Meraviglia 12/23-12/30 - big let down

[morpheusofthesea]

10 minutes ago, styles27 said:

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

If you know the “sedate” cruise ships please tell me.

Don't really know right now. Just started looking after reading your review. Going on Nieuw Amsterdam this March during 'Spring Break' . Will compare and report back. We have gravitated from RCCL Coastal Kitchen due to non-suite Pinnacles taking up valuable resources from suite guests. Then away from NCL Haven because their Haven Restaurant was too small and took 2 hours to get a standing order each night of grilled chicken breast and one baked potato. Celebrity Retreat was next, because the suites are not in a 'gated community', elevators would change direction and no over rides for suite guests, not able to rent a cabana on the Retreat sun deck and chair hogs were not dealt with, DW was NOT able to walk around the Retreat sun deck like she can on the One Pool deck (MSC), and Celebrity has no Out Island (like Ocean Cay).

[styles27]

25 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Don't really know right now. Just started looking after reading your review. Going on Nieuw Amsterdam this March during 'Spring Break' . Will compare and report back. We have gravitated from RCCL Coastal Kitchen due to non-suite Pinnacles taking up valuable resources from suite guests. Then away from NCL Haven because their Haven Restaurant was too small and took 2 hours to get a standing order each night of grilled chicken breast and one baked potato. Celebrity Retreat was next, because the suites are not in a 'gated community', elevators would change direction and no over rides for suite guests, not able to rent a cabana on the Retreat sun deck and chair hogs were not dealt with, DW was NOT able to walk around the Retreat sun deck like she can on the One Pool deck (MSC), and Celebrity has no Out Island (like Ocean Cay).

Looking forward to hearing about your NA cruise in March.  We are big HAL fans.  

I will most likely do another live review from Pearl in April (although I did one last year so I'm not sure many will be interested in another so soon).

[morpheusofthesea]

20 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Looking forward to hearing about your NA cruise in March.  We are big HAL fans.  

I will most likely do another live review from Pearl in April (although I did one last year so I'm not sure many will be interested in another so soon).

A lot has happened in just the last couple of months that your report will be a most interesting update.

[styles27]

1 minute ago, morpheusofthesea said:

A lot has happened in just the last couple of months that your report will be a most interesting update.

Very true.
We are really hoping for a better behaved group of people.
The cutbacks don’t bother us as much as that does…we’re just happy to be on a cruise ship. 

[RC Dancers]

To the original poster. Thank you for taking the time to let us know what your experience was like during your cruise. I think the experience varies greatly with the passenger count, so cruising is kind of a gamble at present. Last year, we had a wonderful time on a 800 passenger count Meraviglia, but friends a couple of weeks earlier during Spring break did not enjoy their cruise on the ship at full capacity.

[styles27]

58 minutes ago, RC Dancers said:

To the original poster. Thank you for taking the time to let us know what your experience was like during your cruise. I think the experience varies greatly with the passenger count, so cruising is kind of a gamble at present. Last year, we had a wonderful time on a 800 passenger count Meraviglia, but friends a couple of weeks earlier during Spring break did not enjoy their cruise on the ship at full capacity.

Completely agree. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 2/1/2023 at 1:31 PM, DCGuy64 said:

Wow, Carnival more than Celebrity? Sheesh, never thought I'd see the day.... 😳 Where is your April NCL cruise to? We're also booked this April on our first Oceania cruise, it's to Japan so I'll believe it when I see it! We had cruises to Japan cancelled in 2021, 2022,.... 🤞

 

Back "in the day" (probably in the 12-15 year ago time frame) we took our youngest and 3 of his high school friends on a cruise each year, all on Carnival except one. After pricing things out one year, we actually found that a quad balcony on the Solstice was less for that week than on Carnival. I was shocked, but we booked it without hesitation!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Interesting read here...

 

Glad we bumped up to YC for our April (weekend) Seaside cruise --- first with MSC.

 

Tom

[Lisi15]

On 2/5/2023 at 7:39 AM, ready2cruzagain said:

 

 

I just got off of an 11 day cruise on the Meraviglia this past Thursday and just feel the need to respond to some of your comments. I read your review before I left and since I have read so many people rethinking their MSC cruise because of this I decided to check these problems out myself.  I have never written a review but this review made me rethink that.

 

Below in red is my responses to what I found. I only answered the things that I knew about or dealt with during the cruise.

 

Spent our honeymoon on meraviglia for a Christmas cruise 

I've cruised RC and Carnival thought we would try MSC - Big mistake 

ship was pretty - balcony cabin very nice -  that's about it....

buffet was bland Food is subjective and everyone is different. We did not find the buffet food bland at all. Lots of variety. 

Specialty dining - not worth the cost I did have the Butchers Cut, was Diamond Meal but the food was awesome. Had the Lamb Chops that were cooked to perfection and so tender. Paid extra for the Seafood Tier and WOW, so much food and it was great.

EIther a surcharge or limited choices on menu I don't understand the surprise since most people look at the menu before they purchase the package.

service was inadequate - seemed wherever we were on the ship, bars or restaurants "didn't have" many items on their menu We were on the cruise for 11 days and rarely found this issue. 

