Live on Board MSC Virtuosa European Cruise 27th July 2024

[DamianG]

Saturday 27th July 2024

 

We arrived at Horizon cruise terminal at 11:45am and were onboard by 12:20pm. With there being five of us we were a bit slow unloading all the cases and there was a large queue for security checks but once we were through that the check in process was quick and we were onboard by 12:20pm. Our designated boarding time was 12-1pm but no one checked so it seemed like a bit of a free for all but not too bad. I don’t know if that’s usual for MSC?

 

Onboard Michelle and I headed straight for L’Atelier Bar & Art to book specialty dining, whilst Kyle and his grandparents sat down in Le Galeria for drinks. There was a big queue and it took almost an hour before it was our turn just to book two lunches. Unfortunately it appeared that this was the only option to book specialty dining and shows so no surprise that it was so busy. On the plus side there were waiters on hand, so we enjoyed a couple of glasses of champagne whilst queueing and that helped ease the boredom.

 

We had been advised that cabins would not be available until 3pm but we were able to drop our hand luggage off and have a quick look at our deck 9 standard balcony cabin. Having been spoilt with a larger cabin on our last cruise it felt a little small but perfectly fine. The fridge was locked and there was no sign of the bathrobes or other perks of our Voyager Club loyalty status, but it wasn’t a big deal for now.

 

We dropped our bags off and went to the Marketplace Buffet on deck 15. We are not buffet fans at all, but first impressions were quite positive as we quickly found seats and though it was busy it was easy to get some pizza and snacks to keep us going until dinner. MSC pizza is as good as everyone has told us. After lunch we had a walk around the open decks, and it was really busy with lots of passengers enjoying the sunshine.

 

By now our cabin was available but our cases had not yet arrived, so we had a leisurely afternoon making the most of our balcony and our premium drinks package. We misunderstood the muster procedure so headed down to Minuetto restaurant before they actually called our specific deck, but it didn’t seem to matter, and my cruise card was scanned on behalf of everyone in the cabin anyway. After that we went to reception to order a birthday cake for Kyle and had to endure another long queue whilst passengers were having things sorted out by the busy reception staff. Lord knows what some of there issues were, but some were taking ages and getting very annoyed, such a shame especially on day one of a cruise. It felt like there was a bit of queue jumping by certain passengers as well, which wouldn’t have helped.

 

When we finally got back to the cabin, we had received one of our cases, so we were able to unpack that then enjoy the sail away down the Solent. As always, we enjoyed seeing other ships departing as well, this time Celebrity Apex and P&O Iona. Our dinner reservation is for 7:15pm in the Blue Danube restaurant, and without the second suitcase we had a limited amount of clothes to change into. Typically, our larger case was delivered just as we were leaving for dinner, so we returned to the cabin for a lightning-fast change, then set off again. Fortunately, this worked in our favour as the in-laws reported that there were queues earlier, whilst we strolled straight in at 7:25pm.

 

We have been allocated a table in a corner not too far away from the windows and appreciated the slightly quieter location. We had already viewed the menu on the MSC app, and it was a good thing as there are no paper menus at the dinner table unless you request one from the waiter. The in-laws ended up doing that anyway, and even then, they were only given one menu to share. Kyle was not offered a children’s menu so chose pasta from the standard choices. With hindsight we should have asked as he didn’t really enjoy it. At least the waiter was able to accommodate him with a chocolate brownie and ice cream for dessert.

 

Michelle had the matured cheese fritters to start (“good”) and I had minestrone soup which was thinner than I am used to but excellent. We both had grilled rib-eye steak chimichurri for main, mine was just about okay but Michelle’s was overcooked and tough. Her mum’s steak tagliata was far superior, very well cooked and really tasty. We chose Cotes de Roses Pinot Noir, Gerard Bertrand, to go with our dinner and I highly recommend it. For dessert we both had the cheese selection and asked the waiter for a glass of port each to accompany it. This seemed to throw him a bit but eventually he provided two tiny pourings of a thick, syrupy mixture akin to the cough medicine Covonia, but far worse. No chance of us getting cabin air con cough after drinking those!

 

After dinner we went back to L’Atelier Bar & Art simply because it as the first venue that we saw with seats available. We originally sat on wooden chairs around a table but some comfy sofas soon became available which were much nicer. We had no problem getting served and finished the evening in there. There is a small stage with a piano, but no music was played all the time we were in there which was a shame given my love of live music.  

 

We retired around 11pm. Our overall first impressions of MSC Virtuosa have been good, with our only negatives being queueing to arrange things that we wouldn’t normally do. Hopefully we won’t have cause to do that again during the next fortnight. We never had any problem getting served throughout the day and found the staff to be friendly and attentive at all times.

 

 

Edited July 28 by DamianG

[purplesea]

Hope you have a lovely time.

[NewWestwardbound]

Great first day write up, looking forward to hearing about the rest of the cruise. 

[amurray88]

7 hours ago, DamianG said:

Saturday 27th July 2024

 

We arrived at Horizon cruise terminal at 11:45am and were onboard by 12:20pm. With there being five of us we were a bit slow unloading all the cases and there was a large queue for security checks but once we were through that the check in process was quick and we were onboard by 12:20pm. Our designated boarding time was 12-1pm but no one checked so it seemed like a bit of a free for all but not too bad. I don’t know if that’s usual for MSC?

 

Onboard Michelle and I headed straight for L’Atelier Bar & Art to book specialty dining, whilst Kyle and his grandparents sat down in Le Galeria for drinks. There was a big queue and it took almost an hour before it was our turn just to book two lunches. Unfortunately it appeared that this was the only option to book specialty dining and shows so no surprise that it was so busy. On the plus side there were waiters on hand, so we enjoyed a couple of glasses of champagne whilst queueing and that helped ease the boredom.

 

We had been advised that cabins would not be available until 3pm but we were able to drop our hand luggage off and have a quick look at our deck 9 standard balcony cabin. Having been spoilt with a larger cabin on our last cruise it felt a little small but perfectly fine. The fridge was locked and there was no sign of the bathrobes or other perks of our Voyager Club loyalty status, but it wasn’t a big deal for now.

 

We dropped our bags off and went to the Marketplace Buffet on deck 15. We are not buffet fans at all, but first impressions were quite positive as we quickly found seats and though it was busy it was easy to get some pizza and snacks to keep us going until dinner. MSC pizza is as good as everyone has told us. After lunch we had a walk around the open decks, and it was really busy with lots of passengers enjoying the sunshine.

 

By now our cabin was available but our cases had not yet arrived, so we had a leisurely afternoon making the most of our balcony and our premium drinks package. We misunderstood the muster procedure so headed down to Minuetto restaurant before they actually called our specific deck, but it didn’t seem to matter, and my cruise card was scanned on behalf of everyone in the cabin anyway. After that we went to reception to order a birthday cake for Kyle and had to endure another long queue whilst passengers were having things sorted out by the busy reception staff. Lord knows what some of there issues were, but some were taking ages and getting very annoyed, such a shame especially on day one of a cruise. It felt like there was a bit of queue jumping by certain passengers as well, which wouldn’t have helped.

