- Captain Albert's Website and Blog -

Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

2026 July 13; Bergen, Norway.

July 14, 2026 / / 0 Comments

We did make it to the pilot station at 10.00, and saw the pilot boarding at 09.57. Always nice if you have a cabin in the midships and you recognize the sound of the pilot boat engine. I suppose that will stop when they go electric, but I do not know how good electric engines are versus diesel in bad weather. And they have a lot of that here in the dark winter. Many guests were on the balconies as it was a sunny day with no real wind and 16 knots of relative – ship generated wind- is not something that blows you from your balcony. And it is a scenic ride into town with all the posh houses on the fjords sides interspersed with some industrial activity.  Most of it linked to the North Sea oil exploration. Norway itself derives most of it power needs from White Water but it has large oil deposits and thus sells to the whole world. By 10 am. we were docked with the tranquility of the arrival being broken by announcements of the Cruise Director trying to keep everybody away from the gangway and out of the staircases. In all my years of sailing, I have never been able to figure out what is better: no announcements (so guests are not alerted to the option of going and line up at the gangway) or to make announcements and hope that the guests will listen (mostly they do not).  In port with us was my old ship the ms Maasdam now sailing for Ambassador Cruises as the ms Renaissance and serving the French Market. Later on the Hurtigruten ferry/ cruise ship the Vesteraalens came in. She is officially a mail boat and coastal ferry but a lot of the (few) cabins on board are snapped up by tourists. Especially the Germans as they are heavily focused on it.  Our ship was docked at the Jetkeviken dock, which is a container cargo dock but the regular cruise terminals are too small for a 330 meter long ship. It also means that the walk into downtown Bergen is about 10 minutes longer.

The ms Sky Princess approaching the dock. The terminal facing the sea is the one in use by the local ferries.

As expected, at least 3500 guests marched ashore, so that gave us ample opportunity to inspect and enjoy the ship.  We decided not to go ashore as after a 100+ visits or so, there is not much new to see.  On board we could see a lot more as now there was nobody milling in the way of all the public areas, even if some of them were closed. We even managed to get a free soft ice cream today. There is a complimentary stand on Deck 16 (There is also a Gelato ice cream bar on deck 7, but they charge a considerable amount for artisan Gelato) Yesterday we could not even get near, as there was a enormous pile up of little children in front of it, who were in deep focus on a triple soft ice fix.  (The way that works is, that little Johnny gets a soft ice, rejoins the line, moves through the line while eating the ice cream and is ready for the next one, when arriving at the counter again.)

The Internet Cafe on Deck 7 midships. It is somewhat hidden behind “Collections” which is the chocolate shop. the pocket book exchange is in the back. The two center computer stations have no chairs as they are meant for wheelchair users.

The next discovery was, hidden yesterday by a gaggle of guests who did not know where to go, was the Internet cafe. Complete with printer, so if you have to print out your airline tickets, you do not have to go to the front desk. Here we also found the pocket-book exchange. The ship does not have a library, according to face book, Princess cruises expects everybody to embrace the digital future. But for those who only reluctantly follow modern times, they open up one of the dining rooms for undisturbed reading. In the same way that “The Catch” by Rudi’s restaurant has a section where you can play games. It was only a small pocket book exchange, especially with having 4000 people on board but many might not have found it yet. The only other one I have discovered so far is the one our Concierge lounge but that is not accessible to most guests.

The “Celebration” candy and chocolate store. Although in port the shops were closed, 3 weary shop staff were busy refilling the shelves. Looking at the empty boxes coming out, this shop must be in high demand.

A thing that is more and more coming is the increase of candy and chocolate sales on board. Where a small candy stand was once part of the General Drugstore on board, now a small drugstore section is part of a much larger candy store. If you look at the photo, you see at the top left a read sign hanging from the ceiling: “Spend your on board credit here”. And yes this shop is ideal to get rid of any dollars still left on the account, amounts when not enough left to buy something bigger.

The “Take Five” Jazz Club lounge open everyday from 17,30 onwards.

Another quiet lounge in port is the “Take Five” jazz lounge on the port side, which has a resident Jazz band which plays every evening from 17.30 hrs. onwards. It does not suffer from the “marching crowds” on their way from one show lounge to the other, as it is wedged between  the ships theatre and the photo shop. Main reason is that less people come out of the Show lounge on the lower level and those that do seem to favour flowing / marching through the Casino, which is on the Starboard side. We have not visited  this lounge yet, as we only like old fashioned melodious jazz and are not fans of a Dizzy Gillespy “Glissando’s” going through the sound barrier.

A lonely table in the Piazza, but no goofy’s.

Then we wanted to see what the Cruise Staff did on port days so at noon time we moved to the Piazza for “Goofy Golf” only to find a lonely table but no “goofy’s'” around at all.   There was a cruise staff lady present but she was much more interested n chatting up the Sound Guy then assembling a gaggle of goofy’s to play golf.

But as there was hardly anybody there, I saw for the first time, the center piece sculpture in the lower sitting area.

A double headed bronze sculpture. Located in the lower level sitting area of the Atrium.

I can not tell what it is supposed to be as there was no name plate nearby. And that is a pity, there is a lot of art hanging around the ship but while the framed artwork in the staircases and the corridors all have name plates ( as have the photos in the cabins) the more elaborate art does not.

The art in cabin R604. A photo by a certain Greg S. depicting as shot of the house of Parliament in Budapest and an unknown painting without a description.

I am always very interested in art on board the ships, so I would love to know what this painting is called, who made it, and what it is supposed to mean. Here I can also say that Housekeeping is certainly not into art, as this painting is almost falling out of its frame as the glue around the edges has dried out. But checking that does not seem to be of “perfect cabin set-up” that most ships have.  (Princess has one, as I saw a new cabin steward checking his manual of where the toilet brush should stand. (Left of the toilet when looking in)

We decided to have cocktails on the balcony as it was a very pleasant temperature outside and if you pay for a balcony then you should use it when possible. Our cabin is entitled to canape’s before dinner and what I like is that you have to pre-order them the day before with a sort of Room-Service menu so you can choose out of 5 or  so options. It certainly saves wastage in case people are not in the cabin to eat them, or do not like them.

Then it was time for dinner and as part of our package we had “The Catch” by Rudi included.  We know Rudi Sodamin for a long time. My wife sailed with him in the 1980’s when he was sous chef on the Vistafjord and then for years he was involved with Holland America. That eventually led him to get married to a very rich Dutch Lady that he met during a ms Rotterdam world cruise and with whom he is now living in Monte Carlo. Now he has the “Sel de Mer” restaurants on the Holland America Line ships, “Rudi’s Sea Grill” on the Carnival Ships and “The Catch by Rudi” on the Princess ships.

The menu of “The Catch by Rudi’s” restaurant. The restaurant lay-out is nothing special and I could not get a photo of it, without anybody in it, as nowadays it is so difficult to take photos, especially if there are children in it.

The food was very good, with large portions (The jumbo shrimp looked like the size of a small lobster) and a nice wine list. Service was good, friendly but not very focused, as with the continuous resetting of the tables, it is just a restaurant like the others albeit, with a dedicated menu. Sel de Mer on Holland America started out as a real speciality restaurant with high quality waiters and then it was slowly but steadily was watered down with not so highly trained stewards and having too many guests at the same time for the waiters to serve properly. Here there was no shortage of waiters but they had to keep the pace going to keep it all under control. According  to repeat guests, Princess has been squeezing here  on the product with one full main course removed and the champagne served at the start “watered” down as it used to be in bigger glasses with fruit in the champagne.

This got us through to 22.00 hrs. so we had to skip the show which started at 21.30 hrs. This evening it was an acrobat duo, and her Ladyship prefers shows, so all was well in the world.  When coming back to the cabin, we had another surprise, the TV popped on and showed both our Mugshots on the screen as welcome back. I assume again due to his medallion sending out a signal ahead of our approach.

People who are vain, must love this product as one’s face keeps popping up everywhere.

Tomorrow we are in Skjolden in Sognefjord. And that is a new port for us. It used to be frequented by smaller cruise ships but in 2018 they put in a dock and now the big boys are calling as well. I am looking forward to see how a small town can be engulfed by 4000 invading tourists.

Weather for tomorrow:  Clear Skies, wind still (we are in fjord with steep cliffs on either side) and temperatures with a max. of 27oC / 80oF. so it should be very pleasant to walk to “downtown”.

 

 

 

2026 July 12; At Sea.

July 13, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The Sky Princess. (Photo Courtesy Princess crusies)

Today we are having a sea day so the ship can get to Bergen in Norway. It has to maintain a speed of 19.5 knots to get there on time and I assume that has to do with the fact that it does not fit under the bridge that lets you approach Bergen from the South. S o it can not use the southern entrance & pilot station to the Fjord system in which Bergen is located but has to go to the  northern entrance and then sail south again for 2 hours, to the dock. The captain,  Tony Draper did not elaborate on it. Although he made a nice departure speech it was devoid of much pertinent information.  But watching the crowd while he made his announcement, I did not get the impression that many guests even cared that he made an announcement. The ship is of a size that is it somewhere in between a cruise ship and a floating destination (like the Oasis class of RCI) and then the presence of a captain is pushed more to the catagory of “one of those driving the ship”.  But he has been at sea for 30 years and his first ship was the Island Princess (sister of the Love Boat) the Pacific Princess, a ship I know well as well, as it sailed with us between 1984 and 1986 in Alaska and the winter season to Acapulco.

Captain Tony Draper, Master of the ms Sky Princess. (Photo taken from the ships Daily Program “Princess Patter”)

The Sky Princess came into service in 2019 and of course went out of service again in 2020 when Covid hit the industry. It has a size of 145.282 Gross tons which makes it still a medium sized cruise ship but leaning to the large side. Length of 330 meters with 4 diesel electric engines delivering a maximum speed of 23 knots.  Service speed between 19 and 22 knots, although as with most cruise ships now the service speed lays around 16 knot so the ship can run more efficiently on 2 engines.  Official capacity is 3660 passengers in 1830 cabins (81% with balconies) and a crew of 1200. This cruise we have over 4000 guests on board, courtesy of the school holidays and 1134 crew on board.

This morning we took it slow as we knew that the ship would be large area of “controlled chaos” with over 4000 guests on board. Plus we needed time to figure out how the Princess App works and what you can do with it. Although Princess tries to go digital all the way, it still understands that there are lot of “digitally challenged” people out there and thus there is still a steady stream of paperwork coming to the cabin with all sorts of information and there is still the hard copy of Princess Patter the daily program. (This is named after the daily program on board the first – charter- ship of Princess back in 1965; the Princess Patricia, which was an old ferry . Originally employed between Vancouver and Alaska).  Princess does not stint on things to do on board so going through the densely printed Daily Program takes some time as well. We get fruit in the cabin, and not in small portions and that enough for breakfast after a heavy dinner.

