showingdiva

I understand why trays are being phased out, not just on P&O, but try eating / cruising on your own, sitting down with some cereal and juice, then try getting up to get an omelette or some toast - you either lose your table, the waiters immediately clear the table when you stand up .. or both.

Agree with many comments above that this shouldn't even be near the point of having to ask for them. Definitely in the cabin on QM2. I made a point of looking whilst in the public toilet on board a Norwegian Cruise Line ship yesterday that I was working on board - they have sanitary bins. Will take note on board MSC in a few weeks when I sail with them (although from memory, sure there are, that they still have turndown is irrelevant).

The inside cabins on Virtuosa are nice (I've been in two). You've been allocated a good cabin, on a good deck (not above or underneath any public areas). Near to lifts. I would be happy with it.

What is this starter? No matter how much I expand the photo, aside from the breadsticks, neither ramekin is obvious

Or P Sand O .... I'll get my coat ....

The solo Arcadia cruise I did was expensive in a single occupancy balcony cabin. However, as it's a special cabin to me, I took a deep breath and accepted the cost (and would again). QM2's KC single cabins with the double large portholes are lovely though. Really spacious, and still my favourite over booking single occupancy. However ... I originally booked an Iona extended balcony cabin - at release - which is departing next week. Only £40 OBC at the time. Cost £1,340 including single supplement (the cost of this cruise subsequently doubled and almost trebled at one point). However, just after booking, I fell in love with MSC Virtuosa, so cancelled the Iona cruise and booked a single occupancy, extended balcony cabin (with drink package) for £875. To almost exactly the same ports.

World Navigator is small. So much so that we accommodated both her and her sister onto the cruise berth in Leith last year. MSC Seaview and Celebrity Edge on the other hand .....

As a certified ship geek, I could never tire of Rotterdam.

And part of the general reason I'm not booking P&O at present. I'm hoping that post-much needed attention, to do a couple of short cruises - in the name of nostalgia - on both Arcadia and Aurora. I'll stick to the bright shiny lights of MSC Virtuosa for the foreseeable.

Haven't been on board post-covid, but have had many cruises and many happy memories on board her. Not glitzy, but has one of the most coherent layouts of any cruise ship (and for the avoidance of doubt, I've worked on dozens). Standard balconies are a good size. Suites are big. No kids! Whilst I'm currently not looking at P&O until some things are addressed, I was delighted to read that some investment is being put into both Arcadia and Aurora. Last year, on my doorstep, on an impromptu visit due to the weather. Passengers all seemed happy enough, despite the desecrated itinerary.

Why do I cruise? I was brought up on ships. I work with and on board cruise ships in my local ports. First one on Tuesday (No.1 of 150 this summer). I have an emotional attachment to Arcadia. Queen Mary 2 was on my bucket list. The first time I looked out of the terminal window and saw her up close, I was in awe. I still am. I discovered MSC Virtuosa thanks to a very generous NHS staff discount. Again, I was smitten. I still am. Life is too short not to.

OP - this is your original post .. You are NOT allowed to bring liquid (unless you have previously cleared it to bring distilled water if you use a CPAP machine) on a MSC cruise ship. They have water in bars, restaurants, in taps and if necessary, in your mini bar. There is a very high probability you will be pulled up for it, it will be confiscated and you will get a tannoy announcement of shame to come and collect your opened case / bag. Please stop posting about this. You can't take it. Other cruise lines do allow it, so if it's as big a deal to you as the number of your posts suggest, you maybe need to be thinking whether MSC is the cruise line that best suits you. Either buy it on a bottle basis, or buy a drink package where you can literally have as much of it as you please in any location, including taking to your cabin.

I do the same journey - but only by train. I don't fly and the thought of sitting in a bus for that long doesn't do me any favours. I set up train ticket alerts for their release and definitely doing down the day before. Edinburgh - Birmingham New Street, then New Street to Southampton Central

Sorry for your loss. Only you will know when that right time is, and whether any sort of holiday will be of benefit going forward. For what it's worth, I was in a similar position when I lost my cruise companion, my mother. Two years, a serious illness of my own and an aborted cruise attempt later, I was back on board Arcadia, "our ship", where we had enjoyed ten cruises, in the exact same cabin we had always had since the ship's maiden voyage. I only booked a four nighter to begin with. It felt a bit strange. I stood on the balcony and had a good cry. Then took a deep breath ... 7 longer cruises later, and a jump to Cunard and MSC, it's restored my confidence. You can have as much or as little interaction with other passengers as you want. Just like travelling with a companion, pick the best cabin you can afford, decide whether to join in with the daily programme and the solo meet up, go ashore independently or book an excursion (which I did that first Arcadia cruise to be with people). Dine the way you feel comfortable with, in the venue you feel comfortable with, with whom you feel comfortable with. Or just use it for peace and reflection. Whether it's now or further into the future, you will be okay going solo.

This has actually made me went to look at tagging a short break on one / both of them in addition to Virtuosa and Queen Mary 2 in the next couple of years.

Not great for the passengers who have been affected, but as if working on a cruise ship isn't a hard enough shift without having to roll up your trousers and paddle along the carpet.

Cat looks like he / she's plotting something to make up for not being taken on holiday.

ConnieTact, thanks for your updates and photos. Makes my return to Virtuosa all the closer. YC would be a waste on me, as teetotal, wouldn't use butler and not keen on the high/ forward position of YC cabins (I'm a mid-ship, middle deck kind of passenger), but pleased to hear for the majority, you've enjoyed Virtuosa outside of it.

At the end of the day, you're on holiday, on a lovely cruise ship. If you're not worried about being at either extreme end of the ship if you're not a good traveler, or a very light sleeper and / or you only think of a cabin is a place to sleep, wash and dress, then the Saver is worthwhile. £900 wouldn't even be a starter for me. Not least because if you decide not to do that particular itinerary this year, as we all know, there's every chance P&O will be repeating it next year with the same ship.

I bet his friend, the elephant, at the Horizon Pool on Deck 16 is also having a chuckle.

£900 to choose a cabin is ridiculous. Personally, I always want to choose my exact cabin in my exact preferred location, and this is just another example why I am not booking P&O at present, albeit one that is not as far up the list as some other reasons. I don't mind paying a bit extra to get selected benefits, but that amount is almost another cruise. To anyone whose priority is not specific location, I can imagine that Saver is perfectly adequate. Most of the posts on the topic seem to summarise that Saver cabins are the ones Select passengers don't choose for a number of reasons, like under a promenade deck, restaurant, theatre, pool area or in the case of Iona / Arvia, Deck 8.

Cancelled an April fjords on Iona and kept a May one with another cruise line. P&O offering OBC, other line a drink / ice cream package. Similar itineraries and extended balcony cabin (single use). P&O one still over double the price, at one point was nearly three times. Not dissing P&O (will probably go back to them one day), but too much of a difference, that has afforded another cruise, to ignore.

I believe a medical form would be for distilled water for a CPAP machine, not an exclusion to being allowed to bring it on board water to drink, which as you say, MSC forbid. A drinks package would be the way to go. The tap water is indeed safe to drink.

VTS has Virtuosa departing at 20:00. Shouldn't be anything inbound or outbound to delay her.

The subtitles stole the show. Otherwise, all a bit odd. Anyone lurking on YT may want to search the highlights of MSC Virtuosa's naming ceremony in Dubai (also retrospectively of her coming into service) in comparison.