 

When we finally got back to the cabin, we had received one of our cases, so we were able to unpack that then enjoy the sail away down the Solent. As always, we enjoyed seeing other ships departing as well, this time Celebrity Apex and P&O Iona. Our dinner reservation is for 7:15pm in the Blue Danube restaurant, and without the second suitcase we had a limited amount of clothes to change into. Typically, our larger case was delivered just as we were leaving for dinner, so we returned to the cabin for a lightning-fast change, then set off again. Fortunately, this worked in our favour as the in-laws reported that there were queues earlier, whilst we strolled straight in at 7:25pm.

 

We have been allocated a table in a corner not too far away from the windows and appreciated the slightly quieter location. We had already viewed the menu on the MSC app, and it was a good thing as there are no paper menus at the dinner table unless you request one from the waiter. The in-laws ended up doing that anyway, and even then, they were only given one menu to share. Kyle was not offered a children’s menu so chose pasta from the standard choices. With hindsight we should have asked as he didn’t really enjoy it. At least the waiter was able to accommodate him with a chocolate brownie and ice cream for dessert.

 

Michelle had the matured cheese fritters to start (“good”) and I had minestrone soup which was thinner than I am used to but excellent. We both had grilled rib-eye steak chimichurri for main, mine was just about okay but Michelle’s was overcooked and tough. Her mum’s steak tagliata was far superior, very well cooked and really tasty. We chose Cotes de Roses Pinot Noir, Gerard Bertrand, to go with our dinner and I highly recommend it. For dessert we both had the cheese selection and asked the waiter for a glass of port each to accompany it. This seemed to throw him a bit but eventually he provided two tiny pourings of a thick, syrupy mixture akin to the cough medicine Covonia, but far worse. No chance of us getting cabin air con cough after drinking those!

 

After dinner we went back to L’Atelier Bar & Art simply because it as the first venue that we saw with seats available. We originally sat on wooden chairs around a table but some comfy sofas soon became available which were much nicer. We had no problem getting served and finished the evening in there. There is a small stage with a piano, but no music was played all the time we were in there which was a shame given my love of live music.  

 

We retired around 11pm. Our overall first impressions of MSC Virtuosa have been good, with our only negatives being queueing to arrange things that we wouldn’t normally do. Hopefully we won’t have cause to do that again during the next fortnight. We never had any problem getting served throughout the day and found the staff to be friendly and attentive at all times.

 

 

Intrigued to what you think of the MDR food when/if you go. It was absolutely diabolical a couple of weeks ago - I genuinely couldn't believe it

[DamianG]

Sunday 28th July 2024

 

Despite being experienced cruisers, we made an absolute rookie error of not putting our clocks forward one hour the previous evening. We knew the change was coming but are so used to other cruise lines putting a reminder card in the cabin (which MSC don’t seem to do) that we just forgot. We were therefore woken up at what we thought was 8am by the delivery of our room service breakfast. The poor delivery guy had to knock twice then be greeted by myself just wearing pyjama shorts. He’s probably seen worse but hope he wasn’t traumatised too much. We had some tiny portions of cereal, pastries, two pieces of toast which were approximately as big as a pub coaster, and tea and coffee. Breakfast coffee served onboard cruise ships is usually far too strong for me, but this wasn’t bad at all.

 

An hour later there was another knock on the door and this time it was the delivery of Kyle’s birthday cake. We must be getting into relaxed holiday mood already because we’d forgotten that was coming to the cabin as well. It wasn’t cheap at £21 but looked really good.

 

We had a leisurely morning and pretty much did a full ship tour. Kyle didn’t want to use his fun pass on anything but I was really impressed with the F1 simulator and definitely want to try it at some point. I also called in the gym and had a free foot analysis which confirmed what I already thought in that I need some insoles with arch support. I really appreciated the professionalism of the guy who completed the analysis and he was really good at explaining everything. He also took it really well when I politely declined his offer of some custom insoles at a cost of £65!!!! I spared him a proper Yorkshire “Ow much?!!!”  That’s what I was thinking though.

 

We arranged to meet the in-laws for lunch at Hola! We got there five minutes early at 12:55pm but they were nowhere to be seen. We waited and waited, Michelle called their cabin twice with no answer, before she finally tracked them down in the bar next door. Apparently they had been sat there over 30 minutes having arrived far too early. Kyle had chips and salsa and wanted to choose Habanero Fuego, the spiciest of all the dips. Of course he wouldn’t listen to his parents, but fortunately the waiter talked him down 6 grades of spice to Roasted Molcajete. I tried it and it was tasty but mild, or to use Kyle’s words “Not spicy at all.” The rest of us chose all you can eat for £17.99 each and we shared platters of Nachos, Street-style Corn Tortillas with various fillings, Quesadillas, and Enchiladas. We declined Burritos and just the in-laws had ice cream tacos for dessert. We tried some Margaritas, Passionrita for me and Pineapplerita for Michelle in lieu of her first choice Strawberrita which was “unavailable.” I won that one as we both thought that the Passionrita was much better, so much so that I had another. They clearly don’t mess about with pouring measures in this venue as my second was far stronger and very heavy on the 1800 Reposado Tequila, but I managed to down it somehow.

 

We had a lazy afternoon after that, and still felt stuffed later on so decided not to go to dinner in the MDR. Instead, we arranged to meet the in-laws in the buffet, which we have always avoided at all costs on our cruises, and I still can’t believe it even as as I type this. However, it was reasonably quiet, especially further aft, and there were loads of tables to choose from. Michelle had a salad, and I had a roast beef dinner (it was Sunday after all) which was really good. We were eventually joined in our section by some potty mouthed chaps but at least I was the only one who noticed. A little while later some fellas came in dressed in fluorescent jackets and trousers, like you see road workers or refuse collectors wearing. At first, I thought that they were engineers of some type (honestly), but they were joined by some ladies in similar colour sparkly dresses and dozy me finally twigged that they were entertainment staff. I had no clue what they were performing, at least not yet.

 

We left the buffet just before 8pm and it was by now super busy so our timing was pretty good. The bars around La Galeria all looked full, and the music was far too loud, even though one live band in particular really appealed to me. We ended up getting seats opposite the Champagne Bar, but not until after a bit of commotion where a lady ran in front of us and another family to grab two tables and all the seats, justifying herself by saying “There’s seven of us, we NEED these!” I know it’s hard to get sufficient seating for big groups but a little manners go a long way. We sympathised with the dad from the other family evicted and he said that though it was annoying the last thing he needs on holiday is confrontation. We lucked into another table, and ironically the large group moved out again within ten minutes when they realised that the champagne bar mostly serves champagne. Who knew?

 

It was nice and quiet in our area with the music from other venues pleasantly in the background and enough (but not too much) through traffic for a bit of people watching. We had a few brief chats with other passengers, including the chap with a huge leg brace which he explained was for a stress fracture that he didn’t even know about. He also said that he’d only just had a brace removed from the other leg following ligament trouble! Just as I was wondering when this might have happened, and would it have put their holiday in jeopardy, his wife said that when he called her with the news her first two questions were “Can we still go on the cruise, and will the insurance need to be changed?”

