pamelanj

Hi We will be doing our first Haven trip in June on Joy. Many balcony and suite cruises in the past. Today we received our sticky luggage tags that have our room number and PRIORITY. The letter that came with it states we are Haven. I could have sworn my cousin who did Haven last year had some sort of gold plastic Haven tags. Did they eliminate them or are they given at the terminal? Not a big deal either way as long as our tags are good enough. Thanks. 😊

Sounds like you are feeling what I felt. We booked our 2/2 cruise ~a week prior. We are spontaneous people but since this was a new line to us, I was nervous!!! A good friend of mine said it best, you aren’t at work! Truly, how bad would it have to be to HATE it. 🤣 We didn’t know what to expect and reading some comments made it scarier. But then I remembered that we have had many great NCL cruises and some people have complained where we were perfectly happy. I hope you have a great time! 😊

Hi again. We are also platinum on NCL. Did you do the status match? We did and got gold on MSC. We are low maintenance people but we did notice the service on MSC seemed like NCL of the past. Not knocking NCL. We are booked for June with them in our first Haven experience. We received a lot of nice “gifts” in our cabin. I am not sure which were due to Gold or which were Aurea. We got Prosecco and chocolate covered strawberries, dark chocolate, a lovely reed diffuser (spa scent that we love), lightweight backpacks. My husband ordered additional entrees and while we were prepared to pay $5, we never did. Another nice thing is bottled water! We always bring metal water bottles and fill them on NCL. We barely used them as water bottles were plentiful and part of the drink package that we bought with Aurea. This was the first time we ever went on a cold weather cruise (we do NY in Summer or FL) and I was so nervous! We had a great time even when we weren’t in the sun. We make our own fun! The food in MDR was good. DH loved every meal. He said his steaks were perfect. If I look back a few weeks post trip I think my faves were lobster and the shrimp and grits. I don’t eat steak. We aren’t buffet people but on this trip we did hit up the pizza several times. The only crummy meal I got was soggy fish and chips one day for lunch. Not a big deal. I would say the food is comparable to MDR on NCL except service better on MSC. We went to the spa at 9 each morning but once. We did make reservations while there on sea days. It was not crowded. The private island was beautiful! We really liked it. We did not hang out in the main area and when we walked it, it was crowded. If you don’t care about the buffet, I suggest doing the less crowded beaches that have a bar and a little food truck. Gambling was good. Didn’t lose our shirts! Very clean and pretty ship. Our ship was 80% full per staff we spoke to… Embarkation was easy peasy! We got there right before noon and were in our cabin at 12:30! Longest part was security and then you go to the left for the Aurea sign and that was minutes. I think NYC port pick up is easier and we would probably choose to walk off with our luggage next time. Those who did that were off by 730 am. Looking for luggage was a bit chaotic but still ok. i hope I covered everything. Feel free to ask more! 😊

Hello! I did not do a proper trip review but I am happy share my impressions of Mera Aurea. We liked the Aurea perks such as the private deck area, the spa pkg and the priority embarkation. Being you are going in March you have a better shot at more nice weather days. We did not do any specialty dinners except Holas for lunch twice. We really liked it. Being NCL cruisers we appreciated the anytime dining with Aurea. We never waited for a table and always got a table for two which is our preference. We didn’t do any shows but did enjoy musicians we listened to by bars some evenings. If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer. 😊

We just got off our first MSC cruise. One thing was definitely better was the overall service. We haven’t seen that level on NCL in a few years. I am not knocking NCL because we still love them but I agree that they do have competition. Everyone we spoke to on the MSC cruise were previously exclusively NCL. We always have fun whatever cruise it is and no line is perfect. 😊

I think you might be onto something. Leaving a plate nicely and assuming OL staff will pick it up isn’t crazy. People spilling stuff all over is different. The issue is probably two part. Less staff to clear plates and then those who don’t even attempt to be neat.

I promise I am laid back. I don’t care about feet so much but people leaving food messes all over the ship isn’t very nice to others and staff. I don’t begrudge anyone a doze but when there are no seats… honestly, I don’t care that much. Was just chiming in, please forget I said anything. 😊

People definitely can be slobs! I also don’t understand those in the front loungers in OL snoring away. If you aren’t awake, how are you observing? 🤣 I get it if someone accidentally dozed but passing out snoring for an hour…. Weird

Have you seen the new thermal spa? I never knew that had bfast in observation. Lol I do enjoy the afternoon snacks. Is that still available? Thanks.

The SLOTHS! Omg! Monkeys and GP are cute too, of course. 🤣 love your DH face in monkey pics! I love reading your reports. ❤️

The online process definitely needs work. luckily we found customer service to be very helpful. They checked us in and I also discovered we did not have the questionnaire. At the terminal they had me read a short document and state we weren’t sick. This was just last weekend. Have a great time!

We just got off of our first MSC Mera cruise yesterday and really enjoyed ourselves. We usually cruise NCL. We did balcony Aurea and enjoyed the perks that came with the experience. We may try YC in the future. We are doing our first Haven on Joy in June. Typically we do extended balcony or club balcony on NCL depending on what is available. You mentioned casino comped NCL cruises. I assume this is Caesar’s? We have noticed the comps aren’t coming lately. We are diamond plus. We always upgraded the comped cruise. The last few cruises we just used the discount they offer. Thanks for the thoughtful comparison.

Hi! I replied and POOF! Embarkation was painless. The longest part was security line. After that the aurea line was quick. We started security line at noon and were in our rooms at 1230! We are enjoying ourselves on the Mera. I do want to share my thoughts but will probably wait until we get home. I read your posts and it looks like you are having fun on your trip, too. i hope this post makes it…😊

Oh no, we used a legit car service that we have used for years. It was more money than paying to park but the stress free ride was worth it to us.

Hi again i I was reading another thread about a different MSC ship regarding a health questionnaire? Ummm…we didn’t get that for our Meraviglia cruise TODAY! On the cover page it does not list a health questionnaire but it does state there is important Covid info on page 13. But nope, it isn’t there and no Covid info anywhere. I am hoping there isn’t one we need. I sure hope I don’t have to call MSC again who had to do our check in process and email our tickets in the first place. Thanks for your help. 😊