An Epic Review of the Fantasia

[AmoMondo]

Ok here goes with the first instalment of my review that a few of you have been patiently waiting for. There will be several more to come over the coming week as I get other parts written. Please feel free to fire as many questions or comments as you like. Before I get on to the detailed review itself here is a quick summary plus a word of caustion for those making their own travel arrangements

 

The Excellent

The ship itself; the shows (especially Bolero - do not miss it); the spa area; the Balinese masseuses; the itinerary; the Vitamin drinks; and the Buffet Magnifico (Midnight buffet on the Friday; our cabin stewards and the waiters in Il Cerchio D'Oro

 

The Good

Breakfast and lunch in either dining room but particularly Il Cerchio D'Oro; most of the food at dinner and the temperature of the food (hot when meant to be and chilled when meant to be); the bar staff, reception, tour and other crew; the cocktails (alcholic and non alcholic) and the packages; our Cabin

 

The So So

We were not allocated to either of the main dining rooms for dinner. instead they were using L'Africana on deck 14 as a third dining room which served as a cafteria beside the Zanzibar buffet during the day; the weather; being on Starboard meant we rarely got the sun on our balcony; and some of the administration

 

The Bad

Some of the passenger, particularly, the pushing and shoving at lifts (politeness doesn't work with them, you either have to push back or as we found use the lifts one back or forward from the popular central ones and hey presto no problem); our waiter at dinner

 

A word of caution....

if you are making your own flight arrangements and are planning to use one of MSC's disembarkation days tours from Genoa to get to Milan airport, make sure you have a plan B to get to the airport. We were Ok as we were flying home from Genoa and had transfers included but on our last morning we encountered some Australian and NZ passengers who had been booked on an excursion at Genoa that was then to take them to Milan airport that had been cancelled with only about 24 hours notice. Evidently there had been insufficient English speaking passengers booked to run the excursion. Some of them had managed to transfer to MSC's coach transfer to Milan, whilst others had had to resort to going by train. They's found it pretty hard making alternative arrangements at the last minute whilst onboard. if you need advice on how to get to Milan's Malpensa airport from Genoa, let me know and I will give you all the info.

 

Okay here is part one of what is beginning to look like too long a review - hope I don't bore you all witless!

 

Background

I’m a single European woman in her forties who has travelled extensively in the last 30 years. This was my ninth cruise with MSC although my first on such a large ship. I normally travel alone but on this trip I was accompanied by my cousin. This was her first cruise. Before going I was slightly apprehensive about the size of the ship as I feared that it might take a long time to get on and off at ports and that it might just feel far too big with too many people whilst onboard. I need not have worried, I had no problems on either count and now worry that I may have spoiled myself for the smaller and older ships after having experienced the well named Fantasia!

Embarkation

MSC had provided our flights with British Airways from Edinburgh to Genoa (via Gatwick) and all went smoothly as planned. There were several Brits arriving at the same time as us and a coach was waiting to take us to the port. Unfortunately the coach park was about a 5 minute walk from the terminal building which normally would not have been a problem, however as it was raining very heavily, we ended up soaked by the time we got to the coach and waited to see our luggage loaded. Normally when I travel to the Continent, I’m used to the weather being a marked improvement than home - unfortunately on this occasion it was quite the reverse! It took us just over half an hour to reach the port as there were several road traffic accidents (don’t think that the Italians are used to driving in such atrocious conditions!). It was still raining heavily when we got off the bus and had to walk about 200 yards to reach the terminal building. We’d already used the Online Express service to check in, so went straight to that section which only had one couple in front of us. The other queues did not look that long either. We quickly registered our credit cards and received our cruise cards before passing through in to the embarkation area. We were given ticket no 61 and told to wait until our number was called. They were boarding passengers with no 60 at that time. We therefore went and had a soft drink and browsed the tables that had information about drinks packages, excursions and the spa etc. We’d only been sitting about 5 minutes or so when they called our number and we were able to proceed fairly quickly to the ship. We could have done without the ship’s photographers taking the customary embarkation shots since we were both resembling drowned rats! A cabin steward met us as soon as security had checked our cards, and escorted us straight to our cabin. From the time we arrived at the terminal to the time we were in our cabin, it could not have taken more than 30 minutes maximum.

First Impressions of the Ship

My first impressions as we were led through some of the public areas on deck 6 and then later wandered around to get our bearings, was that this was not only an enormous ship but one that was stunningly beautiful and somewhat awe inspiring, particularly the three level atrium with its glass lifts, crystal chandeliers and very impressive spiral staircases with each step having embedded Swarozski crystals, edged with some type of gold coloured metal. There was also a glass grand piano in La Fantasia bar at the base of the atrium on a raised dais. At the top of the Atrium was the lovely Cappuccino Coffee bar overlooking this glittering spectacle. One deck down was Le Vele (Martini) bar which had the most beautiful shade of green bar which resembled Malachite, some of the floor area was similar coloured and looked to be highly polished marble. The furniture where it complementary shades of green.. Next to this bar through a short walkway was the delightful Piazza San Giorgio with its beautifully tiled floor to resemble an outdoor area, white marble fountains and lovely wrought iron bistro style tables and chairs. What made this area even more delightful, if you have a sweet tooth, was that in addition to serving a variety of coffees, soft drinks and cocktails, it also has the most wonderful selection of pastries, cakes, chocolates, ice creams and yogurts. The Casino was next to this area and you have to pass through it to reach the L’Avanguardia theatre or access it from deck 7 as it has a balcony at that level. The two main dining rooms the Red Velvet are on the other side of the Atrium towards the aft of the ship. The RV can be accessed from both decks 5 & 6 (but they only open 6 at breakfast and lunch). As its name implies, this is very red – red carpets and red upholstery on the seats and the décor too. It was almost too much but strangely worked.The other smaller restaurant and my personal favourite is on deck 6 but rather confusingly, you can not access it from this deck, you need to go to deck 7 and follow the signs for it and go down one flight of stairs to reach it. Alternatively it can be reached directly at deck 6 if you use the bank of lifts that are next set of lifts you reach after passing the central (glass) lifts as you progree towards the back. This is a beautifully decorated room in ivory and gold. After wandering through a variety of other bars, lounges and shops on decks 6 & 7 all with a different theme, we then headed up to deck 14 to take stock of the quite large spa and gym area and covered pool. The covered pool has a variety of different shaped pools in it and hot tubs along with water fountains, some greenery and seating around it and a balcony area above overlooking it. As it was still raining very heavily this area was very busy and the outside pools obviously deserted. Whilst MSC is 4 star rated, overall the ship itself was in my opinion 5 stars.

