MSC Seaview REVIEW. June 22nd to June 29th from Barcelona, visiting Cannes, Genova, La Spezia, Civitavecchia and Palma.

alserrod · July 1

Excursion in Cannes

(budget 0 euros/person)

Cannes, on the French Riviera.

How is your level of French? I studied it at university, then years later I returned to it and I can say that I have not forgotten it, nor do I speak it fluently, but it helps me to get by with the information I need.

The port of Cannes reflects the economic level of the city. The port is full of not cheap yachts. We walk along the side and, upon reaching one of the corners, we turn and go towards the Le Suquet neighborhood.

These are the streets of the oldest Cannes of all. It is a narrow street full of shops and restaurants that has a bit of a slope. We are going to climb little by little to the top of the hill.

The hustle and bustle is on Carrer de Sant Antoine, Carrer de Le Suquet (they go one after the other) and on some perpendicular streets. At the end of Le Suquet there is a square where you have to turn 180º and continue going up another street but there we only have beautiful houses but no shops.

At the end of the climb we have the well-known Cannes sign, the church and some very beautiful viewpoints over the bay.

It is a site from where you can take the best images of Cannes.

After a while taking photos it is time to go down. There is a small street with many stairs (I think it was called "butcher street" if we translate it from French). It reaches almost the beginning of the Le Suquet neighborhood and we cross it perpendicularly.

From there we go to the nearby Forville market. It is undergoing renovation works. There is a program to integrate it into the surrounding plaza. Despite everything, a visit is worth it. Meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, cheeses and practically everything of very good quality. It even opens on Sunday (the MSC Seaview comes to Cannes on a Sunday). The entire group walked through the Forville market, we bought something and it was time to continue through the port.

After passing in front of the port we arrive at the Congress Palace. It is where the Cannes Film Festival takes place every year. You have the famous red carpet where you can take a photo (there is a line to take it). On the floor there are stamped hands of many actors and actresses who have captured it there.

At this moment the weather is starting to get worse. It doesn't rain (it's been threatening rain all day and we brought umbrellas) but for a while an unpleasant wind picks up. Part of the group decides to return to the ship. There were a few of us who wanted to continue towards La Croissete beach.

This is where you see all the luxury of Cannes. Just look at some of the cars, some hotels (Marriot or the famous Carlton hotel in Cannes) and several shops. It's Sunday and many of them are closed, only the shop windows are there. I don't care, I had no intention of shopping at Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Omega, or some jewelry stores. All these stores are together. There are some real estate agencies. We stopped to see their advertisements in the windows. I think the most expensive house we saw cost 35 million euros.

Upon arriving at the Carlton hotel we returned. This time we cross to the other side, the one with the beach, and we return that way. We have in front of us the whole picture of the port and the hill of Le Suquet. It is a magnificent environment.

If anyone wishes, there is a bus that runs along the beach from the headland of Palm Beach to the port in front of the boat to the ship. It happens every fifteen minutes. We did it on foot.

Upon arriving at the port we had to show our cruise card before entering the terminal, we went through the luggage scanner and got on the boat that took us back to the ship.

The budget was.... zero euros per person. We spend what we buy in a store, some ice cream and something in the market, nothing more.

Edited July 1 by alserrod

alserrod · July 1

More pictures from Cannes

Cannes ahead just when I was in the tender

Just arrived to Cannes. First pictures of the port

Going through Le Suquet quartier

As said, after first streets, other ones in old town where quite peaceful

going atop to the hill,

The famous Cannes sign and a cityscape

Back to the town, we crossed again Le Suquet

and we arrived to Forville Market

After Palais des Congres, where you can get your selfie, La Croissette

this is Marriott hotel

this is Carlton hotel

And La Croissette beach with the MSC ahead

Back to the ship, some more pictures

this one from the pier, before the tender

this one from the tender

FionaMG · July 1

@alserrod, your family sounds a lot like mine. I can absolutely imagine a similar scenario for us. That's why I much prefer when it's just DH and myself. 😂

I'm glad you all managed to meet up eventually!

alserrod · July 1

Of course it's crazy, but my parents' dream was to spend a week with all their children and grandchildren. In total there were 14 of us.
Considering that my oldest daughter is 18 and my little nephew is 3, finding a destination for everyone was not easy.
Yes, you can go to a destination that has activities, sports and adventures around it, but I assure you that it ends up being more complex (accommodation for such a large group is not easy and you have to get around with several cars).
On a cruise we had transportation included, meals and activities for everyone.

