NewWestwardbound Posted October 7 #1 Share Posted October 7 Captain announced just before 1800 (local) departure from Valencia that due to forecast bad weather off Portugal (Lisbon) and the Bay of Biscay, MSC Virtuosa would be calling at Cartagena tomorrow and then sailing direct to Southampton, arriving Sat 12 Oct. Original itinerary: Tue 8 Oct At Sea Wed 9 Oct Lisbon Thu 10 Oct At Sea Fri 11 Oct At Sea Sat 12 Oct Southampton New itinerary: Tue 8 Oct Cartagena Wed 9 Oct At Sea Thu 10 Oct At Sea Fri 11 Oct At Sea Sat 12 Oct Southampton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showingdiva Posted October 7 #2 Share Posted October 7 Sensible plan. No predicting how sea behaves, let alone that bit outside Lisbon and the BoB. Is Chris Pugh still the Master at the moment? Safe sailing to Virtuosa and her passengers and crew back to Southampton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewWestwardbound Posted October 7 Author #3 Share Posted October 7 Now Captain Alessandro Paparo. Seems both highly professional and very approachable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalifaxYorksCruiser Posted October 7 #4 Share Posted October 7 It does look as though it’s best to get through before the worst of the winds arrive 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank808 Posted October 8 #5 Share Posted October 8 We board Virtuosa in Hamburg on Sunday Oct 13 hopefully. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewWestwardbound Posted October 8 Author #6 Share Posted October 8 Letter from the Captain delivered to our cabin last night shows arrival in Southampton at 0700 local time on Sat 12 Oct, on schedule, I will try to keep this thread updated - connectivity permitting - if anything significant changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewWestwardbound Posted October 8 Author #7 Share Posted October 8 Now heading out of Cartagena amidst wise words from the Captain re: likely future sea state and the necessity of holding onto rails and leaving high heels in the wardrobe. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalifaxYorksCruiser Posted October 8 #8 Share Posted October 8 12 hours ago, frank808 said: We board Virtuosa in Hamburg on Sunday Oct 13 hopefully. I don’t think you will be boarding Virtuosa on Sunday 13th in Hamburg as she will be at sea on route to Cork on the 14th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank808 Posted October 9 #9 Share Posted October 9 My bad we board Preziosa in Hamburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseDad-NYC Posted October 9 #10 Share Posted October 9 On 10/7/2024 at 12:37 PM, NewWestwardbound said: Captain announced just before 1800 (local) departure from Valencia that due to forecast bad weather off Portugal (Lisbon) and the Bay of Biscay, MSC Virtuosa would be calling at Cartagena tomorrow and then sailing direct to Southampton, arriving Sat 12 Oct. Original itinerary: Tue 8 Oct At Sea Wed 9 Oct Lisbon Thu 10 Oct At Sea Fri 11 Oct At Sea Sat 12 Oct Southampton New itinerary: Tue 8 Oct Cartagena Wed 9 Oct At Sea Thu 10 Oct At Sea Fri 11 Oct At Sea Sat 12 Oct Southampton Hi, how are you holding up? It looks like the Virtuosa is experience sees over 6 meters and I am curious how the ship is handling it and how it is to experience it on board. Hang in there and hope all is well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewWestwardbound Posted October 10 Author #11 Share Posted October 10 We had an excellent day in Cartagena leaving early Tuesday evening, passed Gibraltar and north towards Lisbon. The evening shows went ahead last night (Wednesday) though - I understand - with reduced dancing. The ride has been a little “bouncy” under mainly blue skies, but other than a few “creaks” in the cabin I don’t really have much to report - so must be good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showingdiva Posted October 10 #12 Share Posted October 10 1 hour ago, NewWestwardbound said: We had an excellent day in Cartagena leaving early Tuesday evening, passed Gibraltar and north towards Lisbon. The evening shows went ahead last night (Wednesday) though - I understand - with reduced dancing. The ride has been a little “bouncy” under mainly blue skies, but other than a few “creaks” in the cabin I don’t really have much to report - so must be good! I haven't personally been in anything more than a Force 6 on Virtuosa, but have read and heard plenty comments that she copes very well in "weather". When I last looked on MT, you had Iona just behind you. Hopefully everything is okay on board her too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewWestwardbound Posted October 10 Author #13 Share Posted October 10 Please don’t take this a definitive, but I understand that last night there were up to Force 8 winds with a swell of up to 8 metres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalifaxYorksCruiser Posted October 10 #14 Share Posted October 10 Celebrity Apex and P&O Arvia just behind you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewWestwardbound Posted October 10 Author #15 Share Posted October 10 Have been watching our mutual progress; we appear to be taking a slightly more westerly course (probably because we last ported at Cartagena). Apparently we are still on schedule for a Sat morning arrival in Southampton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewWestwardbound Posted October 11 Author #16 Share Posted October 11 Still forecasting an on time arrival in Southampton tomorrow (Sat 12 Oct) morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalifaxYorksCruiser Posted October 12 #17 Share Posted October 12 Looks like you were 3 hours late docking this morning. Hope it doesn’t affect disembarkations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalos Posted October 12 #18 Share Posted October 12 58 minutes ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said: Looks like you were 3 hours late docking this morning. Hope it doesn’t affect disembarkations. Had a relative phone me this morning at 08:45 .They were still waiting to disembark a delay caused by ,person overboard incident in the early hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showingdiva Posted October 12 #19 Share Posted October 12 36 minutes ago, kalos said: Had a relative phone me this morning at 08:45 .They were still waiting to disembark a delay caused by ,person overboard incident in the early hours. I hope all is okay. The tracking picture shows quite a tight turn, in a busy shipping channel, for such a huge ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalos Posted October 12 #20 Share Posted October 12 2 hours ago, showingdiva said: I hope all is okay. The tracking picture shows quite a tight turn, in a busy shipping channel, for such a huge ship Sorry to say a sad ending ..... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j7v22d40eo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showingdiva Posted October 12 #21 Share Posted October 12 6 minutes ago, kalos said: Sorry to say a sad ending ..... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j7v22d40eo Sorry to hear this. My thoughts go to her family and friends, to the crew on board and on shore at MSC UK dealing with the incident. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HalifaxYorksCruiser Posted October 12 #22 Share Posted October 12 Sorry that it was a sad ending. I wondered why Virtuosa did a sudden slow down and tight turn. It was chaotic at the terminal as passengers were still being picked up at 12 noon when new passengers were trying to drop off. After drop my wife off I exited via City terminal and parked at West Quay. City terminal was very quiet despite Apex being docked. In future I will drop off at City terminal if Horizon looks busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare puppycanducruise Posted October 12 #23 Share Posted October 12 1 hour ago, kalos said: Sorry to say a sad ending ..... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j7v22d40eo So sad. Prayers for the family and friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeine_demon Posted October 18 #24 Share Posted October 18 On 10/7/2024 at 5:37 PM, NewWestwardbound said: Captain announced just before 1800 (local) departure from Valencia that due to forecast bad weather off Portugal (Lisbon) and the Bay of Biscay, MSC Virtuosa would be calling at Cartagena tomorrow and then sailing direct to Southampton, arriving Sat 12 Oct. I Hope you complained at guest services, and demanded a full refund and 200% FCC... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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