Jump to content

MSC Meraviglia Royal Suite Cabin 15008 7N fr Genoa Western Med


Iluvcruising2
 Share

Recommended Posts

Greetings and blessed Christmas to everybody. It has been a (long) while since I posted a review, and I am excited to share with you pictures/videos from our most recently completed cruise on the MSC Meraviglia out of Genoa in December 2017.

 

Some of you may remember my MSC Preziosa review some time back - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2288693

 

That time, we also sailed from Genoa, in a Yacht Club suite, to the exact same ports. Now, two years later, we are doing it again, but this time on the MSC Meraviglia!

d6v68.jpg

 

The itinerary as follows:

 

5vn7fq.png

 

Where is Genoa? Quoting from Wikitravel - Genoa (or Genova in Italian) is a historical port city in northern Italy, the capital of the Region of Liguria. Genoa today, as a tourist attraction, is often shadowed by cities such as Rome or Venice, even though it has a long history as a rich and powerful trade centre. However, with its multitude of hidden gems behind cozy alleyways, excellent cuisine (notably fish and seafood), renovated old port, beautiful sights (including one of Europe's biggest aquariums), and its position as the European Capital of Culture in 2004 have made the birthplace of explorer Christopher Columbus an enticing place which is gradually becoming more included in the touristic market. With pastel-coloured terracotta-roofed houses, artistic churches, lovely seaside villas, and also several luxurious boutiques, Genoa is a must see if you want to experience the "quintessential" Italy.

In short, what the above description is saying that Genoa is a historical city, and we were told that her economy isn't doing very well these days, having been overshadowed by other bigger Italian cities. Fortunately, tourism continues to be a big money puller. They have a decent cruise port, and it is good that MSC ships call at her ports very frequently (in fact, some are home-ported here).

 

How to get to Genoa? Turns out that Genoa isn't that easy to get to, at least from Singapore. She has a small airport (Genoa Cristoforo Colombo), with limited connected to Europe. (Most flights are to other Italian cities). The last time we flew into Genoa, using Ryanair from London Stansted. (They only fly 3-4 times a week). This time, we decided to fly from Singapore to Milan Malpensa, and then find out way via public train to Genoa.

 

Flight from Singapore to Milan

We flew on Singapore Airlines SQ 368, Singapore to Milan direct and non-stop. The aircraft departs Singapore close to midnight, and would arrive in Milan Malpensa Terminal 1 around 6AM in the morning, local Milan time.

 

At Singapore Changi Airport (which to me is the best airport in the world), I spotted this Christmas magical display of Sanrio characters. Added greatly to the festive mood!

99iO-awJddc

Priority Pass Lounge - SATS Premier Lounge

Since I had to use up some complimentary passes, I decided to visit a Priority Pass lounge at Changi. I chose the SATS Premier Lounge, as they are quite reliable. Many airlines (those without dedicated lounges) also use this lounge for their business class pax. Here is a video of the lounge experience

x5T_BstBt6E

 

Singapore Airlines SQ 368 to Milan

Singapore Airlines operates their Airbus A350 for the Singapore to Milan route. The plane I flew on was very new, I think about 6 months old. Even though I have flown with Singapore Airlines many times (both in Economy and Business), this experience is still novel for me. Why? As I was flying in Economy, and it was a red-eye flight, I decided to spend an additional USD 90 to purchase what is known as a Preferred Seat. Other names include Emergency Row, or Exit Seat. This is what my seat, 47J, looked like. On the left of this picture.

1i26c4.png

Here was the seating plan of the SQ Airbus A350. My seat was 47 J.

1rp0xz.png

 

Verdict? Was the USD90 worth it? It depends.

 

The Pros.

No doubt that the legroom was plentiful. I could stretch my entire leg horizontally, with no issues. This allowed me to have a very good sleep. But take note the disadvantages below.

 

The Cons

1. Preferred seats are right next to the toilets. Hence, this place could get very busy indeed, especially during peak hours for toilet use (e.g. after meals, before landing).