By 11.00 we felt mentally ready to face the Princess world again and went for a walk about and indeed it was very busy everywhere. So if you had not pre-booked for any of the venues then it was hard to get in. Bars and related all had long lines including the International Cafe which s provides free sandwiches and cakes all day, and you only pay for the coffee and drinks. (A bit like the Grand Cafe on Holland America and the Carinthia Lounge on Cunard, but then on a much larger scale; and it is open 24 hours a day. It seems that there are a lot of guests on this ship who wake up around 3 am in the morning and then feel the urgent need make an expedition to Deck 5 to stack up on more calories. We were not surprised that there was a long, long line waiting here and most of those in line were of a weight that should have urged them not to have been in line.

After scrutinising the program we found out that in one dining room (there are three main dining rooms, they are free of charge but you have to book your time) the Estrella, they had a section reserved for Princess Premium guests, and  that includes our cabin. Thus we had to go there to find out what this was. It turned out that the menu was the same but by filtering us out from the rest of the crowd, it was less busy and thus we could have a more relaxed lunch.

With 17 ships, Princess sails everywhere and it has even ships especially designated for the Chinese and Far East market. Which is growing and thus they are dedicating a 3 ships to it.

We were on a mission as at 13.00 hrs., we had to be in the Vista Lounge at the stern to be part of “Cruising with Princess”. Not many people there but the Future Cruise Lady gave a presentation with a little of Princess history, 60 years old this year, what the fleet was made up of,  what new ships were coming and their differences, and where the ships were sailing and how the discount system worked . A sort of “book your cruise” but  without the sales pitch. Also explained was the difference between Princess Plus and Princess Premium the two on board packages that you can buy. We have the premium version which includes nearly everything you want to do.  And if you go to the included speciality restaurants which are all $ 55,– and over, and have a few drinks, then you are already breaking even. Not counting the free internet (for 4 devices, free laundry and a few other things)

Some of the senior hotel staff, participating in the welcome on board games including the Hotel manager.

This was directly followed by “Welcome to new Princess cruisers” happening hosted by the Cruise Director. It was very meagerly attended (we have 1500 new Princess cruisers on board, but only about 50 in the lounge)but turned out to be a nice introduction to Princess with prices given, a few games  and with the participation of the some of the Sr. Hotel Staff. I do not care very much for “Charades” games  but there was free champagne, with refills, so all was well in the world.  Once this was over, we had to run out as it was time for “Bingo”, and we hardly had time to get out of our seats as an tsunami of old ladies swarmed over the lounge all eager to get the best seats in the house.

The digital screen. All the photos you see are from guests whose medallion is in the vinciniity.

Our next mission was the photo shop. As mentioned on day one, we have all digital photos included in our package that we have taken out, so it was time to check what the results were. You can do it from you App. as well and then download them directly but a bigger screen gives more details. Again we came across a nifty thing due to the medallion. Once you come close to the digital display board, your own photos pop up in the rotation of advertised “show photos”. When they take your photo the photographer has a sensor on his camera so the medallion automatically “anchors” the photos taken to your name. All of them appear on the screen and you can delete those you do not want. We are the sinners in the top right.

The whole happening started at 18.15 hrs. with a short show by the cast celebrating drinking champagne.

Then it was time to run back to the cabin to get changed as it was captains formal welcome on board. Princess is really pushing this Formal dress thing but is not getting very far. At least not this cruise. We dressed up but we were in the 10% minority. The most effort I saw was that men had changed into long pants and some of them even made the effort of wearing a jacket and the occasional tie. With such a large ship, I think that Princess has to designate a bar solely for those who make the effort as a sort of thank you. But we like to dress up, so we did. Visited all the Photographers we could find, who were very busy, even with those whose formal consisted out of shorts and a Budweiser T. Shirt.  And then we were lucky to find a space on the edge of the Atrium so we could see the Captains Welcome. 95% of those also around the atrium were still in “beach attire” but nobody seemed to care. I think most guests saw the whole happening as a part of a short show interlude.

The captain advised that this cruise there were 1159 Americans on board and 1134 British and the rest people were from other countries, including 144 from Portugal. He did not go down the complete list (as some captains do, as it is an easy way to get a lot of applause) so I never found out if I was unique with being Dutch.

Captain Tony welcoming everybody on board. I have never seen so many officers introduced. (See the whole circle around the floor) This was done by the Cruise Director but as he only announced name, function and home country it did not take that long. The captain was then the last one to appear, so he could launch directly into his speech.

Which in a way it was, a short show interval, as it was also called  the “Captains Champagne Waterfall”. For this a champagne glasses tower was erected in the Atrium and after the Captains Appearance, the Beverage Manager started poring champagne as a waterfall, down the glasses and guests could join in and have their photo taken. And there were a lot of guests interested.

The Beverage manager on the steps behind the champagne tower starting to pour. A long line was forming on the deck from where I took the photo, of those who wanted to immortailized with the champagne tower.

For us was it was then moving with the crowds towards more food. We had booked Sabatini’s, which is the Italian Restaurant on board. We had already heard that it was extremely popular so we were quite happy to get a reservation at the time of 19.30 hrs. We wanted to be a bit early as Lesley wanted to make the Revue show as Princess has a great reputation for shows.

Sabatini’s is modern in lay-out and nice and spacious. As long you are sitting close to the seaside / windows you are not bothered by the music in the Atrium and you can even hear Andrea Bocelli singing as background music in the restaurant.

The menu is not “designer” Italian for advanced Foodies but features the regular starters and main courses, such as Spaghetti ala Carabonari and other wellknown dishes. The food was extremely good with very large portions. Service was attentive  but fast and the waiters did not have much time for a chat or an elaborate explanation of how it all went. But it was very good. With the large portions we skipped desert which was only two options anyway as we went to the show.

The cast of the Rock Opera. According to the Princess Website  this is a new show and we had the original cast in the show, as seen here on the photo. (Photo Courtesy Princess Cruises)

As mentioned before the Theater is much too small to accommodate all on board, so you have to get in 20 minutes before the start to get a good seat.  There were plenty of ushers around (Junior Hotel officers) to get the crowd to their seats as fast as possible.  With our On Board Package we have preferential seating but all those seats were in the “flat” directly under the stage but then you do not have oversight over the whole stage. But the top rows were still empty and we found out that with such a large stage, the top seats were perfect. At exactly 21.30 they closed the doors and from then on, they did not let anybody in anymore. With good reason as all seats were taken.

I have no photos of the show as we had THAT announcement again but the show called “Rock Opera” was good. It was VERY GOOD, Princess did live up to their reputation with very good singers and very good choreography. Basically it was a mixture of Opera like sounding Musical song, or Opera songs that sounded good on a Rock beat. The cast consisted of 15 members and 6 musicians, all on stage. Very impressed.

A good 50 minute show and by the time it was finished it was 23.20 as we had an hour forward tonight. so we called it a day.

Tomorrow we have the pilot at 10 am and then 2 hour journey through the fjords to Bergen. This might be the last day with cooler weather: 19oC / 67oF and then the British heatwave is expected to descend over South Norway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2026 July 11; Southampton, England.

July 12, 2026 / / 6 Comments

We are on our way to our next cruise adventure, a 7 day cruise to Norway with the Sky Princess of Princess Cruises. A completely new company for us and as they have a ship sailing from Southampton, we grabbed the chance and as Lesley managed to get a good deal by booking early, we went for it.  I do not know anything about the Princess Cruises product so it is all going to be completely new to us. The company is a relatively new cruise company, only 60 years young, compared to Holland America with 150 years, Cunard with 185+ years and the oldest one, P&O which started cruising in 1851 and sailing another 20 years earlier. (Although they did not call it cruising in those days but “excursions”.  Princess is also a sub company of Carnival Corporation and was for a while part of the HAL group under the leadership of Stein Kruse until it was decided not too long ago to abolish this holding company again. It had served its purpose and the “brands” where becoming too different to get any “synergy” out of it anymore, to use some management speak.

The Hilton hotel in Southampton which is an integrated part of the Utilita Bowl, for cricket games. (Photo courtesy Utilita Bowl)

So yesterday we drove to Southampton and stayed overnight in the Hilton Hotel at the Utilita Bowl, which is one of the biggest cricket stadiums in England. The drive down was interesting with a lot of small hold-ups mainly caused by cars that were overheating  or breaking down due to heat related issues. All the roads nearby the Hotel had Crowd Control Barriers in place, to stop wild parking , as there is the “England Men versus India” game tomorrow. While we were checking in, several die hard fans already arrived with cool boxes in tow, all set to spend a sweltering day in the sun, as the temperature is supposed to go up to 90 oF or 32 oC and that is very hot for England. If you want to spend the money, you can book a Hotel room that overlooks the pitch with your own private balcony. I have not even looked at those prices but they must be considerable. We stayed the night before with a “park your car” deal. That includes a taxi to and from the ship, and that makes life as easy as it gets.

The personal medallion. You do not have to wear it around you neck, it works as well when in the pocket,

So the next day the taxi popped as planned and were delivered at the ship right on time for our check in moment. The roads were busy as also in port where the Ventura, the MSC Orchestra and Celebrity Apex. Also big boys with a capacity between 3000 and 6000 beds. The Sky Princess (sailing with 4000+ this cruise) was docked at berth 37/39 commonly known as the Ocean Terminal. This is one of the bigger terminals which makes check in and going through security somewhat easier. Dropping of the luggage was very easy, there were 4 bays and all were clearly marked with the  cabin numbers and with Stewards directing people very efficiently.  Then I was really impressed in the way Princess handles check-in. There were about 500 guests going through the pipe line at the same moment but it took less then 5 minutes to get to the counter, The Lady took less then 5 minutes to verify our passports and give us our medallion. This is a sort of sensor / boarding pass/ cabin key , all in one and should take all the hassle out of being on board.  Even security was fast, noting that the  handling personnel was a lot younger than in  the smaller terminals. With Fred Olsen we always seem to have an older group  that handles security, and they tend to be too friendly with a nice chat and thus the flow slows down.

Lesley has booked an on board package “Princess Premium” which basically includes everything you normally pay for. Including all on board photos. (all digital and 3 print outs) So instead of avoiding the photographers at all cost we are now planning to stop at each stand to see what the result is. And that started directly in the terminal.

The front door screen, reacting when it senses the medallion. You can push the red button for privacy and your names are on the top. When you approach it shows the “mugshots” of yourselves as used y security.

The medallion kicked in and getting on board was a breeze and went very fast.  As Lesley had booked a Suite on Deck 14 (called Riviera Deck) we did not have to wait for cabins to be ready and could just march in. Here the medallion kicked in again. When about 5 feet away from the door, it senses the medallion and the door unlocks. At the same time the cabin steward can see that you have arrived and are in the cabin, so he/she knows when to go in and when to do meet and greet. It is a bit of big brother watching you but it works extremely well and no need to put your hand luggage down, find you cabin key etc.etc.

Suitcases arrived about 1.5 hours after dropping them off, which is for a big ship with  4000+ guests on board not a bad score at all.  While waiting for them to arrive we went to report at our Assembly station after watching the safety video. The ship had quite a bit of challenges to get the crowd to conform with the requirement as 20 minutes before sailing there were still 559 guests outstanding on the Boat drill record. I wonder how they dealt with that as it questionable that they could reach all of those in 20 minutes. We also have a considerable  contingent of Japanese, Koreans and Portugese on board , three nations who are not known for applying the rules on board as expected. Sometimes because of language barriers, sometimes because of a different approach to time constraint matters. And then there is always a group, who do not listen to any announcement at all, do not read any paper work, but do scream the loudest when something happens or they miss out.

