trintrav

Bid 200pp for a balcony (from an OCV) on a 10 day Japan cruise on the Diamond. Accepted about 3 weeks from sail date

Service charge is 18 percent i believe. Haven’t seen the gratuities show up on the folio yet. And yes. You just pay the difference over 13 euros on drinks.

Greetings again For some reason it seems that this website is blocked by the MSC server when using ships Wi-Fi. Hmmmm. Makes me wonder. I figured out that the workaround is using a VPN and connecting to US servers. (I use Nord btw) Last night was a meet and greet in the yacht club lounge with the captain and senior staff. Get seats at the bar for the best service and viewing. Sadly some Americans (i am American) dressed up in full Arabic garb (costumes they bought ashore undoubtedly) thinking that was formal and classy. They made a mockery of the Arabic customs in my opinion and were the laughing stock of the evening. Very embarrassing. Don’t flame on me. Just my opinion. It was rude and distasteful We had a lazy day today. The ship docked in Dammam Saudi Arabia and we chose not to get off. I refuse to lay the Saudi visa fee and we’ve heard that the port simply isn’t worth it. (Even from folks who returned today) The thermal suite was wonderful this morning very few people and everything was available. Since we were in Saudi Arabia where alcohol is illegal all bars were closed while in port. Sad to report that we tried the regular Buffet on Deck 18-19 outside is the yacht club and the food was abysmal. Poor presentation, lacked any real flavor. Verbal just bad. Went from there to the pizza and burger place and it was similar there. Very disappointed, so we will stick to the yacht club. Last nights Lobster Dinner in the Yacht was fantastic. Lobster done ro perfection and the Truffle Risotto was phenomenal as were the desserts. Last night we visited the new Gin Bar. Everything was basically below the 13 euro threshold, so all good. We got tokens for the Secret Speakeasy from the butler Going to try that later in the week. I’ll not comment on that much since it’s supposed to be something you search for and i don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I will say that drinks there are excluded from the package.

Everyone has access to that area. Haven’t been back there during the day to see how crowded it is

First stop was in Sir Yani Bas Island. I don’t plan on commenting much on the port calls because the Europa is leaving the Middle East for the Med at the end of this cruise. The most important takeaway was to book the wildlife tour for early Am hours when the animals are most active. We saw everything but the cheetahs. Pretty amazing place. We had dinner last night at the Teppanyaki place last night. The food was good but our cook was a dud. The other cooks in the place were so lively and engaging. Ours, not so much. He was pleasant and soft spoken. But not the show we were expecting. Today is a sea day. We had an 11 am appointment for the Thermal area. It was pretty crowded, but with some patience you could visit all of the features. The impolite people who put their towels and books and glasses and such on the thermal loungers to reserve them while they are doing other things are annoying. That shouldn’t be allowed. They are limited as it is. I was tempted to take the stuff and put it on the floor, but my wife made me behave. 🙂

There are really two main theaters in this ship. The larger world Theater on deck 7 is where the broadway shows are.

We have not sailed on the Prima yet. Only 2-3 times in the Haven as it’s usually out of our price range. The yacht club as you know is very reasonable compared to NCL. I visited the thermal suite yesterday in the afternoon of a port day. They seemed put off a bit that i didn’t have an appointment but allowed me access anyway. It was not crowded at all with all of the features except the snow room in operation.

Not sure who the manager is. And yes, champagne is included.

Not sure what the current occupancy is. I was told that MSC did away with reserved seating for YC fleet wide though. We’ve never had to wait for a table for the YC restaurant but it’s only day two and we tend to eat earlier than most Europeans or Asians. We haven’t really spent time on the sun deck yet. Tomorrow is a sea day so we will see.

I’ve heard mixed reviews about the food in the buffet and main dining room. So far the yacht club food has been fantastic. we are eating at Teppanyaki tonight. Regardless, the ship, facilities and entertainment has been superb. And we are picky. You'll Have a great time.

