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excellent ms Europa 2


vistaman
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i am just back from 2 weeks Greek isles on board the ms Europa 2 - everything was excellent !

great service as usual , and still all the special items you do not find on other companies : 4 fresh juices for breakfast, 8 , 12 or 14 speciality cheeses on the Yacht Club buffet.

I did participate in a great Champagne tasting , even including Dom Pérignon 2006 and Krug 2002 , generously poared and the cost was 90 € , on some other lines a basic bottle of Champagne is more expensive.

there is now a soft ice machine on the pool deck and 2 machines making flavoured crushed icy drinks Italian style. And on all the parties the house Champagne was flowing.

yes there were quite some children as in Germany there is a 2 weeks vacation around Whitsunday. They behaved quite very good. An elderly couple constantly wearing very unfresh clothes was more disturbing as the kids :evilsmile:

ms Europa 2 is now on her way up to Hamburg arriving 12 th August where she will receive her bi annual rejevenate treatment:D

Very lucky the excursion team did a great job in the terminal in Piraeus as local agents were quite chaotic

Food was so good i put on 4 kg - cannot wait to go back on her ...

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Thanks for the update Vistaman!

Sounds as if you had a good time.

 

We're boarding in about 3 weeks and glad to hear all is well and up to usual wonderful standards.

Can't wait to see all the new things you describe for ourselves.

 

We did the gin tasting last time and found it quite enjoyable. I surmise you would similarly recommend the Champagne tasting.

 

Did you hear anything interesting regarding the biennial refresh? I recall they were talking about making the bed be able to "split" to 2 twins. Anything else?

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Thanks for the update Vistaman!

Sounds as if you had a good time.

 

We're boarding in about 3 weeks and glad to hear all is well and up to usual wonderful standards.

Can't wait to see all the new things you describe for ourselves.

 

We did the gin tasting last time and found it quite enjoyable. I surmise you would similarly recommend the Champagne tasting.

 

Did you hear anything interesting regarding the biennial refresh? I recall they were talking about making the bed be able to "split" to 2 twins. Anything else?

 

i think the changes are the following :

 

one of the bars on deck 4 is receiving a transformation - i think the Jazz Club

 

the office of the cruise consultant - now located behind the reception - will be on deck 9 - indeed people must wait in front of the jeweler shop now and are simply hearing all the discussions when waiting -( in my case 15 minutes to redeem my bonus miles )

 

also the Belvedere would receive a "face lift "

and of course a lot of painting ans scrugging of the hull:cool:

the gin tasting is still free - sometimes the champagne tasting is not due to happen and replaced by a wine tasting and despite i am a great wine lover i am very difficult concerning red wine - i did it once and even Cos d' Estournel was offered - still the very good sommelier Markus Galan on board and a former sous chef of the ms Europa is promoted as the former relief chef left. The 2 sous chefs in charge of the Yacht Club are very good

 

i think on your trip the captain is captain Van Zwamen and hotel director Neumann

may i ask : are you disemkarking in Bilbao ? i 'll join her overthere

 

i forgot to mention for teatime small "cupcakes" style pastries are now available and the ice cream of Giovanni is as popular as ever

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This website is still blocking the posting of direct links to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises English language website.

 

The following is an extract from a Press Release in February of this year detailing the expansion of vegetarian menus.

 

'Press Release of 02/15/2017

 

Even more vegetarian variety on board the EUROPA 2

 

  • New: expansion of the vegetarian menu
  • More than 80 diverse dishes
  • Partnership with top chef Michael Hoffmann

First-class vegetarian and vegan menus: working alongside EUROPA 2’s own chef de cuisine, top chef Michael Hoffmann has developed a menu exclusively for the 5-stars-plus* luxury ship, inspired by his own vegetarian cuisine. Thanks to high demand, the selection has now been expanded to give Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ guests an even wider choice of vegetarian dishes.'

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yes i did notice those menu's and dishes

i am not a vegetarian at all

 

Michael Hoffman used to have a one michelin starred rated restaurant Margaux close to Brandenburg Tor in Berlin

what use to be open years ago for lunch as well with another menu as for dinner

i did not like the place at all but that is personal ( was there only once for lunch ) and i did not taste one single vegetarian dish on board.