But the ship sailed on time and the captain (more tomorrow) was in a hurry as Norway is a long way away from Southampton, so the ship has to maintain an average speed of 20 knots to get to our first port of call, Bergen, Norway. And we are going to have headwinds of about force 7 to 8.

We did a quick walk around to get a feeling for the lay-out of the ship. Most public rooms are on Deck 5,6, 7, and then on the top levels of 16,17.  You can book all your dining room reservations and other things on line before joining but if you want to change them you have to go to the outlet. We had ended up with two speciality dining options at 21.00 hrs. so we went to change them.  If you do not want to do it yourself, then there is the concierge in the concierge lounge,  which covers our cabin classification. That lounge  also has nibbles and hand food from 07.00 hrs. to 14.00 hrs.and then from 17.00 hrs. to 21.00 hrs. again. Between 1730 and 1930 there are free cocktails as well. It is only a small lounge but the Wedding Chapel is  attached to it and they can open the connecting doors and then there is more than enough space.  The concierge lady is Dorothy from South Africa and there is Irma from Mexico and Mi-luh from Bali (She is Indonesian from Chinese descent) as waitresses.

The Ships Theatre near the bow. There are 2 more show venues but this one is for the main shows. The side lines are excellent. except on the front section, where you have to hope that the person in front of you is not too tall.

The ship is setup is the same as are all larger ships nowadays, expecting that not all guests want to do the same thing at the same time, so only a 3rd of the ships capacity fits in the show lounge and also most of the food and drink outlets around the Atrium are based on a continuous flow  of guests. Thus very much based on the American system of moving along from one thing to the other. While the British tend to linger much more in place with multiple cups of tea and a good natter. On the MSC Orchestra that was a real challenge, so let’s see how it works here.

The Atrium in the center of the ship. It goes up 3 decks and a lot of venues are located around it.

We are expecting that the heat wave will follow us all the way to Norway and thus the top decks with the pools will be very busy. We had a quick look to see what the “Sail Away” party was all about but when we arrived there, it was only a very loud band.  They large screen is in use all day long, with the first movie at 10.30 and then running on into the late evening. Tonight they will screen the football match England – Norway and that should attract a large crowd.( It did when we walked by at 22.30 hrs. with hundreds of fans, huddled together and wrapped in towels and blankets, as the English heatwave is currently not extending yet into the night on a sailing ship.

The view towards the stern on Deck 16 with the large TV screen. As you can see the guests were already out in force to enjoy the nice weather.

After unpacking and cocktails in the Concierge Lounge, we descended into the ship and had another drink before dinner in the Crown Bar on Deck 7 near the Vista Lounge, which is the 2nd show venue. The Crown Bar and lounge has live music at times and an ample seating area but is split through the middle by the walkway into the rest of the ship. So if you want to do people viewing, it is a great location. Here we came across the next impact of the Princess Medallion. The moment the waitress approaches you,  your names, cabin number and drinks package pops up on her tablet. So you get always greeted by name and also informed at once, if you drinks order is covered by the package yes or no. With our package nearly everything is covered, as it goes to $20,– a drink. (We also are entitled to 15 bottles of water a day and we have no way how we are going to drinks those, plus there is free water in the Concierge Lounge as well)

For Dinner we were in the Crown Grill, which has a good selection of food but with a focus on meat. This restaurant has a cover charge of $ 55.– a person but for us it is included in the package. The food is cooked in an open kitchen, although from your table you can not see into the kitchen, only the heads of the cooks bobbing by. The food was extremely good, but the service chaotic. nothing arrived on time or was synchronized with other people on the time. Whether the TOP  is not high enough or they were under TOP, but the waiters (dressed as French Brasserie waiters) were keeping up a constant banter to distract the guests from regcognizing the hiccups in the service.

After dinner I was ready to collapse after the intensive drive on Englands Motorway’s so we have a quick walk around and then retired. We have to go forward one hour for Norway but on this ship they do the time change on formal night.

Tomorrow we are at sea. The weather looks sunny but very windy, but not too much swell so the ship should be fairly steady. Mainly overcast later in the day and chilly in the wind an temperatures around 14oC / 57oF.

 

 

 

 

2026 May 30; Southampton. Review and Verdict.

June 2, 2026 / / 6 Comments

2016 May 30, Southampton, England.

Rotterdam is not that far from Southampton and thus we sailed yesterday at a warp speed of 7.5 knots through a smooth and flat sea. Sun had been shining all day but today was overcast although still warm, so good weather to travel home in. Tomorrow and the day after most of the UK is expecting torrential rain, always a sort of follow up to very warm days here, but it seems that our region of Norfolk (already the driest county in the country since times immemorial) will miss most of it.

By 05.30 am. we were docked and by 07.30 all our luggage was ashore and we could disembark by 07.45. hrs. We were ordered to leave the cabin by 07.30 hrs. but when we complained about this, the Concierge Desk said that they could easily extend this to later. If you can…………………. why even say 07.30 hrs. ?  It is nice to go back to the cabin to brush your teeth after breakfast (which runs to 08.30). That would have been a perfect ending to the cruise.

And so I come to my last blog for this cruise which is my review of these 5 days and the verdict. It is as usual a very personal verdict  as I am not beholden to any secondary interest in the background nor do I feel the need to please anybody. But  if you decide to take a cruise on MSC  I hope what I have discussed  in the past 5 days and now below, will help you with making a well-balanced and informed decision.

The verdict.

We knew that the ship was a high density ship, although it had a good space ratio, due to to the sheer number of people. Most guests will always be milling around in the same area. What we had expected happened, but which helped to see how the ship operated, was that instead of the 4000+ lower bed capacity, it went up to 6200, due to the school holiday time in England. So it was a full house, a REAL full house.

Unless you like mayhem all day long and dense groups of people being together, then MSC is only workable when booking a cabin in the Yacht Club. And that Yacht club is not on all MSC ships, only on the bigger ones. And we needed it badly to keep our sanity.

So lets start with that Yacht Club, as it was really, really good in general.

The dining and the day lounge were perfect with attentive and impeccable service. Over the whole 5 nights, we only came across one issue in the Dining room. They had run out of Port Wine. We found that out on the second night when I wanted a cheese plate. The service being  6-7 star I was expecting that it would have been resolved the next night but it was not. On the one but last night, the neigbouring table asked for Port Wine as well …… still not available, e.g. not on board. They were offered a good quality sherry instead but that is not the same.  I had really expected that Beverage would have  run ashore in Zeebrugge or Rotterdam to get a few bottles as the supermarkets were very close by. We even did that on the Prinsendam (5 star) and I was told the same also on Azamara (6+).  This did not spoil the cruise of course but it showed that they focussed on the product but did not think outside the box. For the rest, perfect dining experience.

Day lounge: Drinks are all included (except some very top premium drinks and wines) and service in the Bar is extremely fast, good and with attention to detail. There is a buffet with nibbles all day long and changed several times a day and there is constant  live (background) music from 18.30 to 23.00 hrs. I wish we would have that on every 6 or 7 star ship that we sailed or will sail on. The is the one aspect where The Yacht Club really stands out.

The Glare: (how many crew react: Smile/greet) when I look at them: 100%.  Perfect score.

Cabin  service was slightly less good. Officially there is a butler and a cabin steward but most of the work is done by the cabin steward who seem to have more cabins than he/she  can really handle. The Butler concentrates on the paper work (very little), the mini bar, running errands, escorting to the evening shows  and also butlers in the day lounge. Every day there was something missing or not completed. To my opinion due to  too many cabins.

There is something called a “perfect cabin setup” to ensure it is 100% faultless each day. But if you are under time pressure you can’t.  That was confirmed to me on Southampton day when suddenly our cabin steward got help from a 2nd person.   A butler was there but it was not our “personal butler”,  as our butler was constantly called away by the Concierge Desk to run errands. Those “errands” gives the service that makes the Yacht Club product so good but it is not personal.  Our butler only showed up from somewhere when it was time to take us ashore for disembarkation.

There was a line of about 500 guests trying to disembark at the same time, but with the butler we by passed it all as she took us all the way into the terminal and helped locate our suitcases. That was a perk we have never seen before but with 6000 people trying to get off, it made sense, although it is very time consuming for the butlers. I would have been happy to say goodbye at security.

Main irritating thing for our cabin was on Rotterdam night, when our fruit suddenly disappeared with still a sea day to go and he also took away our front door cabin operating card. The cabin has a hotel lock, so you need to insert your cabin key to get the light on and to get the air conditioning going and keep it going. Our windows were baking in the full sun all day and it made the cabin very warm, so we had arranged via the butler to have a dedicated card. (your own credit card or related does not work it has to be programmed) to keep inserted and keep the cabin cool. He took the card out and yes our cabin had started to warm up again while we were away  So we had to get that card back.
Talking about A.C: a good thing is that when you open the balcony door, the A.C goes off, stopping guests from sleeping with the AC on and the balcony door open. And that is good for saving energy and keeping the temperatures down in the hallways.

An irritant was the MSC Foundation. This is a MSC setup that provides help and support for all sorts of good things in the world. They have a big “outlet store” in the ship, among the shops so you can see what they do. But without telling us they added on day 3, 1 pound to each charge account. So that is 6200 pounds for everybody. The money is for us absolutely not the problem but I do not like to be charged for something I did not order nor perviously agreed to.  I looked through all the whole “App” but nothing there to alert you that it was coming. According to the Concierge Desk, “it was on the pre cruise paper work”. But I could not find anything on line either. MSC does not issue paperwork, it is all supposed to be on the website or on the “App”. They offered to take the money off, and we said no as that was not the  point. But it was irritating that they took money without prior consent.

The cabin itself 16005, was well appointed and the only thing I missed was a power socket away from the desk so I could work on my laptop and charge at the same time. There are 4 sockets at the desk. Two European and two American and two USB ports. Then at each bedside there is another USB port but not so easy to reach as it is located under the rim of the lamp base, meaning it takes some poking around to find the hole while hoping that you have your USB plug the right way around as you cannot seen the socket unless you go on your knees to look under the rim.  There are no hooks in the cabin to hang up your coats if you are on a cruise with colder days. So it has to hang on the back of your chairs. (straight backed but with very little padding)  Another thing we like is a small light in the bathroom so you can see if you have to go in during tthe night. Not there, but the magnifing mirrow has a light and we left that on all night, with the door slightly ajar. Luckily not moving ship this cruise.

The only BIG ommission we had and we are very irritated about it: is that we missed the “Welcome Briefing.” We found out that the idea was, that the butler who brought you on board, would ensure that you received a 1 on1 briefing with him/her or another butler about all the perks that came with the Yacht Club. We did not get one, although we were for more than 30 minutes in the Lounge having our welcome on board drink, but the butler taking us on board did not mention  that is was supposed to happen and nobody came over.