Cabin

We had booked a category 10 balcony cabin on the starboard side, midship of deck 12. The balcony has 2 comfortable chairs and a small table and is fine for 2 people but would be a bit of a squeeze if there were more than that. I was pleasantly surprised about the size of our cabin. I’ve only been on MSC’s smaller ships before and this cabin was almost as big as a suite on their other ships. This particular cabin had a connecting door to the one next to it. I had thought that we might get a bit of noise from them, but we only heard them talking once during the cruise – just hope they had a similar experience with us! We had a very comfortable 2 seater sofa and coffee table, mini bar with a cupboard on one side and a dressing table that is fitted with 2 European and 2 US power sockets. It had 2 small drawers with a hairdryer in one of them. The (interactive) TV is mounted on the wall and has 2 small corner glass shelves under it, which we found very useful, for storing smaller items that we used daily. We had the room configured to 2 twin beds although these do convert to a queen bed. There are also 2 bedside cabinets either side. The wardrobe is reasonably sized and had about 12 hangers in it, although had space for many more as we’d both brought a few extra with us. There is a cupboard alongside it that has a few shelves and 6 drawers. There was also a full wall mounted mirror in addition to the one over the dressing table. The safe is also located in here and we had absolutely no problems operating it throughout the cruise. The bathroom is not that big but does have quite a bit of storage space in the 3 cupboards under the sink. There are also 3 glass shelves. Whilst the corner shower was about the same size as those on their other ships (not very big), and had a plastic shower curtain, it was not as annoying. In fact it was no bother at all. It was fixed completely down one side and as long as it was pulled fully across to rest against the glass on the other side, it never attacked you at all! The water pressure was excellent and the water temperature never varied. We had it on one setting and never had to fiddle with it the entire week. It was always just a perfect temperature. There was also a few wall mounted baskets for toiletries. Instead of giving you small bottles of shampoo and shower gel, there were wall mounted dispensers for both. We’d both brought our own with us, so did not try theirs, so I can’t comment on how good or otherwise they were. Above the shower is a retractable clothes line which came in handy for drying swimsuits on. In case any of you are tempted by the bottles of beer in the minibar, there is a wallmounted bottle opener on the right just inside the bathroom door.We had 2 nice but not that big bathrobes. If you are a lady and any bigger than a UK size 18 or a US 20 bring your own. Fortunately I managed (just!).

There was also a fruit bowl provided. There were more English TV channels than normal (3 news channels) but movies had to be paid for. I liked the interactive facilities which could be used to view your bill, order excursions and room service etc. However on the one occasion we did order room service, we found it quicker to use the phone. It was about 4.45pm and the first available slot on the TV was 5.30-6pm. I decided to use the phone and we were sitting on our balcony eating it by 5.05. I found the bed extremely comfortable and whilst I would have preferred a duvet rather than sheets and blanket, the bedlinen was of a good quality. The cabin was well maintained and my cabin steward (who must have been the cheeriest person I have ever encountered) kept it spotless. You were never disturbed by the stewards as they have a system whereby when you put your card in the slot by the door to activate the lights, the stewards knows you are in and leave you alone. As soon as you remove your card, it shows up that the room is empty to housekeeping and they bustle along to sort it out for you. On 5 out of 6 mornings, our cabin had been cleaned and tidied by the time we returned from breakfast.

[sea-explorer]

Thank you AmoMondo. I'm glad you enjoyed the larger ship.

 

I'll wait patiently until you have finished..you'll probably answer any questions I have as you go along. :)

[Thecat123]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise AmoMondo and thank you very much for taking the time for writing such a full report

[*Kendra*]

Great review! The ship sounds beautiful!! I loved the duvet that we had on our Costa Concordia cruise, we use a duvet at home and it made us feel more comfortable. Does the Opera cabins have a duvet?

[sea-explorer]

How strange Kendra. We had sheets & blankets on the Concordia, No duvets. :confused: Maybe it varies according to the cabin??? Or the steward??? Maybe you can ask for a duvet if there isn't one? On any ship?We did have a duvet on the Poesia, can't remember about the Lirica.

 

I've just realized about your waiter AmoMondo. What a shame. We weren't thrilled with ours on the Poesia though. I think unfortunately it can be hit & miss. Just out of curiosity, what Nationality was he?

[*Kendra*]

How strange Kendra. We had sheets & blankets on the Concordia, No duvets. :confused: Maybe it varies according to the cabin??? Or the steward??? Maybe you can ask for a duvet if there isn't one? On any ship?We did have a duvet on the Poesia, can't remember about the Lirica.

 

 

Must be. Probably the stewardess. She was super nice and she was married to the head of house keeping on the ship.

 

I missed the waiter part too. That sucks. I hate you had to deal with the pushing and shoving at the elevators. We dealt with it the first night on our last cruise. After that, unless there was no one waiting on the elevator, we took the stairs.

[AmoMondo]

Great review! The ship sounds beautiful!! I loved the duvet that we had on our Costa Concordia cruise, we use a duvet at home and it made us feel more comfortable. Does the Opera cabins have a duvet?

 

Unfortunately not kendra - just sheets and blankets

[AmoMondo]

Must be. Probably the stewardess. She was super nice and she was married to the head of house keeping on the ship.

 

I missed the waiter part too. That sucks. I hate you had to deal with the pushing and shoving at the elevators. We dealt with it the first night on our last cruise. After that, unless there was no one waiting on the elevator, we took the stairs.

 

Now that probably explains why it seemed worse than usual. I usually use the stairs all the time to try to compensate for eating more, but on this trip I could only get my cousin to use them if we were only going one flight. The worst culprits seemed a pretty lazy lot that would not walk the length of themselves to the next bank of lifts, so if you avoid the central ones at the really busy times (just before last aonboard time and just before each dinner sitting, it wasn't too bad.

[AmoMondo]

Please let us know your opinion on the smoking issue, that's really the only thing I am worried about. The rest will work out and will be a fabulous adventure!

 

Kelle

Hi Kelle

First of all I hate smoking and it occasionally triggers my asthma when it is really bad. can't say that i encountered any real issues with smoking on this ship. The designated smoking areas as far as I can remember wewre the Casino, L'Insolito Lounge, The Cigar Lounge and open decks. Smoking is not allowed on balconies and whilst we had no problems with our neighbours, the couple at our table reported one of their neighbours flouting the rules. It is advisory that they don't want you to smoke in the cabins. The only place where I really noticed it was the Casino. We didn't play the tables but had to pass through it to reach the theatre. However as it was always busy too and a bit difficult to pass through quickly, we started to move to the front of the ship on another deck and then use the stairs or lift. We were in the L'Insolito lounge one evenng as that was where the captain's cocktails were being held but to be honest I didn't even notice the smoke until my cousin pointed it out. Either there weren't many smoking or the extraction system was good. I was initially worries about the Transatlantico Pub because it had an open area in the middle overlooking the casino and we thought it would get very smoky, but we spent an hour there on our last night because the music was so good and again we didn't notice it. We didn't spend much time on the open decks because the weather wasn't that great and we were ashore most of the day.

[AmoMondo]

Ok, here is the next section. i probably won't have time to post the rest until later in the week as I have my homework to do for my Spanish Evening class the next 2 nights. I will pop by to answer ant=y questions raised.

