MSC Meraviglia: [emoji324]My Solo birthday adventure! [emoji324]

Hello everyone!

I just returned from a week on the beautiful Meraviglia.

Was it perfect? No.

Was it fun? Hell yeah!

This will be a day-by-day, diary style review, and I will focus mostly on the solo experience.

As I Type this, my travel pics are uploading on my photo host website, will continue as soon as they are available.

Cheers and happy cruising,

Priscila

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Really looking forward to it, P. :*

PRE-CRUISE

Rewind back to September 2015: I was minding my own business when I got this email from MSC about a new ship they were going to build. They had an incredible offer for a Yacht club Inside suite (whatever that was), so without thinking too much I booked it for my mother and I to spend my birthday, 01/10, onboard.

Back to 2017, my mom decided she didn't feel like going anymore, as our last cruise she suffered quite a bit from sea sickness. So I thought to myself, why not go alone? Sure, it meant spending my birthday with strangers, but well, I love spending quality time with myself so I was pretty sure It would be fun. I'm used to travel by myself for work and I have no issues with seating alone in a restaurant. Decision made, MSC charged me EUR 145 to change my booking to solo.

As the date approached, I felt a bit insecure, so I thought a 'rehearsal' would be advisable. So I took a B2B cruise on the NCL Epic this past June in the solo studios, and had the time of my life. Made lots of awesome friends and some of us will do a reunion cruise next year.

Feeling encouraged by this experience, I decided to add an additional layer of complexity to this vacation, because why not? ;p

I thought turning 40 would be a good opportunity to do a detox - so my week pre-cruise was spent in the Island of Gozo, at Amchara health retreat where I only had juices, smoothies and soups. Conclusion: Thursday 28th of September, I flew to Marseille 3KG lighter and dying for a coffee, lol.

This is a photo summary of my retreat:

In case you are wondering, the green dish is raw Zucchini spaghetti with pesto sauce to break the fast on the day before I left.

My logic was, if I could control myself during the cruise after this, then real life afterwards would be easy-peasy :')

Because Murphy's law is strong with me, my flight from Malta to Marseille was 3 hours delayed. Meaning I landed in Marseille at Midnight, yay......

I'm not gonna lie, I was really, really worried - I didn't pre book any transport because the prices were crazy high. So I decided to just grab an airport cab. Obviously, I didn't imagine I'd be there so late so I was a bit afraid, as that week we had 2 incidents in Marseille train station. I went to the taxi queue and thankfully, despite the unGodly hour, there were taxis in there. A nice French gentlemen took me in 15 m and zero traffic to my hotel Golden tulip Euromed, which I really recommend. It is the closest hotel to the cruise port and it has 2 shopping centres next door to it. The taxi ran on the meter and I paid EUR 50, which was at least EUR 20 cheaper then the best online quote I got if I had pre-booked something.

MARSEILLE - Cruise countdown

Finally settled in Marseille, I started to get really excited for the cruise. I decided to spend Friday in Marseille to sightsee a bit as I'd fly back to Belgium directly once the cruise was done, so this was my only opportunity to see the city.

I took the little tourist train for EUR 8 to take me to the the Notre Damme De La Garde church on top of the hill and enjoyed the pretty sights. Marseille was nicer then I expected!

Looking forward to the review. Can you elaborate on being charged to change your booking to solo? Why not show up alone and not be charged anything?

The weather was beautiful, but unfortunately not an indication of the upcoming weak. So I was glad to soak up some sun and enjoy the city and the hotel before the big day.

EMBARKATION - 30/9/2017

I was a bit unsure what time I should head up to the cruise, but sure as hell I wouldn't wait until 2 PM as my cruise ticket said!

I'm an early bird, so at 11 AM I was packed and ready, so I headed to reception to ask for a taxi. Check out was quick and the taxi only took 10 min to arrive, so off we went! I was at the terminal at 11:40 AM and headed to the Yacht Club tent where a Buttler promptly took luggage and took me to a designated part of the check in room where I could chose a cold beverage to kill the time.

