Virtuosa over New Year - review

[Sancho_proudfoot]

We are Diamond on RCCL, and did a status match for a cruise that  actually  didn't  happen, thanks to covid, but it did give us Diamond with the Voyagers  Club.

 

In recent years, we've  done European cities for New Year (Tallinn,  Krakow....). We were  looking at Prague for New Year and it was a bit pricey.

 

Then we looked at MSC cruises. Thanks to our lovely TA we got 7 nights ( The "Northern Pearls" cruise) including  the Premium drinks package for less than we would have spent on Prague.

 

Drove to Southampton the day before. Stayed at the Holiday Inn from where we could see the cruise terminal  (found my wife stood at the window at 3.30am watching the ship dock).

Had a boarding time of 1.00 o'clock.  Took a chance, and drove the 5 minutes to the terminal at 11.30. 

Easiest check-in EVER. On board by 11.45.

 

First impression  was that the ship is gorgeous. Easily found a seat in the Virtuosa lounge at the end of the Galleria.

 

First dinner onboard was a disaster.  We'd asked for, and got, a large table  but only 1 other couple at an 8-top. As the ship was sailing full, they squeezed in 3 dinner sittings. We were allocated 7.30. By 8.40, all we had had was a bread roll.

 

Starters arrived  at 9.05. While we were finally onto our  desserts at 9.30, we were bring hustled out of the dining room so that they could get set up for the next sitting.

 

Next day we got a note, changing our dining room.  Service after that was fine.

 

New Year's Eve (at sea) was great. We stayed in the Star Lounge ( no problems  with finding seats). The ship was entering the Elbe estuary, and, boy, do the Germans know how to welcome  in a New Year, the fireworks  along the coast were fabulous

.

As Diamond members we got a complimentary speciality meal. We chose Butchers Cut, as we're  steak lovers.  Superb filet mignon  and really good service.

We took lunch a couple of times in the Pub, which was very quiet. The "Sir Burger" is excellent. 

 

We prebooked both Carousel shows, well worth the €9 price (although the free cocktails were a bit odd).

 

The main theatre shows were good  singing and dancing mainly,  but very professional and enjoyable. Only one guest artiste, a singer from Liverpool  who turned out to be the poorest show of them all.

 

We booked an inside  cabin - we wouldn't  use a balcony in winter.  We were pleasantly  surprised at how spacious the room it was, and the bathroom was excellent. The room was so comfy and warm we overslept a couple of times.

 

Only went ashore at Hamburg and Zeebrugge.  Walked into the city in Hamburg  about an hour each way. Very  "industrial " area where the ship docks, so nothing much to see.  We were there on New Year's Day, which was Sunday   so all the main shops were closed  but some stalls open on the Riverside.

 

All in all a great introduction to MSC,  so looking forward to being on Opera in October for a Suez canal transit.

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Sancho_proudfoot
Typo

[elmsliebev]

thanks for the review. We're on her in March and looking forward to our first MSC cruise. 

Can I ask what you did in Zeebrugge? We're thinking of going to Bruges.

[perakcruiser]

21 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Walked into the city in Hamburg  about an hour each way.

You walked across the Elbe tunnel to the "real" city or just to the quarter of Hamburg that is nearest to the cruise port? The latter is more like visiting Istanbul, but unfortunately without interesting places to see 😄 

[Morgsmom]

1 hour ago, elmsliebev said:

thanks for the review. We're on her in March and looking forward to our first MSC cruise. 

Can I ask what you did in Zeebrugge? We're thinking of going to Bruges.

Absolutely go to Bruges - it's GORGEOUS!!

[showingdiva]

1 hour ago, perakcruiser said:

3 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

thanks for the review. We're on her in March and looking forward to our first MSC cruise. 

Can I ask what you did in Zeebrugge? We're thinking of going to Bruges.

 

 

Bruges is lovely.  Not unlike York.   However, don't discount Ghent or Blankenberge either.

[elmsliebev]

19 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

Bruges is lovely.  Not unlike York.   However, don't discount Ghent or Blankenberge either.

thanks. I've been to Ghent, loved it. I think we might just wait and decide on the day before depending on the weather. 

