MSC Virtuosa cruise 14th September = Southampton

[wlhug]

Hi I am booked on the MSC Virtuosa sailing from Southampton on 14th of September however very concerned about the recent media reports on the covid outbreak on the cruises around the UK.  I am double vaccinated and in good health should I cancel or should I continue with my cruise.  I am very conscious of the disease and will follow protocol all the time ie facemask etc.  What are other cruises doing 

 

[LifeonMars]

1 hour ago, wlhug said:

Hi I am booked on the MSC Virtuosa sailing from Southampton on 14th of September however very concerned about the recent media reports on the covid outbreak on the cruises around the UK.  I am double vaccinated and in good health should I cancel or should I continue with my cruise.  I am very conscious of the disease and will follow protocol all the time ie facemask etc.  What are other cruises doing 

 

That decision obviously will be for you to decide. However having being on 3 MSC Staycation cruises in May and June I felt safe, even safer than being in the supermarket or pub. Just ensure that you wash your hands and sanitise regularly and keep a safe distance from others ,   This virus is here to stay, the pictures and the press want sensation news, When passengers get Norovirus the sanitising people on board wear the same gear so it is just sensationalism. 

 

[framboesa]

We will sail with msc in November, but out of Lisbon. I was really concerned about the last news about msc virtuosa, specially because people are saying that the ship was full, nobody cares about the masks and they are not checking properly the covid certificates or the tests. Probably they will enforce the policies. I hope so.

[styles27]

My personal honest opinion if I were in your shoes I would postpone.
I don’t like what I’ve been reading on here and other sources about this ship recently.  I just can’t comprehend why MSC seems to be dragging their feet on nipping this in the bud now. 
 

We all understand that the media is ready and waiting to pounce on any negative Covid related cruise ship reports and it seems MSC is making it easy for them when it comes to the Virtuosa. 

We’re cruising out of FL on 11-14th and if I begin seeing reports like this about Divina I won’t hesitate to postpone. 

On a ship there’s only so much social distancing and hand washing one can do. It’s not always in our control as we’ve all learned about this pandemic. 
 

We’re mid 50’s, healthy and fully vaccinated for reference. 

[Lisichka]

Too many scary stories coming out from that ship.  Two deaths and many, many more sick with Covid.  All vaccinated too.

[JezzaC]

37 minutes ago, Lisichka said:

Too many scary stories coming out from that ship.  Two deaths and many, many more sick with Covid.  All vaccinated too.

 

Isn't it so that MSC allows also unvaccinated passengers to the cruises from UK?

[Lisichka]

6 minutes ago, JezzaC said:

 

Isn't it so that MSC allows also unvaccinated passengers to the cruises from UK?

Could be, I am talking about the death(s).  So many breakthrough cases and deaths worldwide.  Worrisome.

 

My sons co-worker (39, healthy and vaccinated) died of Covid last week.  So scary.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Lisichka

[Huntingdon1701]

Like LifeonMars, I was on the earlier cruises and felt extremely safe with those. Things have clearly deteriorated since then and it is understandable to be concerned. The reasons for cancelling are obvious, but points that might support still going are:

• This will have been a wake up call for MSC who have already put in place additional testing requirements for passengers before boarding your cruise. They will now also be enforcing the protocols they should have been doing previously, and were doing on my June cruise. They'll have had a cruise to get back up to speed, and deep clean everything, before yours. 
• Speculation, but the passengers booking the cheap round the UK cruises with the free drink package during the school summer holidays (with unvaccinated kids), are probably mostly not the ones going on the repositioning cruise to Lisbon. Not saying you won't have any irresponsible passengers, but probably an awful lot less, allowing the crew to be more bold when challenging them. 

I did really enjoy my Virtuosa cruise in June (with low passenger numbers), and will be sailing again on Splendida in October.

 

I hope you either really enjoy your cruise, or are able to move the booking to a future cruise when you feel more comfortable. 

[Huntingdon1701]

4 hours ago, JezzaC said:

 

Isn't it so that MSC allows also unvaccinated passengers to the cruises from UK?

 

They've flip-flopped. It wasn't initally a requirement, then I'm sure they limited it to vaccinated people, but it seems to have gone back to allowing anyone but with different testing requirements depending on if you're double-jabbed or not. 

[Chrish2]

I've said it before, MSC's operation has far too many moving parts to the point it convinced me they would have a substantial outbreak and would struggle to contain it.

 

How they structured their return to sailing seemed, at the time, very blasé. The situation with having a substantial number of passengers booked vs what they could sail with when Boris' "no earlier than" date came around also educated me about their risk appetite.

 

There is an argument that the focus will very much be on them now (and so they will be clean as a whistle) however you could also see this as a moment of extra pressure on them ... and sometimes that type of pressure results in more bad calls.

 

If you have a disinclination to cruise at this time I would start researching options. MSC's policy is reschedule free of charge up to 15 days before departure.

 

If you too close to departure to use this policy I would ring up and twist their arm a bit. Their marketing claims "WE HAVE RESUMED OPERATIONS IN COMPLETE SAFETY" which is a very bold. If you are going down this route have a good read of "How we protect your health & safety before, during and after your cruise" on this page and compare to the reports you have seen. Remember published reports in newspapers will have more weight than posts here etc.  Personally I would take the angle that the reports of a self serve buffet on a previous departure of the ship as a  clear breach their obligations to passengers booked for several departures later (after all covid-19 is communicable disease, there is now an outbreak onboard, if only they had followed their own published commitments less may be infected etc).

