MSC World Europa: Is it too big?
Maybe you’ve booked a cruise on MSC World Europa, maybe you’ve already completed your cruise, or maybe you haven’t even considered it yet. Whichever of these camps you fall into, you’re here now. In this article, let me download my thoughts on this absolutely huge cruise ship for you.
So, when was I onboard? I boarded MSC World Europa over at Port Rashid, which is the main cruise port of Dubai (UAE). This ship was my home for 21 nights, so I feel like I got to know everything onboard really well over that time. That said, this was the largest cruise ship I’d ever been on at the point of this sailing (I’d previously sailed on MSC Virtuosa, which is Meraviglia-plus class, and also MSC Orchesta, which is Musica class).
One of the most exciting things about the point in time that I boarded this ship is that the world hadn’t really seen this cruise ship yet - I embarked late March 2023, when she had just finished operating as a floating hotel resort for the 2022 FIFA World Cup over in Doha. This cruise that I was on was taking the ship ‘home’ to Europe for the first time, so quite the occassion!
From the second I laid eyes on the ship, I just knew this was going to be something quite different. I reached the port as dusk, which meant that the floodlit ship was waiting for me against a dark sky - arguably even more impressively imposing than if it had been daylight - here’s what I saw…
From a ‘first impressions’ point of view, MSC certainly delivers - you can’t even fit the whole ship into one photo from the dockside! However, it’s not until you jump onboard and look at some of the figures that you begin to really understand the sheer scale of this cruise ship. Capacity-wise, she can hold just over 6,750 passengers, and has a total of 22 decks.
If you’re interested in knowing her weight, you’re looking at 215,863 tonnes or, in more ‘normal speak’, that’s the equivalent to around 36,000 African Bush Elephants (so I’ve been reliably informed), or 5,265 Sperm Whales, if you’d enjoy a nautical comparison! Let’s spend a moment reflecting on that passenger count, because that’s obviously not the maximum amount of people that MSC World Europa can carry. There’s a crew capacity of 2,318 on here, meaning that this ship at one time could be carrying over 9,000 humans - insane, right?!
Want some more facts to explain the size of the ship? Ok, here we go: there’s 39 elevators, 13 whirlpools, 7 swimming pools, 13 restaurants, 14 bars and lounges, a full-service spa, multiple theatres, a huge indoor (and also outdoor) galleria complete with shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues, a waterpark - the list could go on, but you get the picture - she’s HUGE!
The question I’m going to answer in this article - she may be impressively big, but is she actually TOO big? Let’s get started…
From my 21 nights onboard, I should explain that the ship was operating at below capacity for our first 2 weeks or so - we were on a cruise from Dubai to Europe, which included a Suez Canal transit, and these longer cruises can often be a lot quieter than full capacity. While we didn’t get the official figure, if I were to hazard a guess, I would float the idea of the ship being around 70% full - it was busy, but there was loads of space. When we reached Europe, it was a whole other story - the ship was FILLED with guests trying to experience the ship on a short cruise immediately after reaching Italy, and this made things relatively problematic onboard.
Now, I could launch into this by suggesting that the capacity is just too high, and I think MSC have simply been greedy with the number of cabins fitted into this ship. However, I really don’t think that’s the case - I think we need to explore the design of the ship. What I found was that some venues (the World Theatre, the Venom Drop slide, the Galleria and the Buffets for example) became VERY busy when the ship started operating on the busier fill level, while others would remain really quiet (for example, the outdoor Galleria area). I attributed this to the fact that, from a design point of view, there’s no real attractions out on that Promenade/Galleria section to attract people out, meaning that the crowds will all congregate elsewhere. If you look at what’s actually out there, you’ve got a couple of shops, 1 restaurant, a pay-extra ice cream venue and a cigar bar.
Other similar ships (I hate to do it, but let’s compare to Symphony of the Seas, just as an example), there’s a carousel out there, in addition to 2 dining venues, a candy store, rock climbing walls, an aqua theatre and a full gaming arcade (I’ve probably missed something in this list, but you get my point). I did really enjoy having such a huge space for ‘peace and quiet’ on such a large ship, but I just feel it’s currently being really under-utilised, and MSC could deliver a stronger guest experience by filtering traffic out here, especially on warmer-climate sailings…
To show you what I’m talking about, let me show you two images - both were taken on the same night - one just after sunset when it first got dark, and one a couple of hours later where I brought a drink from inside to sit outside in the quiet, warm air:
I think MSC need to factor plans to combat the fact that some spaces (especially this one) are SO under-utilised into their future ship designs - it’s really important to get people outside and using this huge (and really impressive) space, in order to help with the fill-levels in other parts of the ship.
