Live Virtuosa 12/5/23 7 night Fjord cruise

[treesah]

@kernow  Thank you for taking the time to post.  That's very generous of you.  I'll be sailing the Virtuosa in two weeks, solo, and I'm curious about the dress code.  Wishing you an improvement in the weather department.

[kernow]

24 minutes ago, mackfam said:

Oh no, that’s what I’m worried about in contemplating a non YC cruise. Is it just the atrium area that’s packed or is it everywhere inside? I’m not sure what the equivalent of the Sky Lounge is on the Virtuosa, but on the Mera it was quiet during the day, of course this was in the Caribbean and it was hot and sunny out.

Atrium area and bars all around them were very busy, haven't actually been into the Sky Lounge this cruise but I did look up when we were doing laps and could see all the window seats were taken. I asked the concierge how many were onboard and he said around 5000. 

[kernow]

27 minutes ago, treesah said:

@kernow  Thank you for taking the time to post.  That's very generous of you.  I'll be sailing the Virtuosa in two weeks, solo, and I'm curious about the dress code.  Wishing you an improvement in the weather department.

We're dressing up tonight as we usually do. Going out for a walk around the ship before dinner so I'll let you know, I suspect a bit of everything.

[kernow]

Sitting in L'Atelier people watching and have just discovered my new favourite cocktail, The Second Empire. This bar always has the best cocktails on the ship for me.

Looking at the dress code I would say at least 50% dressed up to some extent and some really dressy, we've just seen a man in a kilt go by.

[heatherb1958]

1 hour ago, kernow said:

Sitting in L'Atelier people watching and have just discovered my new favourite cocktail, The Second Empire. This bar always has the best cocktails on the ship for me.

Looking at the dress code I would say at least 50% dressed up to some extent and some really dressy, we've just seen a man in a kilt go by.

 

 

L'Atelier bar is my favourite bar on the ship followed by Sky lounge 😎.

Our friends from IOM are having a  nightmare start  to their first MSC  cruise . They have a disabled daughter with them who has had to sleep on the floor , long story short , special needs requests not met.

I think they will be cancelling their Seaside cruise out of Barbados .....

Have fun on Elegant night and I hope the sun shines tomorrow for you. 

P.S. you look lovely Julie and Mark looks a bit of alright too 😆.  

Edited May 13, 2023 by heatherb1958

[skyking]

Can't wait to board May 29th, thank you for doing this. 

[kernow]

Dinner last night was excellent, could not fault anything we had. Shrimp cocktail (no pic), Beef Wellington and Cherries Jubilee for me, After Eight dessert for Mark.

 

We've now arrived in Haugesund, still misty and overcast, we're just going for a walk around town to stretch our legs.

[kernow]

13 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

L'Atelier bar is my favourite bar on the ship followed by Sky lounge 😎.

Our friends from IOM are having a  nightmare start  to their first MSC  cruise . They have a disabled daughter with them who has had to sleep on the floor , long story short , special needs requests not met.

I think they will be cancelling their Seaside cruise out of Barbados .....

Have fun on Elegant night and I hope the sun shines tomorrow for you. 

P.S. you look lovely Julie and Mark looks a bit of alright too 😆.  

Sorry to hear about your friends, hope they have got everything sorted by now.

TBH even in YC I don't think things are as good as they should be, nothing terrible but service slow at times, things not available ( no granola at breakfast this morning) etc. We did not even see our butler yesterday, the assistant one made up our room and we asked after him but she said he was covering another section. I get the impression they are short staffed. If it was our first time I don't think we'd book it again when you consider the cost. Hoping it will improve as the week goes on.

[kernow]

We're back onboard after an hour or two walking around Haugesund. As we found last year it's a nice little town but hardly anything open on a Sunday. It's about a 15 minute walk into the town centre. There was a shuttle bus but I'm not sure if it was free or not. Also a land train and a hop on/ off bus which you can get as you leave the ship ( see pics).

 

When we got back on we came up to the buffet to get some fabulous MSC pizza ( they never have it in YC). Peak lunch hour in the buffet and it's fine, plenty of tables and a good choice of food without queueing. Walk right to the back if it seems busy at the entrance. The mini éclair on the dessert plate was as good as one's from a French patisserie 😄

 

[Raj.K]

Thank you for the live report. Hope good weather follows the ship.

 

Could you please let us know if taxis are readily available in the ports you are visiting?

 

We will be on the Preziosa soon and not booked excursions from most ports yet.

 

Thank you.

[kernow]

13 minutes ago, Raj.K said:

Thank you for the live report. Hope good weather follows the ship.

 

Could you please let us know if taxis are readily available in the ports you are visiting?

 

We will be on the Preziosa soon and not booked excursions from most ports yet.

 

Thank you.

Mark says he noticed a few taxis by the ship this morning.

 

 

[kernow]

Clouds are finally starting to break and there is some sun coming out.. Sitting on the balcony without a coat as I type.

[showingdiva]

Ahh ... the MSC panna cotta ... but what is that bit of fruit sorcery on top of it? 😕

 

Thank you for the photo of outside the terminal.   As I'm also in Haugesund next Sunday, so might do the hop on/off as it's so close.

