JamieLogical's Live from the MSC Meraviglia 4/9 (semi-B2B)

[CruizinSusan70]

On 4/10/2023 at 9:12 AM, L1211 said:

 Loved BC - easily comparable to Cagney’s or Chops Grille. Enjoy!!

But substantially more money than those two or the comparable steak houses on Carnival or Celebrity.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 4/10/2023 at 11:52 AM, JamieLogical said:

Had two mimosas and a mimosa blossom before I remembered I have a job interview at 1:30. I am cut off for the rest of the morning!

That 4th mimosa before a phone job interview could possibly put you in a bad predicament.  Good catch stopping after three.  If the interview goes well, then you can celebrate with more in the afternoon.🥂

[CruizinSusan70]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:34 PM, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

I would give the pre-cruise experience so far a 2 of 5 because I feel like I'm in a black hole as far as information on the onboard experience. 

This is where MSC really drops the ball.  Their customer service via phone, their Web site and even customer support on board is extremely lacking compared to their competition.  It's the one area where they need to improve by leaps and bounds if they ever want to move up the food chain and bypass NCL.  They certainly have enough new ships in the pipeline and of course deep financial standing compared to Carnival, RCCL and NCL. The big three bled billions during the lockdown while the shipping division of MSC kept making money, putting them in a different financial situation compared to their competitors.

[Aldeya]

3 hours ago, ddlb said:

You probably know this, but you can use your OBC in the casino unlike NCL. 

Didn't know this. Is there a fee to transfer money/OBC from your onboard account to play in the casino?

[ddlb]

1 minute ago, Aldeya said:

Didn't know this. Is there a fee to transfer money/OBC from your onboard account to play in the casino?

No you just put your room card in a slot machine and follow the prompts it will also charge your credit  card if you do not have obc available. 
 

[CruizinSusan70]

23 hours ago, JGmf said:

going on Princess in June (geez, I hope it goes better for us than for you), and eyeing MSC b/c of easy access out of NYC. 

Which ship are you going on with Princess?  We were on the Discovery for 14 days last April and enjoyed it so much we are doing 14 days to Alaska in May/June on the Majestic.  Have another 14 lined up on the Enchanted in 2024 and will be booking the Sun when we're on board the Majestic to get the extra OBC.

Most cruise lines are more similar than different and if you cruise on one of their newer builds you usually have fewer problems.

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Before I forget, I really need to mention the amazing level of cleanliness on this ship. Literally everywhere I go, there are people cleaning every single surface. Constantly vacuuming throughout the hallways, polishing the chrome that is EVERYWHERE, wiping down mirrors and handrails, dusting the artwork and sculptures.... I mean, every cruise line I have been on has had hard working cleaning crew, but this is a whole other level of clean.

What's your opinion of the Swarovski crystal staircases?

[CruizinSusan70]

19 minutes ago, ddlb said:

No you just put your room card in a slot machine and follow the prompts it will also charge your credit  card if you do not have obc available. 
 

Do you still need to set up your credit card on file at a kiosk instead of their customer service reps on board doing it at check-in?

[ddlb]

24 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Do you still need to set up your credit card on file at a kiosk instead of their customer service reps on board doing it at check-in?

I sure did last 3 msc cruises!  It is easy tho. 

[JamieLogical]

45 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

What's your opinion of the Swarovski crystal staircases?

 

They are blindingly dazzling and I try not to look directly at them while traversing them!

[JamieLogical]

43 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Do you still need to set up your credit card on file at a kiosk instead of their customer service reps on board doing it at check-in?

 

I entered my credit card information in the online check-in ahead of time. I did go to one of the machines on embarkation day, but it just told me my card was already linked and I was good to go.

[JGmf]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Which ship are you going on with Princess? 

 

Emerald Princess.  Older build, but staying in a suite after reading Jamie's shower curtain nightmare.  That was the tipping point.