With all the perks going, the Concierge Desk / Butler does not offer anything. They expect you to know from the briefing, or that you will to ask, and ask, and ask.  We had to piece this all together during the first 3 days and when we mentioned it at the Concierge Desk, they were fully taken aback, “startled” is the word, but they did not apologize nor still offer to do a session. And that gave me a firm indicator that they were running on auto pilot within their system. Convinced that their product was wonderful but not stepping outside the box to ensure that it remained that way. We saw the same thing at Silverseas and Azamara.

What was different to Silverseas, Azamara and even Cunard and Fred Olsen, is that you have to pay for your shuttle service in port when in the posh Yacht Club. And that is something that should not be. You get preferential tender service but you have to pay extra for a port shuttle. Nobody we spoke to in the Yacht Club raised their eyebrows if the ticket fare would have gone up by a few pounds to make it included. But it is irritating to have been sold a posh product and then having to pay for transport. MSC could do much better here.

Back to The Glare:

In the Yacht Club, 100%. Always a friendly meet & greet always immediatelly at your side to ask if you want something to drink . This is on the same level as Azamara and Silver Seas.

In the ship 0%. Not a single crewmember looks at you, smiles when walking by, or wishes you good morning or a good day. They are simply too busy and too stretched for time. When you approach them, they help you, help you very efficiently, and then move on to the next person in line, as there is always somebody in line behind you. We saw a few times some very senior hotel staff  in the ship but they were everytime in a huddle, jabbering away in Italian and totally oblivious to the guests around them.

The whole cruise is run by App. There is the daily program and your personal agenda, digitally on the phone, which you can also see on your TV. They have a lot of TV channels, including all BBC reg channels , German, Italian and the movies are not too old. That is really better than many other company’s such as Cunard, Fred Olsen etc. which only show Sky News as British News. Compliments there.  Only complaint was there was no music channel.  Only some sort of barbed wire music on the Bow Camera , which on Holland America it is were they also make the Cruise Director’s  announments.  It is very nice that they are only are only made in the hallways  (Fred Olsen please note) and not in the cabin but it would be nice if you had the option to flip the TV on and go to the bow channel.

On day three we found out that if you do not like the App, then the Concierge Desk will print out the complete daily program for you but they do not offer it. We saw the hard copy’s and then found out that repeat guests had figured that out during a previous cruise.

In the ship there is a large emphasis on retail. Nearly everything has a sales handle and not a service handle. Not my piece of cake but the 6000 guests marching around down stairs did not seem to mind so the product works.

Would I recommend MSC, from my point of view, who likes good service in general and lack of crowds: NO.

But if decide to you go, book the Yacht Club, Day Lounge, Dinning and the private sun deck (with bar and small buffet, and small swiming pool with life guard) are VERY Good. So for that one YES. (We met several guests, who purely live in the Yacht Club and only go down for the Shows and the Spa)

Will we return ? NO.

First of all, we have seen the product now and it is not ours. Secondly I did not like the Concierge Desk. They are really convinced that they are God’s gift to the world and will obfuscate any question they cannot directly answer or do not want to answer. I prefer a straight “I do not know” instead of going around the houses. Plus we never got our boarding meeting on embarkation day and you really need that to find out what the Yacht Club can offer.

Dresscodes: in the Yacht Club. Everything is casual, very casual, except the evenings, then it is smart casual. With that you seem to comply if the gentlemen switch from shorts to a long pair of trousers. They do theme nights but it is not in the pre cruise communication. So Lesley sent an email to MSC asking if there would be a white night (we had heard about on Face book) during this 5 day cruise. There was, so we brought white clothes. The white night popped up on the App for the first night, then disappeared again and then popped up again for Rotterdam night. They put the hour back to the UK on that evening as well, so people could/would stay out longer. On longer cruises they also do formal nights, so we asked the Concierge Desk how that worked, as it was not on the website.

The Answer was:
We do not pre-publish theme nights, we decide during the cruise what we are going to do.

So taking all your formal gear with you is a gamble as during the cruise you might not even HAVE a formal night. The first night was a 60’s.70’s. 80’s theme night and nobody knew about it. I overheard a few ladies in the staircase say that they would have loved to bring their “Abba Gear” with them. For the evening, for the show and for the Disco………………….   MSC really has to do better here.

Final: The Yacht club Dining and Lounge service is extremely good and on par with 7 star cruise ships. Cabin service slightly less but still good.   Outside the “Yacht club bubble”, everything is Sales Driven and with only the basic free / included service in the dining rooms and Market (Lido) Restaurant. Speciality Resturants start at 55 pounds a person.  Also being charged in pounds adds more as when you look on the MSC web site it say $55  so they make more money there.  The Cruise staff seem to do a great job with their activities but with such a crowded ship, not all who want to can participate.

Our next cruise is in coming July with the Sky Princess, Princess Cruises also from Southampton. This is a 3000+ ship, so also a lot of people . But it will not be  as bulky as the MSC Magnifica, where you have to live in splended isolation , far from the Maddening Crowd. I will hope that you will then follow our escapedes again.

 

 

2026 May 29; At Sea, sailing back to Southampton.

May 31, 2026 / / 3 Comments

Today was the last day of our 5 day “expedition” to see a Mega Liner with over 4000 people on board and to sample the MSC product. An un-expected bonus was the 2000 extra, due to the holiday time in the UK. At least we could now see what a “full to capacity mega liner looked like”. And we had the option to disappear back to an oasis of peace, the Yacht Club on Deck 14,15, (cabins only) deck 16 (Sky lounge), Deck 18 (diningroom) and Deck 19  (Outside bar and Sun deck). There is no deck 17 on the ship as the Italians indeed seem to consider that an unlucky number. I wonder if that was already the case in the Roman day as all the Gaul & Germanic tribes could have just painted XVII on their shields and Julius Cesar and his army would have run back to Italy, without the help of Asterix and Obelix. A quick AI – google gives 2 options:

Option 1: In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number primarily because its Roman numeral form, XVII, is an anagram for the Latin word VIXI. Translated to English, vixi means “I have lived”—implying “my life is over” or “I am dead.

Option 2: Ancient Rome & Disasters: The destruction of the Roman Legions XVII, XVIII, and XIX in the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest caused the number 17 to be associated with bad omens.

All the pasta is made fresh on board, and there is also a station to press/form the mozarella.

So that piece of history made it also to MSC, whch considers itself an Italian company, although the ships are Malta Flagged and the owner Mr. Aponte lives in Geneva.  But they have a Dutch Captain on the MSC Magnifica so  the whole happening is quite international, especially if you see Indian Cooks, making pasta and being from Madras. (very dark skin color, and I could not get him in the above photo).

The Ampfi Theatre. This is a multi level sun bathing area and when they take the stretchers away, guests can sit on 3 levels watching a show around the pool.

So we went to the one area we had not been to yet, the Horizon Pool and Ampfi theatre. With behind it, the Sport Plex, children gaming area, Do-Re-Mi-land for the small ones, the Sky Lounge (do not confuse it with the one that is part of the Yacht Club) as this one is for the whole ship but Adults Only. And there is also a Smoking Lounge that seats about 20 people focussing on their suicide mission.

This is the bar for the Ampfi theatre area. Waiting times are somewhat longer than in the Yacht Club Lounge.

With  anywhere between a 1000 and 2000 kids on board (nobody could or was willing to tell me how many there were on the ships manifest) the Kids Zone and Sport-Plex was heaving. That is all situated around a teens bar.

This is the kids bar, where various sorts of soda’s can be obtained from dispensers or from the bar stewards. Everybody is given a wrist medallion that you can use to pay for items. I believe parents can limit the amount childeren can spend.

Renting the bowling alley sets you back 45,– pounds for 1 hrs. or 25,– pounds for 20 minutes with an unlimited number of players.

The bowling alley with 2 lanes. I have no idea how this works with keeping score when you play when the ship is moving. And even very large cruise ships can be restless in strong seas.

This area is of course a magnet for a lot of kids and the parents have to be either very rich, or very organised with their budget as the prices charged are not cheap.

One of the Fruit machine, or flipper machine areas in this section. Again very popular.

There is a Formula 1 race simulator (10 minutes) which sets you back 11,– pounds. A 3D-Interactive  cinema which is 8,– for kids and a  VR Hologate Arena which is 12,— for 10 minutes.

This little lady had ended up in a sort of Guardians of the Galazy game and was just asking her father if she could beat the cr….. out of somebody.

The toddler area 5 – 11 years is at least 60 feet long but it it is totaly screened of from the rest to avoid “peeping toms”. It is not free but a good location to park little Johny and little Sandy for a few hours so the parents can have some quality time together. As a result it was really busy there with 3 Youth Counsellors manning the entry desk for the intake of new kids. That is nowadays a lot of work as there are numerous -disclaimer -forms to be filled out.

I could not see who was more excited. The small kids to get rid of their parents or the parents trying to get rid of the childeren.

We walked back through the Lido restaurant which is officially called “Market Place”. It being a sea day, the Exe. Chef had laid on some extra options, Including a chocolate Extravaganza. Not very big but then the cruise prices are not so big either on the lower decks.

With a nice cake on display, there was a considerable line building for photos.

When the photo taking had been done an even larger line was building to consume as much as possible. With around 2000 going to the Lido, it must mean that the cooks must have had preared a very large quantity of it.

The cooks still putting the finishing touches on this small show buffet.

We did not wait to see it all disapearing but went back to our own little buffet area in the Sky Deck Sun area. While walking forward we also saw that the chefs had laid out a small pasta station (small is relative here, as there were 3 chefs and a 2d Maitre cooking pasta “A la Dente”.)  And cooking very fast as the line was building quickly.

The pasta station on the outside deck, next to the big open air pool.

As mentioned , the Yacht Club is on Deck 15 to 19 with the open air sunbathing area and bar on deck 19. All these decks areas are screened off by glass doors, which only open with your cabin door-key-card. If walking from deck 15 is too much, the area has its own lift. You can spend your whole cruise there, without ever leaving and many guests do so, only descending into the maddening crowd for the evening show (With our own seating area) or to go to a speciality Restaurant of which their are several. All around 55,– pounds a person without drinks)

The small buffet on Sky Sun Deck. It is not very big (it only has to serve about 200 guests max)., but comes with its own 3 cooks and no waiting line. Several butlers ensure that your drink is at your table before you have even thought about which roll to select.

After lunch we had something special coming. Last night we spoke to the table next to us and the couple told us they were especially on board to see their small grand daughter dancing. It turned out that MSC has an arrangement with one or more English dancing schools, who get a discounted cabin fare, can bring their own school on board and are then allowed to perform for 45 minutes in the show lounge. Good business as with each child/dancer, a whole whole extended family comes with them.  So we decided to go.

The show was called “Celebrate” and was of very high quality for an age group of dancers between 11 and 17 years old.

We were very  pleasantly surprised at the quality and also the stamina of all the dancers. There was certainly professional potential there. As a matter of fact one of the professional cast on board, came from one of the dance schools that had performed on board in the past. The Auditorium was filled to capacity and at the end a standing ovation was their rightful thank you.

