Post Mortem Meraviglia Review—First Timer MSC!

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Hello all.  Still recovering from the last week of excitement, noise and at times, pure bliss.  I wanted to do a “Live” but since it was my first time on MSC I wanted to experience everything fully and in the moment without the pressure of constant reporting.  So this shall be kind of like a “Time Machine” experience, going back in time, “sorta live’”.  This review will mostly likely take me some time to complete.  I hope it will be useful to those who are thinking about MSC like we were.  Feel free to ask any questions. We arrived home to Brooklyn today from our 2/4 sailing.  Traveling was myself, my husband and our 17 year old son.
 

We’ve sailed almost all the mass

market cruise lines, our most recent on the Celebrity Summit.  We became disenchanted with X after our last cruise in July due to the decline in food quality and overall service and like many others were looking for a better value for our dollar. We decided to try MSC even though we did so with a bit of trepidation as I’ve read some negative reviews about food and the overall atmosphere.  Nevertheless we embraced the possible uncertainty and decided to take things as they come, trying not to have any specific expectations.  In other words, “live in the moment” and embrace it all, good and bad.  We were sailing Aurea level with a cabin on deck 13 slightly aft.

 

We arrived at the Brooklyn terminal around 10:30am without any issues and went through security and check in pretty speedily other than being held for about 20 minutes due to my son’s bowling balls.  He is about to go to the state championships and wanted to practice on board as the Mera has a bowling alley. It turns out they don’t let you use your own bowling balls anymore after someone on the last cruise got their bowling ball stuck in the return.  A bummer but not the end of the world.  I don’t know why bowling balls are suspicious.  My son thinks that people may try to smuggle stuff inside the ball.  Who knows?

Once we walked inside the ship we were “wowed”.  This ship is absolutely gorgeous, well maintained and super clean.  Some of the crew said they had the top executives last week for a visit so everything seemed to still be “ship shape” I’m sure.

We were allowed to go straight to our cabin upon arrival and drop off our bags.  I love that!  Our room was actually ready around 11am and very clean.  Storage is definitely an issue so keep that in mind when you pack.  Bring extra hangers and some foldable storage cubes. We also used a portable fabric shoe rack for all our “million” pairs of shoes and attached it to the wall with super strong magnet hooks.  We also brought more super strong magnet hooks to hang other things like hats, coats and bags.  The picture below is before we got everything put away so it looks really messy but we did manage to get it all put away eventually.

 

[Beamafar]

I’m hoping you’ll share your experience of the Miami excursion, which I noticed you referenced on your other thread.  I’m really interested in doing this one.  Was it a ship’s excursion?  I’ve seen it offered by a private company. 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

22 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

I’m hoping you’ll share your experience of the Miami excursion, which I noticed you referenced on your other thread.  I’m really interested in doing this one.  Was it a ship’s excursion?  I’ve seen it offered by a private company. 

Yes.  It was a ship 7.5 hour excursion and it was great.  We visited Holiday Park for an alligator show and airboat ride in the Everglades.  Then we stopped in Little Havana for about 45 minutes to an hour so we could eat lunch and walk around if we wanted to and then we drove through Miami Beach, saw the Versace house from the bus and alot of the art deco buildings.  Last, we went to a resort mall near the port (there’s a big Ferris Wheel there).  Can’t remember the name of it.  It was nice but overpriced. The tour guide was EXCELLENT.  He had so much information to share about Miami, the culture and its history.  I’ll post some photos in further posts.

[Beamafar]

Thank you so much for your detailed response.  Sounds like an amazing day out.  Sorry to interrupt the flow.  I just hoped that you were going to include a report of it in your review.  Looking forward to reading about your first MSC cruise. 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

These sculptures are made of chocolate!  Inside the Jean Philippe Chocolate & Cafe.  Delicious chocolates.

[Cruzinforpeace***]

It was a beautiful sail away for February.  Little did we know then that we would miss 2 of our scheduled ports due to high winds and heavy seas…

[Cruzinforpeace***]

The sunset was equally as stunning.

