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

[ESCARGO]

8 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

You guys, it may be the three mimosa blossoms speaking, but I am really loving this cruise! It's a gorgeous sea day, I am hanging out at the Edge bar watching the the ocean pass by, and genuinely just loving life.

 

Jamie! I am so glad you are loving your cruise! I am happy I mentioned MSC to you on the CA/NE cruise we done this past October. I have never had a drink at the Champagne Bar in the 4 cruises I've done on the Meraviglia.  I need to go there with you and try a few Mimosa Blossoms! 🍹🤗🍹

[JamieLogical]

Yesterday was once again greeted by room service breakfast. My husband had finally given up on toast and asked for a Danish. Instead he received a plain croissant. Apparently there are no danish onboard right now? We looked at the huge bakery selection at the buffet when we went for breakfast later and there were no danish there either.

 

It was a little too sunny for me on the balcony to eat breakfast. Finally it was sunny out, so I shouldn't complain. But even at 7:30 am, the sun this far south is "the angry Mario sun" for any of you Nintendo fans out there.

 

Once we were showered and dressed, we went to the buffet for breakfast again. We were running pretty late again, but not as late as the previous day. So no MDR for us. We weren't able to get seats in the outdoor aft area or next to any of the windows. The buffet was very popular.

 

After breakfast was (you guessed it!) cards and mimosa blossoms at the Edge bar! We are creatures of routine. It was a really relaxing sea day and it was nice that it was finally sunny out.

 

I told our server to cut me off after 3 mimosa blossoms, but she let me order a grapefruit mimosa after 3. I figured, at least it wasn't solid alcohol th way a mimosa blossom is. It did at least have SOME actually juice in it.

 

I took my grapefruit mimosa to the casino with me and made a plan to meet my husband outside of Waves at noon for lunch. I was paying my tithes to the Sun God when my phone rang, which was shocking for multiple reasons. First, my phone never rings. Second, it was a sea day so I was miles and miles away from any cell service. Turns out the included wifi on MSC is good and enough to handle voice calls. That's pretty cool since I didn't pay to upgrade.

 

It was the boss of one of the recruiters I had spoken to the previous day. I ran down to the hallway between the casino and midship to get away from the obvious casino noise. He just wanted some more specifics on my experience and to ask if I was willing to move to West Virginia.

 

After the call, I realized I had left my room card in the machine I was playing as well as the balance I was playing with!!! I ran back as fast as I could and, fortunately, with it being before noon, the casino wasn't too busy and no one had touched the machine after I left.

 

I then went back to the hallway where I had left a couple who spotted me and recognized me from Cruise Critic. They probably though I was insane running off like that right as they were trying to say hello. But I explained the situation when I got back to them. They were staying in the yacht club and told me they had multiple experiences with trying to order drinks off the QR code menu and being told ingredients were unavailable. I wonder if they were trying for some of the Premium package drinks? I haven't run into that problem at any of the bars I frequent on the ship

 

Then it was time to meet my husband outside of Waves, so I headed down to 5. He was there waiting for me, but needed to use the restroom, so then I was there waiting for him for a bit and another person came up to me saying she recognized me from CC. We only got to chat for a minute, but I thought it was funny that all the sudden, on Day 5 of th cruise, I was getting some people recognizing me.

 

Just like the last time we had lunch at Waves, we were seated at a two-top that was practically touching those to either side of it. We were brought bread, water, and menus right away, but then we waited and waited. The people to either side of us got to put in their orders and have their menus taken away. Just ourselves and the couple to my right didn't get to place orders. We had the only menus in a sea of other people who had placed orders. Other tables started getting their appetizers and we still hadn't placed our order.

 

Really not sure at all what happened there. We finally did get to place our orders and decided to skip appetizers, so we had a chance to maybe catch up to the people around us. We both got the Cuban. Right after we placed our order, the people to my right got their entree. They had been seated after us!

 

Oh well. Shockingly, we did not starve. The Cubans were very good. They had weird hoagie rolls that we just didn't eat for the most part, but the pork, cheese, mustard, and pickles were all delicious together. The cheese was nice and melty. We even got dessert. Boston cream pie again.