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Vegan and vegetarian dishes are becoming more and more popular in Germany. This part of the menu needs a remake on Europa 2. I tried several vegan dishes in the main dining room. The result: I will not become vegan. ;pThe regular food was delicious.

 

Our next cruise is a summer family trip on Mein Schiff 1. Easier on the pocket book for all of us.

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Vistaman - we're disembarking in Lisbon. Sorry we'll miss each other. Thank you for the additional info.

 

Floridiana - please report on your Mein Schiff voyage. Curious to hear about it. Perhaps on this board?

 

Thanks to English Voyager for the press release. I might try the vegetarian. Vegan may be a bridge too far for me given all the other known deliciousness.

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Vistaman - we're disembarking in Lisbon. Sorry we'll miss each other. Thank you for the additional info.

 

Floridiana - please report on your Mein Schiff voyage. Curious to hear about it. Perhaps on this board?

 

Thanks to English Voyager for the press release. I might try the vegetarian. Vegan may be a bridge too far for me given all the other known deliciousness.

 

wishing you a great cruise ( she is sold out ) and - not the most important item - a very smooth disembarkation in Lisbon

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Our next cruise is a summer family trip on Mein Schiff 1. Easier on the pocket book for all of us.

 

We've also booked a Mein Schiff cruise. Until I get over being annoyed with Hapag Lloyd, it should serve us well. Crystal turned out to be just a bit too expensive.

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i think Hapag Lloyd is even far more expensive as Crystal ...

 

as the 2 Europa sisters are in far too hot and humid areas , for late winter i did book an MSc in Yacht Club one week - without flight fare is 50 % cheaper as a week on EUROPA 2 :cool: and i like pasta and Italian white wine .

 

it seems as a single i could not book a junior suite on Mein Schiff - some TA told me if willing to pay for it you can book it with an eventual "phantom pax "

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eedmd,

I will report back here. We took a Baltic cruise with Mein Schiff 4 last summer and I reported back here. It was a very good cruise for the price. Our adult kids loved the free drinks, the brezel rolls, the ice cream and the decent food overall. There were so many ports that we did not miss the evening entertainment. I have no idea what it was.

It's a Norway cruise this summer and Mein Schiff 1 is an older ship originally built for the American cruise market if I am not mistaken.

 

Of course, there is no comparison with the overall quality of Europa 2 (Auckland to Hong Kong).

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eedmd,

I will report back here. We took a Baltic cruise with Mein Schiff 4 last summer and I reported back here. It was a very good cruise for the price. Our adult kids loved the free drinks, the brezel rolls, the ice cream and the decent food overall. There were so many ports that we did not miss the evening entertainment. I have no idea what it was.

It's a Norway cruise this summer and Mein Schiff 1 is an older ship originally built for the American cruise market if I am not mistaken.

 

Of course, there is no comparison with the overall quality of Europa 2 (Auckland to Hong Kong).

 

Mein Schiff 1 was the former Galaxy of Celebrity and "2" was the Mercury

Berlitz is giving 4 star to both and even 4 + to the newer 3 - 4 - 5

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So we finally get to cruise on a Celebrity ship, never did that except on the Celebrity expedition ship in the Galapagos. :cool: I hope the buffet is set up differently to avoid overcrowding. The one on Mein Schiff 4 was noisy and the food was concentrated in one central area with middle displays in addition to the side counters. Our kids will be happy with everything, I am the really picky one.

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One of today's National Newspapers has a very enthusiastic article on the writer's cruise from Sri Lanka to Singapore.

 

I think anyone who has cruised on the Europa 2 would relate to the following:

 

' It was midnight and we were exhausted, but despite our best efforts we couldn't switch off the lights..... well, not all at the same time anyway.

 

Off would go the ceiling lights and then flicker back on again.

Then we managed to turn off the wall lamps, only for those in the hall to illuminate..........Finally a frenzy of pressing, and much swearing, brought darkness- although we had no idea how we'd done it.'

