Iluvcruising2

These days, with mobile phones and roaming plans, we can monitor the ship's location right from our own mobile devices. Glad to say that from our phones, we could see that the ship was making good progress towards Naples, and the weather looked to be calm enough for docking. As the sun set early, it was dark as the ship approached Naples port.

Well, we were now feeling hungry (since we skipped lunch), and it wasn't time for dinner yet. So we headed to the Top Sail lounge to get some drinks and food. We were all feeling much better, since the ship was not rocking anymore, and we all had a good sleep. It was time for some more bonding over food and drink!

In this video, while the ship was docking in Naples, we were in the Top Sail lounge, for drinks and some finger food before dinner. It was father and son bonding time! I had the Long Island Iced Tea, and he also had the Long Island Iced Tea sans Alcohol. Later on, we did the same with the Mojito. It was good fun! Not everyday you can bring a kid to a lounge and enjoy great drinks. Happy sailing!

[YOUTUBE]cW7L8twmRw0[/YOUTUBE]

So the ship was now sailing to Naples.

Wow, this was certainly unexpected. Anyway, the rocking got so bad, that I had to lie down. I ended up skipping lunch because I slept through lunch till mid afternoon! (Yes, the rocking was not a joke)

By the time I woke up from my morning sleep(due to rocky seas), it was mid-afternoon. Thankfully, by now, the ship was less rocky. I assume we had fled from the storm brewing near Civitavecchia. I still felt a bit woozy. So I decided to head out to the balcony to get some fresh air, and to eat a green apple in the process.

And it continued to be rocky! Here is a video I made, called Green Apple on rocky seas.

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Compared to our cruise 2 years ago on the MSC Preziosa (also in December), this cruise was turning out to be much more rocky! By now, I had puked once already. But the cruise must go on! Nothing was going to stop us having fun. Fortunately, my parents were most resilient. They had a hearty lunch (in the YC restaurant) and subsequently spent a fun afternoon roaming the ship (it was their first time on an MSC ship), and patronising the casino. Glad that they were ok. Do you get less sea-sick when you get older?

From a local coffee shop near Holland Drive market, this relatively new shop called Supreme Ramen Xiao Long Bao. Very good!

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[Looks like I am able to post links to youtube videos, but I am having difficulty posting links to image websites]

I tried posting again tonight, using the tinypic.com website to host my pictures (as I have always used), but again, I couldn't post.

When I post with text only (like now), my post goes through.

Does anybody have the email address of an admin that I can email to?

Thanks.

Hi everybody

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been having difficulty posting images. When I try to do so, I am told that a security solution has kicked in by CloudFlare. I am only able to post when I take away the images. Not sure if I'm the only one facing this problem.

LoL. Your target audience aren't reading this.

Stabilisation is cool. TIme for me to get a gimbal.

I am sorry to hear about the hard rocking, and the missed stop in Civitavecchia. However, I am optimistic to hear how you spend your time in Naples. Enjoy yourself! :)

New Year's Day in Singapore. Welcome 2018!

Well, the ship was so rocky in the Med ocean, we were just happy that the ship could dock in Naples.

Day 2 of our cruise! Today, the ship was scheduled to arrive at 0800hrs, and depart 1800hrs. It was designed to be a relatively long port of call, as some pax would want to take a day trip to Rome, and that would take 9 hours (according to the excursion booklet). Simple reason, Rome was about 80km from Civitavecchia.

For our last cruise (on the MSC Preziosa back in 2015), we were far more adventourous. We decided to rent a car from a nearby Avis/Budget, and drive ourselves to the Castel Romano Shopping Outlets. Looking back at my video from 2 years ago brought back fond memories. Here it is again (gosh, the weather looked good then!).

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This time round, the plan was to take a shore excursion organized by MSC, to Tuscania and Tarquina. So we woke up in good time, to have breakfast in the YC restaurant, and were all ready to go. This was my MSC Express breakfast.

And some of the finger food available in the Top Sail. I enjoyed a small cup of Bircher Muesli.

However, something was amiss. When we were having breakfast at about 0715hrs, I noticed that we were nowhere near the port. In fact, the ship was still quite some distance from the land. When we asked the staff, we were told that there were high winds at Civitavecchia, and our ship was waiting for the winds to die down.

In the video below, we had some breakfast and then waited in the Top Sail lounge. After about 30 minutes, we had enough to eat, and the ship still didn't look like it was headed to the port. Anyway, the seas were rather rocky, and we all decided to head back to our cabins to lie down. Yes, it was really quite rocky.

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And as we were lazing in our cabins, suddenly the announcements came on, in many languages. Before it got to the English announcement, we figured that the ship would not be docking at Civitavecchia. Instead, we were headed for some place us. I managed to record the entire english announcement. It is not everyday that one hears such an announcement. We were now heading towards Naples!

