Live Report from MSC Virtuosa Yacht Club 11-18th June 2022 Southampton Norwegian Cruise

[ConnieTact]

Good Morning! I’ve just woken up in our Premier Inn hotel in Ringwood which is a short 30 minute drive to Southampton port. We live in Bristol and travelled to Ringwood yesterday in preparation for the cruise. We have good friends who kindly offered to run us in and look after our little Smart car while we cruise. This saves us lots of cruise parking fees. We had a delicious Chinese meal together last night and will meet up with them for the drive to the port soon! Our boarding time is 10am! 
This cruise comes after three cancelled cruises this year! The first was when we had covid, the second cancelled by MSC and lastly I had a health scare that stopped our last planned cruise on this beautiful ship!
Follow along and let me know if you have anything you’d like me to find out if you are due to cruise on Virtuosa soon! 
I’m excited!!! I’ve been on the ship twice before and I know it will be a treat!

Edited June 11, 2022 by ConnieTact
Spello

[Cruiseforever11]

Hi Teri hope you are well! I look forward to reading your report in Yc and your cruise. I'm doing the Fjords next year from Copenhagen on their new Euribia ship in yc in July. 

I'm going back on the Virtuosa for the 4th time in August and guess what I have succumb to the calling of YC! Yes I know there will be no going back afterwards hence why the next 3 I have booked after that are all in yc! 😂

Have a fabulous trip and hope the weather will be good too 😊

 

[kernow]

Following along and really looking forward to this😀.

Have a lovely time.

[ConnieTact]

Thanks Suzanne & Julie! On in no time and wow! The duplex suite is a-maz-ing!! 😅

first some pics of our little Smart car & Joe I manage to fit all my ‘overpacked luggage in!

[ConnieTact]

Not sure why some of my photos won’t load correct way around! I even tried editing to rotate them but still want to be upside! I’ll correct if I can later! 

[ConnieTact]

Robbie YC director greeted us warmly. We settled into a duplex suite on deck 12 very happily! Just love everything about it. Our butler was very attentive and welcoming. 

[kernow]

That room looks fab, great that you like the butler too, I thought that Robbie would look after you.😀

[ConnieTact]

7 minutes ago, kernow said:

That room looks fab, great that you like the butler too, I thought that Robbie would look after you.😀

He’s fabulous! This is the beginning of a great week! We’ve waited a long time for this! We forgot just how great the food & service is! Now relaxing in the sun on deck before the dreaded muster drill! 😅

[Cruiseforever11]

Oh wow you have one of those rooms. We had cabin 12010 and the yc duplex next door was empty and the yc person cleaning the rooms let us have a look round. The front is amazing but a bit windy when moving. We had a hot tub too keep the lid on if you can when not using it as the temperature drops and it loses water (evaporation) you'll then have to fill it up and then wait for it to warm up again. Ah your going to have a fab time. 😃

 

[ConnieTact]

Lunch was delicious! I feel self conscious taking photos of food but these two dishes begged to be shared! 

[Cruiseforever11]

1 minute ago, ConnieTact said:

He’s fabulous! This is the beginning of a great week! We’ve waited a long time for this! We forgot just how great the food & service is! Now relaxing in the sun on deck before the dreaded muster drill! 😅

Just a tad jealous! 😁

[ConnieTact]

2 minutes ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Oh wow you have one of those rooms. We had cabin 12010 and the yc duplex next door was empty and the yc person cleaning the rooms let us have a look round. The front is amazing but a bit windy when moving. We had a hot tub too keep the lid on if you can when not using it as the temperature drops and it loses water (evaporation) you'll then have to fill it up and then wait for it to warm up again. Ah your going to have a fab time. 😃

 

Great tip! Thanks Suzanne! 

[kernow]

2 minutes ago, ConnieTact said:

Lunch was delicious! I feel self conscious taking photos of food but these two dishes begged to be shared! 

I had that dessert for the first lunch too, only time I finished one, always too full later in the cruise.

[ConnieTact]

9 hours ago, kernow said:

I had that dessert for the first lunch too, only time I finished one, always too full later in the cruise.

We decided to have just two courses tonight as we’re not used to so much food! Pacing ourselves! 😂

[rkacruiser]

Thank you for taking the time to post and including photos.  Good wishes for a wonderful cruise to the beautiful country of Norway!

[ConnieTact]

7 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Thank you for taking the time to post and including photos.  Good wishes for a wonderful cruise to the beautiful country of Norway!

Thank you rkacruiset! So far the weather has been good but rain forecast so we will see! Let me know if you have anything in particular you would like to know about.

[ConnieTact]

Following our muster drill we decided to stroll down the promenade and take some photos. We bumped into two good friends, the ones we stayed with, who totally dumbfounded us by being on the ship! For six months they had been keeping it a secret that they were joining us, and even dropped us off at the port and watched us go in before sneaking on the ship to check themselves in!

It was the surprise of our lives when we couldn’t stop shaking our heads, laughing and then asking questions about how they got around various conversations about their plans for the weekend! How they kept quiet for so long still amazes me!

This really is going to be a good week!

[ConnieTact]

A couple of pictures from yesterday. Menu for dinner and activities for first day onboard.

[ConnieTact]

Today we had a late breakfast in our room while our butler Anis, ran the jacuzzi. The dining table made eating breakfast more comfortable as at just the right height. Unlike our previous balcony and inside cabins where we are balancing plates on laps!
Everything arrived as ordered and was fresh and delicious. 

[ConnieTact]

This is our progress so far.it’s a sea day for us today so we are enjoying taking it easy.

[Cruiseforever11]

2 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

Following our muster drill we decided to stroll down the promenade and take some photos. We bumped into two good friends, the ones we stayed with, who totally dumbfounded us by being on the ship! For six months they had been keeping it a secret that they were joining us, and even dropped us off at the port and watched us go in before sneaking on the ship to check themselves in!

It was the surprise of our lives when we couldn’t stop shaking our heads, laughing and then asking questions about how they got around various conversations about their plans for the weekend! How they kept quiet for so long still amazes me!

This really is going to be a good week!

Omg God say hello to them for me! Say Nick say hi too! Amazing! They are both looking well! Are you going to go to the Champagne Bar for the Hugo Spitz 😂 🥂

[ConnieTact]

2 hours ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Omg God say hello to them for me! Say Nick say hi too! Amazing! They are both looking well! Are you going to go to the Champagne Bar for the Hugo Spitz 😂 🥂

What a great idea! We will for old times sake and all raise a glass to you and Nick! 😂🥂

[bigblue1952]

Looking forward to reading your review.  Have a great cruise.

[ConnieTact]

17 hours ago, bigblue1952 said:

Looking forward to reading your review.  Have a great cruise.

Thank you big blue! So far it is the best yet and it’s our 26th! Having a duplex suite is amazing and being joined by our friends is the icing on the proverbial cake! 😃

[ConnieTact]

We had a good day yesterday and had lunch at the The yacht club grill outside in  the sun. The service was quick and the food delicious. They had made roast chicken and roast potatoes for us Brits to enjoy as it was a Sunday. I actually chose the pork though.

We then joined our friends at the afternoon show in the theatre, ‘Evergreen Classics’. The singers, pianist and violinist were excellent. Enough of the pieces were popular and recognisable. These half hour concerts are such a good idea and gives the opportunity for people to enjoy entertainment they may not usually pay for. We all really appreciated it and thought the entertainment was top class.

A visit to the ‘English pub’ Masters of the Sea was next on our agenda and we enjoyed some drinks and great service.