annarack

I heard back from MSC, upgrading would be at the cost that YC was at the time I booked Fantastica, not current YC price. Shame, but at least I got an answer and explanation. I will be looking out for an upgrade bid email now instead!

Thanks, mixed responses. I was quoted more on the phone than the website was currently showing, but wasn't sure if this was time of booking prices or a mistake, hence asking here re previous experiences. I have emailed MSC asking if they will upgrade at current price, will report back. Thanks.

I would also be interested to know this too please. Can we contact Virtuosa YC Concierge before boarding? Many thanks.

Just wondered if anyone could advise please. We are currently booked in a Fantastica cabin but are looking to change to Yacht Club. Would we just pay the difference between our existing fare and the price currently shown for YC on the MSC website? Or is pricing dependent on the price for YC at the date we originally booked this cruise? Are there any admin fees to pay to upgrade? We are in the UK and booked direct with MSC. Many thanks.

Delivery is £2.50 on Arvia and Iona, but free on the other ships at the moment. No coffee delivered (kettle in cabin), but juice would be. Pastries, fruit, yoghurt, cereal etc all also available. Just one charge per order, no matter how many people in the cabin eating/drinking.

The 360 turn was to investigate an upturned life raft in the sea. Empty and no risk to life, so we proceeded to Gibraltar where the weather was much better than Lisbon would have been the day before. Proceeded to Malaga and now Barcelona as scheduled.

We were on Ventura over Easter and had the choice of either. We used both but preferred Cinnamon as had better service in there. The virtual queues were also slightly shorter for Cinnamon most nights. The lower location probably means less people requesting a table as a walk up here too.

Would be interested to hear the outcome of this if you have now sailed. Thanks.

Yes, they can. We did this recently.

We did it DIY when on MSC in August. Yes, most of the passengers on the ship did the same thing as there was no excursion that did both the cable car and toboggan. There was also another Cunard ship in port. We walked along the front to the cable car station, bit of a trek in the heat with small children but do-able. Then queued an hour to buy tickets, only to find we then had to join another hour queue to actually ride the cable car. Trip was great though. Then we queued 2 hours for the toboggan! Also great fun. Finally a 25 euro taxi back to the ship. So, although more expensive we have already booked the P&O excursion for when we go next Easter, probably 50% more expensive for the 4 of us than DIY, but hopefully also 4 hours quicker!

Really enjoyed your review and your comparisons. We sailed on Britannia at the same time as you this year and then on Virtuosa for 12 nights to the Canaries last month. Many of our findings were the same and we had the same issues - lifts and navigating the ship on Britannia with areas closed for quarantine - and chaos on MSC. Our children were also split between minis and juniors this year on Virtuosa however they did enjoy the kids clubs. There was usually an 8.30pm activity each evening which both groups went to such as a disco or games which both enjoyed. We didn't think the care and security of the kids area was anywhere near as good as we are used to on P&O. There were 1800 children on the Canaries cruise and no limits on how many could go into kids club at once! As a family we enjoyed the facilities on Virtuosa such as the sky ropes, waterslides, bowling etc plus used the tropical pool a lot however also didn't like the salt water. The ship itself is stunning. We had 5.30 dining which really didn't suit so we only used the MDR about half the time whereas on P&O we have always gone every night. We didn't use the speciality restaurants at all, mainly the buffet which we thought was generally good. We liked having photographers on MSC as missed having the chance to have a family photo done on P&O this year. We also had a balcony cabin with bunk beds which was fine, a better layout than Britannia. We were however in a poor position on deck 8 with an obstructed view and loud music from the Virtuosa Bar (I think) at night. Staff were overstretched and the first 24 hours on board were awful - no suitcases until 11pm, huge queues and no plates/mugs/cutlery at breakfast the first morning. Things evened out after this as everyone found their way around the ship and their own space but it was still busy and areas such as the arcade felt crazy the whole holiday with teenagers hanging out etc. We loved the scavenger hunts organised by the entertainment team on sea days. We missed the P&O family entertainment such as magician, family discos etc and did not enjoy the show we went to (The Big Apple). Despite the higher numbers on board though we had a better experience than last year's seacation on Virtuosa as we could get off independently in ports this time and didn't have to queue to book slots for water park nor was kids club limited to certain hours this year. We loved the ports we visit and did so much - Lisbon zoo, cable car and toboggan in Madeira, beach in Gran Canaria and lido in Tenerife. Vigo was the only port we hadn't visited before so didn't know and was very steep and incredibly hot. I think if we were to go there again we would be more organised and head to a beach or on a boat trip rather than the town/park as we did this time. I hope you really enjoy the itinerary next year, we thought it was great for children this sort of age. Last year we had an aurea cabin and really missed this this time - we had a poorer location this time, fixed instead of flexible dining, no access to deck 19. We would definitely book aurea if we sailed with MSC again, or yacht club if we could possibly afford it as it would be so much calmer. We are however going on P&O twice next year and I think will probably look at Royal Caribbean for 2024 as the children will be ready for the more high octane entertainment by then.