 

Restaurants and Food

Breakfast – You can choose from continental served in your cabin (except the last morning), buffet in the Zanzibar cafeteria on deck 14 (usually 6.30-10am) or a la carte breakfast in either of the main dining rooms (7.00-9.30am). We didn’t order the continental breakfast or use the buffet at all on this cruise as we both prefer waiter service of the dining rooms. Whilst we ate in both the Red velvet and Il Cerchio D’Oro, we much preferred the latter as not only did we prefer the décor, but also found the service to be better too. The choice there was reasonably extensive with a variety of fruit juices (carton variety rather than fresh squeezed), fruits, cereals, variety of bread, rolls and pastries (I particularly recommend the pain au chocolat – avoid toast as they don’t make it like you’d expect – stick to the fresh bread, rolls, pastries etc). You can have eggs pretty much anyway (the omelettes are very nice as is the scrambled eggs), bacon (bit on the crispy side for British tastes and it is only streaky – no back available), ham, sausages, potatoes of the day (usually sautéed), grilled tomato. They also have smoked salmon which you can have on its own or with cream cheese and a bagel. .

Lunch – we only ate in the Zanzibar cafeteria on deck 14 on our first day as we arrived too late at the ship to eat in the dining room. I’m not really a fan of buffets anywhere, so only use them when there is no alternative. There are many different serving areas all with different types of food including pizza (not the really good stuff just tray bakes cut in to squares); a reasonably extensive salad bar; various hot dishes which included past dishes too; breads; soup and probably a whole lot more. My plate was pretty full after visiting just 3 of the many stations so I didn’t waste any more time trying to see what else there was as I didn’t want my food to get cold. We wasted a wee bit of time trying to find cutlery only to find they are on the tables. We didn’t have any problems finding a table but it was almost 4pm. A drinks waiter came over within a minute or 2 to get our drinks order. I didn’t go back to look at the desserts but my cousin did and reported that they had a fair selection of Italian cakes and pastries and fresh fruit. She enjoyed the cake she chose.

We also ate once in each of the main dining rooms. The menus are identical in both, there are 6 courses to choose from – appetizers; salad; soup; pasta and rice: main; dessert. Meals at lunch time tend to be more international than in the evening. I particularly liked the variety of soups especially the chilled consommés and fruit soups (very varied and absolutely delicious). Appetizers were invariably good and very varied. Pasta was always good too, although the rice dish which was usually some kind of rice salad, which could be a bit bland or dry on occasion. Main courses would always include eggs (e.g. omelette. Eggs Benedict; a fish dish; meat and a sandwich (which could be on ciabatta, foccacio or just bread) they always have hamburgers, cheese burgers etc available too. Desserts always include the ice cream of the day as well as sugar free alternatives and fruit is also available. On the whole I enjoyed both meals. On previous cruises I sometimes found the food was warm instead of hot, but either I was lucky on this cruise or it is less of an issue on this ship. Whilst I didn’t have any of the chicken dishes on this trip, be warned they tend not use boned pieces and I can’t be bothered trying to get the meat off the bones, especially when it is smothered in a sauce. I had the veal dish which was cooked in a mushroom sauce one day and I thought it was delicious.

.

Dinner is served in the dining rooms at allocated tables. There are 2 sittings; we chose the second at 9.15pm as the first at 6.45pm was too early for us and a bit of a rush to get ready in time with some of the later departure times. Dinner also has 6 courses available which are less international, usually with the food from a different region of Italy each night (although on a longer repositioning cruise of 18 nights last year, they did do themed dinners from other countries e.g. Mexico, Asia, France, Spain etc) they also have grilled salmon, chicken or steak available every evening and spaghetti Bolognese, if you don’t fancy the main courses available. We had 2 gala dinners in during the week. The first is on Wednesday when in Tunis and the last on Fridays when in Barcelona. I’d hoped to be allocated to Il Cerchio D’Oro but would have been absolutely fine with the Red velvet. I was however disappointed to find out that they also use L’Africana cafeteria for dinner (It’s right beside the Zanzibar buffet on deck 14). To be honest it was slightly less grand than the main dining rooms but it did not look like a cafeteria in the evenings once the tables were dressed. It also had an identical menu and wine list. One plus was that the ship’s photographers only appeared there on one occasion! Again my food was hotter in general than on previous cruises. I’m also pleased to report that the beef was greatly improved. I was almost reluctant to order it as I’d experienced the shoe leather variety on previous sailings but I had it several times and it was tender and tasty on all occasions. Like lunch my favourite courses were the appetizers, soups and pasta (particularly the Lasagne Emilio Romagno and the Fusilli Norma (aubergines). If you love aubergines like I do, I also recommend the Melanzane Parmigiana. My cousin had the risotto a few times and particularly liked the pumpkin one. Most main courses were either good or ok. I rarely eat dessert and only had the crème brulee (which was a bit disappointed this time as the caramelised topping was a wee bit soggy but it still tasted great) and the obligatory Baked Alasca. Normally I have ice cream at some point as it is usually excellent. I didn’t have it this cruise but my cousin had it and the sorbet regularly and had no problem scoffing every last drop. Our dinner companions were a lovely couple who live only about 3 miles from where I do and he was a stock broker, she was retired from a finance house and I’m a banker so we got on very well! Our waiter however was a bit of a disaster (see the section to follow on crew for more info). If we hadn’t got on so well with our dinner companions, I’d probably been twisting my cousin’s arms to go to the one of the many speciality restaurants (she wasn’t keen because she didn’t see the point of paying extra for dinner when she thought the food was fine where we were)

Midnight buffet – this used to be every night but now is only once on the cruise when they do the Buffet Magnifico on the Friday (Barcelona) at 12.15am and Magnifico it certainly was. We only went up to look at it as we were on 2nd dinner and it was stunningly beautiful. The fruit and vegetable sculptures alone were amazing ranging from all types of animals and fish, to various other things, all painstakingly and beautifully executed. I think the only creature missing was a locust but it turned out that we had hundreds of those – you would have thought that they’d bee refusing to feed some of the passengers the entire cruise by the way the fell upon it and basically inhaled 8t!. Although no actual buffet on other nights, there was always something being served in the lounges around midnight.

Speciality Restaurants

There are quite a few to choose from, I particularly fancied trying the French, Tex Mex and the Wine bar but my cousin was not to be persuaded. Any way here is the full list for those that are interested.

La Cantina Toscana (wine tasting bar) Deck 7 - 12noon-3.00pm/6.00pm-3am –, Not sure about the menu but liked the rustic theme and the seats made from wine barrels. (This was our muster station)

La Pizzeria Deck 14 beside L’Africana – 8.00pm – Midnight. Certainly looked and smelled good as we passed by to reach our dinner table

El Sombrero Tex Mex Deck 7 – 12.30pm-5.30pm/7.00pm-Midnight – had a look at the menu and it looked possible to have 3 courses for about 15 euros. Really great décor too.

Sports Bar – Deck 7 – 4.00pm -12.30am - great if you like karaoke and typical American style Sports bars, didn’t check the menu but presume normal sports bar menus. Seemed popular with some of the guys especially those wanting to avoid dressing up for gala evenings!