 

Our grand plan for the afternoon was the same as ever. Hot tub! We stopped by Hola! to see if we could get dinner reservations. We got some for 6:00, so I that was perfect. We then stopped at the Infinity Lounge for a couple of mojitos and a bottle of water to take back to the room. While there, we ran into yet another couple who recognized me from CC. The one guy was so sweet. He said he's been reading my blog every afternoon on the cruise and looks forward to it every day.

 

Then it was odd to the hot tub! You guys, it was the best hot tub ever! The weather was beautiful. We had our mojitos AND we had the free bottle of Prosecco we had gotten for being on Aurea. We had been saving that in our mini fridge since embarkation. So we drank our mojitos, drank our bottle of prosecco, drank *some* of our big bottle of water. We were in the hot tub for probably 2 hours. Had to get out to pee. Man, this is why I usually don't stay in a wet bathing suit situation for that long. Using the bathroom when wearing a wet bathing suits is a real challenge.

 

After coming in from the hot tub and getting out of those wet swimsuits, we made the mistake of lying in bed. Next thing I knew, I was waking up to my husband saying "Oh *****!" It was 5:34 and our dinner reservation was at 6:00! We hastily got dressed and rushed down to Hola!

 

We decided to go ahead and both do the all you can eat for $18 deal. I am not sure we really would have gotten up to $18 per person had we ordered a la carte, but at least this way we could order whatever we wanted without worrying how much it cost. We found out that classic margaritas are now covered under the easy plus drink package, so we each got one of those.

 

Do food, we ordered a LOT. We got chips and salsa to start, along with the queso fundito. Then we got the cheese quesadilla and 5 different tacos. Then we got the pork enchiladas with mole sauce. And finally we got the tres leches. It was a lot of food. We didn't come close to eating it all. I want to apologize that I forgot to take pictures of the tacos until they were half eaten.

 

Weirdly enough, we were seated right next to a family we had been seated next to at Teppenyaki. Even weirder than that, they told us they had had reservations at Butcher's Cut the night before, when we were there. They had to cancel but had they been there too, we definitely would have thought they were stalking us!

 

Sometime while we were at dinner, it occurred to me that I had missed my afternoon coffee because of our unplanned nap. Luckily, I didn't have a headache yet. As soon as we were done at dinner, we went across the hall to the Meraviglia Lounge and got coffee, but I think it was too late. Between the overeating and the lack of coffee, I was not feeling great and called it a night.

 

I went back to the room and watched some HGTV while my husband went to watch Thor Love and Thunder on the pool deck. I had really been looking forward to that and was bummed to miss out, but at least I have seen it twice already and I am hoping they play it on my next sailing as well.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa Blossom x3, Grapefruit Mimosa, Mojito, ½+ bottle of Prosecco, Classic Margarita, Americano w/ Bailey's

[JamieLogical]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by JamieLogical

[pirate4me2]

Oh man, the pics from Hola! are making me hungry....is it lunchtime yet? Lol. I may have to try that on my cruise!

[JamieLogical]

24 minutes ago, pirate4me2 said:

Oh man, the pics from Hola! are making me hungry....is it lunchtime yet? Lol. I may have to try that on my cruise!

 

The a la carte prices are very reasonable,.if you don't want to do the all you can eat option.

[insidecabin]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

The a la carte prices are very reasonable,.if you don't want to do the all you can eat option.

We now do Hola for lunch (on Virtuosa open 12:00-14:00 every day)

 

skip breakfast start at 12:00 and just keep going.

[AtSeaWithChris]

@JamieLogicalmy dw would like to know if if they have Harry Potter trivia on the ship. 

[JamieLogical]

Yesterday was our port day on Aruba. The ship was rocking and rolling a lot during the night and I did not get a lot of sleep. I was actually relieved when we finally docked and I had an excuse to get up and stop trying to sleep. I will say that when the bow thrusters are running, it causes about a 2.5 magnitude earthquake in our stateroom. As much as I genuinely love the hot tub, the position of our room on the ship leaves something to be desired sometimes.

 

We got our room service breakfast, watched the docking, I typed up my blog, we showered, and headed off to the buffet for breakfast. Our plan was to stop back by the room after breakfast to put on sunscreen, collect our things, and head onshore pretty early, then get lunch sometime onshore.

 

Well, we have a friend who is actually vacationing in Aruba right now and we hoped to meet with him at some point. However, while we were at breakfast, he informed us that the group he is with was going to be doing some sort of pirate boat sailing thing and that he wouldn't be available until 2:30pm at the earliest.

