Essiesmom

Don’t know where you will be flying from, but you will probably get the most direct flights to Barcelona and Rome, although the airport for Rome (FCO) is about 90 minutes away. Research on cruisetimetables.com will show you that most cruises have a circular itinerary and board and debark guests in most of the ports. This can make embarkation less hectic, but you have safety drill announcements almost daily…but you may be off sightseeing when they occur. If you want Spain and Italy you want western Mediterranean cruises. If you haven’t already, get a copy of Rick Steves’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports, read about them and decide which ones are the most important for your first time visit. My preference is for Eastern Mediterranean, especially including Venice. You need to plan your excursions, or book cruise line excursions because you won’t find vendors waiting on the dock to sell you a tour. You know, I don’t think Ive ever been to a port talk on MSC, but any in Europe will not have shopping recommendations. No DI in Europe. Enough for now. EM

Under #9. You forgot casinos. EM

I believe the itinerary from the cruise line should tell you if a port requires tendering. I don’t know how active the ACL board is here, but maybe someone there could tell you if there are any tender ports. EM

That doesn’t look like a balcony to me. Looks like taken from a pool deck looking across at a ship docked across from them. EM

They can adopt me, too…I’ll be 80 tomorrow, so won’t carry your bags as I can barely carry my own…. EM

That appears on both sides on decks 14,15 but only port side cabins on the other decks. No idea what it is but from the pics and videos on cruisedeckplans you can’t see it. EM

Ask on the East Coast Departures board here, under North American Homeports. Princess and Cunard also us the Brooklyn terminal. EM

I travel Below the Salt and have done two live threads (October and December 2023). While I think I would like the YC restaurant and pool grill, I am not a pool person. It’s a paradox that I want to be out where there is more activity, but not necessarily participate in it. I have an active mind…the older I get, the more pressure there is to ‘learn’ something. There is so much interesting culture and history I haven’t encountered yet. I have traveled Bella, Fantastica and bid up to Aurea. I cruise again in June in a Bella OV. I wanted an OV and all available was Bella. As far as the plethora of threads about YC, I find the same thing on the other boards I follow here: Celebrity , Carnival, HAL, Cunard… it’s as though they want everyone to know they are in suites. But I think the first posts for most are about drinks packages. EM

What you really mean is that you will keep asking until you get the answer you want. EM

Not. That’s the PVSA fine, which is actually about $940 now. The cruise lines do not like to have people debark downline because it screws up the manifest and makes the entire cruise no longer closed loop…for everyone. Much annoying paperwork for CBP. And can slow things down for the final debark in the home port. EM

Seashore December 10, 2023. Endrigo Seaside August 2023. Bennie Nothing memorable, but I’m of the belief that the less you see and/or hear of the CD the better. EM

And nothing like the piano bars on Carnival.

The rub is that MSC does not give out duplicate/extra key cards so you can switch people around. The workaround on this ship is to get bracelets ($10 each) and the people switching can trade bracelets in order to open the cabin doors. EM

If you are sailing solo, there is nothing wrong with an upper/lower cabin. More space, ask your steward for a chair. I did, and got a blue velvet reject from one of the MDRs. EM

Had two deck 9 forward Aurea cabins on Seaside and the balcony had two loungers and two chairs. E