Travel experts with a passion for discovering hidden gems! With years of experience, we know that the best travel memories come from meeting locals, not the view from your hotel room. That’s why we’re all about traveling off the tourist treadmill and finding authentic experiences.
For the past two years, we've also explored cruising and found it can be much cheaper if you know how to book smart. Whether it’s finding the best deals, getting upgrades, or choosing unique itineraries, we’ll show you how to travel more and spend less.
Join our community and share your tips, stories, and questions-we’d love to hear from you.
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching. The exterior promenade area at the back of the ship is still a great place to stroll in the morning and have a coffee. Enjoy!
Just a friendly tip ... don't call it a boat, it's a ship. The staff, especially the captain, does not like it when a cruise ship is referred to as a boat.
Hi. I really enjoyed your VLOG on the MSC World Europa. Thank you very much. My wife and I have signed up with our grandchildren (they are 20 years old) for a cruise in late 2024 (early 2025). Can I take advantage of your experience to ask you a few questions ? - Who chooses the main restaurant? Is it imposed by MSC when boarding or do we have a choice? In this 2nd hypothesis, how is the selection made? - Who chooses the table? On the first evening, are the first to arrive the best served or is the location of the table imposed by the waiters? - Knowing that there are several services, who chooses the dinner time? Can it be pre-booked online? What time do you recommend? - Is it possible to attend the show regardless of the selected dinner time? - What is the time tolerance to get to the dining room and how to avoid traffic jams at the entrance? - I heard that we have to book the shows. Can we do it the first day for the whole cruise, or just on the day? Can we see several different shows per day? Thanks in advance Jacques (lives in Paris)
Bonsoir Jacques, merci d’avoir visionné notre vidéo. Sur le World Europa, il y a deux restaurants côte à côte et ils sont exactement les mêmes. MSC vous attribuera un restaurant à l’embarquement. La table est également choisie par MSC. Mais si je peux vous donner un conseil, c’est d’aller voir votre table le jour de l’embarquement et, si cela ne vous convient pas, vous pouvez demander au responsable des restaurants de la changer. Pour l’heure des dîners, vous pouvez la demander lors de la réservation. Pour nous, on nous avait donné une heure tardive, mais comme mentionné au numéro 2, nous avons demandé au responsable du restaurant et il n’y a eu aucun problème pour changer. L’heure du dîner dépend de vos préférences. Le choix est de savoir si vous voulez manger et voir le spectacle après, ou voir le spectacle et dîner ensuite. La tolérance de temps est d’environ 15 minutes. Pour éviter de faire la queue, arrivez 10 minutes après l’ouverture des portes. Les spectacles peuvent être réservés au plus tôt la veille sur les bornes interactives. Il y a deux théâtres à bord avec deux spectacles chaque jour. Pour notre part, nous avons pu assister aux deux spectacles dans la même soirée. Nous avions 19h45 comme heure de dîner. En contrepartie, nous avons manqué les couchers de soleil. Si vous avez d’autres questions, n’hésitez pas à nous les poser. C’est le but de notre chaîne d’essayer de vous aider. Bonne soirée à vous, Olivier.
Hello - You book with your MSC cabin card on board. Bookings can be made one day in advance using the interactive boards around the ship. Enjoy your cruise!
Thanks for your comment. We really hope you enjoy your cruise. We raised our disappointment about the food on board so we hope MSC has resolved some of the issues. We would be interested to hear your comments on your return.
Thanks for your comment. We mentioned these issues onboard to Reception staff and restaurant managers so hopefully MSC has resolved these issues. The ship itself is great!
Thank you for your feedback! You’re absolutely right, the MSC Grandiosa is indeed a ship, not a boat. I appreciate you pointing that out. My intention was to make the review accessible to a broader audience, but I understand the importance of using the correct terminology. I’ll be more mindful of this in future videos. Thanks for watching and for helping me improve!
