The ship was MSC Grandiosa – MSC being Mediterranean Shipping Company. This is an Italian line and MSC Grandiosa was a brand new vessel and only the third cruise liner from new, out of the Hamburg Shipyard. It is also the largest liner, with passenger capacity of 6,400.
I took a flight to Barcelona from Alicante on 18th December, with one night in a hotel near the port, boarding in the afternoon of 19th December.
We departed that evening to Marseille – Genoa (Italy) and then on to Civitavecchia (for Rome) with the intention of heading south to Palermo (Sicily) and Valetta (Malta).
In Civitavecchia, high winds were experienced so much so, that the Captain decided to abort Sicily and Malta. That meant that we had an extra day for Rome with Corsica and Palma de Majorca substituted where the weather at least was a lot calmer.
Firstly attached is a picture of the vessel and my balcony cabin.
My description of the ship is a ‘floating Benidorm’. Just about everything on offer for entertainment is available on board. They cater for the very young, to teenagers, to adults, to pensioners.