .

My Brother in law and wife are on Fuerteventura on holiday and sent me photos today one of which was Iona. I said if we had done a B2B we could have met up with them 😆. They live Taunton and we are Manchester and neither of us like the drive 😆.

We have friends on the Euribia who posted a pic of 'your' ship in Gran Canaria . They have been on Iona and Arvia previously but are enjoying Euribia more . We enjoy both lines and trying to fit a cruise on Euribia before she leaves Southampton .

Is your cruise departure day a weekend ?? We had a late pick up for us from Bolton on the New year cruise , left ship on 13th Jan , usually it is 7.45am this time it was 9.15am. Hubby deduced it was because it was a weekend and traffic lighter , the traffic certainly was lighter considering we were travelling on the 30th December... We arrived at the ship the same time as when we have left at 7.45am. Just a thought .

Wonderful start to your cruise.. included drinks , wow. We got off Iona's New year cruise yesterday , had a great cruise, my advice is if you don't do dining room breakfast head to the Quays on deck 8 , so much better than the zoo on deck 16 even with the plastic plates. Have a great cruise .

Wow, cannot believe I am reading this , no MDR lunch. I used to love going for a girls only lunch with friends on the TAs leaving hubby to do his own thing . RCI never opened for lunch on port days in all the years we have cruised with them but not even on sea days now? What was that salad buffet called , began with a T 😆 , used to love that . We have started cruising more with other lines and believe it or not even on port days the dining room is open for lunch with them , MSC and P&O. I even had sushi last week on Iona on the lunch menu 😋.