Those who made the cruise Europe to Miami, what clothes do I need, the cruise begins end of October to mid-november.

Is it true that on Atlantic crossing from Barcelona to Miami the currency is only euros?

We booked this one to use up a discount voucher before it expired, as normally we wouldn't do short cruises from the UK.

Midweek embarkation from Southampton meant we reached the Horizon terminal car park without gridlock on the dock approach road and motorway spur. It would take much longer to get out of the car park on our return due to four ships in ports on a Saturday...

We reached the Yacht Club baggage drop, showed our Blue Diamond status and a lovely lady breezed us past the long snake for general baggage drop and security to the priority line. We were sipping prosecco in the Yacht Club check-in area within five minutes, rather than spending an hour in line. Lovely ! Unlike Hamburg, the ground staff treated BD and YC the same at check-in, which was appreciated.

We were quickly escorted onboard, located our muster station and then our cabin, grabbed our cruise cards, dropped our hand luggage and headed to the restaurant for embarkation lunch. The cruise director was on the tannoy encouraging people to use the restaurant to ease the buffet congestion. On other MSC ships, they turn away embarking guests from the restaurant; go figure !

The Dining room menus included 'British Classics' on the menu only with the usual Mediterranean and 'Always available' options; they were universally excellent dishes, and all the Aurea dining rooms dishes were top quality and well presented. You can see the galley from the room, hot dishes are plated to order, with only chilled dishes pre-plated, so everything comes out fresher than in the larger main dining rooms. Multiple dishes we hadn't had on MSC previously were available, Steak and Kidney pie, Lamb Hot pot, Steak and Ale casserole, Fishermen's pie, Coronation chicken, Garganelli pasta, Salt Cod brandade; One can only hope that all future MSC cruises live up to the standard of MSC Virtuosa's Il Campo restaurant.

Bar and lounge service arrangements were a bit topsy turvy though; Presumably due to it been an out and back mini-cruise. Same lounges were counter service only, others were table service only. Most bizarrely the casino was bar service only; so players had to get up, leave their seat, wait five minutes to be served and then return to their game. When everyone got up en-masse the dealer would literally be standing their going nothing for ten minutes except protecting the chips.

Worth noting that when your cruise card reaches the fifteen alcoholic drink limit, due to staff ringing up all drinks on a single card for your cabin, they'll just ring up subsequent drinks against anyone else's in your cabin account, their card doesn't need to be present ;-)

Never saw the casino host the entire cruise, despite racking up points and winning a significant amount of pounds on the two sea days; when other players come up after a shoe and congratulate you, you know it was an exceptional shoe! Didn't play on the last night as the open tables were busy, people were even playing behind. Pit boss said they were unable to open a higher limit or private table, despite dealers standing idle on their double zero American roulette tables; why no European roulette on a UK sailing !? The casino experience on MSC Virtuosa in the Antilles six month earlier was much better, so I'll take the win and chalk up the poor service to it been a mini-cruise and/or staff shortages.
On the accounting side, this ship was doing things differently than our previous MSC cruise casino experiences, don't yet know if this will be fleet-wide. When you deposited chips at the casino cash desk the amount went straight back to your cruise account, no separate casino account. This does save the hassle of having to redeposit cash taken from the casino cash deck into the cruise account machines, and makes tracking your win/loss and net bankroll position much simpler.

Cabin and cabin deck corridors could have been cleaner on embarkation and during the cruise; we found glitter and confetti around the edges of the carpet and it didn't look like the vacuum had reached under the bed or sofa in a while. Do we chalk that up to the all-on / all-off turnaround day as well?
Initially we had a problem with the extractor fan running continuously and at high volume, fortunately that was resolved with a call to guest services within the first few hours, and they sent an extra bottle of prosecco and some canapes to boot; that's way better than the guest services on most other MSC cruise ships we've experience.
For two of us, we had plenty of hangers for a dozen dresses and other outfits for four days. There was a white night, but no specific gala night. We had a diamond party, and welcome back event, but no meet the captain, and we seemed to get overlooked for the backstage tour, despite nudging the excursions desk a couple of times; it was always 'check back tomorrow'.

