THE MOST INSANE EMBARKATION! MSC Virtuosa - Vlog 1: Embarkation day, Southampton
Vložit
- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- Hello, and welcome to my new vlog series! In this series, I'm boarding MSC Virtuosa for a 7-night cruise to the 'Northern Cities' over New Year. This means we'll be leaving Southampton (England) and visiting Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge and Le Havre (Paris), so stay tuned to see what each of these ports can offer you on your travels!
In this episode, I've just driven south after spending Christmas in Glasgow, and it's time to board the ship at Southampton's new Horizon Cruise Terminal - I still can't believe the time it took to board...!
After getting on board, I'll walk you through MSC's muster drill process, and also give you a flavour to what life on 'day 1' on an MSC ship is really like - let's go!
If you're new to my channel, hello! I'm Fraser, and I'm hoping to use this channel to show you why I love the world of 'cruise' so much. So, for now, hit that subscribe button and let's go - I've got SO MUCH to show you!
Video chapters:
Introduction: 00:02
Horizon Cruise Terminal: 01:25
Boarding the ship: 03:00
Virtuosa's promenade/Galleria: 03:32
Top deck - first impressions: 03:58
First stop - the Buffet for pizza: 04:38
Digital screens: 08:44
Time for the Muster Drill: 09:24
Thermal Suite - first impressions: 13:17
First impressions, the plan for tonight & are MSC still good for solo travellers?!: 13:38
#cruise #cruisevlog #cruiseship #msccruises #msccrociere #mscvirtuosa #cruisevlogger #cruiseline #travelvlog #travelvlogger #travel #ship
Loved hearing your honesty about feeling anxious before boarding as a solo traveler. I’ve traveled solo on at least 7 cruises and all have been a great success! But I still feel nervous on day 1 of a cruise. And sometimes even on day 2, I’m saying “what have I done?” “Why did I do this?” because I haven’t met any people or things just aren’t clicking. But by the end of the cruise, I always make friends, have favorite bartenders, and absolutely don’t want to get off the ship!! My tip to solo travelers is to give it time. Be patient and you’ll probably end up loving it.
Yeah, I completely agree - I always hate the feeling on the first night when it can feel like the whole ship has connected with each other, and you’re still on your own. Great advice re give it time - on my first Virgin cruise, I didn’t meet friends until the final night, haha!
Was the ship full ?
So far looks beautiful stunning ship - looking forward to see “ This is the way” MSC way 😀 ty - for the take on things 👍
Me and my friend have booked virtuosa end of may for 5 day cruise! Sooo excited!
Amazing Susan! Have you been onboard before? Have a ball!
Beautiful ship! Bit of a strange muster. Can't wait for more! Thanks Fraser!
Thanks for watching! :)
Hi Fraser! MSC is on my list. I will be watching to see more of your experiences.
Lovely to see the ship again! I can’t believe that you didn’t mention your super solo dining companions ! I will have to look out for your next instalment
Jan
Always so nice to see your name pop up, Jan! Don’t worry - you guys get dropped into future videos - watch this space, haha! Hope you’re doing well!
Hey Fraser. Thanks for the blog. We also found the new Horizon terminal so quick for embarkation. We love it
Hey! I couldn’t believe it - almost didn’t stop moving until I got on the ship - excellent service. Thanks for stopping by!
Is there fast track boarding?
We also found that same open deck area at the aft area outside the buffet, and had breakfast or coffee there each morning in quiet surroundings staring out to sea or port.
Absolute bliss - we sound like very similar cruisers!
look forward to seeing how the solo side of it worked out. Hope it was as good as you found on previous cruises.
Don’t worry - more info to follow on this - I’m always really disappointed when solo stuff doesn’t appear!
Great vlog! Going on Virtuosa in May!
Thanks so much! There should be plenty on the channel for you to enjoy - I looooove Virtuosa. Thanks so much for watching!
@@FraserAtSea we will be watching the whole series! 😊
@@lowdowntravel oh, thanks so much! Annoyingly these are my much older videos before I learned more about filming and audio, so please cast a kind eye for me!! :)
@@FraserAtSea they are fab!
Hi Fraser as ever, very impressed with the info and its presentation. Thank you. We did 4 cruises on Virtuosa over 2021 & 22. 3x in Yacht Club (when they were giving LARGE NHS discounts) and 1 in "Bella Experience." So we like the ship and MSC. The muster drills were slightly different each time, and the preparatory information wasn't terribly clear. But we are used to all cruiselines being somewhat imperfect, so not a real problem. The last 2 embarkations were fast, too. 10 mins, one a YC and the other Bella, indeed with our Voyagers Club status giving us Priority boarding for the Bella cruise, it turned out the longer 'Priority ' queue processed slower than the normal queue. So if we hadn't bothered with Priority it would have been 5 mins! Both times, the ship was near capacity.
