From Blah! to WOW! From Divina/Caribbean/2016 to Meraviglia/Mediterranean/2018

[Tapi]

1 hour ago, Jaco5NC said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!  We are sailing the Meraviglia next year to the Caribbean.  Looking forward to it as we loved the Seaside last year.  Your review has me even more excited.  We are dying to do a Mediterranean itinerary and reading through your comments have been helpful, thank you again!

Have a great time on the Meraviglia! We truly enjoyed it. I thought about waiting a few years until my kids were a bit older to pull the trigger on a Mediterranean cruise, but I’m so grateful that MSC lured us with their competitive pricing. The kids had an absolutely fantastic time. The transition to the Med wasn’t as dramatic as I thought it would be. Outside of longer flights to meet our ship, everything was pretty easy and straightforward. 

 

Speaking of flights, that can be one of the tougher parts to swallow since airfare to Europe will undoubtedly be more expensive than for a Caribbean cruise, but with some creativity and traveling off season, it can be done fairly affordably. We used credit card points to pay for some people and booked our flights way in advance which provided the best price possible for the specific flights that I wanted  (I wanted to make sure that we flew nonstop from our home city). 

[phissy]

Thanks for great review and insights.

we also did this cruise last month. Agree with comments on “upsell” restaurants. There really should be another complementary restaurant on the ship.

we used miles to book award airfare. Glad that schedule of awards had us in Barcelona a week before the cruise. Loved Barcelona and having time to really explore all the sights .

Embarking was a breeze. Ship,is beautiful. Could have spent a second week on ship, as there are many areas to explore and enjoy.

We are now excited to try MSC in Caribbean.

[Tapi]

2 hours ago, phissy said:

Thanks for great review and insights.

we also did this cruise last month. Agree with comments on “upsell” restaurants. There really should be another complementary restaurant on the ship.

we used miles to book award airfare. Glad that schedule of awards had us in Barcelona a week before the cruise. Loved Barcelona and having time to really explore all the sights .

Embarking was a breeze. Ship,is beautiful. Could have spent a second week on ship, as there are many areas to explore and enjoy.

We are now excited to try MSC in Caribbean.

If there’s one port I wish we would’ve had more time to explore, it is Barcelona. I was dreading getting back on the ship with so much that we couldn’t remotely do. I’d definitely choose a cruise that starts in Barcelona and spend a few days there before or after the cruise. Glad you had a time to enjoy this wonderful city! 

[Jaco5NC]

4 hours ago, Tapi said:

 

Speaking of flights, that can be one of the tougher parts to swallow since airfare to Europe will undoubtedly be more expensive than for a Caribbean cruise, but with some creativity and traveling off season, it can be done fairly affordably. We used credit card points to pay for some people and booked our flights way in advance which provided the best price possible for the specific flights that I wanted  (I wanted to make sure that we flew nonstop from our home city). 

The flights have definitely been one of the things that hold us back.  Additionally, we have limited time (school/sports schedules) and I am thinking we would need at least a few days pre and post cruise to explore.

I have begun to use our AA travel rewards credit card more often to try to start accumulating points for our tickets.  We live in Florida so Caribbean itineraries have been easy peasy for us😊.  

Edited April 25, 2019 by Jaco5NC

[8420PR]

8 hours ago, Tapi said:

but with some creativity and traveling off season, it can be done fairly affordably.

I agree - I think April/May and September/October are the best months for a Mediterranean cruise.  The weather is comfortable, the prices a lot cheaper and everything (from the ship, to tourist attractions to restaurants) is a lot less crowded.  For me, a Mediterranean cruise  is much more about the ports, compared to a Caribbean cruise where we sit in the sun drinking cocktails all day and enjoy the ship.

 

Booked in advance off-season, the flights are not so much more expensive - e.g. a week in September 2019 would be $333 for New York to Barcelona (on United) vs $197 for New York to Miami (on Delta).  With the longer flights and timezone difference it is definitely more exhausting though... 

[bartzcrew]

Thanks Tapi, glad to understand!!!

[Tapi]

5 hours ago, Jaco5NC said:

Additionally, we have limited time (school/sports schedules) and I am thinking we would need at least a few days pre and post cruise to explore.

I hear ya. We traveled over Thanksgiving week. We planned things so that the kids would only miss one day of school. 

 

We went straight to the airport after picking the kids up in school on Thursday for our 6:00pm flight. We then spent the next two nights (Friday and Saturday) exploring Rome. We sailed Sunday to Sunday and flew home as soon as we got off the ship. We landed back home around 4pm Sunday afternoon and the kids returned to school the next day. 

 

I thought the kids would be exhausted to return to school that Monday, but with the time change, they were in bed and asleep by 7:00pm. They slept for 11 hours and woke up the next morning rested and ready to go back to school. 

 

So we turned one week of Thanksgiving Break into 10 nights of vacation. Yes, it was tight but it worked out perfectly. Much better than expected. Interestingly, the school counted the day they missed as an excused absence because they considered the trip to be a cultural and educational enriching excuse. As the teacher told me, “the kids probably learned more in one week than I could’ve ever taught them about Europe the whole semester!” 😂