MSC Meraviglia Oct 8-18 Canada - Yacht Club Review

[Fredric22]

Since there has been lot’s of buzz about Meragivila, I thought I would write a quick little mini review about my cruise 10 night cruise to Canada. I have broken it up into a few categories for ease of reading. If you have any specific questions about the ship or YC in particular, please feel free to ask!

Embarkation: It was a mess. No way around it. It took us 2 hours to board the ship, which may not sound bad but the whole process was very chaotic. We also witnessed people screaming at port authority personnel which made the whole environment tense and uneasy. It was NOT the best way to start a relaxing vacation.

Ports: As you may know, we missed Sydney, NS. My take on this (it is just my opinion) is that we were unable to overcome our delay that came form slowing down with 15-20 foot seas the day before. I used a marine traffic app and I know that after we were through the rough weather, we were booking it at close to 24 knots. This is about as fast as the Meraviglia can go. We were VERY close to Sydney when they made the announcement that we would have to skip the call. We would have pulled in at around 3:00pm if we kept our pace. I think that the Canadian authorities in Sydney probably told the Captain that it was simply too late to start the immigration process and leaving later at night may not been possible. As I said, this is just my opinion, but based on tracking the ships speed and movement seems to make the most sense to me. We were given $300 refundable OBC which I think was a very nice gesture. To make it clear, I was still really disappointed that we missed the port but it is what it is.

Corner Brook, Charlottetown, and Quebec City were all beautiful and highly recommended.

Ship: The Meraviglia is an absolute beauty, both inside and out. The main indoor promenade with its giant LED screens on the ceiling was gorgeous. I liked that the ship had a lot of different bars and lounges with places to sit and have a drink. One of our favorites was the Irish pub with a great selection of beer and some delicious food items as well. Other stand-outs for me were the Carousel Lounge which held the Cirque shows as well as the location of the specialty restaurants along the promenade. Unfortunately, the outdoor pool areas were mostly unusable because of the cold weather, but they were all very beautiful and will no doubt be used in a few weeks in the Caribbean.

Yacht Club: The Yacht Club experience was generally very good. I prefer the layout on the Seaside as it is a bit more open with the lounge and the restaurant being both open to each other. The Meraviglia’s Top Sail Lounge is more similar to the Divina. They have since changed the design on Meraviglia’s sister ships to make it more open like the Seaside which I think is for the best. Nonetheless, the lounge was relaxing and the service was always prompt and friendly. Unfortunately, we were not able to enjoy the pool deck much because of the weather. Out of 10 days, the outside buffet was only open for 1 day. I did make a complaint that they should have opened it a few more times as some of the days were sunny, even though they were a bit chilly. Hopefully this won’t be an issue on the Caribbean sailings.

There were a few differences with regards to the Meravigilia Yacht Club experience compared with the Seaside experience (Divina also has its own differences). It seems that MSC is not 100% consistent with Yacht Club policies/benefits from ship to ship. This is something I think they do need to look into and update. For example, in the YC restaurant on the Meraviglia, you were given a choice of 2 red wines, and 2 white wines which changed daily for lunch and dinner. They also had a Riesling, Moscato, and White Zinfandel always available. We also had not problem getting mixed drinks in the YC restaurant by just ordering them from our server. I know that on Seaside you are able to have more wines in the restaurant, which may have something to do with the ease of the waiters being able to go to the Top Sail Lounge. There was also no reserved seating in the theater which I have only experienced on 1 out of my 5 Yacht Club cruises and that was on my last cruise on the Seaside. Aside from these two differences, I can’t think of too much else that wasn’t the same.

Food: We were lucky enough to be on the first week of completely new menus which I believe match the current Seaside menus (sarcasm). This meant that the kitchen was cooking these items for the first time each and every time we had a meal. So, as you can imagine, there were some issues with missing ingredients, wrong ingredients, food temperature, timing, etc. We rolled with the punches and our waiter could not have been more nice and understanding. If we didn’t like something, he was always more than happy to get us something else. The pastas and risottos are still outstanding and the Gala Night with the giant lobster tails and filet mignon topped with fois gras were stand outs. The pizza at the buffet was also excellent and we enjoyed that at night before bed. I ventured into the main buffet for lunch one day and enjoyed a carved veal loin along with several pastas. I thought the food was pretty decent for a main cruise ship buffet.

