MSC Virtuosa Complaints 2024

[morpheusofthesea]

Having read a similar complaint on social media of soot on MSC ships I decided to give the Seashore (it might have been the Seascape) what I call the Hogan's Heroes/ Klick SMUTZ test of the furniture, deck webbing lounges and cushions using a clean white Bounty paper towel.

  Maybe one should just wait until the crew finish spray washing before they start hogging the deck chairs so early in the morning?

[At Sea At Peace]

On 8/4/2024 at 11:53 AM, CruiseAddict001 said:

 

On board Virtuosa now. Very mixed opinions, mostly not great. We've cruised many cruise lines, this is the first and worst with MSC Virtuosa.
 

Entertainment late at night is terrible. Late night after 23:00 it's dead. The Attic Club deck 18 is essentially the kids club. False advertising yo suggest a nightclub open 23:00- 03:00z. Mostly no DJ and no seating or tables. It's truly awful.

 

The fun the first few days was had outside at the Horizon Bar outside on deck 18, with a great DJ and disko, ot was great, and the only late night entertainment especially for younger groups and adults that want a little dance and few drinks.

 

They've now killed it after 3 nights, no DJ, no music, everyone complaining. MSC killed the fun and don't appear to be interested. Last night oil from engine landing on all the guests clothes even.

 

Teens and adults are hanging around aimlessly bored now with nowhere to go. Now they can't dance the night away, they are hanging around, some drinking getting into trouble. They need and deserve entertainment and frankly the disco at the back was the best for them.

 

Clientele:

 

A bit rough at times. Numerous stories of entire families getting thrown off. Drunken antics last night, almost fighting witnessed, allegations of a drink getting spiked (likely false). Keep your kids safe, don't let them drink, you'll be thrown off.

 

 

Food:

 

Book before the cruise the extra speciality restaurants or you'll be disappointed. Dining times fixed early and late have caused lots of problems.  Seriously, of course.  Proper planning was obviously neglected on your part.

 

Main dining room has a poor basic cheap menu, it's not great.  'Basic cheap' to 'it's not great' is kind of an unexplanined GAP.  The premium specialty restaurants are good and therefore strongly suggested for those already booked in future onto Virtuosa (damage limitation!). Book before the cruise as it's way better value.

 

Buffet isn't great, they struggle to keep up with the amount of guests and it is very repetitive.Every buffet on every line and every ship we've sailed has the same issues, especially at 'crunch time.  Poor planning to go there at such a time. Food choice and quality not great at all, very cheap cuts of meat for instance beef chuck today could have leathered my shoes. Seriously?

 

Staffing:

 

Not enough bar staff everywhere on ship. Same across all lines and ships it seems since the pandemic.

 

Theatre:

 

Can't take drinks in, they don't want to have to clean.Again, well known practice.  Poor planning expecting a change for this cruise.

 

Male singers good. Female singers terrible, pronunciation and non English language means their singing isn't great at all. Numerous people walking out of shows. Only 35 min shows,Again, well known practice.  Poor planning expecting a change for this cruise. overall opinion is not great.

 

Violinist decent, cruise director is the Hypnotist, very good show, excellent in fact.

 

Premium drinks package:

 

Decent, lots of choice. You'll need the drinks to drown your sorrows and for the lack of entertainment.

 

Rooms:

 

Tiny and basic, way smaller than other cruise ships I have been on. Too many people on board.

 

Staff:

 

Speciality restaurants and main bar deck 6:

 

Fantastic, very friendly. Cannot fault the food and staff in the speciality restaurants.

 

Atmosphere:

 

Generally lacklustre and wanting. Big on pushing jewellery sales on deck at 2pm, lack of music, bands, everything. They need bands and music. It's not even a party ship as some say, it's just very lacklustre.

 

 

Overall, lots of guests are bored, lack of entertainment and lots of return MSC guests saying it's now rubbish and they will not return. Tough to take such a comment other than with a grain of salt. We have another week of this to put up with.

 

If you are coming booking premium dining in my opinion is a must as well as drinks package, that will help.You should understand, on a ship or anywhere on land, you get what you pay for.

 

MSC - you have made the ship boring. Our table last night overall had paid £25,000, you won't even play music let alone provide a DJ or entertainment. The ship is seriously lacking in entertainment and basic holiday feeling at night. You will pay with many guests unhappy refusing to ever return. Hundreds of guests are complaining and you are ignoring all the complaints. Seriously?

 

I will not book MSC ever again Phew.  😉, and I would strongly recommend against this ship and MSC to others. They are not a patch on P&O, NCL, Royal Caribbean. 

 

Expand Quote

 

Comments in BLUE.

 

We have enjoyed the CruiseCritic member input and follow or look for comments from so many that have positively impacted our cruising experiences.  We look to posts, signature sailing histories etc.  

 

Lot's of questions re: this thread.

Edited August 7 by At Sea At Peace

[morpheusofthesea]

The MSC Yacht Clubs have a similar strategy to Regent on their One Pool Deck. In the event of an over night 'problem' occurring, our pergola cushions were soaked and perhaps a little sooted as well. No problem. There are pool deck attendants on hand to switch out these wet ones with clean, dry cushions and promptly blue toweled for the suite guests. This is the difference between what we were used to in steerage for $100 per person per day and YC for $374 pppd. 

