Today was the last day of our 5 day “expedition” to see a Mega Liner with over 4000 people on board and to sample the MSC product. An un-expected bonus was the 2000 extra, due to the holiday time in the UK. At least we could now see what a “full to capacity mega liner looked like”. And we had the option to disappear back to an oasis of peace, the Yacht Club on Deck 14,15, (cabins only) deck 16 (Sky lounge), Deck 18 (diningroom) and Deck 19  (Outside bar and Sun deck). There is no deck 17 on the ship as the Italians indeed seem to consider that an unlucky number. I wonder if that was already the case in the Roman day as all the Gaul & Germanic tribes could have just painted XVII on their shields and Julius Cesar and his army would have run back to Italy, without the help of Asterix and Obelix. A quick AI – google gives 2 options:

Option 1: In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number primarily because its Roman numeral form, XVII, is an anagram for the Latin word VIXI. Translated to English, vixi means “I have lived”—implying “my life is over” or “I am dead.

Option 2: Ancient Rome & Disasters: The destruction of the Roman Legions XVII, XVIII, and XIX in the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest caused the number 17 to be associated with bad omens.

All the pasta is made fresh on board, and there is also a station to press/form the mozarella.

So that piece of history made it also to MSC, whch considers itself an Italian company, although the ships are Malta Flagged and the owner Mr. Aponte lives in Geneva.  But they have a Dutch Captain on the MSC Magnifica so  the whole happening is quite international, especially if you see Indian Cooks, making pasta and being from Madras. (very dark skin color, and I could not get him in the above photo).

The Ampfi Theatre. This is a multi level sun bathing area and when they take the stretchers away, guests can sit on 3 levels watching a show around the pool.

So we went to the one area we had not been to yet, the Horizon Pool and Ampfi theatre. With behind it, the Sport Plex, children gaming area, Do-Re-Mi-land for the small ones, the Sky Lounge (do not confuse it with the one that is part of the Yacht Club) as this one is for the whole ship but Adults Only. And there is also a Smoking Lounge that seats about 20 people focussing on their suicide mission.

This is the bar for the Ampfi theatre area. Waiting times are somewhat longer than in the Yacht Club Lounge.

With  anywhere between a 1000 and 2000 kids on board (nobody could or was willing to tell me how many there were on the ships manifest) the Kids Zone and Sport-Plex was heaving. That is all situated around a teens bar.

This is the kids bar, where various sorts of soda’s can be obtained from dispensers or from the bar stewards. Everybody is given a wrist medallion that you can use to pay for items. I believe parents can limit the amount childeren can spend.

Renting the bowling alley sets you back 45,– pounds for 1 hrs. or 25,– pounds for 20 minutes with an unlimited number of players.

The bowling alley with 2 lanes. I have no idea how this works with keeping score when you play when the ship is moving. And even very large cruise ships can be restless in strong seas.

This area is of course a magnet for a lot of kids and the parents have to be either very rich, or very organised with their budget as the prices charged are not cheap.

One of the Fruit machine, or flipper machine areas in this section. Again very popular.

There is a Formula 1 race simulator (10 minutes) which sets you back 11,– pounds. A 3D-Interactive  cinema which is 8,– for kids and a  VR Hologate Arena which is 12,— for 10 minutes.

This little lady had ended up in a sort of Guardians of the Galazy game and was just asking her father if she could beat the cr….. out of somebody.

The toddler area 5 – 11 years is at least 60 feet long but it it is totaly screened of from the rest to avoid “peeping toms”. It is not free but a good location to park little Johny and little Sandy for a few hours so the parents can have some quality time together. As a result it was really busy there with 3 Youth Counsellors manning the entry desk for the intake of new kids. That is nowadays a lot of work as there are numerous -disclaimer -forms to be filled out.

I could not see who was more excited. The small kids to get rid of their parents or the parents trying to get rid of the childeren.

We walked back through the Lido restaurant which is officially called “Market Place”. It being a sea day, the Exe. Chef had laid on some extra options, Including a chocolate Extravaganza. Not very big but then the cruise prices are not so big either on the lower decks.

With a nice cake on display, there was a considerable line building for photos.

When the photo taking had been done an even larger line was building to consume as much as possible. With around 2000 going to the Lido, it must mean that the cooks must have had preared a very large quantity of it.

The cooks still putting the finishing touches on this small show buffet.

We did not wait to see it all disapearing but went back to our own little buffet area in the Sky Deck Sun area. While walking forward we also saw that the chefs had laid out a small pasta station (small is relative here, as there were 3 chefs and a 2d Maitre cooking pasta “A la Dente”.)  And cooking very fast as the line was building quickly.

The pasta station on the outside deck, next to the big open air pool.

As mentioned , the Yacht Club is on Deck 15 to 19 with the open air sunbathing area and bar on deck 19. All these decks areas are screened off by glass doors, which only open with your cabin door-key-card. If walking from deck 15 is too much, the area has its own lift. You can spend your whole cruise there, without ever leaving and many guests do so, only descending into the maddening crowd for the evening show (With our own seating area) or to go to a speciality Restaurant of which their are several. All around 55,– pounds a person without drinks)

The small buffet on Sky Sun Deck. It is not very big (it only has to serve about 200 guests max)., but comes with its own 3 cooks and no waiting line. Several butlers ensure that your drink is at your table before you have even thought about which roll to select.

After lunch we had something special coming. Last night we spoke to the table next to us and the couple told us they were especially on board to see their small grand daughter dancing. It turned out that MSC has an arrangement with one or more English dancing schools, who get a discounted cabin fare, can bring their own school on board and are then allowed to perform for 45 minutes in the show lounge. Good business as with each child/dancer, a whole whole extended family comes with them.  So we decided to go.

The show was called “Celebrate” and was of very high quality for an age group of dancers between 11 and 17 years old.

We were very  pleasantly surprised at the quality and also the stamina of all the dancers. There was certainly professional potential there. As a matter of fact one of the professional cast on board, came from one of the dance schools that had performed on board in the past. The Auditorium was filled to capacity and at the end a standing ovation was their rightful thank you.

Then it was time for getting the suitcases packed as they had to be out by midnight but also we have to be out of the cabin by 07.30. As that was the official disembarkation time for the Yacht Club. But breakfast is open until 08.30, so were are going first as we have a 5 hours drive coming, on busy roads. Expected weather tomorrow: sunny, 26 oC / 79oF  and as it is a saturday, their will be a lot of weekend traffic.  My final blog, review and verdict about the cruise, will be on Sunday evening, or Monday morning.