Service: Service in both the Yacht Club areas as well as the rest of the ship was probably the best we have ever experienced on MSC. Our butler did an amazing job keeping our room clean and seemed to do it so fast that we never once saw him making up our room. He was very in synch with our schedule and that is something that doesn’t always happen. The butlers/servers in the Top Sail lounge were equally wonderful. They were all friendly and by a few days in knew our first names and drink orders by heart. The servers in the other bars were frequented were also very friendly and even though we weren’t in Yacht Club in those areas, I do not feel like the service was any less good.

Entertainment:  We didn't see any theater shows (except for the Opera which was great!) but we did see both Cirque shows.  The Sonar show was better than the other in my opinion, but both were fun and entertaining.  I would probably see Sonar again if I go on the Meraviglia again in the future.  The Meraviglia seemed to have many more individual bands and solo entertainers than the Seaside.  Every lounge seemed to have have a different duo or trio.  There was a Brazilian trio that was OUTSTANDING.  I highly recommend seeking them out if you are going on in the near future.  I also liked that they rotated the entertainment in the YC lounge every night and we got the chance to listen to all of the ship's bands/singers right in the YC lounge! 

All and all we really enjoyed this trip. It was by no means perfect, especially with regards to weather. We had two very rough sea days as well as a very rainy day in Charlottetown. We missed using the outdoor areas of the Yacht Club and I feel like we really didn’t get the full experience because of that. In the future, I think all of my Yacht Club cruises will be warm weather cruises. The only other real negative was some of our fellow passengers who complained constantly. It definitely was hard to avoid in all areas of the ship. We even saw a few guests yelling and screaming in crew members’ faces. During one of these times we were eating lunch in the Sushi restaurant and I honestly thought the guest was going to punch the waiter. He was upset that his food was taking too long to come out. It really ruined our experience there as it was quite off-putting. The crew really do try their best and I felt very bad for passengers taking their frustrations out on them, especially with regards to embarkation. The drink server has NOTHING to do with your embarkation experience.

To all of those going on the Meraviglia in the next few months, I think you will have a great time. Things will only improve in the coming weeks and I think the mood on the ship will be much more cheerful in the warm and sunny Caribbean!

[nednrom]

21 minutes ago, Fredric22 said:

Since there has been lot’s of buzz about Meragivila, I thought I would write a quick little mini review about my cruise 10 night cruise to Canada. I have broken it up into a few categories for ease of reading. If you have any specific questions about the ship or YC in particular, please feel free to ask!

Embarkation: It was a mess. No way around it. It took us 2 hours to board the ship, which may not sound bad but the whole process was very chaotic. We also witnessed people screaming at port authority personnel which made the whole environment tense and uneasy. It was NOT the best way to start a relaxing vacation.

Ports: As you may know, we missed Sydney, NS. My take on this (it is just my opinion) is that we were unable to overcome our delay that came form slowing down with 15-20 foot seas the day before. I used a marine traffic app and I know that after we were through the rough weather, we were booking it at close to 24 knots. This is about as fast as the Meraviglia can go. We were VERY close to Sydney when they made the announcement that we would have to skip the call. We would have pulled in at around 3:00pm if we kept our pace. I think that the Canadian authorities in Sydney probably told the Captain that it was simply too late to start the immigration process and leaving later at night may not been possible. As I said, this is just my opinion, but based on tracking the ships speed and movement seems to make the most sense to me. We were given $300 refundable OBC which I think was a very nice gesture. To make it clear, I was still really disappointed that we missed the port but it is what it is.

Corner Brook, Charlottetown, and Quebec City were all beautiful and highly recommended.

