MSC Cruise out of Genoa to Civitavecchia, Palermo, Malta, Barcelona, Marseilles

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Continuing on the theme of being hungry and food, today was also the first time we experienced Afternoon Tea on the MSC Preziosa Top Sail lounge. Afternoon tea is served from 5pm to 6pm, everyday. Some of the tables in the lounge were laid out for tea. You don't have to pre-book. Just turn up and grab a seat!

A butler will come around with a trolley, and your choice of tea would be prepared before you. Can't remember how many choices they had, but we chose Earl Grey.

The lounge wasn't crowded at all. In fact, it was rather empty.

The food is served. Delectable.

These cucumber sandwiches were my favourites. I ate too many of them!

Check out the movie I made, of our afternoon tea experience.

 

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GOING FOR THE SHOW
This evening, we decided to go watch the show first before going to dinner. Well, we were very full from afternoon tea. The show was advertised as SWING, featuring 2 singers and the Preziosa dancers.

This was the main theater, which was very large. I think it seats about 1,700.

We decided to sit higher up, in the circle seats. The reason is that it would be easy to leave the theatre early and go to dinner, if we did not like the show.

The front row seats in the circle were awesome. It was a glass panel and you had an unobstructed view. In this video, I show you the Cruise Director coming on stage to introduce the show. Not supposed to record the actual show.

How did I find the actual show? Well, the dancing was ok, but I didn't fancy the singing too much. Not that the singers weren't good, but perhaps I just wasn't impressed. Oh well, I'm no expert in entertainment, but suffice to say that after about 20 minutes of the show, my family decided to leave and make our way to the suite restaurant for dinner.

The Platinum theatre is at the front of the ship. So we had to walk to the aft to get to the suite restaurant. On our way to the restaurant, we passed the Centrum and it was quite lively, with live music. There were two guitarists, singing.

Were they singing in English? No. But I found this song that they sang to be rather familiar. Must have heard it before somewhere, on the radio or internet. Watch the video, if somebody can tell me the name of this song, I'd be grateful.

They were having some sale of goods here. In fact, I think they brought out stuff to sell every night. Notice the ladies bags on the right side. My wife told me the bags were reasonably priced, though she didn't buy any.

 

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DAY 2 DINNER

Alright, we have reached dinner on Day 2. Second of seven wonderful dinner onboard MSC Preziosa Yacht Club. First let's check out the menu. There was shrimp cocktail this evening. I am going to have that!

For the main, I was going to choose the meat, which is from the Tex Mex speciality restaurant. Looks very interesting.

I mentioned earlier that the red and white wines for the evening were always different. Tonight, I remembered to take a photo of them. I asked for two glass, one white and one red, so that I could try both.

This was the white wine. It was very drinkable.

This was the red, also good. I must say I'm no wine expert, so please take my review with a pinch of salt.

I shared earlier, in response to a question, that my kids wanted to order from the adult menu. It made them feel a lot more grown up, and as parents we also hoped that they eat more adult food. But sometimes, they get tired of it, so tonight one of my kids had this chicken breast with fries, which was pretty good too. I think they have this chicken breast every night.

And this meat dish was definitely the highlight of my meal (with the prawn cocktail a close second). This was awesome. Cooked perfectly and went so well with the red wine. Looking at this photo now is making me very hungry.

Check out my video of the meal for the other dishes we ate. Another excellent dinner.

I realised that without all the photos and videos I took I would have long forgotten what I did on the cruise on certain evenings. The human memory just cannot store so much information, or maybe I am just getting old. So, on this eveing, after the dinner, I can say with 100% certainty that I went to the Top Sail Lounge, got a drink and something to eat!

This was my drink, together with some nuts.

This were the aperitifs I had in the lounge.

Look at those dressed up strawberries! Delicious looking but I was too full for an more food.

This video shows you the food in the Top Sail lounge that evening. As I was having my drink, they started to clear out the food and put in new ones. Transiting from aperitifs to late night sweets. Cool.

Dinner in the buffet

Earlier this evening, before we went to the suite restaurant for dinner, I took a walk around the Inca buffet to check out what was served for dinner. This is the video I made.

Overall, I think the food selection at dinner isn't as good as Royal or NCL. Definitely not as good as Celebrity. But that is just my observation. Also, about half the buffet area was closed. I guess they don't 'expect too many passengers to go to the buffet lines for dinner. They had bar seating like these, which was cool.

Some meat and roasted vegetables on skewers.

And some desserts.

 

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DAY 3 PALERMO ITALY
Today was Day 3 of our 7N cruise. The ship MSC Preziosa was due to dock at Palermo, Italy. Check out the MSC Daily. Arrival was 10am and all aboard at 1630. The day in port wasn't too long, but we'll make do.