L’Etoile, French restaurant at the back of Deck 15 overlooking the adult only Zen Pool area. - 12noon-3.00pm/6.30-11.00pm. This is an a la carte menu which looked great and not that expensive considering it was billed as the premier speciality restaurant

[richardj]

We were on the Fantasia in March. We had more luck with the weather by the sound of it although the breeze was a bit cool. The ship was amazing as you say and the stairs with the crystals were something else. Reading your report it was interesting to note that you eat in the cafeteria in the evenings. On our cruise it was closed with a small section being used as an extra charge restaurants selling pizza. We found the food in the Red Velvet disapoining to say the least so we ate in the French restaurant twice and once in the Tex Mex. The French restaurant was very good but the Tex Mex was not quite so good. We did find the lack of coffee in the evening (without having to pay for it) unusual but we new about this from these boards so we had packed a travel kettle! The cabin was very nice in deep reds and dark wood finish but the balcony was a little small. Everything considered it ws a nice cruise on an amazing ship and we would love to try MSC in the Caribbean one day.

Richard & Gill

[eliopia]

just a question ,u never mentioned the dinner buffet,is there one??coz we chose the second seating but i'm afraid the kids will be hungry by that time .Waiting for your full report ,it is just what we needed since this is our first cruise ever ,thank u ,hope u will do well in your spanish.

[AmoMondo]

Thanks Elopia

 

I didn't mention a dinner buffet because there isn't one. The buffet shuts at 4.30. the only dinner option included in your cruise price is diiner in the dining rooms at your allocated table. The alternatives are the speciality restaurants or room service. the latter is a bit limited and you have to pay for it. personally I think the MSC Club sandwich which comes with crisps (chips American one not eEnglish ones) is very good and worth the money. it certainly kept us going to second sitting one day when we missed lunch ashore.

 

I'll be writing the rest of my review tomorrow and saturday, so you won't have much longer to wait for it. Glad it is of some benfit to you though.

[AmoMondo]

Ok here goes the next part for those of you who have been patiently waiting for it. I'll try and make tomorrow's one the last one as this is fast turning in to War & peace proportions!

 

Bars and Lounges

There are a lot to choose from both day and night and they all have very different décor and ambience. The bulk are situated on decks 6 and 7 close to the dining room, although there are a few up on deck 14 (pool deck). The opening hours and details of which have live music are as follows

7.00am - Midnight – Fantasia Bar – which is situated on deck 5 at the base of the Atrium. It has a glass piano in it and great views of the 3 levels, glass lifts and crystal staircases. There is live music here from 6.30pm through to 12.30am. There are 2 different acts who do a half hour slot at a time – Roberto – a pianist; Elegance Quartet – a classical female quartet whom I thought very talented. This is a very popular area and difficult to get at seat there at times. There is always a lot of bustle and people passing by due to its location. You can still see and hear the music from the level above.

12noon-midnight Le Vele (Martini) Bar – whilst it doesn’t have live music in it per se, you hear and see the acts in the Fantasia below. This was a favourite of hours for a pre-dinner cocktail

5.00pm-1.00am – The Cigar Lounge – deck 6 – as a non smoker I gave this a wide berth, so can’t tell you any more about it

8.00am-1.00am Piazza San Giorgio – also situated on deck 6 between Le Vele and the casino. This is a beautiful area that serves as a continental style café where you can buy teas, coffees, full bar menu, pastries, chocolate bar, ice cream & yogurt shop. It has a lovely tile effect on the floor to resemble an outside courtyard and a couple of lovely white marble fountains. This also has live music 6.15pm-1.00am. 2 acts again alternating. Alberto Eleuteri – electric guitarist playing a wide range including some Shadows numbers for those of you old enough to remember them and Los Paraguayos – a Latin American trio playing traditional Latin American music. (Not sure if this group gets around a lot or if there are lots of them, as they have been on every MSC ship I’ve been on)

6.00pm-until late Casino Delle Palme – basically the casino itself towards the front of deck 6, just behind the theatre. It is a smoking area and also the full width of the ship, so has a steady flow of traffic passing through it as people go to and come from the theatre.

5.00pm-2.00am L’Insolito Lounge – back of deck 7 and is the main show lounge. It has a beautiful ceiling with fabulous lighting. It has a dance floor and also hosts the captain’s Welcome Cocktail party. There are 2 bands with Duo International Sound on from 9.1510.30pm and then Silio’s Band from 11.00pm- 2.00am. They also have bingo in this lounge (top prize 2000 euros); embarkation and disembarkation talks by Catherine the South African English speaking Host; different type of dance lesson each evening by the very enthusiastic and lively Entertainment and various other activities

12noon-3.00pm & 6.00pm-3.00am La Cantina Tosca (Wine bar) deck7. This bar also serves food and has a lecture by the sommelier on the history of wine and various wine regions in Italy (in English & Italian) on the morning of Palma de Mallorca.

7.00am-1.00am Il Cappuccino Coffee Bar – on deck 7 at the top of the atrium, so you can also experience the live music from La fantasia as well’ I recommend the Amaretto cappuccino – it’s delicious!

12noon- 1.00am The Sports Bar – the only live music is when the Karaoke is on. Food is also available here (at extra cost)

6.00pm -1.30am Manhattan (Jazz) Bar situated on deck 7 – whilst I loved the music in here, the décor was pretty garish with too many neon dashes of colour too be easy on the eye(in my opinion). Live music from 8pm- 1.30am with most of it being the rather good Easy (jazz) Quartet. Roberto the pianist also does a couple of slots to give the band a breather,

6.00pm-2.00am Il Transatlantico Pub – another bar on deck 7 and a very nice bar (although not that like a traditional British or Irish pub). It is overlooking the casino, with a stairway leading down to it. We initially we avoided it because we worried about smoke drifting up from the casino, but later discovered it wasn’t a problem. The live music here was very good, particularly Mario who plays the guitar and sings a wide variety of songs from the 50s-70s very well. There is also a pianist and singer called Mattia. Music is from 6.30pm-2.00am

9.00am-9.00pm Bar delle Fontane – on deck 14 in the I Tropici Covered pool area close to the Pool Shop

8.00am- 9.00pm The Glass Bar (Ice Cream shop) also on deck 14 at the back of the Aqua Park, close to the entrance of the Zanzibar cafeteria (buffet). They sometimes had a German band playing near here during the day.

9.00am-8.00pm MSC Aurea Spa Bar – in the Spa itself at the front of deck 14. It has a wide range of very delicious Vitamin drinks and smoothies as well as the main bar menu. This is a lovely relaxing area with very comfortable “conservatory” style seating to relax after a treatment or even a workout in the gym

10.00am-6.00pm Gaudi Bar – at the back of deck 15 beside the over 18 only, Zen pool and hot tub area. Very peaceful area for those wanting to escape the nose from the main pool areas.