A bit of an awkward moment when they asked me if I was alone, because the normal is two people or more. I looked the Buttler dead serious in the eye and said 'I am alone and I am normal'. He apologised profusely and said 'of course you are normal', hahahaha. Poor guy. At 12h sharp the boarding started, and we were taken directly to the concierge area at deck 16th. The maitre D was there taking dinner time preferences and I said I wanted the earliest, which was 6:30 PM.

I was then escorted to my cabin, 14004, where my cruise card and bracelet were waiting.

Do I look happy?

I loved the bracelet! I didn't bring a lanyard and didn't want to buy another one, so this was a great alternative. It worked well everywhere, even on the screens to pre-book shows and events.

Great start. I am very curious how the solo experience on MSC compares to NCL.

EMBARKATION DAY cont.

I must admit when I first discovered my cabin number online, I wasn't thrilled about being on 14th floor, I thought staying on the upper levels closer to the concierge, lounge and restaurant would be more convenient.

Well, I was so wrong ;p

My cabin was very conveniently located in the very beggining of the corridor, meaning I was close to the YC elevator and the regular elevator. Most importantly, I was far away from the foot and luggage traffic from the 'main' YC decks. I never minded MSC having several embarkation ports, but this time I really felt it negatively. I had no neighbours left or right, my cabin was squeezed between crew doors.

I then went to the concierge desk again to book my excursions and register my credit card. The concierge, Roberto, was really kind and spoke Portuguese, score! (I'm Brazilian but live in Belgium)

I booked a City tour in Genua for my birthday, a city tour in Messina and Mdina&Valetta for Malta. Naples and Barcelona would be my additional 'sea days' to sunbathe and enjoy the ship. Roberto also helped me select a day and time to go on the Cirque de Soleil shows I pre-booked (Thanks for the tip Bea!! :*) and I ended up booking 'Sonor' for 22 PM that same embarkation night.

Next I went to the interactive screens on the hallway to book my shows.

There were 5 shows to book, I ended up also booking 'Meraviglioso Amore' for 20:30 this same evening, I was tired and wouldn't be able to handle lots of walking and partying so doing seating down activities seemed the best option.

Lastly, I bought internet access. The process was still the same as last time on the Fantasia: You open your web browser and type 'login.com' which redirects you to the MSC page where you can chose your packages. I chose 1500 MG for EUR 69 for the entire cruise.

Following along - very nice, enjoying so far!

Thanks for sharing.

Looking forward to the review. Can you elaborate on being charged to change your booking to solo? Why not show up alone and not be charged anything?

To be honest, It didn't even cross my mind.

I am disputing the travel Agency, the big one that rhymes with Book, as nobody on the ship seemed to know I was going solo, so I wonder if they charged me incorrectly saying it was MSC. We'll see!

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Bra - have you checked if you are entiteled for delay compenstation, at least 250€ .... (it's EU law)....

Is the food quality and crowding as bad as everyone says? I am sailing November 5 and getting nervous.

EMBARKATION DAY (cont.)

Making reservations on the interactive screens was really easy. and the internet speed was satisfactory.

Happy with my accomplishments on the first hour of my cruise, I decided to go have my first meal on the Yacht club restaurant.

The Maitre D Giuseppe was really nice and spoke a bit of both Dutch and Portuguese, so we spoke a mixture of the two with each other. He introduced me to my waiter Cesar, who after some initial confusion about when 'the other person' would arrive, quickly recovered and was pleasant and efficient. I got a table for 2 to myself, and enjoyed on a cold vegetable salad type appetiser as my main dish and custard tartlet for desert accompanied by a tasty Prosecco.

Thankfully, MSC's portions are small so I was able to eat it all.