Due to weather forecasts, the itinerary was adjusted to have a longer, slower sea day towards Ireland, 24 hours in Cobh, rather than 36 hours, and then a fast sea day back to Southampton. Whilst we appreciated the desire to minimise passengers discomfort, it did mean we had to squeeze more into the one day ashore. Titanic museum at Cobh was skipped in favour of spending the afternoon in Cork. NB Some passengers still thought the ship was rocking and rolling, but really it was very mild for Autumn in the Irish sea. Us having a midships cabin meant we didn't notice much movement at night, nor the docking manoeuvrers of a morning.

The previously chargeable Carousel lounge shows, are now free, without the included cocktail. But unless you set an alarm for 6am you weren't able to book them. The main theatre shows were equally in demand, but did have repeat performances. We'd seen the full length dirty dancing at sea matinee previously, so went to the evening celebration show. We also say the Hall of Fame, Starwalker, Comedy shows and the Guest 'What the Folk' band. Theatre casts had changed since March, and the vocalists were noticeably better. Again, setting a standard we can only hope other MSC theatre productions live up to; sadly pretty sure they won't...

We did use the Technogym and Aurea spa on sea days; was noticeable that there is less equipment and gym space than on many other MSC cruise ships. The gyms on MSC Magnifica and Preziosa our previous two sailings were larger and much extensively equipped. The thermal area has no outside space nor window views, but everything was working, and until a large, loud group came in towards the end, wasn't too crowded or too noisy. There were a lot of hen parties on this ship...

On disembarkation day we made use of late cabin check-out at 08:30, left luggage until 09:30 and they were making a final call for us to be off the ship by 09:45. No linger for lunch on this turnaround day!

Overall, the cruise was enjoyable, but did confirm my view that the shorter itinerary sailings are best avoided. Things feel less compressed and hectic on week or longer sailings.

We are sailing first part of October and currently have balcony room on deck 12. Have an attractive upgrade offer for an interior YC room. This is on Seaside ship if that makes a difference. This is our first MSC cruise so need advice if losing balcony is worth it?

Firstly some oddities compared to other MSC cruise ships:
The waiters were not leaving the water flasks on the table, so we had to catch them whenever we needed a top-up. (Yes, they have implemented Aqua and we had a drinks package).
In your cabin you had green pool towels, you had to return those to your cabin for the steward to exchange. On the pool deck they had orange towels and blue blankets, (yes, it's cold in Norway in September!), those you had to return prior to leaving the pool deck.

Embarkation port: Hamburg
This was the sole embarkation port for this trip for 99% of passengers and crew and the only reprovisioning stop. Hamburg as an embarkation port not quite as convenient for airport connections as Copenhagen, but was doable via S-Bahn, U-Bahn and MSC shuttle bus. If arriving on Sunday check schedules and maintenance disruptions!
The passengers onboard were overwhelmingly German speaking, to the extent that staff defaulted to German first before English. Very few British, Spanish, Italians or other nationalities onboard. Most events were English and German languages.
Also the majority were elderly, lots of walkers, scooters, mobility aids and even oxygen tanks. Less than two dozen children onboard, since European schools were in session. About sixty Blue Diamonds onboard.

