mcoler181

I think purchasing on board you will also incur the 18% service charge

1 hour ago, Ranmoor said:

Hi,

Anyone had experience purchasing the fun pass on board the MSC Virtuosa using the "personal cruise card" or do you have to pay for the fun pass seperatley with a bank/credit card only.

Help appreciated

I'm not too sure on your point, but its much cheaper to buy it before you sail 

Does 

3 minutes ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

MSC has said that they will be showing all the matches.

 

Virtuosa does have a bar called 'Sports Bar' on 16 but (a) I've never seen it in use, and (b) two people and the ship's cat in there and it would be crowded.

 

My money would be in the 'TV Studio & Bar' on 7.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

Cheers, does Masters of the Sea have TV's?

Great, thanks

Much to the wife's dismay England are likely to be playing when we are on Virtuosa, I'm assuming they will show the Euros on board somewhere.

Is there a sports bar like on Seascape with loads of tv's? If not, any idea where they might show it?

1 minute ago, ellie1145 said:

That’s interesting. Thank you for posting. It was what I suspected. 🙂

Having only sailed Royal 4 times previously it felt a very different cruise with obviously Royal being mainly Americans. 

1 minute ago, ellie1145 said:

Out of interest, are the majority of passengers American or do Europeans (Germans, French, Italians etc) make up the largest contingent? 

It was a real mixed bag but I'd say Europeans made up the largest contingent, Brits definitely in the minority, still lots of American though.

In the show one night the Entertainment director went through all the nationalities on board and was getting everyone to cheer when their country was called out, he must have covered most counties in Europe and South America, plus US and Canada. I've never been on such a diverse cruise. 

I see on the YC menus, there is always the option of  Filet Steak, never a cut I would go for. Would they be willing to offer another cut if I was to ask?

2 hours ago, gizfish said:

Just to add, NY strip was one of the regular (not steakhouse additional charge selections) always available items in the MDR, and was also offered twice in the "daily specials" section on our 8 night Meraviglia cruise in September.  It was quite good.

My daughter got the NY strip in the MDR once or twice, it was OK, not a patch on Butchers cut. I also paid the $20 for the upgrade one, I cant remember which cut it was, I want to see T Bone but again it wasn't as good as Butchers Cut, not bad but not great. 

32 minutes ago, John Bull said:

For the train you need to take ship's shuttle (probably payable but only a few euros) to Blankenberge station, where you catch the direct train to Bruges - takes about 12 mins, return fare about €10 or less. 20 min walk from Bruges station to the cobbled centre.

The big problem is that the train is only hourly, and because it's preceded by a shuttlebus you can't plan when you'll get to the station - you might have a wait of one minute, or 59 minutes!

 

Ships' "Bruges on your own" transfer takes you to Bargeplein, also a pleasant 20 min walk yo the centre (buses  aren't allowed in the centre). Disadvantages are that you return at a set time, and ships' arrangements are usually poor value.

 

There's an independent bus operator offering shuttles from port to that same drop-point in Bruges.  Can be pre-booked. Folk say it can be a bit of a scrum getting onto the bus for the return.

 

Taxis can be hard to pre-book, I don't know whether they're avalable on-spec. Last I heard some time ago was €50 return. They can drop you in the centre, somewhere like the Grotemarkt.

 

Ship's "tours" to Bruges would likely be a waste of time & money - as above, they can't take you around the centre.

 

We're on this cruise 29th June. Been to Bruges a number of times, might take the kusttram and spend a lazy day in Blankenberge and/or Ostend, mebbe even to the end of the line at De Panne.

 

JB 🙂 

Thanks for the info, if it is Virtuosa you are on we are also on it. 

The cabin has two US, two European and I think two USB ports so being British you will need adaptors. 

Get to the port early, we were there about 10.30 ish and one of the first lot on the ship.

Were in the buffet for 11.30 and it was dead, apparently its crazy busy on embarkation day but we missed it.

As above, will be on MSC Virtuosa, I have seen something about a train that only takes 16 mins but not sure if it is easy to get to from the ship.

Thanks

Yeah as gizfish says if you purchase the package it is a set menu.

On Seascape we purchased the two restaurant one, it entitled us to Butchers Cut and Teppanyaki. Teppanyaki I think was their midrange menu (there was the option to upgrade) and Butchers Cut was a 3 course menu, only steaks were 8oz filet and 14oz new york strip (which was really good), again in butchers cut you could upgrade and buy a more expensive steak for 50% of the al a carte price if on the package. 

15 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

 

Yeah we always used the Buffet, a few sea days we skipped breakfast and went for lunch early before the chaos. 

8 hours ago, Beamafar said:

They had it for the first time on Seascape last week.  I believe it had already been introduced on Meraviglia.  It seems to be a big hit, especially not having to be up early on a sea day to catch MDR breakfast. 

We never once made the MDR for breakfast in two weeks on Seascape unfortunately, from memory I think it was only open 7-8, something like that.