11.00pm until late Liquid Disco – midships deck 16 and another one I found a bit garish – very very red. It also had strange seating that was covered in some synthetic material resembling pillar box red dog hair. I found it very irritating as I could sometimes feel it scratching my legs through my clothing. My cousin never noticed anything. It was already showing some signs of wear too. Despite the “hairy” seats, it has huge windows with great views and even if you are not the “disco” type, it is a great place to hang out during the day if you want peace to read, relax or just watch the view (Not all the seats are the “hairy” ones!). For those with teens, they have their own disco I Grafiti directly under it.

.

Drink packages

We purchased 2 drinks packages onboard for 115 euros

Cocktails – 12 cocktails

Vitamin Package – 14 non alcoholic cocktails, smoothies or vitamin drinks

There were also packages for 14 Soft Drinks, 14 Small beers, 14 Large beers, as well as various wine packages. (Unfortunately I seem to have lost the price list that I thought I’d brought back with me!) Cocktails were at least 5.70 and non alcoholic at least 4.70 euros, so we found we not only saved a bit of money, but found it easier to keep track of our bills without loads of little amounts for all our drinks. We did not buy a wine package as the smallest was for 7 bottles and we only had 4 bottles over the week.

Crew

For me the real stars (as always on MSC) were the dining room, bar and cabin crew. However on this cruise there was one exception to this and fortunately not a good exception, and that was our waiter for dinner. Whilst he was never rude, he was fairly incompetent. He was absent for huge periods of time and the tables in his section were always finishing ages after all the other tables. We frequently had to run to catch the show. He never did any of the nice little touches that we experienced with other waiters when we had lunch (or on my other cruises with MSC), like holding your chair out for you, putting your napkin on your lap, filling your glass with water, asking you if you’d had a nice day or some other pleasantry. To be honest if that was the extent of his shortcomings, I would not have minded. It was even the basics he could not get right. We’d have some people’s food arriving ages before others. He sometimes split up the courses for example 3 of us ordered from the pasta/rice course, 2 of us got it at the same time whilst the other got it with a different course entirely. Despite the fact that we and the other couple at our table always had wine, we had to ask for the wine list every time. He never brought it with the menus. On one occasion he gave it to me first, once he’d taken my order he took it away, instead of giving it to the other couple, who then had to wait ages for him to reappear to order theirs. Frequently the wine took ages to come to the table. He blamed the bar boy for being slow, but we often saw it arrive and sit at the bar for a while before he got it to us. On other occasions, we got our food before our cutlery (On MSC they only ever give you the cutlery for the course you are about to have, they lay it out just before the food arrives. After the clear away that course, they bring the cutlery for the next course, then the food). He did however always manage to get us the food we had ordered and get it to us whilst it was still hot. This was the only cruise when I did not give my waiter an extra cash tip as I felt that he really had not deserved it. I was disappointed for my cousin as this was her first cruise and I wanted things to be as good as they usually are. The waiters in the other dining rooms when we had breakfast and occasionally lunch were the exact opposite from our waiter. Some mornings it almost felt a bit overwhelming the amount of attention we were getting from so many of the waiters, all eager to serve you and talk to you.

My cabin steward done a great job too, cleaning my cabin twice per day. Although we never spoke to him in our cabin, we frequently met him in the corridors. He invariably was grinning from ear to ear, he really had the sunniest of dispositions and the most infectious smile. The other cabin stewards always acknowledged and greeted us too. From previous cruises with MSC I knew that the Italian Officers and Reception staff were usually aloof and occasionally unhelpful. However this was not the case on this cruise. Although we did not have a lot of contact with the reception or tour desk staff, other than for minor requests or buy shuttle bus or port info and maps, we found them to be polite and helpful. One lady in particular was extremely friendly and provided us with lots of useful information about the port we were about to visit when we were purchasing a map from her (50c). She did this despite the couple before us having been extremely arrogant and rude to her, despite all the effort she had made to answer all their questions. Instead of thanking her they stomped off saying “That was a complete waste of time” within earshot of her. No idea what the problem had been as she had answered every question they’d had. She never let their rudeness affect her or impact on the service she provided to the other passengers.

Entertainment

There were 2 showings of the main show in the L’Avanguardia theatre each evening to coincide with the end of each dinner sitting. Do check your programme each day as they twice swapped the show for those on second sitting to before dinner instead of after dinner. The theatre itself is beautiful and has good sight lines regardless of where you sit. The shows had to cater for 5 languages so tended to be either visual acts (such as cirque oleil style acts; magicians; dancers; or musical. They were all excellent and really not to be missed. My favourite was Bolero which featured Ice Dance routines as well as the most amazing Chinese gymnastic trio. It was breathtaking and amazing that they were able to stage this on a relatively small stage (compared to an ice rink) and with the boat tipping to and fro. The Irish dancing in Excalibur was good too, especially one of the lead male dancers who must have had a solo role in Riverdance some time in his past. The operatic tenor and soprano who boarded the ship in Barcelona and featured in the Tribute show were really talented and got a standing ovation from the crowd. There is no food, drink or smoking allowed in the theatre which means you can enjoy the shows undisturbed by drinks waiters bbbing about and the sound of muching!

There is live music ever evening, throughout the evening in a variety of lounges. Some just to listen to and some to dance to. On the whole they ranged from ok to good. There was usually some kind of entertainment hosted by the very energetic group of young Italians forming the Entertainment team going on day and night. Day time tended to be dance lessons, quizzes and bingo (in 5 or 6 languages); competitions and games on days at sea there were also Italian lessons, arts and crafts and other demos and talks)

[Thecat123]

Once again thank you very much AmoMondo for writing this review. We will be checking back often to reread as we still have 4 months before we go

[JackN]

AmoMondo:

 

Thank you so much for the great review. We leave a week from Friday.

 

A few quick questions. Much has been talked about how the men dress on formal night but how about the women? Is my wife going to look out of place in an evening gown?

 

Is there any free coffee on the ship? Even at breakfast?

 

Is any of the room service free? Continental breakfast?

 

Did they allow you to bring any beverages back on the ship from the ports?

 

We have an 11:40 flight out of Barcelona back to JFK on the 5th of June. Ship docks at 9am (I am sure it will be alongside earlier). Will we have trouble getting quickly off the ship?

 

Any reccomended excrusions. We have not booked any ship tours. Below is what we have planned so far. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks both for your review and in advance for your answers.

 

Jack in South Bend

 

 

Potential Excursions for May 29th Fantasia Cruise

*****************************************

 

Barcelona (May 26-28)

2-day hop on/hop off bus tour already purchased. Will take it from there.

 

Marseille-Day Two (Saturday May 30)

 

Best Option seems to be to take the 40-minute train ride to Aix-en-Provence, the former capital of Provence. About 90 minutes away is Avignon, where the Popes lived (their castle is still there) in the 1400’s. Rhonda spend a semester in college here so this may also be an option, but the trip may be a bit long.

 

Cabs are a flat 50 Euros ($68 dollars) each way to Aix in Provence, which might be easier.

 

Genoa-Day Three (Sun May 31)

 

From all accounts this is a walking tour. I have two books there does seem to be some interesting things to look at. Also might be best day to take advantage of brand new ship and do some relaxing!)