[styles27]

14 hours ago, wlhug said:

Hi I am booked on the MSC Virtuosa sailing from Southampton on 14th of September however very concerned about the recent media reports on the covid outbreak on the cruises around the UK.  I am double vaccinated and in good health should I cancel or should I continue with my cruise.  I am very conscious of the disease and will follow protocol all the time ie facemask etc.  What are other cruises doing 

 

Been thinking about you and this post. What have you decided to do?  

[daisyday60]

I'm in same situation boarding tomorrow. There are quite a few people on board until tomorrow but most of them would have only been on the ship since Saturday and disembark tomorrow. I'm hoping only a few boarded on back back to cruises. We are in YC so away from the vast majority of passengers... I think numbers on board less than 1000 down to Lisbon. 

[JezzaC]

17 hours ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

 

They've flip-flopped. It wasn't initally a requirement, then I'm sure they limited it to vaccinated people, but it seems to have gone back to allowing anyone but with different testing requirements depending on if you're double-jabbed or not. 

 

Then I don't wonder why there were many so many cases on board. 

[ohnonotmeagain]

This is obviously my personal opinion..... having disembarked on Sat 11th Sept after a full week....

 There is practically NO social distancing, even before you get on board, we had to wait an hour and half in what I can only describe as a glorified shed with hundreds of other people waiting for paperwork to be checked , that's even before the covid test.

The ships tannoy repeatedly requested guests to socially distance [ you can't or some just didn't] AND wear masks unless seated eating or drinking [again many many didn't for example in the theatre]

Rumours were rife that at least 45 staff had covid as did many passengers.... I must stress that these were rumours but I myself saw crew in full hazmat suits delivering food to cabins.

Self serve buffet was stopped - crew only service .

Regarding YC.... unless you didn't come out of YC [ no shows, shops etc] you still have to mingle with other PAX and staff .I cannot believe that all levels of stall don't mix below decks so to speak

There were queues for everything, buffet, bars, shows ,pool bars_ not enough staff for the number of people, don't get me wrong, the staff worked bl00dy hard, there just wasn't enough of them.

The CD and Captain were noticeable by their absence. CD around 1st day then stand in.....

Never saw or heard from captain,  and didn't see any high level crew walking around like you normally do.

I could go on but I think you get the picture....

 

[daisyday60]

I think most people are catching the virus whilst boarding... Given some people are literally standing next to each other for 3 hours. It takes on average at least 5 days for most people to show symptoms and most people are seemingly starting to feel unwell on day 6/7.

 

With under 1000 passengers on board tomorrow (nearly 60 to 75 percent less than the last few weeks) I think we will see a different sort of cruise and hopefully not many of the booze cruisers. 

 

Im just hoping that MSc will be sensible and test everyone on btb cruises in Southampton.. Its not in their interest to take the virus down to the Med their home cruising location and they certainly won't be able to stop at UEA ports if they haven't controlled the virus. 

 

I can't believe they were stupid enough not to ask for PCR tests on boarding in the UK. Surely every cruise line should have had a system in place where they linked into a medical testing centre who sent PCR tests 7 days before boarding. 

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my cruise now... 

 

[andyfriend80]

4 hours ago, ohnonotmeagain said:

This is obviously my personal opinion..... having disembarked on Sat 11th Sept after a full week....

 There is practically NO social distancing, even before you get on board, we had to wait an hour and half in what I can only describe as a glorified shed with hundreds of other people waiting for paperwork to be checked , that's even before the covid test.

The ships tannoy repeatedly requested guests to socially distance [ you can't or some just didn't] AND wear masks unless seated eating or drinking [again many many didn't for example in the theatre]

Rumours were rife that at least 45 staff had covid as did many passengers.... I must stress that these were rumours but I myself saw crew in full hazmat suits delivering food to cabins.

Self serve buffet was stopped - crew only service .

Regarding YC.... unless you didn't come out of YC [ no shows, shops etc] you still have to mingle with other PAX and staff .I cannot believe that all levels of stall don't mix below decks so to speak

There were queues for everything, buffet, bars, shows ,pool bars_ not enough staff for the number of people, don't get me wrong, the staff worked bl00dy hard, there just wasn't enough of them.

The CD and Captain were noticeable by their absence. CD around 1st day then stand in.....

Never saw or heard from captain,  and didn't see any high level crew walking around like you normally do.

I could go on but I think you get the picture....

 

We were on that cruise as well and your experience is the same as ours. 
 

I think with fewer people on it will be better. We had some great moments as well as the chaos. Indochine and Butcher’s Cut were exceptional. 

[alicat58]

On 9/13/2021 at 3:50 PM, ohnonotmeagain said:

There is practically NO social distancing, even before you get on board, we had to wait an hour and half in what I can only describe as a glorified shed with hundreds of other people waiting for paperwork to be checked , that's even before the covid test.

Which terminal was this? 

[ohnonotmeagain]

39 minutes ago, alicat58 said:

Which terminal was this? 

Horizon. We where directed to the side entrance in ?? baggage claim,[ breeze block walls, no permanent check ins] NOT through the main entrance.

[alicat58]

57 minutes ago, ohnonotmeagain said:

Horizon. We where directed to the side entrance in ?? baggage claim,[ breeze block walls, no permanent check ins] NOT through the main entrance

That does sound like the baggage claim. Walked through it when disembarking in July. We entered through the main entrance on 3/7. There were so many people just standing about. I don't think they were MSC because of some of the comments. It was fortunately not so packed because it was "that cruise". The one when MSC suddenly only allowed vaccinated pax. We only knew we were actually going 2-3d before we sailed.