Just off the Meraviglia, my thoughts

[bruce85]

We are back from a 3-night sailing, I had read all the negative reviews, but went in with an open mind. We had sailed with MSC twice already, Seaside and Divina.

My thoughts

       The ship, is beautiful, looks new everywhere. Very easy to get around. We found the elevators that go up the outside of the ship easier to get on. Maybe a lot of people didn't know about them. Plus, it was a short walk from our cabin, which worked out great. 

Boarding, we had a 2.30pm boarding time. We arrived earlier than excepted due to no traffic issues, we had a 6-hour drive. We arrived around 11.15 and boarded straight away. Nobody asked us for a boarding time. We enjoyed our first cocktail right around noon. 

       Food, I understand this is an issue for many with MSC. We are Irish born, moved to USA at the age of 21. European food for the most part lacks seasoning, so I can see why they get complaints. We found the food to be ok. We ate in main dining room; we had a 7.30 seating in Waves. Had a table of two. This restaurant had a lot of two tops. First night when we arrived at restaurant at around 7.25, the line was all the way back to customer service desk. Right around 7.30 they started sitting everyone and the line moved very quickly. We almost left and went to buffet when we saw the line, glad we didn't, it moves very quickly. I assume they close after each seating to reset dining room. The second two nights moved even quicker, because they didn't have to walk each guest to their table, you just walk yourself to same table as night before. We found the food all very good, except the soups, all these lacked seasoning, a little salt and pepper helped. Service was excellent. 7.30 setting and each night out by 8.30. No waiting on drink refills either, overall A+ on the dining room.

      Buffet was just fine also. Good selection. The front section was always packed, but a short walk to the back side had short or no lines and plenty of sitting. 

      Rooms and stewards, this was a last-minute cruise for us, and since it was only 3 nights, we opted for an interior room. The room was very spacious, and good size shower, no issues with the room. Our steward greeted us first day, introduced himself. When we left our room first evening for dinner, we had a beer in our hands. he asked us if we liked beer, we said sure of course. When we returned to our room, we found 4 beers sitting on our desk, in ice bucket. 

     Bar service, I know this is a huge issue, and one I think they are aware of. The CD made a few comments about it. Is it an issue, well yes. First off, we are drinkers, we always get full value of the drink package. Bars by the pool, are very slow, and we knew this going in, so we opted to use the bars away from the pool. Doing so reduced wait time dramatically. The English pub for example never had a long wait. There was also a bar across from the English pub, which had zero wait times in the evenings, wasn't open during day. There is a lot of bars on the ship, really no reason to wait 30 minutes at pool bar. 

      Stock issues at the bars. Many bars out of stuff, or just didn't stock it period. For example, the English pub does not have wine.

      Bar service on the island is truly terrible. Everything we have heard is true. 30 minutes plus wait, and only 10 people in front of me in the line. The staff had zero prep in their steps. They would make a huge blender full of Pina coladas or strawberry daiquiri, even though no one was ordering them. Then stand there and call out for folks that wanted said drink. Made no sense at all. Margaritas, pre-made, so all they had to do was pour the drink in a glass. Really not sure if it contained any tequila. We did spend the day at the beach on far side of island, can't imagine how long the wait was on the busy beach.

      The Island is beautiful, and the beach party was fun. Light show was good, but very short. 

       Getting off the ship. We did self-embark, and apparently so did everyone else on the ship. We got up at 6.30, went to buffet was grabbed some coffee and Danish. We headed down to get off around 7am, the line was the entire length of the Prominade and then wrapped around some hallways. Stood in line until about 7.20 and then they started letting people off. Once people started moving, the line did move pretty quickly. In our car around 7.45. Line for immigration was split in two, one for passports and one for birth certs. Birth cert was twice if not longer than passports, so be prepared if you have birth certs.

      Shows, we went to two shows, Cool first night and born to rock last night. Both were great, first show 70s music, disco etc, second show Pink Floyd, Quenn, Elvis etc. Didn't enjoy the shows on my previous two sailings with MSC, but these were great. They had a hypnotist second night which we missed because went back onto island, but I heard we was great, sorry I missed him.

