Just off Meraviglia Jan 12-19

[mvh]

Let's just get the bottom line out of the way.  Overall, very good to great cruise.  Was it perfect? No, are any cruises to the Caribbean really perfect? 

 

Pros:

The ship itself is beautiful.  We went on the Seaside this time last year and I preferred it by a small margin over this ship, but it is a very small margin.  My wife preferred this one.  I really think the main reason is because of the nice long promenade like RCI has.  It really had a nice feel and honestly never seemed crowded like I had read.

 

The pool area.  This was the biggest, most open main pool area I have seen in over 20 cruises.  We never had a problem getting a chair by the main pool before 10:00am on sea days.  The back and indoor pool were also very nice.

 

Bar service was always pretty quick and never seemed too crowded.  We friended a great bar tender on the first day who called us all by our first name and hooked us up with whatever we wanted.  We only had the Easy pkg but it did not matter, he would make us anything. However, we really didn't abuse it. I stayed with the beer that was offered until they ran out of Miller Lite at the pool bar, then I could order anything, which was great.

 

Elevators were some of the quickest we have ever been on.  Never had to wait long.  They seemed very large too.

 

Just ok:

Food at the main restaurant.  I honest did not think it was bad.  Not outstanding, but not bad.  We had the best waiter that we have ever had on any cruise, which really helped.  He was really honest with us and would recommend what was good and what to stay away from and he was spot on.

 

Cons:

This shipped rocked more than any other I have been on.  Yes, it was rough, but I have been in rougher waters and never rocked lick this ship.

 

Buffet variety was non existent.  Honestly, this is fine with me since I really don't care for any buffet.  The thought of standing in line and slopping cold food on a plate just doesn't appeal to me. Yes, the pizza was good, but you tend to get a little sick of that too.

 

People not washing there hands every time they go in the Marketplace  or after using the bathrooms.  I saw this way too many times and it is just plain gross. That is a fact, not an opinion. Yes, I did call a few people out on this and have no problem doing so.  I realize this happens on all ships, but it seemed prevalent on this one.

 

The shows

Decent talent, just sooooooooo boring and redundant.  Even the Cirque show was boring.  It was part of our package deal so we did not pay.  I would have been bummed if I had paid for it, especially the dinner, which was not very good.  Definitely not worth $48.  This was nothing we have not seen on RCI for free. 

I was really excited that they had something different than just singing and dancing when I heard about the magic show.  Boy what a let down.  This was the worst magic show I have ever seen.  I actually felt sorry for this guy because he was so bad.  He basically received a light sympathy applause.

 

Overall we had a really good time and the pros out weighed the cons.  You really can't beat the value of MSC and we felt the staff was great. I would not hesitate to do it again or recommend it to anyone else.

 

I will try to answer questions if I can.

[jkgourmet]

The name and description of that bartender please?

[niko40]

13 minutes ago, jkgourmet said:

The name and description of that bartender please?

Why are you going to report him 😂😂

[mvh]

2 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

The name and description of that bartender please?

 

2 hours ago, niko40 said:

Why are you going to report him 😂😂

Sorry, not a chance.  However, we never had a problem with ordering the non alcoholic drinks with a shot in them.  Every bar tender we asked mixed them with out any issues.

[Micheb5]

Nice candid review. We too have the cirque package included. Can you tell me how that worked? Did you get to pick your show and time?  Anything else you can tell about the process please. Also, did you have any experience with the paid activities - formula 1 racer, bowling etc.? Thanks!

[Micheb5]

Sorry for double post. Please reply to this one, I didn't click to notify me of response.😯

 

Nice candid review. We too have the cirque package included. Can you tell me how that worked? Did you get to pick your show and time?  Anything else you can tell about the process please. Also, did you have any experience with the paid activities - formula 1 racer, bowling etc.? Thanks!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[SummerBeee]

I’ve never sailed MSC, but curious about the line. We were docked next to you in Costa Maya and the ship was really rocking in the wind.