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True enough, when I turned on the cabin interactive TV, this was what I found. We were not scheduled to arrive at 1700hrs. All aboard time was 2230hrs. There would be no shore excursions.

Wow, this was certainly unexpected. Anyway, the rocking got so bad, that I had to lie down. I ended up skipping lunch because I slept through lunch till mid afternoon! (Yes, the rocking was not a joke)

Thanks very much for the info and map of the parks. I could be asking you more questions through the year!! Happy New Year!

 

Simon

I would be most happy to help.

However I don’t always check the forum.

If I don’t respond, please drop me a reminder at the email below. :)

Which ship will you be sailing on? And which cruise terminal is it scheduled to dock at?

Thank you for all your well wishes. On this last day of 2017, I was at the Sunday morning service at our local church. Greatly reminded of God's never-ending grace and mercy. Thankful for all the blessings. Wishing everybody a wonderful 2018 ahead.

I will continue to plod on with this review. Thanks for the patience.

Hi.... We will disembark our ship on Feb 15, and we then have 2 days/1 night in Singapore before we fly back to Australia late on Feb 16. I have just realized that this falls right on Chinese New Year.

How much will this impact our ability to do things around the city? For example, will public transport run as normal? Will restaurants, hawker centres or food courts be open?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

Mostly running as normal. More shops than usual would be closed, especially during the first day of the Chinese New Year. But public transport, places of attraction etc would all be opened. You should still be able to find food.

Hi,

Thanks for the info.

 

Last time in Singapore I walked the treetops walk at MacRitchie Reservoir which I really enjoyed. I did the loop from Venus Drive carpark, and it took me about 2 1/4 hrs of moderate walking.

I used the 167 Sembawang bus which for the return journey dropped me right outside Raffles.

 

Next time we are in port we are docked for the day at SCC Harbourfront.

So this Southern ridges one seems sensible from there.

I have downloaded the route map PDF info.

 

Would Route A or Route B be more interesting do you think?

 

Thanks

You did the Treetops walk? Well done!

Yes, if your ship is docked at Harbourfront, then it is the perfect place to start the Southern Ridges walk.

For both routes, you would see the Henderson Waves, and that would be a highlight.

Thereafter, I think Route B would be more interesting, since you wouldn't have time to do both.

Route B brings you to the Berlayer Creek area, and then you can end your walk at Labrador Park MRT, which makes it convenient for you to get back to Harbourfront too.

Labrador Nature Reserve is pretty cool. Here are some videos.

Berlayer Creek walk to Labrador Park MRT.

[YOUTUBE]hiv_FGKTDsI[/YOUTUBE]

Bukit CHermin Boardwalk.

[YOUTUBE]QOW4b_UQogI[/YOUTUBE]

Have fun!

Very informative thread...thanks. We won't be visiting Singapore for over a year (Jan '19), but already planning! Liked the videos of Henderson Waves/Forest Walk and Canopy Walk at Kent Ridge which you say are all interconnected. Are you allowed to cycle these walks and if so, is there anywhere nearby to hire bikes? Also, looks like they are not so easy to get to by MRT, so is bus a better option? Planning on a day on the HOHO and a day at Sentosa as well. We are also planning on staying at the Fairmont, so good to hear its central (and only a couple of MRT stops from the cruise terminal!).

Thanks

 

Simon

I don’t think cycling is allowed on the Henderson Waves and Canopy Walk. I recall seeing signs asking cyclists to dismount. The place is undulating and the walking paths narrow, hence people don’t usually cycle there. For the same reason, I don’t recall seeing any bike hires.

It is true that getting to the above parks may be troublesome using public transport. If you are up for walking, one way is to take a taxi to Kent Ridge Park, and walk yourself back to Harbourfront or some other MRT station. It would be an interesting walk. Alternatively you start at Harbourfront and walk in the other direction. It is going to take 3-4 hours.

See the map below.

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/~/media/nparks-real-content/gardens-parks-and-nature/diy-walk/diy-walk-pdf-files/hortpark-and-southern-ridges.pdf?la=en

If you like cycling, there are bike hires along East Coast Park and other parks in Singapore.

Happy New Year!

#lastdayof2017

Dinning on Embarkation Day - Yacht Club Restaurant

Soon, it was time for dinner. This would be our first of seven dinners in the Yacht Club for this cruise. In the YC, it is anytime dining. We like to eat early, so we are usually at the YC Restaurant at 6:30pm (that is then they open), or shortly after. I saw this cheese table on the way in.

