LIVE Virtuosa 05/06/21 the first 7 night sailing.

[Bigjennifer]

Kernes, just looked at my post and realised you might not know it was Jennifer @Dougie from Carluke. Enjoy the rest of your cruise💕💕💕

[kernow]

2 minutes ago, Bigjennifer said:

Hi you two, we had a picnic ready to come down to Greenock to see the ship. As were only 45 minutes away.Glad you are both well,and still cruising.Booked for 1Sept, but might change,don’t like the uncertainty.Dougie and I are both well and still cruise as much COVID , has put a stop to that. Lv to you both Jennifer💕💕💕💕

Hi Jenn  lovely to see you on here, would be great to cruise with you two again sometime. Mark still talks about Dougie and the Courvoisier 😂. If you do get to cruise on here I think you'll have a great time. xx

[kernow]

Just to show you how empty the ship feels, this is the Promenade at 10.45 am.

[ziggyuk]

24 minutes ago, kernow said:

Last night we went to Indochine with LB for our complimentary Diamond meal. You get a choice from the Dining Experience menu, if you wish to substitute any dishes from the main menu you get a 50% discount.I thought the food was fine but not outstanding. TBH if I'd paid I would have been disappointed. Between the 4 of us we tried to have all of the dishes. I was the only one brave enough to order the strange dessert (Che Bao Mau) and it's just as weird as it sounds.We were all in fits of laughter trying it. 

With free flowing wine and good company we had a fun night. By the time we looked at our watches it was 11pm and we'd missed the deck party that had been organised at the last moment for our overnight in Liverpool. 

QR_ZZ_INDOCHINE_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1623228761.pdf 914.85 kB · 1 download

 

That's good to know, for some reason I thought you were limited to Butchers cut for the Diamond meal, I'm sure that's what we were told on the last cruise.

Are you allowed to go to any of the speciality restaurants?

[les37b]

Got off in Liverpool yesterday morning and rather surprised to read the news that Virtuosa  is banned from Scotland. Bit surprised there were no announcements prior to disembarking. Did they allow those due to get off today (9 June) in Liverpool when it was there - or attempt to embark those due to board on the 9th in Greenock on in Liverpool on the 8th?

 

All quite sad. I'm sure you felt as safe as houses onboard with all the temperature measuring and tests carried out as I did.

 

I don't think Virtuosa is a ship I'd travel on again. I thought the food in the MDR and market place was average at best, but mostly not very good. But the biggie for me, was not being able to get a view from the bow to see us sailing into port. First time on any ship that's not been possible. Obviously those in Yacht club or bow room were fine..... but that wasn't me. As John Bishop said "those at the back".....

 

One thing to ask...... Have you been looking at the charges being added for drinks? Clearly something underhand going on. My bar bill yesterday was £197. That was for (in total) 3 Peroni beers, 3 cocktails, 2 G&Ts and a 3 or 4 soft drinks. OK, so no charge to me on a personal level, but when you see a bill from the restaurant appear at after 10 for £67 when you had left there 90 minutes before, you know all is not well. First time that had happened but EVERYTIME the charges were crazy. 2 glasses of red wine and a bottle of water got charged £41 and £32.

 

Others noticed the same, so i's not a "mistake" IMHO.

[kernow]

4 minutes ago, les37b said:

Got off in Liverpool yesterday morning and rather surprised to read the news that Virtuosa  is banned from Scotland. Bit surprised there were no announcements prior to disembarking. Did they allow those due to get off today (9 June) in Liverpool when it was there - or attempt to embark those due to board on the 9th in Greenock on in Liverpool on the 8th?

 

All quite sad. I'm sure you felt as safe as houses onboard with all the temperature measuring and tests carried out as I did.

 

I don't think Virtuosa is a ship I'd travel on again. I thought the food in the MDR and market place was average at best, but mostly not very good. But the biggie for me, was not being able to get a view from the bow to see us sailing into port. First time on any ship that's not been possible. Obviously those in Yacht club or bow room were fine..... but that wasn't me. As John Bishop said "those at the back".....

 

One thing to ask...... Have you been looking at the charges being added for drinks? Clearly something underhand going on. My bar bill yesterday was £197. That was for (in total) 3 Peroni beers, 3 cocktails, 2 G&Ts and a 3 or 4 soft drinks. OK, so no charge to me on a personal level, but when you see a bill from the restaurant appear at after 10 for £67 when you had left there 90 minutes before, you know all is not well. First time that had happened but EVERYTIME the charges were crazy. 2 glasses of red wine and a bottle of water got charged £41 and £32.

