Easter Mediterranean Cruise

I like taking our family holidays during Easter school holidays. The weather is starting to improve, and you can get some great early season offers in Europe. This year we embarked on a 5 nights Mediterranean Cruise, starting in Genoa, Italy and finishing in Barcelona, Spain. We have flown to Milan the day before our cruise and took a 2-hour train journey to Genoa. This gave us a fantastic opportunity to start our holiday early and spend some time in beautiful Genoa, strolling through winding streets and finding some enchanting little cafes on route. Perfect start to a week ahead. Next day, just after breakfast, we walked from our hotel to the cruise terminal. After check in formalities, which due to Covid restrictions took a bit longer than normal we were on board MSC Seaview, an impressive, modern ship which if I have chosen specifically based on its excellent facilities for families. We had booked an Aurera experience, which gave as a few extra benefits like – better cabin location, My Choice Dining times, discounted drinks packages, a free massage and Spa entrance, access to some exclusive areas on board to name just a few. Travelling with teenagers we needed extra space to fit us all in. Our cabin was a spacious Suite with a king size bed, bunk beds for kids, bathroom, walk in wardrobe and extra benefit of whirlpool bath on the balcony. Food and drink – the choice is truly incredible and available all day long in different locations around the ship. We would normally go to the Market Place (buffet) for breakfast and lunch but if you’re an early bird, you can have a la carte breakfast in one of the other restaurants. Our allocated restaurant for dinner was elegant Golden Sands, with new a la carte menu every night and super friendly staff. You are also truly spoilt for choice with day and evening entertainment, from different swimming pools, slides, sport activities, interesting talks by experts, live music and Broadway style shows. Our football fans absolutely loved watching matches in the sports bar and with many other European fans in the bar, the atmosphere was unforgettable. I find cruising a perfect combination of fantastic facilities and entertainment on board and ability to visit a few destinations in one holiday. During this cruise we stopped in 2 Italian ports - Naples and Sicily. It is such a treat to wake up to a different view every morning with a new destination on your doorstep. The highlight of our Italian stops was Sicily, where we found a friendly guide in the port who took us on an excursion to beautiful Toarmina, about 40min drive away from our ship. This little trip was a highlight of our holiday and we all decided we will return here one day. After a well-awaited sea day, we could fully enjoy the facilities on board the Seaview. Next morning we arrived in Mallorca. We were a short bus drive away from the beautiful centre of Palma, where we spent a very pleasant couple of hours. After all the hustle and bustle of another Mediterranean town, it was so nice to step back on board our ship and look out from our balcony, as we were leaving for our last stop- Barcelona, where we will be staying for a couple of days. Cruising is a fantastic way to spend quality time with family and friends while visiting a different destination every day.