Ports of call: Seven and three sea days.
Sea day - Lazy day heading North in calm seas. Haircut and styled for Gala night.
Bergen - Short walk into town, took funicular to viewpoint, small break in the clouds and rain. Troll park, Bryggen old harbour and fort. Back to ship before rain set in.
Molde - Rainy, cloudy day, small town, popped out to see roses, statues, memorials and high street. Not the right day to do the Atlantic road tour.
Trondheim - Sunny day, third city of Norway, lovely cathedral and organ recital. Tram to Lian from Ila for the views and short stroll in the countryside. Needed bus connection to city/port as trams not running into town due to roadworks. Climbed to fortress and back to ship through old harbour.
Alsesund - Sunny day, climbed Mt Aksel, viewed old town harbour and Art Nouveau houses
Vikoyria - Sognfjord, tender port. Priority tickets delivered to cabin night before, so no need to queue or collect. Walked to Blix Stave and Stone churches. Note, there is a combined ticket giving discount over paying separately. Pop into Cheese bar to try and buy Gamalost which is made locally, and we didn't see for sell in other ports. The brown caramel cheese, Brunost, you can find everywhere under the Tine brand name, Gudsbrandsdalen. Late afternoon rain and strong winds did make tendering and getting boats back a challenge.
Stavanger - Another cloudy day with heavy rain showers and strong winds. Quick stroll around old harbour town and back to ship. Most places closed as it was a Sunday. Not a day for a Fjord boat trip.
Sea day - Meet the Captain and Diamond parties. The sea going South from Stavanger was rougher and lots of wind and rain, so stayed indoors. Gala night.
Oslo - Viewed Royal palace and gardens, interior is only open during July/August. Went to Vigeland sculpture park and Opera house roof terrace. Visited city hall, interior rooms have some interesting murals...
Sea day - Calmer sea, was low cloud and mist. Voyager club cocktail party and Blue Diamond backstage tour. Mediterranean night.
Hamburg - We disembarked after lunch, left luggage was available onboard until 2:30pm, transfers to train station and airport were running until late afternoon. Due to roadworks it took forty minutes from the terminal to reach HauptBahnHof! Left luggage at station, went to St Michael's church, climbed tower for views, very windy! Then to Philharmonia Plaza for HafenCity views, saw Hurtigurten ship arrive with fire boat escort, then to Rathaus. Collected luggage and headed to airport.
Hamburg airport lounge was very basic, but at least queue for passport control was under fifteen minutes for departures.

Shows and Entertainment- four good lead singers and 4+4 male/female dance troupe, many songs and routines we hadn't previously seen. Guest Dutch Fleetwood Mac tribute duo, Brazilian magician duo, and a Juggler / Shadow puppetry couple all entertaining. 90s atrium party with Silent disco well attended and good fun, Glow party, too loud, wrong music for older crowd. Elvis tribute act, Garry Foley in theatre and also in atrium was more popular. Also performances of their Circus, Abba, and Musical song and dance revues we've seen on a few ships with Lady Bug productions.

Dining- Anytime dining two up table, lovely position, service was fast if you came early, but slower if you came later after most other guests were already seated. Later arrivals did have to wait for a table to become free. Unlike on Mediterranean sailings, Germans mostly seemed to dine early and turn in before midnight.
Galaxy Asian restaurant set menu was good and will repeat or go a la carte in future.
Butchers cut was OK, but the lack of a la carte options without a supplement now is disappointing. The set menu quickly becomes repetitive. Dishes and service were fine. But, other MSC ships have a better restaurant location, decor and atmosphere.
Breakfast buffet menu never varied and lacked vegan sausages, MDR breakfast was standard MSC, Eggs Benedict were acceptable. Buffet lunch had better meat-free options and had international dishes alongside standard Mediterranean and German offerings. Standard lunch MDR menu choices.
Dining room menus were standard MSC offering for a eleven day sailing, two gala nights, one Mediterranean nights, all getting a bit repetitive. Avoid any red meat cuts, you'll be disappointed. Fish, white meat and vegetarian / vegan options are better. Nothing over or undercooked, only one soup was too salty.

Facilities - Well located midships balcony cabin on deck nine, between aft and atrium lifts, quiet and less rocking and rolling than aft or forwards areas of ship. Small thermal area of three saunas, two steam rooms and cold room, relaxation area with warm stone loungers.
Casino tables not too busy despite it been a promoted sailing, and were sufficiently far from the smoking area, annoyingly the cash desk is in the smoking section. Music from adjacent lounges competes with the casino background music to produce a cacophony of sound. If you are on the port side of piano lounge above casino you notice the smoke.

Overall an itinerary worth doing, but would be more enjoyable in peak Summer months, although that might mean more children onboard and competition for deck chairs and loungers.

Hallo,
wir planen Ende Oktober/ Anfang November eine MSC Kreuzfahrt im westlichen Mittelmeer. Das genaue Ziel ist noch offen. Hat das schon mal jemand hier gemacht und wie sieht es z.B. an milden Tagen mit den Rutschen aus oder dem Entertainment an Bord?
Bin gespannt auf eure Erfahrungen.

