Cruising the Norwegian Fjords
MSC Euribia Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 51
7 Night Northern Europe (Copenhagen Roundtrip)
Sail date: September 24, 2023
Ship: MSC Euribia
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 months ago
Review summary
Beautiful ship with very nice crew. Demographics will vary based on location I'm sure. This sailing was mostly German passengers with a sprinkling of French, English, and Spanish. We were among the very few Americans onboard lol The locations were beautiful in Norway. Germany was ok. I think this was because we took a cruise line excursion and that led to time constraints and some frustration, but there really isn't much in the Port of Kiel. Overall I'd recommend, but come into it with an open mind😊Embarkation
Really quick and smooth! On the ship within 15 minutes
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
*American review- Food was either amazing or not so great. The pizza has to be the best I've tasted onboard a cruise ship. Hands down. (From a born and raised New Yorker) I think I ate 2 pies by myself over the course of the week. I really loved the marinara sauce. The french fries were always perfect! The desserts were hit or miss, but the buffet allowed you to try a few and eat the ones you loved.
Breakfast wasn't all that. I felt the eggs were too runny and the bacon (when I found it) was pretty oily. The croissants were on point. The muffins lacked flavor, but I think that's bc of the additives I'm used to in the USA. Who knows?
We tried the main dining room for breakfast one day. I asked for water as my beverage, but never got it. They were super coffee focused and that's just not my jam 😔 Great for you coffee lovers tho 😊 The omelette said it came with potatoes, but I only ever got the omelette. It was communication failure so I hit up the buffet after. (Only adding this statement to this review to make you aware to verbally order everything -even if it says it's included with the meal.)
We didn't do any specialty dining as our focus was the ports of call and we didn't want to be tied to reservations.
The main dining room was ok. We met some really nice people. Dinner took about an hour. I wasn't always thrilled with the options so we ended up at the buffet quite a bit or chose the 'always available' options of minestrone and pasta of the day. I often felt hungry when leaving dinner even with the 3 courses, but we did do a lot of physical excursions. The dining crew were very nice, but not as fluent in English as they may be on other cruise lines. Not a complaint, just something to be aware of. We are used to DCL, NCL, RCCL and Carnival, so this would be expected on other lines that aren't big in the USA.
Take my review with a grain of salt bc everyone's tastes are different!
Onboard Activities
There were a lot of choices for live music. The shows in the evening were really good. The performers were outstanding and their knowledge of multiple languages never ceased to amaze me. There were ample hot tubs and the indoor pool was great for fall in Norway. There were some people in the outdoor pools and hot tubs, but the low 60s was too cold for us to be out there swimming lol
The outdoor obstacle course and water slides looked really neat, but would be better suited for a Caribbean or summer cruise. They were closed often due to poor weather which was expected.
The fitness center had a really nice view and seemed up to date since it's a new ship. A lot of guests were often there, but we got our workouts out in nature this trip. Love that there is an outdoor track around the deck! This was amazing while traveling through the fjords as I walked around and around to get pictures. It was so beautiful!
We spent a decent amount of time in the thermal area of the spa. It was fairly spacious and the rain showers were nice. Some rooms were broken the whole week which I found odd as the ship is only 4 months old. I probably wouldn't recommend the weekly pass unless you're skipping ports of call. We found out on the ship you only have access for 1 hour on sea days. This was a big surprise as it didn't mention this anywhere before we booked and those were the days we planned on going. They then ran a promo on our 2nd sea day for BOGO day passes. This felt kind of insulting bc with the weekly pass I only get 1hr on the sea day, but with the daily pass on the sea day 2 people can go half off, all sea day?! 🙄
There were lots of parties and they seemed fun. The really late night parties looked kind of bust bc there were maybe 5 people there. After all the port activities I can imagine how exhausted everyone was. I was passing through in hopes of spotting the Aurora Borealis and getting water haha
Entertainment
There were a lot of choices for live music. The shows in the evening were really good. The performers were outstanding and their knowledge of multiple languages never ceased to amaze me. There were some amazing vocalists onboard.
The shows incorporated all different acts which I found unique. Some of the performers were so flexible it was mind blowing. CJ Illusions was really good too.
Service and Staff
Some of the crew were amazing, some average, and some seemed like they didn't want to be there. We didn't know who our room steward was until the last day 😆 we had an inkling but... lol Our waiters were nice, but not very conversational. As an introvert I kind of liked this, but I found it odd. Which of course, could have been due to a language barrier.
The crew in the buffet were wonderful! They were mostly cheery and even sang sometimes with a guitar. They were refreshing and a pleasure to see.
I'm going to butcher his name.. but Erasmus? in the Helios Lounge was amazing! If you visit the wine area definitely say hello to him. He showed us how to use the wine area and set us up with a reservation in the nice viewing area. He remembered us as we passed by throughout the week. He even brought little snacks and water for my husband as I sipped on some samplings.
Ship Quality
The ship was well maintained and smelled really clean.
I loved how the casino was not a central location that you had to pass through on the daily and smell smoke. It was secluded at the aft of the ship by a lounge and you only had to go through it if you wanted to or to get to the lounge. Great placement!
