Totally Disappointed with Meraviglia

[morpheusofthesea]

21 hours ago, no1talks said:

10 hours ago, HipHipOnAShip said:

Wow, we had the EXACT opposite experience with him on the Mera.  He kept offering grocery store bottles of $9 wines to us (basically the wines on the Easy Plus list even though we were in YC), to which we kept declining, until finally we gave up.  We thought he was incredibly stingy.

He was big contributor to our enjoyment of that cruise! I told him I always let the sommelier choose my wine and he did not disappoint. He even picked my apéritifs and he batted 1.000 there, as well.

I find these posts very interesting. Why the 'different folks , different strokes'.

[gmbhardy]

On 10/18/2022 at 11:17 AM, JAGR said:

Sorry, but if you do meet with the director or another officer, can you get an estimate of how many passengers they expect next week?  Thanks

 

Talked to the YC director today during the Captains reception and he said the ship was sailing at half capacity or about 2,800 people. He thought it would be about the same for next week’s cruise.
 

[gmbhardy]

On 10/17/2022 at 1:48 PM, Gatordad1967 said:

Is Rudolph still the wine guy?

 

Yes. Spoke with him at lunch today. He said he will be on the Meraviglia until March. Had a nice chat with him. Seems like a really nice guy.

[mnpurple]

I'm just curious if you have seen any improvements because it seemed like you hadn't been on the ship  very long before creating this post.

[gmbhardy]

3 minutes ago, mnpurple said:

I'm just curious if you have seen any improvements because it seemed like you hadn't been on the ship  very long before creating this post.

Yes, things have gotten better and some thinks we’re fine from the start. The restaurant has been great. Good food and excellent service. The show we saw last night “Cool” was very entertaining. 
Irina, the piano player in the YC lounge is very talented. The bartenders and servers in the YC lounge appear overworked at times but they are friendly and attentive. My main beef is with the inconsistency of how each ship delivers the experience. There should be one YC experience that transcends all ships, not a mix of policies and procedures that change depending on the whim of each ships’s management team. I was probably too harsh on my assessment of the crew but we had just returned from two venues where we were totally ignored.  I’m not a negative person and I really try to ignore minor irritations but on the other hand, I want to get what I paid for.

[rkacruiser]

36 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

My main beef is with the inconsistency of how each ship delivers the experience. There should be one YC experience that transcends all ships, not a mix of policies and procedures that change depending on the whim of each ships’s management team.

 

This is the reality when cruising on any line, on any ship of that line.  My recent cruises have been consistent in one aspect:  the inconsistency of the experience from cruise to cruise.  It didn't used to be.  But, micro-management from the Executive Offices and the increased size of the fleets has made it more of a challenge for consistent cruise experiences to be delivered, in my opinion.  

[travelwide]

17 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

Yes, things have gotten better and some thinks we’re fine from the start. The restaurant has been great. Good food and excellent service. The show we saw last night “Cool” was very entertaining. 
Irina, the piano player in the YC lounge is very talented. The bartenders and servers in the YC lounge appear overworked at times but they are friendly and attentive. My main beef is with the inconsistency of how each ship delivers the experience. There should be one YC experience that transcends all ships, not a mix of policies and procedures that change depending on the whim of each ships’s management team. I was probably too harsh on my assessment of the crew but we had just returned from two venues where we were totally ignored.  I’m not a negative person and I really try to ignore minor irritations but on the other hand, I want to get what I paid for.

I hope you can do me a big favor....can you ask Irina to send a What's App message to Alma. I am having a problem getting a message to her. I got a new phone and did not have backup messages.

Thank you so much.

[miataman19]

On 10/18/2022 at 6:06 AM, B42low said:

Does anyone know the capacity on the Meraviglia for 10/23/2022 sailing? Thanks

Looks like 2400.

Edited October 20, 2022 by miataman19

[gingersvp]

We were in the YC on the 3 day sailing right before yours. It was awful. We did not get welcome drinks, our room wasn't ready. We waited over an hour to board (apparently some non-YC folks waited 3-4 hours), waited an hour in the lounge and eventually went to lunch. After lunch the room still wasn't ready. The phone didn't work, the hot tub didn't work and the concierge was not nice.

 

Eventually both were fixed, but not once in all of my multiple calls did anyone ever answer. I've never felt so unwelcomed or experienced such an uncaring crew. I wound up in tears at the beach club when we had trouble even getting lunch. It was a sailing for my daughter's birthday and I just desperately wanted to put my feet up and relax. We had just been through Hurricane Ian and to be honest, this cruise stressed me out so much. I've had better service in an interior cabin in Carnival.

 

For a 3 day cruise I could not believe how many things they ran out of!