      Overall we had a great cruise, great ship great crew for most part. We sail with MSC again later this year and look forward to it.

    

 

 

[travelingtink]

Very similar to my thoughts as well. The issues we’ve seen complaints about did exist, but going in with the right frame of mind we were prepared and had a great trip, 

[Fla Mike]

Thanks for your honest review...

 

How was the crowd, was it mostly Americans, or a mix of different nationalities?

And, more importantly, were fellow passengers considerate to others, or was it like a three night cruise on the Carnival Liberty?

 

Thanks again.

We will be on Seashore in November.

[bruce85]

4 hours ago, Fla Mike said:

Thanks for your honest review...

 

How was the crowd, was it mostly Americans, or a mix of different nationalities?

And, more importantly, were fellow passengers considerate to others, or was it like a three night cruise on the Carnival Liberty?

 

Thanks again.

We will be on Seashore in November.

Mixed crowd. Looked about 50/50. Did not feel like a booze cruise at all. 99% of the people were great.

[Fla Mike]

1 hour ago, bruce85 said:

Mixed crowd. Looked about 50/50. Did not feel like a booze cruise at all. 99% of the people were great.

 

Thanks!

Makes for a great weekend!

 

[SimplyOlivia]

I appreciate your review. So much bad talk about this ship, but posts like yours give me hope for a family cruise coming in July. Quick question, can you confirm that there is only one outlet in the rooms and no USB ports? If that's not accurate, what are we looking at outlet-wise?

[Gatordad1967]

31 minutes ago, SimplyOlivia said:

I appreciate your review. So much bad talk about this ship, but posts like yours give me hope for a family cruise coming in July. Quick question, can you confirm that there is only one outlet in the rooms and no USB ports? If that's not accurate, what are we looking at outlet-wise?

One outlet in the bedroom, and one in the bathroom.   no USB ports, hopefully next time in drydock they add them to the lamps by the bed.

 

[travelingtink]

1 hour ago, SimplyOlivia said:

I appreciate your review. So much bad talk about this ship, but posts like yours give me hope for a family cruise coming in July. Quick question, can you confirm that there is only one outlet in the rooms and no USB ports? If that's not accurate, what are we looking at outlet-wise?

We had a USB on one side of the mirror, next to a double 220v outlet and a double 110v on the other side. 

[horseymike]

Thanks for the review.

[phred119s]

On 3/6/2023 at 1:20 PM, Fla Mike said:

 

And, more importantly, were fellow passengers considerate to others, or was it like a three night cruise on the Carnival Liberty?

 

Ha!!! We feel this so much. It’s been a topic of discussion in our house after our Liberty experience a couple of months ago. 

[Ed342]

Thanks for your review. A question: I have read on these boards about coffee and water not being free after breakfast. Is this correct?  We are just accustomed to going to the buffet during the day just for a quick drink. Thanks for any info.

[ready2cruzagain]

On 3/11/2023 at 5:03 PM, SimplyOlivia said:

I appreciate your review. So much bad talk about this ship, but posts like yours give me hope for a family cruise coming in July. Quick question, can you confirm that there is only one outlet in the rooms and no USB ports? If that's not accurate, what are we looking at outlet-wise?

There is a USB port by the mirror on the inside cabins

[ready2cruzagain]

Thanks for the review, pretty much how we felt except I want your cabin steward! Ours was not the best.  I agree with the Pub not having wine, we went there most nights and since I drink wine I had to go to the TV bar across the hall. It was empty most nights.  We did not have problems on the island getting a drink but then we walked the island going from bar to bar on a "bar hop" for ourselves LOL. Could have to do with the times we did it though (morning).  Loved the lighthouse bar.

 

The hypnotist is actually the CD.

[ready2cruzagain]

35 minutes ago, Ed342 said:

Thanks for your review. A question: I have read on these boards about coffee and water not being free after breakfast. Is this correct?  We are just accustomed to going to the buffet during the day just for a quick drink. Thanks for any info.

Not true at all. Coffee, hot tea, water, and several types of juice are free in the buffet all day long on the US based ships. 