@@offthetouristtreadmill7123 I just finished watching your video. Unfortunately, you guys seem to have expected a LOT for the present time cruises. It's a cheap bargain cruise line. I've sailed on several MSC ships, and from my experience it depends on where the ship is home port, on how the services/supplies will be. But after the pandemic, no washcloths (if that's your thing), no butter, no nothing extra...you have to ask and hopefully you will get it. It's not just MSC it's all the lines, even Cunard (Queen Mary 2), no more lobster every night. Lots of complaints in the reviews about that ship, which I go on in two months. But I don't expect much so I won't be disappointed. MSC has changed almost everything about their cruises since the pandemic. And in my opinion, their BEST cruise routes are in the middle-east. If you find one of their cruise ships enjoyable, then stay with that one and don't venture around. I'm going on the Virtuosa in a few months and expecting it to be terrible because it's always packed to the limits with long lines for everything. Their shows aren't rated high because some of their routes need to be in many different languages so they can communicate with everyone on board so most of time there will not be any narration. Also, most of the crew are new hires. The best staff members work in the Yacht Club actually and renew their contracts there because they get mega tips. I knew several crew members before the pandemic. They were excellent. But now they basically have all new staff and they're over worked. My advice to you guys is to go on one of their older/smaller ships and you will probably enjoy yourself more. But if you're thinking you will be treated like you're sailing in the Yacht Club, that wouldn't happen. Just straight out book the yacht club next time you sail. MSC is for people who are basically looking for a cheap cruise, which it is definitely. Talking about changes, MSC recently changed their booking inclusions, so many more things are not included and OBC are less too overall, and the prices are higher. Inflation is certainly showing, but people continue to book though. Thanks for your overview👍
Thanks for your very interesting comments and insights. Things have certainly seem to have changed in the year since we sailed on MSC World Europa. We did wonder if the staff and service were better on this ship as it’s their current flagship. When we complained onboard and raised this, they said it should be the same experience no matter the MSC ship. However, we agree with your comments about the impact of inflation. The experience was certainly completely different so we will take your advice and perhaps try a smaller cruise line next time or go for Yacht Club!
@@offthetouristtreadmill7123 Definitely, spend the extra money for the yacht club and totally enjoy your cruise. It shouldn't be that way but it is and the Yacht Club is the best ship within a ship concept. The others cruise lines have something similar but the reviews indicate there's nothing to compare, so YC is the winner. Unless you go on a separate luxury cruise ship that beats them all. Two of my cruises next year are in the yacht club. I actually had a luxury cruise booked on Explora Journeys (MSC's sister cruise line) but cancelled it because of the type of people (lots of influencers from RU-vid) that were sailing and still are sailing on that ship. Good luck 👍
Iám going first week of august.... Looking at this Wifi it's crazy. so when u out on see u will have no connection on your phone at all untill arriving at port ?
Hi - You can connect free to the ship’s hotspot that allows you to use the MSC app and to open the daily programme and menus. There are a number of other packages for wider internet access that range in price. Just back from MSC Grandiosa and remember seeing a sign onboard saying about €12 per day.
Hi we took the easy drinks package and it doesn’t look to be limited on how many drinks you can have but I will go to reception and ask for you. Stay tuned and subscribe to get notifications. Thanks for watching 🙏
Have you been on other cruise ships??? Personally I think MSC is by far the worse the quality is poor just my opinion, but I do hear this a lot from others to! Good ship terrible food
No, we haven’t yet. Going on another MSC cruise on Monday because we had a great experience. We ate exclusively in our allocated restaurant (not a fan of a buffet). We live in France so loved the Mediterranean menu/food and service. Olivier has experience in food industry so can be quite critical of food 😂 Guess we all have different food tastes. Great there are so many cruise lines to find your match 👍
Thanks for the video, I found it to be very believable and fair. Most of the other videos about cruises that I've seen seem to be pushing you one way or the other, I liked the way you explained your experience, and left it to the viewer to make up their own mind. I'll be going on that ship in Sep '24 for my first cruise ever. I'm really looking forward to it, and wanted to know more about how it might feel. Now I think I do, and I can't wait to go!
Thanks for your feedback. It means a lot to us that you found our review authentic and balanced. This was our first cruise too so we hope you enjoy your experience as much as we did. The MSC World Europa is a fabulous ship! Enjoy!
Weird how MSC were ok with you guys filming, yet they practically threw Ben and David off board for filming. But you think its weird that you were asked how you wanted your steak cooked!
We encountered no problems filming on board. Many other guests were also filming problem free. We didn’t think it was weird to be asked how we wanted our steak cooked. We were merely surprised given the number of passengers being fed at the same time. We were extremely impressed with the cuisine on board and the attention to detail!