Ship: The Meraviglia is an absolute beauty, both inside and out. The main indoor promenade with its giant LED screens on the ceiling was gorgeous. I liked that the ship had a lot of different bars and lounges with places to sit and have a drink. One of our favorites was the Irish pub with a great selection of beer and some delicious food items as well. Other stand-outs for me were the Carousel Lounge which held the Cirque shows as well as the location of the specialty restaurants along the promenade. Unfortunately, the outdoor pool areas were mostly unusable because of the cold weather, but they were all very beautiful and will no doubt be used in a few weeks in the Caribbean.

Yacht Club: The Yacht Club experience was generally very good. I prefer the layout on the Seaside as it is a bit more open with the lounge and the restaurant being both open to each other. The Meraviglia’s Top Sail Lounge is more similar to the Divina. They have since changed the design on Meraviglia’s sister ships to make it more open like the Seaside which I think is for the best. Nonetheless, the lounge was relaxing and the service was always prompt and friendly. Unfortunately, we were not able to enjoy the pool deck much because of the weather. Out of 10 days, the outside buffet was only open for 1 day. I did make a complaint that they should have opened it a few more times as some of the days were sunny, even though they were a bit chilly. Hopefully this won’t be an issue on the Caribbean sailings.

There were a few differences with regards to the Meravigilia Yacht Club experience compared with the Seaside experience (Divina also has its own differences). It seems that MSC is not 100% consistent with Yacht Club policies/benefits from ship to ship. This is something I think they do need to look into and update. For example, in the YC restaurant on the Meraviglia, you were given a choice of 2 red wines, and 2 white wines which changed daily for lunch and dinner. They also had a Riesling, Moscato, and White Zinfandel always available. We also had not problem getting mixed drinks in the YC restaurant by just ordering them from our server. I know that on Seaside you are able to have more wines in the restaurant, which may have something to do with the ease of the waiters being able to go to the Top Sail Lounge. There was also no reserved seating in the theater which I have only experienced on 1 out of my 5 Yacht Club cruises and that was on my last cruise on the Seaside. Aside from these two differences, I can’t think of too much else that wasn’t the same.

Food: We were lucky enough to be on the first week of completely new menus which I believe match the current Seaside menus (sarcasm). This meant that the kitchen was cooking these items for the first time each and every time we had a meal. So, as you can imagine, there were some issues with missing ingredients, wrong ingredients, food temperature, timing, etc. We rolled with the punches and our waiter could not have been more nice and understanding. If we didn’t like something, he was always more than happy to get us something else. The pastas and risottos are still outstanding and the Gala Night with the giant lobster tails and filet mignon topped with fois gras were stand outs. The pizza at the buffet was also excellent and we enjoyed that at night before bed. I ventured into the main buffet for lunch one day and enjoyed a carved veal loin along with several pastas. I thought the food was pretty decent for a main cruise ship buffet.

Service: Service in both the Yacht Club areas as well as the rest of the ship was probably the best we have ever experienced on MSC. Our butler did an amazing job keeping our room clean and seemed to do it so fast that we never once saw him making up our room. He was very in synch with our schedule and that is something that doesn’t always happen. The butlers/servers in the Top Sail lounge were equally wonderful. They were all friendly and by a few days in knew our first names and drink orders by heart. The servers in the other bars were frequented were also very friendly and even though we weren’t in Yacht Club in those areas, I do not feel like the service was any less good.

Entertainment:  We didn't see any theater shows (except for the Opera which was great!) but we did see both Cirque shows.  The Sonar show was better than the other in my opinion, but both were fun and entertaining.  I would probably see Sonar again if I go on the Meraviglia again in the future.  The Meraviglia seemed to have many more individual bands and solo entertainers than the Seaside.  Every lounge seemed to have have a different duo or trio.  There was a Brazilian trio that was OUTSTANDING.  I highly recommend seeking them out if you are going on in the near future.  I also liked that they rotated the entertainment in the YC lounge every night and we got the chance to listen to all of the ship's bands/singers right in the YC lounge! 