 

We knew that there was going to be a “Glow Party” in La Galeria and the music from there was getting louder (or as it the audience participation?). Michelle and I went to investigate and watched from the next floor up. Low and behold it was the road worker/refuse collector crew putting on a fantastic show of music and dancing. When you see these things on YouTube it looks like it wouldn’t really be our sort of thing, maybe all a bit too loud and shouty. However, it was truly mesmerising, and we stayed far longer than we anticipated as the party atmosphere really draws you in. We stayed for several songs, the most memorable for me being “Fireball” by Pitbull, where the crew really engaged with the crowd, and everyone was singing and dancing. Whilst we couldn’t name most of the other songs, they were all recognisable bar one which was likely something more recent that hasn’t caught up with us yet. It ended up a late night by our standards and we eventually got back to the cabin just before I turn into a pumpkin at midnight. We put the TV on and for once Michelle fell asleep before me, and I can’t for the life of me remember what film I wasn’t watching!

 

 

 

Edited July 29 by DamianG

[MyriamS]

Amazing review, thank you! I will try the steak tagliata if I see in the menu in December.

[DamianG]

Monday 29th July 2024

 

Kyle had filled out his own breakfast room service order the previous evening, so we were up before 8am ready to receive it. It arrived around 8:05am so we left Kyle in bed (still asleep) and went down to the Minuetto restaurant for seated breakfast. We were immediately assigned a table for four (though there were just two of us) and a waiter was quickly on hand serving coffee and tea. The coffee wasn’t great, but it wasn’t so strong that I could not drink it. There were no teaspoons on the table, so we just used our forks, not great but not the end of the world either. We asked for some sweeteners instead of sugar and it took a while for the waiter to understand before he said he would get us some (but in the end never did). Michelle asked for Eggs Benedict with bacon on the side, and I went for the MSC Express breakfast, essentially a full English. We also got some orange juice that tasted more like a dilute version such as Robinsons, rather than anything purporting to be “fresh” orange. When our orders arrived, they were warm (rather than hot) and we had to laugh at the few baked beans scattered on the plate. I don’t know why some cruise lines don’t just serve a standard pork sausage, but the MSC Lincolnshire version wasn’t too herby and just about okay. Some packs of butter were brought to the table, but we were never offered any toast. Michelle discarded the ham beneath the eggs on top of the muffin as she found it too smoky for her taste. We left at 8:45am and it was very busy by that time.

 

After breakfast we took our time and eventually went into A Coruña, the City of Glass, just after 11am. Our plan was to stroll round the port and try the lido at Metropolitan La Solana. We were struggling to find the entrance so I asked in the impressive Hotel NH Collection reception and we were directed back round Avenida Porta da Coruña, where we saw people entering using wristbands via an automated turnstile. We saw someone inside the complex and asked if we could pay to enter, but sadly he advised that it is a private members club and day passes are not available “es impossible!”  This really scuppered our plan for the day so instead we headed back towards the port and stopped at a few shops before going on the Riazor beach where I was able to take the obligatory photo of the Riazor Stadium, home to Super Depor (aka the mighty Deportivo La Coruña club de futbol). The sand was very course and gritty, but Kyle and Michelle passed a little time being swamped in some mighty waves, before I took a more gentle paddle a little later. The water was pretty cold at first but you soon got used to it.

 

Once Kyle had had enough of going in the sea he just wanted to go back to our cabin on the ship, so we had a bit of conflict before insisting that we at least stop for one drink somewhere. Eventually we stopped at Cafe Cantante for a couple of glasses of vino blanco. We eventually got back on the ship just after 2pm and at least we had avoided the hordes getting back on for lunch as we did not experience any delays with the security checks or boarding.

 

Once we had dropped our bag back in the cabin we went up to the Market Place Restaurant (buffet again – “groan”) in search of tomato pizza (no cheese). A helpful chef at the pizza counter told us that this is called Pizza Marinara and would be available at the grab n’ go on the open deck nearby. Sure enough there was some fresh Pizza Marinara for Kyle and I tried a burger (not great but okay, typical cruise standard) and a hot dog (never again, on this cruise anyway). I was glad that we had brought some Gaviscon with us as the hot dog gave me quite bad acid indigestion.

There were loads of tables available back inside the Market Place Restaurant, but a waiter ushered us away from the corner where we heading and we soon saw why with loads of discarded food on the floor of all places. It really was appalling, and I felt sorry for the waiter. How hard is it to quickly clean up after yourself?

 

Again we had a leisurely afternoon in the cabin and on our balcony. I decided to get showered and freshened up early so that Michelle and Kyle could use the bathroom at their leisure pre-dinner later on. I then went out on a bit of a ship tour and whilst passing through the Market Place Restaurant (really, again?) I was shocked to find it absolutely jam packed (at 4:30pm). Presumably a lot of passengers had been out all day and hadn’t eaten? I continued my tour and got as far as the Yacht Club entrance. It looks so calm and lovely;  one day we’d love to try it. Eventually I found myself back in the Robot Bar (aka Starship Club) where the staff were run off their feet but eventually prepared a mojito for Michelle and Sauvignon Friuli for me (okay but I won’t be ordering it again, slightly fruity and not dry enough for my taste).

 

We went to dinner in the Blue Danube and walked straight in at our reservation time 7:15pm. Our waiter greeted us about 10 minutes later and asked us what we would like to drink but I asked if we could see a paper menu before deciding and this really seemed to disrupt him. This took a few more minutes then he didn’t return to us for around 20 minutes. He then took the drink orders and disappeared again, before eventually returning to take our dinner choices. Our drinks finally arrived at 8pm and the first courses five minutes later, 50 minutes after we’d arrived at the restaurant. I chose Italian antipasto which was pretty poor, with one particular slice of ham constituting approximately 90% fat. Michelle had the Sunray salad which was very good. For main we both had seafood linguine which was good but difficult to eat with a knife and fork (rather than a fork and spoon). I would have asked our waiter for a spoon but he was clearly run off his feet and never came back to our table whilst we had the mains. We both chose Black Forest cherry gateau for dessert and it was delicious. Just a shame that it was such a small portion.

 

Overall the dining experience was disappointing again. There seems to be an expectation for passengers to have learned the menu before being seated and to know what they want for all courses straight away. For us that spoils part of the pleasure of seeing the menu for the first time and discussing choices amongst ourselves. Each time we’ve asked for a menu they give us one to share, so that delays things further as it is passed around. I guess that we’ll get used to choosing in advance eventually. Our waiter is a friendly chap but seems run off his feet, covering several tables on his own. Meanwhile we see other waiters stood with their dining guests having a chat, clearly not half as busy.