18 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

Currently on Seascape.  Last week it was a zoo - very crowded around the atrium areas and very loud.  There is a different demographic onboard this week (less Americans and almost 1000 Brazilians, who like to party).  Terrific atmosphere and easier to navigate the ship - especially in the evenings.  Had we not stayed on for a second week I would have said never again.

 

For us, the food is cheap and poor quality.  We found the buffet options extremely limited.  However, the sea day brunch is not to be missed.  Mr B has the huavos rancheros every time.  I opted for steak and eggs a couple of times, but tried the  chicken and rice dish a couple of days ago and it was really good.  (There is a thread on here about the brunch, with the menu available in the OP).  We usually go around 12pm when it’s not so busy. 

 

The crew have been amazing and we’ve received exceptional service from them.  We hang out at the bar in Cabaret Rouge and have great craic with the lads. 
 

@morpheusofthesea Thanks so much for tip about Indian butter chicken being listed in the healthy options section of the menu - I discovered that it’s on tonight. 
 

 

Is the brunch a new thing? If not we missed that in February. 

45 minutes ago, 8420PR said:

Happens often to me, as the MSC voyagers club number and status doesn't seem to get correctly to the second passenger.   Can you see a voyagers club number and status for your wife on the booking confirmation?

 

I normally just send an email and ask them to add the voyagers number.  A couple of days later I will get an updated booking confirmation with the correct status for all passengers, and then another couple of days later an updated booking confirmation with the additional $/€50 onboard credit for the second passenger.  I've done this successfully many times.

No, on the confirmation it is just my number next to my name. I will email them, thanks.

On the online portal it is only showing a shipboard credit for myself and not my wife, i daren't ring up MSC and query it in case they balls something up on the booking. 

Will I be able to rectify it once on board? Its only $50 so wont lose any sleep if not but might as well have it if we can. 

41 minutes ago, peder said:

 

 

Also note that many Americans' first experience with MSC was with the Seascape. Many of the reviews of the Seascape are very Amero-centric and expect MSC to be exactly like Carnival/Royal/etc.

Totally agree with that comment, we had only sailed Royal prior to Sescape and was amazed by the amount of nationality's on Seascape. 

3 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

We are due to sail on Seascape on June 15th and the reviews on here are pretty horrendous. 
 

We have sailed on Virtuosa out of Southampton twice and we were agreeably surprised. We’ve just got off Anthem of the Seas Norway cruise and felt the buffet was very poor and Virtuosa buffet was excellent especially the beautiful desserts. 

 

But the reviews make Seascape sound like the ship from hell! 
 

I know more people post about the negatives than the positives but it’s a little worrying.

 

 

 

 

We spent two weeks on Seascape in February, had an amazing time. Buffet could get really busy at peak times, after a few days we just avoided the peak times, admittedly that wont work for everyone.

Pool deck on seadays again got really busy but we managed with it. 

We found the main dining room food very good, one or two dishes in the whole two weeks were maybe average but certainly not bad. Portions weren't huge but again never left hungry.

I saw reviews about miserable staff, never encountered any, odd time a barman could be a little abrupt but they were generally rushed off their feet so this is understandable. 

Ship itself is stunning inside and out, personally if you enjoyed Virtuosa I cant see you not liking Seascape, incidentally we are on Virtuosa out of Southampton end of June, our first time on her.

I like the way we do it in the UK, the gratuities are included in the cruise fare. Saves any hassle or confusion . 

We are on Virtuosa end of June, so will be following along closely.

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

If you haven’t done it before I’m sure you will enjoy it.

 

If you like little snacks then there are also “surprises” delivered to you suite ever night. There are also snacks left in your fridge, a coffee machine, a full mini bar and don’t forget to select your litre bottle of spirits for the room and your daily newspaper.

 

Room service is complimentry and if you like pizza and calzone then it’s some of the best available on a cruise ship. 
 

Don’t be restricted by the YC menus in the restaurant. If you want one of the excellent pastas or risottos as a smaller portion starter or intermediate course rather than as a main then just ask. Any reasonable request is considered. Want cheese after pudding, there is a nice cheese trolley to choose from and add a nice liquor or dessert wine - all included.

 

We only found YC by accident a few years ago when a cruise on another line was cancelled at the very last minute due to an engine. We have used it many times since and always had an enjoyable cruise. I hope you do too.

 

 

Thanks for the advice, really looking forward to it. 

21 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

It depends on the ship you are on. Virtuosa for example has a cold area where they set out snacks that do change throughout the day.

 

Early morning things like small fruit plates, filled croissants etc. . Later in the morning small savoury and sweet snacks like olives, arancini balls, coristi, melon with l’arma, small sweet cakes. Later in the day mini sandwiches and bigger cakes (afternoon tea also available). Night time back to savoury snacks and really pretty Pettit fours and chocolates.

 

On Euribia the snack area was replaced with a massive wine rack. You could still request snacks but they were imo boring and the same all the time. Nothing like as nice. You could request nuts and crisps etc as well.

 

Whichever ship you are on the YC service is great and you will not starve.

 

 

Thanks. 

Its Virtuosa in 6 weeks time, not that I'm counting.