We appreciate your support and feedback. Feel free to ask us anything you want to know. We have some exciting videos coming up about the cruise port, so don't miss them. We would love to hear about your cruise plans. When and where are you going?
we are going to the mediterranean departing from Palermo, Malta, Barcelona, , Marseille, Genoa, Civitavechi. 7 nights /8 days, leaving march 12th@@offthetouristtreadmill7123
Thanks for taking the time to pass on your experience, World Europa will be our first MSC cruise (December) and it has been really helpful to get some insight into what to expect. The evening meal hack will be particularly useful as we really dislike having to queue if it can be avoided. Good luck with the channel.
Thanks to you for your comment. We really appreciate it. Avoiding the queue for dinner improved our experience so much! Enjoy your cruise. We are sure you will love the ship!
thanks to both of you shara and olivier, merci bcp je suis un new follewer of your channel and i really appreciate your experience on borad, au fait olivier je suis grenoblois donc français comme toi, tu pourrais me renseigner nous avons pris le forfait easy drink que nous prenons habituellement pdt nos croisière chez MSC, et j'ai entendu dire que le forfait te donner par exemple accès à des alcools forts comme du whisky ou autre avec un choix unique de marque, et y a t'il vraiment un supplément dans certains bars ou les boissons de base comprises dans le forfait sont prenables dans l'ensemble des débits de boissons on board, merci de ton retour, cordialement à vous 2.
Bonjour ! Oui, je suis français et j’ai vécu à Lyon, pas loin de chez toi. En ce qui concerne les boissons, c’est un bon choix, mais tu ne peux pas les utiliser partout. Par exemple, tu ne peux pas les utiliser au pub ou au bar à champagne. Dans le package, tout est inclus, mais ce ne sont pas des grandes marques. Tu as également accès aux cocktails 🍸. Le bon plan, c’est d’aller au bar et de prendre des boissons de type coca ou petit bouteille d eau pour les visites en ville. Autre chose à savoir : au restaurant du petit déjeuner, tu peux demander un espresso ou un cappuccino, sinon ils te serviront un café filtre. Profite bien de tes vacances ! Nous allons réaliser des vidéos sur les ports que nous avons visités pour vous aider avec les excursions.
merci de ton retour express bon à savoir et effectivement ayant fait le msc grandiosa , le preciosa et le sea scape il y a 15 mois en croisiére a miami, je faisias la même chose. @@offthetouristtreadmill7123
Thank you for commenting. We loved our experience on board the MSC World Europa. Great cruise and interesting ports. Watch out for more videos about these soon!
Great video was looking for someone to give me an idea of what all place's to go as iam going on the same route and had no clue...... just a question did you guys booked and an excursion or just went by your selfs and if so how much did it cost for the excursion or transportation
Hello - Thanks for your comment. We visited each city on our own as they are very accessible. We walked into each city. Barcelona is further but there is a cheap port shuttle bus. We have written blog posts about our one day in each of the cruise ports on the Mediterranean cruise giving tips and our itinerary - Genoa, Messina, Valletta, Naples & Barcelona. Here is a link to one example in case you are interested: offthetouristtreadmill.com/one-day-in-genoa/ We are going to make video versions soon so please subscribe and watch out for these on our channel! Enjoy the cruise.
Wonderful video, thanks for posting it. We are booked on the Europa in late-2024, looking forward to it and now feel like we have some inside information. A special thanks to whoever did the editing, a lot of work, much appreciated!
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Your feedback means a lot to us and we are glad the information was helpful. We edit the videos ourselves so thanks for the compliment. We hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did!
Thank you for your review. You answered all the questions that I had. I'm not a cruise person, but I'm taking this same cruise out of Genoa as a means to visit these ports, not to participate in any of the ship's activities. Good to know that each city was walkable from the port. I'm a solo traveler and was worried about the number of people on World Europa but you answered my question about places that are quiet. I discovered quiet places on a previous MSC cruise on Fantasia. I had a great time and avoided all the crowded areas. Great tips. Thank you.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. We enjoyed discovering each city independently and never felt pressed for time. We’re sure you will meet other solo travellers on the ship. Enjoy your cruise and let us know your favourite port!
Thanks for watching! We live in the south of France and often in December the weather is pretty good. Stay tuned for more videos about each Mediterranean cruise port. Don’t forget to subscribe and ring the bell to receive our latest content.
Thanks for the review, very enjoyable. I'm going in June so great to see you thought highly of it. I always go to the signature restaurants, it really is worth it for as the food is much higher standard and there's no queues. Also they do let people in to shows without booking just as the show starts.
