View from Steerage - MSC Euribia, 13-20 August

[maehara]

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.

[Eglesbrech]

Have a wonderful cruise and I look forward to reading all about your experiences as we are booked on Euribia.

 

I will be particularly interested to hear your views on the speciality restaurants and the stage shows. I’m hoping they are offering something different to those on Virtuosa.

 

Safe travels to Copenhagen and fingers crossed re the upgrade bid.

[Preziosa]

We were on the first sailing with Euribia.

it is a fantastic ship. Dont miss the shows in the Carussel Lounge in the back of the casino on deck 7. A Very good Big Band and artists.

le Grill is the new Butcher I thing. Many things is the same on the menu

[jules815]

Sounds like a wonderful cruise. Safe travels!

[NavyCruiser]

Looking forward to your reviews/updates, as we'll be sailing her next April. 

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...

[maehara]

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… 

[NavyCruiser]

17 hours ago, maehara said:

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… 

Great.

No pictures needed, lots of videos already avail online, but just your opinions & reviews of the thermal areas.  

Thanks,

[maehara]

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::

[cublet]

Hello,

 

I've been looking at the deck plans on the MSC website and there's an awful lot of blank space showing. The good news though is that I can still see the Champagne Bar, but cannot see the Butcher's Cut and it's not showing on the list of dining venues.

 

Any news would be helpful.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[maehara]

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. 

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Many thanks - I was getting worried.

 

The French twist I'm not so sure about.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Preziosa]

You Will still fine most of the same from Butchers menu in Le Grill. No problem.

[maehara]

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. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by maehara

[Preziosa]

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your Cruise on Euribia. We Will Be back on her the 24. Of october from Hamburg then. Take good Care of This wonderful cruiseship. Have a great Cruise. Look forward to follow you.

[CruisingFox27]

Great to hear your cruise has started well. 

In amongst the evening events are there bars which aren't busy and you could just have a quiet drink? Is the ship generally very busy? 

 

Some friends are looking to cruise next year. Euribia is the ship which would match their dates and itinerary requirements. I've recommended MSC but,  I'm concerned about how busy it would be during school holidays and their experience not matching ours as we only sail in term time. 

 

[Mark_T]

17 hours ago, maehara said:

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

Thanks for that confirmation, I had been wondering if the surcharge was a US market thing, at least for now...

[maehara]

Apologies in advance  for not tagging folks who asked questions when I’m giving answers, but the quote feature on mobile is… not helpful at times. 
 

Busyness of the ship: at particular events / locations, especially during the evenings, you can tell we’re busy. Some of the Delphi Theatre performances are fully-booked in advance, and the Galleria parties are heaving. But the locations we’ve been to so far we’ve always been able to get seats & service. (Bar service could be faster, but the process MSC have staff go through to take orders on their tablets seems a bit unintuitive). 
 

Daytime, even on today’s sea day, has been much quieter generally (apart from the buffet, which was absolute bloody mayhem and not to be recommended).

 

Last night’s shows were Jukebox Live in the Delphi (singing & dancing act to classic 70/80/90s songs, good fun if that’s your era); and Big Band Disco in the Carousel Lounge - along with the band, who are pretty good, they had a Irish(?) lead singer who was belting out the songs. Good performer, good night out. 
 

Today, had our first session in the Aurea Spa thermal suite; sea day, so had to pre-book a time (not necessary on port days, we were told) and while in the open areas you could see it was quite busy in there and you wouldn’t feel you had the place to yourself, in the individual feature rooms there was always space. Wide range of saunas, steam rooms, experience showers, ice room, whirlpools, sensory rooms - we were there about an hour and probably got around half of what was available. Bring your own towels from your room, supplies in the spa itself seem to be in short supply, but otherwise no complaints. 
 

Gala Night tonight, so out with the shirt & tie instead of my usual jeans & polo shirt…

Edited August 14, 2023 by maehara

[maehara]

Sailing up Geirangerfjord this morning. Between the scenery and the near-silence of the ship gliding past, it’s an almost ethereal experience. 
 

Last night: Circus 1920 in the Delphi, with a selection of old-style circus acts & intercut with song/dance acts (I’m tempted to say Greatest Showman-inspired), which was a lot of fun; and a Beatles tribute act at the Euribia Lounge. This is one venue which really doesn’t have the space for the acts that play there, but I suspect at least part of the intention there is to have the crowd spill out onto the Galleria and boost the party atmosphere there. It certainly worked this time. 
 

Finished the night at the Sky Lounge, where a jazz duo were playing. Apparently on other Meraviglia-class ships this is an 18+ venue; not so on Euribia, and there were quite a few kids around. All well-behaved, as far as we could tell. 
 

We’ve all at this point made use of the spa facilities in one way or another. For treatments, watch out for them recommending product of some description to take away with you. Never a chance for an upsell missed, although it’s never a hard sell - one “no thanks” is all it takes to dissuade the sales pitch.

 

Speaking of sales pitches: gripe I’ve often seen about MSC is about their staff descending on you on boarding or along the Galleria to pitch drinks & dining packages. We’ve experienced none of that. 
 

We’re just tying up at Geiranger now. Buffet lunch, then we’ve a 2hr sailboat cruise booked for later this afternoon (not an MSC excursion). Then up the waterfall stairs if my feet haven’t given up by then. 😅

[cublet]

Hello,

 

Many thanks for all your information.

 

Can you report back whether the extendable pier/walkway is back in operation? Some previous cruises have reported that it is not and people have to use tenders to get ashore.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[maehara]

Yes, the Sea Walk is operating. There’s an advisory in the daily programme that tendering would be necessary if the water was too rough to allow the Sea Walk to be used, but the surface of the fjord is glass-like today. 

[lostinespace]

Thanks for the posts! We are booked on at the end of November for the north European cruise, and excited to hear your feedback. We have booked the spa on your recommendation, so no pressure 🙂

 

We have the premium extra drinks package which looked a bargain for £29 a day each. 

[cublet]

3 hours ago, maehara said:

Yes, the Sea Walk is operating. There’s an advisory in the daily programme that tendering would be necessary if the water was too rough to allow the Sea Walk to be used, but the surface of the fjord is glass-like today. 

Hello,

 

Thank you very much.

 

One ship, cannot remember which, last month decided to give up as the Sea Walk was U/S and set sail for the next port of call.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Saab4444]

5 hours ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

Thank you very much.

 

One ship, cannot remember which, last month decided to give up as the Sea Walk was U/S and set sail for the next port of call.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

Anthem of the Seas.

[PFK56]

We are looking at this same trip for next year. If there is any way possible, could you post the daily activities? It would be much appreciated.

 

[Mutumbojimbo]

I know this is a stretch but we're cruising on the Euribia late this fall. The shore excursions PDF has excursions listed on Embarkation Day but they are not on the app. The Customer service folks I called said they could book those for us but could not explain how it would work with embarkation and that would be a question for the "onboard" staff. Could you ask about this at the Shore Excursion desk or maybe ask if someone there would be able to message me? I can send you my What's App number. If that's too big an ask, I understand. I hope you are enjoying your cruise.