MSC Virtuosa – Image © 2024 MSC Cruises S.A. All rights reserved.

So, what does a man do when he needs a short break and his wife is too busy to get away? Go on a short cruise of course!

After a hunt around for a short notice cruise, one that had single availability and ideally in and out of Southampton I found this 4-day UK/Ireland cruise on MSC Virtuosa.

Ok, let’s be honest about the reviews I read after booking the cruise. They were mixed to say the least, but I like to form my own opinions and try things first hand.

It’s a beast of a ship with a capacity of over 6,000 guests and lots to do, plenty of restaurants, bars, entertainment.

So, for the sake of 4 days, I gave it and MSC Cruises a go.

Itinerary

Day 1 – Embark Southampton, Sail PM

Day 2 – At Sea

Day 3 – Cork, Ireland

Day 4 – Portland, Dorset

Day 5 – Disembark Southampton

Travel to Southampton

Normally when sailing in and out of Southampton we drive down and either use park and stay at a local hotel or park in the Southampton area. As I drive an electric car with a range of about 180 miles, this wasn’t practical so pre-booked rail travel from Peterborough to Southampton.

About from having to travel through London on the Underground with a decent sized case, it went well although the aftermath of floods meant trains south of London were cancelled/delayed; it only cost me 45 minutes so I couldn’t really complain and £10 (including tip) in a taxi got me to the Horizon Terminal in plenty of time for my boarding slot.

Boarding

No problem with boarding at all, as has been our experience at Southampton previously. I had pre-completed all the boarding pass checks I could, downloaded the pass onto my phone and there really weren’t many formalities to complete and I was free to board MSC Virtuosa.

Nearly there!
Nearly there!

Ship

One thing I always do prior to cruising is visit the Cruise Line’s website and have a read through the features and areas of the ship as well as checking out YouTube for any Vlogs of the ship.

Make no mistake, Virtuosa is BIG and in all honesty, I immediately felt lost amongst the dazzling staircases etc. I needed to go straight to my cabin, which was ready nice and early, to collect my sea pass that would obviously be crucial whilst onboard.

Stateroom

One of the quirks when late booking this cruise was that for a single cabin the price of the interior, ocean view and balcony were all the same! It was therefore a no brainer to choose a balcony.

I don’t know where to start with my stateroom, I thought it was magnificent. The ship is relatively new still, but the stateroom (and the whole ship) had been kept in great shape and indeed still looked new. The stateroom was roomy, had a big double bed, a good-sized sofa and the bathroom was of a good size with a really roomy shower.

Balcony Stateroom 13237
Balcony Stateroom 13237

I must also mention the cabin attendant, Acton, who really looked after me and the cabin during the cruise and did a great job.

Public Spaces/Shops

As you would expect on a ship of its size, there were plenty of public spaces spread throughout the ship. That said, the weather really wasn’t great for most of the cruise, so it did feel cramped and busy when most people were below deck.

Food

This for me was the most disappointing aspect of the cruise.

Pre-allocation of both main dining room (they had 4) and time should have made dining easy. However, on the first night I duly went to the Blue Danube restaurant at my appointed time to be met by a huge queue and I didn’t fancy the wait.

I therefore went to the Marketplace Buffet to try it out. It was a huge area with plenty of choice but I thought it was a bit ‘samey’ for lunch and dinner, but the quality was good. I decided to therefore eat my lunch and dinner there throughout the cruise.

I did use the Minuetto main dining room for breakfast and lunch each day. Again, the food quality I found to be good but with so many people trying to get into the one and only open main dining restaurant, queues were big as were the wait times long. The staff worked hard to try and keep up, but the basics were often missing; no teaspoon on the table; orders taken but not correctly written down; small things but they all added up.

Lunch time at the Minuetto main dining room
Lunch time at the Minuetto main dining room

I can’t comment on the speciality dining as I didn’t use any of them on this short cruise, but there were plenty of them!

Bars

There were 21 bars around the ship, external and internal. Again, like they restaurants, they were usually very busy and there was always a wait time in peak periods.

Entertainment

I was really disappointed with this. I expected at least one production show in the 4 days but the best we got was a song and dance show on the first night that was ok at best and nothing else they put on in the main theatre appealed to me.

They spent a lot of time and effort promoting the two shows at the Carousel Lounge. These were bespoke shows with singers and artistic dangers, and these were not included in the cruise fare but came with a signature cocktail; again, not for me.

Staff

I’ve already mentioned my cabin attendant Acton, he was great.

Whilst the rest of the crew I interacted with were fine, there was never a feeling of going out of their way that I have felt on so many other cruises. With everywhere being busy, almost all of the time, the pressure was on them to get their jobs done but there really was no personal touch on this cruise.

Ports / Excursions

We only had two port visits, Cobh in Ireland and Portland Dorset. I wandered off the ship in Cobh, a quaint town, walked around and had the obligatory pint of Guinness!

MSC Virtuosa berthed in Cobh, Ireland
MSC Virtuosa berthed in Cobh, Ireland

I took a ship bought shore excursion to the Bovington Tank Museum in Portland. An enjoyable excursion with a very good local tour guide and the price point was probably about right.

Summary

This was an OK cruise, but I wasn’t wowed or felt this was the cruise line for me.

On a positive note, the ship was in fantastic condition and was well laid out. I felt the price was fair too.

The Galleria Virtuosa was fantastic with its LED domed ceiling and was the real Centrepoint of the ship for me and it was at times easy to forget you were actually on a ship.

One of the many different LED ceiling displays in Galleria Virtuosa
One of the many different LED ceiling displays in Galleria Virtuosa

I did however find it very gimmicky that I suppose is to please the masses and all age groups. A waterpark, Formula 1 Simulators, 10 pin Bowling, a robotic cocktail dispenser (The Starship Club) and Swarovski Crystal everywhere!

Glitzy and shiny everywhere!
Glitzy and shiny everywhere!

I made a point of not buying any of the many add-ons during the cruise as it seemed so much wasn’t included in the basic cruise price.

It did really feel like a busy ship with 6000+ passengers and when the weather was not good everywhere was extremely busy, as it was every evening too.

The food and entertainment were average and were the biggest disappointment to me.

Finally, of course any cruise is a good cruise, and this is probably the first cruise that I have come away ‘not really feeling it’. I won’t be rushing back to MSC, or MSC Virtuosa as my cruising experience points me to more favoured cruise lines but never say never.

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