Maria63

There is a very real cultural difference in how people traditionally handle queues. I come from a culture where you are supposed to queue the way Americans and Northern Europeans understand it, ie you line up and wait patiently for your turn. However, in Spain and Italy, people traditionally do not queue by lining up while waiting for something. Instead, they do what in English could be called "who is the last one?" and this is how it works: When you enter into a space where you are supposed to wait for your turn, you ask in a clear voice "Who is the last one?" The person who entered before you is supposed to react to your question and identify himself. You then keep an eye on this person, and when you hear someone ask "Who is the last one?" it is your turn to acknowledge that it is you. Otherwise, you are free to stand or sit where you want and socialize freely while you are waiting, but you must keep an eye on the person who came in before you so that you know when it is your turn to be served, and so that you don´t disrupt the whole process. This system of queueing is very civilized and works quite well when everyone understands the rules. Unfortunately, very unpleasant cultural clashes tend to happen when people from the Northern European & American queuing cultures mix with folks from Spain and Italy. The "who is the last one" -system would of course not work for instance in a buffet line, but people who have grown up in this culture probably do not place the same emphasis on the importance of forming orderly queuing lines. It is no big deal when it comes to determining polite behavior.

I would have to agree with momofmab. We also did IV Balcony (non-concierge) on Beyond, on a shoulder-season Med cruise, and found it to be a better experience overall than our YC cruises on Seaview and Bellissima. In our opinion, YC is something of a hit or miss. Seaview was generally enjoyable but Bellissima at that time had too many "misses" to be worth the price we had paid. MSC has a very different approach to doing things than Celebrity, and even if YC is a separate enclave on the ship, it is still part of the general culture onboard. We still like MSC a lot but do not expect an "upmarket" experience on their cruises.

My DH & I did a b2b recently on World Europa in Aurea as well, though only OV. We´ve done YC before on Bellissima and Seaview but opted out this time and did not regret it at all. The ship itself is gorgeous, and the Aurea sundeck & jacuzzis were usually very quiet. Many times we had the hot tub to ourselves on port days. Though there have been some recent complaints about the Aurea spa getting too busy, we went in the mornings and it was perfectly fine then. We also enjoyed the specialty dining, though if you want a really good table at Butcher´s Cut you need to book an early time, ie as soon as they open at 18.30. They don´t do reservations for specific tables even for YC but operate on a first come first serve, and if you end up with a table outside in the Galeria, it may feel much too noisy & busy.

We are in our 60s too and have done several cruises with MSC, starting with Suez-repos on Orchestra and Musica, a TA on Divina, another Suez-repo in YC on Bellissima, a shoulder season Med cruise on Seaview in YC, and most recently a b2b shoulder season Med cruise on World Europa (non-YC). We have also cruised with RCI, Celebrity, HAL, NCL, Princess, Cunard, Azamara, and Viking. Generally, I would say that on MSC you have to accept a fair amount of crowding and at least occasional chaos. One thing to keep in mind is that MSC has more cabins & guests per available space than some of the more "upmarket" lines, which will inevitably result in a more crowded feel. On top of that, the YC takes up a considerable chunk of the front of the ship that is inaccessible for non-YC guests. Of the MSC ships we´ve cruised with, World Europa has the Galeria concept, so most of the bars & lounges are concentrated in and around this area which means lots of people sharing the same space in the evenings. It is for instance a bit difficult to find a quiet lounge for a pre- or post-dinner drink, and as the front is fully occupied by YC, there is nothing like an observation lounge in the front for non-YC. Still, our impression is that MSC is steadily improving, though "crowd control" is perhaps not their strong point. RCI, as an example, handles this issue much better on their mega-ships, with the different "neighborhoods" which results in people not all gathering at the same time in the same place for the evening entertainment and main events.

We had suitcases also that we handed in the night before. As we had been given stickers for the earliest debark time, I went down to reception to ask to have them changed to later. This is when I was told that there was no need to change the stickers, but that we could stay onboard until the last group indicated in the debark-info was to get off. This last group consisted of guests who had purchased an MSC transport to various parts of Spain, and the time given for them was 3 pm. I don´t know if this was a one-off or something they do on every cruise. However, as they don´t have to clear the ship before the new guests are allowed onboard (like for instance on the US-based cruises), there was no great issue with getting people to leave the ship as soon as possible. If I remember correctly, the carry-on storage was in one of the lounges, but we didn´t use it as we kept our things with us (nothing wrong with the storage, but we didn´t feel we needed it). I cannot say if they would agree to store large suitcases too. We debarked around noon and our suitcases were still fine though they had been sitting in the luggage hall for several hours.

We disembarked MSC World Europa a few days ago in Barcelona. As this cruise operated as a "hop on hop off", where guests embarked and debarked in almost every port, we were actually allowed to stay onboard until 3 pm. Cabins should be empty by 8 am, but they offered storage of carryons until something like 11.30.

