Sancho_proudfoot

Thanks all. The onboard spend bit majes sense; however, I think we're missing some points for actual cruising. We status matched and at the time , that gave us 10,000 points and Black ( now diamond). We've done 1 x 7 night cruise and then 1 x 21 nights. That should, I think give 700+1000 but DW has only got 10600 showing. I'll discuss with the loyalty ambassador on Virtuosa in September.

My wife & l are both diamond level with MSC. I had an email telling me I had 14600 points; my wife had one a few days later saying she has 10500. As all our cruises are together, surely they should be identical? I cannot get hold of anyone at MSC to discuss this; customer services here in the UK gave me an email address. I emailed that address- it didn't bounce back as undelivered, but equally, it hasn't been answered either.

You can deposit cash onto your cruise card/onboard account. On Virtuosa there are machines ,( one to the left of Guest Services, two more on the deck immediately above) where instead of adding a credit/debit card you can add cash. It will take GBP £ or Euro € . Currently while the ship is homeported in Southampton the onboard currency is GBP - if you load Euros, it will take them but at a poor exchange rate. On the last night, go back to the same machine and it will refund any unused cash right down to the last penny/cent.

I see from deck plans there is a cyber cafe on deck 6. Are there also printers available in there?

I gather there's two cruise terminals at Dubai quite a bit apart. I think MSC use Mina Rashid, but can anyone confirm please?

Apologies, it's on Channel 5.

Anyone watching this series, started a week ago, at 4pm on Channel 4. Its on every day and there's 20 episodes in all. Following 3 groups on a week's cruise in the Med. I'm a bit disappointed in it - its more about what they do ashore, instead of onboard. Some aspects jar a bit - the three girls together keep saying they're on a shoestring budget ......and they're in a suite! The family with 2 kids '- I know they're homeschooling the kids, but EVERYTHING they do has to be an education. So far, in 4 episodes, the cruise director has sought them out and chatted to them - like THATis a regular happening!

You keep your MSC matched status for 3 years . If you haven't sailed with them in that time you lose it.

We did the itinerary you're looking at over New Year 22/3. Apart from a lot of rain, and a cool breeze, no issues with weather and calm seas. It was actually quite warm on Hamburg on New Year's Day.

I so dislike comments suggesting that to get full value from a drinks package, you have to be a borderline alcoholic. The drinks packages include decent coffees, *proper* juices, soft drinks bottled water ......nor just alcohol. So: breakfast - fresh orange juice a decent coffee or two. Mid-morning - a couple of soft drinks in the heat Lunchtime - 2 beers with food Mid afternoon - a couple of beers Just before coming inside to prepare for the evening - something like a pina cola Before dinner - a cocktail Dinner- 2 glasses of wine Late evening- a nightcap, and 2 bottles of water to take back to the room. That's only 9 alcoholic drinks but easily uses the daily charge on the package.

Yes it can! We had the PE package on Virtuosa and used it in Butchers Cut with no problem. The Speciality restaurants do have *some* drinks exclusive to that venue and you can't order those off the package.

We prebooked both Carousel shows on Virtuosa. We didn't (couldn't) pre book dates/times but that was easily done once onboard. If the ship is full, there is an option on the app to 'book' the main theatre shows ,( what it does is guarantee your entry to the theatre) as there will be more passengers than seats in the auditorium.

I think they just do a straight swap ' a €8 drink becomes an £8 drink ( and vice versa when they change back, ) as its simpler than trying to handle currency fluctuations.

We normally take a city break over New Year. For 22/23 we were looking at 5 days in Prague. Our TA emailed us with an offer for 7 nights onboard MSC Virtuosa, including the premium drinks package. The price for that was less than our quote for flights and hotel ( no meals or drinks) for 5 nights in Prague.

It was that "dead period" between Christmas and New year. I was idly browsing the colour supplement from the Sunday papers, and came across an advert. It was for a 10 day cruise, on a ship so New It was still being built. The price was great, and we hummed and hawed for a day or two. Ultimately, what swung it was if we booked by 31 December we got free parking at the port. We went for an inside cabin, as the cheapest option, reasoning that if we hated it we hadn't spent an absolute fortune. That ship still under construction was Independence of the Seas, and we were on her 2nd ever voyage ( the first was a 4 day tester to Ireland). Needless to say we didn't hate it.......