My Thoughts On Our Recent Cruise

[NightWoman]

 

We have cruised numerous times and MSC is one of several cruise lines we would never have booked with but as MSC ships are like buses embarking/disembarking in several locations during a 7 night cruise we decided to try it mainly because we had the opportunity to leave from Greenock which is very unusual to say the least.

 

Our original cruise should have been in June however with the Scottish Government not allowing ships to dock we changed it to August not thinking about Scottish and English school holidays, so 3000 passengers and 1400 children.....

 

Embarkation was well organised at the Port with staff guiding us to the marquee for check-in. We arrived for our designated boarding time and there was a small queue which was constantly moving, a member of staff was pre checking our insurance documents in advance to ensure they were in order. We were quickly checked in, COVID test, wait for 10 minutes and then escorted onto the ship, from entering the port to embarking was approximately 40minutes. Inside the ship the security was similar to the airport which we've never experienced before getting on a ship and this was quite slow.

 

I expected a big WOW factor when we we got on but I didn't experience that, the central atrium reminded me of  Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where everything came off a central walk way and the domed ceiling with the shows, the Swarvoski stair case, that is quite beautiful covering 3 decks.

 

The first thing we did when we got on board was make our reservations for Indochine, Butchers Cut and Teaenyakki which you do at the entrance to Indochine inside the L'atellier Bar.

 

We were disappointed the Champagne Bar didn't open until 4pm as we were looking forward to a glass of champagne, I did think it would have opened for new passengers getting on board however we went to the Mariners Bar and had a Nicolas Feuillette Champagne which is served in all the bars.

 

The bars and restaurants were on decks 6 & 7 as was the shopping arcade which had some lovely shops.

 

Our cabin was ready by 1pm a Fantastica balcony 12128. The layout is long and narrow, obviously to accommodate the maximum number of cabins and it's the narrowest we've been in however there was sufficient room to move about easily. It was stylishly decorated in pale grey colours and well appointed, plenty of drawer space, large settee, dressing table with stool and a handy table which slotted underneath however the wardrobe space is the poorest design ever, one side has drawers, shelf and the safe, on the other a hanging space that really did not work, it wasn't long enough or deep enough. I had already read this could be an issue so had brought magnetic hooks and folding hangers and we needed them most our clothes were on hanging on the wall with a few things inside the wardrobe.

The bathroom was compact very good shower and it also had the luxury of a glass shower screen which was great, plenty of storage and a small cupboard where the extra toilet rolls and a bin were.

The balcony had enough space for the 2 chairs, stool and a small table so it was ample.

Our lovely cabin steward introduced herself shortly after we entered the cabin and asked if there was anything specific we needed, we were aware there was now only one a morning cabin service so we only wanted the towels replaced in the evening, she said it wasn't a problem as she would do it when she left the next days programme, she did also dry out the shower we did tip extra and gave her a couple of goody bags, she also reminded us to fill in the mini bar form daily so that she could replace anything we had used.

 

We had upgraded our drinks package to Premium Plus which was one of the best drinks packages we've ever had, anything on the drinks menu by the glass and no limit on the price so Tattinger Brut and Rose Lanson Black Label, Moet Brut and Rose, Laurent Perrier name a few which were only available in the Champagne Bar, Nicolas Feuillette as I mentioned previously was served in all the bars. Unfortunately the drinks packages change for the winter season so I don't expect this to be available in the future. The Sky Bar is the only one adults bar on the ship and it was always busy, we usually managed to get a seat but again large groups of up to 12 commandeered the seating around you, so the service was very slow when ordering a drink.

 

In The Buffet on entering, wash hands, temp check and hand sanitizer, it never fails to amaze me how many passengers chose to ignore this. The food was okay, we always found something we liked, very frustrating how some passengers can't, won't, don't follow the arrows on the floor directing everyone the same way, it's in everyone's interest to do this, also the number of rude people who think it's okay to nip in front of you to take something from a hot plate just as I'm about to pick up the tongs/spoon, why exactly am I standing in a queue?

 

Our MDR was Opera this was less than half full and appeared to be mainly Scottish diners and we met some lovely first time passengers with exceptionally polite and well behaved children. This was a stylish restaurant again very tastefully decorated, we had table 734 a proper table for 2, not stuck in the middle of a row of 6. Paper menus were given each night rather than trying to navigate an app. The selection was varied quite a lot of fish but there was always something we could find that suited us, the food was good not great, we have had better on other lines. Both of our waiters very efficient and friendly they were attentive in making sure wine and water glasses were topped up.

