Our First Cruise. Northern Europe on MSC Euribia in February - ARE WE MAD?

Our first cruise and we chose the least recommended one as it was cheap!
It's early February and we're taking MSC Euribia on the North Sea to Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Le Havre.
I'm a bit anti-social, don't like crowds and worry about being bored and seasick.
Are we mad?
What did we think of it?
This is our first day and so far... well, just watch the video!
Filmed 2nd February 2024
Equipment used: Insta360 X3, DJI Osmo Pocket 3
Editing software: Insta 360 Studio, Videoproc Vlogger
Music: Epidemic Sounds
Music Tracks:
Faster Car (Sped Up Version) (Instrumental Version) - Loving Caliber
Avalanche of the Heart - Tape Machines-export-0
Almost - Xack
Silent Approval - Howard Harper-Barnes
Hypothesis
00:00 Arrive at Horizon Terminal
00:21 Check In
00:30 The Ramp
01:00 On Board
01:07 Indoor Promenade
02:08 Atrium
02:18 Lunch
02:25 Cabin Tour
03:15 Aft deck
03:26 Open Pool
03:31 Indoor Pool
03:56 Evening Open Deck
04:16 Marketplace Buffet
04:45 The Lifts!
04:54 Delphi Theatre Show
06:18 Leaving Port
06:36 Indoor Promenade Upper Deck
07:35 Casino
08:00 Carousel Lounge Show
09:00 Lower Deck Walk
09:28 Our Position

[@EvanCarmichael]

Thank you for the love Tim. We're about to head on the Euribia next week and it was great to see behind the scenes. #Believe

[@timsharp]

Thanks for taking the time to comment Evan. I absolutely loved the cruise, the ship is lovely and sparkly new and the ports are interesting. I'm steadily editing all the other days of the trip in the same way, Rotterdam goes live tomorrow. I have to cut out a 10 second clip of incidental background music that makes all the revenue for the whole video go to the copyright holder - why the whole video - why not 10 seconds worth? Sorry, I thought with 3.78m subscribers you might have an opinion on that!

[@BritsAbroadTravelCruise]

Your first cruise, and you've produced a great video that gives insights and information for anyone else's first cruise. Well done sir. Nicely filmed and edited, and good soundtrack.

[@timsharp]

Thanks, when I watch it back it seems to fizzle out at the end, so I've tried to finish off later video with an arrival or departure

[@pjonesy]

We just got home from the same cruise. We enjoyed every min and will be back soon

[@timsharp]

Yes, I'd do the same cruise again straight away!

[@margarethutchinson4977]

The ship looks amazing. I now want to go on a cruise! Great video.

[@timsharp]

I think you'd love it. Who'd have thought I would?

[@shrutiramakrishnan3741]

We are considering this for our first cruise ...fingers crossed ...very informative ..thanks

[@timsharp]

I was worried about it being our first cruise, but I really enjoyed it. I'm not very sociable, but you don't have to be to enjoy it. The ship is amazing, big and lots to see. Some areas got busy, but that's expected when there are 6000+ passengers on board. You could always find somewhere quiet - even if sometimes it was outside decks. The cabins were great - comfy mattresses and pillow selection, to me having the balcony, even in freezing weather was well worth it. The staff were brilliant, the entertainment all over the ship was much higher standard than I expected. The food was probably a tiny bit bland, but well presented and you could eat at the main restaurant or anytime in the huge buffet, or pay extra for a speciality meal (we were going to but didn't in the end). It was so easy at ports, as you'll see in my later videos. Thanks for the comment - if you'd like to watch the next video before it's released, it's our sea day on the way to Hamburg kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnjYoKWwr95jY5Y

[@vecoma]

Good video. Nice highlights and straight to the point. Appreciate the captions as well. Im going on this ship in early March!

[@timsharp]

Thanks for the comment, I try to make my videos concise - that's why I do a lot of hyperlapse - I don't want to miss anything, but I don't want to waste time either, and comments are useful to supplement what you see. The ship? Well, it's brilliant. I'm a fairly unsociable 69 year old and I didn't feel out of place at all - even when I forgot to dress up for posh night! Hope you have a great time, wish we were doing the cruise again! Keep doing your videos - why not try a bit of k-pop. Something like Farewell, Neverland by Tomorrow X Together or Gone by Twice?

[@ScottPC]

Got suggested this video and funny enough was on the exact same one. Found the whole thing very good value for money but the seating fights in the buffet ruined the whole dining for us. The main tabled restaunts food was questionable as well.