We booked Bella Balcony and got just that, a partial view balcony, looks to have an extra large balcony though so that is nice.

Are there any alternatives to the buffet open for lunch on embarkation day on MSC please? We are on Virtuosa out of Southampton in August if that makes a difference. Many thanks.

We usually cruise P&O but tried MSC last year around the UK. Loved Virtuosa and all its facilities for families, however didn't have a great trip due to poor service (lack of staff) and not being able to get off unless on an excursion. Wanted to try Princess this year but had to cancel that so we are on Virtuosa again this August. Going down to the Canaries so hoping for a fantastic holiday with our 6 and 7 year olds on board now Covid restrictions have relaxed and things are operating more normally. We don't think we would get good value from a drinks package either, based on our usual low P&O bar bill. Still enjoy P&O and have 2 bookings with them for next year. Maybe from 2024 we will be looking at trying other cruise lines again though as the facilities on board for kids will become more important now they are older. P&O was fantastic with toddlers for us though with kids club, night nursery, low/free child prices so we are quite loyal. I think our needs are continually changing and we love trying new cruise lines and ships and of course itinerary is the most important thing so that drives our decisions really.

Just wondered if anyone has ever won a bid for an upgrade and found they had actually been assigned an even better cabin/suite than they bid on? Or had a free upgrade to another cabin outside of the bid programme, but whilst having an upgrade bid pending? We've had cabin allocations on our MSC bookings change quite a few times between booking and sailing/cancellation date, so could imagine either of the above two things happening... Would be interested to hear about others' experiences. Many thanks.

Yes, we have often received our allocation almost straight away, however we have put it down to booking a 4 berth cabin and there are a limited number of these.

Thanks, really looking forward to your review, especially any info regarding the cabin as we also have deck 8 obstructed balcony booked for August. If you find out where the quarantine cabins currently are on Virtuosa please could you include this in your review. Happy travels and many thanks.

Thank you so much for your review and photos @kernow. Do you recall where the quarantine cabins were on Virtuosa for this cruise please? I seem to recall deck 8 and/or 9 last year when we sailed, but may have now changed. Many thanks.

I kind of wish I hadn't started the thread now, but it was really useful to have the discussion as it shows how unclear it is and how everyone has different views and interpretations. I also thought Princess's Twitter response was very cheeky and noncommittal! As noted above we cancelled after speaking to our travel agent. We didn't want the worry over the next three months about this. Cancellation went through fine and we received a full cash refund, so presumably Princess agreed that this trip would not work for our family. We are now booking with a different cruise line whose Health Protocols state we can explore independently. "Guests who are travelling with unvaccinated children are also able to go ashore independently." Obviously things can change at anytime, but we feel more comfortable. To the people above who are travelling with under 5s, I personally think you will be fine, as these children, although also unvaccinated, do not need an exemption and the clause discussed above just applies to those with the exemption. So presumably you will be able to get off and explore as normal. Very sad not to be doing our original cruise but very happy to have had a refund and a replacement now booked to look forward to.

It's so tough, isn't it. I had also queried direct with Princess via Twitter and have just had this reply: it really depends on the requirements of each port and those requirements are always subject to change. To be on the safe side, it is best to book a Princess excursion.