The Delphi lounge is nice, but there is only 1 entrance/exit. This was awful. People would nearly trample one another to get out. Others would leave early to avoid the intense crowd. Others would sit there until everybody left, but the problem with this is once you're in the hallway of the entrance it's back to a mob scene even if you were patient and waited it out. A second story to the lounge or at least one other exit point would be extremely helpful.
The ship really was beautiful overall, but seemed crowded a lot. I'm not sure if this was in relation to the weather or if the ratio of open spaces to guest capacity was lower, but it was very tough to find a quiet recluse.
Cabin / Stateroom
It was a cozy, modern cabin. The lights were placed well by the bed for reading and evening lighting so it wasn't so bright. The vanity lighting wasn't the greatest. The hair dryer was a little hard to find, but it was a decent one with the funnel thing on it. I wish the closet was a little bigger or more drawer space somewhere. We brought magnetic hooks from Amazon which helped for extra space for jackets. They were skimpy on towels. 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels, and 1 floor mat were the standard allocation. There was no garbage pail per say... only a bin for recycling labeled for plastic, food, or paper.. sometimes I left things on top bc I wasn't certain how they'd like it recycled.. ie. Hot chocolate cup.. it's technically paper, but it has food residue all over it. In the US that's trash.. but 🤷🏻♀️ paper.. or food? Lol and where would you put hair from your hairbrush? Food? .. It's a protein right LMAO
Long story short.. the room was nice and cozy and I loved the soft and firm pillow options. 🥰
Ship tip
Make sure to book your shows in the early morning or as soon as they're uploaded the night before otherwise you'll end up with the 22:30 seating or all showings will be fully booked. And arrive 25-30mins early if you want decent seats.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
The morning was rainy so we slept in. I'm glad we did bc the sun came out later and we walked around the town and then hiked up the 418 steps of Mount Aksla. The views were really pretty and by waiting until the afternoon on our own we avoided the bustling ship tours that would have been on the climb. It's free and about a 15min walk from the ship. We stopped at the library right by the ship terminal for some free Wi-Fi before embarking again.
I loved this city way more than expected! We came in 2 days before the cruise. Slept the first night upon arrival and had a big Saturday. We did the hoho bus during the day and saw the little mermaid, Freetown Christiania was a short walk from one of the stops, we took a cab over to Reffen eatery which was a really good local spot for up and coming foodie businesses (check out YouTube videos on this one!), we walked around the military park and saw the windmill, in the evening we explored Tivoli Gardens and watched the fireworks. Amazing day!
Stunning! We booked the Flamsbana train independently for a one way trip to Myrdal. From the station at Mrydal we had rented bikes from Cafe Rallaren. They set us up with a bike and helmet and we were ready to be on our way back to Flam. The rental includes your bike, helmet, and return of your bike from Flam. You drop the bike and helmet off by the train station at the port. Super, super easy. It's an actual cafe so there are souvenirs and food for purchase. My husband bought gloves as it was colder than expected due to rain. The trail is almost all downhill so it wasn't so bad. Don't try to stop on the wooden bridges.. even for the beautiful waterfall. I learned, learn from me 😆 The trip probably took us bt 3-4hrs bc I stopped for photos everywhere bc it's stunning. They say it takes about 2hrs (I guess if you're just biking non-stop). I had a printed map bc I panic without GPS, but it's literally one road that just keeps going. It would take exceptional skill to get lost. I promise it was so easy and fun! It poured the first half of our route, but lightened as we headed downhill. At one point we weren't sure if it was freezing rain or snow, but still beautiful. This was one of my favorite places. I highly recommend heading out on your own away from the crowded port area. So much to experience and see!
We ended up taking the ship shore excursion to Lubeck. Do something independently... this was a bus tour of 40ppl speaking different languages and that toured at different paces. It was frustrating at times. Pretty town with a lot of churches. Kiel is apparently really small so most guests head to Lubeck or Hamburg for the day.
We did a glacier hike excursion through MSC. The scenic drive was long, but beautiful and it was a pretty tough hike. The view was worth it!
Disembarkation
Disembarkation itself was easy, but the process wasn't well explained.
I usually do self assist to save myself the hassle of looking for my bag in the terminal and so I can have all my toiletries with me through the night.
We were using their transfer service to the airport in Copenhagen. Typically when using the transfer services other lines have had us keep our bags and just bring them down to the bus when called. MSC gave us luggage tags and we weren't sure if we were to do this what would happen- were we to retrieve them in the terminal, were they going to put them directly on our bus for transfer, (DCL has an airport baggage check in too) so we weren't sure if they were going to check our bags for us since we provided flight info. A lot was up in the air, so I looked for a TV channel to explain the process like other lines have. Unfortunately, there wasn't one 🤷🏻♀️
Anywho.. we put our bags out at night and met at the meeting location the next morning. There was some chaos on where to go when we disembarked the ship as the 'guide' disappeared and other employees were telling everyone where to go. We retrieved our bags in the terminal (this was the nicest set up I have ever seen for disembarkation!) Then we waited until someone else told us to go to the busses. This was a bit more chaotic as the busses were not grouped by the number they gave us for the 'tour'. They just sent people wherever they fit and didn't account for flight times at this point. This led some other guests with earlier flights to panic. We finally got to the airport and ran away haha