Just off the Grandiosa... any questions?

[MissLianne]

First MSC Cruise... won't be the last.

 

Some background:

FIRST MSC Cruise. Sailed with my husband (both of us in our 30s)

Have sailed on NCL, Carnival in recent years. Royal Caribbean is my go-to (8 cruises in the last 10 years). Just recently sailed on the Navigator of the Seas 3 weeks ago. I was born in Italy but live in Canada and MSC is a favourite for my family so have always been willing to give them a try. 

 

Like many of you, my plans were also effected by the outbreak of Coronavirus. We were originally supposed to go to Sicily on March 1st to visit with family. As the coronavirus outbreak in the North escalated that week my family in Sicily urged me to stay away from Sicily as there were whispers that Siciliy would impose a similar 'lockdown' to that in the north if the situation worsened. We are currently living in Rome for the next 3 months as my husband is also here on business and could not take the risk to get stuck in Sicily. I woke up on Thursday morning to my husband announcing he had booked us on the MSC Grandiosa! I was a bit hesitant as well given the quarantines with Princess Cruiselines but for some reason my husband was enthusiastic that we would have no issue. Never in my life have a booked a cruise so last minute without 0 research on CC. 

 

Cruise: March 1st 2020 - March 8th 2020 

 

Any questions please ask.  

Will post my opinions/review shortly. 

 

 

[mattcruise615]

Many thanks for your post!  I was wondering if you could share with us info about the health examination during boarding?

We are nervous that if one of us by chance has a slight fever or cough, we will be denied boarding and not offered any compensation. 

[MissLianne]

17 minutes ago, mattcruise615 said:

Many thanks for your post!  I was wondering if you could share with us info about the health examination during boarding?

We are nervous that if one of us by chance has a slight fever or cough, we will be denied boarding and not offered any compensation. 

 

Happy to help! 

 

Just a few key things I witnessed that are notable...

1. When we embarked in Civitavecchia we were asked and had to sign a form we had not been to China and I believe a few other areas including Hong Kong and Iran. We both have an Italian Citizenship card and a Canadian Passport that we tend to keep stored together. There was a pretty extensive list that day if we had visited certain northern cities/provinces of Italy (which we had not). We then had to sign a form. 

 

2. They extensively looked through our Canadian Passports. We have 10 yr passports with a ton of stamps and they scrutinized certain stamps for places like Milan (some that were several years old). They went through EVERY page of our passport to ensure where we've been. 

 

3. The ship was immaculate and the staff were constantly wiping tables - clearing away dishes - dumping ashtrays (husband smokes). This being my first time on MSC I was impressed with that aspect.

 

4. They had sand sanitizer stations everywhere... and also staff standing there offering a spray of sanitizer. Really nice set up of sink area outside of the buffet too. 

4b. Also (don't know if this is common practice with MSC) but you could not access the breads/baked goods yourself at the buffet. Everything was sealed off with saran wrap and you were served based on which bread or bakery good you wanted. 

4c. I also saw them enforcing that people were not allowed to use their own cups at the buffet or at any of the bars (you were given new glasses each time). 

 

5. Our temperature was taken upon initial boarding the cruise AND each and every day. There was def ports where our temperature was taken when we departed the ship for the day and they were vigilant with temperature checks each day when we returned from port. 

 

Just to be extra cautious:

I brought a bunch of hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes (where I did a quick wipe down of the cabin) and a huge stash of over the counter medication as well as a thermometer. I also have been keeping up taking Vitamin C a lot lately. My husband throught that fact I had a Farmacia in a zip lock bag stored on the shelf would make someone suspicious - but it was fine. Didn't need them but I like to be prepared. 

[mmt44]

Grandisosa still moored in Barcelona.  Supposed to have sailed for Marseilles this evening.

 

https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=9803613

[sidari]

Port is due to close at midnight.

[mmt44]

4 hours ago, sidari said:

Port is due to close at midnight.

 

Ship has left port heading direction of Marseilles.