Meraviglia 6/30 cruise - thoughts and observations on a very mediocre cruise

[kwokpot]

I'm currently on the Meraviglia"s 6/30/24 cruise from Brooklyn. Just some quick thoughts and observations on Day 6 of our cruise. For background this is our 3rd MSC cruise,2nd time on the Meraviglia (1st time during inaugural year from Genoa, Italy) and this will be our 114 cruise.

* Overall service is abysmal. I know MSC follows the European model of service without a smile, but there really a nonchalant attitude that pervades the entire ship.

*The MDRs are the most uneven in experience I have ever encountered.

*Breakfast is the worst. They don't put out water glasses since they expect everyone to drink juice. Getting water is a chore. On brunch times water glasses are out since I guess the thought process is you don't drink juice if you have lunch type food. The service during breakfast is very odd. They seat you on sections and the servers initially swarm over to serve you coffee,juice,and pastries. Then they take your food order. Once the food is delivered, all the servers disappear and go to another section where they seat another group of passengers. In other words there's no dedicated service team that stays at your table section for the duration of your meal. So getting coffee refills is an exercise in futile.

All breakfast food has been served COLD. Cold toast and eggs. Every morning. They don't make eggs to order, fried eggs are will done,as us all other eggs. 

*Buffet is a mess. There never enough water glasses or coffee mugs. The beverage centers are always out of coffee.

The food actually is pretty good at the buffet. Great choices and food is hot. TBH you're better off eating breakfast in the buffet if you want hot food. 

*Cabin service is lacking. They have been running out of towels. Every day we have incomplete towels. 

*Butcher's Cut is a shining star in this dull universe. Food was excellent, as was the service. Everything was outstanding.

I'll write some more at the end of the cruise,but this probably ranks the worse of all of our cruises. This was so far below our experience on the Seashore two years ago weit seems like a different cruiseline.

 

 

[kwokpot]

*Overall the ship is in excellent condition.The ship is huge. There's plenty of space dedicated to walkways and hallways, and the main indoor promenade is wide and is used for many events. I do find the flow of some of the decks challenging, for example getting to the gym on deck 16 is bewildering and I have resorted to going into the buffet and walking up one deck. 

 

 

[kwokpot]

Photos from our dinner at Butcher's Cut Steakhouse. As a Diamond level member this was our complementary specialty dinner which is ordered from a special menu. As previously mentioned everything about the dinner was outstanding, food and service. The NY strip was tender, flavorful and grilled to the requested temperature. The only criticism is we were seated on the promenade balcony so it was extremely noisy with all the music going on below. Of course that's not the fault of the restaurant and asking to be seated inside the main restaurant would mitigate the noise issues. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

@kwokpot is this a casino comp by chance?  Just wondering about your category. Every time I read reviews like this I’m reminded why we only sail in YC. I hope you have a smooth debarkation and wish you safe travels home. 

[Até]

3 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I'm currently on the Meraviglia"s 6/30/24 cruise from Brooklyn

 

I've been watching a few Meraviglia sailings this Fall. Thanks for sharing your experiences. 

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

@kwokpot is this a casino comp by chance?  Just wondering about your category. Every time I read reviews like this I’m reminded why we only sail in YC. I hope you have a smooth debarkation and wish you safe travels home. 

Yes. This is a casino comped cruise. We were offered a comped inside and we upgrade for a few dollars $60 for the cabin,to a junior Oceanview. Unfortunately these cabins are smaller than the standard inside so in hindsight the standard inside cabin is actually larger 

 

One bright spot about cabin servicing is they continue with twice daily servicing. Unfortunately this morning there were no hand towels or face cloths. The evening service brought hand towels but no face cloths. They must be challenged with face cloth supplies. We didn't have them on embarkation,had them on days 2,3,4 and none on 5 and 6. 

 

Facial tissues are in the hair dryer drawer in the desk. There's no bar soap available so luckily we brought our own. 

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, Até said:

I've been watching a few Meraviglia sailings this Fall. Thanks for sharing your experiences. 

We've sailed the Anthem of the Seas from Bayonne as recently as this past Christmas and even on a packed holiday cruise the overall experience was superior on the Anthem. The ship itself is comparable. Buffet food is better on the Meraviglia but more organized on the Anthem. Both buffets are very busy. I will say you can find seating better on the Meraviglia but it will be aways from the food. MDR food is more consistent and better on the Anthem. Lots more complementary food choices on the Anthem. Better cabins on the Anthem. Better gym on the Anthem.