[JamieLogical]

6 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Emerald Princess.  Older build, but staying in a suite after reading Jamie's shower curtain nightmare.  That was the tipping point.

 

Aw, I still miss that shower curtain. We formed an intimate and personal bond that will last a lifetime.

[ESCARGO]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

They are blindingly dazzling and I try not to look directly at them while traversing them!

Jamie, I'm so glad you are enjoying one of my favorite ships!  Have you tried the fresh mozzarella or pizza yet? 🍕

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, ESCARGO said:

Jamie, I'm so glad you are enjoying one of my favorite ships!  Have you tried the fresh mozzarella or pizza yet? 🍕

 

I have tried the pizza several times and had the fresh mozzarella at lunch today. Will post more about it in my full blog tomorrow!

[Av8tor]

12 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

I lost Internet after typing up my entire post about yesterday. Guess that's 45 minutes of my life I won't get back! Will try again after breakfast.

Try typing your entry using a word processing program or app while off-line since those can do auto saves periodically and you don't have to be on-line while doing it.  Then just copy and paste the completed product into the Cruise Critic window while on-line & hit submit.  Easy Peasy

Edited April 12, 2023 by Av8tor

[JamieLogical]

3 minutes ago, Av8tor said:

Try typing your entry using a word processing program or app while off-line since those can do auto saves periodically and you don't have to be on-line while doing it.  Then just copy and paste the completed product into the Cruise Critic window while on-line & hit submit.  Easy Peasy

I have tried that with Google Docs in the past, but the formatting never comes over correctly with the copy/paste. I lose all of my line breaks.

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by JamieLogical

[ESCARGO]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

They are blindingly dazzling and I try not to look directly at them while traversing them!

Me too! Being a former diamond grader, I just want those stairs in my house! Lol 💎💎💎

[Av8tor]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

I have tried that with Google Docs in the past, but the formatting never comes over correctly with the copy/paste. I lose all of my line breaks.

 

Going in after pasting to add line breaks shouldn't take too long and if you loose internet before posting, you haven't lost much time.  Just try the pasting process again after regaining internet.

[Buckeyefrank100]

How are the lines for drinks during the day?  Are they experiencing shortage of anything at bars?

 

[JamieLogical]

52 minutes ago, Buckeyefrank100 said:

How are the lines for drinks during the day?  Are they experiencing shortage of anything at bars?

 

 

The first day, I was told that the Meraviglia Lounge was put of St. Germain and they would have some the next day. I haven't gone back there and asked for a drink made with it since, but I have had drinks at other bars with it, so I assume it was restocked ship-wide.

 

No lines at bars. The longest we ever had to wait at a bar so far was when we stopped at the Bamboo bar yesterday at the height of the afternoon when it was completely packed. We had to wait for two people ahead of us to get their drinks before ours. So maybe a couple of minutes?

 

At the lounges, we have had several experiences where we hadn't even sat down yet or just barely got our butts in seats before a server came over to take our drink order. This has been by far the best drink service I've had on any cruise that was near capacity. I was on a few cruises immediately after the restart where the crew literally outnumbered the passengers that had similar service to this, but it's really not fair to count those.

[JamieLogical]

The night before last, we had some SERIOUSLY rough seas. As I mentioned, the Rock Circus performances had to be cancelled. The rough seas lasted pretty much the whole night and there was a random loud banging that could be heard in our room that kept my husband up most of the night. I managed to get used to it and sleep through it.

 

We woke up to the room service breakfast knock again. This time, no hot breakfast, but there were some unexpected issues with our continental breakfast. They did not bring us any cream for our coffee and my husband had ordered white bread with the expectation it would be toasted. He was wrong. It was literally just a slice of plain white bread. No butter. And he had ordered blackberry jam, but received orange marmalade. Luckily, he had also ordered a chocolate croissant, so he did not starve. But why would they even offer plain white bread with breakfast? I ran all the way up to the buffet to fetch us some cream.