 

This caused us to shift our plans all until later in the day so we wouldn't be onshore for something like 8 hours. So we had our buffet breakfast. My husband wants me to tell you all about the toasting situation on this ship. This hasn't impacted me, because I don't eat much bread/toast, but it has been a source of consternation for him. You already know about the failure to acquire any toasted bread via room service breakfast. Well, at the buffet, there is a ton of bread selections… English muffins, bagels, etc. However there seems to be only one toasting station where there is one two-slot toaster operated by a member of the crew upon request. There is always a long line for this service, so my husband doesn't bother. Yesterday, they had some pre-toasted English muffins, which got him all excited, but it turned out they were completely cold. So still no toasted anything for him.

 

Not being in the least concerned about toast, I enjoyed a light breakfast of cheese and salami. I didn't want to eat anything heavy before going onshore. I spent my entire time watching the Freewinds, which I am insanely fascinated with. First the Sea Org members were all gathered on one of the top decks for maybe some kind of meeting? Maybe trying to summon the ghost of L Ron Hubbard? Who knows. Then they were all out on one of the lower decks with their life vests on. Do they do muster on the Freewinds? Why would they need to when, to my knowledge, the ship never leaves Aruba anymore? I don't know why I am so curious about Scientology, but I genuinely am. 

 

Since we were no longer going to be getting off the ship right away, we headed down the Edge to play some cards and drink two regular mimosas each. No mimosa blossoms (which are straight alcohol) and a strict limit of two!

 

After I lost in Rummy for the 10th time this cruise (it was so close!), we finally headed back to th room for sunscreen and to gather our going-ashore gear with the aim of getting off the ship around 11:00.

 

We had been to Aruba last January (2022), so we knew the lay of the land pretty well. We walked around, stopping at the "pink" mall first and then the "fancy" mall. It was hot for sure, but there was a strong breeze most of the time. I am really glad my "dork hat" has a string that prevents it from blowing away. My husband's much more stylish panama hat kept blowing off his head.

 

We kept an eye open for a place to have lunch, but didn't find many (any?) options in the immediate vicinity besides the oceanfront places. We finally settled on The Paddock. Service there was very slow. There were only two servers for something like 20 tables. Fortunately, we were not in any kind of hurry. We were seat in the shade and we had brought our own bottles of water we could sip on while waiting for someone to finally acknowledge our existence.

 

I tried to order a mojito, which was the first drink listed on the drink menu, but was told they didn't have mojitos available. Maybe out of mint? So I settled on a mango daiquiri, which was very tasty. It reminded me of a mango meltdown, for anyone who has been on NCL.

 

For food, we both got burgers. They were no great. I was little full of regrets we hadn't just eaten the "free" food on the ship. Oh well. It was an adventure.

 

After lunch, we still were killing some time before we could meet up with our friend. We ended up back near the ship where the trolley picks people up. My husband was really keen to take the trolley, thinking it would take us further into town than we had walked. As we got there a full trolley was about to pull away, so we decided to wait for he next one. Turns out they only run about every 25-30 minutes, so we spent a long time waiting out in the sun for the next ones, since the area the trolley picks people up in has no shade.

 

While we waited, there seemed to only be a handful of other people waiting near us, but as soon as the trolley stopped, people seemed to come out of the woodwork and fill it up within about 30 seconds. We got underway and the first stop was the lot where buses transport people back to the hotels and resorts in the surrounding area.

 

The next stop was the Archaeological Museum. Then the next stop was the Renaissance Mall, or the "fancy" mall as we call it where way more people were trying to get on the trolley than were getting off. At this stop, we just parked for about 15 minutes while the three trolley operators got off, sat at a table at an outdoor bar/cafe and had some drinks (hopefully coffee). We just sat there and waited for their break to be over. Worth noting that I observed this exact behavior from them when we had walked by this mall earlier. I was trying to figure out how the trolley "worked" at that point. Did you have to pay? Did you have to have a ticket? But all I saw was a full trolley just sitting there with no one getting off or on and the operators sitting at a table having drinks.

 

For future reference, the trolley is free and it's first come, first served. We did eventually get back underway, but the next stop was the pink mall and then it was back to the cruise terminal. So the whole thing was a huge waste of time. It didn't take us anywhere we hadn't easily walked to on our own. It took 30 minutes to travel about ¼ of a mile. The operators apparently have a job that entails riding slowly on a trolley for about 15 minutes and then taking a 15 minute break. Then have the audacity to ask for tips!

