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

[KKB]

The pepperoni pizza thing IS weird.

We had 4 kinds/day--ALWAYS pepperoni & margherita, & the other 2 rotated. 

Have they had the charcoal crust? I should have, but it was off-putting! 

Don't really get that...

[JamieLogical]

10 minutes ago, KKB said:

The pepperoni pizza thing IS weird.

We had 4 kinds/day--ALWAYS pepperoni & margherita, & the other 2 rotated. 

Have they had the charcoal crust? I should have, but it was off-putting! 

Don't really get that...

 

The crust has been really good. At late night snack this cruise, they have only had cheese, margarita (just sauce), something with onions, and then some other composition available. I haven't been there at lunch to see if they were offering pepperoni then.

[EllieinNJ]

Jamie, can you ask Ted(Escargot) if he is still on the October 25th cruise.  He started a meet and greet on the rollcall but hasn't posted anything since January.

[JamieLogical]

10 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

Jamie, can you ask Ted(Escargot) if he is still on the October 25th cruise.  He started a meet and greet on the rollcall but hasn't posted anything since January.

 

He is! We have talked about it on this cruise, as he wants me to join you all on that one. I will poke him and remind him to post to the roll call.

[JamieLogical]

On 4/22/2023 at 4:50 PM, CruizinSusan70 said:

Was that the only alcoholic drink that was covered by easy plus?   I noticed they had beers and also an alcoholic milk shake with rum and Kahlua that was only 7.99, one would assume they would be covered, by of course this is MSC.

 

The price for the milkshakes is now over $10, so it is not included in the Easy Plus package.

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

The price for the milkshakes is now over $10, so it is not included in the Easy Plus package.

Frustrating that MSC makes both upgrade.  My DH would pay the 140 to upgrade, but since Tito 's or Ketel One is OK for me, there's no reason for me to upgrade.

[JamieLogical]

Sitting out on the balcony now reminds me of a story I forgot to tell you yesterday. On Sunday, our first full day onboard, I went out on the balcony to blog and have my coffee and I noticed that the divider between my balcony and the next was flopping around violently inside the clamp that holds it closed. Clearly, the bolts on the clamp were loose, allowing it too much slack, and the wind from our quick pace kept pushing on it. I called guest services and my room steward came to take a look and said he would have to call maintenance. Well, but the time I was back in my room after lunch, it had been fixed.

 

Okay, so moving onto yesterday. I got my room service breakfast at 7:00. This time, though I ordered the chocolate croissant, I ended up with two regular croissants. 0 for 2 on this sailing fir chocolate. Oh well, I had my coffee and that was all I needed. It was a beautiful morning out on the balcony. Hard to complain!

 

I typed up my blog, showered, and dressed. It was a port day, Port Canaveral, but we weren’t scheduled to dock until 1:00pm and I didn’t plan to go onshore anyway. I tried calling the specialty dining reservations desk multiple times before and after I showered, but there was no answer. I couldn’t find the hours for the desk listed in the daily anywhere, so figured I’d just keep trying.

 

I decided on Waves for breakfast along with every single other human on the ship. I arrived at 8:30 (it “closes” at 9:00) and there was a decent sized line just to get in. Once inside, it was bedlam. I think every single table had people at it. That is no exaggeration. I wish I had taken pictures. It was PACKED. I was seated at the last table on one of those long rows of tables that are only a couple of inches apart. The couple next to me was German, so I didn’t really get to strike up a conversation with them, but we did briefly commiserate about how difficult it was to get jam.

 

I ordered a build-your-own omelet, white toast, and the cheese plate. I specifically asked for butter and jam when I ordered, because this is no longer my first rodeo. It was 9:22 when I received my food, so roughly 40 minutes after I initially got in line to be seated. Not really that terrible, considering how packed it was. But when I got my food, I still had no butter and no jam. I asked the server who brought me my food (not my waiter) for some butter and jam again. He went away and came back with some butter. The couple next to me had also asked for butter and jam, but asked him for butter again when he brought mine and also repeated their request for jam. He left and came back a bit later with butter for them. Still no jam for either table. Finally, he came back with an absurdly huge amount of jam for both tables. I had achieved toast! That always feels like an accomplishment.