Still.... thank goodness that sometimes we disconnect. I will count all the excursions one by one. I'll just say that we only did the one in Cannes and the one in Rome together!!!!

alserrod · July 1

This was Daily program for the day at Cannes

Day2 Cannes - Diario de a bordo.pdf

And some images

In the first page, procedure with tender was explained.

We had (more or less) every day

- 3 shows at theatre

- 1 party in the Atrium

- 1 party in the pool, deck 7, they were thematic

- 1 trivia (or something similar) in Haven lounge

- and a tribute before dinner

plus 3 o 4 dancing lessons. They almost were all of them in the afternoon on evening.

In these cruises people go ashore whilst the day

alserrod · July 1

I said I had breakfast and lunch in the buffet but I downloaded all the menus

Breakfast in the MDR

Desayuno D2 Cannes.pdf

Lunch in the MDR

Comida D2 Cannes.pdf

Lunch in the buffet was fine but a bit of chaos if something was missing. There were no forks for a while, for instance.

Nevertheless, food was tasty and good. There was a big variety of food and once you had served it was enough to enjoy it.

As soon as we were having lunch it started to rain in Cannes.

After lunch my sister told us (she definitely had downloaded app so she could write me) she went going with kids to the covered pool. Fine because she could have a bath despite it was raining.

I kept in the cabin for a rest and later I just went to the pool in deck 7 for a cocktail. I stayed there almost all the evening.

Back to the cabin, let's prepare for dinning. Again casual dress.

As you could imagine, I was dressed in less, less, less, less time that my daughers so I used that time to go to the Atrium. there was a Tribute to Michael Jackson and I have to say.... awful!!!!!

It was time for luck to get a nice live music or an awful one

alserrod · July 2

Time for dinner in MDR

this was the menu

Cena D2 Cannes.pdf

I ordered

Starter

cuttlefish salad
sweet and sour vegetable caponata

I do not have a picture but it was fine

Main dish

Dessert

limoncello cake
sponge cake with limoncello cream, forest fruit sauce

alserrod · July 2

Day3 GENOVA

And we arrive at Genoa, the next stop on the cruise.

I get up early and go out to the deck to see what we were doing and what clothes we were wearing that day and..... IT WAS RAINING. The rain the day before in Cannes was chasing us. I'm afraid I should wear some more clothes and use the umbrella. I look at my phone, the weather forecast and it was raining all morning (and it really was).

The port of Genoa may be the best for a cruise stopover due to the location of the dock. There are cities that have the pier "close" to the city, where you can get around with a bus or taxi, but the location of Genoa is luxurious.

From the deck you could see the city. The Apennine mountains reach the coast itself. This means that in Genoa itself there are mountains and several viewpoints. You can also see (in the opposite direction), the "Genoa lantern". It is the Genoa lighthouse that, for several centuries, was the highest lighthouse in the world (now it is the fourth highest lighthouse in the world and the main lighthouse in the Mediterranean but few lighthouses have been the highest for so many centuries).

This is my track of the day according to Google Maps

and this is the port information that MSC gave us through the app

Puerto de Génova.pdf

alserrod · July 2

Excursion in Genova

(budget: 2 euro/person)

How is your level of Italian?

I was practicing with a well-known mobile application. The language is very similar to mine but there are always many different words and others that have some change, just enough so that you won't understand it if you don't study it.

The excursion we took was this:

We leave the ship. Cruise card control when leaving. We were crossing the terminal. It is seen that it is a terminal that was built a long time ago and that it serves both cruise ships and passengers. In Genoa there is passenger traffic to several destinations.

It's raining. Only light rain but it is raining and you need an umbrella.