All and all we really enjoyed this trip. It was by no means perfect, especially with regards to weather. We had two very rough sea days as well as a very rainy day in Charlottetown. We missed using the outdoor areas of the Yacht Club and I feel like we really didn’t get the full experience because of that. In the future, I think all of my Yacht Club cruises will be warm weather cruises. The only other real negative was some of our fellow passengers who complained constantly. It definitely was hard to avoid in all areas of the ship. We even saw a few guests yelling and screaming in crew members’ faces. During one of these times we were eating lunch in the Sushi restaurant and I honestly thought the guest was going to punch the waiter. He was upset that his food was taking too long to come out. It really ruined our experience there as it was quite off-putting. The crew really do try their best and I felt very bad for passengers taking their frustrations out on them, especially with regards to embarkation. The drink server has NOTHING to do with your embarkation experience.

To all of those going on the Meraviglia in the next few months, I think you will have a great time. Things will only improve in the coming weeks and I think the mood on the ship will be much more cheerful in the warm and sunny Caribbean!

 

Thank you for the review, this was very helpful - we will be on the Meraviglia for X-mas and NY.  I have never understood how passengers feel the need or the right to yell at crew members.  Even if it's the the server or that crew members fault, bullying them by yelling at them does not resolve anything.  We plan on having a great time and know that there will be some glitches along the way. 

Edited October 20, 2019 by nednrom

[rkacruiser]

36 minutes ago, Fredric22 said:

For example, in the YC restaurant on the Meraviglia, you were given a choice of 2 red wines, and 2 white wines which changed daily for lunch and dinner. They also had a Riesling, Moscato, and White Zinfandel always available. 

 

My wine preference is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for dinner--or for whenever I want a glass of white wine.  Are you saying in your post that such a wine is not  available in the YC Restaurant during Lunch and/or Dinner?

[Fredric22]

32 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

My wine preference is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for dinner--or for whenever I want a glass of white wine.  Are you saying in your post that such a wine is not  available in the YC Restaurant during Lunch and/or Dinner?

 

It seems that it was suggested that you do not deviate from the wines they had available for that particular day.  Now, for us the wines were usually great so we didn't feel the need to ask for something else.  If you talk to the Maitre D' I am pretty sure that they will work something out for you.  However, this is all subject to change.  As you may know, with MSC what is a rule/policy today may be a different rule/policy tomorrow!  

[Westwood1]

Fredric, YC May have been OK but the rest of the food was terrible as was service and management attitude. The layout of the ship is terrible as well.

Glad someone enjoyed it since I did not hear one person that was satisfied

[trainbuff]

I was on this sailing but not in the Yacht Club. I have cruised over 50 times and this was by far the worst cruise I have ever been on. The food was absolutely awful and often cold. Service was hit and miss and I was lied to about issues several times. The lounges are way too small for the number of passengers and getting a seat to hear music or for trivia or other games was often impossible. The real reason we missed Sidney was because we left NY  at 730 instead of 5 due to the embarkation fiasco, had we left on time we would have arrived on time in Sidney.

[eroller]

5 hours ago, nednrom said:

 

Thank you for the review, this was very helpful - we will be on the Meraviglia for X-mas and NY.  I have never understood how passengers feel the need or the right to yell at crew members.  Even if it's the the server or that crew members fault, bullying them by yelling at them does not resolve anything.  We plan on having a great time and know that there will be some glitches along the way. 

 

 

Personally I think any pax that treats crew in such a manner, yelling and generally behaving in a threatening manner should be disembarked and left on their own, and banned from any future cruises on the line.  It's unacceptable behavior.  Period.  

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, trainbuff said:

 The lounges are way too small for the number of passengers 

 

The lounges were big enough when we cruised on the Meraviglia in July 2017.

[cruisingnewtoit]

I'm  cruising on the Merg this Feb in the YC.  I was originally in a Fantisca balcony. I changed because I was worried about the service, food  & the crowds.

I thought the wine selection would be more extensive in the YC  MDR  Disappointed. 

[Motegi]

Thanks for the review!

 

We're very excited be on in December.

 

Can you tell me what theme nights you had on your cruise?

 

How many formal nights?  

 

Was there a Flower Glory party? White Party? Pirate? Gatsby? 

 

Thanks in advance!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[Captain-John]

Thanks for your review, glad you generally enjoyed Mera and the YC experience. 