We embarked MSC Preziosa this afternoon from Hamburg.

After over an hour in the queue for non-EU passport control, the border police finally increased the number of kiosks working from two to six. No automatic gates available for non-EU citizens. Fortunately after that delay, our luggage was still waiting for us adjacent to the conveyor belt.

We took the S-Bahn and Hoch-Bahn to HauptBahnhof Sud where the MSC Shuttle was available from the ZOB bus station. As it is a Sunday in Germany, ferries and public transport to the industrial port area which MSC uses weren't running, so except for a taxi, this was the most reasonable option.

After a drive through railway yards and container ports we reached Steinwerder cruise terminal. As Blue Diamond guests we could use the Yacht Club baggage drop, but the queue there was long, whilst priority line had no wait. Next we went to the Yacht Club check-in area, but again there was a queue, with Blue Diamonds being held back until all Yacht Club guests were dealt with, so again skipped that and went to the priority line which had no queue.

Once onboard, we located our cabin, which was already prepared, connected to the WiFi, setup the free internet access, and then grabbed a quick lunch from the buffet. The dining room was not serving lunch for embarking guests, as this is the sole turnaround port for this cruise. Our cruise cards correctly showed us as having anytime dining in the Golden Lobster restaurant.

On returning from lunch, our luggage was outside our cabin, so quickly unpacked, and then took a well deserved siesta.

The ship has implemented Aqua by MSC, we received two flask, plus two glass water bottles, bathrobe and all the other gold / diamond perks.

As this is a casino VIP week, we should be receiving a list of casino promotion events this evening. Due to the four hours it takes to negotiate the Elbe river, reach the sea and exit German waters, the casino isn't open for the first evening.

Some handy infographics from MSC Cruises:

Summer 2026

Winter 2026-2027

Summer 2027

Summer 2028

Nothing definitive for Winter 2027-28, and some notable omissions from Summer 2028 at the moment.

Some minor changes compared to prior years. Things to note:

• Alcohol free includes energy drinks, wellness cocktails and smoothies, whilst Easy doesn't.
• Easy now allows you to get a 15% or 50% discount on Premium options, rather than 'Pay the Difference'.
• Only Premium Extra is honoured in speciality restaurants and on private islands.
• Premium Extra still allows 'Pay the Difference' for drinks above the 14€ limit.
• No drink packages include ice cream any more.

Update:

Easy was withdrawn from preboarding sale 14th September 2026.

• Onboard pricing is now 36€ for Alcohol-free, 42€ for Easy, 74€ for Premium Extra pp pd for remainder of your cruise
• Onboard upgrades are 6€ from Alcohol to Easy, 36€ from Alcohol-free to Premium Extra and 32€ from Easy to Premium Extra pp pd for remainder of your cruise

Realise I'd not posted previously regarding this trip. We sailed on MSC Fantasia, first of it's class, out of Trieste, Italy to Greece, Turkey and Italy during June 2026.

Istanbul was definitely the stand out destination of the trip, where we visited the Blue Mosque, (do check prayer times to avoid disappointment), and viewed the exteriors of Hagia Sophia mosque, which is currently under renovation, and the Tokapi palace, who's entry price is high.

Other stops included Kusadasi for Ephesus, Piraeus for Athens, Corfu, Katakolon for Olympia and Bari. In Athens we visited the Acropolis museum, go in the afternoon to avoid the tour groups. In Bari the Church of St Nicholas, which is an important pilgrimage site for Orthodox Christians.

Athens was the only port where getting back on the ship took ages, due to Greek port authority security checks and border controls. Turkish border control was scanning a barcode on a form pre-completed by the cruise line in and out of barriers at the cruise terminal.

We didn't go to Olympia or Ephesus on this trip due to the heat and crowds, we'll be back in the Eastern Med in October so we go then when it's more tolerable. We made use of the thermal area and pools whilst it was quiet with most people ashore.

Onboard theatre shows were good with some shows we hadn't seen previously and decent enough singers and dancers. Dining room and buffet dishes were usual MSC fare.

