MaverickF

Just back from a World Europa cruise. What the representative said is not the exact time, rather he is asking you to choose earlier dinning(5:30 - 7:30) or late dinning (7:45 - 9:30). There are several MDRs on Europa, and the dinning times are stacked. Three settings are 5:45, 7:30, 9:30, and two dining settings are 6:30 and 9:00. So you may get any of the time based on your earlier/late preference, and it may not set till really close to cruise. You can only know the exact time when you are onboard.

Going on a MSC cruise, our expectation is to avoid using the customer service at all if possible. Having said that, the customer service representatives on the ship are very friendly, and will try to help but may not have the best knowledge. For example, one thing that irked me was that every restaurant including the specialty restaurants were showing closed between 11am and 12pm on the App. We asked several staffs and they all informed us that the Pizza and Burger place should be open at that time, but it was actually closed. Finally they called a supervisor and get the information that the only place that serves food (outside YC) between 11am and 12pm is at the Pool Deck Grab-and-Go.

On White Night, the dinner menu is called Mediterranean Night. There isn’t a separate Italian Night.

1. Specialty dinings are open for lunch. 2. Only one MDR (Bubbles) opens for breakfast and lunch.

Wednesday(Valletta) is the only formal (gala) night. No many people dressed too formal though. Tuesday (Messina) is the White night. You will see more people dress in white and partying.

Just back from a trip on MSC World Europa June 16-23 from Barcelona. Nikodemos provided an excellent Live from on the same itinerary a week prior, and we benefited a lot from his review. Most of the Europa reviews on the CC boards seem to be on YC. We were on a Fantastica balcony, so would like to provide a summary from a Non-YC perspective view. Embarkation/Debarkation 10/10 The MSC Mediterranean itinerary had people getting on/off the ship at each port. This looks chaotic at first, but it is actually quite beneficial by spreading out the embarkation/debarkation process. We arrived at 12pm at the Barcelona port, and there was practically no line at all. We passed the security and check-in line maybe in 10 minutes. On the debarkation day, everybody leaving at Barcelona port supposed to leave the cabins before 8am, but we requested a late departure at 10am with the diamond benefit. We had breakfast and walked out of the ship after the last debarkation group. Again no line at all, and it seems that there was not custom/security check at all. It just felt like walking out of any port for an excursion. Ship 9/10 Beautify ship is sparklingly clean. While the ship was fully booked, it didn’t feel overly crowded. There are enough activities on the ship. We liked the Verom dry slide and the VR water slide. We also purchased the fun passes for kids to use on the 5D cinemas, bumper cars and arcade games, and they had a blast. Most of the passengers are from European, and English speaking is definitely of minority. Fellow passengers were mostly courteous and staffs were overall very friendly. While there was this European vibe on the ship, but in the meantime, we feel this as a normal US based cruise since most of the interactions and shows are still in English. Foods 6/10 We mainly dinned at the MDR room for dinner. Comparing to our other MSC cruise on Divina last December, the MDR food was quite a letdown. On Divina, we had some wonderful dishes like groupers and ossobuco. Here on the Europa, all seafood were overcooked, and sometime were even overly dry. Understanding that MSC would source the food locally and catering to the mostly Europeans passengers. But just I just feel that they could not keep the seafood fresh for this mega ship. On Gala night, there were no steak or lobster. Instead, I had the escargots, lobster bisque and sea bass. And felt really sick after that. Luckily the next day was the Sea day, and I could rest and skip breakfast/lunch. In the afternoon, we went to have HighTea at Raj Polo Tea house, and had a wonderful afternoon tea, which made me feel much better. For breakfast and occasional lunches, we dinned at the buffet. While the buffet felt crowed at time, we could easily find some space and didn’t feel overwhelming. There were all kinds of food catering to different needs. As usual, the pizza and pasta were pretty good, but anything related to seafood was pretty bad. We did find out that they had some wonderful Indian food like curry chickens at the Destination station. This is not a surprise given that many of the service staffs are from India. Entertainment 7/10 The main theater shows were repeated in consecutive days other the one night only show from the lady singer from Liverpool. While the shows were entertaining, it did feel repetitive giving this format and that mostly of the show were just singing and acrobatic acts. We do like the Amelia show which provided a more variety show. Two of the lead singers seems to be trained as opera singers, and had wonder voices singing “Time to Say Good bye” at the last show to the standing ovation of thel audience. The Panorama Lounge shows were canceled in four days during our itinerary due to technical issue. This was a huge disappointment given that this theater was unique to World Europa and we were really looking forward to the unique experience. We did catch one show “Big band Boogie” in Panorama Lounge eventually. While this utilized the stage for the acrobatic acts, it just didn’t have a WOW factor. Since we didn’t have a chance to watch other shows in this lounge, it may not be a fair judgement for all Panorama Lounge shows. Ports 9/10 These are the highlights of the itinerary. We thorough enjoyed all the ports on this trip. Marseille The port is a 15~20 minute drive to the city center. MSC advertised that the trip to city is 45 minutes and has the shuttle at 17EUR pp. Instead, we took the taxi to Norte Dame directly. Cost was 30EUR for 4 people. We then took the tram as Nikodemos suggested back to the city center. Uber back to ship was only 18 EUR. Genoa The port is in the city, and Genoa is a walkable city. We enjoyed a leisure walk to Via Garibladi and visited the three Palazzo museums there. On the way back while it was getting hot, we took the free Metro to the harbor/port area. Naples It was a hot day in Naples. Instead of going to Pompei, we chose to visit Herculaneum. It is of much small scale than Pompei, but it is better preserved due to the large amount of volcano ash covering this site. It is also close to Naples and suited our need for a short excursion. From the Naples center, the train ride was only 15 minutes. Messina The port is right next to the Messina municipal center. We got off the ship at around 11:30am, and was at the Cathedral Bell Tower to watch the full clock movement which only happened at noon. The clock on the Bell Tower claims to be the largest astronomical clock in the world. Don’t know if this claim is true or not, but watching the 12 minute long clock statues movement and climbing the tower is definitely the highlight of the visit to Messina. Valletta The port is also in right in Valletta, however, it will be quite a hike to the center. We took the Barrakka Lift to the Upper Barrakka Garden. Again the cannon firing at Saluting Battery only occurred at 12pm. However, the must do in Valletta is the visit to St John’s Co-Cathedral. Valletta is a city with the great influence from Knights Hospitaller. Unfortunately, the GrandMaster’s Palace is still closed for renovation. We also did not have time to visit any of the forts nearby. Don’t miss the sail away party though when you can have a panorama view of the forts when the ship sailed through Fort St. Angelo and Fort St. Elmo. Overall, despite some hiccups with foods and entertainment, we had a great time on World Europa. What makes the trip great are all the fantastic ports on this literary, and the overall friendly staffs and fellow passengers on the ship. I didn’t save the daily plans but do have the MDR dinner menu. Will be happy to answer if there are any specific questions.