 

The wine issue again - I find it totally unacceptable that you are limited to the two bottles of whatever they feel like opening on the day. They could even sell this idea better by saying the wines they choose are paired with the menu, but I've never seen them attempt to do this. 

 

I've asked for a specific wine to be told 'try this' and other times I've just been given another wine with no explanation at all. I've also asked for my wine, then been told 'Let me see what's available' - just no!! 

 

Like I say if they even attempted to sell it better, it might go down easier with the guests but at the moment it just comes across as cheap. 

[dexddd]

Thanks for the review and comparison to Seaside.  I too not fan of new menus.

 

So for main shows if no reserved seating, how does it work?

[hypercafe]

My wife and I were also on this trip in the YC for our first and last trip on MSC. Many of the issues were outside of the control of the line however other's were not. I felt the food was very poor, it all looked great but tasted bad. I spoke to the chef and suggested he taste it before serving it. I also found many of the crew had a very poor understanding of English to the point they just smiled and brought the wrong order. The ship outside of the YC was just a loud crush of people. I would suggest anyone thinking of investing in a trip in the YC check out Silversea, Chrystal, Seaborg or Hapag-Lloyd. IMO this was just a very bad trip and a mistake to try MSC.

[nednrom]

The ship is coming from Europe for the first time - I don't doubt there were a lot of errors and unhappy passengers -- there have been many complaints from others.  I also know that the crew is used to European guests speaking mostly italian and french, the restaurant is adopting new menu, has a new chef,  docking at new ports that have different procedures.  The service standards are different in Europe and so on and on -- 

I'm not making excuses - just reasons as to why we avoid repo cruises.  Have we had bad cruises? OH yesss! Some memorable ones are carefully planned private excursion to go to LFK at Roatan and it's pouring. Stayed at the Tiki bar and have some Dirty Monkeys. Toilet clogged for over 24 hours and had to wake up my husband to go to the bathroom in pajamas and then drop by guest services.  Only port wanted to see in Hawaii Kona and had to skip it due to rough seas.  It happens.

Oh, and the wine -- I've learned through personal experience that sometimes, they don't purchase the wine that Americans like (in our case it was beer and we had to drink Australian beer on  a 14 day sailing on another cruise line) until they get to a US port - we shall see. 

After being on 30+ cruises, I am just thankful that we are healthy, have enough resources, means and vacation time to cruise. This will be our first MSC cruise and first YC experience.  I'll try anything once.

 

[Fredric22]

It is always surprising to me to read comments like "not one person had a good trip" or that "all" the food was terrible, bad, etc.  We all have our own opinions and there is nothing wrong with that!  But to those who are cruising on the Meraviglia in the coming months, I would say take all of the comments with a grain of salt.  The ship did NOT feel crowded at all (in my opinion) and I have been on 60+ cruises including many mega ships.  The main promenade was often very empty, even when they had things going on down there.  The specialty restaurants appeared pretty empty even during peak dinner times (and don't forget everyone had $300 to use!).  The indoor pool area was also not crowded (surprising on a cold weather cruise).  The Meraviglia has a lot of lounges to explore:  Irish Pub, multiple atrium bars/lounges, the sky lounge on 18 which is beautiful, a disco, and several other secondary lounges.  And this was on a cruise that everyone basically had to stay inside.  Once this ship is in the warm weather, the crowds will be dispersed even more.  

 

Food is of course very subjective.  We had some excellent meals in the YC restaurant.  We also had some mediocre dishes there and one or two dishes that were just not good at all.  The pasta, risottos, and seafood dishes were excellent.  MSC has some of the most delicious sauces and prepares pasta perfectly.  The pistachio crusted lamb chops, breaded veal chop, duck, and lamb shank were also stand outs!  That is not to mention the delicious mozzarella, prosciutto, eggplant, and gelatos.  The list really goes on and on.  I also ate at Butcher's Cut as well as the Sushi restaurant and both were excellent.  The Sushi restaurant serves some of the best sushi I have had at sea (compared to NCL and HAL).  