 

I mean, I get that it's free. But hardly worth the price of admission.

 

We had some coffee in the pink mall and then decided to walk back to the fancy mall so my husband could buy some shorts that he saw earlier. At this point, we were ready to call it. It was a little after 3:00 and the we still hadn't heard back from our friend about when and where we might meet up. We texted him that we were just going to go back to the ship and would see him back in Rochester.

 

We got back on the ship, but it was still far too early to get in the hot tub, since we wanted to save that for sailaway. So we just cooled down and bit and drank some water in our room and then headed back to Edge for some cards and drinks. I was way behind on my alcohol consumption for the day. It was already like 4:00 and I had only had 3 drinks!

 

While we were at Edge there was a woman there with her bare foot up on a chair. It was so galling. I finally switch seats with my husband so I didn't have to look at it anymore. I mean come on people! This is not your living room at home. You are not up on the pool deck. Keep your shoes on and don't put your feet up on the furniture! Other people want to sit there at some point! Gross!

 

We moved on the the Brass Anchor, because my husband was in the mood for a crappy beer. Unfortunately, it was FREEZING in there. I couldn't tough it out. So we got some drinks to go and headed back up to the room for our hot tubbing. My husband even ran back downstairs and grabbed a couple more drinks for us, since it was clear out first round wouldn't last long.

 

Hot tub time was amazing. It was so relaxing and we got to literally sail off into the sunset. We learned that our hot tub has some disco lighting we hadn't experienced since we had only been going in it during the day time.

 

After we got out of the hot tub, it was time for a late (for us) dinner in the MDR. It was very good and service was very fast. I had the lamb meatballs, the mushroom risotto, and the red velvet cake. My husband had the lamb meatballs, the Mediterranean couscous, and the dark chocolate parfait (I think that's what it was called?). We enjoy all of it, but had to reassure our waiter after every course because we only had a few bites of each course. My husband and I are not the plate-cleaning type. I could easily have just had the meatball appetizer as my full mean and been content, but then I wouldn't have gotten to try any of the other things.

 

After dinner, we wanted to see the Beatles and Elton John piano tribute that was going on in the Sky Lounge at 9:00. We were early, but figured we could have a drink or two while we waited. Turns out that great lounge singer was performing up there. I wish they would list her in the daily! She is so good and we would happily listen to her more often, if we knew she was performing.

 

By this point we were getting pretty tired. We stayed for 5-6 songs of the piano tribute and then we had to call it a night. I went down to the casino and very quickly lost my daily tithes. My husband went to late night snack and fought some small children for cookies. Then we were off to bed.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa X2, Mango Daiquiri, Mojito, Absolut Cosmo, Mojito, Strongbow Cider, Hugo Spritz, Bailey's Alexander

[JamieLogical]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by JamieLogical

[Homosassa]

Breakfast tip: On the pizza section in the buffet at breakfast, there should be freshly baked sticky cinnamon buns.

 

They go fast, so you may need to wait for the next tray to appear.

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

Ew the disgusting gross picture of that foot...

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

Ew the disgusting gross picture of that foot...

 

I mean, I have definitely seen grosser feet, it's just the principal of the thing. No one wants anyone's bare feet up on indoor furniture at a nice lounge.

[mnpurple]

Enjoying your review. You and your DH look incredibly relaxed and happy!

[ray98]

Lots of information here.  We are doing our first MSC soon and this is really helpful.

[JamieLogical]

Yesterday was another port day: Curacao. This time our plan was similar to our original plan for Aruba. Shower, dress, blog, hit the buffet for breakfast, and then get off the ship mid-morning. It mostly worked except the part where we got off the ship and promptly realized I had forgotten my toe cap. One of the smaller toes on my left foot likes to kind of slide under the toe next to it, so the other toe is walking on top of it? This is never an issue for casual walking around, but on long walks, it can cause a blister, so I have this silicone condom, basically, that I can put over that little toe to cushion and protect it. It's SUPER sexy.

 

Since we were planning to do a lot of walking and I did not want a healing blister for the next 2-3 days, I really had no choice to go back to the room. So it was right back up the gangway and through security. The whole things really didn't take that long, but my husband was slightly annoyed.