Then it was time for getting the suitcases packed as they had to be out by midnight but also we have to be out of the cabin by 07.30. As that was the official disembarkation time for the Yacht Club. But breakfast is open until 08.30, so were are going first as we have a 5 hours drive coming, on busy roads. Expected weather tomorrow: sunny, 26 oC / 79oF  and as it is a saturday, their will be a lot of weekend traffic.  My final blog, review and verdict about the cruise, will be on Sunday evening, or Monday morning.

2026 May 28; Rotterdam, Netherlands.

May 29, 2026 / / 3 Comments

So today we were in Rotterdam and came across a bit of weird MSC organisation. We were supposed to dock at 07.00 hrs. but the clearance announcement only came at 09.00 hrs. So why ? It turned out that when the ship is cleared early they only make the arrival announcement in the public area and not in the passenger corridors.  According to the concierge desk this is, so the childeren are not woken up too early. But they do not update the daily program on your App, that just gives the official arrival time.

We docked with the bow inwards, which meant the ship will swing on departure. In the distance we can see “De Hef” a bridge which in the old days used to go up and down. Now they have added a new crossing under it. Just visible behind the tall black tower is “Het Poort Gebouw” or the “Gatehouse” that was the office of the HAL between 1889 and 1901. Then they moved to the Wilhelmina Kade where we are docked now.

So if we had gone to the gangway at 07.00 hrs. we would have to have to wait another 20 minutes while they connected the gangaway etc.  But if you patiently waited for the announcement then you would have gone ashore 2 hours late. So we are slowly finding out that the organisation for the whole setup is not that perfect. According to the website we are asked to vacate the cabin by 08.00 hrs. on disembarkation day, according to the concierge desk it is 07.30. When we pointed out the difference, the concierge desk said: you are reading the general information, “We are the Yacht Club, we do things differently, you have to wait until you get the disembarkation paper work in your cabin during the last day”.  Which now seem to mean we have to get out of the cabin earlier than company policy. So we will see. When we asked why so early, as embarkation for the next cruise only starts around noon time, the initial answer was “we want to have the cabins ready by 10 am. “…….. Ok, if so, then why do we have to wait on the ship to 13.00 hrs, before the Yacht Club cabins are ready. Then they backtracked and started waffling.  The background behind all of this, is that there is simply not enough crew on board, to do the cleaning of the cabins, do the luggage and provide a regular cruise experience on disembarkation day. So they tweak the schedule around it and hope you do not notice.  Does it affect the enjoyment of the cruise, not really. Is it irritating when things do not make sense, yes.

On Deck 16 – 18 and 19 aft are the childrens and sports areas. The ship has a 2 level sports court on the portside for football, basketball and volleyball.

So we had Rotterdam to day, and our main plan was to go to the Migration Museum in Rotterdam, that opened last year in the Fenix building.

This is a sculpture located in the Yacht Club Lounge. In quite a few nooks and corners of the ship, this more of this sort of art tucked away.

The ship has a musical theme as the red thread in the lay-out although it is very subdued. Each deck is named after a composer, our deck 16 is named after the french composer Debussy, and there is a portrait of each composer on his own deck. (There is no female composer selected, only the very big names) Then the decoration in the cabins has a musical theme and here and there in the ship is a bit of art that has a connection to music. Then there is a series of silver sculptures scattered around the ship but here there are  no tags with them to explain what they mean. In the Tropic pool are a number of tropical animals to highlight the tropical character but that is about it. MSC policy is obviously not about enrichment as such, more about actiivities and non stop fun.

Lunch on board with todays specialities. Standard there is always Ceasar Salad, A hamburger or spaghetti.

After a nice and quiet lunch in the Yacht Club restaurant, we walked off the ship, went around the Holland America old head office, now Hotel New York to the Fenix building. There is now a bridge from the Wilhelmina Kade to the south side of the Rijnhaven, which in the old days used to dock the Holland America cargo ships. The Fenix is a complex that in the grey mists of time used to be the cargo sheds of Holland America from when they opened a service to the Gulf of Mexico and Cuba and also to the west coast of North America. Around 1926  they built a new Warehouse called “San Francisco”. At that time the largest shipping /storage warehouse in the world. It went through several transformations when the traditional Liner service of Holland America faded away and has now been re-opened with this museum and next to it a  multi functional meeting place called “Het Plein”. (vilage square as in meeting place or The Common in english) It is only a 10 minute walk from the ship by crossing the pedestrian/walking bridge in front of Hotel New York.

This is an artist impression of the Fenix, witb on the top the silver “Tornedo” which is a look out post for very nice views over the port. (Google photo from the internnt, owner unknown)

It opened in May 2025. I had heard both positive and negative comments about the place, so we decided to have a look. Once we arrived we first went to the top deck. To have a look at  the msc Virtuosa and the port suroundings. Although the museum had more than a half a million visitors in its first year it was very quiet today.

The Silver Helix, or Tornedo, runs up through the building from the entrance to the top floor. You can walk or take the lift.

From here we had indeed a wonderful view  and it also gave an impression of how big the MSC Virtuosa is. During the heydays of HAL, 3 passengers ship would dock where there is now only space for one mega liner.

The Wilhelminakade. You can see the stern of the msc Virtuosa, the tall tower of the Harbour masters office; then the old Holland America head office, now Hotel New York and then to the right, the new Holland America Office which houses HR, Europe Sales and Purchasing. The yellow boats are the Water Taxi’s that run a regular service through the city part of the port of Rotterdam. Behind there is now a pedestrian and bikers bridge, where once was open water for the cargo ships to sail through to go to their docks.

That kept us busy for about 2 hours. It is not an emigration / immigration museum as such, like a museum that tells the whole routine from Rotterdam to the New York. For that you are better off in the” Emigranten Museum” in Bremerhaven which gives a much better intrepretation.

The photo section of the museum with photos of refugees, migrants and immigrants from all over the world. It is all about leaving people behind and saying good bye. There are only a few photos from the Emigration Days from Rotterdam. And to my amazement also nothing about the period 1945 – 1952 when The Netherlands and Indonesia split up and a lot of Dutch and Indo Dutch had to leave their roots behind.

It shows more of a worldwide issue of humans having to leave their place of birth, due to displacement by war, famine , genocide etc.etc.  Then the other 3 sections are giving over to artists interpretation of how travel took place and the stories of individual migrants with their experiences.

This is the Art part of the museum. The bus on the left is an artist interpretation of a bus in New York used by migrants when going to work etc. Inside there are life size pupets symbolzing the various cultures and races that form the melting pot. Please note the very strong concrete ceiling from the days that tons of cargo were stored here, before being loaded onto the ships.

It was quite interesting but I missed the connecting story with it all, there are flyers, there are little pedestals with text, you can buy a photo book but I did not get a holistic feeling of full absorbtion when taking it all in. For 18 euros a head the price is not that bad but I did not get a kick out of it, and found even some photos wrongly labelled. At least those that I recognized and had to do with emigration of the old Ocean Liner Days.

So it was back to the shp, for cocktails and dinner, followed by the show. Which was a very “high octaine” dance show. There was a lot of modern music in there, not my interest as such, but I can give only compliments to the dance team. They were VERY VERY good.

Tonights show. with light and sound effects, including fake fireworks.

Tonight was also White Night. We had heard about it on the grape vine but the website did not give any indication if it was going or not. So Lesley did a chat on the MSC website and the answer was yes. Hence we made sure we had an all-white outfit with us, including shoes etc. When the cruise started, the announcement popped up for the first evening on the App, then disappeared again, and then re-surfaced for Rotterdam day.

We tried to find out from The concierge desk how it worked with these special nights as the first night was switched to 60’s, 70s’ and 80’s. and we did not know about that either. I overheard a lady in the ship complaining about that as otherwise she would have brought her “Abba Dress”. Also MSC seems to do formals on the longer cruises. According to the Concierge team, it is not policy to announce these nights pre cruise, because it is decided on board. So you have to take your formals with you and then hope for the best. But if you fly in, then it would help to know, for packing and staying under the suitcase weight.  The mind boggles.

The Cruise staff lining up to start the party. They kept going for a good 30 minutes and then invited everybody to join them downstairs. But with 6000 party goers downstairs already, none of us followed.

But we were prepared for White Night which was late evening in the ship with a “warming up” party in the MSC Yachtclub Sun Deck and Bar, what is normally the day sunning area.  So after dinner we went up and there was a group of the cruise staff giving a little show and then got everybody going with a sort of line dancing.   It was nothing compared to the Azamara White Night but it was still very enjoyable, and I think the best they can do on such a large ship.

They did get the party going and many of the Yacht Club guests joined in. Even some of the butlers hopped into the fray while the rest of them kept the glasses full.

Then it was time to turn in as tomorrow we have a full sea day, with lots of things to see and to try and figure out how disembarkation will work. As so far there has been nothing on the App. and nothing on the TV.

So tomorrow we are all day at sea. And we will be going at a very slow speed. Weather, mainly overcast and hazy, but with a nice temperature fo 24oC / low seventies.

2026 May 27; Zeebrugge, Belgium.

May 28, 2026 / / 1 Comment

This is a cruise of short distances and even slower travel as we hopped from Cherbourg to  Zeebrugge. We arrived at 09.00 and that meant that the ship has been travelling on a “two engine” speed which on most ships produce a speed of maximum 16 knots, often a little bit less. Understandable with the current high fuel prices and the also understandable reluctance of the cruise company’s to levy a oil-surcharge  on top of the ticket price. That was done several times in the past, first time during the oil crises of 1973 and the results were mixed.  Passengers (this was before the general term of “guests” came into use) did not like it of course and one or two company’s were even accused of increasing their profit margin by doing it. Holland America laid up two ships in that period, the Veendam and Volendam and could barely keep the other three, the new Prinsendam, Rotterdam and Statendam in service.

Not much of that so far, but saving fuel by adapting the cruise schedule is now a standard part of designing cruises. Hence with these sort of short cruises in Europe, you are stuck with all the same ports,  ports that are close enough for an overnight slow sail. Hence  we are visiting the same ports over and over again, when choosing a 5 or 7 day cruise from Southampton. They could do ports further away, having 2 days at sea, with 2 or 3 ports and then 2 days back, but those do not sell very well as guests mostly buy their cruises based on the number of ports visited.  There are not enough guests out there, who like sea days to fill at sea and thus we do we 3 ports in this cruise and one day at sea. And with 6200 guests milling around, we need the ports to have some space to walk around and see the ship itself.

This is a stock photo with other cruise ships but the current lay-out is still the same. In the big open area next to the ships is a large cruise terminal, for 2 ships, is expected to be built in the future.