[Cruzinforpeace***]

37 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

Thank you so much for your detailed response.  Sounds like an amazing day out.  Sorry to interrupt the flow.  I just hoped that you were going to include a report of it in your review.  Looking forward to reading about your first MSC cruise. 

Here is the actual description of the tour…

[Cruzinforpeace***]

We had “anytime dining” in the Panorama Restaurant on Deck 6 aft.  This is part of the Aurea Experience.  We could eat anytime between 6-9pm.  We loved the anytime dining.  Some nights we just wanted to eat late and some nights a little earlier.  We thought the food overall was excellent.  Not over “sauced” like Celebrity and always simple

choices available on the menu like grilled chicken and pasta bolognese (my favorite).  Sometimes you just want something simple. The desserts were “to die for”.  Our favorite was the Grandma Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream.  Yum!

 

P.S. I apologize for starting most of my meals without you.  We were hungry and they were delicious meals.

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Another thing about the dining room…we found the tables not to be too close together like on Celebrity.  There was almost a foot between tables. We had a table for two every night, usually the same table, right next to the window with the wake of the ship at our back. 

[Essiesmom]

A table for 2…was your son grazing in the buffet?  EM

[Cruzinforpeace***]

9 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

A table for 2…was your son grazing in the buffet?  EM

You got it!  He had no desire to sit with us for dinner in the dining room.  The buffet was more his choice of food (pizza, burgers, fries).

[Cruzinforpeace***]

I commented while on the cruise about the noise level.  It is REALLY loud in most of the public spaces.  The shows and main light show area is exceptionally loud.  If you are sensitive to sound you may want to bring noise cancelling headphones and/or earplugs.  I used my earplugs daily.

 

 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

BUT there are some really nice, relaxing spaces…
 

The Aurea Spa was heavenly.  We especially loved the sensory room, the dark steam room, the whirlpools and the salt room.  It was like a “coma” sleep when resting in the salt and sensory rooms.

 

The lounge on Deck 16 overlooking the outside pool is also very chill.  Quieter music and overall atmosphere.

 

We also found going to the dining room later (if you have Aurea My Choice) is much quieter.  
 

The back parts of the buffet are also less noisy and also outside in the aft outside the buffet.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 12 by Cruzinforpeace***

[Cruzinforpeace***]

The dome shows and displays in the main promenade area are pretty darn cool…

 

 

 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

So like I said before, we hit some bad weather.  We didn’t dock at Port Canaveral or Ocean Cay.  Disappointed about Ocean Cay but like

I said we were going on this cruise without expectations so we embraced the change and adjusted.

[Cruzinforpeace***]

And our “substitute port” of Miami didn’t disappoint. It was a full day of fun and gorgeous weather.  75 degrees and mostly

sunny!

 

 

 

 

Edited February 12 by Cruzinforpeace***

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Airboat ride in the Florida Everglades was a blast!

 

 

 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Little Havana.  Tried a Cuban but wasn’t overly impressed.  $35 for a 1 sandwich, 2 bottled sparkling waters and one dessert. There was very little meat on the sandwich which was disappointing , especially for the price.

 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Our son opted for the Little Havana McDonald’s.  I think that was a better deal (lol).

Edited February 12 by Cruzinforpeace***

[Cruzinforpeace***]

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Little Havana is a hopping town.  Lots of stuff going on.  Dominoes, dancing and lots of colorful artwork.  Wish we stayed longer!

 

 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Miami is beautiful but oh the traffic!  The tour guide told us they’ve had a huge influx of new residents.  A great tour.  We thoroughly enjoyed the day.

[Cruzinforpeace***]

Before we left port we saw the Virgin ship pass by.  We put our cell phone lights on and waved to each other.  Fun!

 

 

[Match Game 72]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate all the photos, too.

Like you we have a 17 year old son. He makes the same face in pictures, too!