MSC Virtuosa - May 18-25 (semi live)

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

Well, let’s see how this goes! I’m not sure how good I’ll be at a total “live”, so that’s why I’m only committing to semi live. 😛 We arrived in London on May 14 and travelled to Wales to visit my spouses family. We are now just arriving in Southampton to board the Virtuosa tomorrow for 7 nights with stops in Lerwick, Shetland Islands; Nordfjordeid,Flaam, and Haugesund, Norway. This is our first cruise out of a non-US port. 
 

We have sailed on the Meraviglia twice, and now we’ll try the Virtuosa. I’m hoping to update on the boarding process in Southampton and how the ship differs from the Meraviglia. I suspect there will even be other differences sailing from the U.K. versus New York, or Florida. 
 

I’ve never done a sailing to “cold” ports, so this will certainly be a different experience. I’m looking forward to sharing as much as I can live, but I’ll also come back and do a full review post-cruise!

 

All aboard - we leave tomorrow! 🛳️⚓️

[mcoler181]

We are on Virtuosa end of June, so will be following along closely.

[TheycallmeDrew]

Also from the Ottawa area on the Quebec side. Have to let me know what you think of the MSC Europe experience as I have a trip in October on MSC Poesia. Have only done 1 other MSC cruise on the Meraviglia and loved it.

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

1 hour ago, TheycallmeDrew said:

Also from the Ottawa area on the Quebec side. Have to let me know what you think of the MSC Europe experience as I have a trip in October on MSC Poesia. Have only done 1 other MSC cruise on the Meraviglia and loved it.

Oh wow! You don’t “meet” too many people from the Ottawa area on these boards! We also love Meraviglia (great value for money), so I’m really looking forward to the European experience. 

[showingdiva]

The Virtuosa cruise that is returning to Southampton tomorrow have had fabulous weather in the Fjords, Flam and Haugesund in particular.

 

Although before they left Southampton,they were told the itinerary was changing, and instead of a day at sea followed by the Shetlands, they went to Zeebrugge and then a day at sea.

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

Wow! To say I’m impressed with how they handle embarkation in Southampton would be an understatement! 
 

We were staying at an Airbnb that’s a 15 minute walk to the port. It was beautiful weather this morning, so we set off with our luggage in tow. 
 

We arrived at the cruise terminal at 9:35am and dropped our luggage with the porters who pass it through a window with wheels. We were through security at 9:45am and checked in at 9:50am. We were in line to board at 9:55am and we stepped foot on the ship at 9:57am. This was by far the easiest and most seamless boarding we have been through. Our embarkation time was 10am, but I figured we would not be on board until 11am at the earliest. 
 

I started enjoying my first drink at 10:27am after dropping carry on baggage to the room and collecting our key cards (these hang on your door now and aren’t given at check in). 
 

10/10 for this embarkation! 

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

Dinner menu on night 1. I had the mature cheddar fritter, mahi mahi and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It was all very good. Food was hot. 

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

Last night we saw Wake Me Up in the theatre. It was a great show and the two female vocalists are excellent. 
 

I have not experienced any long waits at any bars. 
 

This morning at 10am the buffet was absolutely slammed. There was a lineup to get in and of course line ups for food. This is similar on Meraviglia and I really do think this is something MSC can improve on. They have very limited hours for MDR for breakfast and lunch and other lines (NCL primarily) have much longer hours and the buffet isn’t as slammed. A couple of differences in food choices being a cruise out of the U.K., such as the sausages and bacon. The sausages are excellent and the bacon is what I call back bacon as a Canadian. You can also have poached eggs made to order, as well as omelettes - something I haven’t seen on the Meraviglia. This is a welcome addition. 
 

We have beautiful weather in the North Sea and I can spot many oil rigs. Today is a sea day and tomorrow we are in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland. 

[NewWestwardbound]

I hope the cruise is going well. 

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

Today was our stop in Lerwick. It is a stunning piece of heaven and we had an absolutely incredible day. The sun was shining and we enjoyed our walk all over Lerwick. 
 

Today, Virtuosa got the title of the biggest ship to port in Lerwick. This is a tender port. We went to Deck 15 to collect our tender tickets at 7am and we were assigned group 16. We were off the ship shortly after 8am. This was extremely well organized. 
 

We didn’t have an excursion booked and we explored the island ourselves. I walked 24,000 steps today! If you visit Lerwick, please make sure you visit the Island Larder and the chippy. 
 

We walked to Fort Charlotte and Clickimin Broch, plus we travelled many of the streets. The beauty in Lerwick is simply incredible. 
 

All aboard today was 3pm, with the last tender scheduled for 2pm. We made our way back at 12:35pm and there was a very large queue, however, within 30 min we were on the tender. It was quick and efficient for us, but those arriving back between 1:30-2pm had a much longer wait, with many people reportedly jumping the queue. 
 

We are into our third day and I can say that I’m now noticing some of the issues with staffing. Dinner in the MDR lasts about 1.5-1.75 hours. Too long. The wait for drinks can be up to 15min. But don’t let this deter you, we are still having an amazing time! 

[Eglesbrech]

Glad you enjoyed your day in Lerwick. It’s unusual for it to be a tender port, most ships are in at berth. It must be because the Virtuosa is so big.
 

Once you get home if you want to look at some of the places you have visited there is a good crime drama called “Shetland”. The stories are good but the star of the show is the scenery.

 

Enjoy your cruise

[NewWestwardbound]

Hope you had a great cruise. I would be really interested in any more thoughts you had and a post cruise review if you feel like writing one.