TripAdvisor - poor reviews for Virtuoso

[lemonie]

Please can someone give me comfort as the TripAdvisor reviews for the ship have been shocking recently!! Are they a fair reflection as what is happening. I'm going on the 4th September and not looking forward to it now

[Notts1964]

We went on the Virtuosa on 17 July, when capacity was around 1500 guests. This was great, as there were plenty of available sun beds, spare seats in bars etc. The ship is beautiful and the staff lovely and helpful.

I think recent poor reviews are probably because the ship is a lot fuller with loads of children, as it is the school holidays. I can see that there would be crowded areas and queues while the cruise line gets more used to the increased capacity, while still trying to maintain distance between seats/sun beds.

I think as you are going on 4 September, the ship won’t feel so busy as the kids will be back at school.

In addition, I think the cruise line will get used to the increased numbers and manage people better, such as the embarkation procedures.

We had wonderful weather which helps (some reviews were from people who had had bad weather all week, which is a risk we all took).

I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing cruise (we did), and the sun shines for you 🙂

 

[Cruiseforever11]

 I went on this ship on 3rd July no more than 1500 pax and then again on 24th 50-60%paxs. I had a fabulous time on both cruises. Ok the queuing up for 4hrs wasn't great to start of with on the 24th but it was the 1st time they have had that amount of people and dealing with covid regs. Yes the ship is busier with lots of children but it's the school hols. In normal times people could just get off the ship have a wander and now you can't just do that so people tend to stay on the ship so if feels busy all the time. A cruise is what you make it at the end of the day it you find fault with every little detail it will ruin your cruise. I have been on 7 msc cruises if they were really that bad I wouldn't have booked another 3 for nxt year. It is an Italian company its not NCL, P&O Cunard or Celebrity, Msc have gone out of there way to try and facilitate for the British Market I.e kettles in rooms (they don't have kettles normally in rooms) tea for us brits Tetley and Yorkshire tea. They have even tried to accommodate around british taste on food. No cruise line is perfect and yes there will be complaints from people and some rightfully so. The Virtuosa is such a beautiful ship the staff are amazing but this is my opinion and may not be the same for someone else.

[Atcodave]

So I was also on the 24th cruise and got off on the 28th in Greenock. First ever cruise, used as a tester. Our opinion was a mix of excellent and not so good. The 4 hour queue to get on board, along with numerous pre cruise IT issues, were terribly annoying. The ship is fabulous, cabin was great, bars and entertainment were fantastic, queues for the buffet not so good along with the fact they allowed self serve, I thought staff serve was the way forward but apparently not. The rope bridge and water park only available for a couple of hours a day was dreadful with all the kids on board, 2 hour queue to get on both, although I believe they finally opened both for about 5 hours a day after we left. Didn’t go into pool and only once in the hot tub, sun beds impossible to get most of the time. Food was excellent some nights and very average on others, entertainment was really good every night. 
To sum up, would I go during school holidays and during COVID again, no, but I would certainly try again in normal times.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Atcodave

[MotownVoice]

What's the date on the review(s)?

Also WHY they marking it down?  Often you can drill down to those details and see that it's just someone who got home from a vacation, and it's only just then that it's occurring to them that their checking account is down $10K and they have to go back to their regular lives.  So they're going to blow up every little cloud that floats by into a day ruiner.

Edited August 5, 2021 by MotownVoice

[Huntingdon1701]

I loved it and have been recommending it to everyone after my June cruise. I've also rebooked with MSC - both Virtuosa and a Splendida cruise.

 

Is there anything you are particularly concerned about? 

[Brum84]

One thing I’m wondering about with 2 footy mad kids is whether the sports pitch is open? Are there set times for the kids to play football and if so do you know how regular the slots are?

 

thanks 

[ConnieTact]

On 8/5/2021 at 6:59 PM, MotownVoice said:

Often you can drill down to those details and see that it's just someone who got home from a vacation, and it's only just then that it's occurring to them that their checking account is down $10K and they have to go back to their regular lives.  So they're going to blow up every little cloud that floats by into a day ruiner.

Actually these U.K. cruises start at £745 each! So maybe their account was down under £2k for an all inclusive with drinks & tops included! For the money these cruises are excellent value. You can’t get a self catering in Devon and Cornwall and eat and get entertainment every night for that amount! 
I agree it may well be ‘holiday blues’ and people just love to moan about MSC but so many more see it for a company really going out their way to please U.K. cruisers and often book again when they return home!

I know we did! 

[johnnylincoln]

We were on the same cruise as Notts1964 and had a very similar experience. 

 

Was the cruise perfect? Absolutely not.

 

Was any issue a deal breaker? Absolutely not.

 

Would we book again? Absolutely, and we have for September. 

 

There were six in our party aged from 6 to 70 and we all had a throughly good time. I think MSC had set times and passenger levels for our cruise that worked perfectly however with the increase in children during the summer holidays on the July 24th sailing it just wasn't enough right at the start...to give them credit things changed during the 24th July cruise and it certainly helped. 

 

I know people don't want to accept it but we are very much guinea pigs for these sailings and as they sail more things are improving more. 

[Brum84]

17 minutes ago, johnnylincoln said:

We were on the same cruise as Notts1964 and had a very similar experience. 

 

Was the cruise perfect? Absolutely not.

 

Was any issue a deal breaker? Absolutely not.

 

Would we book again? Absolutely, and we have for September. 

 

There were six in our party aged from 6 to 70 and we all had a throughly good time. I think MSC had set times and passenger levels for our cruise that worked perfectly however with the increase in children during the summer holidays on the July 24th sailing it just wasn't enough right at the start...to give them credit things changed during the 24th July cruise and it certainly helped. 

 

I know people don't want to accept it but we are very much guinea pigs for these sailings and as they sail more things are improving more. 

Agree re guinea pigs and hoping that by the 14th of August a few of the crinkles would have been ironed out. 
 

As Connie points out, the price we pay is cheap compared to the current Cornwall or Dorset prices. We’ve been on holidays that cost 2-3 times as much so I don’t believe it fair to go expecting the earth. As long as it’s proportionate to the money paid and the kids are happy I’ll be satisfied

[deliver42]

I don't care which cruise line. Early reviews are usually bad.

[Never too young to cruise]

16 hours ago, Brum84 said:

One thing I’m wondering about with 2 footy mad kids is whether the sports pitch is open? Are there set times for the kids to play football and if so do you know how regular the slots are?

 

thanks 

 

As i understand it, the sports pitch is closed off until such the as the kids club use it for organised activities. This is the information being dished out on a MSC Facebook group anyway. How accurate it is I do not know.

 

But I would not be surprised if facilities / activities change from week to week. I think MSC is still finding its feet and adapting to the new way of cruising and passenger make up.

 

There'll be loads to do elsewhere. If if your kids are footy mad, they timed it just right with Premiership kicking off that weekend!