Here is a picture of the restaurant, when we got there. Still empty. The time was about 1830hrs.

Here is a video of our dinner experience - first dinner on the MSC Meraviglia Yacht Club Restaurant. As we ate early, service was very quick, which we liked.

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A few more pictures of the dinner. For all dinners, I will ask to try both House White and House Red. This was the House white tonight.

Here was the fish dish, for the mains. As you can see, the serving size was not large. But we liked it that way. This was because we ate as a family, and we often ordered multiple starters/mains/desserts to share. And we would ask our waiter to serve all the multiple courses at the same time, during each course. What I mean is that we ask for all our starters to be served together. Once we are done with starters, we ask for our mains to be served together. So, you can imagine that our dinner table is always full of plates, as we try and sample all the different food! Great fun to sail with the family.

Here is a picture of the Tiramisu dessert. This was available every night, and I liked it very much.

Well, as the ship left Genoa, it started getting rather rocky. The seas certainly weren't very calm, and I guess it didn't help that the YC cabins were located at the Forward of the ship, and high up. So, in this position, we are prone to more rocking. So we decided we had better get an early night. Sleep while the ship is rocking, and hopefully when we wake up, we are in port. We found these chocolates on our bed when we got back to the cabin.

Curiously, I thought the Royal Suite on the Meraviglia would have a table for 6, because the graphic on MSC website showed it. See this screenshot.

Alas, it was not to be. The balcony had the jacuzzi at one corner, and 2 decks chairs at the other corner. A case of wrong representation?

Sorry you seem to misunderstand, not a picture of your parents but of the YC Inside cabin category which you mentioned booking for them. I am interested to see what this category of cabin looks like. Tks and greetings

Oh! So sorry for misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, while I visited their cabin, I didn't take pictures of it.

What I remember of Cabin 15007 was that it looked just like any other interior cabin, but with slightly nicer finishings. They also had a Nespresso machine. Due to the design of the ship, they had a long corridor from the outside before reaching their cabin, and so they could put their bags there.

Galleria Meraviglia / Plaza Meraviglia

Time to hit the Galleria and Plaza. This feature of the ship was new to us. I would assume that MSC copied the concept from Royal Caribbean, except that instead of calling it the Royal Promenade, it has become a Galleria or Plaza (more Italian). Such a space was not found on the MSC Preziosa. Notice the Dome? That is what MSC claims to be the largest LED Dome at sea. A very interesting use of technology. They even had what they called a Dome Show, held thrice a night.

There was a speciality dining restaurant on the Promenade, Eataly. We didn't eat here, but here is a look at the menu. On the left side, it says that they have a Dining Experience for 20 Euros. You get 3 dishes plus 1/4L of House red, white, or rose. The menu changes daily. On the right side, they have the standard menu. A plate of spaghetti costs between 6 to 8 Euros. Grilled Sea Bream was 13 Euros, Grilled Beef Slider sandwich was 12 Euros. Desserts like Tiramisu was 6 Euros.

Here is a video of my walking through the Meraviglia Promenade. (Ooops, that's an American way of putting it). But because we tend to associate this feature with Royal Carribean, we end up calling it the Promenade. As you can imagine, given the sheer number of pax on this ship, the Galleria Meraviglia can get very crowded indeed.

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After the walk, we went back to our cabin to take a rest. We took a dip in the hot tub - it was very novel for us. There would be a safety drill for passengers who boarded in Genoa, and who missed the drill yesterday. For us, the drill was conducted in the MSC theatre, which was at the forward of the ship, but many decks below us. Because MSC took on passengers at every port, this drill had to be conducted every day. We didn't have to bring any life jackets. They took our attendance when we got there (by scanning our sea pass cards) and then we just sat down and observed the lift-jacket demonstration, in at least 5 languages. It was all over in under 30 minutes.

Oh, here is a video of one of my kids enjoying the hot tub. Have fun!

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Thank you so much for an amazing review. Just as fantastically entertaining as your previous one.

 

I have honestly not read such eloquent, entertaining and informative reviews ever.

May I please ask that you please include video of your parents inside YC.

Greetings and Have a wonderful New Year

Thanks for your interest and for following along. Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year! All the best for 2018.

I have videos of my parents, but I won't be posting those to protect their privacy. But here are a couple of pictures with our faces masked.

First, my parents chilling in our cabin. We were waiting for the ship to dock so that we could proceed for our shore excursions.

Second, this photo shows our table in the YC. It was at a corner of the YC restaurant. Looking back, I now realised that it was a table meant for 4 pax, but they pulled it 2 extra chairs so that 2 of us could sit at both 'heads' of the table. While it may look a bit cramped, it wasn't. The table was big enough for our needs and I do have fond memories of plenty of plates on it. Because we ate as a family, this type of cosy table setting was appropriate. I guess if we were strangers, it wouldn't be that appropriate.

