perakcruiser

Impossible. But you need to give the actual dates for the cruise if you want to know why it states 1-4.

Short update from Marmaris, all is excellent so far 🙂

Arrived in Athens, ready to take over the Musica. As this Review contains basically all the valuable informations, there is no use to start another one. If @Beamafar is OK with it, I just will add a few points (no photos, no menus, all here already) from my side in the next days to reward all readers who made it to page 6 😄 Our cruise is a little bit different than Beas, it is a big family cruise with family members aged 1 to 77 meet up in Athens today and we go tomorrow morning on the boat. But first a big rest now, after a flight with Scoot you envy the ones who are coming with Ryanair 😛

This is MSC land, MSC ships certainly always have the best Pontes closest to the train station 🙂 Hotel Europa was the right choice for many years for us. Unfortunately it seems to be closed now, hopefully only temporary. Not to close port (but in town center) is Hotel Suisse, one of the very few budget friendly places there. Another one is Delfino Blue B&B very close to the ship, I have not been there yet.

Been in Hamburg on this day also before. Not even playing football is allowed. So by far the best option would be to do the ferry number 62 trip that was mentioned above. You probably have done this already, but others can consider.

It still does exist, but nowadays you need to ask a waiter to get one. People stole it like crazy and brought it off the ship when it was ready to take in the drinks area of the buffet I was told 😄

Don't buy the drinks package, no use for you. If you book via MSC USA or MSC UK you get free water in the MDR, but even if you would have to pay for the water as the others, the drinks package would not be worth it for you. Just pay for the Diet coke and the good coffee (if you are not happy with the free coffee).

Take the Two devices $121.52 and register the two cellphones of you two. But if you are very strict about everyone having it's own bill in your marriage then you pay 63.96 each 😄

Do they add more slots by adding busses as other lines? Or is it hopeless when "SOLD OUT" shows up? Actually this is the first time I am booking excursions with them as I have a lot of OBC to burn. Booked some already, but it is really not easy, mostly pretty unattractive and/or sold out.

No, it is possible! Even with kids over 2 years old. I recommend @amurray88 to book directly with the MSC hotline.

You might think that it is not relevant for a sailing from the US, but to get an (affordable) inside cabin you have to avoid the European main school holidays.

Both. It is mandatory and you have to pay it with the cruise price before the cruise. Actually on MSC UK website you only see the final price.

We don´t tip on cruise ships. We also book Celebrity (and other lines) only with rates where the daily tip, service charge, whatever they call it, is included. We do tip the Grab (for you Uber) driver and the Foodpanda (for you Uber Eats) driver.

The day pass for bus and tram is 5 or 6 €. Not valid for the train. It is available at the SPAR supermarket opposite the chuch/bus station.

This will not help, when they confiscate, they confiscate and will return when the cruise finishes. So if you have a flight following, there is no use to bring more than the bottle of wine that you can finish on the last night. Or whatever you can finish on that night 😄 This couldn´t be less true, MSC nickles and dimes much less than other lines. Except the (more expensive) super AI lines where you can expect a final bill of zero.

Eastern Med from Greece (and not Italy) is not something I expect any gala. Basically nobody can drive to the cruise, I would expect a lot of British, German, Eastern Europeans coming in with Ryanair. Great to hear for my first Diamond meal. No Butchers Cut on Virtuosa, no, a disappointing Sushi on Musica 😄

No, the MSC shuttles run to Blankenberge, not Brugge. There is a public bus from opposite the port at the church, but it is running not too often. If you want to use it, you have to make a plan with the schedule.

Just to add that it is (obviously) only possible for bookings where you don´t have to pay the service charge before boarding. Which means basically only US bookings I guess.

Interesting will be Mykonos, when the ship docks until 2am, I probably will go out for a night walk if it not too cold. Usually I get sick immediately when I am in Europe in winter 😄

Uh, I am not prepared for this. But I better prepare for it. And only the females in our family / travel group are entitled for check in luggage, the males, my brother and me, only qualify for hand luggage😄

No, it has a stupid name with "Amore", in the last two years it was a short version of "La traviata". I am not keen to go to Ephesus as I have been there some years before and not expect too much has changed 😄 But the family will probably force me too. Probably the same taxi drivers as in Athens, you went with MSC?

Wrote down in my planner 🙂 If you catch the information when the opera night is happening (if) please let me know also. They have a talent that you easily miss it and there is only one chance per cruise.

Thanks, this is very helpful. Especially as the wording in the excusions section of the website is a little bit confusion. I just wonder how long we could stay on the ship. "Extend Your Stay lets you enjoy more vacation time on board, right up to approximately 90 minutes before the ship sails for its next cruise" does not help as there is no next cruise and the ships goes to the dock.

If you call it salami / salame instead of pepperoni your chances probably will be much higher. If you order pepperoni in Europe on pizza you will get this: If the staff on Explora is not from USA it will take them some time to learn how the US pax try to order a Pizza Salame 😄

Exactly, it only depends on the mood of the staff at security.