Ha, so funny you say that about the priority queue - I’ve found that with quite a few recent trips - better not bothering with the ‘premium’ side of the rope…!!
Out of curiosity, which was your Bella cruise not in YC? As a non YC cruiser, I can’t even imagine what it’s like to check into the ship and not be allowed into your usual YC luxury zone, haha!
@Fraser at Sea The Bella experience was the France and Spain out of Southampton itinerary, June 23rd '22. YC is lovely, 1st time was a bit of a culture shock, instead of staying in YC we were routinely in the main ship buffet eating pizza, sitting at the main pool, watching Rob the Robot whilst not buying his drinks and not bothering the butler! We did love the YC sundeck for the calm atmosphere. The 2nd and 3rd time we spent more time in YC and ate mostly there. The sundeck bar and 'snack bar' are great. We still basically tried not to bother the butler (not our nature), listened to a phone call to him from a YC cabin asking him to visit the cabin to 'make' them a pot of tea! Still using the bowling alley, the 4D cinema, all the main ship bars and our Voyagers club speciality restaurant the steak joint or the Mexican cantina. Done 7 MSC cruises shan't do YC again as the big discounts are gone, but will do MSC Bella and Fantastica as we did before. No cruiseline is perfect, but we aren't too.
Hey Fraser. Great to see your new vlog. I hope you did manage to sit with other solo travellers for dinner on that first evening?
We are back on Virtuosa on 10th March. Im so chuffed I came across you back end of last year, as its you that convinced me to go on an MSC Ship, and now this is my third time on Virtuosa too...just love it...Terry
Hey Terry, always good to see your name pop up. I’m also so glad that you found the channel - I absolutely love when people here give cruising a try and fall in love with it - I remember before your first one so well!
Hopefully see you onboard at some point for a beer!
@@FraserAtSea ahh cheers Fraser - absolutely, that would be great to catch up in person and have a beer...
Been on 51 cruises now - the majority with Princess, though I have to say, im quickly turning more and more to MSC for sure
I agree, strange that they wanted to make you pick a set time for the thermal suite. That isn't usually how those passes work.
Yeah, this was my thought - seemed so unusual, and I’d actually be tempted against booking it in future if this is common practice…!
Sounded like you said today is the 30th November & tomorrow is New Year [28 secs], maybe it's just the accent ... Long time since I have seen any of my Scottish relatives, so the ear isn't as tuned in as it once was.
Don’t worry - I probably need to work on ‘neutralising’ my accent sometimes, haha! Thanks so much for watching - hope you enjoyed :)
Virtuosa is my favorite ship
Hi Jamie, just watched you on the TV for a change. Which terminal do P&O sail from?
Hey! Which port are you referring to?
Great video never done MSC before what are the drink prices like ?
Hey! To be honest, really reasonable. They do some fantastic deals with packages included (this is the only time I’ll take the drinks package). Typically, I’d say for you to expect to pay about £5 for a beer / £9 for a glass of wine, so could be much worse!
Question: Hey Fraser, can I ask...... Can you check the menu in the MDR before hand. (On a large TV screen outside the restaurant as on Iona) or maybe on the MSC app? I'm going on Virtuosa soon and would be useful to know. Many thanks, Vik
Hey! I don’t recall them displaying the menu outside on this ship, but do know that it’s available on the app once you board :)
@@FraserAtSea That's good to know, thanks Fraser for taking time to reply. Very helpful 👍
@@VikPaints no problem - any time!
Do you have to book to see shows and are they free?
So the shows in the main theatre are all free (included with your cruise), but the ‘speciality’ shows (the ones in the fancy round theatre at the back of the ship) are extra. You’ll save a few ££ if you book before you board!
Oh interesting, so MSC isn’t making everyone go to muster at the same time? NCL has reverted to the mass muster, not looking forward to that.
The mass muster drill is such a sad thing to see reappear post covid - I’m praying they decide to stick to digital as long as possible!
What’s the Thermal suite? Does it have a hot tub or hydrotherapy pool?
Hey! The thermal suite is the area of the spa with the hydro pools, sauna, steam room etc! It’s a really lovely space!
Nice video. Good content. Music is annoying.
Have you considered having fewer selfies. The video is supposed to be about the ship, and cruising, not YOU.
Hey, sorry you feel this way - thanks for watching. On the vlogs, you’ll see me on there too.
How many where on board?
We had a full ship!
@@FraserAtSea could you still get drinks and food ok ?
Or just more queues?
@@garyatkinson5699 yeah, all okay, but busy yes. Don’t worry - I didn’t have too many issues!
@@FraserAtSea thank you 🙏