Spoke to our agent today and he thinks the wording is pretty clear that we would not be allowed off unless on an excursion. He is therefore putting in for a full refund for us. I will keep you updated on what happens, as I imagine everyone is receiving different answers at the moment depending who they speak to, so confusing.

Thanks, glad it's not just me! I will post any info I manage to get from our travel agent or Princess, and would appreciate it if you could do the same. I suspect we will have to cancel but just need some clear info. We cruised successfully with P&O from Southampton last month so not sure why this trip is looking so complicated.

Thanks everyone, really useful to discuss. To confirm, we are unable to get our children vaccinated in time as they have recently had covid so we can't book even the first dose yet, and would then need another 12 weeks for the second. Yes, we would of course follow the protocols on board if we travel. The vaccination exemption requirements are definitely new on the UK site (even flagged as such), although may well have applied to other Princess customers for longer. It is definitely looking like we will need to book an alternative holiday this year @Mary loves to travel, hence this post and potentially seeking a refund. I just want to get clarity on whether the statement I highlighted in my original post means our unvaccinated children definitely would not be allowed off the ship (unless on a Princess excursion), or as @caribill reads it, just that ports may stop unvaccinated passengers exploring independently. I find the clause unclear. I appreciate that rules are changing all the time, both at Princess (and other cruiselines) and as per regulations in each country/port. We would totally understand if something cropped up whilst we were onboard that prevented us visiting a port, but don't want to head off on a 12 day cruise where we would not be able to get off at all as a family, or only take Princess excursions. Really hoping to hear from other UK families with young children booked on these ex Southampton school summer holiday cruises, as I would guess there are quite a few of us... Many thanks.

We booked our August 2022 cruise around the UK from Southampton back in January when Princess did not require children under 12 to be vaccinated to sail. They then brought in a policy meaning we wouldn't be able to sail, so we cancelled a cruise for May 2022, but hung on to this August booking in the hope policy would change again before final payment date. Thankfully the policy did change and "vaccination exemption" came into play. We called Princess and applied for this for our children. All looked good and we started to get excited about our trip. Now we have seen that vaccination exemption comes with a list of terms and conditions, including the below: You may not be permitted ashore in all ports and, if allowed, may only go ashore through shore excursions sold by or through Princess using tour operators who comply with our COVID-19 protocols. Self-exploration or participation in shore excursions not sold through or operated by Princess will not be permitted. This states that our children will not be able to get off the ship to explore independently with us but can only take Princess excursions. This would be totally out of budget for us as a family of 4 who had planned some pretty low key days ashore. With 11 ports, and tours easily costing several hundred dollars per day for 4 of us, it would cost much more than the actual cruise, or we would be stuck onboard much of the time. We have a call on this into our travel agent to discuss as we cannot believe we will not be able to go ashore independently in our home country. However has anyone else with unvaccinated children due to sail from Southampton seen this policy? Or also been caught out by it? Or managed to get a refund (not FCC or a transfer) based on this being totally impractical and different to what was originally booked? Would love to hear other families' experiences please.

I know, if they are happy, we are happy and have much more enjoyable relaxed days out! I have enjoyed reading some of your previous reviews of trips with your son and may have picked up the tip about the easy bus ride to the aquarium from one of them if I remember correctly. We did see the other long stretch of beaches in Cadiz from the promenade when we walked back past the cathedral towards the centre/ship, they looked lovely. They were on our list with the bus trip, but we didn't make it that far. We tied in the La Caleta beach with Parque Genoves because we had read about model dinosaurs there, however we found they had all been put away in a closed off area, we had to just peer at them through some netting! I will put the restaurant on my list for a future visit, it looks great. I have been pulling together some notes on all the ports we tend to visit on cruises using old notes we had made and places we remember being fun. Good excuse to look back at old holiday photos. I really enjoy the research and finding family friendly reviews. We are going down to the Canaries a couple of times next Spring and I have the Lido in Tenerife on the list which I think was also one of your recommendations - please keep them coming! We have really, really missed cruising the last couple of years and have lots of exploring to catch up on.