The Principe metro stop is right in front of the maritime terminal. We go to her. It is a trip that could be done on foot but it is raining and my little nephews I don't know if they would last. I ask where to buy tickets. The machine is broken and they tell me that it is in a nearby tobacconist's shop. Here I made good use of the little bit of Italian I had learned since the guard who directed me did not speak English.

Why are there no machines working? Since this year, the citizens of Genoa have free metro.

They only have to prove residency. That's why almost no tickets are sold.

I go to buy tickets. It is the most rudimentary thing you can imagine. They cost 2 euros and they have to cut them down to sell them to me. Later you have to validate them in a machine before entering.

Genoa has a very short line. They tried to build an underground train through the port and reused it as a subway. The platforms are short, different from those you may have known in other cities. In theory it runs every 10 minutes (it seems like a long time for a subway) and it came 3 minutes late. We were waiting there for a long time.

Four metro stops separate us from the "Di Ferrari" square. We got off there and went up to the plaza.

Many of the monuments of Genoa are located in that square. Ducal Palace (the main façade is on another street. Only one side of that square opens), Opera Palace, etc... we walk through old streets to the cathedral, we go back, etc... we return to the Plaza Di Ferrari and We head north, towards Via Garibaldi

"Via Garibaldi" is a street that barely measures 280m and is a UNESCO heritage site. It has 16 Renaissance palaces. A luxury of art and heritage inside. Several palaces are UNESCO heritage sites and the street itself is. Do you know any other street in the world that is a UNESCO heritage site?

Walking along Via Garibaldi is seeing palaces, palaces and palaces in a very short time. Some are headquarters of banks, others are museums. It would certainly be worth a very detailed visit with a guide. We don't have that much time and, despite everything, we can enter some palace courtyard.

It had stopped raining a little but on Via Garibaldi it is raining again. Little but the umbrella is necessary.

From there we wandered to the port. We arrived at a square in front of the old port and sat down to have a drink. The weather and the rain respect us.

Finally we return to the ship. It is just over 1 km away. There are still some surprises left. We passed in front of the Genova Aquarium, quite large but we will have to leave it for another time.

And we passed in front of the "galleon". It is the ship that was built for Polanski's film "Pirates" in 1986 and is anchored in the port of Genoa.

The rain is starting to get heavier but we have nothing left to get to the maritime terminal. They ask us to show the cards at the entrance to the terminal. There is a luggage scanner and there MSC scans our card and verifies identity. Finally a last check when boarding the boat.

As you go up you see a lot of movement of trucks, forklifts and luggage of people boarding.

alserrod · July 2

and some pictures

entrance to Genova metro. Just in front of Cruise terminal

Genova underground

Just arrived to Di Ferrari square. It was raining.

This is first view from underground entrance

Genova duke's palace

(this is main entrance. All palace include left and right side as well as behind. Di Ferrari square is after right side)

One street in city centre. I remember the church ahead was interesting but just in the right was the Cathedral

Genova St. Lawrence cathedral

Another narrow street in the back side of Cathedral

And back to Di Ferrari square again.

We had barely walked for 800m. I did not wanted to walk too much because my small nephews... and it was plenty of heritage. I could had planned a longer walk with more things. If you are going to visit the city, get information. It is very easy to prepare a DIY in Genova

alserrod · July 3

This palace, in the right, is the Genova Opera theatre

and let's go with Via Garibaldi

It is a 280m street you must'n miss if you go to Genova

It is here

I walked it from right to left in the map and I am going to point some random pictures I did. Some of them in the street, some of them inside palaces (just a very fast glance to their interior)

All the street is like these pictures

All these photos in a small street. Book a visit to it in your next call in Genoa.

alserrod · July 3

wandering in old town in Genoa

time for a rest in this square in front of the port. Just when it didn't rain at all

This was the Galleon used for Polaski movie "Pirates"

Back to the ship. Ahead the Genoa phare. For centuries, the tallest in the world

alserrod · July 3

We get to the boat, I fix something and we all go to eat.