I poked around on the MSC website trying to see how cost compared to RCCL, but was lost on the levels. Any input? 

[mvh]

10 hours ago, Micheb5 said:

Nice candid review. We too have the cirque package included. Can you tell me how that worked? Did you get to pick your show and time?  Anything else you can tell about the process please. Also, did you have any experience with the paid activities - formula 1 racer, bowling etc.? Thanks!

The first thing we did when we got on the ship was see the Matre De and have our dining changed from 5:30 to 7:15 which was perfect.  We were Bella and had no problem changing it for the 4 of us.  They did ask if we were ok sitting with 2 others, which we had no problem with and actually prefer.  Then we went to the back Cirque theater to make those reservations.  No problem at all, we just picked our day and time as well as our dinner choice.  The dinner area was basically empty for our 8:30 time slot.  Maybe 4 table being served.  I suggest going early in the week in case the show is cancelled, you can try to make another one.  We did not do any of the bowling or Formula 1 simulators.

[Micheb5]

Thank you. Very helpful!

[BuckeyeTraveler]

Cool Cruiser, thanks for the review.  I have a few questions I  hope you can answer.  1) is it possible to go to the Cirque shows without paying for the drink or dinner? 2) How do you know which restaurant you are assigned to?  I see that there are several restaurants, all having various hours. 3) Do you know how to get "mychoice" dining? 4) What did you do in the various ports?

Thanks in advance for any  information.

[sidari]

Only Aurea guests get My time Dining

[KittyCruz]

On 1/21/2020 at 3:54 PM, niko40 said:

Why are you going to report him 😂😂

We sail soon, love to know which bar this unnamed gem works at

[ocbaylady]

Thank you for the review, we will be on the Meraviglia next week,can't wait. Can you let us know if there are any loungers around the pool area in the shade? also are there loungers in the indoor pool area? Any info would be great.

[he5makba]

My wife and I were on this cruise too. I will put in a plug for how they handle gluten free items. In the buffet, my wife had a very hard time getting anything. Very limited items for her. However, the main dining rooms, which you can eat lunch and breakfast in on most days, provided her with a separate Gluten free menu which she greatly appreciated. The head waiter in Waves restaurant was fantastic and even provided her with dessert options not on the menu.

 

I mostly agree with everything you said in the post. We will still sail MSC and look forward to trying a couple of different ships in the future.

 

[brillohead]

On 1/26/2020 at 8:23 PM, ocbaylady said:

Can you let us know if there are any loungers around the pool area in the shade? also are there loungers in the indoor pool area?

I was very disappointed in this -- the only way to get a lounger in the shade is to go to the (very stuffy and unventilated) indoor pool area.  The entire shaded area around the pool is all large tables and chairs, but no loungers at all.  And the back pool has no shade at all -- not one lick.

Even the indoor pool area is mostly tables and chairs -- you can find some shaded loungers in the upper level, though, if you can handle the heat and humidity.  

[brillohead]

On 1/21/2020 at 11:20 PM, Micheb5 said:

Sorry for double post. Please reply to this one, I didn't click to notify me of response.😯

Next time you don't have to make a whole new post... just choose to "follow" on the top right of the thread and choose how you want to be notified, then click on "follow" at the bottom of that dialog box (this works for threads you haven't commented in, too -- you don't have to post just to subscribe to a thread -- anyone can follow any thread).  

[brillohead]

On 1/22/2020 at 4:51 PM, BuckeyeTraveler said:

2) How do you know which restaurant you are assigned to?  I see that there are several restaurants, all having various hours.

It will be posted on your room card which restaurant, time, and table number. 

All the restaurants are the same -- the start times are staggered for better crowd control.  Instead of having half the ship eat at 6pm and the other half eat at 8pm, which clogs up the elevators, they have 1/8 of the ship eat at 5:30, 5:45, 6:00, 6:15 and 7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:15.  Makes it a lot easier to get an elevator to/from dinner!