 

As for the crew, we did not experience any English barriers more so than any other cruise lines.  In fact, I am really envious of these crew members who seamlessly go from English to Italian to French to Spanish, etc.  I felt quite silly that I can only speak one language.  

[GOLDENBONNY]

10 hours ago, trainbuff said:

I was on this sailing but not in the Yacht Club. I have cruised over 50 times and this was by far the worst cruise I have ever been on. The food was absolutely awful and often cold. Service was hit and miss and I was lied to about issues several times. The lounges are way too small for the number of passengers and getting a seat to hear music or for trivia or other games was often impossible. The real reason we missed Sidney was because we left NY  at 730 instead of 5 due to the embarkation fiasco, had we left on time we would have arrived on time in Sidney.

After 50 cruises can you please name one , where you can always find a seat in lounges . Also, do you really believe that 2 hours delay could affect Sidney? Please, even airplane can make up time in air. 

[Fredric22]

5 hours ago, dexddd said:

Thanks for the review and comparison to Seaside.  I too not fan of new menus.

 

So for main shows if no reserved seating, how does it work?

You can reserve a show by using the MSC app.  You can also walk in a couple of minutes before the show starts and just find an empty seat.  That is what I did one night and I had no issues. 

[trainbuff]

I have been on other cruises that did not have enough lounge seats but on none was the problem as bad as this ship. There is no question that leaving late was the reason for missing Sidney. According to the navigation channel on the tv we were passing Sidney at 3pm . We were due there at 1pm. Simple math to figure out that had we left on time instead of 2 hours 30 minutes late we would have been on time.

[QueenofEverything]

12 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The lounges were big enough when we cruised on the Meraviglia in July 2017.

You were on a warm weather cruise probably not 15 foot seas.  Everyone was stuck inside instead of relaxing by the pool, with not many activities scheduled.

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, QueenofEverything said:

You were on a warm weather cruise probably not 15 foot seas.  Everyone was stuck inside instead of relaxing by the pool, with not many activities scheduled.

 

The pooldeck was empty in the evenings but the lounges were still big enough.

 

I don't know how crowded the lounges are when I'm not on the ship so I only said that they were big enough on my cruise.

[rkacruiser]

23 hours ago, Fredric22 said:

 

It seems that it was suggested that you do not deviate from the wines they had available for that particular day.  Now, for us the wines were usually great so we didn't feel the need to ask for something else.  If you talk to the Maitre D' I am pretty sure that they will work something out for you.  However, this is all subject to change.  As you may know, with MSC what is a rule/policy today may be a different rule/policy tomorrow!  

 

Reading your post's last sentence caused a chuckle by me.  Even before I made my booking, I realized that this cruise experience would be a unique cruise experience for me.

 

If the YC Top Sail Lounge has a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that I want to drink, there is no reason why such a wine could not be served in the YC Restaurant.  If it is "simply impossible to do", before I go to dinner I will bring a bottle with me when I go to dinner.

[hamrag]

10 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

If the YC Top Sail Lounge has a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that I want to drink, there is no reason why such a wine could not be served in the YC Restaurant.  If it is "simply impossible to do", before I go to dinner I will bring a bottle with me when I go to dinner.

 

Absolutely, and the best approach is to have your Butler arrange to deliver such to the restaurant marked for your consumption! You should only need to ask once. 😉

[G.M.T.]

On 10/21/2019 at 6:34 AM, sverigecruiser said:

 

The lounges were big enough when we cruised on the Meraviglia in July 2017.

Maybe the lounges are like human beings, they shrink with age.

[sfaaa]

On October 21, 2019 at 7:41 AM, trainbuff said:

 There is no question that leaving late was the reason for missing Sidney. According to the navigation channel on the tv we were passing Sidney at 3pm . We were due there at 1pm. Simple math to figure out that had we left on time instead of 2 hours 30 minutes late we would have been on time.

For $350 total refundable OBC, I would take the cash over Sidney any day. It's a small port with not a whole lot to see. What got me upset was leaving Quebec City early at 1am instead of 1 pm. I would love to spend another half day in that beautiful city.