Just Disembarked MSC Virtuosa...Not A Good Experience!

[desire882x]

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....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by desire882x

[capriccio]

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,
• the number of crew at full capacity and the number on board,
• the fare, and
• the perks included in the fares you paid.

 

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

 

Thanks.

[southwestie]

3 hours ago, desire882x said:

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....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well after 64 cruises this was the worst ever. We were on the ship and lunch by 12 30.  Staff and room steward perfect. No noise. But I was on deck 10.

 

Lines were long as you said. I went to reception  .got nowhere. I stood and demanded the manager and was given access to the dining rooms for breakfast and lunch by using his name. Not good. But needs must. 

 

Got drinks ok but seating was shocking. No nibbles with drinks. Shows poor.  Whole experienced was poor.  Very poor. Nothing will get me back on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[southwestie]

2 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,
• the number of crew at full capacity and the number on board,
• the fare, and
• the perks included in the fares you paid.

 

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

 

Thanks.

This is nothing to do with compassion. but service or lack of. You can compare it to others ships or truck stops lol. This is the experience and service just on this ship 

[zekekelso]

Yikes. Hopefully this will not be the norm 

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, capriccio said:

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

 

I don't know much about Virgin Voyages, but I think it intends to compete in the luxury bracket of the cruise market.  That's not where MSC is other than for YC.  

[capriccio]

28 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I don't know much about Virgin Voyages, but I think it intends to compete in the luxury bracket of the cruise market.  That's not where MSC is other than for YC.  

I had the same impression but I've done no research on Virgin Voyages.  If that is true I expect Virgin Voyages to be heads above MSC overall with much smaller ships and correspondingly higher prices.  I'm hoping the OP will let us know.

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, southwestie said:

This is nothing to do with compassion.

I don't understand this comment or is it a typo/auto correct error?

[Cruisecrazymum]

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 

[styles27]

Yikes…your’s isn’t the first bad experience on that itinerary I’ve read about on here.
Sounds like MSC needs to rein this one in and reevaluate. 

If I were reading reviews like this about the US itineraries I think I would cancel our upcoming November cruise. 
 

Thanks for taking the time to write. 

[hamrag]

3 minutes 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 

We spent 7 days on this ship, covering half of the Southampton cruise i.e. 1st to 8th September from Greenock. Our experience sits midway between the two extremes outlined i.e. OP and yours.

[ditmar2007]

8 hours ago, capriccio said:

I don't understand this comment or is it a typo/auto correct error?

Comparison?

[desire882x]

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.

 

[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...

Edited September 12, 2021 by desire882x

[styles27]

Here’s an interesting read dated Sept 7th about the Virtuosa. Especially interesting are the passenger comments at the bottom pretty much agreeing with the OP

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2021/09/articles/disease/covid-19-aboard-msc-virtuosa/
 

edit to add link

Edited September 12, 2021 by styles27

[8420PR]

There must be COVID on every cruise ship operating from the UK.   Currently about 1 in 75 people have COVID in UK (source: ONS), and it is impossible to totally keep it off ships (the only way would be to individually quarantine each passenger for 14 days beforehand).

 

My opinion - the breakdown for Virtuosa seems to be the removal of all covid restrictions on land in the UK means people are less likely to follow them onboard, coupled with people refusing to be tested when they get symptoms (to avoid ruining their holiday - even the gentleman that unfortunately died refused to be tested onboard).   At least now MSC has changed their policy and it is no longer optional for vaccinated passengers to be tested mid-cruise (in addition to everyone being tested on embarkation).

[shipgeeks]

1 hour ago, styles27 said:

Here’s an interesting read dated Sept 7th about the Virtuosa. Especially interesting are the passenger comments at the bottom pretty much agreeing with the OP

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2021/09/articles/disease/covid-19-aboard-msc-virtuosa/
 

edit to add link

Not exactly known as an unbiased site!

[styles27]

7 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Not exactly known as an unbiased site!

I don’t know any that are nowadays, however the passenger comments are consistent.
That’s why I read a lot of different articles and understand that the truth is probably someplace in the middle. 