 

The speciality restaurants, Butchers Cut, Indochine and Tepanyakki were excellent and would highly recommend trying them.

 

The Theatre group were first class, some of the shows we didn't quite get the story if there was in fact one but the singers and dancers were exceptional we enjoyed all of the 4 shows especially Capriccio, there were 2 other shows which you had to pay to see but we didn't go to them, from conversations we had with other passengers they were excellent.  In other venues around the ship there was live music, either a band a duo or a solo singer as I said the entertainment in the evening was great.

There was something different on in the Virtuoso Lounge every night however we were very disappointed as we did not get in there at all during the cruise, this was over run by families with children playing on the dance floor with their toys, sleeping on the seats or people holding seats for other members of their families, not just 1 or 2 but up to 8 seats. Yes, this is a family friendly ship but these people had no consideration for anyone else.

 

I have to mention the lifts, these were well thought out and extremely efficient, press the button, 6 lifts lettered A-F and you are directed to one of them, only waited a few seconds for the lifts to appear, definitely one thing MSC has right.

 

We did two ships excursions Belfast City Tour and Liverpool Walking Tour, I would highly recommend these both guides were interesting and informative.

 

The ship was only 50% capacity and there was sufficient sunbeds to go around however many passengers had towels ,bags, hats etc., on the sunbeds early in the morning, the pool hands hardly had time to get the bed positioned and they were swooped on, again you could see where large groups were positioning themselves, they obviously thought they were in Benidorm in the 80s.

 

The demographic on the ship ranged from obvious first time cruisers and I would guess on our cruise between 75 to 80% hadn't cruised before to very experienced cruisers like ourselves. We witnessed some very bad behaviour from children who were left to run amok without supervision and parents not bothering, this is annoying and frustrating for other passengers, we also did meet some very nice families. There were also a large number of passengers who thought they were in Magaluf, dressed for dinner, or not, in shorts, T shirt, flip flops and a base ball cap to the MDR, de rigueur, call me a cruise snob but I would never consider wearing clothes like this to a restaurant at home far less on a stylish ship.

 

Even though there were announcements continually during the day and it was repeated in the Daily Programme constantly,  the number people who thought COVID protocols did not mean them, lack of mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing was worrying.

I also believe MSC grossly underestimated the amount of alcohol that British people consume and as everyone had a Premium Drinks package included I'm sure this is where a lot of the issues stemmed from.

 

The crew work extremely hard and they were all pleased to be working again, everyone we encountered were polite, friendly and efficient, they are there to make our cruise a good experience not be treated with contempt by some British passengers who think they know better.

 

Pros:

Embarking in Greenock

Status Match to Diamond for the additional perks

Premium Plus Drinks Package

The cabin was very nice

The crew were friendly, helpful and efficient although overworked

The entertainment

 

Cons:

Some of the adult passengers

Unruly children

Lack of wardrobe space

All the embarking and disembarking of passengers at just about every port on the itinerary

The number of passengers who thought COVID protocols did not include them

The ship at full capacity

 

We enjoyed the week and I believe our experience would have been different if we had managed to cruise in June however it didn't happen. Would we cruise again with MSC, possibly, but making sure it's not during the school holidays and not in the Med during the summer, that leaves Dubai as an option... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[styles27]

Two things stood out for me in your very thorough review “3000 passengers and 1400 children” and it sounds like the buffet was self serve. YIKES to both of those things. 

Makes me glad we’re sailing out of FL where a lot less people are cruising and the buffet is not self serve. 
 

Thanks for taking the time to write. 
 

 

[Native Floridian 26]

What ship?  Sorry if I missed it.

[NightWoman]

29 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

What ship?  Sorry if I missed it.

Sorry I missed out that important fact 😏

It was MSC Virtosa

 

[K8T]

We got off this ship today and absolutely agree with you.  The ship is stunning inside, the bars excellent, the staff can’t do enough. 
 

However MSC are not enforcing masks or distancing.  Queuing an hour for water park tickets part under a covered walkway, is not COVID friendly, neither is the free for all buffet. 
 

We couldn’t even use the pools or hot tubs until after 4 as they were absolutely crammed with kids.  Sunbeds all reserved with towels by 8am.  It was MSC Benidorm   We have a teen and have cruised all her life in the holidays but never seen anything like this.  We even saw a family go to the late buffet and bring burgers on a plastic tray to eat in the champagne bar! 
 

The staff were excellent and I felt really sorry for them, they are doing their best and dealing with rude passengers.  However MSC shouldn’t have cashed in and filled the ship with cheap fares and stepped back.  
 