 

After breakfast, I wasn’t quite feeling up for drinks and human interaction yet, so I came back to my room and read for a bit. It was nice to get some reading in, since I haven’t done any on this entire trip yet. Oh, I also tried calling the dining reservation desk a couple more times. I was surprised they weren’t open at 10:00.

 

Eventually, it was time to begin the day’s alcohol consumption, so I went down to Edge with my Kindle. After two mimosa blossoms, I went over to Ocean Cay to see if the reservations desk was open yet and it was. I had been hoping to get a 12:30 reservation for myself, Ed, and Ted at Hola!, but they only had 1:00 available, which was fine. I found a ship phone on the wall to call Ed. I only had his stateroom number, not his phone number, so I couldn’t text. He was shockingly awake! I told him about our lunch reservation. I texted Ted, but didn’t hear back. I also tried to text Cheree through the app, but she didn’t respond either.

 

I hung out at Edge the rest of the morning and eventually Ed found me there. It was ~12:45, so we decided to head over to Hola! early. When we got there, we saw right away that Cheree was there and already seated. She had never seen my text, but had decided on her own to do Hola! for lunch. I think that was because I had planted it in her brain the night before. Eventually I heard from Ted and he joined us as well.

 

We all enjoyed our cheap lunches and then went our separate ways. I went up to my room and struggled to stay awake long enough to take a pre-screening call for a job that I had scheduled for 3:00. I made it through the call just fine and then it was time for a nap! I had actually set an alarm for myself, because I wanted to make sure I got up in time to do coffee before dinner. My alarm went off at 4:00 and I slowly dragged myself out of bed.

 

Right as I was getting ready to leave my room after my nap, I got a text from Ted that he was down in Edge. How convenient! We hung out there and Ted and Cheree soon found us, along with Aalon, who was celebrating his birthday! His birthday served as a great excuse for us to all do several rounds of lemon drop shots that the staff kept bringing us. We had a really great time together! I also ran up to the champagne bar at one point and got Aalon a French 77, because he had never tried one before and he loves St. Germain. Oh, another solo cruiser named Gia also joined us at some point.

 

I had resolved to try to crash the 7:30 dinner seating in Waves so I could sit with the gang (minus Aalon who had dinner plans elsewhere). Cheree, Ted, Ed, and two other solos (Betty and Debbie) were all officially assigned to this table at this point, but there were still open seats. Plus Debbie and Betty were onshore and we didn’t expect them to be back in time for dinner, so their seats would have been empty. Gia and I decided to crash and take their seats.

 

When we got there, we walked right in and sat down like we belonged there. The waiter was having none of it though. First he insisted that Gia show him her room card. Then Cheree, which was RIDICULOUS, because she was the OG of the whole group. She had sat at that table all three nights. We kind of thought it was a little shady that the waiter insisted on seeing the room cards of the two black people at the table! He kept saying only 3 people are assigned to the whole table in the computer, even though we knew Ed and Ted had been added the previous day, so there should have been 5. There were 5 of us total at this point, so what was the issue? Also, this was a table for 8!

 

Eventually, they ended up carding all of us and they did let us all stay. I am not sure if they actually changed my seating assignment to this table for the rest of the cruise though. I am going to quest to find that out today. I have literally already changed my seating assignment three times BEFORE this, so….

 

Betty and Debbie ended up showing up afterall, so we had 7 at a table for 8, which was a nice change of pace. We had a great time together! For dinner, I had items off the Signature Selections menu: the French Onion soup and the Pasta Bolognese. I just wasn’t feeling any of the new menu items for the night. Though several people at our table ordered the lamb shank and it was HUGE. I took a photo of Cheree’s so that will be in the next post. I ordered the Duo Cake for dessert. Everything was great!