And today we had that space as large numbers went ashore after the ship had docked at 09.00 hrs. Zeebrugge still does not have a cruise terminal as in the winter, and on no-cruise ship days, the dock is used for cargo and container operations. Thus there is the compulsory shuttle to the gate as you are not allowed to walk over the dock, or the shuttle to the coastal town of Blankenbergen (11 pounds a ticket) which is a nice little sea-side resort and from where you can take the train to Bruges. There was a plan to start working on a cruise terminal in August 2025, with completion in 2027, but nothing has happened yet. So today, the MSC Virtuosa and the NCL Norwegian Sky, still docked at the cargo pier. Nothing wrong (apart from havinvg to wait for the port shuttle)  as the dock is wide enough to park all the needed busses nicely in a row near the gangway, without interfering with the regular shuttle service.  We decided not to go ashore, due to the expected temperatures today.  Which in the end was a lot more pleasant than the weather guru’s had predicted. Had it been overcast and somewhat cooler, we would have taken the tram called “The Lijn” along the Belgian coast. The whole area here is completely built up with 2nd homes / apartment buildings and during summer time a hive of holiday activity as nearly all apartment buildings have bars, restaurants and small shops on the ground floor. A tram ticket costs 3,– euro for 60 minutes and that already takes you half way up the coast.  It can act as a sort of hop-on-hop off bus without the official designation.

The “Coastal Tram” running along the whole of the Belgium coast. Very worthwhile to do.

We went to inspect the Spa facilties first, with mixed feelings, as with 6200 people on board, one would expect it to be busy all the time. But when we got there it was completely empty. And that was a good thing as it is very small for the size of the ship. There are 20 treatment rooms, hairdressing for men and women, nail bars and everything else but the part with the bubble pool, steam rooms, sauna’s and relaxation area’s for those who do not buy treatments is very small. But we were there by 10 am. and it did not get busy until well after 11 am. The centre bubble bath (I call it that way as it is bigger than a Jaccuzi) was very good, but built for an average size person. Anybody in the lower 5 feet class of height, will have a challenge getting out of it as there are no steps.

The bubble pool, showers and steam rooms, open to the yachtclub clients or payable for the rest of the ship for high price.

So we enjoyed that, but Lesley found that the maintenance in the showers (one not working) and the  shower gel and shampoo would hardly come out . I had expected to have a small centrifuge (spinner) in the dressing room to dry my swimming trunks but that was not there either. For a 6000 capacity it is really far too small.

Ceiling cover today, resembling sky lights in a mansion or old shopping mall.

Then it was time for another walk through the ship, now to see what was going for entertainment while the majority was ashore. There were still a large number of guests on board and the Quizzes were in full swing. I have not been to the kids area yet (it comes with a complete basket ball court) so that is for tomorrow.  The ceiling had changed color again and resembled now some sort of blue skies with a building ceiling.

Apart from having all sorts of gaming  in the sports and youth area, there is also the official kiddies club, called Do-Re-Mi  with MSC. At noon time about 60 of them had been “marched” into a section of the Lido restaurant where they had their own buffet to enjoy lunch. I counted 8 minders on 60 kids so not a bad average. And they were needed as it took some major organizing to get them all lined up behind their own lunch plate.

The Do-Re-Mi-MSC  Club having lunch. Apologies for the quality of the photo but I was not allowed to take pictures any closer for privacy reasons.

Those guests not at lunch were mostly in the pool again. On the first day I posted the open pool, the photo below shows the 2nd pool which is under a magrodome. It is called the Tropic Pool (and Bar) and is much smaller than the outside one. But it follows the same pattern as with the large ships of Celebrity which also have this setup. Big pool outside, smaller pool inside, but next to each other. The forward wall is a “water curtain” wall on which streaming water helps with keeping the temperature down.

The Tropic Pool with Waterwall.

Then it was time for lunch in the yachtclub. We looked at the Lido restaurant which was not that busy at 12.30 but if one can get service with a smile instead of a frown from behind the counter then the choice is not so difficult. As mentioned yesterday, the menus in the Yacht Club are a sort of upscale variation of those in the regular restaurants but it come with drinks included and butlers & waiters that have time for a chat. Today most Yacht Club guests were ashore, or were on the sun on Deck 19 at our own sun deck (with bar and lunch buffet) so we had 4 waiters hovering around our table. They have now no figured out what we did in our previous lives, so they all want to talk.

The Yacht Club dining room. A nice atmosphere and service quality is comparable to Azamara and Scenic.

For us the sport is to figure out where they all come from. It seems that every one is from a different nation. It is not mentioned on their name tags, so we have to deduct it from their first name and the sort of langugages that they speak (those flags are on the name tag). Today we figured out that Nelson Fernandez, who spoke, apart from English, Portoguese and Spanish, must have come from Brazil. Fernandez can be mexican or spanish but  normally they do not speak Portpguese and a first name like Nelson you normally do not find on the Iberian Peninsula, but is not unusual in Brazil. So he was suitably impressed. Then we have a Philipina Lady who listens to the wonderful name of Safety Lin, so she has to go through life with the nickname “Safety First”.

Not missing a single oportunity to make money, the photographers were in attendance to eternalise your movie attendance with a photo (11 pounds)

By 16.00 hrs. we had to be in the Showroom (called Le Grand Theatre) for a full show of the musical Dirty Dancing. These shows are free but you have to pre book on the App  (*) This 4 pm. performance was the full musical lasting from 16.00 hrs .to 17.45 hrs. and was then repeated in the evening twice with 45 minute versions of the high lights of the show. Lesley booked upon boarding (when you booking App gets activated) and the next day it was fully booked. Only to find out that when the show started, the theatre was only 2/3 full. It seems that guests booked all they “might” want to do and then just not show up. The crew running the entry system seems to be used to that as about 5 minutes for the start, guests who had not booked where let in.  The negative part of having so many guests on board is that there is very little respect for rules. When the show started, the access doors were closed but they were constantly pried open and guests continued to walk in. Lesley enjoyed the show but I did not like the combination of the full movie running on the screen and the cast + ships band performing in front of it, performing  along with the movie.

(*) While writing todays blog I just found out that when you are in the Yacht Club you do not have to prebook the shows. There is always enough room in the cordoned off Yacht Club area and the Butler will take you down and by passes the entry scanning. We were supposed to have been told that during embarkation. When taken on board we were directed by the Butler to the Day-lounge and the official routine was (supposedly) that we would have an introduction to the Yacht Club routines by somebody. But that did not happen. We read the website from front to back but there are no Yacht Club details on it, for what you exactly get as perks and what extra service and routines you are giving. Just a more or less generic listing.  So that is the first “dent” we have found into the so far faultless service.

The Yacht Club Bar, where the bar tenders knows after one day what you like, so you have to be fast when you want to try something else.

So I managed to slip out without upsetting the audience and went for a drink in the Yacht Club Bar, which was nearly empty. The Butlers were busy, so a lot of Club guests must have been sitting on their own balconies and made good use of the Butler perk that comes with it.

The Ukrainian duo “Velvet” performing every evening, all evening, in the Yacht Club. They wear a different colored costume and hat every night.

We were back again in the Bar by 19.00 hrs. for cocktails as there is always space and there is constant music. A piano player plays for 30 minutes and then we got a duo called Velvet who plays for 45 minutes, and then it rotates again. Also there is nearly constant music in the ship, which I like as on most ships in runs in conjunction with 1st. of 2nd sitting with large gaps in between, so you have to adapt to the ship schedule, instead of the ship being their for your convinience.  I had a little chat with the Velvet duo as I needed permission to post their above photo and it turned out that they were from the Ukraine, They were stuck with constant sailing, as at the moment they could not get home anymore because they did not know if they would be able to get out on time for their next contract. So they went from ship assignment to ship assignment with short holidays in Greece, where somebody let them use a house as long as they looked after the cats. (Quite a few of them supposedly) ………………………………………and that brought the war close to home again.

In the ship the regular 6000 guests marched up and down the central aisle again and still the expensive shops were avoided to a large extent.

This is the Grand Entrance to the “Luxury Plaza” with the expensive shops. Leather Goods, Clothing and Jewellery.  These shops  might work during the American Winter season but it does not looks like it that it works with the current crowd. On the English coast having a much larger pub would have produced more revenue. (There is a English pub on board called Masters of the Sea with a large choice of craft beer and restaurant side for Pub food)

There was a final quiz going on, before several sections of the ship were given over to late night Disco.  One area with Silent Disco and two other venue’s with a live band. We did not wait to see how it would be with the crowds of 6000 on board but it must have been busy.

There is no library on board  but today we found the pocket book exchange. A few shelves near the Future Cruise desks. (That is the most quiet area on board as it does not seem to be very busy with eager bookers so far but that might change on the last day of the cruise which is a sea day)  As one can see from the scant number of books, there does not seem too many eager readers on board either.

The MSC Virtuosa book exchange.

Tomorrow we are in Rotterdam, which is only a very short distance away, so a slow speed to keep the fuel costs down. Weather for tomorrow: Highest temperatures in the late afternoon of 26oC / 79F and sunny all day. That is lower than the predicted (34oC) and that is good as we go ashore to see the Fenix emigration museum located nearby.

Another a small thing that is irritating is the day long storage of the cabin steward trolley. Even when they are not working. They leave it out, because their locker is so small and thus only store it away during the night hours. Apart from this not being “high quality service” it is also illegal, to leave storage in a ships corridor when it is not attended.. No wheelchair will fit through this hole and it is an escape route from the Yachh Club Lounge,

 

 

 

 

2026 May 26; Cherbourg, France.

May 27, 2026 / / 1 Comment

And so started our first day on board the MSC Virtuosa. We had ordered breakfast in the cabin which was delivered by our own Cabin Steward. He had to apologize as there was no magarine on board, so we had to have butter. But we think it has more to do with the fact that all the Stores and Provisions that came on board yesterday had not all been sorted out yet.  I wonder how many cabin breakfasts are ordered if there arel 6000+ guests on board. We think it must be considerable as there were mistakes in our order. So a rush job. A cheese plate is quite different from a meat plate. It is not the same color so you really can not miss the plate. I had also sent up a copy of one of  Holland America books to Captain Lefering as we had sailed together in the grey mists of time with Holland America. At lunch time a nice thank you note came back and with it a little bag with chocolates from the large store on board. These 5 day cruises are very intense for a cruise ship captain so I was not expecting that there would be time for a chat.

The sea side of the terminal which you normally do not see. But the ship is so big that it takes up the whole pier. The black oblong box across the little park, is the end of the French nuclear submarine. Le Redoutable.  There are still plans to restore the old gangways seen on the left but nothing has been happening for a long while, and they are in quite a sorry state.

We decided not to go ashore with the heat it is supposed to go up to 32oC, plus the fact that we have been here many a time and have done all the shore excurions. But we had several thousand guests marching ashore to invade Cherbourg, so we would not be missed. The town had their shuttlebus system ready and they must be used to mega liners visiting as instead of the regular size buses they used bendy-busses, so double the size but still with only one driver. I ran ashore quickly to look in the maritime bookshop but there was nothing new for me. They were doing a good business with selling Titantic – Revell plastic kit models.  They had about 8 different kits for sale, but in the book department there was only a new book out about Le Redoutable, the french submarine which sits in a dry dock basin as a museum next to the cruise terminal.  On the way back I overheard one of the French shuttle bus drivers complaining to the security guard about his guests on the bus. It seems that the whole bus had filled up with black guests and they had started a sing-a-long which was not in line with this french ideas of culture. I would have loved to have heard it  as normally the harmonizing is incredible. When we were last here, there was a sole security guard “protecting” the door from the museum side to the terminal side and was checking ids . She had now been replaced by a single male guard with a gun, who was checking nothing. I just wonder how many passengers a ship has to bring in, before a security guard gets upgraded with a pistol ? Up to 2000 no gun? 3000 – 6000 a hand gun ? over 6000 a machine gun ??. Guiding these large number of guests back on board, was too much for the local staff and hence the ship provided crew to stand in the terminal, to push the flow, to one of the 2 gangways or if needed to the lift. Also inside at the security check when entering the ship, the regular security guards, there seem to be about 30 of them, had help from housekeeping. That is all extra staff that then is not used to provide service to the guests. So we are already figuring out that all the focus is on selling stuff, restaurants, bars and shops and beyond that, you need to be in the Yacht Club to get some personal service.

