StuartThis MSC Meraviglia cruise started off at Genoa then called at Marseilles, Barcelona, Cadiz, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton, Le Havre and ended up in Hamburg. We had 3 days at sea. We didn’t go on any MSC excursions as we like to explore on our own as we can get a better feel for a place that way. We are not going to go into the ports of call in detail but give you a brief overview with any tips we picked up.
GENOA
We flew into Milan Linate and took a car here (220 euros one way for a chauffeur driven Mercedes) as we stayed here for 4 nights before the cruise in the NH Genova Central. The hotel is very near everything in this historic city and it takes about 15 minutes to walk to the Aquarium on the waterfront. I will write a separate post about this in more detail.
MARSEILLE
Things didn’t get off to a good start at Marseille as the free shuttle bus from MSC Meraviglia was not running due to a general strike in France. We didn’t find this out until we had walked 20 minutes to the port shuttle stop where a sign stated it wasn’t running. As it was too far to walk into town and the fact we had to walk another 20 minutes back to the ship in extremely hot conditions (it was unseasonably hot this day). We gave up trying to go into Marseille and got back on board. We also factored in that my partner had been to Marseille before and it wasn’t much to write home about. A warm welcome with a cold glass of prosecco in the Yacht Club made up for this.
BARCELONA
We have visited Barcelona a couple of times before and, as much as some people absolutely love this city, we feel we missed the point. Gaudi’s cathedral is amazing but the city on this day was very crowded and quite expensive. You need to get the MSC Meraviglia shuttle bus from the ship and you can either get the ship or port organised options. We took the former which was a greater cost (9 euros return) but meant it just removed the hassle. We did see some people walking but it was a long way into the centre.
CADIZ
Cadiz is a lovely city consisting of the old town and the beach area. This is somewhere where we would love to revisit as there were quaint streets and really nice places to sit and have a drink and watch the world go by. You could walk into town from where the ship docked and there is a hop on hop off tour.
LISBON
This was one of the more interesting ports of call. Again you can walk from the MSC Meraviglia ship straight into town from the dock we were moored at. It is a very hilly city which could make it difficult to walk if you have mobility issues. There is a hop on hop off tour which we didn’t do as it had quite poor reviews. Also it doesn’t get near any of the narrow streets. You can also ride the famous 28 line tram which takes you across the city but we saw this was very crowded so gave it a miss.
Instead we booked a Renault Twizy through Lisbon Eco Tours. A Twizy is an electric 2 seater car which fits down many of the streets and comes with a sat nav which guides you around all the sights and explains where you are going past. You can stop in most places for free in the city being an electric tourist vehicle and for 2 hours you can stop and take pictures where you like. We even stopped off for Pastels de Nata and a coffee. You need a driving licence and credit card and you can book this in advance. It is truly an amazing experience and something we would recommend.
VIGO
Whilst not as picturesque as Cadiz, it is still a nice place to roam around. It is more of a working town than Cadiz but you can go to Santiago de Compostela from here. We decided to walk around the city and have a look at a few of the shops on offer and sat down for a while with some cake and coffee in a local bakery to watch the world go by.
SOUTHAMPTON
Not much to say here as we live about an hour and a half from here and work in Bath so didn’t really want to do any of the excursions. There is not a huge amount to see in Southampton unless you want to go shopping but you can walk into town from the port. Many people went to Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge and London from here.
LE HAVRE
You can go to Paris from here either by organised excursion or by train. You need to get the shuttle organised by the MSC Meraviglia to get to the station or get a taxi. We got a taxi and it was about 8 euros each way so cheaper for 2 of us to do this. As we have been to Paris before, we decided to go to Rouen, about 1 hour by train. This is a very historic medieval town where Joan of Arc was Burned at the stake (this monument was very modern and disappointing). There was also a massive cathedral which is free to walk around which was very historic. You could spend about half a day here exploring. Apart from Paris, some passengers went to Honfleur, a sleepy fishing town about 45 minutes from Le Havre.
Le Havre itself is not much to write home about as much of it was rebuilt after being a major casualty of the war.
HAMBURG
We ended our cruise here and we will be covering the disembarkation experience in a later post.