Thank you very much for the detailed review. We are on the same itinerary now, and really appreciate your suggestions/tips on the tours and attractions. We are in a Fantastica balcony, and will share some thoughts of the experience outside YC.

Just curious. Does World Europa have Carousel shows that you can pre-pay like on other ships? Thanks.

Don’t want to start a debate on class warfare. I am just merely thinking from the local communities perspective. Norway as one of the richest countries in world, people over there probably will be more into preserving the environment than catering to cruise industry to boost local economy. That is why the shock on me when I observed what was happening at Flam. As a tourist/cruiser, I am all for no restrictions at all so that we can all explore and experience all the wonderful places, using whatever means. However, I do hope that our footprint can be minimized. I applaud that MSC and other cruise lines are exploring new technologies. Will be on World Europa MSC’s first LNG powered ship to experience firsthand if this cleaner energy is all hyped up to.

I am sure that this might not be a popular opinion on CC board, but I really hope that cruise lines do not send any of the large cruise ships to the fjords unless they figure out to use cleaner energy for those mega ships. Disclaimer, I never took a cruise to Norway fjords before. However, several years ago, we took a land tour from Bergen to Oslo. Took a bus to Gudvangen, and then on an electric boat by a local tour company to Flam. The boat just quietly glided through the water, allowing us to really enjoy an immersed experience in the tranquil fjords. It was one of best tours we had been on. But imagine the horror when we turned into the fjord leading to Flam. It was completely covered by black smoke extending several miles by a NCL cruise ship parked at the Flam port. Norwegians are known for preserving the environment, and big into electrifying autos and other transportation. I was both surprised and shocked at that time that they were allowing the cruise industry kind of ruining the natural beauty in the fjords. I am glad that the locals are more vocal now in their fights to preserve their nation’s treasure. Having said that, I do hope that MSC will be more flexible in offering credit and compensation if they need to adjust the routes into fjords. Knowing MSC, I won’t be shocked if they don’t offer any. I know that cruise is a very convenient way to visit fjords. But if it is before final payment, and the schedule allows, I highly recommend taking a local tour inside Norway instead.

We cruised out of Miami last December. Even among MSC staffs, there is a lot of confusion on the diamond/priority line. Be persistent when you ask the staffs for direction. Diamond/priority members still use the regular line to go through the security check. Once in the waiting hall before checking, there is a separate priority line. That probably saved us 30 minutes for checking. We used walk off for disembarking, so no difference there.

