General Info
Itinerary: Martinique (Fort-de-France), Guadeloupe (Ponte-à-Pitre), Sint Maarten (Philipsburg) & Saint Martin (Marigot), Azores archipelago of Portugal (Ponta Delgada), Germany (Hamburg) | Ship: MSC Virtuosa | Dates: 4-17th of April 2026
*This post will be a bit different from other blogs, while structure will partially remain the same. ____________________________________________________________________________
🗺️ Check out our full Cruise tracking with pics as well as other trips: https://www.polarsteps.com/vlgk/24904509-cruise
🚢 Briefly about the Transatlantic Cruise
We have never been to a cruise before, but wanted to gain that kind of experience sometimes. Another thing we've been also dreaming of was to cross the Atlantic Ocean. That's why, we've been checking various transatlantic cruises for a while (giving the preference to ones, which allows us to “stay in EU”), until this year in January we saw almost 50% lower price for one of the MSC Grand Voyages we've been observing closely. This was our cue, so we booked us the 13 Nights transatlantic cruise from Martinique to Hamburg with MSC Virtuosa, which included visit of 3 Caribbean islands (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin), and Azores as well as 5 and 4 days in the ocean in between.
Worth to mention that February and March we spent in researching infos and preparing for our upcoming 1st cruise :) Of course, we ended up with a bunch of expectations, which differed from the reality. And this is what I want to concentrate on in this post.
🆒 Expectations vs. Reality
#1 The Room We expected that it will be as comfortable as a hotel room. In reality, it was even better, as it was more spacious (at least the room with a balcony, which we had). Each room had a centralized ventilation, and the temperature in the room could be also individually controlled by thermostat, and you could easily make it colder or warmer as you wish anytime. The bed was super comfortable although a bit short (looks like it was even a bit less than 2m long). People in videos were complaining about few sockets (we had 3 types: European, American and USB-A) or shelves for clothes, in reality we had enough of it all :) The room with a balcony was definitely worth additional money, and we can totally recommend it.
#2 The Service Staff We expected that staff will be nice, and in reality it was super nice, friendly and helpful everywhere: from the room's attendant till waiters.
#3 Ships' and Facilities' Condition As the most cruise ships are used non-stop throughout the year, we expected that the ship and all the facilities will be worn out. Although our ship was not the newest one (exploited from 2022), it was in a pretty good condition. We noticed some maintenance and renovation works her and there on the go though.
#4 Communication Onboard We expected that there will be a chat in the cruise App, and it was exactly so: a local intranet was available for all guests, and we all could add each other's contacts and chat. Moreover, everywhere (not only in rooms) were phones available to call to any cabin by its number, that was convenient! We and some other guests also were using walkie-talkies: they were working good enough, although one had to keep them on and charged constantly.
#5 Ship Motions and Sea Sickness Based on comments as well as absence of information about pitching in many reviews, we expected that we won't notice ship motions that much as the ship is huge and allegedly should have some special stabilization mechanisms. It turned out that even with a pretty calm ocean ship motions were noticeable especially in the evening or at night. One night the side-to-side pitching was really noticeable making it even hard for us to move around the ship straight :) So, I believe for some people it could be pretty hard and cause a sea sickness, and would recommend bringing a medicine against the sea sickness with you as well as ear plugs, because when ship is pitching the different parts are moving too and make some noise.
#6 Time Onboard On a transatlantic cruise the time zones as well as the time itself are changing frequently. During the first 5 days in the ocean we have changed time adding +1 hour 4 days in a raw, and it was really harsh! Every day we had 1 hour less and constantly felt that we run out of time and are tired. Another thing is that with the huge variety of activities on the ship you like have a full schedule and have not enough time for everything you want :)
#7 Health and Sickness on the Ship We expected that with a huge number of people onboard (up to 6 thousands passengers) it could be possible to get ill. At the end of the cruise we unfortunately got ill, as well as many people around, considering what we've heard in the buffet. We think it's easy to get infected especially in the buffet, where all the tableware couldn't be ideally clean. So, it's better to either bring your own mug, or rinse one from the buffet with boiling water and keep it with you all the cruise. In swimming pools and jacuzzi it's not that dangerous, as they use seawater in the former and the bleach in the latter, and renew water regularly.
#8 Stars and The Moon We expected that we could enjoy some stars and moon gazing as there is no light pollution in the ocean, but in reality we saw just some stars in few nights and all the other time – literally nothing: no stars and no moon! So, it's pretty cloudy in the ocean.
#9 Wildlife Around the Ship We expected to see a lot of dolphins and even whales, like they will be all the time near the ship (even adds on the ship itself were highlighting dolphins-watching as one of activities onboard). In reality, it actually happened – we saw some dolphins from our balcony, but just once, and I believe we were among few lucky people who saw them. We also saw some birds, especially closer to the shore.
