Would you do this Med cruise?

[Anonymous]

My dad wants to take us and our 2 teens on a Med cruise next summer. I’ve never cruised, but my parents love it. Here is the route: MSC World Asia: Barcelona → Marseille → Genoa → Naples → Messina → Malta → Barcelona

Anyone been on this or a similar itinerary who can comment?

[Anonymous]

Sure! Dad wants to go

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't go on MSC as a first cruise, I think you'll be disappointed. I'd do royal Caribbean with teens

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't go on MSC as a first cruise, I think you'll be disappointed. I'd do royal Caribbean with teens

This is a brand new ship— maiden voyage in December— and the design leans towards some of the features of a royal caribbean ship.

I’m not a mega ship person and I guess if you really love all the features of royal caribbean you should go with that but it might be this is a good combination of a nice ship and a decent itinerary.

Anyway OP it’s hard to know if you’ll like cruising on a big ship but this isn’t an obviously bad way to find out.

You could poke around cruisecritic or reddit for more info if you want on MSC and those ports.

[Anonymous]

Nope, I don't like mega-large cruise ships. I'm from continental Europe and I've seen them dock in picturesque ports of the Mediterranean: they loom like monsters over the city. I know the tourism is needed, but... there's got to be a better way.

What I would love to do is rent a small sailboat with a skipper and sail around the Greek isles, just me and my family (we love to sail) or do a humanely sized cruise in the Norwegian fjords.

But if you want to try it, go ahead. Bring masks and hand sanitizer

[Anonymous]

One thing to be aware of is that the majority of the passengers will be European and it will probably be a fully-packed ship.

We did a similar cruise and were somewhat stunned by some of the differences in cultures when it comes to cruising.

For example, when the staff brought out new platters of food, it was not uncommon for one or two people from a family/group to bring plates over and take every single item off the platter(s) leaving none for everyone else.

I've seen some pretty grabby and selfish people on cruises but I'd never seen anything like this before. The cruise staff couldn't do anything about it.

In some culture, the idea of "all you can eat" has been translated as literally all YOU & YOUR FAMILY can eat- to hell with everyone else.

The same problems would crop up when it came to embarking/disembarking or anything else where you should have been lining up in a semi-orderly fashion. Some had no problem at all marching right past the line and cutting in front of everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad wants to take us and our 2 teens on a Med cruise next summer. I’ve never cruised, but my parents love it. Here is the route: MSC World Asia: Barcelona → Marseille → Genoa → Naples → Messina → Malta → Barcelona

Anyone been on this or a similar itinerary who can comment?

Those looks like good stops. From Naples, you can do Pompeii, for instance. Flying into Barcelona, you can have time to see the city and maybe do a beach day or even go to another Spanish city by train. I personally wouldn't do a Med cruise because I think one of the upsides of the Med area is wandering around towns and cities, dropping in for meals, etc.--for the price, I think I can get a better trip on land. But if it allows your father to join, and he is paying, I think it will be great. Like if the choice is this or Rehobeth, definitely this. If the choice is this or a private charter sailboat around the Adriatic like PP suggested, definitely that.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be nice, I'd like to go to Malta

[Anonymous]

Dad is taking you. Paying for it. Your parents have cruised before, and love it. Let them lead on this. Not every decision needs to be maximized for your pleasure. It will be good enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be nice, I'd like to go to Malta

Malta is a racist country

We went for three days it was just sickening. Indentured servants as hotel employees.

[Anonymous]

MSC? No.

[Anonymous]

It is a gift from your parents! It's either you can make it or not, not well I have a better idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be nice, I'd like to go to Malta

Malta is the most corrupt fake democracy in all of Europe. They murder journalists to silence reporting on government corruption. They have a state religion (Catholicism) and they're deeply socially conservative. No abortion, no homosexuality, etc. I don't want to subsidize that kind of society.

[Anonymous]

Free Med cruise? Absolutely! Even on MSC.

We cruise annually, and we’ve done a Med cruise.

You are barely on the ship when you cruise the Med, so you don’t need to worry about the ship as much as the itinerary/ports.

If you are doing it right, you get off the ship early and eat breakfast and lunch in port. Depending how late you are in port, sometimes you can eat dinner on land as well. Bottom line: no need to worry about msc food reviews.

The sunsets in the Med are amazing!

Now if you are looking for a better itinerary, I would suggest finding a smaller ship (less lines coming and going) with stops you are interested in. Having said that, your proposed itinerary looks good. I’d avoid Greece because it’s a cattle call in most tiny ports. We cruised 11 nights throughout Italy, Croatia, and Montenegro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be nice, I'd like to go to Malta

Malta is the most corrupt fake democracy in all of Europe. They murder journalists to silence reporting on government corruption. They have a state religion (Catholicism) and they're deeply socially conservative. No abortion, no homosexuality, etc. I don't want to subsidize that kind of society.

Malta is not anti-LGBT. In fact, the country has some of the most progressive and comprehensive LGBT rights laws in the world. It frequently ranks at the very top of European human rights indexes alongside countries like Spain and Belgium.