 

Second time was the charm and we made it more than three yards off the boat. The casino/resort that is right off the pier was completed this visit. Last time we were in Curacao, it was still under construction. They have even put in a big man-made lagoon for the resort guests to swim in with a sand beach.

 

The whole first level of the resort is shops, so kind of like an outdoor mall. I liked that they had painted the whole thing bright colors to match the older buildings around.

 

We walked past the shops and then through the old fort that has been converted to an outdoor mall as well. My husband took some 360 video of the fort and we stopped for a couple of pictures, then it was on to the floating bridge. For those that are unfamiliar, Curacao has a prominent floating swing bridge to allow boats into and out of the bay/river that divides the town. Last time we were in port there was an Aida ship docked in the bay. This time there were just a couple of very impressive mega yachts.

 

We walked all around the town. Didn't stop in too many shops. Our goal was to find a place to have lunch and then buy some of my husband's favorite El Salvadoran rum that we had discovered at one of the liquor shops the last time we were here.

 

In our adventures, we ranged further out than we had last year. We managed to find a parking lot with the world's best ocean view. I took a ton of photos because the water was so beautiful there and there were bunch of cool snails.

 

We had settled on a place called La Boheme for lunch, which was a super cute cafe, but when we got there, there were no tables left in the shade. So we then went around the corner to our second choice, Plein Cafe Wilhelmina. It was fortuitous, because it turned out to be great! They had a live band there, which had caught our attention when we had passed by earlier.  As well as a long beer list, which definitely caught my attention, though they did not have many dark beers available.

 

I ended up ordering a mojito, which was really good. My husband had a Leffe Blonde. They served it to him in the bottle, but also gave him a cool glass to pour it into. The food was SO GOOD. I got something called a "Health Sandwich." Not sure why it is called that, since it came on a giant roll, had ham, cheese, hard boiled eggs, and a delicious sauce all over it. It did have cucumbers… I suppose those are healthy? The sauce, which they called their Wilhelmina Sauce, was sooooooo good. I wish I had any sort of talent at identifying flavors so I could tell you what was in it, but I suck. It was tangy and I think it at least had mustard seeds and maybe some mayo in it? Maybe kind of honey mustard-ish?

 

My husband got the club sandwich, which he also thoroughly enjoyed. Overall, it was a great experience. The music was good. The service was good. And the whole meal was surprisingly cheap. For two meals, a beer, and two mojitos, it all came out to something like $51?

 

After lunch, we were quite contented, so we headed back to the ship. We stopped off to pick up my husband's rum. By the time we were actually back on the ship, we were both overheated and tired. The line for security was long, and there was no air circulating in that space, so we were both getting cranky and uncomfortable.

 

We did eventually make it back to the room where we put the A/C in both rooms down to the lowest setting, took off all our sweaty clothes, and just cooled down for a bit.

 

Once we were finally cooled down and recovered, we put on our swimsuits and headed up to the Bamboo bar to pick up some drinks to bring back to the hot tub. We were the only people at the Bamboo Bar, so the bartender made us two drinks each. I had some mango daiquiris and my husband had a couple Pina coladas.

 

The hot tub was amazing, as always. We stayed in there a LONG time, since we had our drinks and didn't really have anywhere else to be. Eventually we did need to get out to get our afternoon coffee. So we got dressed and headed down to the Edge bar, which was now getting pretty busy as people were coming back aboard.

 

I had my coffee with Bailey's and we played some cards. I then had a Moscow Mule. Oh! I forgot to mention that my husband had called down before we got in the hot tub and made dinner reservations at 6:00 for the sushi place. So, we headed up to our room to drop off our stuff, the over to the champagne bar (which opens at 5:00) for a French 77 before dinner.

 

Dinner was a bit hit and miss. I really wanted the tempura shrimp, but didn't expect that to be much food, so ordered a noodle dish as well. The noodles were really really good. The shrimp were a big disappointment. First of all, they were breaded in breadcrumbs and deep fried. Not tempura style at all. Second, they were HUGE, which I guess some people would be really happy about, but I regretted ordering so much food.

 

My husband had two different types of sushi rolls. Both were VERY good. He also got a little salmon nagiri. Towards the end of dinner, I started feeling very ill. I headed back to the room and let my husband settle the bill. I was about 85% sure that I was going to throw up. Not sure what it was specifically that disagreed with me, but my stomach was definitely rejecting something.