Palermo is the capital city of Sicily, and I am sure it had a glorious past.

We had some time in the morning and we certainly did not have to wake up early. So we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast in the suite restaurant. I took this photo with the little bottles of jam.

This video shows you some snippets of the breakfast we had. And thereafter we went to check out the One Pool and Top Sail lounge to see what else there was to eat! I know, greedy. But hey, we are on a cruise.

At the aft of Deck 15, is the Garden Pool.

In this video I show you the Garden Pool, which is at the aft of the ship. Nobody was swimming this morning. This being winter, it was a bit cold.

Plenty of Deck Chairs for you to choose from.

The MSC logo, on the MSC Preziosa.

A view of the Vertigo waterslide. MSC claims that the Vertigo waterslide is the longest single body water slide at sea - 394 feet! I rode the slide once and screamed a lot. That video is on the first page of this review.

But I decided to put the water slide video here again, just in case you missed it.

A picture of the main pool. I count a grant total of one person swimming.

This was taken in the One Pool area. You can see the ash trays on the tables. This section of the One Pool allows smoking.

Snapshot of what was available for breakfast at the One Pool.

Thereafter, we went back to our cabin to rest, and watch the sail in to Palermo!

I could see the port. We were getting close. There was a ferry leaving port.

And as we were docking, another ship came in. Here is a video.

Like our ship, the Costa ship came into port, did a turn, before backing in. This was to facilitate easy departure later this evening.

The Costa ship came right by us. They were so near, we could throw something over, I think. Anyway, I didn't try. Plenty of people on the sun deck, watching the sail in. If you watched my video, you could hear me yelling. Yeah, I get crazy sometimes.

Alright, it was time to disembark. It was a bright, sunny and rather warm day. We have never been to Palermo before. The plan was to take a long walk into the historic city center (yes, you read correctly, walk) and then find our way to the Palatine Chapel. Thereafter, maybe even walk back to the ship. Sounds very strenous? I guess it was somewhat energetic, but we decided that we needed more exercise. Anyway, the distances didn't look too far. Just walk at a leisurely pace.

 

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This video shows you snippets of the walk. As we head out of the ship, there were many private tour vendors and tuk-tuk drivers canvassing for business. So, plenty of private tour options, and there was no real need to book a ship's tour.

In case you are wondering how I navigated the walk, I was using the GPS on my phone and an app called CityMaps2Go. The cost of this app is marginal (less than $5 i think) and I have used it very successful for many trips now. The app does not need data, so no hefty roaming charges. However, you must remember to download the map for the city that you are visiting before your trip, otherwise there is no map on your phone for the GPS signal to map against.

From the historic city center, I think we did turn and kept walking along a straight road that would bring us to the Chapel Palatine.

A photo of the junction at the historic center.

In this video, some snippets of the walk and I observe some of the architecture along the way.

More pictures of the scenery along the way. We are headed towards the chapel.

 

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PALATINE CHAPEL
We made it! Cost to enter was 15 Euros. Today we could see many things. I can't remember how much they charged for my kids but I think it was free of charge.

There was a group from MSC too, at least I think so. I say some of the with tour stickers from MSC, and this chap carrying an MSC bagpack.

I was pretty sure this group in front of us was from the MSC Preziosa, I think a ship's tour. Ah, I remember now, I was holding my tickets and as my family approached the gate, the tour guide for the MSC group looked at me and then told the gate attendant that I was not part of her group. Haha. Yeah, I just waved my tickets at her.

We were behind the large group from the ship, and behind us there were no more visitors. That is the good thing about travelling in winter. Not too many people. We were told that during summer, this place could get really packed. Looking behind us, there isn't that much space to stand in line either.

Getting in took a bit of time because they did security checks like airport. We had to put our bags through an X-ray. We got through that quite quickly, and went through some restoration exhibit before heading up the stairs towards the chapel.

The entrance to the Palatine Chapel is on the left.

This is the video I made while inside the chapel. It is quite a gorgeous chapel with a small an intimate feel. Dating from the 12th Century, this was a chapel for the Norman Kings. Quite a sight. Glad we made the trip, as this chapel is quite different from what we have seen in all our travels so far.

Here are some still pictures from within the Chapel. It has an intimate yet awesome feel. You can see the MSC group here. The guide was giving them a very thorough brief of the mosiacs and the history.

Given that this place was build in the 12th Century, I guess there must be many stories over the years. This is a picture of the ceiling. Look at the detail! Amazing.

Glad that this chapel has been preserved through the centuries.