[Sancho_proudfoot]

On 1/30/2023 at 12:34 PM, perakcruiser said:

You walked across the Elbe tunnel to the "real" city or just to the quarter of Hamburg that is nearest to the cruise port? The latter is more like visiting Istanbul, but unfortunately without interesting places to see 😄 

We walked through the warehouses and factories to the Alte Elbe tunnel, through the tunnel emerging in St Pauli District. As it was both Sunday  AND New Year's Day  no main shops were open,  but we had a wander along the waterfront,  and the food/ snack stalls and souvenir stands. 

[Sancho_proudfoot]

On 1/30/2023 at 10:59 AM, elmsliebev said:

thanks for the review. We're on her in March and looking forward to our first MSC cruise. 

Can I ask what you did in Zeebrugge? We're thinking of going to Bruges.

A bit ashamed to admit we didn't do much. DW wanted a few bits n bobs (including a big bottle of Curry Ketchup!) So we wandered ashore, on a cold,  grey drizzly day to a Supermarket where we got what we were after.

[elmsliebev]

19 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

A bit ashamed to admit we didn't do much. DW wanted a few bits n bobs (including a big bottle of Curry Ketchup!) So we wandered ashore, on a cold,  grey drizzly day to a Supermarket where we got what we were after.

Fair enough, If it's horrid weather we might do the same! 

[smokey01]

On 1/29/2023 at 2:57 PM, Sancho_proudfoot said:

As Diamond members we got a complimentary speciality meal. We chose Butchers Cut, as we're  steak lovers.  Superb filet mignon  and really good service.

We took lunch a couple of times in the Pub, which was very quiet. The "Sir Burger" is excellent. 

 

We prebooked both Carousel shows, well worth the €9 price (although the free cocktails were a bit odd).

Can you tell me what restaurants we have a choice of for our complimentary specialty meal? Like you I am also a ‘status matched’ diamond.

 

Did you prefer one of the Carousel shows over the other? Are they significantly different shows? Do you have any idea of what the cocktail contained I.e. gin based/vodka based…

Also currently we cannot pre book any shows, we go on May 12th, is this something that will become available closer to cruise time? What time is the show?

[kkmdh]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:59 AM, elmsliebev said:

thanks for the review. We're on her in March and looking forward to our first MSC cruise. 

Can I ask what you did in Zeebrugge? We're thinking of going to Bruges.

Which March cruise?  We are going on the 10th and also looking to go to Bruges either via Cruise Express or public transit maybe...

[elmsliebev]

2 hours ago, kkmdh said:

Which March cruise?  We are going on the 10th and also looking to go to Bruges either via Cruise Express or public transit maybe...

3rd March. We're also looking at the cruise express option. I'll try and post what we did before you go! 

[kernow]

17 hours ago, smokey01 said:

Can you tell me what restaurants we have a choice of for our complimentary specialty meal? Like you I am also a ‘status matched’ diamond.

 

Did you prefer one of the Carousel shows over the other? Are they significantly different shows? Do you have any idea of what the cocktail contained I.e. gin based/vodka based…

Also currently we cannot pre book any shows, we go on May 12th, is this something that will become available closer to cruise time? What time is the show?

You can choose Butcher's Cut, Indochine or Kaito Sushi (not the teppanyaki) for the diamond meal. You get the set price menu included. 

I think the cocktail for the show was vodka based, we didn't think it was very good (the drink not the show). If you have a drink package you're probably better to get one from a nearby bar before you go in, the Carousel bar itself was not open when we went.

 

We're also on the 12th May, think bookings will open soon, our final payment is in the next couple of weeks so maybe after that. You make the general booking online but choose the day and time once onboard, they have multiple show times.

[kkmdh]

15 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

3rd March. We're also looking at the cruise express option. I'll try and post what we did before you go! 

Thank you!  Enjoy!

[adam7392]

On 1/29/2023 at 2:57 PM, Sancho_proudfoot said:

All in all a great introduction to MSC,  so looking forward to being on Opera in October for a Suez canal transit.

We did our first MSC cruise on Virtuosa from Dubai in Feb 2022 and loved it so booked this Feb also from Dubai on MSC Opera, just back last week.

Make sure you set your expectation for Opera appropriately, its a huge difference from Virtuosa to Opera in size, age, amenities, bling etc.  We had a great time on the Opera and no great complaints other than the buffet being much smaller with limited options but we were expecting the differences.  Service at bars was good, food in MDR was excellent and the shows were worth a visit.