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Last trip offshore was really crazy so didn't get time to post about the wonderful cruise we took from Bridgetown Barbados, visiting Port of Spain Trinidad: Port de Pitirie Gudaloupex2, Fort de France Martinique, La Romana DR, St Kittsx3, Castries St Lucia, St Georges Granada, St John's Antigua, & Kingstown St Vincent, on the MSC Fantasia. https://www.msccruises.co.uk/en-gb/D...-Fantasia.aspx
For those not interested in cruising or Ship details, the notes & phot's of cigars skip to the next post.
Our previous & first cruise had been on the MSC Armonia, departing & returning twice to Habana, so no guesses which tour suited me best! Second problem for me was the size of this vessel, having spent most of my working life at sea, I have never fancied sailing on anything bigger than HMS Illustrious.
Lusty was 22,000Tons, 210meters in length & carried a crew of 685, + Aircrew 366 (when embarked) & could take 200+ Royal Marines during exercises so a max of 1,200POB.
Titanic: was 46,328Tons, 269meters in length & carried Pax 2,435 + 892 Crew = 3,327POB (with a lifeboat capacity 1,178, just enough for the women, children & millionares).
Armonia: is 65,500Tons, 251meters in length & carries Pax 2,679 + 721 Crew -=3,400POB.
Fantasia: is 138,000tons, 330Meters in length & carries Pax 4,363 & crew 1,370 + 5,733POB!
So the Fantasia weighing in at 5 times the bulk of the Lusty, with nearly 5 times the POB gave me some concerns. We hadn't been able to port in Mexico on the Fantasia because of high winds (not seas) but the Fantasia was even higher, with 18decks to the formers 13. My wife had been bed ridden for the last two days of our trip after the failed Mexican docking & that rather put the shine of the end of our first cruise. The larger ships can't enter the small ports with shallower water so have to decant pax into tenders which can take up to 2hrs each way. We experienced this several times on the Armonia & wasn't the Armonia crowded enough? On the plus side we had spoken to several pax on the Armonia, who were rather disappointed, having sailed on other MSC ships including the Fantasia so as we were happy enough with the accomm & service on the Armonia, we wondered how much better it could be on the Fantasia?
Fantasia Positives: 80% of cabins have balconies & we had a free upgrade to a balcony room & free drinks package. This is a considerable saving & was the reason we took the trip in the end. The ship was far newer & was reflected in better design, especially the main atrium, which had magnificent crystal stair cases, which must have cost a bomb but which they surely recouped in the takings of the photographers posing pax on them. It gave a central meeting place & with a pianist & singer there in the evenings, it was a good start or finish to the evening.
There was a swimming pool with Wimbledon style closing roof if the weather turned wet & even a large library - which sad to say was one of the treasures we failed to discover.
From a smokers point of view, the good news is there is still a cigar lounge & unlike the Armonia, this one had a bar within it, which was open in the evenings. The only place on the open decks you could smoke was at the upper aft bar. On the Armonia, they allowed smoking on the Stbd side of the pool deck, where most of the entertainment was carried out, on the Fantasia the smokers were very much isolated on their own, which is more hassle when your partner doesn't smoke & or even sit where she can smell it.
We never decanted by tender but were always alongside a jetty, this was a big plus in my mind & must have been down to their choice of ports.
The pax numbers were down as this was low season (tail end of the hurricane e season) so there were plenty of empty seats in the dinning rooms. One business decision MSC made that helps them out at this time of year was giving discounts to the local populations of the islands we visited. As they already didn't have to pay air flights (some didn't even pay for taxis, friends dropped them off), MSC relied on them creating some ambiance (no one wants to be on a half empty ship) & of course once onboard they spent plenty so a good deal for all. On our cabin deck we were the only Europeans waving from our balcony as we left Trinidad. Of course one must beware not to assume too much. One brash Brit asked a West Indian couple what they would recommend seeing in the next port? 'I wouldn't know man, we're from Bradford!
Negatives: Due to the Sept hurricanes (3days after we made our booking) we were re-routed as 3 island stops had been decimated & Barbuda had been totally evacuated & they are still living on Antigua.
This couldn't be helped but we felt the re-arrangements could have been better. Visiting anywhere x3 is pushing it, somewhere as small as St Kitts? We would certainly expected to go back to Barbados a day early so we could explore more there, as after all it was the largest island we visited.
Smoking: The Cigar Lounge had very poor extraction & was constantly crowded with white stick smokers, basically it was a constant fog. I had a cigar in there on my birthday & didn't bother going back. As you weren't supposed to smoke on your balcony, they only other place was the upper after bar. This worked out reasonably well during our stay as the weather was dry & the breezes not too strong but very little cover there so you could have days of your trip where this isn't a good option to sit down for an large cigar that might take an hour or two.
OK, so would I recommend MSC for a cruise? Yes & the crew were really good & fine entertainment. The Armonia? Yes, if you wanted a quieted more laid back, more smoker friendly cruise but beware it is the oldest ship in their fleet. Check out the website the descriptions are pretty accurate. The Fantasia? Yes but if you go at peak season, I can imagine the queues for everything will be longer & dinner service slower. The Habana based tour is excellent but there is a smaller German cruiser called the Berliner, that takes in various ports around Cuba. I would love to do that but the wife is worried it will move too much for her in any rough seas. I know we have a few cruising types so hope some of you found that interesting, the cigars will follow on the next post.