Taking A Walk

After the wonderful coffee and finger food in the Top Sail lounge, it was time to take a walk to explore the ship. We weren't in a hurry to explore it thoroughly, but we wanted to check out the shor excursions as well as the Galleria Meraviglia (MSC's version of the Royal Promenade), which was on Deck 6.

But before that, we first headed to the main buffet area, to check out what was available for lunch. The buffet area, called the Marketplace, is located on Deck 15 (same deck as our cabin), from the mid to the rear of the ship. We would leave the Yacht Club area, walk past the indoor/covered pool area (which was called the Bamboo pool) before reaching the outdoor pool area (I think they called it the Atmosphere Pool) before reaching the buffet.

A picture of the Bamboo (Indoor) Pool.

The below video shows you some table tennis, indoor pool, hot tub, table soccer, and the Bamboo Bar drinks list. Later on, I discovered that YC customers could get access to most drinks at the bars ship-wide. I will then go on to try out some drinks at the various bars. Watch out for those videos which will come up later in this review.

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As we made our way to the Marketplace Buffet via Deck 15, we have to walk past the Atmosphere Pool (or the outdoor pool). They have a large LCD screen, as you can see below. It was raining, so whatever outdoor activity they had planned, was now moved somewhere else.

Marketplace Buffet Deck 15

We have arrived at the Marketplace Buffet. The venue was rather large, but certainly it got crowded, since the ship has so many passengers. In the video below, I try to show you the food available for lunch. I didn't find the selection of food to be particularly extensive (compared to say Royal Caribbean). Given that we had YC privileges, we did not dine at the Marketplace buffet during this cruise, other than getting some pizza. Take note that the buffet area is quite large, and the rear of the buffet is usually less crowded than the mid-ship section. There is usually just one live carvery section, and the line to get the meat was long.

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Lunch on Embarkation Day

It was lunch time! YC guests have a dedicated restaurant. When we sailed on the MSC Preziosa, the YC restaurant was located at the aft of the ship, while the rest of the Yacht Club was at the front of the ship. Hence, walking to the YC restaurant on the Preziosa took a while. On the Meraviglia, all the YC restaurant is now located together with all the YC facilities, making it truly a ship within a ship. Our cabin was on deck 15. Concierge and Top Sail lounge on Deck 16. There is no Deck 17. Deck 18 is the YC restaurant and Deck 19 the pool deck. There is an internal lift serving Decks 14 to 19.

We headed to the restaurant, and we were seated at a corner of the restaurant, and there we sat for the next 7 Nights. For dinner, we were always served by the same waiter. For breakfast and lunch, the waiter could be different.

It was a sit-down lunch. Drinks (wine, beer etc) were also available. Here are some photos of the food. This was the Ahi Tuna, one of the starters.

This was the beef dish.

And this was one of the desserts, carrot cake. Look at the carrot decoration on top of the cake. Isn't it cool?

After lunch, we headed to the Top Sail lounge for coffee and drinks, and there more finger food was waiting for us. There would be plenty to eat and drink on this cruise.

Here is the video of lunch in the Yacht Club restaurant, followed by some footage from the Top Sail Lounge. Delicious.

[YOUTUBE]IWSs2hzg2-Q[/YOUTUBE]

This picture shows you the complimentary cocktails. More than enough for me! (Caveat - I am not a sophisticated drinker). In fact, I didn't get the chance to try all. I liked the Long Island Iced Tea. Rather potent. You could ask for any cocktail, without the alcohol. Good fun for the kids, as they could choose any cocktail they liked, sans the alcohol.

In this video, I show you the drinks list in the Top Sail Lounge of the MSC Meraviglia.

[YOUTUBE]tiVfmfJlTRQ[/YOUTUBE]

You posted it to a different thread - I think you thought you were posting to this one but replied to another instead. It's here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?p=54831001#post54831001

 

Thanks for your detailed review so far, I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Thanks for highlighting.

My bad! I must have got confused with multiple threads. Ok, I will repost the MSC Meraviglia content on this thread instead, where it rightly belongs.

I have been eagerly following, and never saw any further posts than the one with the Video of your Royal Suite - do i dont think it was deleted by Admin...

Thanks for confirming my error.

After a 1.5 year hiatus, we have gone on another cruise! But not with Royal, but with MSC, on the MSC Meraviglia. Check out my ongoing review - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2576899

This is very strange. Some of my later posts seems to have disappeared. I am very sure I posted on the lunch in the Yacht Club on embarkation day. But that post is gone. Was it deleted by the Admin? Any clues?