#10 The Complimentary Food We were expecting good and tasty food, which will be repeating a lot. The food onboard was really great and tasty with huge variety during the lunch and dinner. We even wished that some dishes will be repeating as they were so yummy, but it actually almost never happened unfortunately :)
#11 The Buffet From various videos and reviews we had such an impression that there is not that much good food in the buffet, and it's rather for a quick snack. And if you want to have a good food you need to go to the Main Dining Room. In reality, the buffet was a place with a bigger variety of tasty food with same ingredients as in complimentary restaurants. One could perfectly eat only there the whole cruise and feel happy.
#12 The Complimentary Beverages We thought that there will be limited variety of tea (like 1 coffee sort and 1-2 tea sorts) and for all the rest one have to pay. But at least on our ship we had a great variety of complimentary good-quality tea: 4-6 sorts of green and black tea with various flavors as well as herbal and decaffeinated tea.
#13 Sweets and Ice Cream We expected a lot of pastries and cakes, as well as soft-ice at least occasionally available. In reality, we had no complimentary ice cream at all, but huge amount of fruits, various sweet desserts, as well as cakes and pastry. One day we even had a “Sweet Extravaganza”, and it was just crazy how much yummy confection we had there!
#14 Days at Ports We thought that everyone will have kind of a dedicated time for disembarkation and return at ports, and it will be totally not enough time to see anything if you don't book an excursion. Moreover, we expected that we won't be allowed to bring any beverages from the “land” to the ship. In reality, one can leave the ship anytime as soon as it's indicated in the schedule and come back and forth as many times as one wish. People could also bring pretty anything (except the strong alcohol in glass-bottles) with them: we brought coke as well as small beer in cane once without any issues. It also was usually plenty of time to check small islands or check few great places as well as main sightseeings at the bigger ports. We felt we could make an impression of the place from our visits and sometimes even returned earlier than the indicated deadline for boarding. Of course, if you visit a port in a big city/country (such as Hamburg, for example), you won't feel like you had a sufficient visit.
#15 Activities and Entertainment Onboard We had such an impression that there should be not that many various activities, which will be mostly passive, leisure activities like shows, listening to musicians etc., which could also be 1-2 hours long. In reality there was an incredible schedule with ca. 80-90 various activities every day, and almost each single one was having a duration of 30 minutes: sport & fitness activities, fun games, dance classes, quizes, shows, movies under the sky, bands concerts, demonstrations and tastings, promotions, workshops, lectures and many more things!
#16 Sport Onboard We expected there will be many ways to stay active and fit, and it was exactly like that and even better. There were plenty of way to stay fit: amazing running track with a sea view, aerobics and fit dance, dance and sport classes as well as tournaments, gym with sauna, and even Tai Chi!
#17 The Swimming Pools and Jacuzzi We heard that usually pools and jacuzzis are small and super crowd, so one can use them only during the port-days, when many people leave the ship. But in reality on our ship we had 3 swimming pools (2 outside and 1 inside) with at least 7 jacuzzis, and even an aqua park with 3 slides and a lot of watter activities. It was always possible to swim or find a sit in a jacuzzi as well as a sunbed. Even in colder days, when we expected that inside pool will be full, it was always possible to swim and chill on a sunbed. Water everywhere including aqua park was also warm and comfortable.
#18 Shopping From various videos it looked like the shopping street is huge like a big shopping mall. In reality at our ship it was pretty compact with just few luxury shops, but it wasn't an issue for us :)
#19 Prices Onboard We expected that like everything will be super expensive onboard, but in really it wasn't. Only alcohol and luxury goods were as usually expensive (but not more expensive than in many tourist places), the rest was pretty affordable. Things that were interesting to us were affordable: one could buy a good coffee Americano for 2,5 EUR, ice cream for 3-4 EUR, and even a coconut for 4 EUR (all prices are indicated including service fees).
#20 Additional Expenditures Onboard We expected that it will be just totally necessary to spend some additional money on the ship to have a good cruise, but in reality one could literally pay nothing more than the price of the cabin with complimentary restaurants and drinks and totally enjoy the cruise! Although we did spend some money on small souvenirs, some treats like coffee, ice cream and coconut (less than 100 EUR for 2 people during the 2 weeks), as well as on some spa treatments (like massage), which were more out of curiosity and for fun (Did you ever had a Balinese massage in the middle of the ocean? :)), and definitely worth it. We also expected that service staff will annoyingly sell us various packages and paid products, but they haven't.
🍽️ What and where to eat
On the cruise ship there are basically 2 types of dining: complimentary and paid. All ships have their own selection of specialty paid restaurants with various cuisine, for example we had japanese sushi restaurant, stakehouse, champagne bar etc. There you have either to buy a dinner package for a fixed price, or pay for each dish and drink. They also have various promotions, like for example “all-you-can-eat” 1 hour sushi buffet for 29 EUR. We haven't been to any specialty paid restaurants, so can't tell about it here.
The complimentary dining includes few various options: – Main Dining Room (MDR) (breakfast, lunch, dinner) – Complimentary restaurants (in our case dinners only) – Buffet (Marketplace) (breakfast, lunch, dinner) – and some places/bars with snacks (breakfast sometimes, lunch, dinner).
