Ottawa_Cruiser

On 6/4/2024 at 2:36 PM, Stockjock said:

Not a direct answer to your question, but based on what I've read from others, it seems to me that Bella GUAR cabins are upgraded at least 60% of the time.  But obviously, any time one books a guarantee, they have to be prepared to accept the worst cabin in the category that they booked.

This is interesting. We've sailed MSC three times in a Bella GUAR and have never had an upgrade. However, I am totally okay with that. Sure, it would be nice, but I'm 100% okay with the category I book.

Today was our stop in Lerwick. It is a stunning piece of heaven and we had an absolutely incredible day. The sun was shining and we enjoyed our walk all over Lerwick. 
 

Today, Virtuosa got the title of the biggest ship to port in Lerwick. This is a tender port. We went to Deck 15 to collect our tender tickets at 7am and we were assigned group 16. We were off the ship shortly after 8am. This was extremely well organized. 
 

We didn’t have an excursion booked and we explored the island ourselves. I walked 24,000 steps today! If you visit Lerwick, please make sure you visit the Island Larder and the chippy. 
 

We walked to Fort Charlotte and Clickimin Broch, plus we travelled many of the streets. The beauty in Lerwick is simply incredible. 
 

All aboard today was 3pm, with the last tender scheduled for 2pm. We made our way back at 12:35pm and there was a very large queue, however, within 30 min we were on the tender. It was quick and efficient for us, but those arriving back between 1:30-2pm had a much longer wait, with many people reportedly jumping the queue. 
 

We are into our third day and I can say that I’m now noticing some of the issues with staffing. Dinner in the MDR lasts about 1.5-1.75 hours. Too long. The wait for drinks can be up to 15min. But don’t let this deter you, we are still having an amazing time! 

Fingers crossed you made it on!

Last night we saw Wake Me Up in the theatre. It was a great show and the two female vocalists are excellent. 
 

I have not experienced any long waits at any bars. 
 

This morning at 10am the buffet was absolutely slammed. There was a lineup to get in and of course line ups for food. This is similar on Meraviglia and I really do think this is something MSC can improve on. They have very limited hours for MDR for breakfast and lunch and other lines (NCL primarily) have much longer hours and the buffet isn’t as slammed. A couple of differences in food choices being a cruise out of the U.K., such as the sausages and bacon. The sausages are excellent and the bacon is what I call back bacon as a Canadian. You can also have poached eggs made to order, as well as omelettes - something I haven’t seen on the Meraviglia. This is a welcome addition. 
 

We have beautiful weather in the North Sea and I can spot many oil rigs. Today is a sea day and tomorrow we are in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland. 

Dinner menu on night 1. I had the mature cheddar fritter, mahi mahi and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It was all very good. Food was hot. 

Wow! To say I’m impressed with how they handle embarkation in Southampton would be an understatement! 
 

We were staying at an Airbnb that’s a 15 minute walk to the port. It was beautiful weather this morning, so we set off with our luggage in tow. 
 

We arrived at the cruise terminal at 9:35am and dropped our luggage with the porters who pass it through a window with wheels. We were through security at 9:45am and checked in at 9:50am. We were in line to board at 9:55am and we stepped foot on the ship at 9:57am. This was by far the easiest and most seamless boarding we have been through. Our embarkation time was 10am, but I figured we would not be on board until 11am at the earliest. 
 

I started enjoying my first drink at 10:27am after dropping carry on baggage to the room and collecting our key cards (these hang on your door now and aren’t given at check in). 
 

10/10 for this embarkation! 

1 hour ago, TheycallmeDrew said:

Also from the Ottawa area on the Quebec side. Have to let me know what you think of the MSC Europe experience as I have a trip in October on MSC Poesia. Have only done 1 other MSC cruise on the Meraviglia and loved it.

Oh wow! You don’t “meet” too many people from the Ottawa area on these boards! We also love Meraviglia (great value for money), so I’m really looking forward to the European experience. 

Well, let’s see how this goes! I’m not sure how good I’ll be at a total “live”, so that’s why I’m only committing to semi live. 😛 We arrived in London on May 14 and travelled to Wales to visit my spouses family. We are now just arriving in Southampton to board the Virtuosa tomorrow for 7 nights with stops in Lerwick, Shetland Islands; Nordfjordeid,Flaam, and Haugesund, Norway. This is our first cruise out of a non-US port. 
 

We have sailed on the Meraviglia twice, and now we’ll try the Virtuosa. I’m hoping to update on the boarding process in Southampton and how the ship differs from the Meraviglia. I suspect there will even be other differences sailing from the U.K. versus New York, or Florida. 
 

I’ve never done a sailing to “cold” ports, so this will certainly be a different experience. I’m looking forward to sharing as much as I can live, but I’ll also come back and do a full review post-cruise!

All aboard - we leave tomorrow! 🛳️⚓️

Wishing the passenger a speedy recovery.

"Regular" folk here. We always sail generally in an interior cabin, bella or fantastica. We spend virtually no time in our room and prefer to cruise more often, rather than in YC.

