MSC Virtuousa Northern Europe June 2024 - how manic will it be?!

[meast1984]

We are looking at booking the Northern Europe cruise sailing from Southampton in June 2024. We've have not sailed with MSC before however judging how how cramped the ship looks by some YouTube reviews recorded from over the summer school holidays it does worry me how busy it will be and how easy it will be to access pools etc.

 

Does anyone have any experience of what the capacity issues are like outside of the school holiday period from May to June?

[Cruiseforever11]

10 hours ago, meast1984 said:

We are looking at booking the Northern Europe cruise sailing from Southampton in June 2024. We've have not sailed with MSC before however judging how how cramped the ship looks by some YouTube reviews recorded from over the summer school holidays it does worry me how busy it will be and how easy it will be to access pools etc.

 

Does anyone have any experience of what the capacity issues are like outside of the school holiday period from May to June?

Summer half term for most schools in England and Wales is going to be around 27th May 2024 to June 3rd. Approx 1 week. Most of Scotlands kids break up end of June for Summer holidays. So there will be a 2 week window where there shouldn't be too many children but not sure what the European school holidays are.

 

Having been on the ship 7/8times out of Southampton apart from the covid era where we were lucky to even have 900 onboard, the cruises I've been on have been full or nearly full.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Cruiseforever11

[showingdiva]

I've found embarkation day a bit crazy once everyone is on board.   A lot will never have been on the ship before - and she's a big ship - so stairs, lifts, corridors etc are busy due to people getting lost.   After the first day, things are calmer.

 

I've never seen lots in the plunge pool at the aft (the elephant one - those who have been on board before know what I mean).   The outdoor pool at the pool bar and the indoor one can be busy.   If you're hoping for uninterrupted lane-style actual swimming from end to end, you might get that opportunity very early morning, but otherwise probably not.

 

Virtuosa has proven very popular since she unexpectedly ended up in the UK towards the end of the pandemic.   She was originally for the Mediterranean and Dubai (hence the European and US plugs).  Most cruises are very near to full.