Sophia Loren Is Fighting For My Attention, And Why The MSC Preziosa Will Win!

Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren

The second most exciting thing happening to me in March is seeing and partying with the screen legend Sophia Loren at the MSC Preziosa Cruise Ship Launch. While I know that Sophia Loren is a legend and very glamorous, there is one lady whose stunning looks will catch my eye even more than Sophia Loren. It is also a lady that will let me get a lot closer – and get to know her much more too! And that lady is called the MSC Preziosa.

Sophia Loren is the Godmother of the MSC Preziosa, and so will be naming her on 23 March in Genoa. I will be there as one of the Official Bloggers covering both the Christening and the Maiden Voyage of the MSC Preziosa. I am very excited as, despite being a total cruise geek and fan, I have never been to a ship christening nor on a maiden voyage! Plus I have never been on an MSC Cruise ship. So 3 big new firsts that I will be reporting and sharing on the blog.

The other 2 official bloggers joining me on this adventure and experience are two fellow bloggers that I know and admire.  Together we will be bringing you many different facets of this new ship. The two other bloggers that I will be traveling with are experienced, great fun and talented writers / video makers / photographers – and I am really looking forward to sharing the experience with. These amazing bloggers will be:

  • Kelley Ferro of Tripfilms.com who makes incredible travel videos – and she always finds the surprising angles and perspectives of travel to photograph. I am going to have to be on my best photography and video making best behaviour…! You can also find her at http://twitter.com/kelleyferro
  • Alexandra Kovacova of CrazySexyFunTraveller.com. As her blog name suggests, Alexandra is crazy, energetic and always having fun. She loves exercise, adventure and pampering, and I am guessing she will be found in the spa on-board most of the time, and will be first in line for the adventure shore tours in port. You can find her very active at  http://www.facebook.com/crazysexyfuntraveler where she keeps her 10,000+ followers up to date with the latest in her travel adventures.

Follow my MSC Preziosa adventure by signing up for the email updates to the blog, and I will post all the articles, podcasts and videos on the Tips for Travellers / MSC Preziosa Page too and the Official MSC Facebook pages will also be posting updates

EXCLUSIVE!!!!

The first part of my coverage starts in a few days with my exclusive interview with Andrea Gangale (MSC Cruises Corporate Product Officer), one of the key MSC people responsible for creating the MSC experience on board MSC Preziosa! Watch and listen out for my exclusive look at the journey of creating this new ship!

MSC Preziosa

MSC Preziosa

 

Gary Bembridge

I grew up in Zimbabwe, but I have been based in London since 1987. My travel life spans more than three decades and that includes more than 95 cruises. In 2005, I launched Tips for Travellers to make it easy and fun for people to discover, plan and enjoy incredible cruise vacations. And the rest, as they say, is history. I have the largest cruise vlogger channel currently on YouTube, with more than 3 million video views per month.

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6 Responses

  1. Aww, really looking forward to our trip already 🙂

  2. Drew S says:

    Hi Gary. I’ll be very interested to hear your objective views on the ship and the line. My very first cruise was with MSC on the Opera, so I had nothing to compare it to, and at the time I really enjoyed it. Having now sailed with P&O, RCI, Holland America and NCL, the MSC experience is my least favourite, and unfortunately, I couldn’t be persuaded to cruise with them again.

    What I loved about MSC was the design of their ship, spotlessly clean, and the price! You will find that this line offers the most competitive prices, however there is a downside to this.

    What I didn’t like? The food, the service, the ‘,European’ experience of every announcement and every show being made in several languages. After two weeks crossing the transatlantic, this got to the most patient of cruisers!

    The cheaper prices of this line, means a full ship, with many families, predominantly Italian and Spanish and at summer time does make you feel like you’re in a chaotic southern euro resort. People pushing, shouting, kids running around unmanaged.

    The ship really reflected its Italian heritage, slightly disorganised and chaotic but also amusing.

    As this is a ceremony and maiden voyage, maybe you’ll not get the opportunity to experience the ‘reality’ of a true MSC cruise, But I’m sure you’ll get enough of a feel to provide a great overview.

    If you’re looking for a fun, busy, party type cruise and enjoy holidays in Busy southern mediterranean resorts and like the company of large families and groups in an informal setting, this is the line for you.

    If you prefer a more ‘sophisticated’, service led experience, with a passenger profile geared towards more couples,, singles, people looking to cruise to see new places or simply to indulge and relax,, then the other cruise lines would suit.

    MSC offers a great package for these looking for their med experience, it just isn’t for me.

    The food experience is well documented on several well known cruise forums, and sadly I have to agree with the majority of views on there,, that the standard doesn’t compare to the likes of Holland America and RCI. However, you get what you pay for. You can’t expect a gourmet experience at the price you will pay on an MSC cruise.

    Good luck, have fun at the opening ceremony!, and I hope you get to experience the MSC way!

    I’m six weeks away from my own maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on the NCL Breakaway. I’ll let you know how that goes, so excited!

    Drew

    • Drew

      Thanks for the heads up and comments. I am really interested in what the ship and experience will be like as a big Cunard Queens Grill fan. We will be staying in the Yacht Club area, and so also interested to see if that makes it a very different experience – or not!!

      Be interested on how you like NCL as not tried that one.

      Gary

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