Some of the links in this blog post – specifically, the links to Viator – are affiliate links, which means that, if you click through those links and book a Viator service, My Cruising Family will receive compensation. That said, please know that, as always, ALL opinions and experiences expressed in this article are authentic and solely those of My Cruising Family to benefit you by providing information and insight to best help you plan your travels.

It’s been 10 months since my most recent blog post, Twice Upon A Disney Wish, and I’m jumping right back into sharing our most recent travel adventures with you, here, on My Cruising Family, the blog… but not before addressing the elephant in the room… why the heck haven’t I published a blog article in 10 months?

Y’all… I don’t even know where to start, but to sum it up, life has been life’ing. If you’re already following me on Instagram and YouTube, then you know that I have shared travels there towards the tail-end of 2022 and, more recently, during summer 2023… and, well, I captured lots of video and photo content from those travels, spent lots of time editing that content to create vlogs, reels, and other social media posts, but in the midst of working on that content, as well as wife’ing, momming, working my office job, taking a social media break, changing my office job, thinking deeply about the overall direction for My Cruising Family, the brand, and still trying to have some “me time” in the midst of things, I delayed to sit down and document these trips, here, on the blog. If you aren’t already following me on Instagram and YouTube, then please, head over and subscribe, so that you can be kept more closely in the loop of things when we’re globetrotting. It usually takes me a while, albeit not usually 10 months, to actually write the blog article after our travels.

So, where have we been since Twice Upon A Disney Wish? Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bermuda! These trips involved two new and exciting cruise ships… oh, and we even stayed overnight right here in New York harbor for the Christening/Naming Ceremony of a third new cruise ship. Those are the quick updates, but if you know me, then you know I get into details. So here goes…
In October 2022, right after publishing Twice Upon A Disney Wish, we booked another cruise for December 2022! This was super exciting for me because December is my birth month, and the cruise we booked would be the 3-night pre-inaugural aboard the new MSC World Europa! This United Arab Emirates (UAE) cruise sailed from Dubai to Abu Dhabi to Sir Bani Yas, and Allan, AJ, LJ, my mom, and I all embarked on this journey together.

This first blog in this two-part series will cover our travel from New York to Dubai, our first day in Dubai, and the cruise we embarked on once we got there! This article will also include links to give you more insight into the services and tours we selected for our experience, and from there, you can explore other options that may suit your own desires for your trip.
Between booking this epic UAE cruise and actually flying to the UAE to board the MSC World Europa, Allan and I attended the Christening/Naming Ceremony for the gorgeous new MSC Seascape, which took place right here in New York City in December 2022, and we stayed onboard overnight as MSC’s guests, which was an excellent prelude to our MSC World Europa experience that would take place a couple weeks later.

On December 19, 2022, we flew non-stop from New York-JFK to Dubai-DXB aboard Emirates Airbus A380. This aircraft is HUGE and although we know Emirates is known for its exceptional business class and first-class offerings, we all flew economy, and it was quite comfortable - so much so that the 12-hour flight didn’t feel that long. We purchased four adult tickets and one child ticket because AJ had just turned 12 years old one week before our flight, and anyone 12 years old and older pays the adult fare for Emirates flights. I will include pricing for our round-trip flights and other elements of this UAE trip towards the end of this two-part blog series.

We enjoyed dinner and breakfast onboard, as well as snacks and a wide range of drink choices, including wine, which was all included in our airfare. Also onboard is a wide selection of movies. Flying from JFK to DXB, I watched Cars 2 and Black Panther. Yeah, you know I enjoy my Disney and Marvel! Although I could’ve watched more on Emirates’ ICE TV & movie system during this flight, I chose instead to get some sleep. Upon our arrival in Dubai, the airport transfer we had purchased through Viator met us at the airport and took us to our hotel for the day, the Ramada by Wyndham-Downtown Dubai, where we enjoyed our one-day stay in our Two-Bedroom Burj Khalifa View Apartment before boarding the MSC World Europa.

After some much-needed sleep, and since our hotel was so close to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, our family had breakfast at the hotel and took a quick taxi ride to experience the tour of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Aquarium, which we purchased through Viator. This also means that we visited the world's biggest mall, the Dubai Mall, as that’s where the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Aquarium are located. The views from the tallest building in the world, the beautiful aquarium, and the massive mall were all magnificent to see, and we highly recommend seeing them for yourself.

After heading back to the Ramada by Wyndham-Downtown Dubai to get our luggage and check out, one of the vans from the Ramada took us to the Dubai cruise terminal where we would board the MSC World Europa for its pre-inaugural sailing.

Now, as with any inaugural cruise, I caution you to pack your patience and manage your expectations because there are bound to be some level of hiccups - they may be major or minor, but there will be hiccups. Even with this in mind, I must say that the embarkation process for us in Dubai for the 3-night pre-inaugural MSC World Europa cruise is, to date, the worst embarkation experience we’ve had in 18 cruises and counting. We arrived at Port Rashid, unloaded our luggage and gave our checked bags to the porters, then, went into the cruise terminal. Our scheduled check-in time assigned by MSC, per our check-in documents, was 4 PM, and we arrived at the port by about 3 PM, understanding that we may have a bit of a wait, since we arrived about an hour early. We received a boarding group number when we entered the terminal - Group 26, to be specific - and after a long wait for them to call Group 26, they finally did, and we then waited, again, on a check-in line for over an hour. After the entire process in the cruise terminal, we did not get to our rooms until after 6 PM - and, to be clear, we went directly to our rooms after we boarded the ship. Exhaling now, more than eight months after that experience, as it still gets me so tense. Wooosaaaah!

