Live from the MSC World Europa, June 9th from Barcelona

[Nikodemos]

19 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I don't remember if you have mentioned it but did you get a printed newspaper and if yes, did you have to ask for it?

Yes, we got a choice of newspapers in several languages.  The selection was part of the pre-cruise questionnaire which includes the pillow type, mini-bar alcohol and newspaper.

[sverigecruiser]

44 minutes ago, Nikodemos said:

Yes, we got a choice of newspapers in several languages.  The selection was part of the pre-cruise questionnaire which includes the pillow type, mini-bar alcohol and newspaper.

 

When, and how, did you get that pre-cruise questionnaire?

[Rumtreiber10]

Hello,

We are going on World Europa next April. Right now I'm trying to book a flight back to KC but I only see noon or 2pm flights. How fast is it getting off the ship on disembarkation day? Would / could I make that noon flight? 

 

[Nikodemos]

If they arrive at the schedu

40 minutes ago, Rumtreiber10 said:

Hello,

We are going on World Europa next April. Right now I'm trying to book a flight back to KC but I only see noon or 2pm flights. How fast is it getting off the ship on disembarkation day? Would / could I make that noon flight? 

 

If they arrive on schedule (8am), and you get off the ship with all your luggage yourself, then there should be no issue making a 2pm flight.  We were off the ship and got to our hotel by 9am.

[Nikodemos]

10 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

When, and how, did you get that pre-cruise questionnaire?

We got a "Personalize your MSC Yacht Club experience" email five days before the cruise embarkation.

[Rumtreiber10]

1 hour ago, Nikodemos said:

If they arrive at the schedu

If they arrive on schedule (8am), and you get off the ship with all your luggage yourself, then there should be no issue making a 2pm flight.  We were off the ship and got to our hotel by 9am.

Thank you! This helped me a lot!

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, Nikodemos said:

We got a "Personalize your MSC Yacht Club experience" email five days before the cruise embarkation.

 

Thanks.

 

I hope we will get that too.

 

[Dickuk]

14 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Thanks.

 

I hope we will get that too.

 

Don't worry if you don't get the pre cruise questionnaire, we didn't this time. 

Just ask your butler once on board, he will sort out your printed paper and a bottle of drink of your choice from a list, Eg gin, rum, etc. 

[ConnieTact]

On 6/15/2023 at 4:40 PM, Nikodemos said:

So I discovered there is 'Elegant Tea Service' in the Top Sail Lounge between 4pm-5pm.  However, it's only done on sea days.  I think they had discontinued it on other days because people were not taking advantage of it.  I went up to the lounge at 4:20pm and no one was having tea even though they had tables with tea cups set out.

That’s great news. I’ll be the one sitting having this! 😅☕️🫖

[Dickuk]

Panarama lounge has had technical issues last two nights and no shows, hoping they fix soon as its a great venue. 

[Nunagoras]

On 6/19/2023 at 2:42 PM, Rumtreiber10 said:

Hello,

We are going on World Europa next April. Right now I'm trying to book a flight back to KC but I only see noon or 2pm flights. How fast is it getting off the ship on disembarkation day? Would / could I make that noon flight? 

 

2PM is doable, mid day a little risky. Port to airport is quite an hour, but on the other hand, once it is a "domestic" EU zone cruise you'll only go through immigration at the airport. Exiting at say 8:30 you'll be at the airport below 10, then check-in, immigration, security and the likes. OK.

[Nunagoras]

Congrats to the wonderful review!...

 

Can you remember where they had piano music for regular passengers? I've read elsewhere they had it at Raj Polo during the UAE time, is it still there, or elsewhere? And what about TSL for YC, what kind of music did they have there?

 

Many thanks!...

[Nikodemos]

17 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

Congrats to the wonderful review!...

 

Can you remember where they had piano music for regular passengers? I've read elsewhere they had it at Raj Polo during the UAE time, is it still there, or elsewhere? And what about TSL for YC, what kind of music did they have there?

 

Many thanks!...

We had primarily soft guitar and singing in the TSL around 6p-7:30pm on our cruise, although they do have a piano there.  Our visits to Raj Polo didn't correspond with music.  One evening they had a really good guitarist who sang in Master of the Seas (with open balcony to The Gin Project upstairs).  We didn't align our visits to the other venues that had music on this cruise.

[Mujiber]

Thanks for the thorough review Nikodemos. Did you get to try out the Thermal area?  Any impressions about it?  I'm not in YC, but will be sailing on the World Europa soon, so wondering if it's worth paying for the cruise pass to the Aurea Spa Thermal area..

[Nikodemos]

We had the ability to schedule the thermal area for 1 hour/day, but I never took advantage of it.  If there had been more sea days, I would have.

[Dickuk]

On 6/21/2023 at 5:59 AM, Mujiber said:

Thanks for the thorough review Nikodemos. Did you get to try out the Thermal area?  Any impressions about it?  I'm not in YC, but will be sailing on the World Europa soon, so wondering if it's worth paying for the cruise pass to the Aurea Spa Thermal area..

We just disembarked the europa, used the thermal area 3 times in our week. 