3 minutes ago, Jeal said:

Perhaps they aren’t interlopers at all. Maybe they are traveling with other people who aren’t in Yacht Club and they have chosen to eat with them. Personally I wouldn’t like to spend my vacation spying and eavesdropping on other people. Why would anyone care? Believe, there are many people sailing in cabins less expensive than Yacht Club who have far more money and much better manners than some of the people sailing in Yacht Club. 

Because this was overheard IN the YC. Those who pay a premium for the amenities and services shouldn't have to deal with the people entering who don't pay and take away from the service. FWIW, I don't cruise in YC. But I would also never enter YC with friends as I didn't pay for it. I understand why it's frustrating for the people who do pay.

I've done two sailing on the Mera, but I have never seen a made to order omelet station.

I'm sailing on her May 18th and can let you know how busy it is. 

2 hours ago, reedprincess said:

How about overseas, ie Martinique.

My documents currently show a 20:00 check-in time. That's ridiculous - 8pm?  Sailaway is 23:00.

 

So, we can't even check-in, far less board, til after the entire first day is done?

 

That can't be right.... 

That definitely can't be right.

16 hours ago, lumofny said:

We are sailing out of Brooklyn with MSC for the first time in three days. During online check-in we were given a choice as to what time we wanted to check in. 930am was the first available time slot so we took it.

 

Has anyone else gotten a 930 embarkation time? What time did you arrive at the terminal and what time did you step onboard?

Yes - we had 9:30am for our first sailing and we arrived at about 10am due to terrible traffic and torrential downpours. It was the second sailing out of Brooklyn on April 29, 2023. We were onboard by 11:30am. It is very unlikely anybody will be onboard much before 11am, apart from Yacht Club. 

We ended up just going for it and booking. We booked 36 days out. I do believe we got a good price, so I didn't want fares to jump.

In August, I highly doubt prices will go down. 

They didn't appear to check on my last two sailings out of Brooklyn, however, I did notice on my documents for my May 18th sailing out of Southampton that it indicated if we showed up more than 30 min ahead of our assigned time, we would need to wait outside. I am not sure if this is something standard out of Southampton, or if they're rolling it out everywhere.

What I will say is that they assign times to make embarkation as easy and seamless as possible. If everyone overlooks their assigned time, you lose the right to complain about the chaos that it might cause.

As you can see from my signature, we are about to go on our third MSC cruise in 13 months. I had LOW expectations for our first sailing April 29, 2023 (Meraviglia's second sailing after repositioning to NYC). I figured for the cost, I had nothing to lose. I had heard all of the horrible things, such as terrible food and long long waits for drinks. I experienced none of that. Is it the best cruise ship food? No. But I'm not cooking and it was still very tasty. I didn't experience any rude crew members. On our second sailing, our dining room attendants weren't the best. Again, not the end of the world. 

The Meraviglia is by far the most beautiful ship we've sailed on. Go. Have fun. Enjoy.

Hi! iMessage worked without issue without the wifi plan on both my April 2023 and December 2023 sailings.

Where are you looking to sail from? I have sailed out on NYC twice and we have just booked on the MSC Virtuosa for May 18, sailing out of Southampton. We were pretty loyal to NCL previous to this. Go in with an open mind. If sailing out of NYC, it can be challenging with a certain type of passenger group who don't understand North American etiquette. I have heard sailings are better from Florida.

In my opinion, you can't beat the cost of MSC in terms of what you get. Is it as good as NCL? No, not to me...but for $500-$700 less per passenger per cruise, I'm not going to complain! 😜

2 hours ago, Tierun said:

I've seen both, but you really can't predict one way or the other. If the price is good then book it. 

Yeah - I wish I had a crystal ball. LOL. 

22 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Pentecost holiday in many European countries, almost no chance for a last minute grab. For those great last minute rates you really need to go offseason. I am cruising with MSC the same week in Europe (other ship), have booked already and I am 100 percent sure that it will not get cheaper. 

Thank you.

Hello! We are looking at the May 18th sailing out of Southampton on Virtuosa. We have not yet booked it. I'm curious for those that have waited until the last minute, has price increased or decreased? Let me know your experience or thoughts please. Thanks!

18 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I learned that @ESCARGO passed away on February 28. His funeral was held on Monday. I am struggling with the news, but I thought you would want to know.

I'm so sorry to hear this news, Jamie. I know when he had the health issues onboard you were all very worried and it was clear he was special to you all. I'm hoping the memories you have can carry you through.

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

Doing a one-week cruise in May and October means we will have some free time off to maybe do a mini-trip somewhere over the summer, like Montreal or Toronto or something like that. It could just be 3-5 days instead of a full week. So now we will have another trip to plan, but it will be to somewhere we WANT to go, not somewhere I feel obligated to go based on some promise I made to myself 20 years ago.

As a Canadian, I will say I prefer Montreal. I live in Ottawa and go to Montreal at least twice a year for 2-3 nights. It's an awesome place.