 

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We didn't stay for too long. The kids were getting restless, can't blame them.
I caught this sign on the way out. Made me pause. Who was King Ruggero II? Year 1130 AD? Wow. Back home, I googled the name. From wiki, I learnt that this King was Roger II of Sicily. He lived from 1095 to 1154. He became the King of Sicily in 1130. He went on to become one of the greatest European Kings of those times. It appeared that this King was very open to learning, and capable men of diverse nationalities served under him. I am sure books have been written about this era of history. But what struck me most was Kings come, and Kings go. Here I am, in 21st Century, looking back at a chapel commissioned by a King way back in 1130. We are alive for a season, but Christ is eternal. This is not our world, this is our Father's world.

Oh well, I guess the more cynical among us would say, if you want to leave a legacy for the future generations to remember you, just built a nice chapel. Haha That is another way to look at the issue. For some reason, I took a picture of the tickets. Useful? Perhaps. A 21st Century ticket to visit a 12th Century icon. I can almost write a song. (Side note - there were 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids, but I got a bunch of tickets like these and I didn't know how to read Italian so I didn't know which ticket is for which attraction. So I ended up handing the whole pile at the entrances to the various exhibits within this tourist attraction.)

Alright, we didn't spend too long in the Chapel. After the chapel, we could also visit some residence/meeting rooms of the government (or was the President), I can't remember already but those rooms weren't memorable and since they didn't allow me to take photos of that place, I have long forgotten what they were all about.

This picture was taken just outside the tourist attraction. We are on our way back to the ship now and I spotted this cactus (?). I think it was a cactus but I paused for a moment because I hadn't expected to see a cactus here.

I was sorely tempted to touch the plant but was quickly reminded by my dear wife that they had thorns and unless I wanted to bleed all the way back to the ship, I should just look at the plant from afar. Ok, "see no touch". Take photos also can. (Singlish speaking)

As we were walking, this mini train came right past us. Pretty cool. Not sure where to board the train from though. I didn't see this at the port gates earlier. Maybe next time.

Back at the historic city center, just around the corner, there was this fountain structure which apparently was rather famous. Officially, this was a Renaissance fountain in the Piazza Pretoria in Palermo by Francesco Camilliani. However, this fountain is also known as the 'Fountain of Shame'. Why? Plenty of nude figures, in lewd poses, with lewd stares etc.

Another picture before we move on.

Now we begin to walk back to the ship. By this time, we were a bit tired. Still, there was plenty of time. So we could take a leisurely walk back.

From here, you can see the ship in a distance. From the historic center, we took about 30-40 minutes to walk back. Weather was very nice for walking. Kudos to wife and kids for keeping up with the walk. Plenty of exercise chalked up, but that was the plan anyway.

Almost there. We can see the ship. MSC Preziosa.

The two ships in port. MSC Preziosa and the Costa Mediterranea. Both MSC and Costa are Italian cruise lines. From this angle, the Preziosa looks a lot bigger than the Mediterranea.

A closer view of the aft of the MSC Preziosa. You can see the aft cabin balconies.

Spotted some passengers embarking at this port. Check out the luggage. Not sure where the cruise terminal to embark/disembark is. Didn't go through the cruise terminal on the way out. Looked like these passengers came here via some Port Terminal bus.

When I first saw these staircase up the ship, I was like... whoa... that looks rather steep doesn't it? I don't recall having to climb down such a steep staircase when we got off the ship earlier, and in fact we did not! If you check out my earlier video on walking to the Chapel, you will see the video start from when we scanned our sea pass cards to get off the ship and the most gentle ramp slope to get off the ship. So what was this all about? Turns out that these staircase was for embarking passengers! Ok. Good luck. We re-entered the ship by the way we exited earlier, a nice gentle ramp.

We got back on board very easily because the lines were very short, as it was still early. It was definitely before 2pm as we headed to the suite restaurant for lunch. After the lunch, we stepped outside and saw the long lines of passengers waiting to get back on board. Check out this video. The all aboard time was 4:30pm and this video was taken at around 3pm. Unfortunately, this is one feature of cruising MSC. The lines to get off and get back onboard can be very long, especially during peak times. Fact of the matter is that this ship is big and packs in many, many passengers.

A still picture. Not sure whether the lines grew even longer as 4:30pm approached.

 

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Back on board, it was lunch time! This was a short video I made of the lunch experience.

Part of the lunch menu.

The seafood pasta.

The beef, which was really good too!

After the lunch, in our usual style, we went to the One Pool and Top Sail lounge to check out the food there, and ended up eating some more. Gluttons, I know. Here is a video I made. We found Nasi Goreng (Indonesian style fried rice) at the One Pool. Couldn't resist!

Watching the Costa ship as we sailed out of port on the MSC Preziosa.