 

Naples-Day Four (Mon June 1)-Since we have been to Pompeii, Capri and Sorrento, our goal is to get to Herculaneum. I have the directions to the train station. Naples is 11 am to 7pm so we should be able to do this. Herculaneum is just a two-hour tour or so.

 

Palermo-Day Five (Tuesday June 2)

 

This could be walking or a cab. I have an e-mail in for a cab tour. Another on-line poster said she got a cab for a four-hour tour for 65 Euros right off the ship.

 

Tunis-Day Six (Wednesday June 3)

 

This is the shortest day, in port just 8am to 1pm. The ruins of Carthage are a short cab ride from the ship, however everyone seems to want to go to the Souk (Shopping area).

A safe bet is the ship tour for $61 dollars per person ($45 Euros). I have an inquiry in to a cap driver who charged another cruiser 20 Euros per person for a tour. I am waiting for a response.

 

Palma De Mallorca-Day Seven (Thursday June 4)

 

From what I have read, the city can be explored on foot. We are in port from 2pm to 1 am. Some have suggested renting a car, but this might be a good day for relaxing until dinner and then eating and packing for the next morning for our flights back.

[red terror]

Hi Anomondo and thanks for All the great info on F which we are sailing on 5 July, i just hope that I haven't lost your last instalment of your epic. Has it been posted or is it still in the pipeline? I will be leaving fron Milan to Genoa and checking the train times see that there is an 8.20am and the next train isnt until 12.25pm arriving in Genoa at 14.18pm. Should we play safe and take the 8.20?

[AmoMondo]

AmoMondo:

 

 

A few quick questions. Much has been talked about how the men dress on formal night but how about the women? Is my wife going to look out of place in an evening gown?

I wore a full length evening gown at both formal evenings and I wasn't the only one. however i would say more were wearing cocktail dresses, or evening seperates (skirt or evening trousers with fancy top or blouse)

 

Is there any free coffee on the ship? Even at breakfast?

Only at breakfast as far as I noticed

 

Is any of the room service free? Continental breakfast?

the only free room service is the continental breakfast

 

Did they allow you to bring any beverages back on the ship from the ports?

We both brought a bottle each of Limoncello back on board at Naples and on other occassions had a bottle or 2 of water with us. We did not try to bring any large quantities onboard but had no problem with what we did bring.

 

We have an 11:40 flight out of Barcelona back to JFK on the 5th of June. Ship docks at 9am (I am sure it will be alongside earlier). Will we have trouble getting quickly off the ship?

Not sure because we got off at genoa. there are not so many that get off at Barcelona but it still seems very tight. If you need to be at the airport for 0.40 (2 hours before) i think you are going to struggle with that. You will have to wait to get your passports back to. In genoa we didn't get ours back until 9.30am. Speak to the English speaking host to see if she can help you sort something out. You are going to have to ask them to let you off in the first group and get your passports back first

 

Any reccomended excrusions. We have not booked any ship tours. Below is what we have planned so far. Any suggestions?

I don't do shore excursions at all, so can't give you any recommendations I'm afraid.

Thanks both for your review and in advance for your answers.

 

Jack in South Bend

 

 

Potential Excursions for May 29th Fantasia Cruise

*****************************************

 

Barcelona (May 26-28)

2-day hop on/hop off bus tour already purchased. Will take it from there.

Dont miss Parc Guelle or the sagrada Familia. Also a stroll down LAs Ramblas is a must but be careful and pay attention for pick pockets

Marseille-Day Two (Saturday May 30)

 

Best Option seems to be to take the 40-minute train ride to Aix-en-Provence, the former capital of Provence. About 90 minutes away is Avignon, where the Popes lived (their castle is still there) in the 1400’s. Rhonda spend a semester in college here so this may also be an option, but the trip may be a bit long.

We had planned on doing that too but had difficulty finding the train station and then noticed how lovely the old port area of Marseille was. We did the little train ride up to the Basilica which was very good and then wandered all around the old town afterward and had lunch on the sea front at a lovely cafe

Cabs are a flat 50 Euros ($68 dollars) each way to Aix in Provence, which might be easier.

probably the cab especially if it is from the port. Otherwise you are going to have to get the shuttle in to marseille and then find the station

Genoa-Day Three (Sun May 31)

 

From all accounts this is a walking tour. I have two books there does seem to be some interesting things to look at. Also might be best day to take advantage of brand new ship and do some relaxing!)

Yes genoa is fairly easy to explore on foot. the also have a little tourist train that takes you all around town for about an hour which is quite nice

Naples-Day Four (Mon June 1)-Since we have been to Pompeii, Capri and Sorrento, our goal is to get to Herculaneum. I have the directions to the train station. Naples is 11 am to 7pm so we should be able to do this. Herculaneum is just a two-hour tour or so.

 

Palermo-Day Five (Tuesday June 2)

 

This could be walking or a cab. I have an e-mail in for a cab tour. Another on-line poster said she got a cab for a four-hour tour for 65 Euros right off the ship.

We got a ticket for the hop on hop off bus and did the red route in the morning and the blue in the afternoon. There are also horse drawn carriage rides for about 80 euros. There ere only the 2 of us, so that was too expensive, but with 4 not so bad

Tunis-Day Six (Wednesday June 3)

 

This is the shortest day, in port just 8am to 1pm. The ruins of Carthage are a short cab ride from the ship, however everyone seems to want to go to the Souk (Shopping area).

A safe bet is the ship tour for $61 dollars per person ($45 Euros). I have an inquiry in to a cap driver who charged another cruiser 20 Euros per person for a tour. I am waiting for a response.

We deliberately chose not to leave the ship here. It is hot, dirty and smelly and you get plagued by beggars etc. This was our day to enjoy the ship

Palma De Mallorca-Day Seven (Thursday June 4)

 

From what I have read, the city can be explored on foot. We are in port from 2pm to 1 am. Some have suggested renting a car, but this might be a good day for relaxing until dinner and then eating and packing for the next morning for our flights back.

We did the HOHO which was a bit of a mistake, the commentary is not great and we got off at the castle which is very nice and has great views but discovered when we got back on that it was the last one and had to stand all the way back. With hindsight, I'd just have got a cab up there and explored the town centre on foot

 

Hi Jack

I've answered as many of your questions as I can above. Hope you all have a fantastib time

[AmoMondo]

Hi Anomondo and thanks for All the great info on F which we are sailing on 5 July, i just hope that I haven't lost your last instalment of your epic. Has it been posted or is it still in the pipeline? I will be leaving fron Milan to Genoa and checking the train times see that there is an 8.20am and the next train isnt until 12.25pm arriving in Genoa at 14.18pm. Should we play safe and take the 8.20?

 

Thanks and no you haven't missed the final instalment - it is half written and I hope to finish it later tonight.

As for the train, depends on what time the one after that is, in case something goes wrong. It does look like you have enough time on the 12.25 but if fo some reason it doesn't run, then you are going to be stuck. I'm a bit rsik averse so personally would take the earlier train - but that is just me.

