Finding Santa at sea

I am generally a bit of a Scrooge at home when it comes to Christmas. 

There is a part of me, probably the Jewish bit, that is uncomfortable with the stress about making just one day perfect.

So it felt like a nice change to be spending the festive period at sea on the MSC Virtuosa.

My in-laws kindly took my wife and I, plus the kids, for a week sailing from Southampton to Northern Europe and back. It included stop-offs in Hamburg, Bruges, Rotterdam and Le Havre.

The Shoffmans are more familiar with summer cruises so we didn’t really know what to expect on a winter sailing, especially when I am very much used to sipping beer on the pool deck for as much of the day as possible. 

We were on the same ship in the summer and had a lovely time although it was pretty crowded in the bars and getting on or off at ports.

I was worried that it would feel more busy on a winter cruise as everyone would be crammed indoors but despite 5,000 people being onboard, we barely had to wait for a table or a drink or in a queue to embark or disembark.

I’m not sure if there were more staff, better organisation or just more activities to spread people around, but there were none of the long queues that some passengers complained about during the summer.

The kids’ club arranged a meet-and-greet with Santa on Christmas morning that could have been organised by his own elves it was so smooth and slick.

It started with a video of Santa dealing with a reindeer strike and then having to use a rowboat to get to the Virtuosa before he is rescued at sea and then appears on stage for kids to line up and each receive a present.

Luckily, everyone had made it onto the nice list and received a Lego Virtuosa ship.

They must have given out hundreds of boxes of Lego but there were no crowds to push through or long lines to wait in. Everything just kept moving until it was time to see Santa.

The food was great, including a Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.

The shows had a festive theme as well as the traditional song and dance offerings, some of which we had seen in the summer but were just as good a second time.

There is some brilliant talent singing at sea each night on the Virtuosa and they are worth seeing before they get snapped up by the West End or Broadway.

You will of course find plenty of people on forums or Facebook groups that complain about service or minor issues but we couldn’t fault MS in the summer and now in the winter as well. 

The staff clearly go above and beyond to keep guests happy, especially the waiters who have to deal with hundreds of different food orders each breakfast lunch and dinner.

Despite what must be a stressful job, we always had waiters who were willing to chat and even sing with our children and make animal shaped serviettes for them. 

It did make me sad to think how all these crew members are spending Christmas celebrating with other families while away from their own.

This was perhaps my own Scrooge/Christmas Carol moment.

I managed to interview the ship’s hotel director for The Sun to find out how he copes with being away from the family during the festive season.