Life Aboard the MSC Magnifica - Chapter One: First Impressions
After a year and a half of anticipation and virtually no correspondence telling us what to expect, We had a very smooth experience boarding the ship. We got to the port at the boarding time listed on our tickets expecting a long line of people and there was no one else waiting. People had been boarding all day, and we were some of the last two to get on the ship. The only hiccup was when they asked us if we had gotten our visas for entering Australia, we looked at each other alarmed. We had not gotten visas for Australia even though we thoroughly read through the visa section on MSC’s website about which visas American citizens needed. Australia was not listed. They assured us we can apply via the internet and could take care of it once we were at sea. Luckily it wasn’t the type of visa you have to send your passport to the country to get a visa! We gave them our passports, they took our photos, and scanned our hand luggage through security and that was it. I figured we’d be searched through security pretty thoroughly as there is a long list of items not allowed on board - drones are one of them. I packed my drone very inconspicuously anticipating the search, but they didn’t seem to care what we had on us. Welcome aboard, and bon voyage!
Captian Marco Massa, whose father was also a ship captain, is navigating this vessel around the globe. He came to our dinner table on our first night and shook our hands to welcome us aboard. Many people seemed surprised when we told them we’d be staying on the ship for the full round the world trip. We kept thinking, “is everyone on this ship not going around the world? Have we boarded the right ship?” We came to realize that people were boarding for the round the world trip at all European ports and most of the people we were seeing were actually about to end their trips and get off at the next few ports.
We guessed pretty accurately that the predominant demographic would be older Europeans. The largest age bracket is 65+ We’ve already heard three “Mike Echos” over the loud speakers (medical emergencies) and we’re ten days in. Given the amount of day drinking we’ve seen among the seniors and the motion of the ship, we’re imagining a handful of broken hips over the coming months. Ashley is inclined to help out the little old “cutie pies” (her words) while I’m elbowing through the slow chaos at the buffet. They’ve been far outpacing us at the bar, which has been surprising. It may have to do with the fact that many of the guests don’t even leave the ship when we do come into port. Apparently they’re just on for the ship for the drink package and the on-call health care. Ashley was chuckling when she saw that the dry cleaning order form has a specific line item for track suits. After a few days of people watching it became evident that MSC knows their target audience. Track suits are prevalent, so are speedos unfortunately.
The people on board are mostly French, German, and Italian. Of the nearly 2400 guests less than 40 are from the U.S. and Canada, and there are a couple hundred from the U.K. and Australia. We’ve also met people from South Africa, Holland, Czech Republic, Norway, and Sweden. I’d estimate the mean age at 67. Ashley and I quite like to make conversation with people older than us, but the challenge comes when there is no shared language to communicate in. My Spanish and her French have gotten us pretty far, but we’re lost with the Germans. There are other people around our age on the ship and even some families, but we’re by far the minority in age and nationality. Luckily we’ve got a friendly and fun crew at our dinner table!
We have unintentionally picked up a few admirers among the wait staff. Our first night on board one of the busboys came to clear our plates and talked to us for a bit. He’s from Mauritius and has worked a number of cruise tours. We asked him what was the longest he’d been at sea and he said two weeks. And when we told him we were staying for the whole trip he looked at us and said, “four months is too long to be at sea,” and then he giggled nervously. Ashley and I looked at each other like, “shit, did we just make a huge mistake?” Why does everyone including the staff keep looking at us like were crazy for doing this? We had a few other staff members act very surprised when we told them we were staying for the whole round the world trip. They thought we were too young to be on this long cruise, and in comparison to the majority of the guests, they weren’t wrong about that.
The staff has been very accommodating, and they are all extremely well versed in multiple languages. Most things are communicated in English, which is helpful. But it does get pretty annoying to hear every announcement in English, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. I’d prefer to opt out of all announcements including English, but I don’t get a choice in that matter. Let me know if the ship is sinking, otherwise just please shut it.
Overall, we’re pleased with our decision to take this journey. Despite some initial panic on our first night after multiple people raised their eyebrows in surprise that we were staying on board for four months, we’ve been enjoying ourselves. We’ve had a lot of fun in the ports we’ve stopped in so far, and there are more stories to come!
at port in Funchal, Madeira