LIVE Virtuosa 05/06/21 the first 7 night sailing.

[Malibustacey79]

Were there actually any passengers due to join at Greenock tomorrow? Devastating for them if so! 

[Huntingdon1701]

Insane, given the ability to drive across the border. If they do bus passengers to Liverpool, it would really show up the Government as fools. 

[Guest BigRoger]

7 minutes ago, NightWoman said:

Thanks Kernow,

I wish we knew what the new regulations were!!!! especially when we can drive over the border to pick up a cruise ship.

The reporting suggests that sturgeon has said that no cruise ships will be allowed to board or disembark in Scotland until all parts of Scotland are declared to be in Level 1…..

[kernow]

1 minute ago, Malibustacey79 said:

Were there actually any passengers due to join at Greenock tomorrow? Devastating for them if so! 

A lady at YC guest services just told us 38 guests but none in YC so she didn't know if any arrangements are being made.

How long is the drive from Glasgow to Liverpool?

[showingdiva]

2 minutes ago, kernow said:

A lady at YC guest services just told us 38 guests but none in YC so she didn't know if any arrangements are being made.

How long is the drive from Glasgow to Liverpool?

 

4 hrs or so.

[NightWoman]

2 minutes ago, Malibustacey79 said:

Were there actually any passengers due to join at Greenock tomorrow? Devastating for them if so! 

I believe the first cruise from Greenock was the 16th but I did read in another post someone was supposed to disembarking in Greenock tomorrow and they've now to sail back to Southampton. 

[NightWoman]

6 minutes ago, kernow said:

A lady at YC guest services just told us 38 guests but none in YC so she didn't know if any arrangements are being made.

How long is the drive from Glasgow to Liverpool?

It's 4 hours

[kernow]

4 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

 

4 hrs or so.

That's not too bad, not much more than our drive to Southampton. I know what I'd be doing

[NightWoman]

10 minutes ago, kernow said:

That's not too bad, not much more than our drive to Southampton. I know what I'd be doing

Normally we would take a flight to Southampton but didn't want to fly.

The drive from our house to the port is an hour and a half and the only reason we booked MSC was because the ship was sailing from Greenock. 

As it is MSC will no doubt be altering their plans for the rest of the season with no stops now in Scotland as they can't afford to wait for SG making up their minds. Not sure where that leaves the Scottish passengers now though 😕

 

[showingdiva]

12 minutes ago, NightWoman said:

As it is MSC will no doubt be altering their plans for the rest of the season with no stops now in Scotland as they can't afford to wait for SG making up their minds. Not sure where that leaves the Scottish passengers now though 😕

 

 

Phoning MSC in the morning to enquire about going from Liverpool instead.   I've got a little lee-way until August, but don't trust SG as far as I could throw them.   

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by showingdiva

[Malibustacey79]

24 minutes ago, kernow said:

That's not too bad, not much more than our drive to Southampton. I know what I'd be doing

Will it be the same dates though? I’d be happy to do that as I’m in between the two anyway but is it as simple as the ship just gets to dock in Liverpool every date it would have been in Greenock? I really hope so but don’t want to get my heart set on it before a solution is offered...

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 6/7/2021 at 10:23 AM, little britain said:

Saturday ; I’ll check tomorrow to see if Sunday is up! 

 

Thank you so much for posting these! I was very curious.

[gadabout60]

7 hours ago, BigRoger said:

We are up in Scotland on holiday with our friends from scotia right now… we’ve been driving and visiting all over the highlands and moray firth with really good protocols applying everywhere….. they are due to be going on Virtuosa in July from Greenock and they are fizzing…. Can’t believe that they are banned in their own country….. but Ms sturgeon has approved up to 6,000 people to meet o Glasgow green to watch the football… with no testing or anything… (Glasgow being the problem area)….. 

As a Glaswegian and a bit tongue in cheek I can tell you that while Glasgow is a problem area it is not the problem area.

It currently has the fifth highest rate in Scotland behind Clackmannanshire, Dundee, South Ayrshire and Edinburgh 

SG rules as usual are not logical. Everyone on board could visit Scotland by land or air with no checks at all. Smacks a bit of lack of understanding about the protocols in place

[ziggyuk]

From what I understand the SG require the whole of Scotland to be in level 1 before cruising can start, with the increasing covid levels across the whole of the UK this appears pretty unlikely at the moment.