Thanks for your additional insights. It’s interesting to hear about the signature restaurants and that some of the empty seats are filled at the last minute. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for sharing your experience. I have a question regarding disembarkation. My cruise is on December and will disembark at Port CVT. The ship is scheduled to arrive at 7 AM and I need to catch a flight from FCO airport at 13:35. Do they let you disembark at any time after the cruise is docked? Can we bring all our luggages by ourselves when we disembark so we dont have to waste time waiting for luggages?
We’re glad you enjoyed our video. We disembarked in Marseille and it was all very efficient. On the night before we disembarked, we were asked to leave our bags outside our cabin before midnight. They were collected during the night and they were waiting for us in the port terminal as soon as we left the ship. We were given a time slot to disembark after docking but I’m sure you could request an earlier disembarkation time at the main reception if you are in a hurry. Hope this helps and enjoy your cruise!
Thank you so much!!!! We are hoping to book this ship soon. There are so many reviews that are bad we were scared. You both are so charming!!! I love this video so much. I hope you have time to answer some questions for me. We only speak English, will we enjoy the shows and entertainment? Why did you pick this itinerary rather than the other options? Is there a better drink package? Is there coffee in the room? (can I be any more American lol) Were there strollers everywhere?
Thanks very much for your valuable feedback! We really appreciate it. We made the video because we had read mixed views too! The Entertainment Manager introduced the shows in English and other languages but the shows were mainly singing and dancing and in English so no worries there. We picked this itinerary as we had not visited any of the destinations on the Mediterranean cruise. We took the basic drinks package with non-branded alcoholic drinks, cocktails, sodas and coffees but there are other options that include more choice. There were no tea and coffee facilities in the room but there were plenty of places to get coffee. If you have drinks package, you can order premium coffees from the waiter at breakfast too. We didn’t notice strollers everywhere but we were on the cruise in June out of school holidays. Hope this helps and have a fabulous cruise if you decide to go!
There are 3 alcohol packages to pick from.. Easy, Easy Plus and Premium. Premium includes most drinks (€14 and less), even a couple of champagnes and champagne cocktails at Champagne bar. If drink over your package limit then you pay difference. If can, get premium package at time of booking, it is cheapest way. If not, Easy plus is a good package. Premium, I believe, is only one can use in Coffee Emporium.. great coffees!
Yes you are right and English isn’t my native language, but calling lady female (with just one m to be correct) isn’t respectful for our ladies watching and in our channel we respect every one. Now if you don’t like the video, you are not compulsory to watch it.
Thanks for sharing your views. FYI..most medium and lower priced ships will always charge for Wifi, Specialty restaurants (except Norwegian), specialty coffees, champagne and sodas so its hard to escape that. Thank you for the info on the crowd experience because I was very concerned about shoulder to shoulder crowds everywhere. Hopefully, we will be equally lucky on our upcoming cruise!
Great video, i will be on world europa soon and will make good use of your valuable tips. Its a shame that the front of this ship is blocked off and that there is no full outer walk around the ship.
Thanks for your valuable feedback! I was a bit disappointed about not being able to walk around the entire ship on deck but it's pretty amazing inside and there are some lovely outdoor spaces to enjoy! It's fabulous. Have fun!
I love your review! Thank you. Which cabin did you end up reserving? I'm in the process of booking one for me and the kids. Wanted to know about your room if you don't mind sharing. I have 2 options - A BB outside cabin with balcony and a Aurea Junior Suite. There's a big difference in price so wanted to know your experience with your cabin :)
Thanks for your feedback and comment. We stayed in cabin 11190. Reservation says BR2 cabin and deluxe balcony. You can see our sea view cabin and balcony in our other Ship Tour video on this channel. We were very happy with our choice of cabin and its location on ship as it was near central bank of lifts. Hope this helps! Enjoy your cruise!
The main difference with the Aurea Junior Suite is obviously room size, somewhat upgraded layout and if that's important you will get access to the Solarium areas on the top decks and use of the Thermal areas in the Spa. Balcony cabins will not give you access to the spa area or the exclusive solarium. Hope that helps!
We are glad you enjoyed the video. We didn’t take the wifi package onboard as we managed to connect when we were in each port and this was enough for us. When you get first get onboard there are special information points to help with wifi.
@@offthetouristtreadmill7123 thank you. I bought the brows and stream package. Although I have T-Mobile and I can use the unlimited data worldwide, but I'm not sure how reliable their networks are. That's the reason I bought the Wi-Fi package to have it and to keep in touch with my family in the US. I thought about just buying the browse package but then I thought what if I cannot get on RU-vid or any sort of video calls