I would add the aft cabins on deck 15, below the Piazza del Campo -area on 16, to the "strong avoids". There are late-night parties on the Piazza and also lots of noisy daytime activities. Otherwise Toscana is a beautiful ship, and we found esp. the terraced balcony cabins absolutely wonderful. Can´t comment on suites & suite perks, but have heard good reviews of the Bellavista suite restaurant.

I don´t know if this will be helpful to your son, but I believe that major cruise lines do have effective protocols in place for situations like terrorist- or pirate attacks, even though the guests are not normally made aware of it in the usual safety drills: Some 15 years ago my DH & I were on Azamara Journey (a smallish ship carrying only some 600 pax) when we had a suspected pirate attack in the waters off Oman. In those days, pirate attacks were a fairly frequent issue in the Red Sea. What happened was that, on a beautiful and calm day, when we were enjoying the sun on the upper deck, we were approached by several small skiffs. Azamara fired a warning shot and my husband went to the railing to see what was going on. He shouted to me to come and look, because below us on the outside extension of the bridge, a security guard in a bulletproof vest and carrying a machine gun had suddenly appeared. Then came an announcement from the captain, ordering everyone to immediately go inside and sit in the corridors, and "this is not a drill!". We did as we were told, and sat inside on the floors and in the staircases until the situation had passed. Everyone remained surprisingly calm. We were never told exactly how the suspected attack was thwarted, but it became obvious that the cruise ships do employ specially trained and heavily armed security personnel if there is any risk of the ship being targeted. It was also explained to us that Azamara due to being fairly small could be seen as a possible target as the freeboards are low enough to be reachable with grappling hooks. Larger ships do not have this issue. This incident has not put us off cruising, we are currently on a cruise in the Med and scheduled to continue onwards through the Suez to Dubai in a couple of weeks - though there is, of course, a real risk of this cruise now being canceled last-minute.

I agree that the info is difficult to find, and even if the itinerary says "tender" it´s unfortunately no guarantee that the tendering will be at Patong. Generally for instance RCI Spectrum OTS indeed tenders at Patong during high season, but we did HAL Westerdam in Feb 23 and for some reason, they actually did the tendering off Cape Panwa. We opted to stay onboard, but those who went ashore reported back that the tendering was very uncomfortable indeed due to high swells and the long distance to get to the pier. There may of course have been an acceptable reason for this arrangement, for instance that Patong cannot handle more than one shipload of guests on any given day.

In Spain, you can buy very good wine at a reasonable price in any supermarket. Mercadona, Carrefour, and El Corte Inglés, to name a few, should all have extensive selections ranging from basic table wine to premium.

Ship rules aside, packing your own drinks & snacks for the day might sometimes be a good idea if you plan to visit some of the major tourist attractions around the Med. The local cuisine in France and Italy is amazing for sure, but finding a good restaurant close to the most popular sights can be a real challenge. Locals do not necessarily frequent these eateries very much, and so they can be very overpriced and not that good as they cater mostly to tourists.

Here are the official regulations: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/carry/meat-dairy-animal/index_en.htm Taking food ashore should be okay. I can´t remember having ever encountered a customs check of any kind during a Mediterranean cruise that remains within the EU, nor do they check your bags when exiting the ship.

In Hambantota, I would recommend the Bundala national park for wildlife spotting. It´s less crowded and more easily accessible than the more famous Yala national park. You are guaranteed to spot a lot of wild elephants, and the scenery is quite nice. Frankly, I do not know why they recommend Sri Lanka as a beach destination because the beaches, though nice enough, are not comparable to those in the Caribbean or in some other Southeast Asian destinations. The hill country and the tea plantations are very beautiful though, and the tea you get to taste & buy if you visit the plantations is usually extremely good. If Silversea offers a train excursion from Colombo to Kandy and the hill country, I would suggest you do it instead of spending time in Colombo which is a very hectic city with lots of traffic. Colombo has some nice heritage sights like Galle Face with its surroundings, but getting around the town can be a hassle and you will inevitably spend a lot of time in traffic. If you have a chance to visit Nuwara Eliya, it's very beautiful too with some spectacular waterfalls. Though the distances in Sri Lanka may look short on a map, the road system is not very well developed and the traffic can be very hectic indeed, so travel by car or bus takes a lot of time. Going by train is much better and more comfortable, and the scenery is lovely too.

As for Costa Toscana, they do have a section of the L'Argentario restaurant reserved for gold & platinum. The menu is the same as in the "ordinary" mdr, but I would say that the atmosphere is nicer and quieter. You will for instance get a table for 2 automatically if you want, and the tables are set with enough space between them to be private if you don´t want to socialize with other guests. There is a completely separate restaurant (Bellavista on Toscana) for suites, and it is also in theory for gold & platinum, but "subject to availability". This restaurant has a separate kitchen and menu from the mdr. You have to make the request to dine there at the time of booking if you want to get in on the loyalty club basis. We have now done 2 b2b:s on the 7 day Dubai-circuit, and are currently on the repositioning Suez-cruise back to the Med. We have asked the maitre d´:s if we would have any chance to get into Bellavista as we have gold status, but it seems impossible as there is in reality rarely any availability. Acc. to the maitre d':s you need to be platinum to have any chance of getting a table.