Entrance to the chocolate shop and factory Jean Philippe..

So we went into the ship, to see what it was like with most guests gone ashore. Well most venues were closed for lunch, with only one general restaurant open for lunchtime and some of the – to pay for- other food outlets opening up in the course of the afternoon when most guests were returning. What was open was the chocolate shop and cafe.  And that brings me to the first main difference with other mega liners as this ship has a large, very large, choclatier shop (and chocolate factory)  on board with cafe area for ordering and enjoying.

Plenty on display and for sale, and not cheap, but then it is a “branded” product by the world famous Choclatier Jean Philipe. Note: the Stiletto shoe on the counter, can be bought and modified for creating your own choclate selection.

The choice of chocolates is very large and most of it seems to be made on board. I counted on this port morning, when all was quiet, at least 10 attendants in function so it must be a large happening. And also a very succesful happening. One thing that intrigued us was that you can order a chocolate shoe (like a high heeled stiletto), select the color of chocolate you want to have it made from, then they poor the shoe and then you can have it filled up with your selection of “bons-bons” as we call it. I did not look at the price but it looked like a nice present regardless. Then they also have the ship as  a silhouette in chocolate and a lot of other stuff.

Buy your own ship in chocolate.

From there we walked up and aft to the Lido Restaurant on Deck 16 after the breakfast here finished at 10.30. We walked through it yesterday and the place was a big mayhem with so many children milling around with special focus on the pizza outlets. I was not amazed that there is no Ice Cream stand in the place; imagine the horror if a 1000 or so childeren descending on that outlet, not counting the adults.

With so many guests being and staying in the Lido for a prolonged breakfast, the staff has barely an hour to clean up and to have lunch themselves. Before lunch starts at 12.00 hrs.

The setup is the same as on any other ship, with 2 identical line ups on the port and starboard side and with sufficient beverage and tea stations. On port days it can handle the crowds without much of an issue but on sea days it is cramped, even with it being such a big ship. It does not call for a relaxed experience but is similar to Holland America and Celebrity during Thanksgiving cruises, when all the families decide to go for lunch at the same time. But here they have that every day.

The crepe and gelati station on Deck 6 in the main parade. The prices are around 7 pounds a cup.

For those who want a free icecream, you have to go to a sit-down restaurant. There is ice cream in the outside to the pool bars or you can go to the Crepe & Gelati outlet on Deck 6.  But that is not free of charge.  Prices on board are in English as the ship is homeporting in the UK and a soft ice cornet in the pool area is 3.80 pounds. (We pay 3,– on the beach in our home town, so the price is not that outrageous)

For lunch we returned to the Yachtclub as at least we get personal service there. The menu’s are the same as in all price included restaurants (Menueto, Symphony and Bolero) but In the YachtClub the dishes have been tarted up a little bit with more attention to detail.

This is the Yacht Club day lounge, seen from the Dining room level. Panoramic windows offer a magnificent view and good service does the rest.

The show tonight was a magician so we decided to skip him and walk through the ship after dinner. Her ladyship wanted to inspect the handbags. She only has 100 of them and is missing a small blue evening one that can hold her phone, so we are on a mission. I wanted to see  the ceiling again as it changes twice a day and the 2nd time is at 21.10. (This time co-incides with most guests coming either out of the show or out of dinner). I was not disappointed and with loud sound effects the ceiling changed from fishes in the ocean to thousands of small photos. The handbags were either too big, too small, the wrong model or the wrong color………. or much too expensive and thus my bank account could take a deep sigh of relief.  When looking around, the logo shop, the liquor shop and the parfume shop were doing good business but the expensive shops were empty.

A picture ceiling where the colors keeps changing.

Another bar that makes a great impression on the kids on board is the Robot Bar or better called the “The Starship Club”. Here you can order a drink, cocktail or other mix; your name goes on the TV monitor so you can follow the progress of the drink being mixed. Quite nifty but it is a novelty and the process is quite slow. Hence on the side there is also a regular bar, for “quick orders”. If you order via the robot, you get your glass in a small box honoring the occasion. The staff is quite busy with stopping “little” johnny’s and not so “little” johnny’s from trying to touch the robot and the other equipment. I do not think it is a big money spinner but certainly a nifty gadget and focus point.

The Robot Bar, called the Starship Club.

Apart from entertainment in the lounge, there is also non stop action in the Virtuosa Bar, next to the chocolate shop on deck 6, it has a band in the evening and lots of quizzes during day time.Straight above on Deck 7 there is a similar space called  the TV studio and Bar, also for quizzes and Disco.

This is the Carousel Lounge. Which is during the day time using its LED banners to promote Wellness, which is located on deck 7 above the show lounge.

Then at the stern of the ship, the end of Deck 7, there is “Caroussel” Lounge. This is a 270o circular theatre for special shows such as acrobatics and related. A sort of Cirque due Soleil but then on a smaller scale. This is a pay-for lounge and a ticket sets you back 18 pounds.

Finally there is the Horizon Ampitheatre, a half circle open space on deck 16 at the stern, which is during day time a regular outdoor space but can be used in the evenings for performances. So far I have not seen anything advertised.

And the guests kept marching on. This was at 22.30 hrs.

While walking around, there was a never ending flow of guests, on the way from one place to the other and now all the pay-for venues on Deck 7  (steak house, pub, sushi, etc.etc.) were full.  We decided to retreat to the cabin as her ladyship wants to go to the Aurea Spa tomorrow, and wants to go fairly early, to see if we can beat the crowds. The use of the regular Wellness facilities are included in the Yacht Club price everyday, but no treatments.

Here a better photo from our cabin, in the Royal Suite Class. The machine on the left is an Nesspresso machine and Still and Sparkling water is delivered daily, as is a complimentary fridge with soft drinks and beer. But you only get one small box of Pringles and some nuts free for the whole cruise. Not pictured, but present is a kettle for the British for their cup of tea in the morning. (Photo courtesy MSC Cruises)

Tomorrow we are in Zeebrugge, for Bruges. Weather is expected to be sunny again but now with temperatures of 18oC / 65o F in the morning and rising by about 6 to 7o celcius during the day. Inland in Bruges is will be somewhat warmer. If one does not buy a tour (*) then there is the complimentary shuttlebus to the Gate from where you can take the local coastal tram or try to get a taxi, or pay 11 pounds for a transfer from the ship to Blankenberg. (With Cunard and other more upscale company’s this shuttle is included. So I had hoped that MSC would extend that also to their Yachtclub people but no such luck)

(*) We have now found out that sometimes you can get the tours with a big discount if they have not sold out. One came down from 150 pounds pre cruise to 59 poundson the day,  so if you are NOT that bothered, have a little gamble on sold out/not sold out and save yourself a considerable amount of money.

The lay-out of the cabin with a floor space of 307 square feet. In some of these cabins, the sofa can be turned into an extra 2 beds, but then 2 extra wardrobes are added which takes space away from the rest of the cabin. The two (brown) wardrobes in this diagram, one for hanging, one for laying, offer enough space for one week but not more. So if you do a longer cruise, you either have to recycle your clothes or rotate from the suitcase.

 

 

2026 May 25; Southampton, joining MSC Virtuosa.

May 26, 2026 / / 6 Comments

Today we joined the MSC Virtuosa in Southampton for a 5 day fact finding missing. Her Ladyship and I do not like big cruise ships in principle, with the wall to wall noise, but we hope that we can do it our way with the MSC two class system. When we were on the Silver Spirit (see review under My reviews) we spoke to a gentleman, who sailed with MSC if he wanted to do a short break from Florida. When I remarked that MSC was quite different to Silver Seas, he said: yes you are right but if you book a cabin in the YachtClub you will be ok. So My Lord and Master hopped from website to website and found that the MSC Virtuosa was making a 5 day cruise from Southampton for a very good price. We are visiting, Cherbourg, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. None of these ports we have ………………….NEVER, EVER………… been to of course but we are here to see the ship and the MSC product. And if the noise is too much we can retreat to the Yacht Club.

This is the london ring road. The section we drive is from A1M on the top, to the M3 on the left side midle.

So we travelled yesterday from the metropolis of Cromer to Southampton. Cromer has 15.000 in habitants (including the outlying hamlets) in the winter  but during the holiday season it swells to over 40,000 when all the campings are full; The AirBnb’s are full and B&B’s have filled up. Yesterday the beach was full and there were long lines at the ice cream vendors.  It is not real holiday time yet in England but we have what are called Bank Holiday’s. During the year there are a number of extra free monday’s to make the weekends longer so family’s can get away for a few days. Bank Holidays came in force in 1871, to give bank employees some extra time off and to synchronise the opening times of all the Banks. So all the banks would be open (or closed) on the same days. The name stuck and nearly all professions now recognize these days. There are 8 bank holidays in England (this is including the standard religious holidays such as christmas and new year), 9 in Scotland and 10 in Northern Island.

This photo shows a quiet day on the M25. When we drove it was even better with no lorries on the road as it was a sunday.

Normally (Do not ask me why) it always rains in the UK during a bank holiday but this time we have a sweltering heatwave (30oC = HOT, HOT in the UK) and thus on Friday afternoon half the country went on the move. The train operators decided this was the best weekend to go on a strike and those rail routes which are not striking are under going maintenance. Then it is Cup final weekend for the football teams, and hence it was major mayhem on the roads. Lots of reports of collisions, especially on the M25 (outer ring road of London, where nearly all the traffice, that goes North – South or South North) has to drive on, even if it is only for a short while. When you take your driving lessons in the UK, it does not include learning to drive on a motorway, with 2 or 4 lanes, so there is a fair chance that for some people it is the first time that they are exposed to the concentrated chaos of a multi lane motorway with most cars driving at 70 mph.

The MSC Virtuosa (Photo courtesy User-Geni from Wikipedia). The Yacht Club area we are living in, is around the two black window sections above the bridge.

But we drove yesterday, on a Sunday, and we found that all holiday makers were tucked away in their holiday cubby holes, as the roads were more than half empty. I set my Lexus autopilot on 60 mph/ with lane recognition and could stay on that speed almost the whole way without even having to change lanes. (and nobody honking because I was not doing 70…)  That was a new experience but a welcome one. When we are going back coming saturday, it should be quiet as well.  Hence we managed the 225 miles from Cromer to Southampton in 5 hours including a 30 minute pitsstop and that is making good time for driving on Englands roads. (You can nibble about 15 minutes off, if you do the motorway sections at 70-80mph. per hour, but that is concentrated work and not good for your heart rate and  also not good for the petrol consumption.  So by 16.00 hrs. we were at the Hilton hotel in Southampton. This Hilton is attached to a cricket ground and a golf course. On June 4 there is an international match of the UK against New Zealand, so a week early they were already putting out traffic barriers to avoid wild parking.