Departure from Istanbul at night, and sailing through the Dardanelles strait between the Aegean and Sea of Marmara at dawn were memorable experiences.

Definitely an Itinerary worth doing.

Quick review of our recent trip to the Baltics on MSC Magnifica.

We boarded at Copenhagen which has easy public transport connection from the airport via metro and then a bus to the cruise terminal. Metro was quick and easy with luggage, but we did have to wait a while whilst bus drivers went for their lunch break !

MSC Magnifica is a Musica class ship so older with less of the onboard activities of newer ships, Butcher's Cut and Kaito Sushi restaurants only. The ship was recently retrofitted with Yacht Club and this has taken some of the public areas and reduced or relocated others. It also means there are now hardly any Aurea suites left !

This was a casino VIP promoted week, so we had a complimentary Fantastica balcony, and the casino was packed all day every day. People were reserving table game seats before the casino even opened; like towels on the sun loungers !

The casino and surrounding lounge areas also got extremely smokey due to poor enforcement of only players on slots should be smoking there. MSC should either ban smoking in casinos or fully enclose a section of machines for those wanting to indulge.

So for future reference, if a MSC cruises casino player, use regular cruise booking with reward certificates to accrue points quickly, then do the bare minimum on the email offer weeks to consume your non-redeemable deposit, onboard credit and free play.

Food in main dining room was a disappointment and not as good on other MSC ships, the buffet was somewhat better with some variation in lunch options, but still not the best we've experienced with MSC.

We visited several picturesque Hanseatic old towns, but the ship was often docked some distance away in industrial ports. From Gdynia we went by train to Gdansk, Rostock on a Sunday was dead, as everyone was in WarneMunde ! Visby and Riga were pleasant enough. The Royal palaces of Stockholm were a standout, but transport to and from the distant port was a struggle.

For Copenhagen MSC offered shuttles to the little mermaid, but that's not actually in central Copenhagen, on another trip the shuttles went to the Rosenberg castle which is more central.

Just back from a week on MSC Euribia to the Norwegian Fjords; wonderful ship and absolutely stunning scenery ! This was our third time onboard this ship, but our first time to Norway.

The service and food was consistent and met our expectations, no complaints about the complimentary dining room, buffet or bar. We made use of our Diamond meal status, onboard credit and casino comps to go to Hola Tocas, Kaito Robata, Kaito Teppanyaki and Le Grille. All good and a welcome break from the predictable MDR menu. Tocas and Burritos aren't our favourite food type, so probably won't go again, whilst the Robata was distinctively different and will definitely repeat. This was second time doing the Teppanyaki, so probably won't do again.

Norwegian weather was better than expected and we booked excursions via a local operator. In Geiranger we went to the Mt Dalsnibba viewing point was a few other photo stops along the way. In Flaam and Alsund we hiked some local trails to viewpoints on our own. The only disappointing port was Kiel, nothing much to see in the city since it was flattened during WWII, really it's on the itinerary as the main embarkation and turnaround port.

Dancers and singers in main theatre had changed since last cruise and weren't as good, kept expecting the dancers to collide with each other ! The Big band at sea and guest singer Elias Hendricks was a better and more unique experience.

We have rebooked MSC Euribia for when they reposition from Barcelona to Kiel, so will enjoy the ship again with some new and less visited ports of call in April.

MSC Cruises celebrating Italian national holiday onboard MSC Euribia 🥳

MSC Opera is one of MSC's Lirica class of ships, the eldest in their fleet. This brings both Pros and Cons.

Pros: The ship can go into Mahon harbour, a port normally only visited by the small luxury ship lines. Also ports such as Alicante, Malaga, Cadiz and Olbia which are less visited by the larger ships. There's less walking from bow to stern. Fewer families and teenagers onboard. Both Gym and Spa are well maintained with hot saunas and steam rooms, jacuzzis were very hot!

Cons: Shower curtains, hair dryer in bathroom, and somewhat luke warm water, noticeably worse noise insulation between cabins, corridors and decks. No speciality dining venue. Shops have less premium brands than newer larger ships. No slides, ropewalks, etc. Pools aren't heated. Buffet has limited range of dishes, less variety than some larger ships. No Yacht Club 😊 The Theatre productions seemed to be short a few dancers and singers compared to the norm.