 

After dinner we were looking for seats in the Champage bar area again and a family waved us over, saying that they were about to leave so we could have their table. Little things like this are so lovely and a reminder most passengers are just regular, nice people. As soon as we sat down another chap swooped in asking if we had a spare seat and we were happy to oblige. There was music in the Atrium below and in La Galeria which seemed louder than the previous evening but maybe it was just us who were sat a little closer. Towards the end of the evening Michelle got talking to a lovely couple from Manchester who we had a lot in common with, and we ended up staying out quite late as the conversation easily flowed. We finally called it a night at 12:30am which is the second latest we’ve ever still been up in all our cruises! The only time we’ve ever been later than that was New Year’s Eve a long time ago so that really shows how much we’d enjoyed the company of the other couple.

 

 

[DamianG]

Dockside workers in A Coruña, they must use the same tailors as the entertainments staff on Virtuosa?

[MyriamS]

The ham that is 90% fat is not ham, it's pancetta and it's supposed to be very fatty. I quite like it myself but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea.

 

Thanks a lot for your tips: I will check the menu in advance and order everything in one go, including two desserts since the portions are small. 

[DamianG]

Note the “scattered” baked beans on my breakfast plate! 😀

 

[Adawn47]

3 hours ago, DamianG said:

Note the “scattered” baked beans on my breakfast plate! 😀

 

Scattered beans, over cooked sausage, and under cooked eggs. I hope it tasted better than it looked Damian.😃

Avril

[DamianG]

2 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

Scattered beans, over cooked sausage, and under cooked eggs. I hope it tasted better than it looked Damian.😃

Avril

Honestly, I think that the plate I made up myself in the buffet today both looked and tasted better.

 

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Honestly, I think that the plate I made up myself in the buffet today both looked and tasted better.

 

Much better Damian.😋

Avril

[FionaMG]

4 hours ago, DamianG said:

Honestly, I think that the plate I made up myself in the buffet today both looked and tasted better.

 

 

Absolutely! 😂

[DamianG]

Tuesday 30th July 2024

 

We decided to try the Market Place buffet for breakfast and got there around 8:25am. It wasn’t too busy and we were able to quickly choose a variety of hot breakfast items (with an emphasis on the word “hot” after yesteday’s luke warm breakfast in Minuetto). We went to the far end aft where it was quietest and ended up sitting outside where it was really calm and peaceful. There was a staff member on hand keeping all the tables tidy, and he also stopped a lady from entering the buffet wearing swimwear. It was quite misty with a thick sea fret but warm enough to sit outside and overall it was a good dining experience. Without doubt the buffet on MSC Virtuosa is the best we’ve experienced on all our cruises. We still prefer an at seat dining service in general, but on this ship we think that we are better off using the buffet. I really didn’t see that coming at all!

 

After breakfast we had a stroll around the outside decks, starting aft. Every single sunlounger was either occupied by a person, towel, or personal belongings. We checked the time and it was 8:50am, and would estimate around 50% of the sunbeds had a passenger sat on them. It was the same on the top decks and around the main outdoor pool area. We heard later that at some point in the morning staff started removing items from sunloungers which were not occupied by an actual person, though we did not witness this ourselves.

 

At lunchtime we met the in-laws in The Butcher’s Cut. There was a large family group and us so plenty of room inside and not too busy or noisy. We were greeted at the door by a Stanley Tucci lookalike, Specialty Restaurant Manager Luigi Fusco, and a waiter was quickly on hand to introduce himself and present us with proper menus (thank goodness). I asked for the same Pinot Noir that we had a few nights ago, but he apologised advising that they did not stock it. Instead he suggested Malbec which would have been our second choice anyway, and assured us that it was “a good one.” I asked “Argentina, Mendoza?”, and he smiled saying “Yes, the best!” Very good it was too.

 

I started with the Classic Caesar which was as good as it could possibly be, and Michelle chose the Shrimp Cocktail, which she said was really good. For main we both chose the 14 ounce New York Sirloin, medium rare and cooked to perfection, probably the best steak I’ve ever had. Our only issue was that for us it was far too big, so if we ever return again we would choose the 8 ounce filet mignon instead. For dessert I had the banana date cake with rum toffee sauce which was superb, and Michelle chose peanut butter and milk chocolate cookie which she found a little dry though the ice cream helped. Michelle’s parents both chose lamb chops for their main, and New York Cheesecake for dessert. Kyle was able to have fries as a starter, penne marinara as a main course, and chocolate lava cake for dessert. Michelle’s parents grumbled about the lamb chops a little, but everyone seemed to enjoyed the experience.

 

We were completely stuffed after all that, so we escorted Kyle back to the cabin and found that our steward had left macarons, dark chocolate, and prosecco, as gifts in line with our Voyager’s Club membership status. Such a nice touch considering that it is our first MSC cruise! After we’d freshened up Michelle and I went for a stroll around the ship. There are a few small deck tiers aft, and we noticed two free sunloungers, so Michelle claimed them while I went back to the cabin to grab our towels and books. We only lasted just under an hour as it was so hot, but at least it was better than just staying in the cabin again.

 

In the evening we weren’t hungry at all so skipped the Gala Night dinner. We did look at the menu and it was slightly better, but not enough to make us feel like we were missing out. We eventually called in the buffet after 8pm for a light meal, but it was nothing to really be enthused about after the spectacular lunch.

 

We hadn’t arranged to meet with the in-laws but easily found them in the Champagne Bar, and we soon had enough seats for all of us. We were quickly served and each had a glass of Cremante d’Alsace which we prefer to the premium plus drinks package champagne option of Nicolas Feuillatte Brut (which I’m sure that they used to sell in Marks and Spencers?). Though we already had drinks, another waiter walked up to where we are sitting and said “Hello Mr Damian!” How good is that for him to remember my name after only three days onboard?

 

In La Galeria they were handing out headphones for the silent disco which was due to start at 10:45pm. On other ships we’ve always found them to be very noisy occasions, but when we retired for the evening at 11pm it hadn’t really got going and wasn’t noisy at all. Back in the cabin Kyle wanted Michelle to help him with a game so I flicked the TV channels endlessly (including all the foreign language channels) before they finally packed in after midnight.

 

 

 

[showingdiva]

Pleased to hear that you all seem to be enjoying my favourite Virtuosa.   I agree, that Market Place for breakfast is the place to be, not least the vast array of bread, but also choosing daily omelette fillings.   I like the food in the MDR, but prefer it at lunch compared to dinner - that is reserved for one of the specialty venues.

 

I agree that some of the touches MSC have, like your macarons / chocolate / prosecco for your loyalty match and remembering your name given the size and turnover of the ship are really good.   And Kyle continuing to enjoy his dining experiences.

 

   

Edited July 31 by showingdiva

[DamianG]

Wednesday 31st July 2024

 

Michelle and I followed the same breakfast routine in the buffet as yesterday and though it was a lot busier it was still easy to get what we wanted towards the aft end and there was still ample space to sit outside. Cadiz is our favourite port but views from the aft of “la Tacita de Plata” (the “little silver cup” as the city is locally known) were blocked by another ship, Aida Stella, which was docked at the far end parallel to Avenida del Puerto. In all our previous visits we’ve never seen a ship docked there, and it was also the first time that we’ve been on ship that docked on the more industrial eastern side of the cruise berths, rather than the western side nearest to Plaza de Espana (Norwegian Viva had that privilege). We quickly worked out that with a lot of industrial traffic on our side we would be made to catch a shuttle bus to the dock gates rather than walk, but there seemed to be plenty of buses and coaches on hand ready for the hordes.

