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In November 2024, I was invited to spend one week on board MSC World Europa, traveling in a closed loop from Marseille to Genoa, Rome, Palermo, Valetta, and Barcelona. While I was part of Yacht Club, the closed-off VIP section of the ship, I did not spend my days in this luxurious, secluded cocoon. Instead, I attempted to see everything the ship had to offer — and there’s a lot. I managed to try every specialty restaurant, visited every bar and snack venue; checked out every pool, hot tub, and every slide; spent time in the spa; dropped some cash at the multiple arcade games spread out around the ship, and even spent a little money at the casino. From my experience, here is what you need to know before taking a cruise on board MSC World Europa.
As a Yacht Club member, I could have had every single meal and drink in the lavish and exclusive Yacht Club restaurant and lounge, but everything served there was fine, it certainly wasn’t anywhere as special as what you can get in the specialty restaurants, bars, and cafés.
There are five specialty restaurants on board World Europa:
Chef’s Garden Kitchen has, by far, the most innovative menu, and the most impressive decor. It serves elegant and refined food, with unique ingredient combinations that make for a surprising, yet delicious, meal. The restaurants itself, with its open kitchen and hydroponic garden, is a sight to see. But it is Butcher’s Cut and Hola! Tacos & Cantina that I returned to when I was given the chance. In both dining venues, the decor is on point, the staff is incredibly attentive, the portions are generous, and the menus are all about indulgent, delicious, yet comforting food that is perfectly in tuned with the theme.
While I am a sober cruiser, I did visit every bar on the ship in an attempt to test out the mocktails on offer and gauge the ambiance in each venue. From my experience, the virgin strawberry daiquiri from the Dolce Vita bar on deck six is the tastiest and most refreshing non-alcoholic drink on board (on par with Hola! Tacos & Cantina’s virgin margaritas and horchata). However, the best atmosphere and decor is to be found at Masters of the Seas (deck seven). The pub has very good live music, and serves traditional pub food for when you feel peckish. But perhaps most importantly for beer drinkers, it is where you can try out MSC’s own beer made from desalinated ocean water at the onboard microbrewery.
For those who prefer a hot beverage to a cold one, MSC World Europa has three excellent options, all of which are worth visiting:
Coffee Emporium has a very thorough specialty coffee menu from which you can order to go or to stay. And because it’s not a place for kids, it’s relatively quiet, with only adults, many of them with their books, spending some quiet time in front of a caffeinated beverage.
Jean-Philippe Chocolate & Café is the most indulgent food venue on the ship. It’s a great place for exquisite gelato and sorbet, milkshakes, crepes, deserts, and chocolate treats. But it’s the delicious, thick, and rich hot chocolates they make that won my heart. The Classic Hot Chocolate Sensation is a winner and will ruin every other hot chocolate for the rest of your life.
Much like Coffee Emporium, Raj Polo Tea House is a quiet adult venue. There is a wide selection of delicate teas, all served in fine tableware and accompanied by cookies.
If you like cruise entertainment, which usually consists of skilled performers singing and dancing their heart out on stage, you’ll be able to enjoy some every day at either the World Theatre or the Panorama Lounge. But because those performances are not my cup of tea, I sought out different places to play during this sailing.
The most obvious spot to have fun on board the ship is the Venom Drop. This impressive snake-shaped slide consists of a narrow and transparent spiral that spans 11 decks (from deck 20 to deck eight). You need to sign a waiver before queueing up for the attraction, adding even more thrills to an already nerve-wracking situation. Once it’s your turn, you’re given a felt blanket on which to sit and you’re off down the very vertical tube.
Photo: MSC
While the Venom Drop is a dry slide, the three slides at the Aquapark aren’t, so you’ll need your bathing suit to enjoy those. Although they might look less vertical, the Aquapark slides are much faster and more exciting than the Venom Drop. The raft slide requires that you sit on a large inflatable donut and hang on tight while you buzz down in a show of flashing lights. But the scariest of them all is the drop slide, which requires that you stand on top of a platform that opens up under your feet to hurtle you down a long and steep pink tube. Note that you also need to sign a waiver to enjoy the Aquapark.
For something a little less thrilling but just as fun, try out the many arcade games spread out over the ship. There are some classic ones at the Pizza & Burger venue on deck six, including Super Mario World, Space Invaders, and PacMan, all of which are free. Just across the way from the Pizza & Burger venue, at Games Arcade, you’ll find a basketball shootout game, among many others. The MSC Sportplex on deck 20 and the Hall of games on deck 19 also have some very fun skiing and bowling arcade games that kept me and my partner entertained for hours on end.
The problem with being on a ship with over 6,000 other people is that common areas can become very busy, especially during the evenings and on sea days. The best solution to escape the crowds on MSC World Europa is, when booking your trip, to select one of the few Yacht Club suites. That way you can have access to the quiet and luxurious Yacht Club area that spans several decks and is kept off limits to other cruisers. Yacht Club members have their own sundecks, pool, hot tubs, restaurant, café, and lounge that are spacious, and usually very peaceful. But, of course, booking a Yacht Club suite costs a lot more money than a regular stateroom, so if it’s not an option for you, you’ll need to find some calm in other parts of the ship.
The Galleria on decks six, seven, and eight make the heart of the ship. It is where most of the stores, restaurants, bars, and lounges are located; therefore this is the busiest and loudest area of the ship. That said, the Raj Polo Tea House, located in the Galleria on deck eight, is a haven of tranquility. The decor is a mix between that of a gentlemen’s club and a colonial tea plantation house, with gentle lighting, huge plush seats and sofas, low tables, and a piano. The selection of tea is superb and every beverage you order comes with a couple of cookies. But more importantly, it’s very quiet. While there were always a few people in this venue when I visited, everyone kept their voice low, even when playing some of the provided board games. The Raj Polo Tea House also has a rarely used, outdoor private deck area where you can sit to enjoy your order — it’s the ultimate retreat.
While many would expect the most relaxing place on a ship to be the spa, it’s unfortunately not the case on MSC World Europa. The MSC Aurea Spa is large and offers many indulgent treatments, but the fee-based thermal suite is a bit of a disappointment. Although it is a good size and has great amenities, including several saunas and steam rooms, a snow room, a Himalayan salt room, a hot pool, heated loungers, and more, it’s often extremely busy. It’s also, unfortunately, not properly monitored by staff, with people reserving all heated loungers with their towels, or even watching loud videos on their phones without headphones in the relaxing room.
There are seven pools on board the ship, but the Aurora Borealis Aquapark (deck 20) is meant for small children, and the indoor Botanic Garden Pool (deck 18), although spacious, gets incredibly busy. La Plage pool, the main outdoor pool, located on deck 18, was relatively empty when I was on board as it seems that everyone has chosen to swim indoors in November. The hot tubs around La Plage, however, were always packed. The smaller two outdoor Zen Pools (deck 18) were also always deserted.
If relaxing around a pool or in a hot tub is an important part of your cruising experience, I would recommend that you book a Yacht Club suite. That way, you have access to the Yacht Club members-only sundecks, pool, and hot tubs. Those areas were never busy during my sailing, even on hot and sunny days, and I had the choice among hundreds of extra-comfy loungers for my downtime. I had both the pool and the hot tubs to myself, too. Another perk of being a Yacht Club member is the dedicated staff who makes sure that you always have a dry towel, a drink, or anything else you might need while you’re taking in the sun. 