Now that we’ve covered passenger spread, let’s talk about outdoor deck facilities. I’ve been on ships over the last year where the queues for activities out on the decks was nothing short of a nightmare, so what did I see on here? Well, if we’re talking about the waterpark - no lines! Our sailing had plenty of children using the slides, and I’d usually (9 times out of 10) go up for a shot of the slides without having to stand in line at all - if I did need to wait, it would be 10 minutes max before I’d be on the slide ploughing down towards the exit level - excellent! I also think that, from a swimming pool point of view, this ship is really well accommodated. Some ships can have very small swimming pools (you all know I’m referring to Virgin…) that make it almost impossible to swim in, but not on here! You’ve got a choice of 4 different pools just up on the top deck, then a few others dotted around elsewhere: the main pool on the top sundeck, the neighbouring indoor solarium pool, and 2 small dipping pools on either side of the back-section of the ship.
There’s then a separate kids waterpark area (not the main aqua park with the huge slides - one aimed at much younger children) found in a totally different section of the ship, so it generally did a really good job of removing the noise of kids from a lot of these other areas, as they’d spend more time at the kids areas. The final point 'I’d make about the top deck spaces is that the ship is so large that each individual area is actually able to really nicely ‘theme’ itself in ways I haven’t seen executed on some other ships - the vibe around the main pool deck is very different to the solarium, which is different again to the adults-only environment at the back of the ship. Here’s the pools (and kids area) that I’m referring to here to help you visualise what you’ve just read:
If you’re anything like me, the thought of cruising on one of these enormous megaships might seem daunting - will you repeatedly get lost? What does the cruise line do to help you find your way around? Well, let’s explore that now, as there are a few little touches on here that should help you navigate such a mammoth ship. First, let’s talk about the nature of some of the key areas of the ship: the Gallerias. Now, there’s two of these on World Europa: one indoors and one outdoors - the latter is really easy to navigate as everything’s on one level (Deck 8), so you just walk in one direction and you’ll find where you’re going. However, when you come inside and look at the indoor Galleria, it’s nowhere near as ‘straight forward’, as this one spans across THREE decks of the ship (6, 7 and 8). However, don’t worry - I find this indoor space SO easy to navigate due to the basic design principle that MSC have adopted.
Rather than this space being closed-in, they’ve opted for a hugely impressive vaulted atrium-effect space, where it’s actually possible to stand in the middle and spot the majority of venues, making it easy not to get lost. Here’s some photos - can you spot some of the venues onboard just from these pictures?
Another technique used by MSC to assist passengers with finding their way is to install, as on most cruise ships, LOTS of signage of the ship itself. These ship outlines will typically be on a wall of the ship, with the front and back clearly visible, and all venues noted on a map - I didn’t get a photo of this annoyingly, but it’s much the same as what exists on almost every other cruise ship out there. Add to that the fact that each deck of the ship has a specific name, and you’re going to find your way around here pretty easily.
You’ll find decks named after Dublin, Copenhagen, Prague, Brussels and many other European cities (any guesses what the decks will be named after on MSC World America?!), so it’s really familiar on the eye. I’ve seen it on other MSC ships where the decks are named after classical composers, so it can sometimes be a bit of a mouthful for someone who isn’t familiar with the names - in other words, this one’s easy!
Before I begin to wrap up this article, one piece of advice that I would give is to learn quickly where some of the important venues are on the ship. That way, you can figure out where you’re trying to go based on your chosen venues proximity to those you’re familiar with (this will also really help if you need to ask a crew member for directions). Some top tips for you to remember - the World Theatre is right at the front of Deck 7, the Main Dining Rooms are on Deck 6, with the exception of 1 which is down on Deck 5, the Buffets (yes, PLURAL!) are up on Decks 18 and 19, and the Venom Drop dry slide is your fastest way to go from Deck 20 to Deck 8 (trust me, it’s worth it for the views!).
So, do I think MSC World Europa is just far too big? In a word, no!
I do fully appreciate that this ship size isn’t for everyone, and I also do stress that there’s a few key things that need to be looked at by MSC Cruises as they plough towards the launch date of MSC World America, as there are a couple of parts of this ship that just don’t work given how many people it’s trying to accommodate. However, in 21 nights onboard, I rarely got lost on the ship! I managed to get my bearings pretty quickly on all of the passenger decks, and I was genuinely really gutted to be leaving at the end of my time onboard. Lots of people have asked me how this ship compares to Oasis Class from Royal Caribbean, and I’ll write about this properly in due course. What I would say for now though, is that I felt MUCH less overwhelmed boarding this ship than I did Symphony of the Seas - I found it much easier to figure out and feel ‘at home’ on - more on this in due course - stay tuned!
If you’re planning to cruise on MSC World Europa, I genuinely hope that you have an absolute ball. If you’d like to prepare yourself even more for your upcoming time onboard, check out my YouTube video below - this should help to familiarise you with some of the key areas onboard. Thanks so much for checking out ‘Fraser at Sea’ - please do remember to check back for constantly-evolving content, and why not sign up to my newsletter via the ‘sign up’ tab at the top of the page for all of the latest news and updates?