My View: A Merry Meraviglia Christmas in a Fantastica Balcony

[APDMOM]

We are about to embark on our 36th cruise adventure tomorrow!  We had such a great experience on Seaside in June, that we decided to book Meraviglia when the price was right for a Christmas Cruise.  We will be in a Fantastica Balcony right in the center of the aft.

 

I hope my 2 GB internet package is enough to post pictures in the review (3GB was adequate for 2 weeks on Seaside, so I think we will be able to make it).  If not, I will close out when we get home.

 

I will try to stay up to date, but I am likely to get a day or two behind as I will be enjoying my cruise.  If you have questions or requests, feel free to post them.  I will try my best to find answers or pictures for you.  Even on vacation, my Type A+ personality thrives off making a “to do” list 😄 Seriously though, I do enjoy giving back here at Cruise Critic, as I have found so many great tips to make our cruise experiences better.

 

Come on a virtual cruise this week, as we hopefully make it to all the stops on our itinerary:

 

 

[bigblue1952]

We will be following along.  We loved your last review.  We will be on the Meraviglia in October so looking forward to your observations of the ship.

[Preziosa]

Hello and Mery Christmas. Can you ask the American cruisedirector, How long he Will stay on board. We have a sailing the 5 th of april. He was Our Cruise director on Seaside. He his the Best We have had on Our many MSC Cruises. I hope he Will Be there in April.

Thank you and have a fantastic Cruise.

We have sailed Meraviglia before and it is a Nice ship.

[JP82]

Yay a review that isn't YC! 

 

I have my third cruise ever booked with Meraviglia in August (after having done Disney and RCI). Also in a Fantastic Balcony and it will be my first Balcony Cabin actually. So will be following along!

[CruiseIreland]

Following. Loved your last review. I would fancy that itinerary too. Ken 

[LuCruise]

Hi APDMOM.  I was reminded on your other thread of your upcoming cruise on MSC so I looked for your review over here.  Looking forward to hearing your experience on MSC again. It's always great hearing other perspectives and experiences of different cruise lines, and always love following along.  Have a great cruise!

[APDMOM]

So much fun to see familiar and new faces following along! Welcome! 

 

@Preziosa, yes, I will be sure to ask Gene if he will be around for your cruise. 🙂

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 1 Miami

 

The MSC for Me APP is finally done with the countdown! 

 

[APDMOM]

First glimpse of our ship! 

 

 

 

Meraviglia is at terminal F

 

 

We arrived at the port at 10:15 and easily found a parking space in the parking garage by terminal G.

 

TIP:  We always take a picture of our suitcases, in case they are lost.  That way we can show a real picture at guest services.

 

TIP: If you are able to roll your bags from the parking garage, it is much easier to park first and then drop off your luggage - especially if you arrive early.  There was a large crowd still leaving and the traffic is terrible for drop off this early.  So, we prefer to park first and then walk our luggage over to the porters.

 

Security check in was not open yet, so we stood in the line for about 15 minutes.  Once they opened security, the line moved very fast.

 

TIP: When you enter the building, go to the left line for security.  It moves much faster, as the priority boarding line is right beside it.  If there is no one at priority, they allow people from the left line to go through the priority line for security.

 

We were seated for priority boarding just after 11 (I still have diamond status, apparently - more on that later).  There was a quartet of carolers who showed up soon after we were seated.  Beautiful voices!

 

 

[APDMOM]

The View from  “My Office” this afternoon:

 

The buffet was very quiet when we arrived just after noon.  We found the seating closest to the pool entry to be very empty.  It is not as close to the food, but it was nice and quiet the whole time we sat there for lunch.

 

The Bracelets:

 

After lunch, DH went to customer services (The reception) to buy our bracelets.  After we used them on Seaside, we decided we would not go without them when they are available, should the price remain so reasonable.  At $5 a piece, they are well worth it to us.  It is very convenient not to have to carry a ship card with you everywhere.

 

NOTE:  You do need to have your ship card to get off and on in the ports.

 

Rooms were ready at 2:20 p.m.  Until that time, we had lounged at the Bamboo pool.  When we headed to our room, we were all psyched about these bracelets and the ability to open the door with a single, graceful swipe of the wrist... just to find...nothing!  Not even a red blinking light. The bracelets did not work.  So, we used the primitive card system to get into our room for a first glimpse at our aft balcony.

 

 

We were welcomed with a bottle of bubbly, chocolate covered strawberries, and a basket of fruit.

 

After exploring a bit, we decided to get our bracelets fixed at guest services, just to find the line beyond the roped off area - not worth the wait.  We will try again later tonight or very early in the morning.

 

Muster Drill/Safety Briefing:

 

After a much needed power nap, we had our muster drill.  It really was painless.  We were in the Carousel Lounge.  Even though the muster drill is conducted in 6 different languages, it is very quick.  I am still trying to wrap my mind around how much easier these drills are than when we first started cruising in 2004!  So much better in an air conditioned space with no life jacket required!

 

[mamaneedsavacay]

9 hours ago, APDMOM said:

TIP: When you enter the building, go to the left line for security.  It moves much faster, as the priority boarding line is right beside it.  If there is no one at priority, they allow people from the left line to go through the priority line for security.

 Thank you for tips like these!

I love cruising but hate fighting crowds. I appreciate every little hint that helps us plan ahead for max efficiency. 