 

As you know, I had typed up my entire account of the previous day when the ship lost internet due to the thick clouds and pouring rain we were passing through. I lost the whole blog, which was a real bummer. I decided that I would retype it later, so after showering and dressing, we headed down to Waves for our first MDR breakfast.

 

We were seated at a sharing table with six other people who had already gotten coffee, but hadn't ordered yet. I ordered the omelette, which came with hash browns and white toast. My husband ordered the eggs Benedict, but asked to substitute scrambled eggs for poached eggs. This is where things went off the rails.

 

I received my omelette, which was perfectly fine, but there was no butter on the table for my dry white toast. Much worse, when they brought my husband his eggs Benedict, it was literally 4 dry halves of English muffins with scrambled eggs on top. No ham, no hollandaise, and of course, no butter for those English muffins. I honestly don't know if I have ever been in an MDR on any cruise that didn't just have butter sitting out on the tables at all times. It was so weird.

 

The guy next to me had ordered the fast breakfast or whatever it was called and asked for his eggs over medium. He only got his eggs and nothing else. I will say, though, our poor waiter did correct the eggs Benedict issue in record time. He brought a plate of ham and a taurine of hollandaise for my husband. I ended up eating my toast with just jam on it.

 

After breakfast, we headed to Edge for some mimosa blossoms. We both drank more of them than we should while playing cards. We decided to do the buffet for lunch after looking at the MDR lunch menu (LOVE that the menus are in the app!) and not really wanting to deal with another Waves visit just yet.

 

I am pretty sure everyone on the entire ship was on the main pool deck as we passed through on our way to the buffet. The sun had come out and it was a sea day, so the pool was the place to be.

 

Lunch in the buffet was great. Still don't know what people are talking about when they say there is not enough selection. I kept finding more I wanted to try as I walked around, but has run out of room on my plate. The star of the show for me this particular meal was my lamb curry over mac & cheese. It was delicious! Also, the chocolate chip cookies from the kids buffet were awesome. Unfortunately, when my husband tried to go back for more on our way out of the buffet, they were out of them. We enjoyed our meal in the outdoor aft area. More people had discovered it since embarkation day, but we still had no trouble getting a table there.

 

After lunch, our grand plan was to pick up drinks on our way back to our room and then get in the hot tub with them. That is exactly what we did! As I said in my post above, the Bamboo bar was pretty popular when we stopped there, as the roof for the pool was retracted and the pool was packed. We still didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes for my daiquiri and my husband's mudslide.

 

We enjoyed the hot tub, but realized we couldn't really manage drinks with the jets on, because of all the foam they produce. So we finished our drinks and then turned on the jets. We have also honed in on the exact right temperature now for the water. 37.5 degrees Celsius.

 

After the hot tub, we dried off in the loungers and bit and then headed inside for our nap. We both wanted a nap because of our poor sleep the night before. The seas were much calmer by this point.

 

We napped pretty hard, but dragged ourselves out of bed and into our formal wear around 4:00. It was Gala Night and we both wanted to be fancy. We headed down to Edge for our afternoon coffee with Bailey's, with the intention of heading to the Champagne bar right at 5:00 when they opened. It didn't quite work out that way, because we finished our coffee and decided to order another round of drinks.

 

I decided it was time to fulfill my promise and see what happens if you order a drink that costs more than what is covered by your package. The language in the current menu PDF says that Easy Plus gets a $10 "discount" on drinks over $10. So, basically, you pay the difference.

 

I honestly didn't find anything over $10 on the menu that I was in the mood to try, so my husband took one for the team and ordered an Aviation G&T, while I ordered an Absolut Cosmo.

 

We were charged $5, not the $5 we were expecting. Turns out that, while they are covering $10 drinks in the Easy Packing now, they are only giving a $9 discount on drinks over $10. Oh well. I have been more than happy with the drinks covered under the package so far.

