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MS Europa 2, part of the Hapag Lloyd cruises fleet, is usually rated the best and most luxurious cruise ship in the world. In this video I explore and review the ship which is an ultra-luxury cruise experience. I review it especially for English-speaking cruisers as the ship historically has attracted mostly German-speakers on their cruise vacations. I look at why the ship is so highly rated by cruise writers and guide books and look at things like the passenger age and profile, how well they cater for english speaking cruise passengers, the dining options, bars and lounges, other facilities and the on board experience including entertainment options.
#cruisetips #cruisingtips #hapaglloyd #europa2
I travelled as a guest of the cruise line before making this video
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0:00
hi I'm Gary beverage of tips for
0:02
travelers I'm onboard
0:04
how about Louise cruises Europa - and
0:06
I'm going to tell you nine things I
0:07
think you need to know about the ship to
0:10
help you decide if it's a ship that you
0:12
should really actively consider cruising
0:14
with so the first thing you need to know
0:16
is that this is a small ship operating
0:19
at the ultra-luxury
0:20
end of cruising it's a level deck ship
0:23
it holds a maximum of 500 passengers and
0:26
it is premium price it claims to have
0:29
the greatest amount of space per
0:31
passenger of any cruise ship out there
0:33
and all of the suites on board have
0:36
verandas Europa - has consistently had
0:39
the highest ratings by many many guides
0:43
including the Berlitz guide to cruising
0:46
the design is very modern it's very
0:48
contemporary more of a kind of a
0:51
boutique hotel look than a traditional
0:53
cruise ship there are over eight hundred
0:54
pieces of original art including some by
0:57
famous artists like Damien Hirst on
1:00
board the second thing you need to know
1:02
is that as a European and very Germanic
1:04
experience being a German line it is
1:07
mostly occupied and used by German
1:10
speakers however you roboo tube has been
1:12
designated as their international ship
1:15
to attract more and more English
1:17
speakers so all of the crew on board are
1:19
bilingual they speak German and English
1:21
all the documentation on board you'll
1:23
find that you come in contact with as an
1:25
English speaker will be English there's
1:27
also an international hostess on board
1:29
there will always be an English
1:31
excursion or if there's a excursion that
1:33
you wanna do that's in German they'll
1:34
make sure that someone available to come
1:36
on the tour with you to translate it
1:38
into English for you if there's any
1:40
talks onboard which are by German
1:41
personalities or German speakers a
1:43
translation a live translation will be
1:46
provided all the safety briefing zodiac
1:48
briefings are always done in English all
1:51
announcements are done both in German
1:53
and in English but it is a very European
1:55
experience compared to some of the other
1:57
ultra-luxury lines which are much more
1:59
American experience for example the
2:01
onboard currency is the Euro not the
2:03
dollar the third thing you need to know
2:05
is about the whole dining experience now
2:06
all food is included within your fare
2:09
both the standard restaurants and the
2:11
speciality restaurants are all included
2:13
there are seven restaurants on board
2:15
well the main dining room is called
2:17
veldt Mir this is an ala carte
2:20
restaurant it's a very beautiful room
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and has both an set ala carte menu which
2:25
doesn't change and then an ala carte
2:27
menu for the day so mass amount of
2:29
choice you then have the Yacht Club
2:30
which is both an indoor and outdoor it's
2:32
more informal it's the buffet restaurant
2:34
so those are the two main restaurants
2:36
you never have to make reservations for
2:37
those do you have Sakura
2:39
which is an amazing sushi restaurant
2:42
with incredible sushi one of the very
2:44
popular restaurants on board is tarragon
2:46
tarragon is a French bistro restaurant a
2:49
great restaurant one of the most popular
2:51
ones on board just linked to tarragon is
2:53
the grand reserve which is really
2:56
focusing on wine tasting and meals a
2:58
great restaurant if you into Asian food
3:00
is elements this has phenomenal Asian
3:04
food probably the most popular of all is
3:06
Southern Miss amar which is the Italian
3:09
restaurant magnificent Italian food
3:12
then of course you have 24-hour room
3:15
service with the breakfast being pretty
3:17
magnificent the other thing which is
3:18
great which is included is once a week
3:21
onboard is a caviar night these are held
3:24
in every single restaurant will have a
3:25
caviar feature now onboard Europa -
3:28
there are six magnificent bars and
3:31
lounges Collins is a great bar
3:33
particular if you're into smoking or
3:35
cigars
3:36
it's the connoisseur bar and it has an
3:39
enormous range of gins they claim to
3:42
have the biggest range of chins of any
3:44
ship club to is an evening venue and it
3:48
has live music it has a band that plays
3:50
in there down in the lobby area is the
3:52
piano bar and the pianist at rest times
3:54
during the day will play the grand piano
3:56
there out of the pool you've got the
3:58
pool bar which of course is open during
4:00
the day and often as entertainment or
4:03
activities at the pool at night two
4:05
venues which I really like the first of
4:07
which is San C bar this is based on a
4:09
famous German beach bar it's also
4:12
open-air it's a great spot no need for
4:14
drinks but in the evening they'll often
4:16
have music there live music or a disco
4:18
playing and then there's the Belvedere
4:20
this is the library and it's also where
4:23
you have your coffees and teas in the
4:25
afternoon they have a beautiful
4:27
often in tea service we get members and
4:29
cakes and of course your especially teas