This video shows the Preziosa sailing out from Palermo, and we stand outside on our balcony, watching the Costa ship. Earlier this morning, we watched the Costa ship come into port. This evening, we are leaving first. Goodbye Palermo!

Soon, it was time for dinner. Yeah, eat again. I know. Hence the long walk this morning. Even with all the additional walking, I would still gain weight after this cruise. Here is a video I made of the Gala Dinner experience.

The white wine for this evening.

It was Gala Night tonight. We would have two gala nights this cruise. This was the menu.

The house red for this evening.

Cheers!! By now, our waiter (we had the same waiter every night) knew my preference. I would always want to both House white and red.

The escargots, snails!

I had the beef, which was really good.

Dessert, some crepe suzette.

After dinner, a walk around the ship is always good. The Centrum was very lively, as you can see in this video.

Also live music at the Cafetteria Italia.

A picture of the violinist and pianist in the Centrum.

Life Boats. Walking at Deck 7, I was looking at the lifeboats and decided to make a video about them.

I explored Eataly, the speciality restaurant. We didn't eat in any speciality restaurant for this cruise.

Since this was Gala Night in the suite restaurant, it would also be Gala night in the Main Dining Room. Realising this, I walked to the MDR to take this photo. Sorry, it isn't standing up correctly, but you should be able to make out the menu for Gala Night. For the mains, the had a choice of fish, leg of lamb, fillet of beef of a vegetarian option.

I have come to the end of Day 3, Palermo, Italy. I hope you have enjoyed the review so far. Tomorrow, the ship will be in Malta and we will have a wonderful day.

 

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Valletta, Malta - Day 4 of cruise
Today, the ship will call at Valletta, Malta. When we booked this cruise, about a year ago, the ship was scheduled to dock at Tunis. Unfortunately, tragedy struck with the mass shootings of passengers from the ship. Condolences to all the deceased in that horrific act of terror. As a result, the itinerary was changed and instead, we would call at Valletta, Malta.

Let me start with pictures of the MSC Daily.

Bottom part of the front page.

Entertainment highlights.

As the ship was only going to dock at 10am, we had plenty of time in the morning, for breakfast and to relax on board. We had breakfast in the suite restaurant, as usual. In this video, I just highlight the very nice bottled yogurt that we can get in the YC areas. I couldn't find this yogurt in the main buffet.

This is the MSC Express. One of my kids must have asked for this.

We had some time after breakfast to wander around. So I went up to check out the kiddy water play area. Hadn't taken a close look at it the last time round. So here is a video.

They have this Top 18 Exclusive Solarium. You have to pay some money to use this space.

How much? I took this picture. I didn't pay to go up, so I have no idea how that area looks like.

Approaching Malta.

I wasn't the only person out of deck. Many passengers were up here to watch the beautiful sail in. Good weather today.

The scenery as we sailed in was great! In this picture, I am back on the balcony of my cabin.

Looking gorgeous in the sunlight.

The ship had to make a turn using her azipods, before moving backwards to get into port. This was to facilitate leaving port later. Azipods in action to turn the ship around. As we sailed in, backwards first, we spotted this 3 mast luxury yacht. Wow.

I made a video of this part of the sail-in and also captured the luxury yacht. Check it out!

At about this time, on the cabin TV, I noticed that they were playing advertisements from Etihad. Are MSC and Etihad in some alliance? Or maybe Etihad just bought advertisment space. Not sure.

The ship has docked in Valletta, Malta. From our balcony, I took this picture and noticed some interesting ships ahead of us.

And there was a submarine! Best part, it started to leave port. Looked like a tug boat was helping the submarine to make a sharp turn.

 

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Fun to watch! I made this video while watching the submarine leave port. Incidentally, this was the second time I have spotted a submarine while on a cruise. The first was on the NCL Jade, when we saw a submarine sailing on the Bospherous Straits.

Alright! Enough submarine watching (which was fun). Time to get off the ship.

The port was very convenient. We got off the ship.

A map of the waterfront. You have to walk along the waterfront (many shops) to the end where there are many private tour operators and taxi operators canvassing for business.

We walk along the waterfront. Pretty pleasant. Many private tour operators at the end of this short walk and the fares looked reasonable. For us, we ended up going with a white taxi company. We bought a 4-hour package (for 80 Euros) and the driver would bring us to the major sites, like Blue Grotto and Mdina. Follow along!

We were on our way! In the white taxi, which looked like this.

A very short video clip from the front passenger seat as we were leaving the port area. In Malta, the driver sits on the right side of the vehicle, like in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia. Makes sense - they were a former British colony too. Officially, they were called the Crown Colony of Malta, from 1813 to 1964. Fascinating, when compared to Singapore. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819 and we became fully independent in 1965. Very similar time frame.