 

We were scheduled to see Rock Circus in the Carousel Theater. Seating was at 7:30 and the show was at 8:00. At this point it was about 6:55 and I was just laying in bed, concentrating very hard on not vomiting. 7:30 quickly rolled around and my husband told me it was time to go. I was feeling a bit less delicate and decided to go ahead and try to go.

 

I am sooooo glad I did! I really did feel better by the time the show started and it was amazing. The venue itself is so versatile. There are stairs that come down from the wall. The stage rotates. There was this neat cylindrical screen that came down from the ceiling. There are cables and tracks coming down from the ceiling for all the aerial tricks. The music was great. The female vocalist totally killed it. The dancing and tricks and feats of strength were all so impressive. It was all just really really intense and high energy and awesome. We both LOVED it and we ran into one of the couples I had chatted with the other day about my blog and they both loved it too. They said it was the best show they had ever seen on a cruise ship. It really was just fantastic and WELL worth the price of admission.

 

After the show, we headed up to the Sky Lounge to see what was going on up there. That great lounge act was playing again. Once again, it was not listed in the daily. Word must be getting out about them, though, because the venue is getting more and more crowded every time we go up there. We had a nightcap and stayed until the lounge act took a break. Then it was down to the buffet to fight for cookies.

 

For anyone who loves cookies as much as my husband does, people start lining up at about 9:55 for when they put the cookies out right at 10:00. By the time the cookies are actually out, three are usually a good 10-12 people lined up, including my husband. He tries to be good and only take 2 of them, but other people get whole plates-full, so they run out very quickly.

 

Day's Drinks: Mojito X2, Mango Daiquiri X2

Americano w/ Bailey's, Moscow Mule, French 77, Plum Wine x2, Vodka Lemonade?, Bailey's Alexander

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by JamieLogical

[JamieLogical]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by JamieLogical

[CruizinSusan70]

5 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

 

Nice looking large FRIED shrimp, certainly not tempura. 

I know there is a disconnect at times with MSC learning how to deal with being based in the US and that things are different on this side of the pond, but this nonsense has been going on for over five years at this point.

We were on the Seaside in January of 2018 staying in an inside cabin in the Yacht Club and the European skewed things were frustrating at times.  We're on the Meraviglia in July and hopefully certain things will have improved.   Thinking about the World America ship in 2026, but they need to understand the nuances of doing things on this side of the pond a little better than they currently are.

Edited April 16, 2023 by CruizinSusan70

[Homosassa]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

 

I know there is a disconnect at times with MSC learning how to deal with being based in the US and that things are different on this side of the pond, but this nonsense has been going on for over five years at this point.

  Thinking about the World America ship in 2026, but they need to understand the nuances of doing things on this side of the pond a little better than they currently are.

Maybe, just maybe, you need to learn that MSC is European cruise line that does international cruises around the world with an international passenger make up.

 

Consistency in the on board experience, no matter where the cruise is occurring, is a standard that all cruise lines try to meet.

 

The USA is just another international set of ports for MSC that they have set itineraries for and deliver their on board experience for their international passenger base..

[shipgeeks]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Nice looking large FRIED shrimp, certainly not tempura. 

I know there is a disconnect at times with MSC learning how to deal with being based in the US and that things are different on this side of the pond, but this nonsense has been going on for over five years at this point.

We were on the Seaside in January of 2018 staying in an inside cabin in the Yacht Club and the European skewed things were frustrating at times.  We're on the Meraviglia in July and hopefully certain things will have improved.   Thinking about the World America ship in 2026, but they need to understand the nuances of doing things on this side of the pond a little better than they currently are.

Or is there a disconnect among some American passengers, in not realizing that the entire world is not exactly like the US, or like RoyalNorwegianCarnival cruises? 

Many of us hope that MSC will never become more Americanized.

[AtSeaWithChris]

I think there is also a disconnect between people’s opinions and common courtesy. The way some people respond almost seems like they were attacked personally. 

[JamieLogical]

I was not aware that "tempura" had different meanings in different countries/regions. I live in the US and have never seen tempura involve breadcrumbs.

 

Also, my husband got tempura rolls and they did have traditional tempura batter, so this sushi place definitely knows what "tempura" is.