As we have booked The Yacht Club, we could board anytime, same as Holland America 500+ days and Cunard Gold and Diamond.  Hence we planned to show up around noon time, a time when normally preboarding starts. MSC had already advised that cabins would not be ready until 15.00 hrs. but for the Yachtclub I expect that it would be earlier as it is a smaller section with better service. How our suitcases would fare would be another story.

The MSC Virtuosa is a Meraviglia -Plus class, a class of 3 ships, MSC Meraviglia and the MSC Grandiosa. Due to Covid her delivery was delayed from November 2020 to February 2021 and after being christened by Sophia Loren the ship started sailing in May 2021. She then sailed in the Mediterannean but is now in the summer time sailing from the UK and in the Winter in the Caraibbean. Tonnage 181,541 (that is about double the HAL Pinnacle class and 25% larger than the Queen Mary). Length 331 meters and 50 meters wide (including bridge wings) and 65 meters high with 16 guest decks.  Total double occupany is 4842 with a max of 6334 with all beds in used. 1704 crew to look after the lot. That is approx. 1 crewmember for 3.5 cruise guests and a space ratio of 37,  which is not bad for a high pax. count.  But after we sailed, the Captain announced that due to the British School holidays, there were 6124 guests on board, meaning that most of the bunk beds in the ship were now also occupied and that dropped the space ratio down to 30.

Embarkation was a breeze, when coming out of the taxi, and walking towards the terminal we were found   by security and directed to a separate check in who took the suitcases and verified who we were. Then security took us directly to security scanning, bypassing a long line of other eager cruisers. Once passed security , we were escorted to a separate check in area, complete with butler, champagne and canape;’s. Then marching behind the Butler (with padle so we would not loose him) we were guided on board, via lifeboat check in, directly to the Yacht club day lounge for lunch. A very painless affair. With the chaos developing behind us, it is almost worthwhile to book Yacht Class , just for avoiding the crowds and having a smooth check-in.

You come on board directly in the main hub of the ship. A two story plaza. On the upper level are restuarants and cafe’s and on the lower shops. The ceiling changes color frequently and that is announced with music.

Lunch was delivered at 6 star standard and then by 13.00 hrs. our cabin was ready. We are in 16005 which is very convieniently – located just off the Concierge desk and the daylounge bar. Suitcases showed up by 1400 hrs. Which was very fast, as after departure at 20.00 hrs. they were still delivering suitcases on the lower decks. Not good of course but it made sense as there is no way that you can handle 6000 suitcases with group of crew pulled out from the 1700 while still having the whole ship going.

Somebody is enjoying the simming pool even on embarkation day………………..

Between 16.00 and 17.00  hrs. we made a round through the ship and observed that the swimming pools on deck 16, were completedly taking over by childeren. The ship employs lifeguards to keep an eye on it all and they were busy trying to keep little johnny’s from “murdering” each other by dive bombing in the pool. Then it was time for cocktails, followed by dinner ( Yacht club diningroom , so no need for booking) and show. For everything outside the Yachtclub you have to make a booking on the App. So we needed an hour this afternoon to figure out how the App worked and how the interactive TV worked to get it all lined up. For the shows, there is a separate section in the show lounge for Yacht Club people, and on request you are escorted there by your butler,He/she has a  bypass card for the lifts, so once in, it does not stop anywhere else. It seems that we might be able to do that with our door cards as well so that will be an experiment for tomorrow.

Section of our cabin. It comes with a small balcony, a large shower and a sitting area next to the bed. The ship has a musical theme, hence the “music” pictures on the wall.

Our Butler is called Dora  and is assisted by a cabin steward. Apart from butlering our cabin, she also has to help out in the bars on occasion, so it seems that she has a very hectic schedule.  In the Yachtclub there is constant music  in the evening, by a piano  player or a singing duo, so there is always something to listen to. Much better than having “to hunt” for where there is entertainment as is the case on other ships and having to adjust your cocktail time accordingly.

The Master of the vessel, Captain Henry Lefering. This photo comes from the MSC website and it looks that he is only one of 3 non Italian Captains in the MSC fleet. He used to sail for Holland America and transferred in 2023.

Dinner was six star service, although with limited entries (but for that they try to get you to go into the ship for the speciality restaurants, where you have to pay. The steakhouse is $55,– a cover)  and then the show was 40 minutes of high-octane Abba. (Three shows a night, so you can choose when booking) Although the ship has 18 guest lifts in 3 banks, around 10 pm. the waiting times can be long as all 6000 seem to be going up and down at the same time. And from the show lounge on deck 6 back to the cabin on deck 16, is a long climb.

The main show lounge. It seats about 800, and hence they do 3 shows each evening. Still not enough for 6000 guests, so you have to book.

Tonight is an hour forward as we are going to France, Cherbourg. We were there 4 weeks ago with the Borealis, so I am only going to run ashore to have a quick look in the maritime book shop. Weather for tomorrow” Sunny 85oF / 29oC, gentle breeze and no cloud inside.

 

Day 08, 22 April 2026, Southampton, Final Verdict

April 29, 2026 / / 8 Comments

The good ship Borealis safely docked at 05.15 hrs. in the morning, to be in time to get the longshoremen on board for the luggage offloading. They almost managed that on the time that Fred Olsen had planned, so it was only with a small delay that the Self-Disembark could leave followed by the color coded tags. And we were off by 08.15 hrs.  The only hurdle was for the early disembarkers; that it was Self Disembark on the paperwork but the Cruise Director called it “Priority Disembark” so half the people who were waiting  for the announcement “Self Disembark” were, understandably confused and did not directly leave.

We were not confused but then we had our regular lable sequence. By 08.45 we were back at the Hotel to collect the car and shortly after we were on the road.

So what is the final verdict for this cruise. We sailed with this ship before and then we had the Penthouse (1 of the 4 on board). Based on that experience, the only thing that was less than before was the stewardess cabin service. For the rest the product is very consistent and for 4 Star very good.

The”glare” test that I do on every ship was high with a “97%”. Some ships make the 100% (Azamara) some go well below (Cunard).

So there are the Pro’s and Con’s of this cruise.

Pros:
1. Nice spacious ship, the space ratio is close to 40 for an HAL – R class ship (1304 pax) and with about 1040 guests on board, there was even more space to walk around and find a seat in the public spaces.
2. Very friendly crew. The “Glare” applied gave a score of 97%, with only one hotel officer, one hotel crew, one deck sailor and one engineer failing to smile and be friendly.
3. Drinks included during lunch and dinner.
4. Dining room open every day, also in port.
5. Proper Captains welcome, and farewell party with drinks and appetizers.
6. “Repeater party” with drinks, appetizers, speech by the Captain. This cruise there were 741 repeat guests on board (or 71% of the total on board) with the majority having done around 100 days. The top scorers this cruise were a couple with 1200+ days.
7. Restoration of the Pizzeria on Deck 9.

Cons:
1. Operational let down with the shuttle service “to nowhere” in the port of La Pallice, while the company website advised that there would a free shuttle to the center of the nearest town, if the distance to the town is more than a mile. So no compliance by shipboard with company cruise contract.
2. Changing formal from the 2nd seaday to the next port day, against the promise on the website which is part of the cruise contract Only mentioning “Operational Reasons” is not the way to treat the guests who pay your salary. So no compliance with company rules and no explanation.
3. The degradation of the atmosphere of the Colours and Taste restaurant where table cloths have disappeared and people walking by can now do “window shopping” as the large windows into the corridor have no curtains. It reminded me of facilities available in a certain part of Amsterdam, except here you can see “guests in their natural environment eating”.  However the Hotel Director said that more paintings and curtains were coming in next dry dock, sometime in 2027. Why that has to be done in dry dock I do not know, as it is a job well within the capabilities of the ships carpenters. But then every company has it own routines.
4. Lectures were not posted on the TV. We found several from the cruise before (only to be removed 2 days into the cruise) but none of this cruise. And this cruise it was even more important than normal as with the work going on in the show lounge, the lectures were moved to the Auditorium (movie theatre) which seats on 299 instead of the 752 of the show lounge. Somehow ships staff was not aware of the guiding principle of “Leadership is the Management of change”.
5. Free Laundry or reduced laundry price vouchers. We did not get them. When enquiring at the Front Desk it turned out that a “voucher” is not a voucher as in paper voucher but an automatically applied discount by the Laundry Master when sending down the laundry. For the penthouses, it is free laundry, for the big suites, 10%. Why do we need the confusion as this can be so easily explained beforehand.
6. No meet and greet from cabin stewardess on arrival. When we finally met her 3 days later, the excuse was that WE were not there, when she came to our cabin. Correct she came to our cabin at 19.00  hrs. and that was cocktail time. But we were in the cabin all afternoon unpacking, and that is when meet-and-greet normally takes place. Previous visit, when we had one of the 4 penthouses and the time when we were on one of the lower decks, the stewardess was also waiting for our arrival (and as a – penthouse- bonus even the chief house keeper popped up). We also found many mistakes of incomplete cabin service this cruise so not impressed. There was something missing every day.
7. 2nd formal evening moved to a port day, for no apparent reason, except “operational reasons” cited by the ship. The Fred Olsen website states that it should have been on the 2nd sea day but the ship moved it to the next port day which was a tender port with a late departure. During the HD’s table, we asked the Asst HD and he claimed that this “had always been planned this way”. Very strange because:

a. The Fred website listed differently.

b. Guest Services Desk and Dining room knew that it had been changed recently, although they were not told why.

Can somebody teach this AHD and the rest of the ships staff that honesty and transparency works better than obfuscation ?

Fred Olsen Cruises is a typical British Product (which includes Ireland in this case) and thus one sees very few non British, unless attached to a British person like me to my British wife. Would it be a good product for North Americans:, yes  but it helps if you like Great Britain, like to dress up, like cocktail time, and are aware what “bangers and mash” is.

Our next cruise is at the end of May 2026, and will be a 5 day investigation of the MSC Virtuosa. We do not like big and noisy ships but they have the “Yacht Club” cabins with its own bar and dining room, where you can retreat to when the rest of the ship becomes too much. We have never done an MSC cruise but as the ship leaves from Southampton,  why not ???

Dear Readers, hopefully you will joins us again, even if my observations are not always “politically correct”.

 

A final nice touch, as least for shippy people. Fred Olsen ships always had a bronze bow figure. If a ship left the company, then the figure was taken off and stored in the garden of the Olsen house on the Oslofjord until it was needed again. With the Borealis and Bolette it does not look good to put one on the bow, so they have one on the Aft Lido Deck. I still have to find out from which ship this one once came.

 

« Older posts

© 2026 – Captain Albert's Website and Blog –

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