 

It was my first MSC cruise, but not my first suite experience so I understand what I should be receiving. We did not get newspapers, and none of our preferences were communicated to the YC staff. It wasn't all bad, I did enjoy our server in the restaurant, and the YC lounge bartender was great. 

 

I will say, they had HUGE delays with disembarkation. We were off the ship by 8:30 but apparently they had to halt disembarkation and some people waited multiple hours in line just to get off the ship. 

 

I won't say "never again" with MSC, but I'm not going to seek them out. Came home, told my husband I needed a recovery cruise and immediately booked NCL Haven - which wound up being less per person/per night than this awful YC cruise. I also will not do another 3 day cruise I think. About halfway through the final full day things started to turn around (you know, after I broke down in tears) - but by then the crew had very little time to show me anything different.

 

I really wanted & hoped this would be better than it was. Took me 18 cruises, but I finally had a bad one.

[BklynBorn47]

26 minutes ago, gingersvp said:

I also will not do another 3 day cruise I think. About halfway through the final full day things started to turn around (you know, after I broke down in tears) - but by then the crew had very little time to show me anything different.

 

I understand that 3 day right after the TA was a disaster.
I'm so sorry for your experience.  We were on the TA for 18 days and it was wonderful and we weren't even in the YC.  It was our 1st MSC also.  Of course, since it takes us a day & night to get to a port with the same afterwards, we tend to always book cruises of 21 days or more.  Yeah, we are retired.  Easy for us to say.  

[gingersvp]

21 minutes ago, BklynBorn47 said:

 

I understand that 3 day right after the TA was a disaster.
I'm so sorry for your experience.  We were on the TA for 18 days and it was wonderful and we weren't even in the YC.  It was our 1st MSC also.  Of course, since it takes us a day & night to get to a port with the same afterwards, we tend to always book cruises of 21 days or more.  Yeah, we are retired.  Easy for us to say.  

 

I have done 3 and 4 night cruises before without issue. I think where I'm stuck, is that MSC knew it was a full sailing and did not adequately staff up. That's a management decision and it just had multiple cascading effects to the negative. We deal with work and school schedules, and a desire to cruise often - so it has left us with several shorter sailings. I've never sailed more than a week, and I seriously look forward to the time in my life where I can spend longer stretches at sea. I've got the Panama Canal and a TA on my bucket list, but struggle with the timing of these cruises and not wanting to leave my school aged child behind. (My older 2 are 20 and 16 and can stay home without us, have been invited and are just bah-humbugs these days.)

[BklynBorn47]

3 minutes ago, gingersvp said:

I think where I'm stuck, is that MSC knew it was a full sailing and did not adequately staff up. That's a management decision and it just had multiple cascading effects to the negative.

You are correct.  We knew that the next cruise was full. 
All our 6 grandchildren are older than your children.
I heartily recommend retirement.  Hang in there,

[gingersvp]

3 minutes ago, BklynBorn47 said:

You are correct.  We knew that the next cruise was full. 
All our 6 grandchildren are older than your children.
I heartily recommend retirement.  Hang in there,

 

Ha! Gotta earn enough money to be able to continue sailing suites in retirement first 🙂

[gmbhardy]

Things have improved quite dramatically in the last couple days. Seems like they’ve ramped up staffing levels in the Top Sail Lounge so drinks are getting served at a reasonable rate. After speaking with the YC director Alessandro Messina, most of my issues with the Butler have been resolved. Last night I probably experienced the best meal I’ve ever had in a cruise ship restaurant. Escargot for a starter, I ordered both the lobster tail and beef tenderloin for the main course (surf and turf) and crepes Suzette for dessert. Absolutely spectacular! Even the weather has improved. 

[rkacruiser]

9 hours ago, BklynBorn47 said:

I understand that 3 day right after the TA was a disaster.

 

There remains a basic misunderstanding on the part of North American MSC guests, I think, that the crew's European guest expectations are different than those who reside on the "other side of the Pond".  Why is anyone surprised that a period of adjustment is needed when a vessel resumes cruising out of a North American port?  Why do you suppose that this first cruise after the TA was a 3 day cruise?  And, maybe at bargain rates?  

 

The first cruise of a ship out of drydock always is a possible one that has issues.  A repositioning of a ship from one region to another fits in that same category, I think.  

[GA Dave]

On 10/19/2022 at 2:51 PM, gmbhardy said:

Yes. Spoke with him at lunch today. He said he will be on the Meraviglia until March. Had a nice chat with him. Seems like a really nice guy.

I am very happy to hear this, as I will be in the YC four times between now and then.

