MSC World Europa Nov. 17 - Nov. 24

[Tierun]

This was our first journey to Europe and it was a great experience. We were a group of 6 in 3 cabins, all Aurea experience. 1 balcony and 2 infinite ocean views. 
 

Itinerary:

11/17 Barcelona 

11/18 Marseille 

11/19 Genoa

11/20 Civitavecchia

11/21 Palermo

11/22 Valletta

11/23 At Sea

11/24 Barcelona t

 

Pre embarkation started with a flight on American from JFK to BCN on the 15th. Due to traffic and parking hassles we missed the required time to check luggage by a few minutes. Not the end of the world, codeshare partner Iberia had a nonstop leaving 4 hours later. What we didn’t know was that the flight was actually on Level, Iberia’s low cost subsidiary. This was basically Spirit Airlines for 7.5 hours. Not a great experience, but it got us there. We spent the 16th exploring Barcelona and enjoyed 2 pitchers of Cava sangria.

 

Embarking was a breeze and a far cry from the process in North America. Since passengers don’t all embark at once, it was a more relaxed atmosphere. We arrived at noon and were onboard in just a matter of minutes. I was pleasantly surprised by this and similarly impressed with the muster process. 2 of the biggest pain points of embarking in the states were nonissues in the Med.

 

The ship was beautiful. It was fully booked, but didn’t feel cramped. The Seaside class is still my favorite for MSC. The deck 8 outdoor spaces are great ocean views, whereas here the deck 8 outdoor space faced inward. The weather was mostly 50s and 60s so not much outside fun. 
 

I have lots of notes and will post each day’s report separately.

[Greygooser]

Glad you enjoyed it. I'm on the Europa in a few weeks (leaving from Rome), looking forward to your thoughts!

[Tierun]

Day 2 Marseille 

 

MSC offers a bus into what was said to be the old port area for €17. We had previously purchased the Marseille city pass online for €29 which included admission to some museums, public transit access and a few other tourist attractions. The city needed to be picked at the tourism office. The bus from the port dropped us off closer to the MUCEM which was then a 20 minute walk to get to the tourism office. There we claimed our city pass and ventured out for food. We had some great croissants from a cafe and lunch at a Turkish restaurant. From there we walked around the old port area and took in the sites of the waterfront before heading on a bus back to the mucem. We toured the mucem which was a real work of art in itself. From the we ventured to the St. Jean fort, and then walked over to the beautiful Cathedral La Major. This now put us close to the bus pick up location and we could see the long line of people returning to the ship. So we got in line to return to the ship. Now onboard at the World Promenade is the Lanai Bar. It a whiskey/ cigar bar where you could purchase cigars to smoke. This quickly became our go to spot. Marco and Suray were great with the bar service. Also the Dolce Vita bar was a hit with William providing his own variation of an espresso martini which was an off menu request. We dined in the MDR this night and the meal was average. After many drinks we finished the night with pizza in the buffet. As far as entertainment, Singer Christina Rogers put on an Adele show in the Panorama lounge that was outstanding. She became Adele that night. She also did a show in the main theater called Divas that we sadly missed.