Edited July 6 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Daily Programs:

QR_ZA_DAILY-PROGRAM_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1719802549.pdf QR_ZA_DAILY-PROGRAM_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1719886421.pdf QR_ZA_DAILY-PROGRAM_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1719931076.pdf QR_ZA_DAILY-PROGRAM_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1719979471.pdf QR_ZA_DAILY-PROGRAM_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1720096201.pdf QR_ZA_DAILY-PROGRAM_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1720181021.pdf QR_ZA_DAILY-PROGRAM_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1720239901.pdf

[kwokpot]

Daily dinner menus(Day 3 missing due to dinner at Butcher's Cut Steakhouse)

QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY1_EN_1719793688.pdf QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY2_EN_1719840525.pdf QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY4_EN_1720048269.pdf QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY5_EN_1720134613.pdf QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY6_EN_1720192747.pdf QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY7_EN_1720276790.pdf

[kwokpot]

Brunch Menu

 

QR_A_MD_BRUNCH_DAYX_EN_1720277648.pdf

[LMHC]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post and share your experience.  We will be on the MSC Meraviglia in September so this really helps with planning, especially the menus.  How was the embarkation process, we have heard varying experiences out of Brooklyn. The MSC experience in steerage seems to be consistently inconsistent from what we have experienced previously.  

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, LMHC said:

How was the embarkation process, we have heard varying experiences out of Brooklyn.

OUTSTANDING & FLAWLESS 

We did self embarkation and left our cabin at 6:45am. We proceeded to Deck 6 on the promenade where they had ropes out to delineate where to queue up for self debarkation. The front of the line was further aft ,right at the Swarovski staircase. We were at the front of the line! There were a handful of people waiting beyond the ropes and you can see some people waiting on Deck 5 around the staircase. At 7:05 the ship was cleared for disembarkation. We proceeded further aft to about the outer hallway of the MDR where then we proceeded down one flight of stairs and out of the ship. CBP uses facial recognition at this terminal so no need to show passports. Uber/Lyft waiting area are right outside the exit to the right in section 3. We ordered a Lyft to Long Island and waited 5 minutes and entered a minivan at 7:22am. It was probably the easiest disembarkation we have ever had!

[franncos]

How was the entertainment, like the shows at night?

[GPPhilly]

Do you recall who was the casino host? 

[Até]

There's been a lot of discussion about the overall passenger makeup on the New York sailings.  I've been on Meraviglia twice from NY but what I consider off season, i.e. shools were in session.  Any issues with passenger behavior on your Summer sailing?  I did late Summer once on NCL and haven't been willing to do that time of year again.

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, Até said:

There's been a lot of discussion about the overall passenger makeup on the New York sailings.  I've been on Meraviglia twice from NY but what I consider off season, i.e. shools were in session.  Any issues with passenger behavior on your Summer sailing?  I did late Summer once on NCL and haven't been willing to do that time of year again.

I'll be writing a summary post either today or tomorrow, but with regards to passenger mix on my cruise, It's definitely different than other cruiselines sailing from the NY metro area and was more comparable to my Seashore sailing two years ago from Miami. In other words the passenger mix is much more international than say Celebrity, Royal, Carnival, or NCL. You're more likely to hear a language other than english spoken, which definitely isn't the case on Carnival, for example. At breakfast we met two nice women from Hungary. You won't see than on Carnival. As you would expect many people we spoke to were from the NY metro or Philly metro areas. As noted on other threads here on CC there seems to be a very large Chinese passenger mix. While I would expect this sailing from cities like New York or Vancouver what's different is the Chinese passengers are more recent immigrants from China vs 1st or 2nd generation Chinese American passengers. I would venture to guess that Chinese passengers made for 15-20% of the passenger mix. 

I didn't notice any bad behavior from any particular ethnic group on my cruise. As I had noted since public schools had just finished up in the NY and Philly metro areas the ship was overrun with families with kids. There were kids everywhere. While there were the expected kids running down hallways and stairs, and shrieking toddlers during mealtimes it wasn't out of control in terms of excessive child bad behavior. Just lots of them!

Edited July 9 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

21 hours ago, GPPhilly said:

Do you recall who was the casino host? 

I'm sorry I don't remember the gentlemen's name. This cruise was from a cruise certificate from a land-based casino (Ocean Casino Atlantic City) and neither my husband nor I played at the casino; we only spent $50 total. Having said that we did use the free drinks benefit every day/night and they still put a little sticker on your card (You have to go and ask for it to be applied which was good for drinks $10 and under. We got water, can soda, wine, and my favorite cocktail, Negroni. There didn't seem to be any issues getting drinks at the casino bar but not playing.  We also transferred money at the slot machine to play which is charged to our room account. 

Edited July 9 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

On 7/7/2024 at 7:52 PM, franncos said:

How was the entertainment, like the shows at night?

We saw only one show, The Journey production show, on Day two. MSC seems to have a specific show format for their production shows since it's been the same format on all three MSC cruises we've done. The singing and dance numbers are almost always separate. In other words there will be a performer and/or performers singing a selection of songs but nothing else going on onstage. Then there will be a separate dance number but no live singing going on. Once the dance performance is over the singers will come out and stand there and perform again without choreography, and nothing else going on onstage. All of MSC production numbers seem to follow this predictable pattern. Having said that the singers, two men and three women, had good voices and overall were better quality than the dancers. 

Edited July 9 by kwokpot

[Até]

On my past Meraviglia sailings they moved 90% of the acrobatic type performers you would typically see in the other MSC ship classes theater over to the extra fee Carousel shows.  But at least they filled the void with other type shows like ventriloquist, juggler, magician or similar.   Were there only singers and dancers in the main theater?

[andychris]

Sounds like a nice cruise. Thank you for your review