Main Dining Room had a fixed breakfast and lunch menu, and dinner menu same as in complimentary restaurants. In MDR one could also get free watter and juice to the dishes, but in restaurants even water had to be bought. We went to a dedicated restaurant only once (4 restaurants all had the same menu and were assigned based on cabins), and were not that happy with the menu and food quality, as well as noticed that main dishes were mostly the same as in the buffet, just were served with a bit more style.
So, we found out pretty quickly that the best option for us to eat will be the buffet called “Marketplace”, because one have a greater variety of dishes with more fresh ingredients and served quicker.
The buffet also had some special dishes and menus on a daily basis, which were cooked in front of us. Sometimes there was a line, like for example when we had a Seafood festival with lobsters, scallops, oysters, muscles, shrimps and so on, but it was still quicker than to wait in the restaurant :)
As noted above, we were super happy with taste, quality, and variety of dishes in the buffet, and liked some dishes a lot as well as wished to eat them more often :) Some highlights from buffet include grilled fish, pasta, various salads (like couscous salad, rice noodle salad, surimi or shrimps salad etc.), snacks like 4 cheese pizza, fried rice (with vegetables or shrimps), baked or grilled vegetables, and of course sweets and fresh fruits (melon, mango, pineapple and watermelon). Worth to notice that as MSC is an Italian pasta all Italian dishes like pasta and pizza were yummy and cooked with quality ingredients (like De Cecco pasta etc.).
👀 What to do and what to see
During any cruise there will basically 2 types of days, which will affect your possible activities: “port-days” and “sea-days”.
“Port-days” depend on your cruise's itinerary and usually include a visit to a city/country (organized either by yourself or with an excursion bought from your cruise company) as well as some activities on the ship (like breakfast, dinner, aerobics, swimming in the pool etc.). Including Martinique, we had 4 “port-days” during our cruise, and I will cover them in separate blogs (here are the corresponding links: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Sint Maarten, Azores).
“Sea-days” will be filled with a mixture of your independently self-defined activities, activities from a daily program (free and paid) as well as with breakfast/lunch/dinner of course :)
Every evening a new daily program for the upcoming day will be announced and made available in the App, on TV in your room and on the info displays around the ship. One can choose any things they like and craft a personal agenda. We had huge amount (80-90 activities during the “sea-days” and 50-60 activities during the “port-days”) of various free activities every day to choose from: – Wellness and well-being activities like Yoga, meditations, soundhealing, Tai Chi etc.
- Fitness activities like aerobics, fit dance, gentle gym, running on the upper deck, going to gym etc.
- Sport activities like football, basketball, tennis, pickleball, table football, ping-pong, waterpolo etc. as well as tournaments.
- Dance classes (Salsa, Chachacha, Bachata etc.).
- Board games, puzzles, fun games (like mini-golf, inflatable dart, mega jenga etc.) and quizes.
- Lectures and workshops (skin care, weight loss, etc.).
- Entertainments like daily shows, bands/life music, thematic parties (White party, Snow party, 60s-70s-80s party etc.), Captain's Presentation, karaoke, disco, movie under the sky etc.
- Special events and promos from shops & services like collecting a daily charm from a jewelry shop, raffle from the duty-free shop or spa-treatments testing (free massage testers, hair or skin analysis etc.), coffee & chocolate demo etc.
- Meetups and thematic activities like Bridge players get-together, or LGBTQ+ and Single-travelers meetups etc.
- Family and Kids activities.
Paid events and activities included shopping, casino and bingo, behind the scene excursions, spa treatments, Beer/Rum tastings, photoshootings, bowling, VR/4D kino, arcaden games etc.
Of course one could also choose to do various self-defined activities using ship's facilities like pools, jacuzzis, agua park, mindfull walks on the upper deck with a sea view etc. or just reading a book, checking cruise info on your TV, looking at the ocean etc. as well as spending time with family and friends playing board games, chitchatting etc.
💡 Some highlights
- You can meet great people and build bonds with them while crossing the ocean together. We've noticed that during the sea-days many people including us found their “tribe” regularly doing activities, they are interested in :)
- You can get or ask for various things for free: your cabin attendant may provide you with a bath robe and flippers (just ask politely), you can get a free bottle of water from a bar sometimes, there are also a lot of freebies from shops and services like free charms or treatment testers etc, and also you can get some prizes by participating in games and quizes.
It's actually totally possible to spend no money on board at all and still have an amazing cruise with various complimentary products and services already included in the cabin price you paid!
As for the cruise company's loyalty program we still don't see much advantage of it, because like real value you can get only as the highest level member, but to obtain that kind of membership you actually had to spend a looot of money (check it out here for MSC: https://www.msccruisesusa.com/msc-voyagers-club). For example, to get a “Free Internet Browse Package” you need to have a “Blue diamond” membership, which requires 25000 points: for comparison, for 13 nights cruise we got just 1000 points. So do your math.
Did we enjoyed it: YES! Will we go one more time to a cruise: YES!
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Due to lack of comments functionality, if you have any comments or question, you can contact me via trb21 [at] tutanota.com or comment under these posts: https://mastodon.social/@tracyspcy/116447716042796028 or https://lemmy.ml/post/46266694.