 

Others noticed the same, so i's not a "mistake" IMHO.

Nice to hear another opinion, we said a few days ago we should go to MDR for lunch one day to compare but had forgotten, think we may go today. I know what you mean about not being able to see out the front of the ship, our 2 previous MSC cruises didn't have YC but the front of the ship had sundecks for Aurea only and we were Fantastica. I missed the views too.

Yes we have the same with our charges, last night our bill from Indochine was £150 showing but all zeroed out. No idea why it works like this but as long as our balance is zero we're not worried!

 

We still don't know what has happened with the people due to embark today. The lady in YC who was due to get off is staying on until Southampton.

[kernow]

We've just been exploring different parts of the ship and found this area that we didn't know was here. Haven't seen photos posted so took some. This area is deck 7 on both sides of the ship accessed from the back of the Carousel lounge. It appears to be for smokers.

[kernow]

Walking forward next to the lifeboats and looking up we can see the deck 8 balcony we were originally allocated 8216.

[kernow]

This is a cabin I would not choose

[les37b]

2 minutes ago, kernow said:

Nice to hear another opinion, we said a few days ago we should go to MDR for lunch one day to compare but had forgotten, think we may go today. I know what you mean about not being able to see out the front of the ship, our 2 previous MSC cruises didn't have YC but the front of the ship had sundecks for Aurea only and we were Fantastica. I missed the views too.

Yes we have the same with our charges, last night our bill from Indochine was £150 showing but all zeroed out. No idea why it works like this but as long as our balance is zero we're not worried!

 

We still don't know what has happened with the people due to embark today. The lady in YC who was due to get off is staying on until Southampton.

 

 

Well if you have the time - why not.... Sounds like a great deal to be allowed to stay on in YC until then..... maybe they will have a re-think and she will be allowed back in Greenock on its next pass...

 

I did fancy Indochine and the Mexican, but I couldn't justify the extra cost which I thought was expensive. I was only on for 3 nights, but even so, it seemed I had to pay for 2 nights to be allowed. It was all a bit confusing so just decided not to bother.

 

I'm not sure how they are going to cope once they ramp up guest numbers. The Virtuosa lounge near the lifts on the promonade was often full. If its like that now, how are they going to cope with 6 times the amount!

 

I did like the ship - (despite usually sailing on a ship with less than 300 guests), but the Bow view was a real no no for me. if i had known, I would not have booked. Ive sailed on 2 other MSC cruises and not been a problem so was really shocked to learn once on board. Chalk it up to experience! I video arrivals and departures so a big part of cruising for me and I acknowledge others might not feel the same. Just my twopenneth. Food similarly I wasn't impressed with - but on the plus side, hats off to the organisation in getting everyone on tested and constant checks. You cant ask for much more - though maybe they should invite those making the crazy decision on so they realise the mistake just made.

 

 

 

 

[Cruiseforever11]

7 minutes ago, kernow said:

This is a cabin I would not choose

Hi that cabin you said you wouldn't choose are you referring to the one at the top? It looks so dark up there. The only reason I'm asking is we've booked 13235 on 3rd July for the Balcony space which looks like that but looking at that I may now change our cabin. Was this towards the back of the ship. We like our cabins at the back or at front. Its good to see ship photos in real time. Thank you 😊

[les37b]

Your photos remind me how little I actually explored. I never saw any of those locations! (Which is odd not even knowing how to get to the lifeboats! - apart from congregating in location "E".)

 

 

[Lindypops]

53 minutes ago, kernow said:

We've just been exploring different parts of the ship and found this area that we didn't know was here. Haven't seen photos posted so took some. This area is deck 7 on both sides of the ship accessed from the back of the Carousel lounge. It appears to be for smokers.

 

55 minutes ago, kernow said:

We've just been exploring different parts of the ship and found this area that we didn't know was here. Haven't seen photos posted so took some. This area is deck 7 on both sides of the ship accessed from the back of the Carousel lounge. It appears to be for smokers.

Did you notice all the mozzies in the corner of that seating area?

I too notice the odd charges on the bar bill but as you say the total was zero. 
A coffee in the buffet this morning was £8.40. 

 

[harrinp1]

Any updates on on-board Internet package prices?  Need to pre-book by tomorrow for my upcoming cruise so would be good to know if it's a lot more expensive.  

 

Are you making use of  the onboard Wi-Fi or is mobile data to the main land working?

[heatherb1958]

1 hour ago, kernow said:

We've just been exploring different parts of the ship and found this area that we didn't know was here. Haven't seen photos posted so took some. This area is deck 7 on both sides of the ship accessed from the back of the Carousel lounge. It appears to be for smokers.