Having said that I’ve read way too many negatives about this particular itinerary/ship and not a whole lot of praise so that “middle truth” is leaning towards the negative at this point. 
 

That doesn’t mean MSC can’t fix it. 

[capriccio]

5 hours ago, desire882x said:

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)

 

Thanks for your the information in your response. 

 

It got me to look up Virgin Voyages.  Here's what I found on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_Lady).  The CEO of Virgin Voyages, Tom MCAlpin, explained that this move (adults 18 and over only) was made to appeal largely to travel professionals within the more premium market looking for an "elevated" experience.

 

Personally, I can definitely see the appeal of a cruise on an adults only, much smaller ship.  I also think the almost single pricing policy is appealing for those (like me) that find that MSC's various experiences and add ons make my head spin enough so that on our only MSC cruise to date (right before Covid) we booked the Yacht Club (which I would do again).

 

Scarlet Lady (and all the other ships being built) particulars:

 

Capacity: 2,770

Crew: 1,160

Cabins:  1,408 passenger cabins and 813 crew cabins

On Scarlet Lady, Virgin Voyages bundles all passengers' fares as one price per cabin, as opposed to pricing each voyage per guest. Consequently, prices appear higher than those of Virgin's competitors.Virgin explained that all fares would cover dining charges, fitness classes, internet access, and gratuities, among other offerings, but expenses incurred from alcoholic beverages, retail, and shore excursions would be charged separately.

[showingdiva]

I, too, returned from Virtuosa yesterday.   Without writing a dissertation, I had a lovely time.   Stand out points were the Hola! tapas restaurant.   Wonderful lunch and friendly, attentive waiters.   Couldn't fault it.   The ship herself - beautiful.

 

Positives

The ship

Hola!

The strawberry slush that is the non-alcoholic element of the cocktails

The daily light show in the shopping arcade

Contactless lifts

 

Negatives

Having to shout to be heard in guest services over the music behind

 

The minority of entitled passengers who don't believe rules apply to them for any reason (I'm not talking about medical exemptions).   A lot of people are delighted to see cruising return, but we have to take some personal responsibility to help it.

 

 

I certainly didn't have to queue at bars / restaurants - and if I had encountered it, would have walked away and come back later.   Nor did I get into a crowded lift - again, as above, wait for quieter one.

 

I wouldn't want to experience Virtuosa - or any other newer behemoth - at full capacity, but was delighted to have had the chance to sail on her before she goes on to the life that she was built for.

 

[Cruisecrazymum]

On 9/12/2021 at 11:49 AM, desire882x said:

 

 

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...

Sorry just seen this . The sports bar was empty any time we went to if.  We spent time in the starship bar could always get a seat and tables were good distance from each other also went to the champagne bar and masters of the sea for lunch on the Friday . Non of them busy and easy to socail distance

[framboesa]

I'm following Virtuosa's trip right now (I have friends on board who usually cruise with more companies) and things are much better, at least since Lisbon and until yesterday. My friends told me there are no lines, just the regular ones, there are themed nights (not big parties because of Covid, but controlled). There are many more employees and plenty of room for everyone. Everyone wears the mask and it was tested during boarding. I was really worried when I read the dozens of bad reviews, but now I can see that all the complaints are from staycasion cruises, so the context is now quite different.

[styles27]

1 hour ago, framboesa said:

I'm following Virtuosa's trip right now (I have friends on board who usually cruise with more companies) and things are much better, at least since Lisbon and until yesterday. My friends told me there are no lines, just the regular ones, there are themed nights (not big parties because of Covid, but controlled). There are many more employees and plenty of room for everyone. Everyone wears the mask and it was tested during boarding. I was really worried when I read the dozens of bad reviews, but now I can see that all the complaints are from staycasion cruises, so the context is now quite different.

Thank goodness! Thank you for the update! 

[Gatordad1967]

I blame all the rude passengers on MSC.  They didn't give anyone a psychological profile prior to booking.

[KennyFla]

The OP said they got off the ship Sept 11.  Was this the cruise people got sick on?   Maybe MSC has already cracked down on the Virtuosa.