European ports of Call

[TheGuv316]

I have booked a 5 day cruise on the Virtousa on the 5th Nov from Lisbon calling at Barca and Marseille before leaving Genoa, 

 

Do I have to take the ships onboard excursions or are we free to wander off on our own as usual ? 

 

thanks 

[LeCommandant]

At the moment, you cannot go outside completely free. Some people reported that it was possible for Adriatic cruises, but at the moment not for Mediterranean. MSC call that "Serenity Bubble", which means that you will have to buy an official excursion to go outside the ship. Normally, you will get some free time during the excursion to roam freely in the cities. 

[Beamafar]

We’ll be on Seashore a couple of weeks beforehand.  If the situation changes I’ll post an update.  

[Cruise Guy76]

I recently saw that for Mediterranean Cruises (maybe others as well) that you now need an RT-PCR test taken within 3 days of departure - any idea how MSC is counting days? My cruise leaves from Barcelona on a Sunday, I'm flying from Miami on a Friday night (arrives Saturday morning in Barcelona). I was thinking to get the test in the US on Thursday? Thoughts?

[Native Floridian 26]

41 minutes ago, Cruise Guy76 said:

I recently saw that for Mediterranean Cruises (maybe others as well) that you now need an RT-PCR test taken within 3 days of departure - any idea how MSC is counting days? My cruise leaves from Barcelona on a Sunday, I'm flying from Miami on a Friday night (arrives Saturday morning in Barcelona). I was thinking to get the test in the US on Thursday? Thoughts?

3 days before = Thursday, Friday or Saturday for Sunday sailing.

[Huntingdon1701]

Be careful with timing. US wording may be different but in UK it's 72 hours before embarkation. I've got a 5pm boarding time so can't get tested until past that point in the day.