We didn’t get any discounts and paid full price, we didn’t get the cruise we paid for and my daughter tested positive this morning when we got home.  Not surprising to be honest.  She wore a mask and is double vaccinated. MSc knew there were four teens with positive covid on Saturday when the got off,  yet didn’t tell those on board using the Club, or put restrictions/cleaning in place.   

Absolute carnage and negligence.  

 

[doublebzz]

Were you required to purchase the MSC Covid insurance and, if so, was it checked at embarkation? 

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, NightWoman said:

Sorry I missed out that important fact 😏

It was MSC Virtosa

 

Thank you soooo much for such an informative review, most helpful. We board in Greenock tomorrow 1st September, and yours is the first comment I have seen for a Greenock embark. 👏  Did you stick with assigned boarding time, or do they permit earlier boarding?

 

Hadn't really thought about the P+ drinks option,so how do you do that and what is price per day....and is it only possible to purchase on embarking day?

 

We only booked this on Friday past, so haven't had any time to explore the cruise fully at this stage!

 

TIA

Edited August 31, 2021 by hamrag

[NightWoman]

8 hours ago, hamrag said:

Thank you soooo much for such an informative review, most helpful. We board in Greenock tomorrow 1st September, and yours is the first comment I have seen for a Greenock embark. 👏  Did you stick with assigned boarding time, or do they permit earlier boarding?

 

Hadn't really thought about the P+ drinks option,so how do you do that and what is price per day....and is it only possible to purchase on embarking day?

 

We only booked this on Friday past, so haven't had any time to explore the cruise fully at this stage!

 

TIA

Hi hamrag, we were about 30 minutes early and they were't checking the times possibly because there weren't large numbers embarking in Greenock, it was very efficient.

The P+ will be £16pppd as you are booking on board, go to reception as soon as you embark and it will be added to your account, I think you get 48 hours to book but I'm not 100% sure of that, it's definitely worth it 🍾😊

Also if you eat in the buffet go right to the back of the buffet where there are lots of empy tables and it's quieter.

Enjoy your cruise 🌞

[NightWoman]

10 hours ago, doublebzz said:

Were you required to purchase the MSC Covid insurance and, if so, was it checked at embarkation? 

Hi doublebzz,  you don'the need to buy MSC insurance, we purchased our insurance through Staysure which included COVID cover and yes they were through in checking your policy, I printed off the relevant pages of the table of benefits and highlighted the appropriate information plus the validation certificate which shows the names of the passengers also make sure your policy has cruise cover.

It's preferably to have paper copies as the Internet could be a bit dodgy at the port and it will make embarkation quicker.

 

[NightWoman]

11 hours ago, K8T said:

We got off this ship today and absolutely agree with you.  The ship is stunning inside, the bars excellent, the staff can’t do enough. 
 

However MSC are not enforcing masks or distancing.  Queuing an hour for water park tickets part under a covered walkway, is not COVID friendly, neither is the free for all buffet. 
 

We couldn’t even use the pools or hot tubs until after 4 as they were absolutely crammed with kids.  Sunbeds all reserved with towels by 8am.  It was MSC Benidorm   We have a teen and have cruised all her life in the holidays but never seen anything like this.  We even saw a family go to the late buffet and bring burgers on a plastic tray to eat in the champagne bar! 
 

The staff were excellent and I felt really sorry for them, they are doing their best and dealing with rude passengers.  However MSC shouldn’t have cashed in and filled the ship with cheap fares and stepped back.  
 

We didn’t get any discounts and paid full price, we didn’t get the cruise we paid for and my daughter tested positive this morning when we got home.  Not surprising to be honest.  She wore a mask and is double vaccinated. MSc knew there were four teens with positive covid on Saturday when the got off,  yet didn’t tell those on board using the Club, or put restrictions/cleaning in place.   

Absolute carnage and negligence.  

 

I hope your daughter has recovered it's certainly not what you expected after your holiday.

I have to say that in all the times we've cruised we've never seen some of the things that happened on this ship.I agree it's the crew I felt sorry for as well t's not their responsibility to keep passengers in check but supervisors didn't appear to bother and on other lines senior officers' and the captain are seen about the ship and it's them who should nip these behavours in the bud, if people can't behave unload them at the next port, I think we may have heard the captain once.

I'm sure the crew got a very poor impression of some British people.

[NightWoman]

14 hours ago, styles27 said:

Two things stood out for me in your very thorough review “3000 passengers and 1400 children” and it sounds like the buffet was self serve. YIKES to both of those things. 