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1. Thanks for posting, and good to hear all was excellent! I look forward to getting back on the E2 in the fall, absent my developing adverse health issues. I will be sailing with a German friend, so I did not have to struggle to get a reasonable solo booking, which is challenging to get with advance planning, as English Voyager and Vistaman know. DH prefers SB, with its main language English, after this last cruise we did on SB in the spring where he had many people to chat with, so I will not torture him with the German ships ( for now :) )

 

2. It is quite irritating that HL posts are relegated to a misc. forum called "luxury cruising", which is mostly taken up by numerous advertising posts from Laura. The other luxury lines have their own forums. Perhaps CC wishes to discourage HL bookings, so they hide discussions about them in a subforum almost no one sees.

 

3. Vistaman, I understand your concern about sailing to very hot places. With regrets I decided to cancel DH and my Australia opera cruise booking on the MS Europa in February 2018 as my intolerance to heat extremes, especially if humid, is getting worse, and the average temperature high at the ports is 90 Fahrenheit with 50 percent humidity, plus the whole point of going there is to do excursions so I would not want to just hide on the ship. I noticed there are still a few openings on the website, including solo slots for that cruise, if anyone else is interested.

 

4. As for the elderly couple that had smelly clothing, my guess is they were old school Germans raised frugally and were trying to save on laundry costs, despite affording the E2, and probably unaware of their B.O. and would be mortified if they knew. As recently as the 1970's many Germans did not shower daily, many just did (not always successful) sponge baths, but fortunately times have changed :).

 

5. As for the lighting, there is a manual for it in the drawer. DH, an electrical engineer, studied it intently when we did our first E2 cruise, so we were fine, though he agreed the lighting system is not "user friendly" :)

If I get stuck next time and he is not around I will just call for help, excellent service. On the MS Europa, it was very simple, intuitive.

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catlover,

feeling sorry for you , you were obliged to cancel the Ms Europa . For the same reasons i did not book Capetown Mauritius on 2 but i will go to Capetown in a colder period in a hotel - also with my allergies i cannot do a safari at all. Just want to visit Capetown and the wine area.

I can understand your husband does prefer SB - my TA was on the Encore and he did confirm orange juice is from concentrate and freshly made is a special order ... also average continental breakfast items comparing to HL - he had to admit it. However SB is the best selling "luxury?" brand in Belgium.

If i cannot do Hl i would give Crystal another chance , i know the service is still good.

Last week we endured a heat wave in Belgium and in Bordeaux it was 39 ° C - would be impossible to walk around overthere .

referring to that particular couple , i only saw similar once on HL 2 years ago on ms Europa - it was a woman everybody did avoid her - she was refused to enter the restaurant on a formal night "dress code"

may i ask when are you joining the 2 ? I 'll be on her for a last time this year after drydock end of september as well. ( celebrating my retirement :cool: )

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I think anyone who has cruised on the Europa 2 would relate to the following:

 

' It was midnight and we were exhausted, but despite our best efforts we couldn't switch off the lights..... well, not all at the same time anyway.

 

 

Brought a smile to my face. :')

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Vistaman, I am on the E2 from New York to Nassau, two weeks, late October through almost mid-November. It will thus be "only" a 5 hour flight for me from San Francisco to get to NY (instead of 13 + hours to get to Europe from here, always an ordeal though I do not fly economy on long flights anymore). Should not be too uncomfortable getting there, if I buy an advanced fare business class ticket.

 

And other than at the very end, it should be ok temperature-wise. I am primarily sailing to get on the ship again, rather than for the ports, though my friend has never been to east coast US or on HL and it's been a while since I was in NY. She can then talk to her friends in Germany about how great it was and drum up some HL business :)

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catlover, i was considering that cruise as well however aside from the cruise fare the additional costs were too high - i cannot do flights in economy neither anymore - even on aisle seats and i tried BA in economy plus as well - it is not so noisy but the extra space is far from significant

+ a night in NYC + a night in Miami and arriving in Nassau made the flights even ( far ) more expensive. as a to New York and back ex Miami

so in autumn i 'll do Nizza - Tenerife on the ms Europa , the flight to Nizza is very cheap and the Tenerife Brussels could be done with BA miles on Iberia.:D

and ms Europa is still cheaper for a single as the 2 ...

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