When we were on a 4 night cruise on Divina last December, the fun pass was $70 unlimited plays for the whole cabin. It is a great value. Don’t know if it is the same for the longer 7 night cruise, or it might be too good a value. There is no need to purchase in advance. The onboard price is the same, and you can inquire at the F1 simulator/4D cinema place to decide if the fun pass suites your need.

We booked a last minute MSC cruise for December last year. First time on MSC cruise. We got the Diamond status match after our booking. The ticket and MSC card did not show Diamond status. We had to log in to MSC/Voyage Club account to show our Diamond status to get into the priority boarding line. Didn't receive any Diamond gifts initially. I talked to the guest service on the second day, and they sent the prosecco and macarons to our cabin that night. Also got one specialty dinning and thermal spa day pass. When we paid for the photo package, we also received 40% off for diamond member. So all the diamond benefits do apply to first time cruise after status match. From the UK MSC letter in OP, I do interpret it as that there is not guarantee that you will get a status match to Diamond membership. However, once you have the status matched, you will receive all the Diamond membership benefits.

We booked the World Europa for the Med cruise recently. I also looked at all the ports, and echoed that Barcelona is the most convenient port for embarkation. Please keep in mind that unlike other MSC routes where you can book 1, 2 or any days and get off at a different port, World Europa will only allow booking as a seven day cruise. That means once a room is booked regardless the embarkation port, that room will not be available for all other ports within that loop. So the room availability can be limited, given the popular demand on this new MSC ship. Two days after I booked my trip, all the interior and balcony rooms were sold out on that route. If you decide where you'd to book, you need to act quicky to secure a booking.

We did our first post-covid cruise on MSC Divina non-YC recently. Before Covid, we mainly cruised on NCL. The experience on NCL may be dated, but I will provide some of my MSC observations here. MDR Dining - While food quality overall is comparable, MSC is more hit or miss. We truly enjoyed the food on two of the three nights we dined at MDR. One night though the pasta taste was really bland (surprising for an Italian cruise line), but you can order multiple appetizers and entries to try if you like. The NCL has the free-style dinning. This sounds a great concept for pax, but logistically it could be a problem if all passengers like to come on the preferred time 6:30-7:00pm for example. At this preferred slots, there is usually some wait to get a table and food. And dinner can take a long time on NCL. MSC has three sets of dinning times when we were cruising at capacity. So the service was really promptly as they tried to turn around the table for the next setting. Usually we could finish the dinner under 90 minutes and have time to enjoy the rest of the entertainment at night. Buffet/Specialty dinning - NCL has more varieties in both buffet selections (Asian, Mexico foods for example) and specialty dinning. I don't care much about buffet, but kids did like the pizza on MSC. However, this is totally up to personal preference. The NCL French Le Bistro and the MSC sushi restaurant are our favorites. Overall I prefer the MSC MDR, and the buffet/specialty dinning on NCL. Excursion - I didn't book any excursion through the ship. I always try to book excursion on our own if we have enough time to get back to port. Not only are we saving money, but it is usually much quicker since you don't need to wait for your fellow passengers. At Nassau, Divina arrived one hour later than a NCL ship. We bought the Atlantis tickets online, and breezed through Atlantis gate check while the NCL groups were still waiting with a long line at the gate. However, the private island Ocean Cay only has MSC excursions. We were really disappointed that all excursions were cancelled due to high winds on that day. Embarkation/Disembarkation - We have departed from Miami both on MSC and NCL, though that NCL cruise was a while back. NCL was more organized for the embarkation. MSC service representatives seem to be less informed, and we got different answers from different MSC people. We had Diamond status through match, but one representative refused to let us in the priority line while standing right under the boarding line sign for Aurea experience and Black card. We had to ask another representative to let us in. It was funny that we then overserved the two representatives engaged in a heated argument in their own language, apparently arguing on what is the right priority line policy. Took us about 1 hour to get onboard even with the priority line. On the disembarkation, We did the express walk off on MSC. It took us less than 30 minutes to get outside of the terminal since MSC uses face recognition at the terminal. This is a big plus. Overall the MSC ship and food quality are comparable to NCL. The most complaints on MSC are on their services especially if you use the drink package or have wifi issue. Fortunately, we don't use those and will have an open mind on MSC service adjusted with expectation. The main draw from MSC is the price. We did enjoy our short cruise on MSC, so much that we book a World Europa Mediterranean cruise in June. Comparing to other newer ships like RCL Oasis class, the MSC World class offers almost half the price on a true ocean balcony. It is too good to pass up the price difference.