 

At some point during dinner, someone (Ed) ordered more lemon drop shots for the table. We all ended up talking about our pets and I learned that Cheree used to have a bearded dragon.

 

After dinner, Ted, Ed and I tried to go to Edge, but there were no seats, so we went to the Meraviglia Lounge and were able to get some seats at the bar. Sailaway finally happened (9:00-ish). Ocean Five was playing mostly a latin set and there were a lot of people dancing. It was fun to watch. Eventually Ted and I decided to stake out the casino until it opened. When we got there, there were people seated at most of the slot machines just waiting for them to turn on. Also, every seat at the bar was taken as people were able to get drinks while waiting. Having had a few too many by this point, I responsibly just got a bottle of water.

 

I stayed at the casino for quite a while and actually managed to come out about $40 ahead for the night. I found a new machine that I really like. Will go back to it tonight and see if I do as well.

 

At the casino, I ran into Donna, one of the women from my dinner table the second night. She said they missed me at dinner and I told her I wasn’t sure if I would be back tonight or not. Then I headed up to late night pizza (still no pepperoni) and ran into Bella, one of the other women from that table and told her the same thing. Maybe I will just eat at Hola! and avoid the whole issue altogether!

 

Day’s Drinks: Mimosa Blossom x3, Classic Margarita, Americano w/ Bailey's, Mojito, French 77, Lemon Drop Shot x4, French 77, Lemon Drop Shot, Mojito

[JamieLogical]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by JamieLogical

[JamieLogical]

Oh! Posting my photos reminded me that when we docked next to the Carnival Freedom, I was shocked to see the whale tail is still missing since the fire. Wasn't that over a year ago now?

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

Oh! Posting my photos reminded me that when we docked next to the Carnival Freedom, I was shocked to see the whale tail is still missing since the fire. Wasn't that over a year ago now?

 

I looked it up and the fire was May of last year, so a little under a year, but still... They've just been sailing around with it looking burnt and sad for a full year now?

[Essiesmom]

33 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I looked it up and the fire was May of last year, so a little under a year, but still... They've just been sailing around with it looking burnt and sad for a full year now?

She does a repo TA to get to Europe for the drydock when the funnel will be fixed.  Guess you can’t just order the parts from Amazon…. EM

[pirate4me2]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Oh! Posting my photos reminded me that when we docked next to the Carnival Freedom, I was shocked to see the whale tail is still missing since the fire. Wasn't that over a year ago now?

Ol' Stumpy is my nickname for her right now. 😂

[Homosassa]

Jaime, are you booked Fantastica for this cruise with the traditional fixed dining times and table assignment?

 

If so, it is understandable why a waiter is having a problem  with guests attempting to circumvent their assigned dining time and table.

[JamieLogical]

5 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

Jaime, are you booked Fantastica for this cruise with the traditional fixed dining times and table assignment?

 

If so, it is understandable why a waiter is having a problem  with guests attempting to circumvent their assigned dining time and table.

 

Yes. I understand as well. I just thought it was a bit silly how they approached the situation. Ed, Ted, Cheree, Betty, and Debbie were all assigned to the table. Gia and I were the outsiders and our expectation had been that Betty and Debbie were not coming, so Gia and I could just take their places. But the waiter said there were only three people assigned to the table (presumably Cheree, Betty, and Debbie, since they had been there since the first night) even though Ed and Ted had officially been reassigned to the table the previous day and had eaten dinner there that night.

 

It all ultimately worked out. But it was strange to me that the waiter who had waited on Cheree twice already was demanding to see her room card to confirm she was in the right place. And that he was claiming only 3 people were assigned to the table when we know for a fact that 5 were.

