BACKGROUND: This was my first post-Covid trip on Hapag Lloyd's small luxury ship the MS Europa. I had sailed on her several times pre-Covid (last time was September 2019) and had very much enjoyed the seamless service and excellent food (both international and German).

The main reason for my booking this particular trip (booked almost three years ago), was for the annual classical music Ocean Sun Festival, which had been canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid. World class artists featured on board this year included the Goldmund string quartet; pianist Alexander Krichel; violinist Sergey Malov; soprano Patricia Petibon performing with La Cetra baroque orchestra (in a Lisbon area special concert at Queluz palace) ; cellist Alexey Stadler performing with clarinetist David Orlowsky and pianist Matan Porat; and violinist Cosima Soulez Lariviere performing with pianist Mario Haering. Although I had my favorites overall, I was not disappointed in the overall quality of the classical artists' up close and personal performances, and that alone made the cruise worthwhile. There were other very good features, though there were a few things I disliked (in particular, my undercooled suite) , so my overall rating is 4/5.

COVID: Some Covid precautions were still in place when I sailed, though most had just loosened. All pax had to be vaxxed and boosted and provide written proof of a negative Covid test prior to boarding (either an antigen test within 24 hours, which did not work for me, or a PCR test within 48 hours -- which for various reasons, cost me 175 Euros for a quick PCR). Other than the requirement for masks in buses, rules and mandated attempts at Covid evasive behaviors were limited (especially when compared with my deserted Silver Moon cruise to central America January 2022, during the height of Omicron, when there were 'outbreaks' and pax, almost always mandatorily masked, looked at each other simply as disease vectors with eyes). There was an area of the ship reserved for quarantine (my suite was originally supposed to be in that area, but I was reassigned a new suite shortly before boarding ,allegedly for that reason). But later I walked and saw no activity there, the area was not sealed off, and I know that someone else landed up in my formerly assigned suite because they gave that suite # at lunch. I do not know if anyone came down with Covid, (if so, likely not many), it was not talked about or announced, and I did not ask. We had mandatory daily wrist temperature checks at a station near reception, (a 2 hour convenient time frame was allowed) but no screening nose, throat, salivary, or other probes were inserted once we were on board. Read more