desire882x

13 hours ago, Cruisecrazymum said:

Think you were on a different ship from me . I'm also just off today . Had no problems getting drinks . Didn't have to queue either . Can count on one hand how many guests I saw without a mask on. I did have to tell s few quests the lifts rules and hot tub rules but apart from that it was all good . Guys and the amusement most friendly guys you could meet . Can really compare to virgin . Adult only ship and pretty much to covid rules on board regarding masks etc 

 

 

Very Strange the guy in the Arcade who was Turkish was very rude and unfriendly.

Which Bars did you visit? I found every bar busy including the one in the Arcade....

 

On Virgin we were not forced to wear our masks and generally felt very safe on board due to the lower number of guests. On MSC we felt really unsafe felt like they tried to pack the ship as much as possible.

 

I'd never go on MSC again...

17 hours ago, capriccio said:

I wonder how comparable the ships and cruise lines are. 

 

Since Virgin Voyages is a brand new cruise line, can you please provide a comparison of the ships:

• the size,
• the number of passengers at full capacity and the number on board, (maximum capacity of Lady Scarlett  4,400 passengers -  I would guess around 2,000 passengers on board . MSC Virtuosa  - 6,300 passengers I would estimate 5,000 guests)
• the number of crew at full capacity and the number on board, (unable to comment)
• the fare, ( Virgin Voyages £1300 for 2 guests for 4 nights - MSC £1500 for 2 guets for 7 nights)
• the perks included in the fares you paid. (Virgin Voyages - Free on Demand Movies, Free Wi-fi, free premium restaurants, free soft drinks. MSC - Free massage with Aurea Fare and Free Premium Drinks)

 

Then we can see if you are comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges.  Plus we can learn more about Virgin Voyages.

 

Thanks.

 

Hi Folks,

 

I've just got back from a 7 night cruise on MSC Virtuosa and wanted to share my experience. I've been on 4 cruises (a mixture of Royal Caribbean (Symphony of the seas etc. and Virgin Voyages) and I'm in my 30's.  I want to share my experience as I noticed there are very few reviews of this ship.  I've written some quick bullet points of my overall experience, I'll write a few review and post it on the review section of this website.

 

I was on the 4th Sept - 11th Sept Cruise around the UK (Portland / Liverpool / Greenock / Southampton). I will be comparing my experience with Virgin Voyages as I was on Scarlet Lady a few weeks ago.

 

Initial Embarkation Procedure

I arrived at Southampton at my allocated time, I was met with long queues all the way around the building with limited social distancing and hardly any people wearing masks. After around an 1hr 15 mins my temperature was taken and I was let inside the terminal. After another 30 minutes we were asked to show our cruise ticket...we then queued again and another desk asked to show our proof of vaccine. We then joined another queue to have our tests, after this we were then told to go to the security check. At this point we were asked to show our passports, we were then were advised to go upstairs and queue at another desk and were asked to show all our documents (Insurance / Proof of Vaccine / Passport / Boarding Pass etc.) At this point we were given a 'Watch' which we were told was for contact tracing. We then waited for our results and finally could board. Total time was just under 3 hours.

 

I felt the process was quite complex compared to Virgin in terms of showing different documentation at each desk. With Virgin I found the process much more simpler.

 

1) Stage 1 Show Tickets / Proof of Vaccine and Passports

2) Stage 2 take Covid Test

3) Stage 3 - Get Results

4) Stage 4 - Show Boarding Pass and get on board.

 

Positives

Room was a good size and house keeping did a good job tidying up

 

The Main Dinning Room is impressive and the service is great here

 

Food was very average in the buffet but did the job...

 

Shows were pretty okay

 

F1 Simulator was good

 

Negatives

 

Serious Lack of Staff in all areas

 

Staff are really worn out and unhappy (Spoke to 5 members of staff who openly told me they can't wait to get off the ship)

 

Ship is running a 'skeleton service' buffet restaurant was only ever 50% open at lunch time, there are only two places to go for breakfast with the one restaurant

closing at 9:30am!

 

Massive Massive Massive Queues for Breakfast (on some days) often wait times of 40 minutes+ to get it

 

Really BAD Processes in place...e.g some stuff you can only book in person such as tickets for shows / restaurants and F1 Simulator / Golf ETC, some stuff you book on your TV/ Phone app ..so it can be confusing having pieces of paper with Spa Bookings and Restaurant Reservations as a lot of stuff does not sync with the App!

 

A lot of processes don't make sense for example to make reservations for the restaurants you have to go to the Bar?