[RichYak]

34 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

But it was strange to me that the waiter who had waited on Cheree twice already was demanding to see her room card to confirm she was in the right place. And that he was claiming only 3 people were assigned to the table when we know for a fact that 5 were.

If you consider the fact that the waiter might have just been ensuring that he received his gratuities properly for that evening, it's not so strange. If I was expecting only 3 tips from a particular table (mistakenly or not) but serving 5 people, I'd want to double check as well.

[CruizinSusan70]

9 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Day’s Drinks: Mimosa Blossom x3, Classic Margarita, Americano w/ Bailey's, Mojito, French 77, Lemon Drop Shot x4, French 77, Lemon Drop Shot, Mojito

Concrete evidence of fuzziness.  Lemon drop shots mentioned twice as well as French 77.  Unless it's an actual chronological order of consumption. 😉

[CruizinSusan70]

9 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Oh! Posting my photos reminded me that when we docked next to the Carnival Freedom, I was shocked to see the whale tail is still missing since the fire. Wasn't that over a year ago now?

Fixing a whale tail is down on the list of things to spend money on after bleeding billions because of the shutdown.

[CruizinSusan70]

7 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

She does a repo TA to get to Europe for the drydock when the funnel will be fixed.  Guess you can’t just order the parts from Amazon…. EM

Nothing a few gallons of paint, a few dozen rolls of duct tape and some Bondo couldn't fix. 😄

[JamieLogical]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Concrete evidence of fuzziness.  Lemon drop shots mentioned twice as well as French 77.  Unless it's an actual chronological order of consumption. 😉

 

They are in chronological order. I was proud of myself for keeping track!

[AtSeaWithChris]

19 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

They are in chronological order. I was proud of myself for keeping track!

Do you know if they have Harry Potter trivia?  My wife really wants to know. Thanks. 

[CruizinSusan70]

33 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

They are in chronological order. I was proud of myself for keeping track!

Nine drinks, five shots....you should be very proud.  My DH could handle that, but I would be beyond fuzzy.

[JamieLogical]

11 hours ago, AtSeaWithChris said:

Do you know if they have Harry Potter trivia?  My wife really wants to know. Thanks. 

 

I don't recall seeing anything like that in any of the dailies.

[JamieLogical]

Yesterday I was in no rush to get to MDR breakfast, so I took my time getting ready. I finally got the chocolate croissant I’d been missing the last two days with my room service breakfast. I had underlined the word “chocolate” on the room service card when I filled it out. Wonder if that helped?

 

I made my way up to the buffet and it wasn’t as crowded as the first breakfast I’d eaten there on this sailing. I was able to get a table outside on the aft of the ship again. Also, they had cottage cheese on both sides of the buffet this time! I just had some cottage cheese with jam, a couple of slices of provolone and swiss, and a hash brown.

 

After breakfast, I made my way down to Edge to read and have some mimosa blossoms. I had decided to go ahead and book the October 25 sailing that Ted is going on, so I stopped up at the future cruise desk after my first mimosa blossom. I had to wait in “line,” which was just the nearest table. There were two other ladies ahead of me and we had a great chat. They were both on their first MSC cruise and both loved it. It was nice to hear a couple of other people were having as great a cruise as I was. One of the ladies said she was on Celebrity recently and things have really gone downhill. It’s really sad that the other lines have had to make so many cuts to service and quality.

 

I booked my cruise. I got the last studio balcony for the sailing (there are only 4 on the ship), so I got a good deal. They are charging some solo supplement for regular balconies on that sailing now, so I don’t think I would have booked if I had to pay that.

 

I went back to Edge and read until lunch time. I had decided on Hola! for lunch and I was the first person there when they opened at 1:30. I had my “usual” and had a lovely conversation with a man seated next to me. I told him he should join us at the solo meet-up at Brass Anchor at 5:00.