[@timsharp]

Wonder if we saw each other on the cruise. I was half expecting the crowds, so they weren't as bad as I feared, and we never had trouble finding a table round the end or the far sides. I found the food in the restaurants OK, bit ordinary, but definitely edible. I did think the whole thing was outstanding value for money and I definitely want to do another cruise - it didn't put me off.

[@CalTechPasadena]

Some people complained that there were no tables at the MarketPlace buffet and too crowded in the complimentary restaurants?

[@timsharp]

We always found a table in the buffet, but we tended to go right at the back, or round the sides away from the serving stations where it's quieter. On our cruise, the ship had over 6000 passengers, it was winter so hardly anyone was sat outside where there are lots more tables. It's our only cruise so we've nothing to compare it with, but despite my dislike of crowds, we didn't find it much of a problem - go slightly off the main meal times and it should be quieter. The complimentary restaurants were always reserved at your set dining time in the evenings, no problem there - we didn't find any problems the few times we went for breakfast or lunch and just turned up - they always gave us a table. I will say that MSC's version of a table for 2 is a table that has about 6 inches between it and the one next to it!

[@Life_of_John]

Just off same cruise and editing and uploading my videos now. How do you find the osmo pocket 3? What setting is best as it tends to shoot where it wants!

[@timsharp]

Hi John. I'll watch all your videos - I might even be on one! Osmo Pocket 3 is impressive. Couple of niggles but I'll get used to them. The record button is just a little small, resulting in a few missed shots as I thought I'd pressed it (I did press it to stop, but then it started filming the ground!). It does tend to start looking upwards a bit as you move around a lot. You can stop this by setting horizon lock, but then it's more difficult to intentionally film upwards as it's always trying to level the camera. My next video has a clip in Rotterdam in the Metro that is looking up when it should be looking ahead. If you press the joystick twice, it levels it again, but you have to notice it's wavering first! Other worry is how long the camera will last, it's not an action camera, though I'm finding it's replaced my GoPro's in general use, and often my Insta 360 X3 for general walking about. It's MUCH better than the X3 or GoPro's for low light movies - no juddering and the picture quality is excellent (X3 reduces down to about 1080p when edited). I also discovered on the cruise that it does really good panoramas - just keep the camera level and it takes the pictures and stitches them automatically. It was expensive, but it's worth every penny - I bought the Creator Combo that comes with an extra battery, a mic (not used yet) and a little wide angle lens that is useful when filming inside places. Battery life is way better than GoPro's. I filmed a full 1 hour show last Friday and the main battery was still 100%, the add on one was down to 14%. Settings - If you watch my videos, you can spot which are the pocket 3 bits because they are much better quality than the X3. One setting I would change straight away though is the gimbal rotational speed - make it slow. You'll notice a bit too much side to side movement as I'm walking about the ship - I tend to speed up clips and didn't have it set to slow, so there is too much movement. Also, make sure all the modes are set to 4K - I think they default to 1080p - why??? Sorry to go on a bit - well you did ask!

[@Life_of_John]

​@@timsharpGreat answer. I do have the osmo 3. Plus the gopro 11. Love the osmo but think I need to look at settings more. Slow down gimbal as you say etc. It does tend to shoot where it wants. Maybe I'll come off of fpv etc. Thanks and keep up the good work.

[@Life_of_John]

​@@timsharp you shoot 4k? I shoot in 1080 but maybe I should switch to 4k and render and upload in 1080.

[@timsharp]

Yes I shoot everything in 4K, it gives me scope to edit when necessary. For example the theatre shows in the Euribia - often there would be someone sat in front of us obstructing part of the view. Shooting in 4k allowed me to crop in, in editing without losing too much quality. The downsides: you need a lot of disc space - I took nearly 1TB of film just on that one week. It also takes more processing time editing and of course longer to upload to KZbin (some of my videos take over 24 hours to upload!), but i think it's worth it. If you are uploading in 1080p and you don't need to crop in, perhaps it's not worth shooting in 4K, it probably wouldn't make much if any difference. In my videos, the visuals are most important because I'm not engaging the audience with my personality, I want them to appreciate the places we visit. I have 2 GoPro 8's and I now only use them for videoing hyperlapse and front/rear view travel videos from buses and trams. I set up both a GoPro and the Pocket 3 for leaving Rotterdam and the Pocket 3 won hands down with it's better low light shooting - I didn't even have it set on low light. I've never used FPV - doesn't that wave the camera all over the place as you move about?

[@Life_of_John]

Thanks for the reply. I wonder if its you I said hello to one morning on the deck? Cheers. (I'll look at the diff osmo modes). What mode do you have your osmo in? Thx