MSC Meraviglia- mini report The Good The Bad

[basketballdad]

Just got off the 3 night trip to private island.  Our check in time was 230pm.  Short lines.  We went from parking lot to buffet in 30 minutes.  The ship is Beautiful.  We had a balcony on back on deck 12.  Great views, but due to the ship smoke you can not see stars at night very well.  And the stairs/elevators are forever away.  Little drawer space but enough for 2 people 3 nights.  But longer- not enough.

Food is subjective but we did not gain too much weight.

The main shows were good.  The rock and roll had good music- beatles upword, the broadway had good sets.  Male vocals were a bit weak.

The problem was there were not multiple music choices in smaller lounge- just one small lounge by the main show room.

Lines, let me tell you about lines.  Lines to get off the boat at demarkation, lines at the buffet were crazy, lines at the lunch on the Island.  1 hour type line there.

The Island was nice.  2nd time for us there (took Divina before).  Went to one of the sides where there were trees, music in the speakers, and ocean for as far as the could sea.

 

The beds- hardest and most uncomfortable at sea, even with a small topper they put on per our request.  Took 12 hours to get 7 hours of sleep.

 

Alot of people (table mates, etc.) complained this was the worse cruise ever and never again (food fare, long lines, not enough music choices).  But it was an ok get away for us.  Price was right.

 

Once is enough here

 

[JT1962]

The 3-4 night cruises seem to be packed “booze cruises” now with the cheaper fares that include the drink package. The 7 night cruises get better reviews. 

[GPPhilly]

I rarely hear any complaints about the MSC beds.  I for one find them to be so comfortable.  

[GPPhilly]

1 minute ago, JT1962 said:

The 3-4 night cruises seem to be packed “booze cruises” now with the cheaper fares that include the drink package. The 7 night cruises get better reviews. 

I can validate this statement.  We were on a 11 day cruise and the first part was a 3 night cruise and it was so crowded and service was very poor even in the YC due to the lack of staffing and the full capacity.  The 7 night that followed was night and day in regard to crowds and service.  

[styles27]

3 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

I can validate this statement.  We were on a 11 day cruise and the first part was a 3 night cruise and it was so crowded and service was very poor even in the YC due to the lack of staffing and the full capacity.  The 7 night that followed was night and day in regard to crowds and service.  

We had opposite experience. Did 14 days b2b on Divina first part 10 day was out of control people

drinking way too much and horribly behaved.  Unloaded them and the next group for the 4

day was so much better. They partied but they knew how to behave. 
 

I think it’s safe to say it’s like roulette. You never know what kind of people you’ll be cruising with. 
 

All ships seem to be full right now.
People are comfortable getting back on a cruise ship. 
Our glory days of having 490 pax on our 11/2021 Divina cruise are over 😏

 

For us we don’t like the thousands of passengers so we’re going back to smaller ships. Much more manageable. 

[JimR24]

We were on the same cruise.  This was the first trip with MSC and we would cruise them again.  I agree about the private island.  It's beautiful with lots of seating.  We would head to the North Island next time.  We walked the island the morning we were leaving and found it really peaceful.  We did head to the island for the party.  It was total chaos at the bar on the beach.  There is little to no respect for other people when it comes to the bar.  The bartenders do the best they can but it's like herding cats.  One bar for the party didn't seem to be enough.  

 

The lines to get a drink were long but the bartenders did allow you to get more then 2.  Food was ok in the dining room.  Service was hit and miss.  It felt like they were breaking in a new staff and our waiter seemed to be a little off.  2nd night was better then the first but still slow.  

 

We had an inside cabin on deck 10.  Exactly what we expected it to be.  Small and just a place to shower, change and sleep.  Longer cruise we would need a balcony but this was fine for us.  

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, basketballdad said:

The beds- hardest and most uncomfortable at sea, even with a small topper they put on per our request.

Interesting as most complain the beds at MSC are too soft. For me they are perfect. 

[KennyFla]

Maybe right now there is a lot of pent up demand due to the lockdowns, along with a lag in cruise lines getting re-staffed.  These issues may work themselves out.  It seems that the ever increasing number of cruise ship cabins will out pace the growth in cruise customers.

[CruisingNole]

Seems like they need to stop filling ships to max capacity by selling dirt cheap cabins until they have enough crew onboard to provide halfway decent service.
 

Just a thought.

[CruisingNole]

I was actually just reading another review of this same cruise from another website.