If you discover any secrets to elevators or buffet lines during peak times, please share. 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Norwich Cruiser]

20 hours ago, JP82 said:

Yay a review that isn't YC! 

 

I have my third cruise ever booked with Meraviglia in August (after having done Disney and RCI). Also in a Fantastic Balcony and it will be my first Balcony Cabin actually. So will be following along!

Agree

 

An excellent start.

 

How great a fantastic review I’m sure we have coming up that isn’t yacht club and butler related.

[perfect match]

Something just told me to come here looking for your review - and here you are! I’m excited to be cruising along with you and your family again! The ship looks beautiful so far!

 

I see you’re stopping at the new MSC private island. I’m fascinated by the concept, maybe even enough to book a cruise on MSC. I know I don’t need to ask you to take a lot of pictures because you always do that, so I’m only going to say that I’ll be anxiously awaiting the many pictures I know you’re going to be taking.

 

Christmas is at our house this year, so I may be sidetracked by the festivities for a couple of days. I have this thread bookmarked and I’ll definitely be back!

Edited December 23, 2019 by perfect match

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review.

[APDMOM]

Thanks to all of you following along!  These Megabytes are getting eaten up quickly, so I am going to post fast and log off.  I am drafting the majority of my review in Pages.  

 

So, I apologize in advance for being slow to respond or for not commenting on every response here. 

[APDMOM]

Views of sailing away from Miami: 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Dinner Menu in Panorama Restaurant:

 

 

 

Our verdict on dinner:

 

APDMOM:

The roasted tomato soup was excellent.  The lamb chops were dry.

DH:

Caesar Salad - Good.  The Blackened Grouper was excellent. The Pistachio cake was very good.

DS:

Shrimp Cocktail - he can never get enough of this, so it was excellent, as usual! Chicken Breast - Very tender and good.

 

Show: Virtual

 

TIP:  Book your shows as soon as you get onto the ship.  We tried to make our show reservations while waiting to board.  However, Meraviglia is not as quick to upload shows.  We were able to make our reservations around 2 p.m. on the app.  Be sure to make the reservations, as the 8:15 show is the most popular.

 

At 2 p.m. on boarding day there were about 600-700 seats left.  The theater is quite small for the size of the ship, but they run 3 shows, lasting about 40 minutes each.

 

I really enjoyed Virtual.  It is a show about a guy having a nightmare about being stuck inside his phone.  It is quite funny and was definitely entertaining.  I was very surprised to see people walk out of the show!  As we had found on Seaside, Meraviglia also has very unique choreography - a breath of fresh air.  It is very creative, clean, and fun to watch.  Here are a few scenes (no flash photography allowed):

 

Gene Young, Great Cruise Director! (From Utah):

 

Cruise Activities Staff:

 

Emoticons - this was very well done.  The dancers maintained their designated emoticon facial expressions the whole time - I felt sorry for the guy who had to pucker his lips the whole time (😘)!

 

 

 

The “Selfie” Scene - this was hilarious!

 

 

 

 

The “Funny Candy Game” Scene - One of my favorites:

 

[George C]

Always love your reviews, how does this ship compare to Seaside? We wish you and your family a merry Christmas.

George and Shelagh 

[JP82]

Ooh an Aft view! Would love to do that sometime!! 
 

If anyone tries the French Onion Soup. Do let us know! I’m all about the French Onion soup and was pretty disappointed with the ones on Oasis Of The Seas this year. Think I’m going to judge every cruise line by the strength of their French Onion Soup moving forwards!!

[APDMOM]

Just now, George C said:

Always love your reviews, how does this ship compare to Seaside? We wish you and your family a merry Christmas.

George and Shelagh 

Hi, George and Shelagh!  

So great to hear from you!  I will definitely do a summary comparison at the end.  At this point, we like Seaside better, but we keep finding areas on this ship that we love too.  

Merry Christmas to you!

 

[APDMOM]

The Dome Display Tonight with a Busy Galleria

 

 

Gingerbread Display in the Buffet:

 

We went to the buffet to see if there are some better dessert options - they did have very good carrot cake.

 

Tip:  If you don’t find a good dessert in the main dining room, head to the buffet.  Seaside had very good dessert options in the buffet, and it seems to be true for Meraviglia also... will see if it remains true during the week.

[APDMOM]

My View:  En of Day 1 - Leaving Miami in our wake

[tjwa]

14 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

How great a fantastic review I’m sure we have coming up that isn’t yacht club and butler related.

Smashin'.

[APDMOM]

I usually post the daily program at the end of each day.  However, in the essence of saving some Megabytes to budget for the week, I will post them at the end.  

 

Thanks to everyone for following along.  We are in the Broadway Theater waiting for a show, so I will try to get a few posts in while we wait. 😁

[APDMOM]

On 12/22/2019 at 2:05 AM, Preziosa said:

Hello and Mery Christmas. Can you ask the American cruisedirector, How long he Will stay on board. We have a sailing the 5 th of april. He was Our Cruise director on Seaside. He his the Best We have had on Our many MSC Cruises. I hope he Will Be there in April.

Thank you and have a fantastic Cruise.

We have sailed Meraviglia before and it is a Nice ship.

@Preziosa  We got to talk to Gene for a short while today.  He will be on Meraviglia for all the Miami-Caribbean sailings, then he will return to Seaside when Meraviglia goes to Europe.  At least that is the current plan, as he jokes around.