And this would be the last night we spend on board MSC Grandiosa. Here on this lovely morning, we have docked at Genoa, Italy. Beautiful place, beautiful city. Had a short excursion time as well, but this time we walked all around instead of taking the tour available.
So we roamed around, had coffee, visited one of the largest aquarium in Europe:
Aquarium of Genoa
Acquario di Genova
Ponte Spinola, 16128 Genova GE, Italy
Spent a good hour here (we have aquaria KLCC anyway)
Went back on board the cruise ship, packed our stuff which would take us quite a while, had dinner, continued packing. Next morning, we would be at Civitavecchia, Rome and the moment we disembark the ship for good, we head straight to the airport and back to Malaysia.
So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, my full southern european cruise on board the MSC Grandiosa with my family. Wonderful time spent, food was hit and miss and some places, but mostly reasonable with some of superb excellence. My biggest achievement ever was not the cruise nor the places, but the time spent with my family, my parents, my sister and my brother in law, my nephew, my mother in law. These memories will forever cherish and no amount of money will ever buy memories.
In case u missed it,
Day 1 –
Day 2 –
Day 3 –
Day 4 –
Day 5 –
Day 6 –
This videos is Day 7
Day 8 nothing to see as i docked, disembarked in Rome, with all the luggages i had to carry, impossible to hold the camera, gimbal or chest strap my gopro on. It was dock and straight to the airport for me.
Day 9 at Bangkok for transit and Day 10 back in Kuala Lumpur airport.
The ship we boarded was none other than the new MSC Grandiosa, huge cruise ship with plenty of facilities and quite a fair bit of pay to play, pay to use facilities. Casino was filled with cigarette smoke.
Some of the excursions were on our own, some were pre-arranged ground tour by ourselves and of course some is pre-booked by MSC themselves.
France was an exception, we took excursion by MSC, we left and roamed by ourselves.
Overall, Barcelona was my most enjoyable excursion and i can say, the best place to be among all. Yes i had a fair bit more time in Barcelona than in Italy, France or Malta and yes it was my birthday BUT Barcelona despite being a pickpocket and scamming haven, was beautiful and lively and it was so vibrant, it makes me want to return. This is also partly thanks, and i cannot say it enough, to my local guide Miss Lidia.
And again For those who wish to engage Miss Lidia’s services,
+34 6097 45478
You can see and read more about it on my Day 6 adventure. I got to have paella, i got to have tapas, i got to the market to buy my craved pata negra and iberico ham. My brother in law got the olives but i ain’t into olives.
So yes, it definitely is a thumbs up for me in Barcelona.
Summary:
I had a fantastic time with my family touring southern europe together. It is gonna be one heck of a memory, and like i said previously, memories cannot be bought. I thank my parents for being patient and co-operative, i thank my daughters for not giving me a hard time, i thank my sister and my brother in law and my nephew who came from Sweden to join us, i also thank my mother in law for flying in from Singapore to join in as well.
It wasn’t an easy trip arrangement for 10 people who are from different places but we did it. We finally have a family holiday to Europe. My wife is the person i’d appreciate the most for she has to put up with the kids, my parents, her mom and of course……me.
Should you guys need any information, i’d be more than happy to help out provided i know about it.
I’d like to end the note with a thanks to all my viewers who took the time to watch and read. This cruise ship is amazingly huge, but if you had a choice between Princess or Royal Caribbean and this MSC, my advice is definitely do opt for Princess. It is not all that bad on MSC. Most employees are friendly, with an exceptional few of course. The experience was decent enough for me not to give it 3 stars but 4 stars out of 5.
Do subscribe and like my videos. It will motivate me further to make more travel videos. Editing is such a pain in the *ss especially for a beginner like me.
I have already confirmed my next family trip…..a much bigger participation consisting of most of my family members with the same surname back to China at the end of 2020. Till then, there might be some spontaneous trip and events. See you then !
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