Live from MSC World Europa May 12

[B_A_H]

Overview

 

There have been no reviews that I’ve found on World Europa (WE) other than Middle East and repo cruises.  From reading or watching those reviews, there seems to be issues that may be unique to those markets/sailings with things like passenger mix, provisioning, staffing levels, staff training, and organization called out.  I’m hoping that those issues go away or lessen because the Med is MSC’s home turf and they certainly have the resources to address them. 

 

Me

 

The majority of reviews I’ve found are from Russian’s, Brits, and Europeans.  I’m a well-cruised and well-traveled American with experience on all the mainstream and some luxury cruise lines as well as with MSC in the Caribbean and Europe.  My comments will be comparing the WE against those past experiences.  I’m in the travel industry, hotels currently, so have a pretty good sense of how service and operations should work.  But I also know things can’t be perfect and expect the occasional flaw. I try to be reasonable when I’m critiquing something and give huge points when there is an issue and it’s properly recovered from. 

 

The Cruise

 

I’m departing Barcelona Friday, May 12, and am in a YC Deluxe Suite on deck 16.  It’s a 7 day roundtrip cruise with stops in Marseille, Genoa, Naples, Messina, and Valletta.  The ship, at least for the Barcelona rotation I’m on, is 100% full.  One of the things I’m most interested in seeing is how the much larger YC on the WE works when cabins span 6 decks and the YC itself 7.  There are 152 YC cabins which is 304 passengers at double occupancy so figure 375-400 on average.  That’s a lot of people for “privacy and exclusivity.”  I’ve been following the weather and highs are in the 60’s and lows in the 50’s with rain predicted for the first half of the cruise.  Yippee, 6,700 people will all be driven indoors. 

 

Getting There

 

I’m a dare devil and tight on time so I am departing for Barcelona tomorrow and arriving Friday at 7:25AM on the day of the cruise. Scheduled departure is 6:00PM.  For those that find themselves in the same position, always book no more than a single connection and a long haul flight that goes directly to your embarkation port.  It greatly reduces operational risks and increases the odds of your luggage traveling with you.  I’m flying New Orleans><Miami<>Barcelona on American in business class.  Being in the premium cabin helps tremendously should things go south and you need assistance from the airline. 

 

I’ll post more once underway and if anyone has specific questions I’ll do my best to answer them.

[Mycykfamilytime]

Following!  Thanks for doing the live! I’ve wondered about the bigger YCs myself.  Another quick question.  I was not a fan of RC’s Oasis class ships because they were not ocean facing as opposed to MSC’s Sea class ships that embraced the fact that it was an ocean liner.   What are your thoughts on this new class of ship?  Is it too closed in?  The YC certainly looks to have lovely views!   Thanks again! 

[deweytrader]

Following, same trip leaving Barcelona 7/21 on WE YC Deluxe 19016...

[B_A_H]

3 hours ago, Mycykfamilytime said:

What are your thoughts on this new class of ship?  Is it too closed in?  The YC certainly looks to have lovely views!   Thanks again! 

It's kind of a hybrid.  It's not ocean facing like the Seaside-class ships.  It' more atrium centric like the Meraviglia-class ships.  The exception being its got a Y shaped stern that's open to the sky. 

 

The covered atrium area is like the Meraviglia-class but continues as an uncovered area with shops, food, and entertainment lining it.  Some vloggers I respect shared mixed opinions.  They like the concept, just not MSC's execution.  They thought MSC could have done a lot more with the uncovered area in terms of what's offered and the vibe. 

 

I'm certainly going to explore the ship; especially the new concepts launched on the WE.  But honestly, on a full ship with 6,000+ people on it, in the rain no less, I'm going to leave YC to experience the rest of the ship but plan on high tailing it back for refuge. 😉 

 

Oddly, pre-purchasing specialty dining wasn't offered on my sailing.  It was reported here that something similar recently happened on the Seaside.  It turned out specialty dining was reserved exclusively for a big group of travel agents on a familiarization trip.  I'm hoping that's not the case on my sailing.   

[misztercruizer]

we have been in Barcelona all week. Great place to visit.

Just got off of a TA with Celebrity Reflection. Looking forward to the Europa on May 12.

Any one want to meet at the sail away?

The front of  the YC Lounge i think has an outside area..

B_A_H Im the one in the White Malta Hat.

see everyone on Friday.

Rick

 

[kribar]

I'm following too!!  Boarding the WE June 11th out of Genoa.  We're not in YC (😞)  but I'm still SO excited!  Can't wait to hear more details from you!!

[Europeantraveler1]

Add me to your growing followers!!  Our group of six (our daughter; son-in-law and two older teenagers and my hubby and I) are sailing on June 19th on the World Europa (Yacht Club) out of Naples.  We originally booked our 50th wedding anniversary celebration cruise for the spring of 2020 but, as everyone knows, Covid came..

