MSC World Europa June 9, 2023

[Jordanp77]

Family of 4 from Florida super excited for our first European cruise!  A bit concerned about some of the reviews - given it's our first MSC ship experience, but hopefully it's just the complainers outweighing the positive reviewers.  Seems like a beautiful new ship with plenty to do for the family, and lots of fun ports.  Thoughts on booking excursions with the cruise line or on your own?  

[B_A_H]

A couple of comments.  You don't talk about your cruise experience so it's hard to know what to share in terms of MSC's uniqueness in general.  They are a European cruise line and even on their ships sailing from the U.S. do things differently.  You can go through some "my first time on MSC threads" to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

 

MSC's European cruises can almost be equated to ferries.  Each port you'll visit is also an embarkation/disembarkation point for passengers.  So there's no traditional beginning and end to the cruise and the people you're sailing with will change with each new port.

 

The World Europa has been in the Middle East up until this week.  It's a very different market and the reviews have been few with many people pointing out the large number of Russian passengers aren't the greatest in terms of fellow sailors. 

 

I have a lot of MSC experience and am sailing on the World Europa on 5/12.  I'm hoping once it finds its rhythm on its home turf things will be better than the reviews I've read.   Provisioning seemed to be a problem in the Middle East with lots of things out of stock and causing some food choice and quality issues.  

 

The ship itself is a huge departure from MSC's previous ships.  From what I've seen and read it's a beautiful ship.  I guess we'll know soon how well the new design works on MSC's more traditional European circle routes.  

 

 

[Jordanp77]

Thanks for the feedback.  All good points and it will be interesting to see more reviews as the ship begins its Europe itineraries.  This will be my 9th overall cruise, my wife has been on double that, and our kids have been on 4-5 cruises. With your MSC Cruise experience (potentially many Europe cruises), do you typically book shore excursions with the cruise line or on your own?  

[Guest Cable3232]

There are a few reviews from UK cruises on YouTube that are or have been on Europa.

From what I have seen MSC just took some of what is working on other lines/ships and put it on Europa.

 

I would be cautious with excursions in the Med as there are normally packed and rushed. Never been/seen a Caribbean excussion so can't compare.

Best just to wonder around yourself (there is always something to see that is atleast 2,000 years old OR something to eat OR to see) or find a more private tour (but $$$).

 

As for the MSC is a taxi service, it is the best way to maintain a full ship and have flexible options for cruises. Least MSC knows how to get people on and off a ship. Practice makes perfect and all that.

 

Hope you have a good cruise and enjoy soaking up those Med vibes.

[Nunagoras]

11 hours ago, Jordanp77 said:

Family of 4 from Florida super excited for our first European cruise!  A bit concerned about some of the reviews - given it's our first MSC ship experience, but hopefully it's just the complainers outweighing the positive reviewers.  Seems like a beautiful new ship with plenty to do for the family, and lots of fun ports.  Thoughts on booking excursions with the cruise line or on your own?  

Excursions may depend on your confidence level on a place where you're for the first time, and a bit for from you're embarking from.

 

I'd assume, you're embarking in Barcelona once it has the best international flight connection of all the possible embarkation ports. Let us to see what I know for at least some of the ports I visited myself:

 

Barcelona - Easy on your own once the ship docks rightly on the city. There is an inexpensive port bus to Christopher Columbus square, plenty of taxis there (from port to hotel or port to airport it's a fixed EUR 40 rate, from elsewhere to the port it is metered), or if you're just for a day you can use the HOHO straight away from your terminal. If you want to visit La Sagrada Família Church, please book online in advance, once they're doing a time slot visit scheme right now.

 

Marseille - The ship docks in an industrial cargo dock far away from the main city. The easiest way to do it is either a cruise line shore excursion or to use the cruise line's shuttle service to the marina on center city and there to use the HOHO or the little train to the Cathedral which a must to see. Taxis might to be very expensive due to the distance and aren't as plentiful as in other places.

 

Genoa - The easiest on your own of all the ports I have already visited. You dock at the center of the city and the cruise terminal itself is an old palace that is one of the city's landmarks by itself. There are HOHO and such, but with a map on hand you can likely to do the city on foot at a zero cost.

 

I've never visited Messina or Valletta myself. Others may to chime in on those.

 

As far as the cruise experience, and against what is usual on the Caribbean, here in Europe you'll have mostly long days on shore and you'll just likely to have only one day at sea. You'll have lots of Italians and Spanish people on your cruise, and will be on the ship mostly to sleep, breakfast, dinner and any nightlife if you so desire. There are some things that may be different. Go with the flaw, and I think you'll have a great time. MSC is becoming each time more global by the day, despite their long learning curve with the US market.

 

Have a nice day!...

[mnpurple]

We were on Seaview last May and it was wonderful! We didn't book any excursions through the ship. If you look on the port of call board, you can find a lot of information on things to do. We did a few on our own and a few I booked privately. I'm not sure what your stops are, so not sure what to comment on. I also can't comment on World Europa, but will say that our cruise was very port intensive, so we really didn't have a ton of time on the ship.

[Jordanp77]

Thank you all for the valuable tips.  I'll take a look at the port of call board.  Still fairly new to this site. Ports of call are Marseille, Genoa, Naples, Messina, and Valletta. We have some ideas - including trip to Portofino (Genoa), and lagoon in Comino (Valletta). We're curious in other's opinions on how safe we need to be when it comes to excursions like those that involve some travels to the destination - in terms of going with cruise line excursion products or booking on our own and making it back to ship in time.

[FlaMommy75]

We are also from Florida and took our first MSC cruise in Europe on the Meraviglia back in 2019. As another poster mentioned, it is VERY different from our normal Caribbean cruise with every port being a debarkation/embarkation spot. We also went in early March when the majority of cruisers were nonAmericans (they said less than 5%) which was super interesting, especially for my teens in the kids camp. 😂

 I am a DIY girl so we did not buy any MSC excursions.  I remember  Marseille, Genoa, and Valletta being very walkable.  We absolutely loved Malta! The sail into the port is not to be missed. We also went to Barcelona, Palermo, and Rome(where we stayed pre/post cruise).

All of our ports we walked off and either got a taxi to our destination or we hopped on a HOHO bus (hop on/hop off bus). We loved that option because they give you headphones and you could choose your language. In Marseille we had a taxi driver drive us up to Notre Dame and other local sights.

*Also, in terms of safety, it was a non-issue. We always felt safe and even when we were lost (which was often) someone always spoke English and was kind enough to point in the right direction. Felt way safer than most the Caribbean ports we frequent. 🙂

Hope this helps 🙂

Edited April 13, 2023 by FlaMommy75