 

We weren’t in any rush to get off since we had only planned a little shopping and tapas lunch. When we did finally debark, there was a reasonably large queue for shuttle buses but we waited less than five minutes before we were on our way. There was a large roster of buses and coaches waiting and the whole operation was extremely efficient. Michelle’s mum and dad had a slightly different experience with a longer wait, not helped by queue jumpers. When challenged, one person tried to justify queue jumping by saying that their companion had difficulty walking (ironic when so many in the queue, including Michelle’s mum, were using mobility aids). Anyway this person with difficulty walking suddenly turned into Usain Bolt when there was a call for the last two seats on a bus ready to depart. Typical isn’ it?

 

Once I’d worked out how to get Google maps to give me a walking route (rather than driving) we set off through the narrow streets and alleyways. A lot of it was familiar of course, and though we’d be unlikely to ever get completely lost in Cadiz, it’s still easy to take a wrong turn with all the alleyways and miss your intended destination. We found the shop that sells Kyle’s favourite collectibles within 10 minutes then set off again with a particular tapas cafe in mind. Sadly, though it appeared to not be open when we got there, one of the staff got quite cross with me for pulling out some chairs to sit on. He started stacking them again and was shouting “Not open!” I apologised and Michelle asked when will it be open. He then said 10 or 15 minutes so it felt like a bit of an overreaction on his part and put us right off. Naturally we decided to move on and find somewhere else.

 

Kyle really likes patatas bravas but try as we might nowhere seemed to offer them as a tapa. We walked and walked and by now he was getting quite grumpy, not helped by the hot midday sun. After what felt like an endless search we finally came across Taberna Lucio. They did not offer patatas bravas, but did suggest “Papas Aliñadas”, so we were happy to give it a go. The bar itself was very authentic, no “turistas” (apart from us), and had a good menu of tapas. There was no English menu, and the lady serving only had a smattering of English, but we got by with my bit of Spanish knowledge and that just made me like the place even more. We also ordered Tortilla de Patatas, Jamon Iberico, Chorizo Picante, and Gambas Cocidas (omelette, ham, sausage, and prawns). I was wracking my brains trying to remember what Boquerones en Vinegre would be and almost gambled and ordered them anyway. Fortunately, Google translate came to the rescue and saved us from a plate of anchovies, something that is just not to our taste. Kyle had a Coca Cola Zero and we had the usual “dos vasos de vino blanco” which were lovely. Though he is regularly a fussy eater Kyle tried everything and ate most of the jamon and chorizo along with more than his share of the prawns too. I ate most of the Papas Aliñadas, which turned out to be new potatoes in olive oil with diced onion and green peppers, and tinned tuna. New to me but it worked as far as I was concerned. I settled the bill which was only €28.30, and the hostess smiled when I said that it was “Bueno y barato!” (good and cheap). Kyle announced that he really liked the place and had enjoyed the food, which just made it even better, and the earlier fallouts were well and truly done with.

 

We strolled back to the port and were on a shuttle bus heading back in less than five minutes. There were three gangways and ship staff were directing passengers in different directions to try keep them all moving. We were directed to the one furthest aft and there was a bit of a hold up, so we switched to another just 20 metres away and got straight on. Kyle wanted to stay in the cabin so Michelle and I went to the Masters of the Sea pub and sat on the walkway seats overlooking la Galeria. The ship was pretty much deserted and the seats are not the comfiest, so once we got our drinks we moved on to (you guessed it) the Champagne Bar. It wasn’t open but we had the pick of the seats with the atrium area being extremely quiet. The Masters of the Seas has a limited menu of beers, two ciders, and a few cocktails. The cider I would have chosen was out of stock, so I ended up with a pint of Heineken which I didn’t really enjoy. The ship often feels extremely warm around the Champagne Bar in the evenings, but on this occasion the air conditioning was working really well, just the ticket after it was so hot ashore.

 

We returned to the cabin and I spent the rest of the afternoon reading on the balcony. We have a mid-aft balcony cabin and it is the last one on the part of the ship that sticks out (difficult to describe but the last cabin before the balconies are more inwards towards the central area of the ship than outwards towards the sea). This means that we only have balcony neighbours on one side and the lady from next door popped her head around to say hello. She wanted to warn us that somehow when they opened their balcony door that morning, they found that someone had been sick on it! It wasn’t any of their family and at first, they thought it was bird poo, before they went out and saw that it was definitely vomit. Lord knows how that happened, must have been either someone from a balcony above or possibly the top open deck. The mind boggles how it got there, maybe blown in by the wind? What a horrible thing to experience.

 

We went to dinner in the Blue Danube and had pre-prepared by viewing the menu on the ship app. I confused our waiter yet again by asking for four glasses of wine, two Riesling to go with our first course and two Pinot Noir for the mains. I explained that I thought it would be easier for him to get all the drinks in one go. He shot off without asking the in-laws what they wanted then when he returned, he gave us the Riesling and tried to give them the Pinot Noir. We explained it again and the penny dropped, and Michelle’s dad sent him scurrying off again for a beer.

 

He eventually returned to take our orders, and the first courses were served at 8pm, 45 minutes after we arrived. As Michelle said, we were not in a rush anyway and at least this time we had our drinks earlier. Michelle had Seafood and Vegetable Potsticker combo, which were like mini spring rolls and pastry parcels, and she enjoyed it. I had the Tuna Niçoise salad which I enjoyed, though I found the small deep dish it was served in a little tricky (I was slightly worried of being a bit clumsy and launching a tomato or olive across the restaurant!). Michelle’s mum had the same and requested “no anchovies” but inevitably they were in the dish. Every starter salad comes with a choice of the same eight dressings. I just stuck with a classic French dressing, and it was very good. Having a choice just lead to confusion for Michelle’s dad, but her mum ordered ranch dressing on his behalf (same as her) and they both liked it.

 

We both ordered Prime Roast Beef Sirloin for main (with roast potatoes, oven roasted root vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and merlot red wine sauce). Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? Sadly, it was anything but. We both asked for medium rare, Michelle’s was medium at best, mine was overcooked and tough and I left quite a bit of it (which is extremely unusual for me). The Yorkshire pudding was like a budget price supermarket frozen version, really disappointing, and the roasted veg was roughly chopped, not particularly tasty, and scattered on the plate. I did enjoy the potatoes! Considering the request for no anchovies on the salad being ignored, and neither of us getting medium rare beef, and the often lukewarm food, my suspicion is that some or all of these courses are just pre-plated waiting to be collected, rather than being cooked and prepared to order. Even allowing for the huge volume of covers and the requirements of mass production, it’s not been up to the standards of other ships we’ve experienced recently (and even then, we think that those have gone downhill in recent years, so the benchmark isn’t high at all).

 

When the plates were cleared Michelle’s mum complained about the food being cold, and the waiter apologised and said that he would pass on the feedback.