Two days were port days and it was quiet and last visit was on sea day and it was much busier. 

Plenty in there to do and very clean. 

Steam room, pool area with vertical water coming down which massages your back, two saunas both with windows overlooking the ocean, ice bucket with chain to pull to release old water over you, Ice room (real snow inside to run over your body), showers with jets, hot and cold foot pools (6) and a mediterrean room (bit like steam room but less steam) and 2 rooms with 4 heated beds in. 

 

Well worth a visit, hope this helps. 

 

If you visit the spa when you board they will show you found the areas before you commit too. 

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Dickuk

[Dickuk]

On 6/21/2023 at 12:48 AM, Nunagoras said:

Congrats to the wonderful review!...

 

Can you remember where they had piano music for regular passengers? I've read elsewhere they had it at Raj Polo during the UAE time, is it still there, or elsewhere? And what about TSL for YC, what kind of music did they have there?

 

Many thanks!...

We sat in the raj tea room a few times, really nice venue, has an inside and outside area. 

Piano played in the afternoon around 3pm when we were there. 

 

I'm YC TSL, it was mostly a duo act with two young guys, not a bad voice but music a bit dreary for me! 

One day we had a guitarist (same one as we saw in the master of the seas), he was excellent. 

There is a piano in the TSL but we didn't catch anyone playing but I'm sure they did at times. 

 

Hope this helps

[sverigecruiser]

On 6/22/2023 at 9:25 PM, Nikodemos said:

We had the ability to schedule the thermal area for 1 hour/day, but I never took advantage of it.  If there had been more sea days, I would have.

 

Are you saying that 1 hour/day is included for the YC and that it has to be scheduled? I have never heared about that before and thought that the access was unlimited.

 

We will probably not have any time to use the spa but still interesting information.

[Nikodemos]

5 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Are you saying that 1 hour/day is included for the YC and that it has to be scheduled? I have never heared about that before and thought that the access was unlimited.

 

We will probably not have any time to use the spa but still interesting information.

That's what we were told when we embarked.  We could use the thermal, but obviously it had to be scheduled due to the expected demand from the rest of the passengers. 

[sverigecruiser]

54 minutes ago, Nikodemos said:

We could use the thermal, but obviously it had to be scheduled due to the expected demand from the rest of the passengers. 

 

I understand that it's a very big ship but the thermal area should then also be bigger I think.

[Nikodemos]

Just for future reference, here was our itinerary:

[Nikodemos]

Barcelona - Sagrada Familia at Sunset

 

Sagrada Familia Stained Glass

 

Pompeii

 

Gala Night in Top Sail Lounge

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

27 minutes ago, Nikodemos said:

Just for future reference, here was our itinerary:

We’re looking at the same cruise, but getting on in Naples. 

[morpheusofthesea]

On 6/18/2023 at 7:23 AM, NCteacherlovescruising said:

On FB several people are saying the Europa YC is too crowded because they have too many YC cabins for the small space. It’s nice to hear a different opinion because we’re looking at possibly sailing on her next summer.

We are as concerned as you are about these reports. 

Here is another potential problem exacerbating the crowded situation on cruise ships. Been reading social media from those traveling in the Yacht Club on World Europa, sister ship to the new World America. It appears that the YC venues are the same square footage while the number of guests will be doubled. Perhaps we should just 'suck it up' and enjoy the "Sea".....ships because the worst is yet to come.

In addition, I have read on another cruise site the importance of a ship's 'space ratio'. Over all, not YC portion, the space ratio of the World America is 34.2. Less than 33 means crowded in areas. Greater than (>) 39 means plenty of space for each passenger. When a ship is not sailing at capacity the space ratio can be as good as 41. These details are very difficult to ascertain before one books a ship and date well in advance. We just have to go with more postings like these.

  However the space ratio is determined by taking the gross tonnage of a vessel divided by passenger capacity. World America's gross tonnage is 215,863 / 6762 passengers = 31.92 space ratio. Supposed to be 34.2 as stated above. We will just have to see.....

Edited June 24, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[NCteacherlovescruising]

17 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We are as concerned as you are about these reports. 

Here is another potential problem exacerbating the crowded situation on cruise ships. Been reading social media from those traveling in the Yacht Club on World Europa, sister ship to the new World America. It appears that the YC venues are the same square footage while the number of guests will be doubled. Perhaps we should just 'suck it up' and enjoy the "Sea".....ships because the worst is yet to come.

In addition, I have read on another cruise site the importance of a ship's 'space ratio'. Over all, not YC portion, the space ratio of the World America is 34.2. Less than 33 means crowded in areas. Greater than (>) 39 means plenty of space for each passenger. When a ship is not sailing at capacity the space ratio can be as good as 41. These details are very difficult to ascertain before one books a ship and date well in advance. We just have to go with more postings like these.

  However the space ratio is determined by taking the gross tonnage of a vessel divided by passenger capacity. World America's gross tonnage is 215,863 / 6762 passengers = 31.92 space ratio. Supposed to be 34.2 as stated above. We will just have to see.....

We had read the same which makes us hesitant. We won’t book anything until we get on the ship tomorrow and make sure we like them well enough to. 🤪