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,