We had numerous issues such as the sensor / lock on our door not working, we queued a total of 8 hours over 2/3 days just to resolve this simple issue. 

 

House keeping staff unfriendly for example we needed more toilet paper was told we had to request this via guest services as apparently house keeping staff are not allowed to give toilet paper to guests directly....

 

Lots and lots of noise at night...we were in a balcony cabin on the 13th floor and every night there were lots of banging which we believe was from the staff as it happened every night at 11:45pm - 3:30am. I am guessing this was the staff performing some sort of maintenance?

 

Lack of Drinks on board - Despite having the drinks package, a lot of drinks were unavailable for example there were no fruit juices. After 24 hours on board some restaurants had ran out of Coca Cola Cans and resorted to providing a 'water downed version' of diet coke to guests.

 

Food not labelled on board in terms of allergens or diet (Vegan etc.) Staff unsure of what was in food.

 

A lot of machines in the Arcade are not working and the guy who runs this is the most rude unfriendly person you could meet in your life! I lost around 16 credits on broken machines and was told by the guy 'not my problem speak to guest services'.

Way too many people on board I felt like the ship was 85% capacity I was told it was around 60%+

I felt the slot machines were set to a real 'low win rate' could just be my experience but I didn't win anything...

 

There were confirmed covid cases on board, a lot of people were not wearing masks and no one was enforcing this. After covid began spreading on board more announcements were played on the ships speaker to social distance etc. 

 

Music Lounge / Piano Player - opposite guest services so its very hard to even speak to guest services when you have music blaring in the background!!

 

Queues to get drinks....why not have soft drinks such as water etc in a vending machine to allow guests to get drinks themselves ?

 

Confusing Processes- Guests are allowed to get cold drinks in the buffet but are not allowed to get hot drinks...?

 

Arcade - Very very old games stuff that you would expect to find a carboot sale!

 

Confusing Advice - Guest Services saying don't use your watch for any payments its only for contact tracing and all restaurants asking to you to show your watch to order drinks....

 

Strange Disembarkation Process - Guests are removed from their rooms at 8am, and again ques to disembark.

 

Conclusion

 

A very very different experience compared to my cruise with Virgin Voyages in Covid Times...

 

I had multiple issues on board mainly not being able to get into my room, which resulted in my card being reprogrammed which resulted in my fun pass not working, the wifi not working and generally not being able to use my card with anything.

 

I spent in total 14 hours of my holiday at guest services...when I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told I would have to wait in my room most of the day for them to ring. Apparently the supervisors don't see anyone face to face!

 

When I did speak to a supervisor they just said 'sorry we can't do anything complain to MSC when you get back on land' they would not give any compensation, no restaurant vouchers, no spa vouchers, nothing.

Overall this is a cruise I would not recommend you go on...even when more staff are made available the processes on board are just confusing and don't make sense! For a brand new ship the processes are outdated....

 

P.S - I can confirm the stories posted online regarding this cruise are true with the high number of covid cases being present on board. MSC should of really not allowed more passengers to board at Liverpool and Greenock the ship needs a full decontamination. This morning I saw another several hundred guests queuing to get on board....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mainly Razzle Dazzle and The Galley

Hi Folks,

 

My review has finally being published:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=682075&et_cid=3449005&et_rid=279009535&et_referrer=

 

Let me know if you have any questions

14 hours ago, redcruzer said:

So did all passengers have to be vaccinated or did you just have to have a negative covid test right before boarding?

Thanks

 

 

I can confirm for all UK Cruises you need to be double jabbed and show proof of vaccination.

14 hours ago, mnocket said:

Thanks for the overview.  I look forward to reading your full review once published.  I must admit I've found many of the reviews thus far to read more like advertisements than reviews.

 

Sure, I'll let you know as soon as my full review is published, I submitted it yesterday. My review is just my honest opinion and whilst some may not agree with some of my points I am just trying to provide details on my own experience.

3 hours ago, britincanada said:

 Thank you for sharing your review. I am a Brit in the USA who is (im)patiently waiting to board - we booked in Oct '19 for July '20 (Richard's Birthday Bash), when that was cancelled we rebooked for the Birthday Bash '21, and we are now booked for May '22 on a Dominican Daze cruise.

 

Following your comments about Razzle Dazzle - the decor is based on the camouflage used on ships during the first world war, even though the name sounds like it should contain lots of sparkles! https://www.virginvoyages.com/ahoy/stories/razzle-dazzle

 

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts, allowing those of us who are still waiting to share in your experience!!

 

Thanks that explains the amount of grey!¬

 

1 hour ago, shoptom said:

Was there a tattoo discount day?