Everyone depending on the package you buy. The regular package includes any drinks up to 13 euros. Now, the rule is that if the drink is more than 13 you only pay the difference. Prior to this sailing you had to pay full price for the more expensive drink. For example last night i was drinking shots of patron which were 14. I only paid a euro plus the service fee 18 cents i think

Sir Yani Bas beach day

Honestly when we were first walking around the ship it felt empty. I’m not sure what the occupancy is currently but it’s never felt crowded at all. We’ve not wait for anything really. FYI there is no more reserved seating for YC in the shows. However we got there 5 mins before show time and got decent seats on row 2 Demographics, I’d say mostly Russians. Very few Arabs this week as a Ramadan starts in a couple of days.

Greetings from the MSC World Europa! This is our 62nd cruise, and 2nd time on MSC in the Yacht Club. First was on the Grandiosa last year. We’ve cruise on many different lines with some recent river cruises as well. Most of our business goes to NCL. We are grateful for MSC’s status match program as NCL Platinum has earned us MSC Diamond. I frequently read reviews here and Im grateful for those that take the time to pose, so its time to pay it forward. We flew to Abu Dhabi for two nights precruise to get accustomed to the time difference. I am not going to spend much time talking about port calls as this is the World Europa’s last Middle East cruise for a while as she is headed to the Med. Abu Dhabi was incredible. A vibrant and modern city, and reasonably priced. Perfect weather in March. Everyone was very friendly to us westerners. Used the Careem App to get around. Their version of Uber and much less expensive than taxis. Embarkation was flawless. We arrived at 1130 for a 12 pm appt time and were the only YC members checking in at the time. Luggage was quickly whisked away, and we were seated in a nice area and offered refreshments while someone came to us to process our passports (which they keep for a couple days so I’m told). Before we could even finish our Prosecco’s , our butlers assistant arrived to escort us on board, and though security. Except for a river cruise, this was the fasted embarkation we’ve ever experienced. Once on board, we were escorted to our suite in the Yacht Club (A pretty standard YC balcony cabin on Deck 18). The Asst Butler explained the room features, and off he went. We met our Butler Camilla later in the afternoon. The stateroom while certainly not a “suite” was very spacious and very well laid out. Sparkling clean, but to be expected on a ship that is only a couple months old. Note for those who use CPAP machines. Bring or ask for an extension cord as there are no outlets near the bed. Only a USB outlet near the reading light. They happily brought us an extension cord. After a breather, we explored the ship. I will say after 60+ cruises, this is by far the nicest, most well laid out, and architecturally pleasing that we have experienced. Even beats the RCI Oasis class ships. THe ship is spotless. We got a tour of the Thermal Suite of the spa, which we plan to take advantage of several times this week. They say you should make an appt, so we will see how that works out. Last year on the Grandiosa, we didn’t get to experience it because they only allowed a few in at a time because of the pandemic. There are several new features we have not seen in other thermal areas. Excited to try later in the week. Since we are Diamond members, we are allowed one specialty restaurant per cabin, so we plan to choose the steakhouse. You have limited options, 3 I think. We purchased the Asian Duo package which allows us to use the Teppanyaki restaurant and the Sushi Restaurant during the week. Otherwise we will eat in the YC restaurant. The food there tonight was very good and the service exceptional. Tonight we opted to see the Broadway Show, which was fantastic. The talent and the set effects are top notch. We also signed up for the Ibiza Interactive Disco show which was disappointing. Maybe we didn’t have enough alcohol yet to fully enjoy. LOL One thing to note on the YC Drink Package. We were told in advance that if you spent over 13 Euros on any one drink you would be charged the full price of the drink…not the difference between the two. We learned that starting with this cruise, you now pay only the difference. In this case, 1 euro. This is reasonable. Regarding the internet. With YC, you get two devices per person with the Browse package. Don’t upgrade to Browse and Stream. If you want to Stream, simply long into a VPN (we use Nord VPN) and you can stream at full speeds. We were able to watch Netflix. The channel offerings on the TV are horrible Anyhow, Day 1 in the books. I am not going to post any photos as there are so many already online everywhere. If there is anything specific you want to see, let me know. Let me know if you have any questions, and I will try to answer them on my downtime. Cheers!

We are booked on this 8 day sailing from Abu Dhabi! Who's in?