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by JamieLogical

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Maybe, just maybe, you need to learn that MSC is European cruise line that does international cruises around the world with an international passenger make up.

 

Consistency in the on board experience, no matter where the cruise is occurring, is a standard that all cruise lines try to meet.

 

The USA is just another international set of ports for MSC that they have set itineraries for and deliver their on board experience for their international passenger base..

Fully aware of the fact MSC is a European based cruise line that caters to an international clientele.  But even with this being true, their website and customer service are an absolute joke compared to all of their competitors on this side of the pond.  Until they improve on these aspects it will take awhile for them to become a household name in the US.  Until they do, they will remain in the number four slot, albeit having the most new ships in the pipeline, a new upscale division blossoming soon  with Explora and financial stability because of the parents company shipping division.

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

Or is there a disconnect among some American passengers, in not realizing that the entire world is not exactly like the US, or like RoyalNorwegianCarnival cruises? 

Many of us hope that MSC will never become more Americanized.

Then if it stays that way, they will stay a niche market on this side of the pond.  There is nothing wrong with catering to Europeans and trying to bring a European flair to the US.  But at the same time there are basic things like excellent customer service that they are lacking in as well as their woefully bad web site.

They can offer rock bottom prices in order to attempt to get more cruisers that have never sailed on them before to try them out or offer Yacht Club cabins at a cheaper rate as well compared to the Haven on NCL, the Retreat on Celebrity or the Star Class on Royal.

Only time will tell what happens. At least they have financial security versus their major 3 competitors.

[PTC DAWG]

The shrimp looks good to me, certainly not worth arguing about.  

 

I just now realized that you are on the repositioning cruise...that will make getting home easier for you.  

 

 I wish MSC went to the ABC islands more with the ships out of Florida.  

 

Again Jamie, thanks for the review.  

Edited April 17, 2023 by PTC DAWG

[JamieLogical]

This should be a shorter post, as yesterday was a fairly uneventful sea day. We got off to a very slow morning and almost decided not to eat any sort of breakfast at all, beyond our room service chocolate croissants. But then I thought better of it and decided to at least go up to the buffet for a little cheese.

 

I looked for the cottage cheese but didn't find it. They seem to only ever have it on one station in the whole buffet. I checked the side I had found it on last time and no luck, so I settled on some provolone, some Swiss, and a little bit of potato salad with slices of Vienna sausage in it? I thought that was a pretty weird find on a breakfast buffet.

 

My husband actually waited in line to get a bagel toasted! We sat outside in the afternoon seating area, as it was truly gorgeous weather. I love watching the wake of the ship. On our way back to the elevators to head down the Edge, I found the cottage cheese on the exact opposite location from where I had found it before. Oh well. Had I found the cottage cheese, I wouldn't have tried the potato salad!

 

At Edge, we had some mimosa blossoms and played cards. I finally beat my husband in a round of Rummy! I think that makes me about 1 and 6 for this cruise? I swear, I am not that bad at Rummy, my husband is just very lucky.

 

We had decided to go to the MDR for lunch, since it was open for the sea day. We dropped our stuff back at our room and headed over there right at noon when they opened. There was a decent line to get in, but it moved quickly.

 

Once again, we were seated inches away from the tables in either side of us. This time we had two couples to either side and the gentleman we had chatted with at our first MDR lunch was one table away from us.

 

After looking at the menu, my husband decided he would rather just get a plate full of fresh mozzarella from the buffet for lunch, so he ditched me. I ended up chatting with the couple to my left for most of the meal. A retired music teacher and her retired accountant husband. They now live in Kissimmee, FL, but used to live in Connecticut and his grown children still live there, so this was a perfect itinerary for them. They were on their first cruise since COVID, but I got the impression they had cruises a lot before that.

 

I got the muffaletta sandwich and the cheesecake for lunch. Both were very good.

 

After lunch, I met up with my husband because we were going to try our the F1 racers up in the SportsPlex. There were a ton of people hanging around up there, but no line for the racers. Unfortunately, one of them was out of order, so we couldn't actually race each other. My husband went first and it definitely looked challenging. I started off strong, but then basically just wrecked continually for the rest of my time. My steering wheel was upside down far more than I think it's supposed to be.