 

not too sure as I am not into tattoo's

I can confirm once you are on board more dining slots will open up, we had the same issue with all slots showing as unavailable. You can always do a walk in if you can't book a table.

I disembarked on Friday and the Galley was pretty quiet, I had a disembarkation time of 10:30am but didn't leave until 10:45am, I was probably one of the last guests off.  Would recommend the Galley for breakfast.

Hi Folks,

Long time lurker first time poster, I've been on two previous cruises (Symphony of the Seas + Mariner of the Seas). I am aged 30 so feel like I am the target market for this cruise if one exists...I've posted a full review here that is waiting to be published but here is a mini review. I am happy to answer any questions

 

Embarkation Process Overview

 

The embarkation process was very smooth, I arrived at the park and ride 60 mins before my designated boarding time. I was quickly told to drive to the test site where there are three Marquees. The first is where you show your passport and proof of vaccination.  The second is where you have your Covid Test, (this is just a swab being stuck up each nostril, no pain at all). The third is where you get your results. The total process from entering the marquee to leaving was around 75 minutes. The queue quickly moved so time went very fast. Once your test results come back negative you are given a paper wristband to show you've had your test.

 

Entertainment Review

We managed to watch two shows, Duel Reality and Mr Thing. We booked these shows through the app once we were on board. I can confirm all seating is 'covid safe' with spaces between 'bubbles' which is good. The Duel Reality show is a fun exciting, acrobatics show and one I would highly recommend you watch. The 'Mr Thing' show was truly one of the worst shows I've ever watched....I just did not find it funny...( I enjoy a wide range of comedy from Chris Rock to Dave Gorman! but this show I just did not find funny!) there was a gag where the puppet says we need a new guest and he says lets go past another ship and someone can jump on board. You are then shown on the screen a visual image of the virgin ship going past another, and the puppet shouts 'Jump' and then lets the audience know the guest didn't make it aboard...This gag was repeated 6 times and it wasn't funny the first time. Also be warned this show heavily focuses on interaction with the audience!  I would probably avoid this if this were something you’re not comfortable with. 

 

There is also on a free play arcade on board which has a great selection of retro video games including Super Mario this place was lots of fun and highly recommend this! It's awesome all games are free play!

Dinning Review Specialty

We were unable to book any specialty restaurants in the app before we got on board. Luckily, once on board some of the booking slots opened, we managed to prebook Razzle Dazzle.  We wanted to dine at Gun Bae but there was not availability, so we went in as a walk in without any issues. I won't go into too much detail for Gun Bae but I was quite disappointed with the food at this restaurant (Bare in mind I am a fussy eater so my review will probably not reflect others experience).  Most of the food is served cold, including the noodles. The main 'star' of the show the meat is cooked in front of you, but the meat is unseasoned. You are meant to enjoy the meat in a wrap like meal with sauces and salads on top. The service at the restaurant was great just the food wasn't good.

 

Razzle Dazzle was the next restaurant we visited, after reading some reviews of this place I can say this place is 'over hyped' in my opinion. Firstly, the decor of the place is definitely not 'Razzle Dazzle' I was expecting mood lighting / crystals and something generally Dazzling, it is far from this. The food at the restaurant was average at best, I had the Fried Chicken and my partner had the impossible burger. To be honest the fried chicken was cooked well but lacked seasoning, I would go as far as to say KFC do better fried chicken again just my opinion. The Impossible Burger again was okay but pretty similar to the Impossible Burger they serve in the 'Galley'. Overall I just felt this place is over hyped with a lot of reviews saying its the best place ever....I would say the Galley serves better food...

Wi-Fi

Virgis are open and honest about the on-board Wi-FI Service not being great. The poor connectivity is due to the fact the ship is cruising in / around Portsmouth. We found the Wi-Fi actually worked okay most of the time for basic whatsapp texts / calls. Loading webpages were slow and don't even think about trying to watch youtube / netflix as this won't work.

The 'Dreaded' App

 

The App actually works okay once on board, if you have any issues, I recommend you restart your device.

Disembarkation

The day before leaving we felt we were not given any information regarding the disembarkation process. We are aware how other cruise ships disembark passengers. On this cruise ship there is very limited information, you are not given daily newsletters or any information unless you ask for it. A quick visit to guest services and we were given luggage tags and we were told the Galley would be shutting at 10am on the day of disembarkation. I feel for new cruise passengers this information

 

Important Info

Everything on board is charged in $'s to it may be worth bringing some with you.

 

Overall, I would recommend this cruise for first time cruisers but when prices are back to "normal" it will be interesting to see how Virgin can compete with other cruise liners!