HikingPete

If you're on the same trip as me, leaving on the 4th, then we should be ok on that front. The Welsh half term finishes on 4th November.

I'm off on Virtuosa this coming Friday... lets see if its different outside of the school holidays! 😄

Oof. Hope you're OK. Unfortunately I think its going to be a routine part of travelling by ship for a while now. Not pleasant.

"It is being worked on... please forget about this, please forget about this, please..."

Do you have a photo by any chance? I don't mean to upset the people supposed to be on this cruise, but it would be interesting to see.

The big question would be "what test kit?" What test has he got? Who supplied it and when? The rules change constantly as the virus develops, and so requirements may well relax (as they are right now) or get more stringent. An LFT might well be sufficient, but the requirements might change. There should also still be time to get vaccinated if he's capable of it/wants to be.

As of 4th November, its going to be Euros. No idea if they will change it again, but Euros kind of makes the most sense.

Most rental companies will have automatic options. Its fairly straightforward to drive on the alternate side too. But if driving manual or on the left is a concern, there are regular trains to most of the places I've listed directly from Southampton.

I am local to Southampton and I agree with this. Get a car, and you can visit nice little towns like Lymington, Romsey, the New Forest, or go to Winchester and see the Cathedral there as well as some nice museums, a castle, old roman walls etc. There are loads of "National Trust" or "English Heritage" sites nearby which usually have great grounds to walk through, but also historically significant. Plan appropriately and you will see much, much more by yourself than you would on a tour in the UK.

From recollection its WiFi, not network coverage. Some carriers allow the sending of texts via WiFi but not all, and it varies on the phone you are using and what it supports. If I were you and you're not certain what your phone/carrier allows, work on the assumption that it will be WiFi only, and therefore need to use email, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc.

You'll most likely be fine, but... this kind of why insurance and travel agents exist. Let the travel agents run around trying to resolve issues for you, and let the insurance pick up the pieces when it all goes completely to pot.

I'm on my first MSC cruise in November, and I've definitely found that I agree with this, to the extent that even my own TA was obviously frustrated.

Makes me a little concerned about my upcoming trip on Virtuosa to be honest.

Are they already booked on the same cruise but in a different cabin, or is this a completely new addition?

I know that MSC's published policy is that taking alcohol on board isn't allowed. I'm sailing from Southampton on MC Virtuosa in November, and am wondering how much that is policed? I not thinking of taking a lot on, just a small bottle of whiskey for an evening nightcap. If its likely to be confiscated I won't bother and will just go to the bar like everyone else (its not the end of the world) but if it saves me a few pounds I might.

Try Airlynx https://www.airlynxparking.co.uk/book-cruise-parking/

In the UK if you aren't vaccinated you need to provide a PCR or Antigen test taken in the two days before embarkation. You might still have time to get vaccinated if you're able to/want to - they're doing them fairly quickly now. I booked my second booster yesterday, and am getting it tomorrow.

Hi all, Just as a heads up for anyone who happens to be on this cruise... a little bird tells me there are some changes to the trip. It will now be on the Virtuosa, will have a slightly different itinerary and - most important - now leaves on 4th November, not the 5th.

I do not work with MSC and have no knowledge of their infrastructure, but if I were a betting man I would say that both services work at the same speed, and they've simply blocked certain bandwidth-hungry services beyond basic browsing and emails on their surf package.

Thank you for this, I found it really interesting. I'm new to MSC cruises - I have my first in November on Preziosa and greatly looking forward to it, but I'm kind of uncertain about what to expect. I haven't booked YC, and I'm starting to wonder if I should have. I don't want to be all FOMO but at the same time I have been wondering about what I would have been missing out on. More things to wonder about, and bank balance to check...