 

For dessert, Michelle chose warm apple strudel with vanilla custard. Her dad grumbled about the small amount of custard, so she swapped with him, though she hardly had much more herself. The strudel was indeed “warm”, shame that the custard wasn’t even that! I had Gateau Opera, which was delicious and the absolute highlight of the meal.

 

After dinner everywhere seemed busy so we ended up on the edge of l’Atelier Bar & Art. It was difficult getting five seats, not helped by some families allowing their kids to use up two seats with their feet on one! Anyway I was soon seated with everyone else but it wasn’t a great position and the table was too small for card games. It was super busy and took an age to get served, with Michelle’s mum eventually waving and shouting at a waiter who had missed us completely (and typically taken orders from others who arrived after us). Again, that’s not a criticism of the serving staff who are run off their feet. Talking of which, when we have been in l’Atelier Bar & Art, Hola!, and the Butchers Cut, there seems to be an endless array of suited managers who walk in and inspect things, then pull waiting staff aside to adjust things like a discarded chair not pushed back under a table, or glasses not cleared away, or a display item slightly out of place. I could be completely wrong of course, but it feels like middle managers trying to justify their status and/or jobs? Why not just quietly make those adjustments themselves? It all seems very officious just for the sake of it to me.

 

Around 9:45pm the whole Galeria area quietened down significantly, and we now had waiters available everywhere. We decided to try the Champagne bar and there were lots of spare tables and chairs, so we moved there and were immediately more comfortable. We’d brought our drinks with us so didn’t need anything, but our friendly waiter still came over and gave me a real fright by putting his hand on my shoulder (when I hadn’t noticed him approaching us)! “Good evening Mr Damian” followed by “Hello Sir Michael” to Michelle’s dad. He must have been knighted while we are on holiday with the official letter waiting for him at home! While everyone else played cards I looked at the daily activities and presumably everywhere had quietened down with passengers either going to the show or the outdoor party on deck 15.

 

I didn’t fancy sparkling wine, and Michelle wanted a pina colada, so I went down to the Starship Club on deck 6. Whilst waiting to be served I got chatting to a lovely couple (I think from Merseyside or thereabouts) about different wines and tomorrow’s plans in port. As ever, I’d happily chat to them again but it’s unlikely with circa 6k passengers onboard. The Starship Club is a brilliant bar, and the staff are fantastic, but when I went for the next round of drinks there was a huge queue, so I gave up and tried l’Atelier Bar & Art instead. I was quickly served but it took an age for the drinks to be delivered, and the rest of our party thought I’d been chatting again! I wish I had as it was over fifteen minutes waiting! I’m not sure why, it wasn’t that busy. Maybe they were missing something for Michelle and her mum’s pina coladas?

 

We decided to call it a day at 11:45pm. Kyle had already gone back to the cabin, so I suggested to Michelle that we go up to deck 15 just to see if the party was still in full swing. It wasn’t, but we did notice loads of passengers heading towards the Market Place buffet, which was a surprise as the app states that it closes at 9:30pm. It turns out that it is open for “late night snacks” from 11:30pm-1am, but it seems that they don’t want to advertise this. Clearly lots of passengers knew this as it was incredibly busy. We didn’t get anything for ourselves, but we did grab a slice of pizza marinara for Kyle, as he has often talked about trying the “midnight buffet”. It had ended up as another unintentional late night and this time the cabin TV wasn’t on for long at all.

 

 

 

Edited August 1 by DamianG

[showingdiva]

You need to find the restaurant manager.  His name will be on the cabin TV channel, but it's something like Vincenzo or thereabouts.   He sorted a MDR issue for my friends, who were first time MSC passengers.   He's usually standing in the door way of a restaurant on one of the two floors.

 

The opera cake is lovely.   Almost as good as the panna cotta!

 

Do try the fish and chips in Masters.   Very good.

[MyriamS]

The "Sir Michael" bit made me giggle! 

 

I wonder if I should try to order my steak rare on MSC, or just give up and order something else entirely. An overcooked steaked is basically inedible to me, but I don't like sending food back.

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, MyriamS said:

The "Sir Michael" bit made me giggle! 

 

I wonder if I should try to order my steak rare on MSC, or just give up and order something else entirely. An overcooked steaked is basically inedible to me, but I don't like sending food back.

 

I don't like sending food back either but sometime you just have to. If you don't, not only will they never learn but they will also not take on board the fact that you were dissatisfied.

On a couple of occasions on another line, I've had a medium-rare steak come out still mooing on the plate. Sent them back and received acceptable ones in their place.

[DamianG]

5 hours ago, MyriamS said:

The "Sir Michael" bit made me giggle! 

 

I wonder if I should try to order my steak rare on MSC, or just give up and order something else entirely. An overcooked steaked is basically inedible to me, but I don't like sending food back.

You will all be delighted to know that I have now been knighted as well having just been referred to as “Sir Damian” as well. I’m just undecided if to add “of Leeds” on the end of it or “of the Champagne Bar”. 😉

Edited August 1 by DamianG

[purplesea]

How about having the title Duke of Leeds and you will have your own pub.

 

It's the name of a pub near here, in Leedstown, which we used to own.

[amurray88]

23 hours ago, DamianG said:

Wednesday 31st July 2024

 

Michelle and I followed the same breakfast routine in the buffet as yesterday and though it was a lot busier it was still easy to get what we wanted towards the aft end and there was still ample space to sit outside. Cadiz is our favourite port but views from the aft of “la Tacita de Plata” (the “little silver cup” as the city is locally known) were blocked by another ship, Aida Stella, which was docked at the far end parallel to Avenida del Puerto. In all our previous visits we’ve never seen a ship docked there, and it was also the first time that we’ve been on ship that docked on the more industrial eastern side of the cruise berths, rather than the western side nearest to Plaza de Espana (Norwegian Viva had that privilege). We quickly worked out that with a lot of industrial traffic on our side we would be made to catch a shuttle bus to the dock gates rather than walk, but there seemed to be plenty of buses and coaches on hand ready for the hordes.

 

We weren’t in any rush to get off since we had only planned a little shopping and tapas lunch. When we did finally debark, there was a reasonably large queue for shuttle buses but we waited less than five minutes before we were on our way. There was a large roster of buses and coaches waiting and the whole operation was extremely efficient. Michelle’s mum and dad had a slightly different experience with a longer wait, not helped by queue jumpers. When challenged, one person tried to justify queue jumping by saying that their companion had difficulty walking (ironic when so many in the queue, including Michelle’s mum, were using mobility aids). Anyway this person with difficulty walking suddenly turned into Usain Bolt when there was a call for the last two seats on a bus ready to depart. Typical isn’ it?

 

Once I’d worked out how to get Google maps to give me a walking route (rather than driving) we set off through the narrow streets and alleyways. A lot of it was familiar of course, and though we’d be unlikely to ever get completely lost in Cadiz, it’s still easy to take a wrong turn with all the alleyways and miss your intended destination. We found the shop that sells Kyle’s favourite collectibles within 10 minutes then set off again with a particular tapas cafe in mind. Sadly, though it appeared to not be open when we got there, one of the staff got quite cross with me for pulling out some chairs to sit on. He started stacking them again and was shouting “Not open!” I apologised and Michelle asked when will it be open. He then said 10 or 15 minutes so it felt like a bit of an overreaction on his part and put us right off. Naturally we decided to move on and find somewhere else.