[ziggyuk]

Oh dear, I think the sign lady was was going to depart from Greenock tomorrow 🤣

 

 

[tring]

 

I had messaged Fred Olsen on FB last week asking if he will be able to stop at his arranged Scottish ports this summer. I got a reply yesterday saying he has not yet had confirmation from the Scottish Government, so is currently unsure, but will let me know when they know if they will be able to call. Hence, I suspect MSC did not have confirmation they could call at Greenock, but had left it until last minute to cancel in the hope the Scottish Government would change their minds.  So in my mind it seems to be a fault of both sides.  MSC should have cancelled some earlier cruises way before now, but the SG have just been sitting on the fence instead of coming clear that they do not want cruise ships for a while, until today's announcement about all needing to be at level one.

 

We went over to Liverpool today and would like to express my pleasure that we could supply you with such good weather, probably cloud cover tomorrow, but still warm according to forcast.  It was good to see the ship and wave at some people on the ship, though sad that was the only local interaction they could have.  I am sure you are all being well looked after though and enjoying the drinks/food onboard.  WE join the ship on the 24th for five nights to the south of England and back to Liverpool, so we will not be affected.  Very Concerned about Golden Horizon though, as we are due to embark her in Greenock on 21st of July for a four night cruise to Liverpool via  Portrush and Belfast in Northern Ireland.

 

Thanks a lot for the blog and information about the ship/cruise.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your time on board, though a shame you will miss the scenic cruising up the Clyde.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by tring

[showingdiva]

5 hours ago, tring said:

 

 Very Concerned about Golden Horizon though, as we are due to embark her in Greenock on 21st of July for a four night cruise to Liverpool via  Portrush and Belfast in Northern Ireland.

 

 

Sadly, so are we.   She is(was) due in Leith, but there are now serious doubts about her, Marella Explorer and Marella Explorer 2.

 

Putting on my NHS hat, I suspect the central belt of Scotland will take some time to get to Level 1 simultaneously, and for long enough in order that NS decrees cruising can re-start.   Just the nature of it being where the vast majority of Scots live and/or work.

 

 

[kernow]

Today's planner

[tring]

20 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

I really cannot see things getting to that stage, unless this Delta variant explodes in the coming days. They definitely wouldn't sail outside of British waters, that's the agreement with the UK Government to sail.

 

MSC did say at one point that, where feasible, they would try to sail in areas where the weather is best.

 

From tracking systems you could see that just after they first sailed in that bad weather, the ship was doing small circles, keeping between the Cherbourg Peninsular an Le Have, presumably for calmer seas.

[Stu UK]

40 minutes ago, tring said:

 

From tracking systems you could see that just after they first sailed in that bad weather, the ship was doing small circles, keeping between the Cherbourg Peninsular an Le Have, presumably for calmer seas.

On the maiden voyage of Virtuosa last month we sailed to the coast of France. Obviously didn’t dock.  

[Bigjennifer]

53 minutes ago, kernow said:

Today's planner

 

[kernow]

Last night we went to Indochine with LB for our complimentary Diamond meal. You get a choice from the Dining Experience menu, if you wish to substitute any dishes from the main menu you get a 50% discount.I thought the food was fine but not outstanding. TBH if I'd paid I would have been disappointed. Between the 4 of us we tried to have all of the dishes. I was the only one brave enough to order the strange dessert (Che Bao Mau) and it's just as weird as it sounds.We were all in fits of laughter trying it. 

With free flowing wine and good company we had a fun night. By the time we looked at our watches it was 11pm and we'd missed the deck party that had been organised at the last moment for our overnight in Liverpool. 

QR_ZZ_INDOCHINE_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1623228761.pdf

[tring]

10 minutes ago, Stu UK said:

On the maiden voyage of Virtuosa last month we sailed to the coast of France. Obviously didn’t dock.  

 

Yes, that is the sailing I meant, but not in British waters.  Sorry you had bad weather for that and thanks for all your posts, I have been reading a lot of them.

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by tring

[Bigjennifer]

Hi you two, we had a picnic ready to come down to Greenock to see the ship. As were only 45 minutes away.Glad you are both well,and still cruising.Booked for 1Sept, but might change,don’t like the uncertainty.Dougie and I are both well and still cruise as much COVID , has put a stop to that. Lv to you both Jennifer💕💕💕💕

[kernow]

We came back from breakfast to find this letter, another Covid swab for us tomorrow.