Once onboard the World Europa on embarkation day, we experienced a lot of frustration dealing with lots of disorganization and further delays as a result, which led to us arriving late to our assigned dinner time, and then, we were told we would not be seated to eat because the staff won’t have enough time to serve us. All this with not only exhausted adults, but also two young children who were also very tired is not the way we, or anyone, for that matter, would want to start vacation. Nevertheless, they eventually seated us for dinner at 9:45 PM, and we exhaled, ate, and got some rest so that we could start afresh the next day to enjoy our UAE cruise.

Our entire embarkation day experience is documented in our YouTube vlog entitled MSC World Europa | Pre-Inaugural Cruise | Embarkation Day Debacle.

With a good night’s rest and an exciting excursion planned, we got up and went to breakfast at La Brasserie buffet aboard the World Europa on Day 2, then headed out into Abu Dhabi to enjoy an excursion offered through MSC Cruises - MSC Excursion AUH36 - Theme Park Fun: Ferrari World or Warner Bros. World. Prior to leaving the United States, we booked our Abu Dhabi excursion through MSC. This particular excursion is one bus that picks up guests from the port and gives guests the option of whether to be dropped off at Ferrari World or Warner Bros. World as those venues are right next to each other. The bus then picks the guests back up from wherever they were dropped off. During the drive on the bus, our tour guide provided lots of information about the history of Abu Dhabi.

Did you know there’s a Warner Bros. World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates? It was great to experience the various areas there, the largest indoor theme park in the world, especially with all the Christmas decorations and rides for all interests and ages! After spending about 5 hours at Warner Bros. World, we highly recommend! For a more complete look at Warner Bros. World, check out our vlog entitled MSC World Europa | A Lot In One Day | Abu Dhabi Excursion | Warner Bros World | 2 Dinners In 1 Night.

After the excursion, we went back to the ship where the entire family enjoyed lunch at Pizza & Burger, which is one of the included restaurants aboard the World Europa. Then, we purchased a Fun Pass and used it, in part, to have a whole lot of fun in the interactive XD cinema onboard!

At dinner time, Allan and I ate with our family at Hexagon, the main dining room to which we were assigned. Then, since Allan and I had purchased MSC’s Trilogy Dining Experience on embarkation day, we enjoyed our first specialty dining experience of the cruise at Kaito Sushi on Day 2. This experience at Kaito Sushi was deliciously spectacular! One thing we did not like about Kaito Sushi is that our seating was out in a very busy area around the ship’s atrium, so too many people were walking back and forth right behind us as we ate. MSC’s Trilogy Dining Experience allows guests to dine at a select three specialty restaurants aboard the ship.

Our entire experience in Abu Dhabi and onboard on Day 2 of this UAE cruise is documented in our YouTube vlog entitled MSC World Europa | A Lot In One Day | Abu Dhabi Excursion | Warner Bros World | 2 Dinners In 1 Night.

After an excellent Day 2 aboard the World Europa and visiting Abu Dhabi, we stayed onboard the ship on Day 3 when the ship called on Sir Bani Yas, an island in the UAE. With the World Europa being a brand spanking new ship, we chose to explore the many places and activities onboard. From having breakfast at Il Mercato and Il Brasserie buffets onboard to fun in both arcades, basketball and bumper cars at the Sportplex, enjoying the Venom Drop, visiting Doremiland, splashing around at the Aurora Borealis Waterpark, racing in the F1 Simulator, admiring the beauty of the World Promenade, and walking through pretty much every nook and cranny of the entire ship, we worked up quite the appetite aboard the World Europa on Day 3. Allan and I dined at Butcher’s Cut for lunch - this was our second specialty dining experience of the cruise - and it was delicious! For dinner, Allan and I again ate with our family at Hexagon, the main dining room, then dined at Chef’s Garden Kitchen, our third specialty dining experience of the cruise - the final meal of our Trilogy Dining Experience - another very tasty experience!

Our entire Day 3 experience aboard the World Europa’s pre-inaugural UAE cruise is documented in two of our YouTube videos: MSC World Europa | Complete Ship Tour | Informative Full Ship Walkthrough and MSC World Europa | Activities For A Family Of 5 | Arcades! Venom! Specialty Dining! Oh My!

On Day 4, we had breakfast aboard the World Europa, then disembarked in Dubai where we would spend another two days before flying back to New York.

If you’ve read this all the way through, thanks for doing so, and I hope that you will look out for Part 2 of this two-part blog series. In our next blog post, we will share where in Dubai we stayed after our MSC World Europa cruise, and what we did in Dubai on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Our hope is that these details help you to plan a visit to Dubai, an MSC cruise through the UAE, or both!