[eliopia]

hi amomondo ,it is very nice of you to answer all these questions but you are such a big help,i read your answers about the shore trips and this is exactly what i am planning to do,just couple of questions,about palermo and marseilles where can we purchase the tickets for the hoho bus and le petit train .

[JackN]

Thank you so much for all the help AmoMondo. We expect to have a great time.

 

Jack

[AmoMondo]

hi amomondo ,it is very nice of you to answer all these questions but you are such a big help,i read your answers about the shore trips and this is exactly what i am planning to do,just couple of questions,about palermo and marseilles where can we purchase the tickets for the hoho bus and le petit train .

 

We got our HoHO tickets in the cruise terminal in Palermo. It is about 5 blocks walk 910 minutes) to the first stop on the red route. The blue route which only operates in the afternoon, has a port stop

there is a ticket office for Le petit Train where it starts right down in the centre of the old gharbour beside the fish market.

[AmoMondo]

Well here at last is the final part

 

Ports of Call

I don’t do shore excursions. This is not a reflection on those provided by MSC but rather my aversion to getting up early whilst on holiday and being shepherded about in a group. I’m far too independent and I prefer being on my own or with a few friends to being in huge groups. One of my concerns before going on this cruise, was that because of its size and the number of passengers onboard, there would be huge queues to get on and off at ports. However this fear was unfounded as we either walked straight off or only had a handful of people in front of us. That said, the ship was not full (about 2000 passengers onboard) and we were not trying to get off the minute they announced you could go ashore. Whilst getting back on the ship was not a problem, getting a lift on decks 4 or 5 often was. This was not helped by the Italians complete aversion to waiting their turn and just barging in front of you or mowing you down with their pushchairs. We found 2 solutions to this issue – 1. forget your manners and force your way through when you’d waited a bit or2. my personal preference, walk forward or back to the next bank of lifts and get one to yourself.

Naples – we docked a little bit ahead of the scheduled time at about 10.30am. We got off shortly after that time as we wanted to go to both Pompeii and Sorrento. We’d decided to get the train and I’d printed all the train times before going on the cruise. Our first challenge was getting a taxi to take us to the station. All the ones in the port were determined to persuade as that they could take us to Pompeii and back quicker and for the same price as the train, (at 80 euros for the return trip – I don’t think so) Anyway we ploughed our way through them declining their offers in both Italian and English and made our way to a taxi rank just outside the port itself. Again the driver was determined to drive us all the way to Pompeii but when he realised he was going to get no fare at all, he relented and took us. I’d asked him to take us to Stazione Garibaldi but he actually took as to another station that was one stop closer to where we were which cost 10 euros. Train fares are Napoli-Pompeii Scavi is €2.40; Pompeii Scavi – Sorrento is €1.80; Napoli-Sorrento is €3.30. The train takes about 35 minutes to Pompeii (you get off at Pompeii Scavi), turn right when you get out and walk about 100 yards or so down the street and you will see the entrance on your left. For those of you who like to know about WCs, they are just inside the gate way on the left close to where you queue for tickets. I think we paid €8 to get in and got a free map. My cousin also bought a more detailed guide book from the shop. We ended up spending about 2 hours there and whilst it was interesting and we probably did not see every last building, personally I’d have been happy to go after an hour as it was very windy and getting volcanic ash blown all over me all the time was not filling me with joy. After that we headed back to the station and only had about 10 minutes to wait on the train for Sorrento. The journey takes about 30 minutes and the station is very close to the centre of Sorrento. Unfortunately because we’d spent longer at Pompeii, we only had about 90 minutes in Sorrento (we did not want to risk getting the last possible train back in case something went wrong). We had a lovely lunch in a nice café on the central square and then had a wander along some of the nice little streets that run off it. We found a great little Limoncello shop, where they were making it on the premises and you could watch them at work through the back of the shop. As well as making their own liquor, they also did hand made chocolates too and let you have tasters of both the Limoncello and the chocolate – both were great, so we each bought a bottle. (they had them in all shapes and sizes). It was a bit of a rush to catch the train back to Napoli but we made it with just a few minutes to spare. We decided to get off at Garibaldi so that we could have a look around for a bit before grabbing a taxi back to the ship, but as it started to rain heavily we just got a taxi straight back. I was glad we did because being rush hour, the traffic was really heavy and it took a while to get back. Taxi cost €15 this time. So total cost for the 2 of us was €40 to go to Sorrento and Pompeii whilst the taxi drivers had wanted €80 just to take us to Pompeii and back. If I were doing this again, I’d probably skip Pompeii all together and spend us much time as possible in Sorrento or also try and see Positano.

Palermo– We decided to do the Hop on Hop Off bus tour which was €20 for both the red and blue routes. The red line operates morning and afternoon and includes the Royal Palace, cathedral and Botanic Gardens. It goes through the oldest parts of town. The blue route which does not start until 2.00pm goes through theNnew Town (which like my home town is about 250 years old). It also goes to the castle and you can get off at the port. Both lines start at Teatro Politeamo which is about 5 blocks up from the port entrance. We did the red route in the morning and had to wait for about 30 minutes to get on a bus. They have a booth that issues you with a numbered ticket and when the bus arrives, they call the ticket numbers out in strict order. Just as well they do too as the Costa Concordia had arrived within minutes of us and about 70% of the people waiting to board the bus were Italian and clearly not about to q to get on. We made the mistake of getting off at the Royal Palace at 12.10 to discover that it closes from 12 until 2, The cathedral was the next stop, so we just walked on down to there and went in to have a look around. It is a beautiful building from the outside but not quite as grand inside (compared to others that I have seen). After having lunch in the vicinity, we got the bus back the rest of the loop and got back to the first stop about 15 minutes before the blue route was due to commence. We decided not to do any hopping off this time as we had seats at the front of the bus and had a great view of everything. We got off at the port and headed to a lovely café nearby for an espresso and to try the famous Sicilian cassata. It was nothing like I was expecting – in the UK Italian restaurants have cassata but it is basically different ice creams with some glace fruit through it. This was more like a small cake with glace fruits – it was very lovely though.

Tunis– as neither of us fancied getting off here, we’d planned to spend the day onboard. We were only in port until lunch time anyway, so we elected to chill out by the Zen (over 18s only) pool & bar area. We then had a wonderful lunch in Il Cerchio D’Oro followed by an afternoon in the spa. We had purchased a spa package through our TA which was £72 instead of £106 and included a 30 minute body massage, 30 minute facial and an hour in the Turkish bath/sauna area. We both really enjoyed it and found the spa facilities amazing. I really liked the relaxing area near the reception where you could get all sorts of vitamin drinks and fruit smoothies – very nice.

