Msc virtuoso is impressive and the bad reviews on trip advisor should be taken as indications of potential problems, not that you will encounter them. Many cruisers on this ship are repeat customers.
Embarkation was about 30 minutes at Southampton horizon terminal. Easy and painless.
Food so far in the restaurants has been good and varied. Had to queue to get a set table and time. Do this on day 1 if your table is unassigned or you want to change the time. There is a desk set up outside of the blue Danube restaurant.
Cabin an ocean view is small and clean. The window is much larger than all the other ships I have been on. I had to clean the inside with a Clorox wipe and they seldom clean the outside. When they do it’s still spotted.
Internet didn’t work but after another queue day 1 and a password change it worked. So far it’s been working fine. Note when it goes down you need to re sign in. It’s down in the fjords of Iceland and Norway.
To sign up for the specialty carousel shows times is another queue on day 2 morning. You then pick the days and times. For all other shows just go to the electronic boards and pick your shows dates and times. You can also go ten minutes before the show and just walk in if there is room.
The first paid show in the carousel lounge was a mini cirque de soleil show. Some guests rave about it. However if you have seen the Las Vegas shows this is just a taste. In my opinion they should not charge extra for it. You get a free drink pre made .
All other shows have been good but they added shows so you had to rebook again.
Greenock was lovely. The people are nice and the esplanade walk of a mile long was the best part.
Ayafyordur is in the northern fjords of Iceland. It’s a pretty town. Walk up to the avalanche line or higher for great views. Take the first tender as msc only uses two for this port. You may not get off unless you early. Note Msc has the absolute worse security process for getting back on a ship. Expect no less than 30 minutes to go thru only one security line.
Reykjavik was a small town, with high prices. It’s a three mile walk one way along the water but beautiful. Don’t miss the house of reclaimed metal and wood. It’s free. Best thing to do is to take the free shuttle right where you dock. Leaves every 20 minutes from 8am til 9:30 pm . The puffin boat tour was good.
Alesfond Norway is beautiful. Take the city train about $36 CDN for a 70 minute trip including up the mountain . Lovely views and good shopping.
Malloy Norway is a nothing to do town so take the ship tour for highlights of Maloy.
Flamm Norway is so pretty. I had taken the train before so did the short hike around town and up the hill. Prices for souvenirs was the cheapest here.
Day one was three queues and about an hour lost to lining up. They need more staff on these tasks after people board.
I loved the cabin, restaurant, general atmosphere.
I hated the dirty outside windows, the tendering process and the extra long security lines to get on the ship. They need to add more ways to get on for the non yacht club people.
Overall I will try another msc cruise.
Hope this helps
Marcia