Cruising – the perfect way to travel?

Three years ago, in May 2013, I have been on board a cruise ship for the first time. In this blog article I would like to give you a short overview of my first cruise and additionally some advice to people, who have never been on board a cruise ship.

To be quite honest I never really wanted to do a cruise. But accidentally I found an MSC catalogue in a travel agency and I began to rummage. A few weeks later I surprisingly booked a cruise on board MSC Divina.

After waiting for a long time, the day has finally come. We started our voyage by car. When we arrived at the bridge which is connecting Venice to the mainland we could already see many funnels. We were asking ourselves: "Which one could belong to our MSC Divina?”

When we finally arrived in port, we were overwhelmed by the giant ship. We directly grabbed our baggage and went straight to the Check-In hall. Everything went very fast and after half an hour we were on board MSC Divina. Immediately we were shocked by the luxurious and elegant design of the ship’s interior.

The friendly lady at the reception told us to discover the buffet restaurant (deck 14). We took the escalator and began to search… And as expected we got lost for the first time. Maybe we should have studied the deck plan in detail? :-) Finally, we found the buffet. There was a great variety of food, especially the Italian corner was amazing! If you are aboard an MSC cruise ship you should not miss the fresh pizza, which is really delicious.

After we had our first meal on board we decided to have a look at our cabin, to be more detailed: Our balcony cabin on deck 10. We really liked the design, the warm colours in combination to the paintings/pictures was perfect. There was only one negative point: The television was really small… but to be quite honest we never really used it. I really liked the daily newspaper: Every day you have the possibility to inform about weather conditions, board shops and other activities. Then there was an announcement: emergency drill in a few minutes. We grabbed our life vests and went to our meeting area (casino). There we listened to the instructions.

Literally speaking it was ‘Time to say goodbye’- Accompanied by this beautiful song we left Venice. Personally I prefer to enjoy harbour exits on deck, even if I have a balcony cabin. Especially in the stern section you will have the best views ever.

Dinner on board MSC ships takes part in two sittings. The first one around 7pm, the second one around 9pm. Our waiter was very friendly and attentive. We really enjoyed our evenings in the restaurant. In the À-La-Carte restaurant you always have the same table, which is a great aspect, because you do not have to search one every day.

In my opinion the ship’s itinerary was great: Venice and Bari, both in Italy. After that, one stop in Greece (Katakolon). Then MSC Divina took us to two ports in Turkey: Izmir and Istanbul. Day six was a relaxing day at sea. Dubrovnik in Croatia was the last port we called. After one week of cruising we arrived in Venice.

We have booked three excursions with MSC in advance: Katakolon (Olympia), Istanbul and Dubrovnik. To sum it up I would not do an excursion with the cruise company again. They are very expensive and often you do not have the possibility to do what you want or to take pictures. Sometimes you have to wait in the bus because the people in your group are too late. My tip: Take your time at home and plan your excursions in advance. There are so many travel guides and websites where you can get information. You will see that it is amazing to read new things about your destination and to enlarge your knowledge. Furthermore, you will save money because a self-organized trip is much cheaper (underground, bus, taxi, etc.).

The disembarkation: It was not complicated and very fast. In about 10 minutes we were staying in front of our car. Here my compliments go to the MSC stuff because they are really amazing and make your problems fade away.

Now I want to do a short summary: In my headline you find the question if cruising is the perfect way to travel. My personal answer: Almost. You have the possibility to spend your time on board amazing ships and to see a different place every single day. Additionally, you enjoy delicious food every day and the crew is always attentive and friendly. But there is one small negative point: Often you do not have enough time to discover a city. You cannot plunge into a different culture. A cruise is perfect to gain impressions. But in general I would say, that everybody should have done a cruise at least one time. It is an unforgettable experience and I already booked my second cruise a few weeks after I returned from my first one! So what are you waiting for? Go and book your own experience on board a cruise ship! You will not regret it.