This time we went up to the buffet on the 16th floor

In case it's useful, these are the breakfast and lunch menus at the MDR on that day

Desayuno D3 Genova.pdf

Comida D3 Genova.pdf

As a novelty, there was a tray of ribs with sauce that they were restocking. Every day there was something different. I think yesterday it was salmon that they were cutting, several days it was roast pork that they were also cutting and you took whatever pieces you wanted.

There is also another meat tray for fajitas but...just meat. And the fajita pancakes? I would have made one!!!

The desserts are all individual in small portions and each time there are several to choose from.

On the 16th floor the waiters who pass by do serve you drinks (on the 8th too but they take a long time). They bring us water and wine quickly.

We rest a little in the cabins and I go outside to take some of the last photos of Genoa. The "lantern" (the lighthouse) and also to see the ship leaving the port. The route we take that night seems strange to me because by car there are barely 120 km between both ports.

It has stopped raining but there is a lot of water on deck. It's not easy to walk outside without getting your feet wet. I'm looking for a place to see the pier from and it's not easy. The Seaview's railings are quite high... except in the back area and I can do it from there.

We spent the afternoon under cover. A rainy day in the Mediterranean in summer is not normal and it has completely affected us

Some pictures of Atrium and Sports bar

and these are menus for Sports bar and for Atrium bar

2024 Bebidas - Sports bar.pdf

2024 Bebidas - Atrium Bar.pdf

alserrod · July 4

Time to dinner.

One thing she hadn't mentioned. Around here I read a lot of questions about whether the second course is free.

Cena D3 Genova.pdf

I didn't see anyone order a second dish. I'm no longer talking about my table, but about surrounding tables. It is something easy to deduce since the waiters bring all the dishes to the places at the same time and it is very noticeable if they bring them out of hours.

And if you can. Additional dishes on MSC cruises in Europe are free... but no one asks for it. It is already considered that there is enough food

On this occasion I asked

as a starter

Combination of Chinese seafood and vegetable dumplings
oriental mustard sauce

Sorry, I don't have a photo.

and as a main dish
Baked veal leg Goccia d’Oro
with rosemary sauce, and pan-fried potatoes, mushrooms and bacon

and for dessert
Black Forest cherry pie
flavored with kirsch

On this occasion the suggested clothing was white. It is very easy to wear white. It doesn't matter if you make it elegant, informal or... it's very easy and it draws attention that we all wear the same color.

alserrod · July 4

I have not talked about the broadcast of sports on board.

In the sports bar you can request broadcasts of many events. Also, in the casino bar there are small screens above and you can have almost any sport too. It happened at night and there were repeats of some of them.

In the pool on 16 there is a screen where sports can be shown at night.

During the cruise the Euro Cup was being played and there were matches at 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Some of them being the last in the group stage meant that there were two games at the same time.

In the logbook you can see that they announced the most interesting one in the Sports Bar.

What was happening with the other one? I didn't investigate it.

Of course, the day we were in Genoa two games coincided
>> Italy - Croatia
>> Spain - Albania

before the start of the match, and due to previous results
- Spain was ranked first and it didn't matter what they did
- Italy needed a draw against Croatia to finish second
- Croatia needed to beat Italy to finish second
- Albania needed to beat Spain and a miracle to qualify

It is clear that the Italy-Croatia match had much more interest than Spain-Albania (where one team was mathematically first and the other had a very difficult time).
And it is clear that the ship's captain (manager) and all the first officers were Italian

==> In the pool on the 16th floor only Italy-Croatia was broadcast
==> Only Italy-Croatia was broadcast in the Sports bar
==> In the casino bar the screens were placed alternately so that there was one television with Spain-Albania and the next with Italy-Croatia

==> and the discotheque (Garage club) was opened ahead of time to broadcast the Spain-Croatia there.

A use that I don't know if the discotheque had had before. It was not very common (and quite small for the people who gathered).

And another curious thing... very successfully, the waiters they appointed at that time were all Peruvians (there were three waiters) and thus made it easy to order drinks without having to translate.

This was the photo of the broadcast.

A little small if we take into account the deployment they did for Italy-Croatia

alserrod · July 4

Tonight at the theater there was a Tina Turner tribute show. It was my least favorite of the entire week. Entertaining without anything special. Yesterday's one might have been the best.