Yes, we bought sparkling/mineral water too.

My DH & I did this some years ago. We rented a car with Europacar at the airport, toured Tuscany etc for a week and dropped it off in Civi the day of our cruise. The Europacar offices are located within reasonable walking distance from where the shuttle buses to the ships stop. It all worked fine and driving in the outskirts of Rome was no problem. I would not want to drive in the city center though, and our local friends told us they avoid it too if they can help it. If you plan to drive a van , it´s worth noting that the streets in the small historical towns are very narrow indeed and driving & parking a large vehicle might be stressful.

The requirements are listed here: https://www.ica.gov.sg/enter-transit-depart/entering-singapore As far as I understand, the insurance is required only of those who are not considered fully vaccinated. It says If you can meet the COVID-19 requirements above, you may skip to the General Entry Requirements. If not, you must fulfil the additional COVID-19 requirements listed below. "Requirements above" refers to a list of vaccines & number of doses etc. The "additional requirements listed below" then mentions the insurance - ie, if you are fully vaccinated (as per Singapore definition), you can skip the part that mentions insurance.

In the southern coastal regions, ie where the port stops are (unless you do Norway), the weather in early-to-mid August normally is as good as it gets during the summer months in any particular year. Though always unpredictable, you generally have a better chance of sunny days and calm seas in August than in for instance June in my experience (and I have lived my whole life in these parts).

In May 2023 Azamara, Oceania and Tui / Mein Schiff are doing their repos back to Europe via Dubai. In March 23, Oceania Nautica does 10 nts to Hong Kong, and Mein Schiff 5 a 14 nt roundtrip with stops in Vietnam. In April, Cunard Queen Elizabeth goes from Singapore to Japan. Seabourn, Silversea and Phoenix also have longer itineraries starting from Singapore.

I agree that the response is unsatisfactory and comes across as condescending, esp. the part about "a cruise ship being a moving hotel" etc. Other lines and ships, as for instance RCI:s Vision OTS which is a decade older, do not (we sailed on her the week before our 1st leg of our current Epic-cruise) show the obvious signs of neglect that can be observed on Epic. Still, your complaints may have had some effects that are not reflected in the letter. The other day in the spa, they did do a kind of inspection where the spa-lady and a person from engineering went through some of the defects. We were in the pool at that time and pointed out the leak in the water spout. The spa-lady noted it and said it will be welded the next time the pool is emptied for cleaning.

For clothes, toiletries, flipflops etc I would go to "El Corte Inglés". It may not be the cheapest but you will find everything conveniently under one roof. It is actually the biggest department store group in Europe (acc. to Wikipedia). In Barcelona there is one located at Placa de Catalunya.

The H2O-area looks fine to me, but it is my first time on Epic so I have nothing to compare with. Up around the sports-court there are still some yellowish stains on the white paint, but no big deal imo. As noted in another thread, the shops are now closed for renovation, they announced it during the last days of our previous leg. There are currently only some 2100 guests onboard so it makes sense to do it now, presumably in preparation for the coming US-season.

We are currently on Epic, Nov 3 sailing, the 2nd leg of a b2b for us. H2O is now open, I just now this morning checked it out for the first time since coming onboard.

As I stated before, my DH & I are also currently on Epic. I totally agree with your assessment re deck 15. We have an aft-balcony on deck 13 and therefore pass through the "desolated" aft-area of the pool-deck daily, and it is indeed not very nice. As mentioned before, another area that needs urgent attention is the thermal spa, though, as I have also said, my DH and myself otherwise find the spa to be very nice indeed. (Btw, and in case anyone from NCL pays attention to this thread, one of the main water-sprouts in the middle of the spa-pool now has a leak. It has obviously been fixed before, but now the welding-seam is leaking water and the fixture is coming loose...) For my part I also agree with OP:s criticisms, and Epic should imo not be marketed as "fully refurbished" as it very obviously is no such thing. However, I also have to say that our cruise has so far been very enjoyable, and the issues mentioned have had no major impact on our general positive experience. The service is mostly very good, and the food in the MDRs is imo comparable to the suite-restaurant on RCI:s Wonder and the MDRs on Celebrity Beyond (we sailed with both in the weeks before our current cruise). But the fact remains that there are some easily fixed maintenance-issues on Epic that need urgent attention, to assure continued customer satisfaction and avoid unnecessary complaints.

Here is the video where, starting at 2:10 min, it is explained that the refurb was eventually limited only to Haven, due to change of plans because of Covid etc. The video-guy also points out that the rest of the ship is indeed in need of a makeover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnWL47HCB24