 

Kyle really likes patatas bravas but try as we might nowhere seemed to offer them as a tapa. We walked and walked and by now he was getting quite grumpy, not helped by the hot midday sun. After what felt like an endless search we finally came across Taberna Lucio. They did not offer patatas bravas, but did suggest “Papas Aliñadas”, so we were happy to give it a go. The bar itself was very authentic, no “turistas” (apart from us), and had a good menu of tapas. There was no English menu, and the lady serving only had a smattering of English, but we got by with my bit of Spanish knowledge and that just made me like the place even more. We also ordered Tortilla de Patatas, Jamon Iberico, Chorizo Picante, and Gambas Cocidas (omelette, ham, sausage, and prawns). I was wracking my brains trying to remember what Boquerones en Vinegre would be and almost gambled and ordered them anyway. Fortunately, Google translate came to the rescue and saved us from a plate of anchovies, something that is just not to our taste. Kyle had a Coca Cola Zero and we had the usual “dos vasos de vino blanco” which were lovely. Though he is regularly a fussy eater Kyle tried everything and ate most of the jamon and chorizo along with more than his share of the prawns too. I ate most of the Papas Aliñadas, which turned out to be new potatoes in olive oil with diced onion and green peppers, and tinned tuna. New to me but it worked as far as I was concerned. I settled the bill which was only €28.30, and the hostess smiled when I said that it was “Bueno y barato!” (good and cheap). Kyle announced that he really liked the place and had enjoyed the food, which just made it even better, and the earlier fallouts were well and truly done with.

 

We strolled back to the port and were on a shuttle bus heading back in less than five minutes. There were three gangways and ship staff were directing passengers in different directions to try keep them all moving. We were directed to the one furthest aft and there was a bit of a hold up, so we switched to another just 20 metres away and got straight on. Kyle wanted to stay in the cabin so Michelle and I went to the Masters of the Sea pub and sat on the walkway seats overlooking la Galeria. The ship was pretty much deserted and the seats are not the comfiest, so once we got our drinks we moved on to (you guessed it) the Champagne Bar. It wasn’t open but we had the pick of the seats with the atrium area being extremely quiet. The Masters of the Seas has a limited menu of beers, two ciders, and a few cocktails. The cider I would have chosen was out of stock, so I ended up with a pint of Heineken which I didn’t really enjoy. The ship often feels extremely warm around the Champagne Bar in the evenings, but on this occasion the air conditioning was working really well, just the ticket after it was so hot ashore.

 

We returned to the cabin and I spent the rest of the afternoon reading on the balcony. We have a mid-aft balcony cabin and it is the last one on the part of the ship that sticks out (difficult to describe but the last cabin before the balconies are more inwards towards the central area of the ship than outwards towards the sea). This means that we only have balcony neighbours on one side and the lady from next door popped her head around to say hello. She wanted to warn us that somehow when they opened their balcony door that morning, they found that someone had been sick on it! It wasn’t any of their family and at first, they thought it was bird poo, before they went out and saw that it was definitely vomit. Lord knows how that happened, must have been either someone from a balcony above or possibly the top open deck. The mind boggles how it got there, maybe blown in by the wind? What a horrible thing to experience.

 

We went to dinner in the Blue Danube and had pre-prepared by viewing the menu on the ship app. I confused our waiter yet again by asking for four glasses of wine, two Riesling to go with our first course and two Pinot Noir for the mains. I explained that I thought it would be easier for him to get all the drinks in one go. He shot off without asking the in-laws what they wanted then when he returned, he gave us the Riesling and tried to give them the Pinot Noir. We explained it again and the penny dropped, and Michelle’s dad sent him scurrying off again for a beer.

 

He eventually returned to take our orders, and the first courses were served at 8pm, 45 minutes after we arrived. As Michelle said, we were not in a rush anyway and at least this time we had our drinks earlier. Michelle had Seafood and Vegetable Potsticker combo, which were like mini spring rolls and pastry parcels, and she enjoyed it. I had the Tuna Niçoise salad which I enjoyed, though I found the small deep dish it was served in a little tricky (I was slightly worried of being a bit clumsy and launching a tomato or olive across the restaurant!). Michelle’s mum had the same and requested “no anchovies” but inevitably they were in the dish. Every starter salad comes with a choice of the same eight dressings. I just stuck with a classic French dressing, and it was very good. Having a choice just lead to confusion for Michelle’s dad, but her mum ordered ranch dressing on his behalf (same as her) and they both liked it.

 

We both ordered Prime Roast Beef Sirloin for main (with roast potatoes, oven roasted root vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and merlot red wine sauce). Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? Sadly, it was anything but. We both asked for medium rare, Michelle’s was medium at best, mine was overcooked and tough and I left quite a bit of it (which is extremely unusual for me). The Yorkshire pudding was like a budget price supermarket frozen version, really disappointing, and the roasted veg was roughly chopped, not particularly tasty, and scattered on the plate. I did enjoy the potatoes! Considering the request for no anchovies on the salad being ignored, and neither of us getting medium rare beef, and the often lukewarm food, my suspicion is that some or all of these courses are just pre-plated waiting to be collected, rather than being cooked and prepared to order. Even allowing for the huge volume of covers and the requirements of mass production, it’s not been up to the standards of other ships we’ve experienced recently (and even then, we think that those have gone downhill in recent years, so the benchmark isn’t high at all).

 

When the plates were cleared Michelle’s mum complained about the food being cold, and the waiter apologised and said that he would pass on the feedback.

 

For dessert, Michelle chose warm apple strudel with vanilla custard. Her dad grumbled about the small amount of custard, so she swapped with him, though she hardly had much more herself. The strudel was indeed “warm”, shame that the custard wasn’t even that! I had Gateau Opera, which was delicious and the absolute highlight of the meal.

 

After dinner everywhere seemed busy so we ended up on the edge of l’Atelier Bar & Art. It was difficult getting five seats, not helped by some families allowing their kids to use up two seats with their feet on one! Anyway I was soon seated with everyone else but it wasn’t a great position and the table was too small for card games. It was super busy and took an age to get served, with Michelle’s mum eventually waving and shouting at a waiter who had missed us completely (and typically taken orders from others who arrived after us). Again, that’s not a criticism of the serving staff who are run off their feet. Talking of which, when we have been in l’Atelier Bar & Art, Hola!, and the Butchers Cut, there seems to be an endless array of suited managers who walk in and inspect things, then pull waiting staff aside to adjust things like a discarded chair not pushed back under a table, or glasses not cleared away, or a display item slightly out of place. I could be completely wrong of course, but it feels like middle managers trying to justify their status and/or jobs? Why not just quietly make those adjustments themselves? It all seems very officious just for the sake of it to me.