 

Hola - no guacamole 

gelato and crepes - no crepes 

Irish pub - several beers unavailable We did not try all the beers on tap but found they had everyone we asked for. They did run out of Blue Moon on tap the next to last day but had it in bottles.

buffet- ice machine not working Due to this comment, I decided to count the ice machines in the buffet. There was 8 different machines that I counted, I may have missed some. Maybe one ice machine might not have been working but all of them?? Did you not walk around to the next station?

always out of juice Wow, very surprised because with 8 drink stations I found lots of juice, Cranberry, OJ, Apple, Pineapple, Strawberry Kiwi, Tea, Fruit Punch and Lemonade to name some.  If one was out, the next station had several different types.

guest relations were rude - had a strange $300 charge on our account - they told me to come back tomorrow - and was annoyed w me for even asking 

on and on and on.... I am sorry you had a problem. I also had a problem and went to GS. I was very nice and patient and after a short while my problem was solved. I find with MSC CS, you get more action by being nice when trying to solve a problem.

Heard on last day they were short 500 crew members - unacceptable!

won't cruise MSC again ! 

Sounds like someone who works for MSC 😂.

[ready2cruzagain]

9 hours ago, Lisi15 said:

Sounds like someone who works for MSC 😂.

 Funny. I do not work for MSC and all cruise lines have problems. I am just stating that people need to get over the little things. MSC is not the only one with problems. People are complaining about Celebrity's night buffet has been cut down to one line also. Geez.

 

This is why I don't do reviews. Would you rather me come on here and harp on everything that went wrong and only review the bad even though I had a great time? 

 

The OP gave a review with only negatives. I went on the same ship and showed where she just needed to walk a few feet to correct her problem.

Edited February 9, 2023 by ready2cruzagain

[dexddd]

9 hours ago, Lisi15 said:

Sounds like someone who works for MSC 😂.

That user has been around long time and plenty of credibility.  Helpful to others here.  Not a plant.

[ready2cruzagain]

3 minutes ago, dexddd said:

That user has been around long time and plenty of credibility.  Helpful to others here.  Not a plant.

 

Thanks! Definitely not a worker for MSC. If so, I overpaid for my cruises 🤣

Edited February 9, 2023 by ready2cruzagain

[dexddd]

On 2/9/2023 at 5:15 AM, ready2cruzagain said:

 

Thanks! Definitely not a worker for MSC. If so, I overpaid for my cruises 🤣

Us too.  My biggest problem is confusing you with boundforsea.  I can't recall which spent all that time in Hawaii during Corona.

[ready2cruzagain]

19 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Us too.  My biggest problem is confusing you with boundforsea.  I can't recall which spent all that time in Hawaii during Corona.

That would be boundforsea, unfortunately not me, don't I wish!!

[onyournextcruise]

On 2/4/2023 at 4:38 PM, ready2cruzagain said:

Don't be worried. I just got off of an 11 day cruise on the Meraviglia and would do it again in a heartbeat. Writing up my review right now. Hope you can read it.

Yes thanks for sharing!

[Lisi15]

On 2/9/2023 at 6:07 AM, ready2cruzagain said:

 Funny. I do not work for MSC and all cruise lines have problems. I am just stating that people need to get over the little things. MSC is not the only one with problems. People are complaining about Celebrity's night buffet has been cut down to one line also. Geez.

 

This is why I don't do reviews. Would you rather me come on here and harp on everything that went wrong and only review the bad even though I had a great time? 

 

The OP gave a review with only negatives. I went on the same ship and showed where she just needed to walk a few feet to correct her problem.

Hence the laughing emoji. Take a joke guys..

[mackfam]

On 2/1/2023 at 2:43 PM, styles27 said:

We live in RI so we like to take advantage of the Boston to Bermuda cruises whenever we can. Pearl is our only option now

I’ll be interested in reading your review after your April cruise. I had been considering this ship and itinerary for a family cruise, but after reading some reviews of the Pearl, and the more favorable pricing on MSC, ultimately decided on the Mera in June out of NYC. We were on the Mera in November (YC) and loved it. I was tempted to book non YC for June as the prices were so low, but decided to stick with what we know.

[lcpagejr]

3 hours ago, mackfam said:

I’ll be interested in reading your review after your April cruise. I had been considering this ship and itinerary for a family cruise, but after reading some reviews of the Pearl, and the more favorable pricing on MSC, ultimately decided on the Mera in June out of NYC. We were on the Mera in November (YC) and loved it. I was tempted to book non YC for June as the prices were so low, but decided to stick with what we know.

Bingo....Do not stray from YC.... This pretty much shelters you from inconsistencies in services, running out of items, dealing with unruly passengers, handling of crowds, getting off ship in ports, etc

Edited February 19, 2023 by lcpagejr

[styles27]

9 hours ago, mackfam said:

I’ll be interested in reading your review after your April cruise. I had been considering this ship and itinerary for a family cruise, but after reading some reviews of the Pearl, and the more favorable pricing on MSC, ultimately decided on the Mera in June out of NYC. We were on the Mera in November (YC) and loved it. I was tempted to book non YC for June as the prices were so low, but decided to stick with what we know.

Will do. I will probably do a live review again from Pearl. 
We sailed on her to Bermuda last April too.

We like the smaller ships If 93,000 ton is small)  
It’s an older ship without all of the bells and whistles but we enjoyed  our cruise last year very much which is why we booked it again. 
 

Also it’s nice to live under an hour from where the ship leaves from.