After the theater we went to the "white party". We all wore white and there was a lot of festive atmosphere in the Atrium. The DJ was on the 6th floor and the dancers were on the 6th, 7th and 8th. In theory, just another disco music party. In practice, it was the liveliest party of all.

After spending some time seeing all the atmosphere they offered, we ended up sitting for a while in the Sports Bar. There was karaoke. We didn't stay long, we went back to the party and went to bed. Day 3 was over

Edited July 4 by alserrod

alserrod · July 4

Day4 La Spezia (Cinque Terre)

We arrive in La Spezia. For part of the night we had cell phone coverage and I could see where we were going. It was only 120 km driving distance between the two ports. The route is very short.

However, the ship was not stopped at night, but rather moving very, very slowly. At the stern of the ship you could see that the ship barely left a wake because of how slow it was going. And in the background you could see the coast and you could tell that we were moving forward.

La Spezia is an industrial port. I was surprised that there were many more cargo containers than in the port of Genoa. And by the way, quite a few containers were from MSC's cargo division. The logo appeared. I wondered if with so much movement of goods they generated they would make port taxes for cruises cheaper.

The city of La Spezia really has little, very little to see, but in addition to being close to a lot of industry (for cargo containers and therefore the port) there are many interesting places to see.
They offer you excursions to Florence. Be careful, it is more than an hour and a half on the bus. If you go by train, two hours. You can go to Lucca and Pisa, there is still a while.

The option I chose was Cinque Terre, the beautiful towns with Italian cliffs in the Mediterranean. Somewhere I was told that this national park was the first place in the world where access was restricted to residents only.

It is the case that the railway line that passes along the coast does so through there. They have made a station for each town and it is the easiest way to visit them.

This was my route that day according to Google Maps

laspezia1.jpg.19e138c6f159fdcfaff0dbd752f41121.jpg

and this is the information that MSC gave us about the port

Puerto de La Spezia .pdf

alserrod · July 5

This day we didn't set a time to get up. We were tired after several excursions in a row and some parties.

The day was rainy but very different from Genoa. It was raining lightly at several times and an umbrella was essential. However, it was not cold and in the afternoon the sun came out.

This time we met for breakfast on the 16th floor, in the buffet upstairs. It seems calmer to us. I had a big breakfast to prepare for the day and not stop for too long to eat. And I admit it... I had more breakfast than I should have!!

We got ready and left the ship. In La Spezia you have to take a bus from the port. At the dock, truck tracks, train tracks, etc. are crossed and there is no specific area for pedestrians. However, the route is very simple. As soon as we got off the ship there were two buses from the port. We got on one of them, which immediately took off and left us right outside the dock. It is a very simple route. There you can walk, take a bus or take a taxi.

There is cruise card control when leaving the ship.

alserrod · July 5

This is La Spezia from the ship.

Cinque Terre is on the left

And this is La Spezia port. You can see the reason why you have to leave by bus. No pedestrians are accepted in that area

alserrod · July 5

Excursion to Cinque Terre

(budget, taxi + train, about 40 euros/adult)

We continue with the Italian. On this occasion it was very useful for me to have learned some words in Italian to ask for information.

There are five towns that are on the Italian coast very close to La Spezia.

The easiest way to visit them is by train. It is surprising to see long-distance and freight trains that cross that entire area. The stations are partially in tunnels. Each town has its own (there are two stations that are less than 1 km apart).

There is another way to visit it and it is by boat. Keep in mind that from La Spezia to the last town it is 2h45m by boat. Assuming you take the first boat, you can go back and forth and visit only one town. Of course, you see the entire coast perfectly

I visited only three towns. The first, second and fourth (Riomaggiore, Manarola and Vernazza).

I had informed myself in forums about which ones were the most interesting and I think they were right. Oh, and I agree with what I've read that if you only have time to go to one, go to Manarola (the second town by train from La Spezia).

As soon as we left the port we took a taxi. They have taxis for up to 8 people. The rate is unique. Tours from the port of La Spezia to any place in the city (usually the train station), 15 euros. It's not cheap for 1.9 km but... it is what it is.

