Cruzinforpeace***

I commented while on the cruise about the noise level. It is REALLY loud in most of the public spaces. The shows and main light show area is exceptionally loud. If you are sensitive to sound you may want to bring noise cancelling headphones and/or earplugs. I used my earplugs daily. IMG_3141.mov

You got it! He had no desire to sit with us for dinner in the dining room. The buffet was more his choice of food (pizza, burgers, fries).

Another thing about the dining room…we found the tables not to be too close together like on Celebrity. There was almost a foot between tables. We had a table for two every night, usually the same table, right next to the window with the wake of the ship at our back.

We had “anytime dining” in the Panorama Restaurant on Deck 6 aft. This is part of the Aurea Experience. We could eat anytime between 6-9pm. We loved the anytime dining. Some nights we just wanted to eat late and some nights a little earlier. We thought the food overall was excellent. Not over “sauced” like Celebrity and always simple choices available on the menu like grilled chicken and pasta bolognese (my favorite). Sometimes you just want something simple. The desserts were “to die for”. Our favorite was the Grandma Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream. Yum! P.S. I apologize for starting most of my meals without you. We were hungry and they were delicious meals.

Here is the actual description of the tour…

The sunset was equally as stunning.

It was a beautiful sail away for February. Little did we know then that we would miss 2 of our scheduled ports due to high winds and heavy seas…

These sculptures are made of chocolate! Inside the Jean Philippe Chocolate & Cafe. Delicious chocolates.

My head is still hearing music hours after disembarking! The only truly quiet places for us were in our cabin and in the sensory relaxation room and salt room in the Aurea Spa.

Yes. It was a ship 7.5 hour excursion and it was great. We visited Holiday Park for an alligator show and airboat ride in the Everglades. Then we stopped in Little Havana for about 45 minutes to an hour so we could eat lunch and walk around if we wanted to and then we drove through Miami Beach, saw the Versace house from the bus and alot of the art deco buildings. Last, we went to a resort mall near the port (there’s a big Ferris Wheel there). Can’t remember the name of it. It was nice but overpriced. The tour guide was EXCELLENT. He had so much information to share about Miami, the culture and its history. I’ll post some photos in further posts.

Hello all. Still recovering from the last week of excitement, noise and at times, pure bliss. I wanted to do a “Live” but since it was my first time on MSC I wanted to experience everything fully and in the moment without the pressure of constant reporting. So this shall be kind of like a “Time Machine” experience, going back in time, “sorta live’”. This review will mostly likely take me some time to complete. I hope it will be useful to those who are thinking about MSC like we were. Feel free to ask any questions. We arrived home to Brooklyn today from our 2/4 sailing. Traveling was myself, my husband and our 17 year old son. We’ve sailed almost all the mass market cruise lines, our most recent on the Celebrity Summit. We became disenchanted with X after our last cruise in July due to the decline in food quality and overall service and like many others were looking for a better value for our dollar. We decided to try MSC even though we did so with a bit of trepidation as I’ve read some negative reviews about food and the overall atmosphere. Nevertheless we embraced the possible uncertainty and decided to take things as they come, trying not to have any specific expectations. In other words, “live in the moment” and embrace it all, good and bad. We were sailing Aurea level with a cabin on deck 13 slightly aft. We arrived at the Brooklyn terminal around 10:30am without any issues and went through security and check in pretty speedily other than being held for about 20 minutes due to my son’s bowling balls. He is about to go to the state championships and wanted to practice on board as the Mera has a bowling alley. It turns out they don’t let you use your own bowling balls anymore after someone on the last cruise got their bowling ball stuck in the return. A bummer but not the end of the world. I don’t know why bowling balls are suspicious. My son thinks that people may try to smuggle stuff inside the ball. Who knows? Once we walked inside the ship we were “wowed”. This ship is absolutely gorgeous, well maintained and super clean. Some of the crew said they had the top executives last week for a visit so everything seemed to still be “ship shape” I’m sure. We were allowed to go straight to our cabin upon arrival and drop off our bags. I love that! Our room was actually ready around 11am and very clean. Storage is definitely an issue so keep that in mind when you pack. Bring extra hangers and some foldable storage cubes. We also used a portable fabric shoe rack for all our “million” pairs of shoes and attached it to the wall with super strong magnet hooks. We also brought more super strong magnet hooks to hang other things like hats, coats and bags. The picture below is before we got everything put away so it looks really messy but we did manage to get it all put away eventually.

You make the appointments the day before each appointment except for port days. No appointments needed on port days. You make the appointments in person at the Aurea Spa on deck 7 forward.

I just wrote you a whole long answer and the ship wifi went out. I have no idea if it posted so apologies if this is a repeat… The first 2-3 days at sea are still cold. It does start to warm up as you get south but we had chilly weather until today. Miami was warm but we still needed a sweatshirt most of the day because the humidity is lower this time of the year. Not swimming weather. I would pack layers and some sweatpants and sweatshirts for during the day. We didn’t use the hot tubs outside but my son said they weren’t very warm. We used the spa Monday and Tuesday which served as a great relaxing distraction. The therapy pools in the spa are warm. Highly recommend the salt room after your various room/treament visits. My husband and I both thought it was like an “anesthesia” type sleep we sunk into. Very otherworldly.

Here’s a picture of the pizza I just gobbled down. Pardon the bite.

We are currently in Miami waiting to depart for Nassau tomorrow. It was absolutely gorgeous today. 75 degrees and mostly sunny. The captain made the right call skipping Cape Canaveral and the private island (it was too windy).

Do you mean the port or my cabin level?

We just had some pizza (again); on MSC Meraviglia at the moment. It is delicious and my husband who is from Brooklyn, NY thinks it’s better than NYC Pizza. I agree! The pasta is also delicious and perfectly cooked. Also all the cheeses and deli style meats as well are excellent.

Yes gale force wind gusts up to 50mph. It’s not too bad for us right now.

By the way, due to rough weather we’re missing Port Canaveral and the private island. Tomorrow we dock in Miami at 7am for a full day then Nassau on Thursday as scheduled. We’re doing the 7.5 hour Miami excursion that includes an airboat tour of the Everglades, an alligator show and touring Miami including Little Havana. Looking forward to it.

Our sailing is not full. I think the waiter at dinner last night told us 3200 passengers on board. So maybe they only needed 2 shows.

He’ll be heading to the bowling alley to practice as soon as we get home on Sunday! Until then I just told him to relax and enjoy. We all need a break once and a while.

Unfortunately they do not let you use your own bowling balls anymore because someone on the last cruise got their own ball stuck in the ball return. Bummer because we dragged 2 balls on board and were stopped by ship security for about 20 minutes. Who knew bowling balls were a suspicious item?

There are very few and you have to hunt them out. The major spaces are very loud.

Exactly! Perfect analogy with the HS Cafeteria.

Just came from the buffet and at 2:30pm can’t even hear yourself think. I think it’s a combination of poor acoustical planning (no carpets and lots of metal) and a lot of European and Asian visitors who tend to sound like they’re yelling when they speak. I’m Greek so I know from experience. My son has a shirt that says “I’m not yelling at you, I’m just Greek!” I don’t think this buffet is any more chaotic than other ships. It’s the volume of noise that makes it seem chaotic. We always get a seat and haven’t had any long waits in the lines. The buffet food so far this cruise is excellent, better than Celebrity.