So now here we are three years later and we’re all so excited!  I’m very much looking forward to your reporting!!!  

[luvmylilangels]

Would you be able to post pictures of the Daily's you receive each day? We will be traveling on the World Europa in July and love to get an idea of what all is being offered each day.

[B_A_H]

So much for "live." ;)  I had a bunch of works crisisis to deal with so didn't have time to post.  

 

Here are some first impressions.  I'll post more detail later.

 

• Barcelona airport is a cluster.  I've never seen an airport with so many directional signs that have no true meaning.  Pro tip.  Uber is useless in Barcelona and the cabs are plentiful and are on the floor below baggage claim although I dare anyone to find a sign pointing to them.
   
• All my flights were on-time or early so I landed in Barcelona at 7:30AM.  I got to the YC check-in about 9:00AM.  There's no tent, just real signage and a desk.  They couldn't have been more accomodating even though I arrived way early.  I waited in the YC room portside until about 11:00AM when everyone there was brought to the Top Sail lounge.
   
• Getting from Top Sail to the room was an interesting process.  Groups of people were randomly approached by staff.  Some were given an introductory spiel, some were escorted to their rooms.  It all seemed rather random.  After an hour I just went to my room on my own.  It's now day two and I still haven't met my butler.  
   
• The YC facilities are beautiful.  YC has a Celebrity Edge-class vibe to it.  The whole ship does to some affect.  Pro tip.  You want a cabin on the port side.  There's a seperate elevator and stair bank within the YC section of the ship to get between YC floors easily and it's on the port side.  I'm on the starboard side and either have to circle the entire 16th floor to stay in the YC area or exit the YC area, pass through the common folks on 16's area, and then reenter the YC area to get to the YC elevator. Convenience wise, you want to be on the port side when in YC.  Every YC deck has dozens of inside cabins on it.  They have direct access to the forward elevator bank.  YC cabins are behind an access controlled door on either side of the main elevator bank.  It's kind of an odd segregation setup.  
   
• I had lunch and dinner in the YC restaurant.  I was very impressed.  There was plenty of staff bending over backwards to ensure everyone was served efficiently.  My best YC dining service to date.  I had prime rib last night and it was huge and very well prepared. If what I experienced is the standard for the rest of the cruise I'll be very happy.
   
• I didn't spend a lot of time yesterday outside of YC but from what I saw it was a zoo.  The atrium isn't well designed with lots of broken flow issues.  It's more compact than the Meraviglia-class which makes it exceptionally loud when its full and boy was it full last night.  A lot of the dining venues have outdoor seating.  I can't imagine being out there.  It would be like dining in a subway station.
   
• I get what people are saying about the outdoor part of the atrium.  Such a waste of an opportunity.  The indoor atrium was jammed to the rafters and the outdoor portion was empty. 
   
• There didn't appear to be any staffing shortages anywhere.  Even though the non-YC areas were full there were ample servers and I saw no one waiting.  You can tell a lot of the staff are new and there are tons of staff.  Every staff member I observed seemed happy to be there and happy to serve guests.

 

More to follow...

[kribar]

I would love to see the Daily's as well!  Also curious if there is a White Party on this cruise??

[MrJulius]

Thanks B_A_H,

This is the report that I have been waiting for.  We are booked on the October 27th cruise out of Barcelona. We will be in the YC.  First time in Europe.  First time on MSC.  Bunch of cruises under our belt.  It's my wife's 60th Birthday and we will be celebrating it and Halloween on the World Europa.

 

Thanks for the Barcelona airport "Pro Tip".  Keep them coming.

 

MrJulius

[mommycruiser]

Hello!

 

I was wondering if you could take a picture of the beers available in your sailing. My DH wants to know.

 

TIA

 

Laura

[mairead224]

I think hopefully you were having too much fun to post?

[china1095]

Can you tell me what time was disembarkation in Barcelona?  I have scheduled transportation around 9:30am, so wanted to be sure it wasn’t too early.

[frank808]

On 5/11/2023 at 6:35 PM, Europeantraveler1 said:

Add me to your growing followers!!  Our group of six (our daughter; son-in-law and two older teenagers and my hubby and I) are sailing on June 19th on the World Europa (Yacht Club) out of Naples.  We originally booked our 50th wedding anniversary celebration cruise for the spring of 2020 but, as everyone knows, Covid came..

So now here we are three years later and we’re all so excited!  I’m very much looking forward to your reporting!!!  

We will be on the same ship and sailing. I will be onboard with my wife. Want to meet up in the top sail lounge or on pool deck for sail away? First sailing on this ship but have sailed seaside, seashore, meraviglia and divina.