egyptgirl

The website adress is www.msccruises.be Language is only in Dutch or French, no English.

That's what I said in my previous post, that I can believe that they have problems filling the Virtuosa from European ports because although also cheap (aprox 400 euro for 7 nights) Europeans still have to posess an international pasport so aditional costs. And on the Belgium websites they always have crazy prices like this 6 night from 189 eur on 7 november, even with flights it comes cheaper then leaving from Zeebrugge for us. Last year we dit a 7 night cruise Med with flight from Paris included in balcony beginning september for 499 euro with MSC. So definitely keep an eye on the Belgium website 😊.

I thought also to book this cruise from Zeebrugge but one obstacle that wil certainly prevent a lot of Europeans to take this cruise is that you need an international passport. Since we don't have this standard and can travel to a lot of countries with our national ID this would mean an additional fee of around 80 euros per person and especially a lot of older people never travel outside Europe. I contacted MSC and even you don't leave the ship in Southampton there is this ridiculous rule about the international passport, they don't even let you embark in Zeebrugge without it. So it will be more easy (and better weather) to cruise the mediterranean or Canary Islands or even Turkey. So this also can be a reason they have difficulties filling the ship especially with embarkation from european ports.