Makes me glad we’re sailing out of FL where a lot less people are cruising and the buffet is not self serve. 
 

Thanks for taking the time to write. 
 

 

styles27 you're welcome, we fully expected the crew to serve the food in the buffet but it was self service which in my opinion was a mistake as you know what the buffet areas like when it's busy, some people seem to leave their manners and hygiene isn't in their vocabulary.

Enjoy your cruise 🌞🍾

[hamrag]

7 minutes ago, NightWoman said:

styles27 you're welcome, we fully expected the crew to serve the food in the buffet but it was self service which in my opinion was a mistake as you know what the buffet areas like when it's busy, some people seem to leave their manners and hygiene isn't in their vocabulary.

Enjoy your cruise 🌞🍾

That information might just be enough to keep us out the buffet area, we have seen some ridiculous buffet behaviour on past cruises pre-covid!

 

What night was the Gala night, and was there any other theme evenings? We are so appreciative of all you have posted, which is immensely helpful to us.....we leave for the port in only 3 hours time!

[NightWoman]

2 hours ago, hamrag said:

That information might just be enough to keep us out the buffet area, we have seen some ridiculous buffet behaviour on past cruises pre-covid!

 

What night was the Gala night, and was there any other theme evenings? We are so appreciative of all you have posted, which is immensely helpful to us.....we leave for the port in only 3 hours time!

Tonight is white night, Thursday and Monday Gala nights there were other theme nights but didn't really pay attention to them or actually see anyone dressing up for them but maybe we just missed seeing them.

[hamrag]

5 minutes ago, NightWoman said:

Tonight is white night, Thursday and Monday Gala nights there were other theme nights but didn't really pay attention to them or actually see anyone dressing up for them but maybe we just missed seeing them.

Excellent, many thanks. For tonight we have decided to concentrate on sailaway, never having been 'doon the waaater' on a ship....closest so far has been a ferry from Wemyss Bay to Arran! 😂

 

Given the stonking sunshine all day for today, we will simply eat somewhere on the move tonight, and be ready for those ropes being cast.....hopefully on time, or even early, so we get to see some of the scenery before darkness descends!

[NightWoman]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

Excellent, many thanks. For tonight we have decided to concentrate on sailaway, never having been 'doon the waaater' on a ship....closest so far has been a ferry from Wemyss Bay to Arran! 😂

 

Given the stonking sunshine all day for today, we will simply eat somewhere on the move tonight, and be ready for those ropes being cast.....hopefully on time, or even early, so we get to see some of the scenery before darkness descends!

Sailing down the Clyde is lovely and the scenery is quite stunning especially if it's a lovely ☀️ evening and a glass of 🥂 Enjoy 

[doublebzz]

5 hours ago, NightWoman said:

Hi doublebzz,  you don'the need to buy MSC insurance, we purchased our insurance through Staysure

 

I thought that you were required to purchase insurance from MSC.  To be clear, are you saying they will accept any Covid insurance notwithstanding what they are saying in print or did you book your cruise before this was a requirement?

[defbref]

39 minutes ago, doublebzz said:

I thought that you were required to purchase insurance from MSC.  To be clear, are you saying they will accept any Covid insurance notwithstanding what they are saying in print or did you book your cruise before this was a requirement?

 

This was a UK cruise for UK citizens only, I think the requirements were different/unique to these staycation cruises.

 

I would not assume that anything that applies to this cruise applies to all MSC cruises worldwide.

[NightWoman]

2 hours ago, doublebzz said:

I thought that you were required to purchase insurance from MSC.  To be clear, are you saying they will accept any Covid insurance notwithstanding what they are saying in print or did you book your cruise before this was a requirement?

Sorry I didn't realise you were in the USA so it may be different rules for you.

[ConnieTact]

7 hours ago, hamrag said:

Excellent, many thanks. For tonight we have decided to concentrate on sailaway, never having been 'doon the waaater' on a ship....closest so far has been a ferry from Wemyss Bay to Arran! 😂

 

Given the stonking sunshine all day for today, we will simply eat somewhere on the move tonight, and be ready for those ropes being cast.....hopefully on time, or even early, so we get to see some of the scenery before darkness descends!

So ….Hamrag…you had good weather today? Brilliant! It’s been dull and overcast in Bristol! 
We are looking forward to sailing into Greenock next week as on our last Staycation cruise we weren’t allowed to go to Scotland as things were too bad with Covid.

Hope you enjoy the sail out.
Keep us posted about the cruise and hope to see you on Sunday in Champagne bar!