 

Around 9:45pm the whole Galeria area quietened down significantly, and we now had waiters available everywhere. We decided to try the Champagne bar and there were lots of spare tables and chairs, so we moved there and were immediately more comfortable. We’d brought our drinks with us so didn’t need anything, but our friendly waiter still came over and gave me a real fright by putting his hand on my shoulder (when I hadn’t noticed him approaching us)! “Good evening Mr Damian” followed by “Hello Sir Michael” to Michelle’s dad. He must have been knighted while we are on holiday with the official letter waiting for him at home! While everyone else played cards I looked at the daily activities and presumably everywhere had quietened down with passengers either going to the show or the outdoor party on deck 15.

 

I didn’t fancy sparkling wine, and Michelle wanted a pina colada, so I went down to the Starship Club on deck 6. Whilst waiting to be served I got chatting to a lovely couple (I think from Merseyside or thereabouts) about different wines and tomorrow’s plans in port. As ever, I’d happily chat to them again but it’s unlikely with circa 6k passengers onboard. The Starship Club is a brilliant bar, and the staff are fantastic, but when I went for the next round of drinks there was a huge queue, so I gave up and tried l’Atelier Bar & Art instead. I was quickly served but it took an age for the drinks to be delivered, and the rest of our party thought I’d been chatting again! I wish I had as it was over fifteen minutes waiting! I’m not sure why, it wasn’t that busy. Maybe they were missing something for Michelle and her mum’s pina coladas?

 

We decided to call it a day at 11:45pm. Kyle had already gone back to the cabin, so I suggested to Michelle that we go up to deck 15 just to see if the party was still in full swing. It wasn’t, but we did notice loads of passengers heading towards the Market Place buffet, which was a surprise as the app states that it closes at 9:30pm. It turns out that it is open for “late night snacks” from 11:30pm-1am, but it seems that they don’t want to advertise this. Clearly lots of passengers knew this as it was incredibly busy. We didn’t get anything for ourselves, but we did grab a slice of pizza marinara for Kyle, as he has often talked about trying the “midnight buffet”. It had ended up as another unintentional late night and this time the cabin TV wasn’t on for long at all.

 

 

 

When I said the food was inedible the "Prime Sirloin" is exactly what I was talking about...and may I say, yours looks a huge amount better than ours did (which says alot!). Ours was a slim, single slice of what can only be described as a mushy pink liquidy substance. 

 

I agree about the middle manager thing too. We spoke to them a few times with a couple of (what I thought) simple requests but we found them very unhelpful. I'm sure they work hard too but I'm not sure what they do makes a difference.

[DamianG]

Thursday 1st August 2024

 

We were up early for breakfast in the Market Place buffet as usual and Kyle stayed in the cabin with his room service order delivered a little earlier than expected. Unfortunately, when we returned he had been sick so that threw our morning plans and we stayed in the cabin until lunchtime while he slept and recovered. Ironically, he was adamant that it was the late-night pizza that had made him sick.

 

Our plan was to just walk from the cruise berth in Malaga to the nearby Malagueta beach, but by the time we were ready I was feeling hungry, so I delayed us slightly whilst I went to buffet again to pick up some snacks. I got a bread roll and some ham and cheese, then to my absolute astonishment spotted some pork pies which I just had to try. It must have been a Yorkshire Day special, and we really enjoyed them.

 

Suitably refuelled we packed our things and made our way down to the gangway, where as we expected lots of passengers were getting back onboard. Then again, we always say that it doesn’t matter what time you get off any ship, there is always someone coming the other way, even early in the morning, having been off, seen it all and done it all. Typically, we were invisible to quite a few passengers trudging back on to the ship with their heads down and not expecting anyone to be walking in the opposite direction.

 

The walk to Malagueta beach was just over 10 minutes, but that was enough for Kyle in the hot sun, so we just set up quite near to the entrance rather than walking a bit further to find some sun beds. Kyle and Michelle soon made their way into the sea, but not before we realised that we’d made a huge mistake forgetting her and my flip flops, as the sand was absolutely scorching hot. They stayed in the water for around 20 minutes then returned and told me all about the pebbles and stones underfoot. I’m no swimmer but I don’t mind a paddle so I went in with Kyle and practically ran down the sand trying not to burn my feet. I have very sensitive skin, so the sharp stones and seashells underfoot were a real challenge for me, but I did manage to walk out to waist deep and though the water was a little cold at first it was easy to acclimatise to. Kyle said he was getting out again within 10 minutes which was fine by me, though I always feel a little guilty at not being much company for him in these circumstances.

 

Michelle went back in the sea with him then when they returned I set off in search of some soft drinks for us. I headed towards the Marina and must have been gone over 20 minutes, as when I returned, they had packed everything up and were ready to go back to the ship. If I’d just walked a little further down the beach, there were kiosks where I could have got something a lot quicker. We’d been ashore under 2 hours, better than nothing, but probably could have spent longer there if we’d secured some sun beds and remembered the flip flops.

 

Back onboard we all freshened up then Michelle and I spent time on the balcony. I got us some drinks for sailaway, and we enjoyed spotting the coastline towns and villages on departure. We went to dinner in the Blue Danube, and we noticed that the table number also now carried the name of our waiter, Rumkumala. He also had a little help this time and seemed a bit more relaxed than previously. I asked for two glasses of Viognier, and they were quickly served. We liked it so much that I was about to ask for two more glasses, only for Rumkumala to beat me to it, already having the bottle in hand ready to top us up. Great service and a clear sign of improvement. Michelle wanted to try the calamari and cuttlefish salad starter and the golden corn fritters, so she asked Kyle to order the latter as a starter. I also chose that and really enjoyed them, especially with the roasted pepper sambal (sauce). We both picked creamy risotto with four cheese sorts and chopped pistachios. It ate like it looked, not creamy at all, pistachio overpowering any semblance of cheese flavour, and (in my opinion anyway) poorly presented. Yet again, our dessert choice, chocolate cream layer cake, was an absolute winner.

 

After dinner we went to the Champagne Bar and easily got some seats. Within minutes an even more suitable table became available so we moved there. Our friendly waiter greeted us and we now know that his name is Oliver. He got champagne for us, a beer for Michelle’s dad, and an off-menu Buck’s Fizz for her mum (which she didn’t like and chose not to drink anyway, typical). He then brought her a Mimosa Blossom which she liked, and had another on his tray which I presumed was for another table. He then surprised us by saying that he’d brought it for me to try! Obviously I couldn’t say no but one was enough for me, especially once I’d found out that it is made with vodka which is not my taste at all. I did finish it though, just to be sure I didn’t like it!

 

Before retiring to the cabin Michelle and I went to La Galeria to see the Space Party in action. It wasn’t as busy as other party nights but those that were there were having a great time, and the DJ and dancers were giving it everything as usual. I recorded a video and when I viewed it back afterwards particularly liked the couple who were just passing though but continued to dance all the way up La Galeria, even through the shopping area!

 

 

 

Edited August 2 by DamianG

[po go]

Were your in laws at dinner? 

what are the pools, hot tubs slides like?  any theatre shows plan to see?

great pictures

 

 

 

Edited August 2 by po go