If more people travel, 2.5 euros/person. That is, a taxi for 8 people to the station would be 25 euros.

The rates are published and before starting the taxi driver clarified the rate to us. We didn't have any problems with him.

When we arrived at the station we went to the ticket office. There was a little line, not much. At the ticket office I asked for three day tickets to Cinque Terre. They asked me for my passports (the tickets are nominative and indicate the name of the passenger).

I only ordered three because I was traveling alone with my parents. The rest of the group was on their own.

This is where I made use of the Italian words I had learned. Surely writing it in some way would have communicated me but it made me much more agile.

The person who attended us applied the discount for those over 70 years of age to my parents (I checked the age on the card and directly applied the corresponding rate. It was cheaper).

They give you some tickets printed on a roll of paper. Save them because you will need them.

They asked us for them at a checkpoint on board one of the trains.

There are three trains every hour running between La Spezia and Levanto, passing through the five Cinque Terre stations. You can use any of them interchangeably. I asked for a time card (cartolina degli orari) and made do with it.

The trains are very large, double deckers and quite, quite new. I have ridden very few regional service trains as good as the ones they had for Cinque Terre.

We went to the platform, there were many people. We waited for our train to arrive and climbed aboard. We got a seat.

The first town, Riomaggiore, is eight minutes away by train. We got there and I asked to go to the station toilet.

The toilets at the station cost one euro for visitors and are free if you have the Cinque Terre card (they ask for it upon entering). They are nothing out of this world but they are very clean. There was a person who systematically cleaned them every time someone left them.

Okay... and we started walking. When leaving the station you have to go through a tunnel next to the tracks and you arrive at the center of Riomaggiore. I wanted to go to the port. My father wanted to go up. I listened to him and we started to go up the main street. And then we went down some perpendicular street to end up going down stairs to the port.

It was a success. You have to let yourself get lost in those streets that these towns have. They are very calm and very pretty.

The port of Riomaggiore was also pretty. We went down to the bottom and saw some boat arrive. We took some photos and went to the station to go to the second town.

Manarola, the second town, is without a doubt the most beautiful of all. We did the same as in Riomaggiore. Start climbing upwards, go through streets to end up at the port. I remember arriving at a viewpoint from where you could see the back of Riomaggiore and from there there were very steep stairs to the port.

The color of its streets is unique. Seriously, it is the most beautiful town ever. The port is very original because it does not have docks where boats dock. They lift the boats with ropes to the square in front of them.

Manarola has a small walk from where there is a viewpoint towards the town.

These are the views and tell me if it is worth an excursion here.

In Riomaggiore I remember that we spent just an hour visiting it. In Manarola there were three.

Not because we were walking but because we sat and contemplated what there was.

alserrod · July 5

Excursion to Cinque Terre
(budget, taxi + train, about 40 euros/adult)

In Vernazza it was more or less like in the previous towns. We got off the station (the outside platform is very small. Almost everything is inside a tunnel. It's incredible how they made stations for such long trains there) and started walking through the streets. I remember that we wandered more than in the previous ones.

It was quite late, we saw a fruit store and bought something. It's just that we hadn't eaten yet. I wasn't hungry, I had already had enough breakfast...but I had to eat something.

We only visited these three towns but I'm glad. Corniglia has no port. You have to go up and it is on a cliff. Monterosso is the largest of all and has a beach. It doesn't have the same charm. I had consulted a lot of information. If we had had time we would have visited them but I prefer to have focused on these three and enjoyed them a lot.

We went back to the station and I noticed the trains that were stopping. In addition to those from Cinque Terre there were some that reached Genoa and even one that reached Ventimiglia (border with France). They are regional trains that stop at all stations. Direct trains only stop in La Spezia.

We arrived at La Spezia station without any problem, got off and went to take a taxi. There were several waiting. Again he told us the price before starting so that there were no misunderstandings. There was no problem.

My father asked the taxi driver about football. The day before, Italy had qualified for the European Championship but they were playing poorly. The taxi driver recognized him and made a comment that I found funny: "they played badly, but they were very hard to kill." The taxi driver dropped us off at the maritime terminal and the excursion was over for us.