I knew about those areas from my explorations on Grandiosa and like you say used by smokers or crew trying to pick up wifi while in port . Buyer beware for the balcony cabins above ! 

[little britain]

11 minutes ago, harrinp1 said:

Any updates on on-board Internet package prices?  Need to pre-book by tomorrow for my upcoming cruise so would be good to know if it's a lot more expensive.  

 

Are you making use of  the onboard Wi-Fi or is mobile data to the main land working?

£69.93 on board for 7n access ( lowest level).  I had actually prepurchased but it wasn’t working so I had to rebuy and then they credited it back. 

[kernow]

1 hour ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Hi that cabin you said you wouldn't choose are you referring to the one at the top? It looks so dark up there. The only reason I'm asking is we've booked 13235 on 3rd July for the Balcony space which looks like that but looking at that I may now change our cabin. Was this towards the back of the ship. We like our cabins at the back or at front. Its good to see ship photos in real time. Thank you 😊

Yes I meant the one at the top.

 

Here is 13235, it does look a bit dark.

[harrinp1]

7 minutes ago, little britain said:

£69.93 on board for 7n access ( lowest level).  I had actually prepurchased but it wasn’t working so I had to rebuy and then they credited it back. 

 

Thanks, guess I'll pre-order then

[Wedgeh]

1 minute ago, kernow said:

Here is 13235, it does look a bit dark.

 

 

That's the cabin we were due to be in if the upgrade hadn't been accepted - it would have suited us OK but can understand why it wouldn't be for everyone. Happy with it for our one in July if our bids for that one don't come through.

 

Am I right in thinking YC comes with the basic Wifi package?

[Cruiseforever11]

1 minute ago, kernow said:

Yes I meant the one at the top.

 

Here is 13235, it does look a bit dark.

Oh thank you for the extra pics. I can now show hubby and see what he thinks. 🙂

[kernow]

12 minutes ago, Wedgeh said:

 

That's the cabin we were due to be in if the upgrade hadn't been accepted - it would have suited us OK but can understand why it wouldn't be for everyone. Happy with it for our one in July if our bids for that one don't come through.

 

Am I right in thinking YC comes with the basic Wifi package?

YC comes with 2 device browse package per person. 

The internet speed is great all over the ship, much better than our last RCL cruise.

Are you on next week? The concierge was sorting out the paperwork for next weeks upgrades yesterday.

Edited June 9, 2021 by kernow

[tring]

29 minutes ago, little britain said:

£69.93 on board for 7n access ( lowest level).  I had actually prepurchased but it wasn’t working so I had to rebuy and then they credited it back. 

 

Thanks a lot for that information.  Does that mean if you are only on for 5 nights you would have to pay the same, or is that the cheapest package coverage for the length of your cruise (7 nights), with access for perhaps more devices costing more.

 

We are only on the ship for 5 nights.

 

Also, is there  much difference in price if pre buy?

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by tring

[Wedgeh]

6 minutes ago, kernow said:

YC comes with 2 device browse package per person. 

The internet speed is great all over the ship, much better than our last RCL cruise.

Are you on next week? The concierge was sorting out the paperwork for next weeks upgrades yesterday.

Yes we'll be joining the ship at the weekend, glad to hear they're getting prepped for us already 😁 Your posts have been very helpful with getting us excited, though not helping this work week to pass quickly enough!

[showingdiva]

I spoke to MSC (got through really quickly .. in fact I nearly choked on a grape not expecting them to answer that fast).   As expected, being a bit reticent about it all.   However, they are waiting on a directive from "head office".   Emails will be sent out directly to affected passengers who booked directly through MSC, and via their travel agent if that way.

[tring]

10 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

I spoke to MSC (got through really quickly .. in fact I nearly choked on a grape not expecting them to answer that fast).   As expected, being a bit reticent about it all.   However, they are waiting on a directive from "head office".   Emails will be sent out directly to affected passengers who booked directly through MSC, and via their travel agent if that way.

 

Thanks.  Did you just ask about cruises which will be after the  23rd June, (when they appear to have already cancelled Greenock) or ones before that date.  Will not affect us as Greenock not on our itinerary, but will be interesting to see how cruise lines respond in general.

 

We have still not had our passenger info form for Tradewinds, but were promised it last week.  Think I may send them a message on FB to ask if they are thinking of making any changes, but no point hassling then for a few days yet as they would not know.  I would at least expect a plan B to have been in place previously anyway, though a lack of the scenic cruising that Scotland would provides is a very sad loss for them. 

Edited June 9, 2021 by tring