 

[GA Dave]

10 hours ago, gingersvp said:

 

I have done 3 and 4 night cruises before without issue. I think where I'm stuck, is that MSC knew it was a full sailing and did not adequately staff up. That's a management decision and it just had multiple cascading effects to the negative. We deal with work and school schedules, and a desire to cruise often - so it has left us with several shorter sailings. I've never sailed more than a week, and I seriously look forward to the time in my life where I can spend longer stretches at sea. I've got the Panama Canal and a TA on my bucket list, but struggle with the timing of these cruises and not wanting to leave my school aged child behind. (My older 2 are 20 and 16 and can stay home without us, have been invited and are just bah-humbugs these days.)

Just an FYI:  I was on the 10/13 cruise as well, in a regular interior cabin.  As a frequent MSC solo cruiser, I always speak to many of the crew and officers, and I found out some things that were not generally known.  The shortage of personnel was not all the fault of MSC.  They said there was a large number of new crew that were supposed to be starting work on the ship after the TA (as I would normally expect).  Unfortunately, there was a significant number that had not been processed properly by CBP through the immigration process and they never made the ship.  This is most likely why we all noticed a lack of personnel on board vs the number of passengers. 

Another thing most people did not know that I am sure affected the crew's performance the first couple of days was that a crew member had died onboard the day before they arrived in Port Canaveral.  These crew members live in such close quarters and truly become like a family.  Something like the death of a fellow crew member has to be devastating to many of them.

[Gatordad1967]

On 10/19/2022 at 2:51 PM, gmbhardy said:

Yes. Spoke with him at lunch today. He said he will be on the Meraviglia until March. Had a nice chat with him. Seems like a really nice guy.

He is a great guy..... He has a big yellow lab back at home, we spent the week swapping Lab stories.

[gmbhardy]

13 hours ago, GA Dave said:

Just an FYI:  I was on the 10/13 cruise as well, in a regular interior cabin.  As a frequent MSC solo cruiser, I always speak to many of the crew and officers, and I found out some things that were not generally known.  The shortage of personnel was not all the fault of MSC.  They said there was a large number of new crew that were supposed to be starting work on the ship after the TA (as I would normally expect).  Unfortunately, there was a significant number that had not been processed properly by CBP through the immigration process and they never made the ship.  This is most likely why we all noticed a lack of personnel on board vs the number of passengers. 

Another thing most people did not know that I am sure affected the crew's performance the first couple of days was that a crew member had died onboard the day before they arrived in Port Canaveral.  These crew members live in such close quarters and truly become like a family.  Something like the death of a fellow crew member has to be devastating to many of them.

Thanks for sharing this info. I kinda feel embarrassed by my original post now. As I stated before, things have improved dramatically and I’m really looking forward to our second week. 

[shipgeeks]

GA Dave, Thank you for your post.  We should always remember that there is much that goes on behind the scenes that can contribute to a less than perfect experience.  Usually we never know about it. Your post explains a lot.

[gingersvp]

16 hours ago, GA Dave said:

Just an FYI:  I was on the 10/13 cruise as well, in a regular interior cabin.  As a frequent MSC solo cruiser, I always speak to many of the crew and officers, and I found out some things that were not generally known.  The shortage of personnel was not all the fault of MSC.  They said there was a large number of new crew that were supposed to be starting work on the ship after the TA (as I would normally expect).  Unfortunately, there was a significant number that had not been processed properly by CBP through the immigration process and they never made the ship.  This is most likely why we all noticed a lack of personnel on board vs the number of passengers. 

Another thing most people did not know that I am sure affected the crew's performance the first couple of days was that a crew member had died onboard the day before they arrived in Port Canaveral.  These crew members live in such close quarters and truly become like a family.  Something like the death of a fellow crew member has to be devastating to many of them.

 

This is good information to have, but I really do have to say that when I'm reduced to tears because I can't get a basic meal, for vacation that I paid prime dollars for suite service....I'm just not sure I will give them another go. But I won't say never again. The context does help.

[ready2cruzagain]

On 10/18/2022 at 8:59 AM, JAGR said:

Curious.  We are on next week.  When did you get your letter regarding liquor and pillow choice for YC?  I haven't got anything yet, but I'm hearing the butlers aren't always getting people's responses to the questions.

Hey JAGR! We are thinking about he Meraviglia for January and could you do me a favor and find out how much the couples spa pass is? It would be greatly appreciated!

[JAGR]

2 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Hey JAGR! We are thinking about he Meraviglia for January and could you do me a favor and find out how much the couples spa pass is? It would be greatly appreciated!

Will do!

 

[ready2cruzagain]

11 hours ago, JAGR said:

Will do!

 

Thank you! Hope you and your wife are doing well. Have fun on the Meraviglia!

[tbmrt]

On 10/20/2022 at 9:31 AM, miataman19 said:

Looks like 2400.

Any idea of the 11/3 sailing?