MeiFong

Ships dock near the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam https://www.cruiseportrotterdam.nl/directions/ Rotterdam itself is a nice place to visit with a lot of modern architecture (for example cube houses), bridges, the Euromast, the Market hall, lots of musea, etc. Gouda is very different from Rotterdam, smaller, but also a nice place to visit. It has a very nice market area with many old buildings. The actual cheese market is only in summer (and very touristy). More info about Gouda can be found at https://welcometogouda.com/ Apart from cheese Gouda has also given its name to 'Goudse Stroofwafels' (sirop wafels). Be sure to buy some when in the Netherlands (any supermarket sells them, but the freshly prepared ones at special bakeries are of course nicer and usually bigger).

Today I received a mail from MSC Customer Care Benelux about the change in ship. Several options are given: - go on the cruise - change to another cruise (no charges for the change, but at current prices of the other cruise, so if that's more expensive additional charges apply) - a future cruise certificate, new booking needs to be made by 31-12-2022 - full refund (this part is a bit unclear, it seems that you first need to ask for the future cruise certificate and then ask a refund). I guess we'll stick with our cruise and will enjoy Virtuosa. I hope others have also received more info by now.

It is possible for you to change to another week? For me, with work and everything, that would mean I would need to cancel. I hope that is not the case for you. And it you do need to cancel that you get at least a full refund.

Today I received a new booking confirmation. The mail is very generic with nothing about the change in ship, but the booking confirmation that is attached indeed mentions Virtuosa and a new cabin. The accompanying mail says to check that the information is correct and to contact MSC in case of any inaccuracies. I wonder how many mails they will be getting from confused passengers 😉.

That would be a shame if your cruise is cancelled. I hope things are soon clarified by MSC.

The Rotterdam schedule seems to agree with the Southampton scheulde, so in the second week of November, Virtuosa will take over from Preziosa. https://www.cruiseportrotterdam.nl/cruise-calls/

Several months ago I booked a cruise to Northern/Western Europe on the Preziosa coming November. Through CruiseCritic I learned that last Monday MSC issued a statement that the European cruises this autumn/winter will be on Virtuosa as Preziosa will be based in Brazil. I looked at the websites of the different ports (Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Le Havre and Southampton) and they are expecting Virtuosa on the dates of our cruise, except for Hamburg which states Preziosa. When I log in on the MSC website, Preziosa is still mentioned. And the cruise is also still being sold as if it will be on Preziosa. Any idea when I can 'officially' expect to be informed about the ship change? Is anybody else cruising Northern/Western Europe coming October/November/December/January/February and have you received any info from MSC about the change in ship? I guess I should be happy with the ship change as Virtuosa is a much newer ship. I just have to convince my husband that it is no too big. He is not a fan of the big ships (he didn't like Meraviglia that much because of its size and Virtuosa is the same size - maybe I just don't tell him 😉).