Norwegian Ffords, MSC Virtuosa

[swansea_lad]

Anyone recommend this cruise? Will be my first cruise.

Some great deals around on MSC.  £381 for a 7 night cruise from Southampton, to the Norwegian Ffords.

https://www.cruise.co.uk/offer-details/msc-cruises/msc-virtuosa/C6300BE4-7141-4809-9836-DB2AC04B9129/

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by swansea_lad

[Rhea98]

I live in Florida so anything remotely cool appeals to us. We did a 10 day Nordic Fiords cruise (up to North Cape) in spring 2018 and loved it. That was followed by a cruise around the entire British Isles in 11 days and loved that just as much--despite a miserable heat wave at the time. This was our first (currently "only" MSC cruise) as we attempt to take the cancellations replacements. It was on the fairly new Mera. Even as the Baltic stops were dropped from our up-coming 14 day cruise and replaced with dual Norway passages, we didn't hesitate to continue with our plans. I don't know UK pricing, but is seems a decent price.

[kernow]

10 hours ago, swansea_lad said:

Anyone recommend this cruise? Will be my first cruise.

Some great deals around on MSC.  £381 for a 7 night cruise from Southampton, to the Norwegian Ffords.

https://www.cruise.co.uk/offer-details/msc-cruises/msc-virtuosa/C6300BE4-7141-4809-9836-DB2AC04B9129/

 

We are on the cruise before this one on 13th. 

Haven't done the Fjords before but we were on Virtuosa  last June and enjoyed the ship very much. For that price you can't go wrong, perfect to see if cruising is for you.

 

I'll probably do a 'live from' thread when we are onboard if you want to follow along and have questions.

[corky&linda]

47 minutes ago, kernow said:

We are on the cruise before this one on 13th. 

Haven't done the Fjords before but we were on Virtuosa  last June and enjoyed the ship very much. For that price you can't go wrong, perfect to see if cruising is for you.

 

I'll probably do a 'live from' thread when we are onboard if you want to follow along and have questions.

I am on Virtuosa on 20th.

What covid test do I need to board and where can I get it?

47 minutes ago, kernow said:

We are on the cruise before this one on 13th. 

Haven't done the Fjords before but we were on Virtuosa  last June and enjoyed the ship very much. For that price you can't go wrong, perfect to see if cruising is for you.

 

I'll probably do a 'live from' thread when we are onboard if you want to follow along and have questions.

 

[swansea_lad]

1 hour ago, kernow said:

We are on the cruise before this one on 13th. 

Haven't done the Fjords before but we were on Virtuosa  last June and enjoyed the ship very much. For that price you can't go wrong, perfect to see if cruising is for you.

 

I'll probably do a 'live from' thread when we are onboard if you want to follow along and have questions.

Thanks, i would love to see your live. I have watched so many Cruise vlogs on Youtube, so much to consider. They do look very nice. 

[kernow]

1 hour ago, corky&linda said:

I am on Virtuosa on 20th.

What covid test do I need to board and where can I get it?

 

If you are a UK citizen you need a PCR or antigen taken within 48 hours of boarding time. You can use a certified at home one (not an NHS one) from companies like Lloyd's pharmacy, Boots, Randox etc or go to a private test centre.

[kernow]

57 minutes ago, swansea_lad said:

Thanks, i would love to see your live. I have watched so many Cruise vlogs on Youtube, so much to consider. They do look very nice. 

If you search on this forum you will find lots of threads from last summer when Virtuosa was sailing from Southampton. I did a live as did a few others plus there was a really long thread that ran for months which had menus and lots of other info. I don't think much will have changed this year apart from maybe the currency onboard which may be Euros this time.

 

[corky&linda]

39 minutes ago, kernow said:

If you are a UK citizen you need a PCR or antigen taken within 48 hours of boarding time. You can use a certified at home one (not an NHS one) from companies like Lloyd's pharmacy, Boots, Randox etc or go to a private test centre.

Thanks for the advise.

Undoubtedly it's very confusing. 

On Msc website it states antigen or PCR required but at the bottom of the 

Web page it states all passengers embarking in Southampton and PCR required. 

[kernow]

16 minutes ago, corky&linda said:

Thanks for the advise.

Undoubtedly it's very confusing. 

On Msc website it states antigen or PCR required but at the bottom of the 

Web page it states all passengers embarking in Southampton and PCR required. 

I can't see where it says only PCR.  Also I know that those on Magnifica in the last few weeks have been able to board with antigen. This is what I am going by

All Guests (above 2 years old) need to provide a certificate of a negative Antigen or RT-PCR test taken within 48 hours before embarkation. If you embark on your cruise at 15:00 on a Saturday, you should take your COVID-19 test on the Thursday as of 15:00.

 

Antigen self-test is not accepted for Embarkation, unless you are provided an official certificate from a laboratory.

 

[corky&linda]

3 minutes ago, kernow said:

I can't see where it says only PCR.  Also I know that those on Magnifica in the last few weeks have been able to board with antigen. This is what I am going by

All Guests (above 2 years old) need to provide a certificate of a negative Antigen or RT-PCR test taken within 48 hours before embarkation. If you embark on your cruise at 15:00 on a Saturday, you should take your COVID-19 test on the Thursday as of 15:00.

 

Antigen self-test is not accepted for Embarkation, unless you are provided an official certificate from a laboratory.

 

I'll do the same then, thanks.

 

It mentions the PCR two paragraphs on.

The next paragraph states that you need to be fully vaccinated and

The following paragraph mentions Southampton PCR embarkation and Belgium embarkation. 

 

If they've been accepting antigen then this must be good enough.

[kernow]

3 minutes ago, corky&linda said:

I'll do the same then, thanks.

 

It mentions the PCR two paragraphs on.

The next paragraph states that you need to be fully vaccinated and

The following paragraph mentions Southampton PCR embarkation and Belgium embarkation. 

 

If they've been accepting antigen then this must be good enough.

I think that the PCR bit you are referring to is meant for Non UK residents coming from abroad.

[ukwizard]

I think around January it was PCR only,  but they have now added Antigen,  just not updated all of the web page properly.

[CruisingFox27]

The Norwegian Fjords are stunning. We did the 11 night itinerary from Copenhagen up to the North Cape. One of our favourite trips.