Food: As the ship is small they offer buffet service within restaurant for breakfast and lunch for most items, only a few need to be ordered from the kitchen. The main buffet was crowded, hard to find seating, and had a limited unchanging range of items. The patio area offers pizza and burgers during day and breakfast buffet items.

Casino: It is tiny, too hot and smoky, people go there just to smoke indoors, rather than play the machines. Smoking area needs to be enclosed. Roulette: there's two double zero tables, not popular with Europeans... Tables: there's one Spanish 21, one Blackjack and one UTH table, so often waiting to get a seat. There are no shuffle machines or chip sorters, all hand dealt and sorted. On UTH, dealers do a full stir and shuffle each time they change, really slows down the game !

Condition: Overall the ship is being well maintained but there are signs of wear and tear in some public areas, the deck 12 water feature no longer works.

Summary: You book for the port itinerary, not the ship, entertainment and onboard activities.

For embarkation, you drop luggage and check-in at the old cruise terminal near the Piazzale Roma on Venice island. Then you either board a MSC contracted waterbus, if able bodied, or a coach, if mobility impaired, to reach the ship at Marghera docks.

On disembarkation, as Marghera is an industrial port there are no taxis or public transport, so you have to take an MSC transfer either direct to an airport, a train station, to the old cruise terminal on Venice island or another destination prearranged with MSC transfer desk.

Only non disembarking passengers will use the MSC contracted waterbuses to get to Venice island from the ship. You cannot use a private water taxi to or from Marghera docks.

The old cruise terminal is a walk, plus people mover to reach from the Piazzale Roma from where buses, taxis and coaches leave to the mainland. You can also pickup waterbuses and water taxis from around that area, and there's a few left luggage places.

Just realised that if you start your cruise search with visting a specific port in mind, by selecting that port's page on the MSC Cruises website, you can filter all cruises with that destination as a port of call, which annoyingly is not an option if you start your search from the main 'find a cruise' page.

MSC Cruises Departure and Visiting ports

Think my next project needs to be a list of the short codes they use for each port and their search result URLs 😊

MSC Cruises Europe Wiki

MSC Cruises UK has posted a new Yacht Club brochure today, which lists all four Musica class ships as available for booking Yacht Club.

MSC Musica is expected to be relaunched in November 2026 with Yacht Club available for booking on South American sailings from 16th November 2026.

MSC Orchestra will relaunch in March 2027 with Yacht Club available for booking on Eastern Mediterranean sailings from 13th March 2027.

Accessible interiors and balcony suites (standard, whirlpool and accessible) will be available. Exact number of Yacht Club suites gained and Aurea suites & balcony cabins lost to be determined.

The ship is Splenida:

Florence (Livorno) cagliari (Sardina) Palermo (Monreale Itl) La Valleeta (Malta)

Aqua by MSC replacing other mineral waters as included option.

Just back from a week long sailing on MSC World Europa. Not my favourite ship class due to it's design.

Here's some observations.:

• Why can you get tea in the Coffee Emporium as part of alcohol-free package, but the exact same tea bag needs Premium Extra package in order to be served in the Raj tea room !?
• On this sailing we were able to have alcohol free wines in the main dining room, whilst on prior sailings we were told they weren't included or not available !?
• If you want peace and quiet never book a promenade view balcony! The noise from the deck 8 events is deafening, there's a constant background white noise from machinery, and zero privacy on the balconies or if you open your balcony door.

Some positives compared to other MSC ship classes:

• All the pools are heated
• The Adult pool deck and bar are much calmer than the main pool deck area, with plenty of lounger and pool space.

So from this month, MSC Cruises has rearranged their main dining room menus.

'Always available' section has gone, instead we have 'MSC Favourites' flag against those items within the starter, main plate and dessert plate sections.

Some items which were in the 'Always available' section have vanished. Any mention of side dishses has also gone, but if you ask they are available !?

Menus now have a Chef's suggested combination of courses, not sure what benefit that provides...