Brum84

15 minutes ago, colsky said:

We did hear of some trouble in the amusement area, but this was a few weeks ago when the capacity was low. The man who runs this area apologised that only one lane of the bowling was open, and he said that this was due to drunk and rowdy passengers who were mucking about, and finished their idiotic behaviour with throwing a bowling ball bouncing down the lane, so hard that it smashed the mechanism. What stupid and selfish behaviour. No idea what happened to these passengers, or if they were charged for the damage caused.

Does anyone know if the second lane has since been fixed???

17 minutes ago, johnnylincoln said:

We were on the same cruise as Notts1964 and had a very similar experience. 

 

Was the cruise perfect? Absolutely not.

 

Was any issue a deal breaker? Absolutely not.

 

Would we book again? Absolutely, and we have for September. 

 

There were six in our party aged from 6 to 70 and we all had a throughly good time. I think MSC had set times and passenger levels for our cruise that worked perfectly however with the increase in children during the summer holidays on the July 24th sailing it just wasn't enough right at the start...to give them credit things changed during the 24th July cruise and it certainly helped. 

 

I know people don't want to accept it but we are very much guinea pigs for these sailings and as they sail more things are improving more. 

Agree re guinea pigs and hoping that by the 14th of August a few of the crinkles would have been ironed out. 
 

As Connie points out, the price we pay is cheap compared to the current Cornwall or Dorset prices. We’ve been on holidays that cost 2-3 times as much so I don’t believe it fair to go expecting the earth. As long as it’s proportionate to the money paid and the kids are happy I’ll be satisfied

One thing I’m wondering about with 2 footy mad kids is whether the sports pitch is open? Are there set times for the kids to play football and if so do you know how regular the slots are?

thanks 

Hi,

We would like to do the cruise on the Loch excursion during our cruise on the 14/8. Unfortunately it’s fully booked according to the app so I wondered whether in people’s experience it’s either likely there will be an extra trip out on, or perhaps the availability shown by the app is not accurate?

I don’t want to book an alternative option just to later find out the preferred trip would available!

This might be a bit of a niche question but does anyone know how the indoor football/basketball pitch works?

our kids will be desperate to play as much as possible but I can’t see anything about set times or activities? Are kids allowed to simply play without it having to be organised sessions?

I’m pleased to see our time has moved forwards from 3pm to 1pm. Now it’s moved to an earlier time I assume we’re not likely to see it move back to the later time are we? That would be irritating!

Bearing in mind we cruise in 16 days should I expect this to be the final time or is it possible/likely it will change again?

3 hours ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Hi the pools are open. I'm currently on the Virtuosa as we speak. The pools were closed on the 1st sea day till the afternoon because someone decided to go to the toilet in the main pool so we were told. So had to empty clean etc. All the hot tubs are open too.

As for queues in the kids club we been passed there a couple of times on the way to the Horizon bar at the back and yes it's busy there but I don't know if it's just the morning rush to drop off kids or they are they are overbooked. I can't advise on that. The main pool area does get really busy if weather is nice. There is the indoor pool which is next to the main pool and the Horizon pool at the back of the ship.then right on top deck the water park at the back. I was on the 3rd July sailing max we had on board was 1500 hardly any children and not busy back on again 2 weeks later 50% yes it's busier and the only place I've had to queue on ship is in the buffet as they haven't opened it up fully so only 2 sides open during breakfast, lunch and one side in the evening. Also queued to get in main dining room but this because they are doing temperature checks before going in. You have to remember in normal circumstances people get off during port visits a lot more than currently as before no restrictions where as now you can only get off if your going on a msc bubble tour. So not many people getting off and staying on the ship instead so it always seems busy. I have been on the Bellissima sister ship to the Virtuosa at full capacity and it was weird that it never felt like there were 5k plus people on board but that was before covid. I don't know if this helps you in anyway but she is a lovely ship it's clean and the staff to be fair can't do enough. Food is good the cocktails are good and I for one wouldn't hesitate to to come back on again.

Very helpful and informative so thanks. 
 

one question if I may is have you done any excursions or spoken to anyone who has?

I hope you haven’t made a mistake as we’re on the same cruise with 2 kids too. 
 

It’ll be fine!!

8 hours ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Hi Parking attendances were more worried about getting cars parked than what tme your boarding was. We parked and just joined the end of the queue which was massive. Yc team were searching out yc boarders. So yes if I was to come on here for a 3rd time In school holidays then yes I would get here early. If you have young children make sure have things to do whilst in the queue that stops and starts. There are trolleys for luggage too. Hope that helps 🙂

Thanks, that’s great. Think we will risk it and try and get there early 

10 hours ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Hi i'm currently on msc 50% capacity cruise out of Southampton today as we speak. Yes we all have an allocated time but that went out the window today. We had a check in time of 3 arrived in Southampton at 2 we were prepared to wait for our check in time so parked car and the queue to board was unbelievable. 3hrs to check in. I advise take water and snacks. Any one in yacht club have no fear the msc crew were looking for yc people and then taking them to the front of the queue.

Also I was on the 3rd July sailing check in 11 sailed through in 30 mins but only 700 boarded. Buffet is now self serve people can sit at bars and the annoying thing is the staff in the buffet who were there to check people were washing hands has disappeared.(I thought that was a good idea) Masks are still required around the ship taking off when sitting down eating or drinking. 

Was anything said about your 2pm arrival or were you able to get in line and start the process? 
 

We also have a 3pm slot on 14th August so would be keen to get in line as early as possible if there’s going to be a long wait. 

Thanks for both the helpful posts above. Much appreciated 

Can someone please let me know how far in advance we are likely to be given our boarding time? Does checking in early do anything to get you an earlier time?

Can someone please help me with the following as it will be our first cruise in August:

how much do the various attractions cost?

can you buy one pass for a cabin and then all use the credit/value of the pass or are they specific to the individual?

if you run out of credit can you buy another onboard or are you then just paying per use?

Other than the above attractions are the passes used for anything else?

thanks in advance