NCteacherlovescruising

My husband agrees with Malta! He thinks we would both love it! I know you are really into history. I enjoy it, but wouldn’t want to spend my whole vacation focusing on it. I’m more into the quaint villages, beautiful scenery and shopping for things I can’t easily find at home. Now while we’re in Rome, I for sure want to focus on all the beautiful architecture and history. We’ve never been to Europe. However, we will most likely spend time in Tuscany and Venice post cruise if we don’t keep the cruise with Livorno. Thanks for your input!

Their port times are fairly standard, looks like 8-11 hours each, depending on the port. We would lose the overnight in Livorno but could do it by land after. I like the itinerary slightly better out of Naples because it goes to Malta, which would be really cool. It's also on a bigger ship, the World Europa. The one out of Rome, the Seaview, goes to Palma De Mallorca instead. The one from Rome goes to Cannes, instead of Marseille, and La Spezia instead of Messina. So many decisions!!! Rome may be the easiest with the direct flight. And I mistyped earlier, the Celebrity cruise changed La Spezia to Livorno. Ideally, if we do the Rome to Rome, we could head to Florence from Rome, then to Venice. And perhaps a day trip to Naples pre-cruise. I know this seems premature, but I'm sure it's obvious I'm very indecisive by nature and want to have a plan if we decide to do this while onboard because I won't want to waste my time doing it on the cruise.

I like your idea! lol However, we are in our mid (me) and upper (dh) 50's so trying to pay everything off so we can retire comfortably in a few years. In case we never get back, I am trying desperately to make the most of next summer! We are sailing with MSC in 10 short days in their yacht club. If we like it as much as we think we will, we are seriously thinking about canceling our X cruise for next summer and booking with them again. The savings is substantial, which would free up a lot of money to visit places by land pre and post cruise. For instance, if we sail out of Naples, I think we would visit the Amalfi Coast a day or two pre-cruise, then Rome, Florence and/or Venice post cruise. If we cruise out of Rome, we would go there early, and then go to Florence and Venice post cruise. DH is all amount jumping ship to save money! The cruise is only 7 days vs 9, but you see more on land than via a cruise port. And it's still cheaper per day and we're pricing veranda suites on both. Plus the Equinox doesn't have a pool on the retreat deck and the MSC ships do. Oh,and I want to see it all!!! Which is prettier?

Malta or Palma De Mallorca? Cannes or Marseille? La Spezia or Livorno? And why?

Malta or Palma De Mallorca? Cannes or Marseille? La Spezia or Livorno? And why?

Malta or Palma De Mallorca? Cannes or Marseille? La Spezia or Livorno? And why?

We have been on several Carnival cruises and always had a great time. We started with them so we didn't know any difference. I do like others better, but would sail with Carnival for the right price. Problem is, when we price them it seems like for a little more we can go with Celebrity which is much nicer. But now I see we can book the yacht club for the price of a veranda in Concierge or Aqua class. We're super excited to try MSC in 10 days!

A nightmare? Is it really that bad? We will be in the YC, but is it that different, than Carnival? With the exception of Guys Burgers.

I keep meaning to ask, why the POOP 💩 deck?

That’s unfortunate! Now I’m curious if they have the YC tents at other ports. One of the cruises we’re looking at is the Europa out of Naples. One of the YC benefits is starting with the white tent. Where did you embark? Was there a white YC tent outside? Oops 🙊 If I’m in the YC, I don’t care about what’s going on outside of there besides the entertainment. I’m sure we will spend the majority of our time with the YC. We love Celebrity too! We currently have them booked for the mediterranean next June to celebrate our 30th anniversary. We will be on our first MSC cruise a week from Sunday. We’re super excited after reading all the wonderful reviews of their YC! We love the itinerary with X, but it’s on the Equinox, which doesn’t have a pool on the retreat deck. We picked it because of the overnight in Florence. However, I love to lay out by the pool and read so that’s a big negative. I know mediterranean cruises are about itinerary, but it’s a 9 day cruise with 2 sea days. But back to your comment about liking Celebrity’s pools better, in this case MSC would win. We have prices out some YC cruises for the same time next June and would save a nice chunk of money if we switched, although the cruises are two less days. However, that would give us more time and money to really explore Italy by land. I’m hoping we can spend a couple weeks total there.

I never tire of watching these videos! 🤣

I keep hearing how amazing Malta is!

If Non-yacht club guests hop in with you, does this give them YC access or so you still need to scan your card to enter the YC area after you exit the elevator?

Thanks for all the information!! We are planning on spending 2-3 days in Rome and also visiting some or all of the following while we’re there: Florence, the Amalfi Coast and Venice.

The Oasis of the Seas was my favorite ship!

Day 1 Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy To 07:00 PM Day 2 Day At Sea Day 3 Palma De Mallorca (Baleari Is.), Spain From 09:00 AM To 11:00 PM Day 4 Barcelona, Spain From 08:00 AM To 05:00 PM Day 5 Cannes (Côte D'Azur), France From 08:30 AM To 05:30 PM Day 6 Genoa (Portofino), Italy From 07:00 AM To 06:00 PM Day 7 La Spezia (Cinque Terre), Italy From 07:00 AM To 06:00 PM Day 8 Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy Day 1 Naples (Pompeii), Italy To 08:00 PM Day 2 Messina (Taormina), Italy From 09:00 AM To 07:00 PM Day 3 La Valletta, Malta From 08:00 AM To 05:00 PM Day 4 Day At Sea Day 5 Barcelona, Spain From 09:00 AM To 06:00 PM Day 6 Marseille (Provence), France From 07:00 AM To 06:00 PM Day 7 Genoa (Portofino), Italy From 08:00 AM To 04:00 PM Day 8 Naples (Pompeii), Italy The port times looks ok to me.

You’re correct. I had to click on maps instead of itinerary. Thanks! The port times are fairly standard. 8-11 hours, . Celebrity does has one overnight, which would be cool.

So you enjoyed shows that were in a different language? They were cutting in line? I can’t imagine that being on in any culture. I teach some Ukrainian students and they seem very sweet. Someone from guest services should have directed the lady that cut to the back of the line. It’s only $200, so not a factor since we would be saving so much. Not as much as it first appears once we deduct all the OBC we have with X and it’s 2 days longer. But those are two days we can spend on land not worrying about getting back to a ship on time. And my husband thinks I would love Malta.

While 3 could be absolutely amazing, I would be way too intimidated on our first trip to so that. Why wouldn’t I like European’s? I assume this means on MSC the shows wouldn’t be in English so I wouldn’t understand anything. I hadn’t thought about that.

If we don’t switch to MSC, we’ll keep our Celebrity cruise. I’ve been so excited since the day we booked it! Since booking our upcoming cruise with them I’ve found their yacht club passengers love them. I figured if we love the YC too, why not save the money and book while onboard.

It’a frustrating that their website doesn’t list port times.

That’s an excellent point! Looks like I should strike that one from our list. So the one from Rome, which would be a great place to spend a few days and very convenient to get other places we’d like to visit pre or post cruise. Or Naples, which would be convenient to Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and Rome. Is the Europa superior to the Seaview or just newer and different?

We are waiting until we cruise but want to have something picked out in case we decide to jump ship.

I understand that. It seems like it would be a lot of extra work for MSC as far as keeping it straight which rooms are available when. I asked the guy doing the Live from Europa about port times.

How long is the ship staying in the various ports? I’m looking at booking at it just says “till” 7 PM or till 8 PM.