New to MSC - A Few Questions

[Djptcp]

We have sailed on 64 cruises, mostly on Holland America and Carnival, and decided to try a short 4-day MSC on the Meraviglia in Oct. 2022. DH and I have a few questions as MSC newbies:

1) The editor's review of this ship on Cruise Critic said no tees or shorts in public areas in the evening. Is that true and if so, is it strictly enforced?

2) The ship arrives on Ocean Cay at 8am on day 3 and leaves at 12pm on day 4. Is the casino open while the ship is at Ocean Cay?

3) Any recommendations for great specialty restaurants (no sushi)?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[mmbcater]

#1-not enforced around the ship. But dinner should wear long pants for men/collared shirt. Women nice casual dress. 

#2 Not 100% sure-but you will probably have to be off the island by 9 pm wish-they may open after that. Then you can go back on the island in the morning

#Butchers Cut and Hola Tacos if there is one on that ship! Ocean Cay has great seafood

[cellfree]

41 minutes ago, Djptcp said:

 

1) The editor's review of this ship on Cruise Critic said no tees or shorts in public areas in the evening. Is that true and if so, is it strictly enforced?

2) The ship arrives on Ocean Cay at 8am on day 3 and leaves at 12pm on day 4. Is the casino open while the ship is at Ocean Cay?

3) Any recommendations for great specialty restaurants (no sushi)?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

IF it is true it certainly is not enforced.

Casino open while at Ocean Cay - yes. 
Steakhouse - we thoroughly enjoy it and prefer to sit along railing and people watch although many prefer to sit inside as they do not like anyone walking by their table.

[deliver42]

I've been on MSC twice, and never had a problem with shorts or tee's at night. Sometimes they'll inforce no shorts in the dining room for dinner, but that's all. I usually put on a pair of jeans for dinner, then change back to shorts.

[alohayall]

I felt underdressed on the Seashore out of Miami in December. So many well dressed people (lots of Cuban and Columbia family groups).

 

Butcher’s Cut on the Seashore (assuming fleet-side similarity in quality).  One of the better filets I have had in my life.

[alohayall]

Did you make sure to do a status match of your best loyalty club level to MSC Voyager’s Club?  I would imagine you would get top level (Diamond) on MSC - which means a free specialty meal.

[1kaper]

6 hours ago, mmbcater said:

#1-not enforced around the ship. But dinner should wear long pants for men/collared shirt. Women nice casual dress. 

#2 Not 100% sure-but you will probably have to be off the island by 9 pm wish-they may open after that. Then you can go back on the island in the morning

#Butchers Cut and Hola Tacos if there is one on that ship! Ocean Cay has great seafood

Definitely  not enforced. Tonight a dinner we saw a gentleman walking by with a baseball style shirt wide open. 

[oilsand]

it was necessary to go to front desk to get a new cruise card . even though i had status match, and a voyager number. it wasnt until i pointed it out did I receive the benefits of Voyager club status match

[mscdivina2016]

20 hours ago, Djptcp said:

We have sailed on 64 cruises, mostly on Holland America and Carnival, and decided to try a short 4-day MSC on the Meraviglia in Oct. 2022. DH and I have a few questions as MSC newbies:

1) The editor's review of this ship on Cruise Critic said no tees or shorts in public areas in the evening. Is that true and if so, is it strictly enforced?

2) The ship arrives on Ocean Cay at 8am on day 3 and leaves at 12pm on day 4. Is the casino open while the ship is at Ocean Cay?

3) Any recommendations for great specialty restaurants (no sushi)?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

I have also sailed on 64 cruises.

MSC is the worst for IT and customer service. 

 

They have not been enforcing any dress code yet.

 

The island, the casino opened in the evening, provided the ship can dock. That has been hit or miss for some time.

 

Food is subjective to each so you decide.

[Frode]

If you like the HAL-cruises -I can promise you will be very (!) disappointed cruises onboard MSC. The two cruise line shipping companies are so different 😨

[Tapi]

1 hour ago, Frode said:

If you like the HAL-cruises -I can promise you will be very (!) disappointed cruises onboard MSC. The two cruise line shipping companies are so different 😨

I agree that the MSC and HAL are very different, but respectfully, I don't think that it should translate into the OP being "very disappointed" with MSC. The OP mentioned that they frequent both Carnival and HAL and enjoy them both. To me, Carnival and HAL are more different than MSC and HAL are, so I have a feeling that the OP won't necessarily be very disappointed. 

 

To the OP, the things that I most enjoy about MSC are that their ships are nicely appointed and nicely decorated (definitely more pleasing to the eye than Carnival). I do appreciate the more multi-cultural, multi national vibe onboard. And although MSC is considered a mass market, budget minded cruise line, fellow passengers seem to dress up more, specially in the evenings. It provides a bit more upscale feel to the cruise, even though its still casual and buget minded. 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Tapi

[Rhea98]

On 5/9/2022 at 8:10 AM, oilsand said:

it was necessary to go to front desk to get a new cruise card . even though i had status match, and a voyager number. it wasnt until i pointed it out did I receive the benefits of Voyager club status match

This happen to us (and many others as told by VC rep onboard). We have had Black/Diamond status for 5 yrs. It was easily corrected; however, even after receiving the Diamond cruise cards for the second of our B2B cruise, and double checking that the status for the current cruise was properly entered, Guest Services later told us we didn't get our VC 5/15% booked 50€ OBC each because we have no status.  Check check, and check again. EVERYTHING is listed on our paperwork. How can there be such a disconnect?

[hamrag]

16 hours ago, Frode said:

If you like the HAL-cruises -I can promise you will be very (!) disappointed cruises onboard MSC. The two cruise line shipping companies are so different 😨

But....the OP also sails Carnival, so anything no matter how bad is better than that!! 😉

[mscdivina2016]

6 hours ago, hamrag said:

But....the OP also sails Carnival, so anything no matter how bad is better than that!! 😉

I am a diamond member in the vifp club and I used to sail them often but over the years they have stale itineraries IMHO.

 I liked them but I also only stayed in the big suites so we got better treatment.

 I did not care for HAL. 

The ship is my transportation not my destination.