 

2. At 47J, you will hear a 'ding', 'ding', 'ding' (9:26), and a blue light coming on. What was that all about? Turns out that whenever a passenger presses the call button for a flight attendant, the ding sound will happen, and a small blue light will be activated. (9:26). The ding beeper and blue light is located right above the aircraft door, near 47J. You can imagine the 'ding', 'ding', 'ding' throughout the night. Fortunately, they gave me ear plugs, and I managed to sleep through. I think this wasn't an issue for 47B and 47C (i.e. the preferred seats at the other aisle), although I'm not sure.

 

3. Preferred seats have no space to put your backpack under your seat. Everything must go overhead.

 

4. The inflight entertainment screen can only be deployed when the aircraft is in the air. So you don’t have access to movies when the plane is on the ground, during take off, and during landing. Other passengers in normal seats have access to the IFE throughout.

 

Conclusion

Overall? Given that I had a good sleep (which was very important to me), the USD90 was worth the money. However, if I flew again, I would try 47A, 47B or 47C next time. (i.e the other side of the aircraft)

 

Seats-aside, the rest of the flight was good. We were served supper shortly after takeoff from Singapore Changi. I chose the Beef with Noodles option. I found the beef a bit tough, but it didn't bother me too much as I wasn't hungry. We were given a Magnum mini as dessert - that was nice. I slept a lot and woke up about 3 hours before landing. Breakfast was ok. I chose the noodles again. Everything went like clockwork and we landed in Milan safely.

 

Here is a video of my flight experience.

cCOdy19VpoI

 

Our plane landed uneventfully in Milan, and that is a blessing.

Edited by Iluvcruising2
making changes to improve
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were on Meraviglia inaugural cruise in Med but in a balcony cabin as Yacht Club was full. Looking forward to hearing your views on this ship and I’m sure you wouldn’t have experienced the dining problems we had! We decided not to cruise MSC again unless we could get the Yacht Club. We had a brilliant cruise on Preziosa in Yacht Club which we booked after reading your previous review.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Arrival at Milan Malpensa

The airport was very quiet as we disembarked. I think our flight was the first to land that morning, which was helpful because immigration lines moved quickly. I noticed that they had only 2 counters in operation at that time in the morning. After clearing immigration, we waited for a short while and got our luggage. Take note that the trolleys cost 2 Euro (using coins from the machine). I had to get a trolley since we had big luggage. Fortunately we had some Euro coins from our previous trips to the EU.

Once we got to the public area, we headed to a cafe to get some coffee and food. Here is a video of us walking in Milan airport, then on the train, and finally arriving at Milan Centrale.

0tUlOyfPcTI

 

How far were the train rides? Well, it was two train rides. First, you need to take the train from Milan Malpensa Airport to Milan Centrale station (about 1 hour), on the Malpensa Express. Next, from Milan Centrale to Genoa (Genova Principe). The second leg is on an inter-city train. Snapshot below from Google Maps.

mil1jb.png

 

Milan Centrale

In this video, I show you some scenes of Milan Centrale station. The pickpocket situation in Milan is so bad, the first thing the machine tells you is to 'Beware of Pickpockets". We arrived in Milan Centrale earlier that morning, from Milan Malpensa, after flying in from Singapore. (Singapore Airlines!) At Milan Centrale, I had to buy tickets for the next leg, from Milan Centrale to Genoa Principe. I used the Self Service machines. They accepted credit cards, but required a PIN. Thankfully I remembered my PIN. The second class ticket cost 21.5 Euros per adult.

 

nyK4sALObNY

 

It was quite a nightmare for us when we boarded the train to Genoa. First we had to get our luggage on board the train - pretty high steps. Then, we discovered there weren't proper areas to store our large bags. Worse, some pickpockets made an attempt on one of us, thank God she didn't manage to steal anything.

 

Beware, they work in groups of 2-3. One of them will try to distract you. In our case, she pretended to be a train passenger and appeared overly helpful with our luggage. The other(s) will then try to pick from your pocket, handbag or bagpack. As the train was quite crowded and busy, people were in close proximity.

 

We also discovered that we boarded the wrong carriage. When we took the train from Milan Malpensa to Milan Centrale, there were no assigned seats. But for this inter-city train (which went all the way to NICE), there were assigned seats and carriages. My video shows you a picture of the ticket, and more importantly how to read the ticket (CARROZZA means carriage). Remember to board the correct carriage. You can find the carriage number outside the train.