 

Once we were sufficiently embarrassed about our driving skills, we headed down to the Brass Anchor to stock up on drinks for the hot tub. They gave us unopened bottles, which was really nice. Our room steward has been keeping our ice bucket filled even though we've never used it, so we put the extra bottles in there and took them out to the hot tub with us.

 

We stayed in the hot tub for a VERY long time. Definitely getting our money's worth out of that! When we finally came back into the room, I decided it was time to paint my two toenails that had lost their polish. This is always an ordeal, waiting for each coat to dry before being able to apply the next. Good thing I didn't have anywhere to be!

 

While I was waiting around between coats of polish, I did some research for another cruise on MSC. We are already booked on the Meraviglia out of New York to Canada and New England for the end of September, so I was looking for something in the December, January, February timeframe.

 

We have been enjoying our hot tub so much we considered trying to look for a good deal on another hot tub room on a warm weather cruise with a crappy itinerary, thinking that would be cheaper. However when I priced those out for Western Caribbean cruises out of FL, they were all coming out to be more than I wanted to pay. I gave up on that for the time being and we headed down for some more drinks.

 

We had been keeping an eye on the future cruise desk every time we passed by and there were always guests there, so we kept deciding to come back later. Well, we were at the Champagne Bar and saw the guests that were there get up and leave, so we hurried over with our French 77s. We told the gentleman there the timeframe and duration we were looking at, as well as the fact we wanted to sail out of the US and he found us a really nice 11 night itinerary on the Divina out of Miami in February. We decided to go ahead and book it because deposits are refundable and, if we booked onboard, we go 10% off the cruise fare and $200 of OBC. The price was right for the itinerary. I think it worked out to about $1700 per person with drinks and wifi in a Fantastica balcony. We got the last available angled balcony on the ship. Not sure we will ultimately keep this booking, but if we do, I think it will be a good one.

 

While we were at the future cruise desk, our server brought us another round of French 77s. So we finished those and decided to get one for the road to take with us to the MDR for dinner. Well, this bar tender at the Champagne Bar loves us very much, because we are his only customers. He gave us each a huge glass full of French 77 each. There had to be at least three drinks-worth in that glass!

 

At dinner, we sat in our usual section with a beautiful view of the wake. Or, at least my husband had a beautiful view of the wake. My back was to it. There was a solo traveler at the table next to us and we ended up chatting with him throughout dinner. This was only his second cruise ever and his first was MANY years ago. He's lived in Miami for the past 14 years, so I can't believe he hasn't taken more cruises and it's weird that he took this one out of Port Canaveral. But he was having a really wonderful time, which was good to hear. He found the ship to be beautiful, with plenty to offer. He has enjoyed the food. I was really happy for him that he was having such a positive experience.

 

For dinner my husband had the asparagus and short ribs, while I had the goat cheese salad and the chef's special chicken dish. For dessert my husband had something with nuts in it, so I didn't try it. I had the grandma's chocolate cake again. It was all delicious. I definitely ate more than I should have, but couldn't help it.

 

After dinner we ended up at the Meraviglia Lounge listening to Ocean Five. They were great and we were lucky to get a table. We ended up sitting near the guy, Mike, who we had sat next to at our first lunch in Waves. While the band was on a break, we had an incredibly deep conversation with him about climate change, AI, democracy, the fate of the world. You know, normal cruise topics…. It was actually really nice. The kind of conversation we would have with our friends back home.

 

Ocean Five came back from their break and they killed it. The finished their set with amazing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody then Hey, Jude. Once they left for another break, we headed up to the Sky Lounge to see what was going on. Unfortunately, it was the saxophone player, so we didn't stay long.

 

I decided to head down to late night snack a little early for a slice of pizza. It was not cookie time yet, so I knew my husband would be disappointed. He was even more disappointed though, because there were also no fries out. There was a pan for fries, but it was empty, so he had to wait for them to put out a fresh batch. Life is hard on a cruise ship!

 

I left him eating his fries and waiting for the cookies to come out and headed to the Casino for a bit. Both my Sun God machines were taken, so I played some Crazy Money, but didn't actually make any crazy money.

 

I decided to call it after I wasn't the slot hot seat winner for the hour. Then it was up to bed.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa Blossom X2, Americano w/ Bailey's, Strongbow X2, French x5?, Vodka Sour, Bailey's Alexander

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by JamieLogical