After eating more then the whole past week combined, I was feeling kindda full, so i went to walk around the ship from top to bottom. stopping on the Galeria Meraviglia on deck 7, to hunt a kind stranger to document my triumphal entrance ;p

I really enjoy MSC's furnishings, and love to pay attention at the statues, paintings and artwork on the corners and walls of the ship, so I snapped some of them along the way.

Champagne bar wall decoration

Chocolaterie wall artwork

Pub entrance

Cassino entrance

Ooooh, interesting

The ship is really, really big, so I got tired from walking around. And I didn't really see half of it, as I focused on Aft only through the stairs. I took the elevator down to deck 7 and went forward to go up again to YC. I decided to lounge about The One Pool. I hate waiting for waiters to pass by when I can perfectly walk up to the bar myself and order something. Which was good, because the waiters were mostly focusing on the area right in front of the bar but not walking so much to the opposite side. Didn't bother me but it was noticeable.

After a couple of hours I started to crave some tea, so following some of the awesome reviews I read here over the summer, I went to Top Sail Lounge for a High Tea!

I found it a bit funny that there were a couple of tables on the back were already set up for afternoon tea and the waiters asked me to move to one of those tables already set for the tea. Not the end of the world but a bit unnecessary, in my opinion. After a closer inspection at his name, I found out he was from Brazil (we are everywhere!) and gave me awesome service and delicious treats.

Apologies if I'm progressing slow but the photo hosting website is being a pain in the rear end. I'll try to look for an alternative!

Really enjoying your review Priscila, thank you :)

I've only done 2 MSC cruises, but have fallen in love with YC :hearteyes:

I travel alone too, so appreciate what you mean! Once they've got the idea though, the butlers are just amazing :D

My cruise on the Meraviglia starts next week so I am even more grateful for the time and effort you put in sharing your trip!!

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Going in few weeks in the Meraviglia YC, I'm really ennjoying your review. Looking forward to seeing more photos of your cruise. Thanks.

EMBARKATION DAY (cont.)

After my refreshing tea, I went back to do some reconnaissance on my suite and get ready for Muster Drill.

Bathroom products had that awesome MSC trademark smell that I love.

The fridge also had a nice selection of juices, snacks and spirits

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Tv corner

I was incredibly disappointed with the Tv.

First rule of inside cabin cruises is to use the cruise cam channel as a ‘window’ of sorts to know how the outside world is.

There was no bridge cam channel!!! [emoji33]

Oh well, I survived but I missed it dearly.

After that, muster started and I headed to the theatre for the demonstration

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Compared to the Fantasia class, the Theatre felt tiny. Maybe because there were no seats in the sides? I don’t know.

After the exhausting muster, I headed back to the concierge desk to book the behind the scenes ship excursion. There are only 60 places available and I didn’t want to miss it.

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I went for dinner at 18:30 and was curious to see what would be offered. I had a craving for one of MSC’s delicious risottos.

I ordered soup, seafood risotto and profiteroles.

I ordered one expresso to wrap up and my waiter cesar brought some treats with it

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Now, dinner was pleased and I was happy with the food but it lasted almost 2 hours.

I noticed that some guests kept the waiters hostage at their tables with chit chat which was really annoying. So I had to run to the theatre to catch ‘Meraviglioso amore’ a show with singers going through famous Italian songs. I liked it!

I missed, however, the presence of the entertainment team doing little sketches before the show starts like on Fantasia class. But it was fun.

Next I killed some time before heading to the concierge desk to meet up with the other YC that were going to watch ‘Sonor’.

We were supposed to meet at 22h to be escorted by the buttler to the carrousel lounge.

I booked the cocktail ticket for €15 and the cocktail itself was meh. Prosseco mixed with fruit juice.

I didn’t take any pictures but the show was really good. Sonor was really conceptual while Viaggio was more traditional cirque de soleil, in my opinion.

After a nice embarkation day, I went to bed and found more treats waiting for me!

That’s a wrap on embarkation day, phewwww, lol

Will continue soon!

Cheers,

Priscila

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