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

On 8/6/2024 at 1:06 PM, marktwothousand said:

Interesting! And I am guessing there was probably nobody else from Canada aboard that you met, let alone Ottawa? lol

 

i am connecting with someone from Ottawa for this trip. We are booking flights (via Toronto) today. $1300 roundtrip!! Yikes. 

No other Canadians onboard that I was aware of. And yes - flights are absolutely brutal to Heathrow these days. I miss the days when flights overseas were $800...

[morpheusofthesea]

On 8/5/2024 at 7:41 AM, showingdiva said:

Are you running around the ship collecting complaints  / surveys from other passengers and monitoring bar closing times?   Given the size of Virtuosa, I can't even fathom out how this is even possible.  This is neither the ship I know, nor the one that someone is blogging on currently.

I am too old to "run around the ship". I just 'walk' the corridors and decks observing, iphone in my jacket vest pocket at the ready, enjoying the same thrills that are being talked about here. Unbelievable. I have a censor that follows me everywhere (DW) who will not let me capture a photo or video citing privacy concerns of those involved. So we eyewitnesses must depend on our own interpretations and literary artistic license to convey what we thought we saw to the jury of public opinion. There is really no interest, no entertainment, reading "Pollyanna" pablum post after post. I get on a ship and I feel like a literary House Detective analogous to Garrison Keillor's "Guy Noir"  "working out of a cabin on deck 16 in a ship "that knows how to keep its secrets."

[morpheusofthesea]

8 hours ago, Cruiser98761234 said:

We wouldn't dream of cruising with MSC ever again, it's bargain basement, terrible.

It is exactly everything stated that makes the "ship within a ship" concept so appealing. The greater the contrast the greater the pleasure of the suite class, unfortunately for the steerage class.

"Happiness ain't a thing in itself- it's only a contrast with something that ain't pleasant." Mark Twain

"We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast." Sigmund Freud

[MyriamS]

11 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

It is exactly everything stated that makes the "ship within a ship" concept so appealing. The greater the contrast the greater the pleasure of the suite class, unfortunately for the steerage class.

"Happiness ain't a thing in itself- it's only a contrast with something that ain't pleasant." Mark Twain

"We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast." Sigmund Freud

So you are happy not because you are receiving outstanding service, but because other people are receiving a poor one in comparison?

That's... pretty sad actually. You're literally placing other people's experience at the center of your holiday, letting them define your happiness.

Of course we find happiness in contrast, but within our own lives: I have an exhausting month at work, then I'm going away on a cruise to relax and have fun. What others people are doing - whether they are stuck at work or having an even more luxurious holiday - it really has nothing to do with me.

[cruisegal1970]

Read these reviews/comments with a pinch of salt.  

If you pay for Prosecco don't expect Champagne.......

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, MyriamS said:

So you are happy not because you are receiving outstanding service, but because other people are receiving a poor one in comparison?

That's... pretty sad actually. You're literally placing other people's experience at the center of your holiday, letting them define your happiness.

"Many of our miseries are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the presence of any real evil, but by the absence of some fictitious good; of something which is not required by any real want of nature, which has not in itself any power of gratification, and which neither reason nor fancy would have prompted us to wish, did we not see it in the possession of others."

Samuel Johnson

  

“I usually say what I really think. A great mistake nowadays. It makes one so liable to be misunderstood.”

― Oscar Wilde

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, MyriamS said:

"We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast." Sigmund Freud

Here is an example of the contrast. We paid $1405 per person per day on the Regent Seven Seas Grandeur to be treated like steerage when we compared this cruise to any cruise we have taken in the MSC Yacht Clubs for $754 pppd (others have paid even $350 pppd for better service in the YC than Regent). Regent is advertised as the best in the cruise industry. It is not. Not food, not service. Read my 'Live froms' and do not take just one or two posts out on context.  There was no contrast on Regent Seven Seas  between steerage and suite class from which to derive intense enjoyment.

[MyriamS]

I still don't quite follow your example. You are comparing your cruises in MSC YC and your cruise in a Regent suite and saying that MSC YC provides a better experience for a cheaper price. What has anyone else got to do with it? If there had been people on your Regent cruise treated even worse than you were (the steerage class to your suite class), that still wouldn't change the fact that your experience on Regent was dismal and not at all worth your money.

[morpheusofthesea]

3 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

If there had been people on your Regent cruise treated even worse than you were (the steerage class to your suite class), that still wouldn't change the fact that your experience on Regent was dismal and not at all worth your money.

This is true. I did not witness any contrast, we were all treated equally which does not enhance the suite experience nor justify the exorbitant cruise fare. One just walks outside the confines of the Yacht Clubs and witnesses the 'free-for-all' and appreciates all the more the atmosphere of the YC. This contrast enhances the experience.

[Captain Zippyjet]

If the Virtuosa is like the Maraviglia, you should be fine. I was impressed with the Maraviglia. Beautiful inside and large. Food was great. Taking a cruise on the Seascape soon. Did they have a "Quest" game on board?