Live "Virtuosa" YC 15th - 29th July - Relatively novice cruisers Med trip

[Corriegr]

28 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

Even in YC a word with matreD is sometimes needed. 

 

Even when tables are  full attention should be distributed evenly might be gaps which you can live with but 25mins is too long to get started with water, drinks, menu, bread.

 

Had a quiet word and all is good. I think tonight I will accept it as a one off… now time for some comedy.

[Corriegr]

13 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Even in YC a word with matreD is sometimes needed. 

 

Even when tables are  full attention should be distributed evenly might be gaps which you can live with but 25mins is too long to get started with water, drinks, menu, bread.

 

Had a quiet word and all is good. I think tonight I will accept it as a one off 

[Corriegr]

Good morning from a very sunny Atlantic Ocean.

 

Great morning so far and our quite word paid dividends as beautiful breakfast and on first name terms with senior waiting staff. 
 

Decided to visit the other world  at 10 this morning and the sunbed wars have started in earnest with an empty bed the equivalent of hard currency. Decks 16, 17 and 18 pretty much reserved across the board whether occupied or not. Any empty bed (which seem to be on the shady side) are pretty much assaulted manhandled and taken off sometimes to another deck. 

After a nice walk round the whole ship I was exhausted just watching the mayhem and decided to return to the peace and tranquility of deck 19 where my only worry is how I manage another glass of bubbly….

 

[insidecabin]

Good you are now visible for dining.

 

 

Whenever we did walkabouts aft to get the steps up Horizon was a great beverage stop

 

As long as it's dry would take the stairs up to 19 walk along then down to come into Horizon from the outside.

There are near secret set of stairs mid way as you walk to kids club on 18  that come out by the slides/savanna bar.

 

The return trip would often involve masters for a decent beer.

[Corriegr]

Post to follow 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Corriegr

[Corriegr]

Ok first port day today in Cádiz, and quiet stroll in the old town before the heat built up and then a pleasant afternoon on deck 19 soaking up the sun.

 

That’s the good points…. The bad side is the extremely patchy service in YC restaurant. We are now 2 from 4 meals where the service experience has left a lot to be desired.  
 

Trying to tread a fine line without actually being seen as a moaner but it feels as though there is a two tier experience with certain diners get preferential treatment; being fussed over the whole evening whilst others are lucky if they actually get what is on the menu. Tonight has seen lack of water refills, prompting for dessert and coffee, without even mentioning none of the actual accompaniments with the mains order, whilst the table next us is fussed over by both the senior waiter and maitre’d. Another quiet word has been had, but at this rate will seriously have to starting thinking that our first experience of YC was with rose tinted glasses.
 

Watch this space….

Edited July 18, 2023 by Corriegr
Proofing

[showingdiva]

Sorry to hear that not everything is going to plan on Virtuosa.   I'm still very much wearing rose coloured glasses after a recent wonderful Fjord cruise on board her (my third Virtuosa holiday in 18 months).

 

I can understand what would draw people to YC, although personally, I'm not keen on its location, being a mid-ship, relatively low deck kind of passenger.   That said, I'm also a believer that every passenger should receive exception service,   But as a solo traveller, a good Fantastica balcony is very acceptable.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post during your holiday.  I hope all the little irritations are sorted quickly.

[Corriegr]

To be fair the rest of the cruise is fabulous but usually the highlight of our day is going to dinner and it’s just been underwhelming at times .

[tony s]

Escalate to YC Director . You are  there and paying for a product and service. Not to settle!

[Eglesbrech]

40 minutes ago, tony s said:

Escalate to YC Director . You are  there and paying for a product and service. Not to settle!

I was about to say the same.

 

You have paid a lot more for the cruise with the promise of good service and if you don’t get it then mentioning this politely is perfectly in order. 

 

 

[emmas gran]

If it's the same YC Director as was on in May there will not be much point, we saw very little of him!

[Corriegr]

Sorry not posted last couple of days as wifi has been very patchy and too busy enjoying ourselves.

 

After the teething troubles earlier in week, a quiet word with Concierge Desk and Maitre ‘D has done wonders and we are having best time ever. The food has been excellent and deck life superb. The weather has been the only dark cloud so to speak as it is sooooo hot . We passed on Malaga but ventured out in Alicante for a couple of hours but the logistics and heat did not made very easy for someone (Mrs C) with mobility issues.

 

Yesterday was Mallorca but MSC made logistics a little challenging with the ship docked some 20 mins drive from main centre but laid on a shuttle bus as £12 pounds a person. After the bus scrum in Alicante and the fact the Seaview was port at same time , we decided wandering around in a packed Palma in 39c heat was not going to be much fun.

 

We are also enjoying the fact that  YC is such a haven of calm to rest of the ship where the sun bed wars are really entrenched. Even the Captain joked about this when he visited earlier in week about how bad it was. 
 