2zxo5sj.jpg

After all that excitement, we made it safely to Genoa Principe. Phew! Thank God.

akg7bn.jpg

The earlier video also shows you our arrival at Genoa Principe and how to walk to the exit. From there, we took a taxi, to bring us to the Holiday Inn Genoa, where we would be staying for a night, pre-cruise. The hotel wasn't far away, but there were some surcharges. The bill came up to under 20 Euros. ( I think it was 17)

Edited by Iluvcruising2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am once again enjoying your cruise review Christmas tradition :) Merry Christmas to you and your family!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Thank you! Best wishes to you and family too. We don't have any cruises planned, so I shall savour the memories from this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Holiday Inn GENOA

Checking in for the Genoa Holiday Inn was a breeze. We arrived just after 1pm, and our rooms were ready, so we could get access to our rooms. (Official check in time was 3pm).

For my family of 4, I booked a normal family room, and the hotel very nicely upgraded us to an Executive Family Room. Very pleased. This is the video of what the room looks like.

O6zYPH2S6Hk

 

It was time for lunch! After putting down our bags and washing up, we asked the hotel reception to call a taxi for us. We were headed to downtown Genoa, to get lunch at this restaurant called Yuan Restaurant Genoa. I had found the restaurant on Tripadvisor (https://www.yuansushigenova.com/). I showed the taxi driver the address of the restaurant and he knew the way. In fact, he dropped us right at the restaurant door, which was convenient. The fare was under 15 Euros. All properly metered.

The restaurant clearly lived up to the recommendations on tripadvisor. It was very good and inexpensive! They had awesome lunch sets, costing about 11Euros each. I got this mixed sushi for 11 Euros.

w6xt8z.jpg

My parents took the Chinese menu, which was 10Euros per pax, and it even came with two courses! It was very good value, as you can see in the video below. We had 2 large bottles of beer, costing 4 Euro each. Take note, there was a rather steep set of stairs to climb up to the restaurant.

d5bRSsTxF1I

After a good lunch, it was time to take a walk. Need to combat jet lag! We were in downtown Genoa, and it took us about 5 minutes on foot to get to the famous Piazza De Ferrari. From Wiki, Piazza De Ferrari is the main square of Genoa. Situated in the heart of the city between the historical and the modern center, Piazza De Ferrari is renowned for its fountain, which was restored in recent years along with a major restyling of the square. Today next to Piazza De Ferrari are numerous office buildings, headquarters of banks, insurances and other private companies, making of this district the financial and business centre of Genoa, so that Genoeses popularly refer to it as the "City" of Genoa. At the end of the 19th century Genoa was the main financial centre of Italy along with Milan, and Piazza De Ferrari was the place where many institutions were established, like the stock exchange, the Credito Italiano,[1] the branch offices of the Bank of Italy, founded in 1893.

30uajxv.jpg

 

After taking some photos of the piazza, I headed towards Piazza San Lorenzo, where the Genoa Cathedral is. Along the way, we passed a nice Christmas market.

We kept walking beyond the Cathedral (it was downhill) and ended up near the water. We could see the aquarium. Took a taxi back to the hotel from there.

Here is some Go Pro footage of the walk. It was not warm, and coming from tropical Singapore, we soon felt cold!

OeGTLRnBfiI

 

Now you may be wondering, where was my family? How big was my party? The answer is that my wife and kids were not yet with us at this time. They were fact on a Ryanair plane, flying towards Genoa! Wife and kids were in London for a pre-cruise holiday. My parents and I would meet them in Genoa.

 

So back in Holiday Inn Hotel room, I managed to snag this footage of the Ryanair aircraft approaching Genoa airport. How cool is that?

28pnTieoP8w

 

The Genoa airport is very near Genoa city. The Ryanair flight touched down at 4pm (I was using my flight aware app to track it) and within 30 to 35 minutes, my wife and kids had appeared at the hotel in a taxi. It was really fast. They told me that immigration clearance was speedy, they got their luggage very quickly, hopped on a taxi and the ride was say 15 minutes max.

 

We didn't do much later that evening. Tired. We had some food at the McDonalds (inside the Co-Op) opposite the Holiday Inn. And it was time to rest and sleep. Tomorrow we would board the MSC Merviglia.