For those not interested in cruising or Ship details, the notes & phot's of cigars skip to the next post.
Our previous & first cruise had been on the MSC Armonia, departing & returning twice to Habana, so no guesses which tour suited me best! Second problem for me was the size of this vessel, having spent most of my working life at sea, I have never fancied sailing on anything bigger than HMS Illustrious.
Lusty was 22,000Tons, 210meters in length & carried a crew of 685, + Aircrew 366 (when embarked) & could take 200+ Royal Marines during exercises so a max of 1,200POB.
Titanic: was 46,328Tons, 269meters in length & carried Pax 2,435 + 892 Crew = 3,327POB (with a lifeboat capacity 1,178, just enough for the women, children & millionares).
Armonia: is 65,500Tons, 251meters in length & carries Pax 2,679 + 721 Crew -=3,400POB.
Fantasia: is 138,000tons, 330Meters in length & carries Pax 4,363 & crew 1,370 + 5,733POB!
So the Fantasia weighing in at 5 times the bulk of the Lusty, with nearly 5 times the POB gave me some concerns. We hadn't been able to port in Mexico on the Fantasia because of high winds (not seas) but the Fantasia was even higher, with 18decks to the formers 13. My wife had been bed ridden for the last two days of our trip after the failed Mexican docking & that rather put the shine of the end of our first cruise. The larger ships can't enter the small ports with shallower water so have to decant pax into tenders which can take up to 2hrs each way. We experienced this several times on the Armonia & wasn't the Armonia crowded enough? On the plus side we had spoken to several pax on the Armonia, who were rather disappointed, having sailed on other MSC ships including the Fantasia so as we were happy enough with the accomm & service on the Armonia, we wondered how much better it could be on the Fantasia?
Fantasia Positives: 80% of cabins have balconies & we had a free upgrade to a balcony room & free drinks package. This is a considerable saving & was the reason we took the trip in the end. The ship was far newer & was reflected in better design, especially the main atrium, which had magnificent crystal stair cases, which must have cost a bomb but which they surely recouped in the takings of the photographers posing pax on them. It gave a central meeting place & with a pianist & singer there in the evenings, it was a good start or finish to the evening.
There was a swimming pool with Wimbledon style closing roof if the weather turned wet & even a large library - which sad to say was one of the treasures we failed to discover.
From a smokers point of view, the good news is there is still a cigar lounge & unlike the Armonia, this one had a bar within it, which was open in the evenings. The only place on the open decks you could smoke was at the upper aft bar. On the Armonia, they allowed smoking on the Stbd side of the pool deck, where most of the entertainment was carried out, on the Fantasia the smokers were very much isolated on their own, which is more hassle when your partner doesn't smoke & or even sit where she can smell it.
We never decanted by tender but were always alongside a jetty, this was a big plus in my mind & must have been down to their choice of ports.
The pax numbers were down as this was low season (tail end of the hurricane e season) so there were plenty of empty seats in the dinning rooms. One business decision MSC made that helps them out at this time of year was giving discounts to the local populations of the islands we visited. As they already didn't have to pay air flights (some didn't even pay for taxis, friends dropped them off), MSC relied on them creating some ambiance (no one wants to be on a half empty ship) & of course once onboard they spent plenty so a good deal for all. On our cabin deck we were the only Europeans waving from our balcony as we left Trinidad. Of course one must beware not to assume too much. One brash Brit asked a West Indian couple what they would recommend seeing in the next port? 'I wouldn't know man, we're from Bradford!
Negatives: Due to the Sept hurricanes (3days after we made our booking) we were re-routed as 3 island stops had been decimated & Barbuda had been totally evacuated & they are still living on Antigua.
This couldn't be helped but we felt the re-arrangements could have been better. Visiting anywhere x3 is pushing it, somewhere as small as St Kitts? We would certainly expected to go back to Barbados a day early so we could explore more there, as after all it was the largest island we visited.
Smoking: The Cigar Lounge had very poor extraction & was constantly crowded with white stick smokers, basically it was a constant fog. I had a cigar in there on my birthday & didn't bother going back. As you weren't supposed to smoke on your balcony, they only other place was the upper after bar. This worked out reasonably well during our stay as the weather was dry & the breezes not too strong but very little cover there so you could have days of your trip where this isn't a good option to sit down for an large cigar that might take an hour or two.
OK, so would I recommend MSC for a cruise? Yes & the crew were really good & fine entertainment. The Armonia? Yes, if you wanted a quieted more laid back, more smoker friendly cruise but beware it is the oldest ship in their fleet. Check out the website the descriptions are pretty accurate. The Fantasia? Yes but if you go at peak season, I can imagine the queues for everything will be longer & dinner service slower. The Habana based tour is excellent but there is a smaller German cruiser called the Berliner, that takes in various ports around Cuba. I would love to do that but the wife is worried it will move too much for her in any rough seas. I know we have a few cruising types so hope some of you found that interesting, the cigars will follow on the next post.
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