Palma de Mallorca – We bought the shuttle bus tickets from MSC which cost ^ euros. The bus drops you off at the waterfront more or less opposite the cathedral. My cousin wanted to go to the castle as it looked like it had great panoramic views from up there, so we took the HOHO bus which has a stop just across the road from the drop off point. Unfortunately we’d just missed one, so had about half an hour to wait. The tickets cost 13 euros. With hindsight it wasn’t the best idea. The commentary was very minimal and because we did not dock until 2pm it was well after 3.30 before we joined the bus. We spend over an hour at the castle, which not only has fantastic views over the city and bay, but is surprising more like a palace on the inside despite its austere exterior. We were also impressed at the efforts that had been made to make it accessible to wheelchair users. They had a lot of ramps and a stair lift to reach all but the top level. By the time we left the castle, and got the very busy bus, we realised that it was in fact the last bus, so could not get off at any more stops and just had to head back down to the cathedral. Given the port time, I think it would have been much better to have just grabbed a cab up to the castle and then had more time to wander about down town, before heading back to the ship for dinner

Barcelona – Again MSC provided a shuttle service for 6 euros return. My cousin is a huge fan of HOHO buses (I’m not so keen). However she persuaded me that this was the best way to see as much as possible, so we bought tickets as we got off the shuttle bus for 23 euros each (1 day ticket that covers the blue and red route). We’d planned on getting the bus up to Playa Catalunya and then changing over to the red route. However it was raining really heavily and there was quite a big q at the port stop. Only a few people were able to get on at a time as the upper decks were not being used. After waiting about 30 minutes, we gave up trying to get on and walked about 5 minutes to the nearest metro and took it the few stops up to Casa Mila. By the time we got off the train, the sun was shining. However when we got to Casa Mila, we discovered an enormous q to get in. We estimated that it would take about 90 minutes to get in, so decided not to bother and get the red bus up to Parc Guell. It was a public holiday, so the city was incredibly busy and there were at least 6 or 7 cruise ships in port. For some strange reason, they were running 4 or 5 blue route buses for every red. It took almost an hour to get on the bus. We had both been to the Sagrada Familia before so decided to go straight to Parc Guell, which was just as well as the qs at the Gaudi cathedral were even worse than those at Casa Mila. The Parc was amazing – do not miss this – it is the most unusual and amazing place. We only spent about an hour there and had to wait about 30 minutes to get back on the bus. We had planned on trying to do the blue route as well but soon realised that this was simply not going to be possible in the time we had left. We therefore stayed on the bus back to the starting point at Playa Catalunya and had a pleasant stroll down Las Ramblas with a wee detour to the Playa Real half way down. We made it back to the Shuttle bus with about 30 minutes to spare. Personally I found the HOHO not only a waste of money but very frustrating given the crowds of tourists everywhere. I think we would have been far better getting a bus or taxi to the Parc and then spending the rest of the time wandering around Las Ramblas and Barrio Gotico. As it was I’m fairly sure we spent more time in qs waiting to get on buses than anything else.

Marseille – The MSC shuttle service was 10 euros as we were quite a distance from the old town. There is a tourist info kiosk as you leave the ship, where we’d picked up a larger map (MSC sell them for 50c each or 2.50 for the full set for all the ports). I’d asked where the train station was as we’d planned on going to Aix en Provence. The lady in the TO told me it was close to L’Arc de Triomphe and had marked it on the map for us. However when we got off the bus and walked the 5 minutes to L’Arc we could not find the station anywhere. We’d also noticed on the way in on the bus that the old port area of Marseille looked far nicer than we had been led to expect, so decided to spend our day there instead. We made our way down to the waterfront and bought tickets for Le Petit train, that goes up to the Basilica Notre Dame de la Garde perched high above the bay. It was a beautiful ride up, passing through some quaint narrow streets and with great views across the bay as the train climbed higher and higher up the Mount. The Basilica itself is amazing although not for the less able bodied as there are 200 steps to climb up to get in. The little train stops here to let you off and you catch another one back. Inside the cathedral itself is incredibly beautiful, with the most lovely mosaic floors, not to mention the art works on the inside of the domes. Getting back on the train was a bit of a challenge (those Italians pushing and shoving again!) We missed 2 trains as we got pushed out the way. By the time the third train came, we were determined we were getting on and just ploughed on through. It was pretty frantic and we witnessed a young French couple get really upset as those pushy Italians had knocked their pushchair over with their baby in it. The ride back was a little shorter but no less pretty.

We then had a walk along the waterfront and had lunch outside in the sunshine at a lovely café overlooking the waterfront. My cousin’s Moules Frites were excellent, as was my salad and we washed it down with some lovely chilled. crisp rose wine. We then spent just over an hour exploring the historic artisan district which was fascinating, with it’s little narrow winding cobbled streets and lots of different family owned businesses selling various arts and crafts. There is also a Basilica in the old port are that is in a similar style (inside and out) but not quite as grand as Notre Dame de La Garde (but not so busy either)

Marseille has a reputation for its hand made soaps and we found a kiosk near the ship when we got back. I bought 4 for 10 euros (they had quite an array of fragrances). My mum has been road testing them and swears by them – looks like I’m going to have to do a return trip when she runs out!

Disembarkation

On this particular cruise there were passengers joing or leaving the cruise at every port with the exception of Tunis. We were disembarking at Genoa which is the busiest disembarkation day of all the ports. We were supposed to vacate our cabins by 8am and be in our meeting points by 9am. Breakfast was being served from 6.30 onwards in the dining room as normal and slightly earlier I think at the buffet. Room service is not available on the morning that you are due to leave. We had all to hand in our passports after sailing from Tunisia as we were told that the Authorities in Palma de Mallorca wanted to have them all available for a full inspection. We had twice tried to get them back before the end of the cruise but were told that we would get them back in Genoa. (Not sure why they still needed our as we have EEC ones but perhaps they failed to recognise our accents as being British). After breakfast and leaving our cabin, we went to reception to get our passports, only to be told that they were still required and would not be available until 9.30am in the Liquid Disco on Deck 16. There were a few other Bristish passengers waiting there but the vcast majority were Australian and New Zealand. By the time they came up with the passports, they were alreadsy calling our colour for disembarking, so we never went to our meeting point but just straight off the ship. It only took us a few minutes to find our cases and make our way to the exit. We had MSC Transfers and knew that there were many due to leave to all different airports that morning, so tried to find out from a member of staff in the baggage hall which coach was for genoa Airport. We were told to go outside and we would find them. When we did get outside, there were a lot of coaches but there were some staff sorting things out and pointing people to the correct coach. Whilst there were plenty of seats left on the one for Genoa Airport, there was no room left in the luggage store, so we had to wait about 5 or 10 minutes for another coach to arrive for us and about 10 other people. We

arrived in good time for my flight home to Edinburgh via Gatwick.

[eliopia]

Amomondo ,in Marseilles u said u took the msc shuttle for 10euros ,we are a family of 4 ,is there a better way than paying 40 euros just to get to the old town???thank you.

[AmoMondo]

Not sure if a taxi would be cheaper. You certainly could not walk it and i did not notice any service buses. The 19 euros was the adult fare, the child price was cheaper, can't remember exactly how much. in barcelona the price was 6 adults and 4 for under 12s. Perhaps if you try either searching for the marseille port info or tourist info, you might get info on alternatives.