Steps up Italian Train

Before I end the pre-cruise day, here is a picture and a short video clip of the steps up a typical Italian inter-city train. The reason I am showing you this is because you have to carry your luggage up and down the train, if you intend to use the train for inter-city travel. Therefore, heavy pieces of luggage could prove to be a challenge. Truth be told, my parents would not have been able to manage to haul up and down their luggage (each piece was 20kg) without my help. And this being Italy, I'm not sure if it is wise to ask strangers for help. You could be an easy target for pickpockets.

2rr06ms.jpg

 

Here is the short clip.

hvDmRQPo5vM

 

Take note, the Malpensa Express trains (at least those we took) were of a different configuration. More importantly, there was hardly any gap between the train and platform, and definitely not steps. You could almost roll your luggage on and off those trains. Hope this is helpful for travellers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Embarkation Day!

 

We had a good night's sleep at the Holiday Inn Genoa. The next morning, we woke up in good time for breakfast. Breakfast started at 7AM, as it was a Sunday. We got to breakfast slightly past 7AM, and there was a good crowd.

 

The spread for breakfast was decent, as you can see in the video below. In particular, my parents enjoyed it (they spent more than 1 hour eating!). The emphasis of the spread was more on cakes, pastries etc. There was sufficient hot food to meet our needs, though no live egg station (e.g. no fried eggs).

LhggfbgGRAI

 

After breakfast, there was still plenty of time. When we looked out of our balcony, we could see the Meraviglia coming in. Excited!

107s31d.jpg

Anyway, there was no point heading to the cruise port so early. So, my family decided to try the subway to get into Genoa. The nearest metro station to Holiday Inn was called Dinegro, about a 400M walk. The entire light rail system only has 7 stops! Here is the map.

2aj9vs1.jpg

I bought a family ticket from the self service machine (9 Euros, 4 pax can travel) and took the metro to De Ferrari, and walked around a bit (to exercise the legs), and then we took the metro back to Principe (which is the train station), where we went to buy our return train tickets (i.e. Genoa to Milan Centrale). This time round, we opted for First Class. And finally, we took a slow walk back to the Holiday Inn. Despite all the walking, we managed to get back to the hotel before 10AM.

 

Back in the hotel balcony, we could see the 172,000GT MSC Meraviglia docked. Excited!

RAnky-vN1C0

 

We packed up and left our hotel around 1030am. As there were 6 of us, with 5 large bags and numerous smaller ones, I asked the hotel reception whether there were any taxis big enough for us. The reception recommended an 8-seater van, which I agreed. The van came in 5 minutes, and he could take all our luggage, which was cool. The ride to the cruise port took only 5 minutes (it is 1.5km away) but it would not have been feasible to walk given the luggage, and the fact that it was starting to drizzle. The cost of the transfer was about 20 Euros.

 

Yacht Club Boarding

At the cruise terminal, we followed the signs to the boarding area. We were directed to the baggage drop off area, and right there was an MSC Yacht Club tent, with a butler waiting. Similar to our 2015 cruise on the Preziosa, the Yacht Club experience starts right from baggage drop-off. Once our bags were settled, we were escorted by a butler to the check-in area. Remember, you have to print out all the forms in hardcopy in order to do the check-in. That part was done quite speedily, and very soon, we were escorted by the butler to board the ship. In doing so, we bypassed all lines of passengers waiting to check in. That was part of the YC experience.

 

Video below consists of some GO PRO footage from boarding the MSC Meraviglia.

gBE25T54XTY

 

Unfortunately, I did not capture comprehensive GO PRO footage this time round. Must have forgotten to keep the camera running! So, here is our boarding experience from Dec 15, on the MSC Preziosa trip, for reference.

QYM1lHmhqS4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taking on Passengers at Every Port of Call

An interesting aspect of MSC Meraviglia cruises out of Genoa is that the ship takes on passengers at every port for this repeated itinerary. I found out that the busiest ports were Genoa, Barcelona and Marseilles. Some said almost half the pax disembarks at Genoa. For us, it was troublesome to get to Genoa, but because we wanted the Royal Suite, it was only available for sailings out of Genoa. If we were more flexible with cabins, we would likely board in Barcelona instead.

