gizfish

The private tubs are not filtered like public tubs. The public tubs have chlorine or bromine added and would have those levels checked however often they are supposed to be monitored.

We found the food on Meraviglia to be better than the reviews. And, I am betting the kids would really enjoy the almost 24 hour a day pizza. The ship is beautiful, but less visually stimulating than the other ships you are considering, which I think would be a plus. There are some times where crowds can be an issue, specifically in the evenings when they have shows and dancers under the dome thing. However, I found that to be less frustrating than trying to get around Cindy's castle at Disney during a parade (no lie, I was almost in tears dealing with that once.) On our cruise there were no issues at all with rowdy people or anything like that. You should be able to get key cards for both rooms so you have access to the kids room, and no one cares who sleeps where. I have a feeling that you will not be able to have the door between the balconies opened since MSC seems to be quite rigid in following rules, and most cruise lines now prohibit it due to safety concerns.

I am betting this is due to the Legionnairs disease cases earlier this year. I'm assuming only housekeeping will have a key or something to fill it, and by limiting time in use maybe it will limit the chances of the bacteria growing enough to be a problem. Or maybe the hour limit will be so annoying that guests will use the tubs less meaning housekeeping will not have to clean them as often.

MSC will assign you a time without any input or concern to what might work for you. Not to worry. The time will randomly change, sometimes more than a couple of times between booking and boarding and will not even be checked whatever time you do arrive for.

I find it a little creepy that so many people are looking under the tables to see if I'm wearing shorts...

If you are willing to wait, you can also ask the buffet pizza makers to make one with your choice of toppings. The available types vary throughout the day as well.

MSC actually discourages tipping individual staff. https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/before-you-go/service-charges.

The soda rule has nothing to do with security and everything to do with the cruise line wanting you to buy soda on board. There is no rule about bringing liquids on board. The cruise ship is nothing like an airplane. It would be incredibly expensive to have to purchase all the liquid things one normally travels with (shampoo/hair products, mouthwash, sunscreen, etc.,) on board, not to mention that those types of things have limited availability on board. The cruise line would make you aware of any changes in things that were newly prohibited. For the record, I was able to bring a bottle of water in my carry on through security in NY recently. I wanted to have the sports style bottle to refill during the cruise and was prepared to empty it out before boarding if need be. I think they would be more strict about any quantity of beverages though.

On our 8 day, the regular entrees included filet on surf and turf night, prime rib one night, and the NY strip two nights. So half the nights included a beef/steak option. With regards to the question from a different poster about if the charge is applied when a second entree is ordered due to not liking the original entree, while I have no personal experience, I am pretty sure they would not charge in that case. Also back to the ordering certain entrees as a starter thing, one night we had lasagna in addition to our regular main. All nights, there is pasta Bolognese, pasta with marinara, and pasta with olive oil and garlic available. There is always a pasta or risotto offered as a main. Some sort of salad is often offered as a main most nights, and I am sure you can order it as a starter instead.

Geez they really take Halloween seriously. On the topic of desserts, keep an eye out for the chocolate pana cotta at the buffet. It will look like a plain boring brown thing in a foil container. Do not be fooled by its appearance. It is delicious. Generally I found the buffet desserts appearances deceptive. They all looked like the usual tasteless things found on other cruise buffets but turned out to be quite yummy.

5 weeks ago Meriviglia 8 day had the changed comfort classics with the baby shrimp cocktail and no steak, but with the rotisserie chicken (not fried.) However, NY strip was offered on two different nights as part of the regular menu. The $5 for more than one entree was mentioned on the menu. We ordered the risotto or pasta entree numerous times as a "starter" in addition to our regular mains, which did not incur a charge. They always brought us a full size portion with our other appetizers.

This time of year, you will probably have warmer weather around the time you get to the Carolinas, sometime during your first full day at sea.

Keep in mind that you can order the pasta or risotto as a starter even though it's listed as a main. They will bring you a full size portion. We cruised Meraviglia out of NY about a month ago and did not find the portions small at all.

Cabin size is quite definitely a plus. To give you an idea of how large the regular balcony cabin is, the sofa easily could seat four normal humans. I would say the cabin is larger than NCL by far, and also larger than the other mainstream cruise line balcony cabins. Do be aware that the storage areas are lacking and not very well thought out. And about the pizza...a month later and I am still craving it. It's close to the wood oven pizzas we have in NY. They also make their own mozzarella.

MSC cruises out of NY are less formal than their European cruises. Dress code is a suggestion. We wore shorts every night except on the one elegant night. That night DH wore jeans and I wore capris with a fancy tee shirt. Our cruise announcements were in English first, than italian, and lastly due to a large amount of Asian passengers, in Chinese. I haven't cruised NCL post covid, but my personal experience last month on Meraviglia was that it felt like a pre covid cruise. Of course there are some cutbacks but nothing like what's written about NCL post covid. The most obvious cutback was the MDR menu states second or more entrees incur a $5 fee. We never needed to order second entrees as despite what some say, the portions were more than adequate (and to be honest one of the reasons we like cruising is the food.) Also, you can order the pasta or risotto dish each evening as a starter in addition to your main, and it will come as a full size. If your son is like most teens, he will probably appreciate that MSC has food available all day and most of the night. Do keep in mind when making your decision that WiFi on MSC is much more expensive. So if that's not part of what you booked, it may be an issue. Personally I would never book an interior. But that's because I spend the whole cruise on the balcony, and ports are not an issue for me. Also keep in mind that the spa on Meraviglia is smallish.

We traveled a month ago, no survey. And we did consent to emails.

I don't know if the menu order changes. On our 8 night Meraviglia cruise, the last night's menu was the same as the first. Also, we were able to see the menus for the whole week in the app once we boarded.

One month ago on Meraviglia our experience was it was only on embarkation day. It was $10 off EVERY $50, and was taken off the bill, not given back as OBC. We happened to spend $100 in one store and the cashier rang it up as two purchases. I don't know what would happen if you spent $50 distributed over more than one store though. I also don't know if it was different because we were in the USA, and I don't remember the specific American terms. I do know only my husband's key card was used for both purchases.

That jacket unfortunately won't work for the dog. Fur kid arms are not in the same place as human kid arms. If only Ralph Lauren would have realized this before I spent more on a dog polo than I spend on my own clothes. (Thankfully they got it right eventually.)

Maybe that was a Freudian slip...Not gonna lie, but when we first saw that the room stewardess uniform was the proverbial French maid outfit including the frilly white apron, I did wonder if someone had pranked us and sent DH a stripper.

You can tell your phone not to change time zones. You can then manually change your phone ahead or back as needed. They always remind you in the dailies about upcoming time changes.

Thx. That's the one I was thinking of. Shame they still don't have BBQ. I called about that many months ago, and they made it seem like it would only be a few weeks till they did.

In addition to the MDR you are assigned to and the buffet which always has something available for like 19 hours of the day, included soft serve ice cream is available near the pool (dispensed by staff, not self serve). I think the hours were from 4:00-7:00 on most days. There is also "grab and go" by the pool with burgers, hot dogs and pizza.

I second that. Our room stewardess on meraviglia put an extra mattress pad and two duvets on our bed, and it was still terribly uncomfortable. We only asked for an extra pad and she added the other stuff, so I'm guessing the mattresses are a common complaint. I wonder if the yacht club has better mistresses. BTW if you are thinking of a cruise on Princess be sure to ask about their beds. We sailed many years ago. But, I will not forget that the bed was so hard, I had bruises on the sides of my knees.

Sorry to go off topic, but what is the name of that hot pot place please?