4:32
and coffees the fifth thing you need to
4:34
know is about accommodation there are
4:36
seven grades of sweets on board and
4:38
nezam mentioned all of them have a
4:41
veranda now the main type of
4:43
accommodation on board is a veranda
4:45
suite and there are 141 and the veranda
4:48
suite is a magnificent suite it's over
4:51
30 square metres as a really big balcony
4:54
it's very plush a nice big walk-in
4:56
cupboard and a great bathroom which has
4:59
both a bath and a shower so all of the
5:03
accommodation on board is very spacious
5:05
and participation is considering it's a
5:07
relatively small ship there's not loads
5:10
and loads of entertainment on board but
5:13
there are of course some options in the
5:15
theatre they will often be shows and the
5:18
shows tend to lean towards more dance
5:20
shows so languages less of an issue
5:22
you've got the band obviously I've I've
5:23
mentioned in club 2 now sometimes have
5:26
special events like the captain's
5:28
welcome pool party there also be other
5:30
events like will be the gin tasting
5:32
there may be some guest speakers there's
5:35
an art gallery and some artists showing
5:38
around those over 800 pieces of art one
5:41
of the facilities there have what you do
5:42
pay extra for is the millet cookery
5:45
classes but overall the entertainments
5:47
relatively low-key there's no casino
5:49
there's a daily programme which has
5:51
various activities in but it tends to be
5:53
much lower key now the seventh thing you
5:55
need to know is about other facilities
5:57
particularly it comes to fitness and
5:59
relaxation there's a very large spa
6:01
there's a pretty big fitness room all
6:04
the fitness classes are included within
6:06
the fair there's a magnificent swimming
6:08
pool which has a roof that closes so if
6:11
it's the way that's not great they can
6:13
close the roof they also have a quiet
6:15
area up on deck 11 with a Jacuzzi
6:19
there's also some golf simulators seen
6:21
actually practice playing golf the other
6:23
great thing is they have bicycles on
6:25
board so they do run as one of the
6:27
excursion options normally and most
6:29
ports a bike excursion which is a
6:31
paid-for excursion but then there are
6:33
also bikes which you can then just use
6:35
so if you just want to go off and
6:36
explore on bicycles you can don't go and
6:38
do that what's quite exciting about your
6:40
opportunities is the mud
6:41
younger age demographic than you'll find
6:43
on many other ultra luxury lines how
6:46
Berger are actively going out trying to
6:48
encourage young professionals to cruise
6:50
on Europa to so the ship is designed and
6:53
the facilities are really designed to
6:55
cater for and attract a younger Cruiser
6:57
so you're gonna find they're sort of in
6:59
their 40s and often with families so
7:02
that's why many of the cruises on Europa
7:03
two are shorter so it'll be seven eight
7:05
to ten days long which make it much more
7:07
appealing also there's lots and lots of
7:09
incentives to attract younger cruises on
7:12
board quickly those with families so if
7:14
you are traveling with the family you'll
7:15
find if you've got kids up to the age of
7:17
eleven if they're travel in your cabin
7:19
they travel for free if they're between
7:21
11 and 15 they just pay a small fee of
7:23
around about a hundred euros a hundred
7:25
dollars per child if they stay within
7:27
your cabin they also have family
7:29
apartments on board which is a veranda
7:32
suite with an interconnecting room which
7:35
has bunk beds bathrooms lots of toys
7:38
which are designed specifically for kids
7:40
you can have a whole family apartment
7:42
they have kids clubs which range from
7:45
the knopf Club which is for two to three
7:48
year olds kids club for four to ten year
7:51
olds and a teens club from 11 to 15
7:53
years old they also have little touches
7:56
like for example there provide a late
7:58
riser service where they'll come and
7:59
fetch the kids from your suite they'll
8:03
take them away in the mornings and give
8:04
you some you time they also provide if
8:07
you're coming with young ones a baby
8:10
welcome pack which you can book before
8:11
you get on board swing get on board
8:12
you'll have things like diapers food and
8:15
it means that you have to bring much
8:16
less stuff with you on board so it's a
8:19
much younger demographic and really
8:21
targeting kids the important thing to
8:22
note of course is if you're traveling in
8:24
peak school holiday time there is a
8:27
chance that there will be a lot of kids
8:28
on board so if example I was traveling
8:29
in mid-july and it was 55 kids on board
8:33
so if you want to avoid kids avoid the
8:36
key school holiday times the night thing
8:39
I want to talk about is that although
8:40
it's ultra luxury it is a pre laid-back
8:42
and informal atmosphere on board so
8:44
there's no formal nights no Golan
8:47
Heights where you have to get dressed up
8:49
in fact there's no formal dress code
8:51
although people do tend to dress very
8:53
smartly so you'll find gentlemen do
8:55
we're jackets to dinner ladies will wear
8:57
some knee-length dresses dining is open
9:00
seated at home and Beyond some board
9:01
it's pretty refined quiet cultured Roby
9:04
to is rated consistently as one of the
9:07
best all the best cruise ships around so
9:10
it operates at the ultra luxury the
9:12
premium end it attracts a much younger
9:15
crowd of people it's also the
9:16
International ship so it's completely
9:18
bilingual as an english-speaking
9:20
traveler if you're looking for an ultra
9:22
luxury line you know definitely your
9:24
attitude I would strongly recommend you
9:27
take a look at if you enjoyed this video
9:28
I'd love it if you watch many more of my
9:30
tips or traveler's videos the goal is to
9:32
help you make much more of your precious
9:35
travel time and money with travel
9:37
inspiration advice and tips
9:40
[Music]
9:43
[Applause]
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