 

The Aviation G&T was initially NOT good, btw. Turns out the ratios were off. I ended up trading with my husband, since I was the one that made him order it in the first place. But once I added more tonic to it, it was decent. Probably won't order it again.

 

After that round of drinks, we did make it over to the champagne bar. I was trying to describe a French 77 to the server when my husband realized they actually already have them on the menu, but for $16. Turns out it's so pricey because the version on the menu is made with champagne. I asked if they could make it with prosecco instead and that brought the price down to where it was covered under our drink package.

 

We each drank on French 77 while hanging out there. It was still completely dead. Then we got one for the road to take with us to dinner. Remember, no bar service in the MDRs, just wine.

 

Since it was Gala Night, the menu was pretty fancy. We both had the lobster bisque for our appetizer. My husband had the surf & turf and I had the mushroom pasta. I knew my husband would give me most of his "sea bug," as he calls lobster. The lobster and the pasta were good. My husband said his streak was overcooked and the sauce didn't have much flavor. We had the baked Alaska for dessert and it was good.

 

After dinner we went to the Meraviglia Lounge for some live music. Oh! I forgot to mention that at the Edge bar before dinner, they were coming around with small bowels it potato chips for each table. They did the same thing at the Meraviglia Lounge after dinner, but also brought peanuts.

 

The live music was very good. It was a group called Ocean Five and they played perfectly cruise-y music. Many guests were enjoying themselves and dancing. Also, we did a lot of people watching and I would say people were more dressed up than not for gala night. We saw some tuxes and gowns, a lot of dresses and slacks and sports coats. I did see some in shorts in the MDR, but not many. There was definitely a broad spectrum, but more towards the formal side overall.

 

Once the band went on a break, we headed back to the champagne lounge for a few more French 77s. My husband needed to use the restroom so I sat down and ordered for us. The server who had been there the previous night served me this time and I told her my husband really was here and really did exist. I had promised her I would come back with him, but I think she thought I was just making him up at this point.

 

He did eventually show up and prove his existence. We had two French 77's each and then we were going to head over to the Brass Anchor for trivia. We ran into an appearance by the captain and senior officers in a plaza. Definitely a case of right place at the right time, because we were practically standing right next to him and I got to take a photo with him as soon as his little speech was over. I told him we had been having a fantastic cruise so far.

 

We went to the pub for trivia. None of the beers on tap or in bottles there are up to my high beer snob standards, but they do have a full bar as well, so I was able to get a Bailey's Alexander. We sat with a young couple and their older solo friend they had met onboard. We all did terribly at the trivia, but had fun anyway.

 

After trivia, we went up for late night snack. My husband simply did not believe me that there are no desserts available at late night snack, so he has to see for himself. I had my pizza and baked in my rightness.

 

Then it was off to the casino for a bit for me and off to the room for my husband. I didn't do too badly and called it a night. When I got back to the room, I realized the toenail polish had come completely off of one of my toenails and it was naked. So I had to stay up and put three coats of polish on that one stupid toe!

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa Blossom x3, Strawberry Daiquiri, Americano w/ Bailey's, Aviation G&T, French 77 x4, Bailey's Alexander

[JamieLogical]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[noshoobie]

Thank you for taking time to do your review! I am loving it and taking notes! We will be on the Mera on May 7th. Can't wait for more.

 

PS - that version of Eggs Benedict is cracking me up 🤣

Edited April 12, 2023 by noshoobie

[Two Wheels Only]

46 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

No butter.

 

47 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

..but there was no butter on the table

 

47 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

...and of course, no butter for those English muffins.

 

You must not have been around for MSC's "Buttergate" controversy. 

The topic of butter might be banned on the MSC forum. 

 

 

48 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

It was so weird.

 

Weird? On MSC? Nah...😉

 

51 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Oh! I forgot to mention that at the Edge bar before dinner, they were coming around with small bowels it potato chips for each table.

 

I'm going to let that slide since you're on vacation. 😁