 

Kids Sailed Free

In case you are thinking that we are lavish creatures, only wanting to sail in the Royal Suite, the reality is that the Royal Suite cabin on the MSC Meraviglia was one of the few types of YC cabins where our kids stay for free (only had to pay daily service fees). When I divide the cost of the Royal Suite by 4, it made a lot of sense, since all 4 of us get YC privileges. Plus the fact that this was a sailing in winter, and prices were generally lower. I decided to book my parents in an interior YC cabin (obviously that is the most cost effective YC option), so that 3 generations could enjoy the cruise together, in the Yacht Club. Good fun!

 

The butler escorted us all the way to the Yacht Club concierge, which was located on Deck 16, front of the ship. As this was my second time in the YC, I knew what to expect. It was the first for my parents, so it was certainly very novel for them. At the concierge, we were asked to open an account (either with cash, or credit card) as well as which newspapers we wanted, and I chose the Straits Times (a Singapore paper). At first, the concierge staff said that she didn't have such a paper (she was looking at a printed list), but then I said that this option was available two years ago, when I sailed on the MSC Preziosa. Anyway, I know for a fact that the Straits Times of Singapore has a digital version. So the staff kindly checked her computer system, and indeed, there was! So, it was good fun to receive a printed copy of a Singapore local paper every day of the cruise. I even featured the Straits Times in some of my videos, as you will see.

 

All this was done very quickly, and then we were ushered to our respective cabins. My family took the Royal Suite Cabin 15008, while I had booked my parents in an interior YC stateroom, Cabin 15007, which was just around the corner from our suite.

 

Cabin 15008

We entered our cabin for the first time, with great anticipation. Our seapass cards were waiting for us on the table inside our cabin. The published size of the Royal Suite was 700 square feet (interior). It certainly felt large. Here are some photographs.

 

Master Bedroom in Cabin 15008. Classy looking.

2zfvkmv.jpg

 

Living room, with a large Samsung Smart TV. There was another Samsung Smart TV in the master bedroom.

a5hyyf.jpg

 

Two large sofas and the coffee table in the living room. The sofa on the right would be converted into a bed, where my kids would sleep.

35m3y3c.jpg

Bathtub in the toilet. It came with jaccuzi features as well as very interesting 'disco' lights. I'll show that to you in later videos.

2dmfotu.jpg

 

Video of Cabin 15008.

Ok, here come the videos. The first video, a brief one (only 1 minute), was taken when we first stepped into the suite. This allows you to see some of the suite in the condition when we first entered the ship. Looked very good.

JEBcsEL3r50

 

This next video, taken late in the cruise, is a much more detailed walk-through of Cabin 15008. By that time, we had slept more than a couple of nights in the suite, hence you can see the difference (i.e. see the mess lol).

DclCEOjJnRc

 

Privilged to stay for 7N in this cabin. Thank God for this awesome experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm optimistic for your review. I will be cruising on the Seaview on a near-exact itinerary, just with Messina instead of Palermo. I have ideas of what to do in each port, but I am not solidified yet, so I look forward to seeing your port pictures/videos to help with planning. Thanks in advance for your commentary! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm optimistic for your review. I will be cruising on the Seaview on a near-exact itinerary, just with Messina instead of Palermo. I have ideas of what to do in each port, but I am not solidified yet, so I look forward to seeing your port pictures/videos to help with planning. Thanks in advance for your commentary! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks for your comment. If you have not already done so, you could read my MSC Preziosa review from 2 years ago, where I covered the same ports - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2288693

 

 

This time round, we did different things, which I will cover in this thread as it progresses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

 

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...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

 

 

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

2w6i8eh.jpg

This was the beef dish.

iyecg5.jpg

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

1zpk1eu.jpg

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.

25ui3co.jpg

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.

o0pkbp.jpg

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

[YOUTUBE]tiVfmfJlTRQ[/YOUTUBE]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

jal991.jpg

 

 

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.

iHACdwDQJ3g

 

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.

14mcjk8.jpg

 

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.

qiXjniPt-kI

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

28lw1tf.jpg

 

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.

2r3ggm0.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

2iwalqf.jpg

 

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.

2v993y8.jpg

 

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.

yjfAk1_roNM

 

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!

8z0M73yZnx8

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...