Mammys on MSC Part 1 of 2
Travelling and Embarkation: We took an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin which left early, with Aer Lingus in Dublin you can check your luggage in the night before and head to your airport hotel, I found this super useful as I just didn’t have enough hands to manage! The Aer Lingus staff onboard were superb as usual. We boarded in Barcelona, we were very excited at the first glimpses of the ship. Once we got to the port, we handed over our luggage, with the attached luggage tags to the staff at the port and proceeded into the cruise terminal building to check in. At check in we gave the relevant documents and were directed to the ship. Once onboard we went to our cabins to pick up our cruise card, which was waiting in the cabin door. We watched the safety video (which my 4 year old was strangely into) in the cabin before heading to our designated safety zone. After we did that, our cruise card was active. On the day of embarkation, I booked our speciality dining, which we had prepaid for when booking the holiday. This can only be done onboard, and the restaurants are small, so you need to book early to get the days that you want. I visited the kids club to see what I needed do. For the kids club for ages 4 and up, you don’t need to pre-book, you can just register and drop off and collect at any time. For the baby club, you need to register the day before. You can drop you baby at either 10-12 or 6-8, not both. Of our group, they chose the 6-8 so that they could have some dinner in the evening without the little ones. Of our group, which was 6 cabins, everyone’s luggage was delivered in the late afternoon or evening, apart from mine! I had accidently packed a very large scissors, which is forbidden, in it and it was taken by security. This meant I need to go to reception after dinner to collet it. Overall, it was very exciting to get on the ship, but also overwhelming as we were all first time cruisers, but it didn’t take us long to find our groove.
Cabins: My son and I had an inside cabin, which was fresh, modern, and more spacious than I had expected it to be. It was perfectly adequate for this trip, although I would definitely do a balcony cabin next time, as towards the end of the cruise I felt it would have been nice to have some extra fresh air. We also had our breakfast in the cabin a couple of mornings, and it would have been lovely to have the balcony cabin. Of our group, half did inside cabins, half did balcony cabins. I would also think of having an interconnecting cabin for the next cruise. Keep in mind with the balcony cabins at the back of this ship, they are over the Lani bar.
Port of Call and Excursions: The Ports of Call for this cruise were Marseille, Genoa, Naples, Messina, and Malta, as well as embarking and disembarking in Barcelona. I didn’t do much in Barcelona as I was there in September (check out my blog for more information) I also stayed on board in Marseille, however some of our group did get off to do the little training Marseille, which is perfect for younger children. We got off to do the aquarium in Genoa, which isn’t far from the port. We did the excursion with MSC as the time slots for Aquarium were already booked up directly with them, this meant it was a bit later when we got there so it was very, very busy, but again a perfect attraction for younger children. Some of our group when to Portofino, which was lovely. I stayed onboard in Naples, as I knew most people would be getting off, this was possibly one of the best decisions I made. It was so quite onboard. We spent the entire day at the pool and sun was shining. This was super chilled out and was just an absolute VIBE. In Messina, myself, and my son when to Mount Etna, which was so exciting for us, to be inside in a volcano. This was also organised by MSC and run very efficiently. We also stayed on board in Malta, but we could see the city walls from the ship, and it looked amazing, in hindsight I probably would have gotten off in Malta if I had pre-booked a short tour, but when I was looking at it there were only longer tours left.
On Board Activities: Oh, where to begin! We did the 5D cinema, bumper cars, Venom, which is the dry slide (over 8 years only), I didn’t get to do the waterslides but some of my group did, and they said they were excellent. An outdoor pool, an indoor pool. A little splash pool for smaller children, however there was nowhere to sit down and watch your kids, you had to be in the pool with them for that one. Friends of mine did the roller skating, and the formula racer. We went to see a show every night except the first day. They were out of this world, absolutely amazing. As well as the shows there were some impromptu street performances in the evening. We usually went to the Lani Bar at the back of the ship in the evening, for some music and for view of the ocean.
