We’ve just booked a very last minute cruise around the Northern European Port Cities departing Southampton on Hallowe’en! Normally we book everything well in advance so this is a bit of a change to say the least. We’d normally go away for the autumn, often to Cyprus, but this year we’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our first grand daughter and therefore have been at home. Frankly, we’ve got a bit “cabin-feverish” given the gloomy British weather and when we saw the offer on this cruise, it was a great temptation.
Basically, it’s a week round trip Southampton-Southampton on MSC Poesia calling at Hamburg, Rotterdam for Amsterdam, Zeebrugge for Bruges and Le Havre. We have never sailed with MSC, an Italian cruise line, before although we were booked on them 2 years ago to return from Dubai to Southampton after the winter in Goa. Unfortunately, it was cancelled due to the Houti rebel troubles in the Red Sea. So, this is a bit of a taster. MSC have a great loyalty programme. They status match with all the other cruise lines and a lot of hotel and airline programmes too. That’s pretty unique. So because we are top tier – Elite – with Princess Cruises, they have made us Diamond level, their top tier too. This gives us various privileges on board – priority embarkation and disembarkation, shop discounts, a free dinner in one of their restaurants, 2 cocktail parties, a bottle of prosecco, presents, a free photo etc etc…. Nice to have.
We booked their cheapest offering: an inside cabin on a Guarantee basis. It cost £325 each for the week, all food, entertainment, tips, mineral water and coffee but no alcohol. The Guarantee meant we didn’t actually get to pick which cabin we would be in, just the lowest grade of inside cabin. They “guaranteed” we would get at least that grade of cabin but possibly be upgraded. It must be said that in 25 years of cruising, we’ve never been upgraded, to the point where we’ve assumed it never happens. And in any case, you only get upgraded one level generally, so in our case it would be to a better class of inside cabin. So….. imagine our surprise to get an email telling us we’d been upgraded to their top level of balcony cabin! Not a balcony with an obstructed view, not an undesirable balcony position, but a deluxe balcony cabin just below the level of a suite. We were stunned and very pleased even though we recognise that the balcony itself will get little use on the North Sea in November. It’s a very nice thing to have!
We’ve had a look at the ports of call and planned what we will do in each one. In Hamburg, Amsterdam and Bruges we will do our own thing as it is easy to travel around and we’ve been to each one before, some many times. We’ve only been to Le Havre once before, again for a cruise port day. Frankly it wasn’t very appealing. We wanted to go to Honfleur, just across the river but it was a Sunday and buses were too limited and taxis wanted 125 euro each way. We very much regretted not booking the ship tour but by then it was too late. So… this time, even though it’s not a Sunday call, we have booked the ship tour to Honfleur and Etretat. In terms of on board packages, we have booked one internet package and we will share it. After all, 4 of the 6 days we will be in port and our O2 phones give us free access in Europe.
Anyway, it will be interesting to try them out as we expect them to be very different to the American/British cruise lines we are used to. They are always cheaper so it would be handy if we liked the experience. I’m sure they will not replace our preference to cruise with Cunard, but it’s always nice to have another alternative. They have a lot of ships and some good itineraries, particularly a lot of repositioning cruises which we like.
Anyway, join us from Friday as we head out to explore these great cities. Looking forward to it.