[CruiseScrooge]

When the juices need to be refilled the wait staff isn't exactly johnny on the spot and pouncing into action. They have a lemonade drink i swear is half battery acid at least to me. Mango and strawberry- kiwi come to mind. Water and ice are at drink dispensors. You can make hot or cold tea with i'd say about 6-8 varieties of tea bags. coffee and decaff. Creamer is the coffee mate liquid stuff in several flavors and occasionally some milk or cream in a small pitcher. A few artificial sweetners and sugar of course. Several people were doing cartwheels because there was Stevia sweetner. milk, skim and chocolate milk pints in buffet in 2 spots but easy to walk by without noticing during breakfast. grab one or two and but in your frig.

[Davet2016]

Was on Meraviglia in October of 2021.  There was 786 guests on board the ship.  It was awesome!  No crowds, no waiting for anything, we had the Aurea spa to ourselves most times.  If only every cruise could be the same.  There was 3 crew members to every guest.  Our cabin steward only had 5 cabins to service, so we spent many hours over the course of the cruise talking with her.  The ship was stunning, although it doesn't have as much outdoor deck space as Seashore and Seaside.

[Markanddonna]

I did a recent review of the Meraviglia under Reviews. This review is quite fair but I didn't think the food was very good. 

The passengers out of Port Canaveral were overwhelmingly Americans and very pleasant. Perhaps the most pleasant we have ever encountered.  Not at all like the groups who sail MSC out of Miami. 

[Davet2016]

MarkandDonna, thats really interesting about the passengers out of Port Canaveral.  October of 2022 we were on the Seashore out of Miami and the bulk of the passengers were not North American.  Since they were pushy, rude, and had no idea how to line up for anything (especially elevators and buffets), we were actually relieved to have the cruise come to an end.  

[insidecabin]

3 hours ago, Davet2016 said:

MarkandDonna, thats really interesting about the passengers out of Port Canaveral.  October of 2022 we were on the Seashore out of Miami and the bulk of the passengers were not North American.  Since they were pushy, rude, and had no idea how to line up for anything (especially elevators and buffets), we were actually relieved to have the cruise come to an end.  

When you say not American on cruises  from Miami, do you mean more people that flew in from abroad like from Europe?

[jinpasco]

Went on the Meraviglia in January and was a bit apprehensive but it turned out to be one of the best cruises we have been in since the restart. Had the first window room (on Deck 5 I believe) and it was large, quiet and clean. Staff was great. We did the status match  to Diamond and got a free dinner at Butchers Cut , a must do! We have 2 others booked!

[Davet2016]

Yes, I would say at least 70 percent were from Europe.  It may have just been this sailing because we never experienced any problems with passengers on our 2019 Seaside or 2021 Meriviglia sailings.  However, on this Seashore sailing all of the staff were phenomenal, the food was good (especially Buthcher's Cut and Ocean Cay), and the ship was beautiful.  We will definitely sail with MSC again.

[Markanddonna]

17 hours ago, insidecabin said:

When you say not American on cruises  from Miami, do you mean more people that flew in from abroad like from Europe?

Most of the passengers on our two Divina cruises out of Miami were likely not from Europe. The majority were from Central and South America. A few from Italy, Germany, and other European countries. The majority were pushy and rude. Worst group of passengers in our 30+ cruises. A sweet couple from the Netherlands commented on how shocking they were. We axed any plans for a cruise to South America because of this experience.

English was the only language for announcements on the Meraviglia. The Divina had five. Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and German. 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Markanddonna

[Davet2016]

All three of our MSC cruises did the announcements in five languages.  Very annoying.  On that Seashore sailing that we had the rude passengers, we met couples from England, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, and they too were amazed at the rudeness of the passengers.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 3/14/2023 at 10:26 AM, ready2cruzagain said:

...

 

The hypnotist is actually the CD.

 

I can see it now... "You're having the time of your life. This is the best cruise ever..."  LOL

 

Tom

[ready2cruzagain]

11 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I can see it now... "You're having the time of your life. This is the best cruise ever..."  LOL

 

Tom

OMG! That is hilarious! Never thought of that!🤣