Last night also started to see what you would politely describe as high jinks by gangs of teenagers who had managed to obtain half a bottle of lager..

 

Lastly  we are really enjoying the Olympic sport of pier  running and both Alicante and Palma have seen some gallant entrants leaving it just four minutes before sail away to get back on board , including some under five novices…on a serious note not sure how responsible parents would take such a risk.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Corriegr

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, Corriegr said:

Yesterday was Mallorca but MSC made logistics a little challenging with the ship docked some 20 mins drive from main centre but laid on a shuttle bus as £12 pounds a person.

MSC used Terminal 6, the RCCL terminal? OMG. Was the main terminal closed? 

[Corriegr]

Good morning from the Mediterranean on another sea day on our way to Lisbon.

 

All very quiet on the YC front with life continuing day to day in a very chilled fashion punctuated by port stops in Toulon and Lisbon. 
 

However beyond the (sliding) doors of YC is another world that you only enter if you dare. Sun bed  wars continue with the Captain now very much involved when yesterday he and his senior crew were physically removing towels from unoccupied beds. On top of this at yesterday’s sailway quite a lecture was given by him over the tannoy around respect for other passengers and bad behaviour will not be tolerated.

 

This bad behaviour has manifested itself in fighting at bars and buffet, and children stealing alcohol from behind bars for their parents . Apparently this behaviour has resulted in the badly behaved shipmates being evicted from the ship in Toulon. 
 

We have also had more pier running incidents with one family almost missing the ship in Toulon  turning up at six minutes after sailaway time with ropes already being cast off. 
 

Anyway outside the confines of YC is far too exhausting for me so it’s going to be another lazy day not fighting for a sun bed….

[insidecabin]

We did a holiday Cruise on Virtuosa and it was crazy but not as bad as this one sounds.

 

We had feral kids and some aggressive adult behaviour but isolated many never knew it had happened.

We hung out in masters most nights and never saw anything there.

There were a few bully kids about as there were some very street families mixed with very sheltered kids.

Kids club had their hands full with security called a few times.

 

Is there any demographics to the bad behaviour?

 

 

 

 

 

[Corriegr]

7 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

We did a holiday Cruise on Virtuosa and it was crazy but not as bad as this one sounds.

 

We had feral kids and some aggressive adult behaviour but isolated many never knew it had happened.

We hung out in masters most nights and never saw anything there.

There were a few bully kids about as there were some very street families mixed with very sheltered kids.

Kids club had their hands full with security called a few times.

 

Is there any demographics to the bad behaviour?

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not sure I’ve not been out the enough but I did talk to one sweet old lady yesterday who was of the view that it was sold too cheaply  and it had attracted a crowd that was “Blackpool at sea”.

[insidecabin]

1 hour ago, Corriegr said:

I’m not sure I’ve not been out the enough but I did talk to one sweet old lady yesterday who was of the view that it was sold too cheaply  and it had attracted a crowd that was “Blackpool at sea”.

MSC have done more to get new UK people into cruising than any other cruise line for years.

 

Sailings have been hitting 50%+ new precovid UK was average 30% new

 

The prices are very good for families as regular package holidaying to the sun have gone up.

 

There is still a no fly element post covid which got people looking at other options.

 

MSC  are so much cheaper than the main cruise  package competitor Marella and price to compete with P&O for families.

 

The result is often a full ship 6000+.

 

I felt there were also more larger family groups that can dominate a space.

eg, outside masters taking up 3 tables with adults and kids partially blocking the passage having a good time singing and dancing easy to get bumped into.

I think the TV lounge was worst for brawls, never saw anything in the buffet which we use a lot.

 

Our 12n was in regular cabin we survived, followed with  8 days in YC as a B2B to recover.

 

 

 

 

 

[mackfam]

3 hours ago, Corriegr said:

However beyond the (sliding) doors of YC is another world that you only enter if you dare.

Oh no, we’re embarking on our first non YC cruise on Virtuosa in September. I thought it would be safe as kids should be back in school, but on the FB group it seems like a lot families with kids are still going. 

[Eglesbrech]

6 hours ago, Corriegr said:

 

This bad behaviour has manifested itself in fighting at bars and buffet, and children stealing alcohol from behind bars for their parents . Apparently this behaviour has resulted in the badly behaved shipmates being evicted from the ship in Toulon. 

Good, glad those causing trouble have been swiftly removed. What is wrong with people nowadays.

 

I have to say that I have personally never seen any trouble on an MSC cruise but we tend to sail outwith the school holidays so the ships are never quite so busy.

[insidecabin]

3 hours ago, mackfam said:

Oh no, we’re embarking on our first non YC cruise on Virtuosa in September. I thought it would be safe as kids should be back in school, but on the FB group it seems like a lot families with kids are still going. 

I thought we were safe last Oct cruise spanned 2 weeks at 1/2 term, parents just kept their kids off school the second week.