 

After lunch, it was time for my nap, so I headed back to my room. I had resolved not to sleep as late as I had been, so I got up at 3:00 and saw a text from Ted that he was at Edge, so I went down for some coffee and then a mojito. I had also decided I needed to go to guest services and get a new room card printed so I would know which table I am assigned to for dinner. Turned out I was still assigned to the table with Joann in Panorama, so the situation at Waves the previous night did not get my table officially changed.

 

Eventually Ted, Ed (who had found us at Edge), and I headed up to Brass Anchor to see if anyone was there for the meet-up. Bella and Donna from my actual table were the only other solos when we arrived. Timothy, the gentleman from lunch at Hola! did show up as well.

 

Soon 6:00 was rolling around and I wanted to get a drink to take with me to dinner, so I headed over to the Champagne bar for a French 77. Joann had made it back onshore and Carol was already at the table when we got there, so it was all 5 of us again. I had the crab cake, the shrimp fra diavolo, and the dulce de leche. All were very good. The crab cake wasn’t as good as the one in Ocean Cay, but it was still very good.

 

As we were leaving the dining room, there was a gorgeous sunset happening, so we ran over to the aft windows and took some photos.

 

After dinner, I went down to the Meraviglia Lounge where Ocean Five was playing. It was white night and even though there wasn’t as much white as on the previous sailing, there ended up being quite a bit. The lounge was packed and everyone was dancing. Even I danced when they played “Surfin’ USA” and “Let’s Twist Again.” At one point, I had ordered a vodka sour and the waiter brought me two. I was sure he was trying to kill me.

 

Eventually Ted and Ed showed up after their 7:30 dinner. Lauren and Sean, the Canadian couple I had met on the first day in Brass Anchor showed up as well. I got a good picture of all 4 of them with one of our servers. We were having a grand time!

 

I had the good sense to go up and get some Liquid IV for my water and drank that, because at that point, things were getting pretty crazy.

 

At 10:15, we were supposed to have the white party up on deck. When we got up there, I spotted Jessica, the girl from Alberta I had met at the solo meet-up the second night. She is the one I told should try to get her dining time changed, because she was assigned 9:30, which is just ridiculous. She had done so, but she got assigned to my old table!!!! The original one with the people talking politics. I felt sooooo bad for her! I had her take a picture of my keycard so she could ask about getting assigned to my current table, so maybe I will see her tonight.

 

Shortly after the party started, it began raining and people fled under the shelter to either side of the pool. Jessica, Megan, and a new person we met, named Alex, decided we would just dance in the rain, so we did that until the whole party got moved downstairs to the galleria. We inspired a girl named Maddie to join us with our crazy rain dancing.

We danced some more downstairs until I got too hot and tired, then I went up to my room to get a hair tie. I texted Ted (who I had lost in the transition from outdoors to indoors) and he was down in the casino, so I went to join him there. I got a big glass of ice water from the bar and played slots for a long time. Even though I had thought everyone on the entire ship was at the white party with how crowded it was, the casino was also PACKED. At one point, every single machine in the non-smoking section had someone at it and I just had to wait for one to free up.

 

Ted came out way ahead for the evening. I came out way behind. But we had a good time. We then stopped by the bar for one more drink and went up to the buffet. Turns out that at 1:30-ish, there is nothing on the buffet except for pizza and that is NOT very good. They did at least have pepperoni, but it was the worst made pizza I have had so far on the ship.

 

Finally, it was off to bed where I filled out my room service card for 9:00am because it was so late.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa Blossom x3, Classic Margarita, Americano w/ Bailey's, Mojito, Vodka Sour, Hugo Spritz, French 77, Hugo Spritz, Vodka Sour x3, Bailey's Alexander 

[JamieLogical]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by JamieLogical

[KKB]

12 hours ago, AtSeaWithChris said:

Do you know if they have Harry Potter trivia?  My wife really wants to know. Thanks. 

Having sailed Celebrity, Princess, NCL, MSC & Carnival in the last year--only Carnival had Harry Potter trivia. As well as MASH, Friends...