[kernow]

6 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

Ahh ... the MSC panna cotta ... but what is that bit of fruit sorcery on top of it? 😕

 

Thank you for the photo of outside the terminal.   As I'm also in Haugesund next Sunday, so might do the hop on/off as it's so close.

Mark said it was raspberry pannacotta, he liked it. I always think MSC do desserts well, much better than RCL.

[showingdiva]

21 minutes ago, kernow said:

Mark said it was raspberry pannacotta, he liked it. I always think MSC do desserts well, much better than RCL.

 

Raspberry is my favourite.   Have also had lime, mango and cherry.   In fact, I've just had a lot of them.   It was the blueberry I was querying.   Such attempted healthiness on top of indulgent dessert.

[Mr Sea Gull]

5 hours ago, kernow said:

Sorry to hear about your friends, hope they have got everything sorted by now.

TBH even in YC I don't think things are as good as they should be, nothing terrible but service slow at times, things not available ( no granola at breakfast this morning) etc. We did not even see our butler yesterday, the assistant one made up our room and we asked after him but she said he was covering another section. I get the impression they are short staffed. If it was our first time I don't think we'd book it again when you consider the cost. Hoping it will improve as the week goes on.

If it's not good in Yacht Club what hope is there for the rest of the ship! 

 

[kernow]

53 minutes ago, Mr Sea Gull said:

If it's not good in Yacht Club what hope is there for the rest of the ship! 

 

Don't get me wrong, we're still enjoying it but can see the difference to previous years. When we have paid for YC we have different expectations to just being in a standard cabin which we sometimes book too.There is still plenty to like all around the ship.

[sidari]

Hi Kernow,

We got off on Friday morning, waited 30 minutes at the ships exit due to the Border Force issue plus a problem with the air bridge, came out of the Terminal and it was already full with those waiting to board, clearly many had ignored their boarding times, got to our car at 9.30 and was lucky to get out of the car park before it became gridlocked. Our journey home took 8 hours. Food over our 12 days was very good In the MDR and Buffet, having disliked Meraviglia we were hoping that Virtuosa may have changed our minds on this class of MSC ship having sailed on all the other classes apart from Europa. Virtuosa is 16 metres longer than Mera and has over 100 cabins added but no extra public spaces and like Mera the Inside bar areas are too small, another downside is the lack of Aft lifts, if as we were you are on or near the back of the ship you have to walk almost half the length of the ship to the nearest lifts. Seaside which we sailed on twice and the Fantasia class for us will always be better than the Meraviglia class ships.

Edited May 14, 2023 by sidari

[kernow]

Last night we went to see one of the shows in the Carousel lounge 'Ajedrez', we had pre paid before boarding £9 pp (£15 if you purchase onboard). We'd seen the other one last year and this one was equally enjoyable.

Today we are in Olden. We woke up to beautiful views as we sailed in along the Fjord and were docked by 9am. It has been almost impossible to connect to the ships Internet all day so I'm writing this offline and will post later. The weather is better than was forecast, cloudy with the sun breaking through at times, about 12 degrees but it feels much warmer when the sun is out. I'm sitting out on the YC sun deck, the bar is open but the grill isn't (not been all cruise), it's a shame as there are quite a few people sitting out.

This morning we got off the ship around 10.30. We hadn't booked anything but there were several options on the dock (see pic). We bought tickets for the open top glacier bus trip and thoroughly enjoyed it, 700 NOK for both of us and worth it for some nice views. The bus trip was about an hour and they drop you off in an area where there are a few local shops and it's just a short walk back to the ship. One or two people didn't want to walk and were taken back to the ship on the bus.

[kernow]

Some pics from the bus tour.

[kernow]

Finally back out in the open sea and internet is back.

We've just had a lovely dinner in Butcher's Cut. It's 10.20 pm and still daylight.

[heatherb1958]

I love Olden , have done both tours to the glaciers there 😎.  Lots of walking to the Briksdalen (sp) one. If not on a tour I walk to the red church and through the back lanes back  to the village. The scenery is just beautiful. 

Lovely photos.

[Nunagoras]

On 5/14/2023 at 2:07 PM, kernow said:

Mark said it was raspberry pannacotta, he liked it. I always think MSC do desserts well, much better than RCL.

Thanks to the wonderful review. Understaffed ships is a common thread these days round the industry, especially on the 4* (mainstream) part of it where MSC markets itself. It will improve with the time.

 

And so true: MSC does far better desserts than RCI, at least on their European sailings. It's like to make the main ingredients to be the star instead of sugar itself. On RCI plain sugar is the main flavor of whatever dessert you may think 

 

Have a nice day and nice sailing!...

[Mark_T]

On 5/14/2023 at 12:40 PM, kernow said:

When we got back on we came up to the buffet to get some fabulous MSC pizza ( they never have it in YC).

You can order it from the room service menu though...

[kernow]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

You can order it from the room service menu though...

On this ship it's only available after 6pm.