Hi! Welcome back to Wandering on Cloud Nine! It’s almost been a year since I went to Europe, but my post is finally here! In addition to Italy and London, I went on a cruise that took me around Greece and Croatia. I understand a lot of people have not been on a cruise so I want to show you an insight on how life is on a cruise!
CRUISE EXPERIENCE
The cruise ship that I went on was the MSC Sinfonia and it traveled to Italy, Croatia, and Greece. Honestly, I wasn’t familiar with the cruise line itself; I only knew about American cruise lines like Disney Cruises, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean. I researched about MSC and learned that it’s an Italian cruise line. Don’t be afraid to try cruises that aren’t based in Americ; My whole experience was super enjoyable!
There was a buffet that was open most of the time and I literally stuffed my plate with everything they had on my first day. The buffet had mostly Mediterranean cuisine: olive oil, bread, and pasta. I recommend trying all the food that’s served on the cruise, but slowly and in moderation (in other words, don’t do what I did). They also offered a sit-down dinner every night in one of the restaurants on the ship which was included in the price of the cruise. I really enjoyed going to dinner in the restaurant because they offered more types of food as part of a five-course meal, which was absolutely insane. Some of my favorite dishes were the paella, seafood platter, and Baked Alaska. Each of these dinners had a theme, i.e. Italian Night, White Night, and Formal Night. My favorite theme was formal night because it gave me an excuse to dress-up. After the formal dinner, we went on the deck and watched the sunset. It was absolutely breathtaking, even though it was windy. Make sure to bring at least one formal outfit because most cruises have formal nights.
Other than eating a lot, I hung out at the Teen Club. When I first heard about it, I thought it was weird and figured that no one actually went there. On the third day, I decided to check it out and found that a lot of people hung out there. I met so many people from Italy, Lithuania, Brazil, and Argentina and had fun hanging out with them; I’m so happy I decided to go. Surprisingly, my friends and I had a lot in common. We talked a lot about pop culture because it’s a universal topic. They asked me about they asked me about prom, football games, and high school in the U.S. They wondered if it was really like the way it’s depicted in the media. It was really interesting to see how they perceived American culture. I definitely think that non-American cruise lines give more opportunities to meet people from different countries. I got to learn about different cultures and some new words from different languages, which was so cool. Some of the friends I made didn’t even know how to speak English, yet when they started to play popular American songs, they knew all the words! Sadly, it wasn’t enough time to fully make some true connections with my friends, but I still had a fun time with them. We still keep in contact through Snapchat and Instagram. Hopefully, one day we can meet up again!
I hung out on the deck a lot in my free time because there was wifi and the view was amazing. One of the downsides of this cruise was that the wifi wasn’t free and it didn’t even reach my room, so I was literally forced to go out! On the bright side, I got to meet wonderful people and see gorgeous sea views! The cruise was definitely one of my favorite parts about my summer.
Hopefully, I was able to give you some insight into what cruises are like through my personal experiences. It’s definitely something I recommend trying if you want to eat a lot of food and see awesome places at the same time! Stay tuned for my next adventure!
