After getting throughly hooked on cruises thanks to Marella and NCL, I couldn't stop talking about cruises and at every opportunity!
Selling my friends on the idea of a cruise two were convinced and first up was my dear friend Jess and we had a fun one planned ...

• First time cruising with a friend

• First mini-cruise (3 Nights)

• First time with MSC Cruises

• on board their first purpose built and oldest ship

  
  oh and it was Jess' first cruise .... was slightly nervous

CRUISING WITH FRIENDS

Let me cut to the chase ... cruising with friends is great. I'll delve into it more in the other sections but some key things to consider:

• You'll be sharing a cabin and in most cases they won't be huge

  • Make sure the cabin is capable of twin beds if thats what your after - some cabins have fixed doubles

  • Avoid inside cabins for more than 2 people - balconies are the way to go for bigger groups

• If traveling in separate cabins make sure to link your bookings

  • You'll want to be able to board at the same time and share a table for meals - some cruise lines will require it or you might be separated

• Drinks packages need to be purchased for all in the cabin

  • If one of you doesn't drink it may still be cheaper overall to take the package and share the costs

Travel agents - yes I know I'm going to say it - but they are the best at arranging these as we can make sure all this is done for you and give you honest advice on it.

MINI CRUISE

These are the perfect cruises for friends - not only are they cheaper - but they make the perfect short break especially if you're joining in one of the great cities to explore. On this cruise we embarked in Valencia, a day at sea before a rescheduled stop in Olbia and got off in Rome. For a first time cruiser this was the perfect length to get a feel for this type of holiday. In Europe there are plenty of options for these mini breaks especially from MSC, Cunard and P&O.

Examples of 3-Night itineraries from MSC

If you're planning one I would highly recommend flying out the day before and having a night in hotel - less stress if there are any issues with your flights. I would also recommend 3 nights as a minimum, there are 2 night cruises available but you'll be left wanting more!

FIRST TIME WITH MSC

I'll do more on MSC including the Yacht Club (which I did with Jess again on a mini cruise!) ... but first impressions were great on this cruise! Embarkation was easy with MSC doing multiple embarkation days through the cruise so it wasn't too busy in Valencia that day. Yes that means there are lots of announcements and boarding through the week that can be a bit annoying at first buy you get used to it. The differences I noted compared with Marella and NCL was how it is truly a European line this shows in:

• Multi-lingual - the guests onboard spoke many languages and the line caters for that with announcements in multiple languages. It amazes me to this day how the Cruise Director speaks at least 6 languages - English (The primary language on MSC), Italian, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

• The food - Heavily mediterranean in style - great pasta and pizza available - breakfast has continental and a more typical British spread (especially when cruising from the UK)

• The entertainment - Latin music was the majority of the onboard entertainment, karaoke had plenty of Spanish and Italian bangers. The theatre shows relly less on words and more on music and spectacle

FIRST SHIP

And finally what about the ship? It's MSCs oldest and on of their smallest ... We weren't going to be zip-lining or in the 4D cinema on this one, would we have enough to do?

100% Yes, I loved this ship and so did Jess. MSC has looked after her an although she looks old due to the fittings just being from an earlier time, they were perfectly maintained. We loved spending time in the many bars across the decks, one of the misconceptions about smaller ships is the lack of facilities. That is true versus the mega sized ships we see now but the vast majority of larger ships a slightly larger footprint but are mainly taller. The public decks are still comparable ... so I found we had plenty of space on the ship and got to enjoy it fully.

The pool deck was a favourite, spacious with a good size pool and it takes up a huge amount of the space. This ship doesn't have the Yacht Club or other superstructures getting in the way so you end up with great outdoor space per passenger. Our ocean view cabin was good size with enough storage for our short trip. May have been a bit tight if we were on for a few more days.

WOULD I DO IT AGAIN?

Yes ... and we did!
It's fast becoming an annual tradition and I'll write about how we managed to get into a Yacht Club Deluxe Balcony cabin on the Virtuosa for about £370pp one day. In the meantime I can't recommend it enough if you want to have a short break away with friends.

Based in Newport, South Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