Back at Sea with MSC!

Last week I was lucky enough to finally be back at sea and sailing on the Beautiful, Brand Sparkling new MSC Virtuosa!  It has been such a long 18 months for me not being able to step foot on a cruise ship and I was so excited to be back in my happy place!  I know that for many, the idea of cruising post-Covid may seem a little daunting. So in this blog I’m going to talk you through the processes put in place by MSC to ensure their customers and staff as safe as they can possibly be.

MSC Cruises seem to be leading the way in Covid-safe cruising and have been sailing (just on a much smaller scale than normal) through a lot of the pandemic with great success.  It was just over a week ago however that us Brit’s could finally join in with the fun! The Virtuosa will be sailing around the UK for this Summer until September!

MSC cruises require passengers to be either double vaccinated or to have a negative PCR or lateral flow test within 72 hours of travel. Passengers need to register their test result and show proof of this (via the text or email) at the cruise terminal before boarding. They also need to have COVID Specific Cruise travel insurance which they also need to show at the terminal before boarding.  The Check in process is very well organised with passengers having to arrive at their designated time to avoid overcrowding.  On arrival your temperatures are checked, bags sprayed with disinfectant and hand sanitiser readily available as you go through the check in process.  Once your bags are scanned you go through to the check in area and here, you go to have another COVID test.  This is a lateral flow test (just up the nose) and everyone needs to wait for 30 minutes for their negative test result before boarding.  Once our number was called, myself and my friend were able to board! I have to say I skipped onto the ship as I was that excited! 

At the terminal and whilst walking around the ship guests are required to wear face masks.  Whilst sitting to eat or drink or whilst sunbathing though we are able to take the masks off.  There are many extra measures on-board to accommodate social distancing and the capacity has been reduced which helps towards this.  In the restaurants, bars and theatre some tables and chairs have crosses on them indicating to guests they cannot sit on them so that groups aren’t too close to each other.  In lifts they have foot markers on the floor to advise where guests should stand and they are limited capacity. There are also lots of these feet markings around the ship to advise of spacing and also one way systems.  This all seems to work really well!

I feel that ships have always been the best places for cleanliness but you will notice this even more so post COVID.  Constant cleaning is taking place around the ship. Chairs and tables swiftly wiped down once they have been used.  We had a tour around the kids club and they have lots of similar safety measures in place. At the moment they are limited to 20 children per age group (this may change as guidelines do). Toys are limited for use of one child and then are cleaned before they are used again.  Temperature checks are done every day at breakfast and before entry to the kids club for that added precaution. As well as all of these measures and many more, many ships have also installed additional air filtering systems at the expense of millions of pounds to prevent the spread of Covid or any other airbourne diseases on-board. 

I have to say I felt so very safe and comfortable whilst on-board!  Although these measures made the on-board experience feel a little different from previous cruises I really didn’t feel it detracted from the experience of fun, luxury, relaxation and social atmosphere I have loved that you get from cruising!  I will go into more details about my MSC Virtuosa cruising experience in my next blog with all the fun bits including the spectacular shows, yummy food and amazing service we had on-board from the wonderful staff who were so happy to be back after all this time away! You can call me on 03333002638 if you’d like to ask any questions about cruising and I’d be happy to find you your perfect cruise for this summer or beyond.