Meraviglia YC Baltic Review

[Bulldogsoc]

This review is a little late, as it has been several months since we got back from our 12 day cruise of the Baltic Sea on the Meraviglia in the Yacht Club.  However, for those planning a similar cruise next year, you likely have booked or are in the process of doing so, and it is my hope that this will be of some assistance as you do your planning and fun lead up.  To sum our experience up... we did not have a bad time.  It was just "Meh"!

 

My reviews tend to a rather long, so this will be a string over the next few days. I will go day by day and I will also discuss what we did pre-cruise for a few days that may also assist those planning a similar itinerary.  I am also going to do a direct comparison of the YC to our prior (single) Haven experience.

 

We booked this cruise about 9 months in advance.  We are new to cruising and when we booked it we had only cruised on one previous occasion which was in a Haven Aft Penthouse on the NCL Breakaway out of NYC in March of 2017, which was an awesome awesome family vacation.  We came out fo that cruise saying to ourselves... why have we been limiting ourselves to All included resorts for the past 25 years!  By the time we cruised the Baltic and the Meraviglia, we had added to our experience with a seven day Mexican Riviera cruise on the Carnival Spendor out of Long Beach.  
 

My primary reason for choosing this MSC cruise at the time was Cost.  The cost of a YC suite on this Baltic itinerary was many thousands less than the other lines.  It was a new sparkly ship and that is why I booked it.  

 

As I sit here at my kitchen table with a foot of snow outside and -24C weather and dreaming of our next Cruise out of Miami next Sunday on the Norwegian Getaway, I told my lovely wife that I am finally doing the review.  She summed her view of our Meraviglia YC experience as this... If that had been my first cruise... I probably would have spent the next twenty years sticking with ground and air vacations and All Inclusive resorts.

 

More to come.

 

Mark

[Bulldogsoc]

So our Baltic cruise was departing in the second week of September out of Hamburg.  I believe we were leaving on a Thursday.  We had parents staying at our place for the two weeks look after the kids who were in school and the dogs.  Many thanks Roger and Di!

We were up in the air for three or four months about what to do before the cruise so we did not book flights until the spring of  last year.  We really prefer as few layovers as practically possible and flight times and the availability of direct flights plays one single biggest rolls in our holiday planning.  We ended up booking Red Eye Air Canada flight our of Pearson the Saturday night before the cruise to Frankfurt and then a short layover that Sunday morning on another flight to Hamburg.  We had the points so the business class pods on this 747 was a really nice way to start the cruise.  We took taxi from the Hamburg airport into the city to our Hotel, which was the large Steignberger, which is right downtown.  Unfortunately, the Steignberger did not have a room for us until mid to late afternoon, which was a bummer as we were TIRED!!!.

The Steignberger is a large well appointed hotel.  The rooms were very large and the bed was comfortable but it was clear to me that this non-smoking room had been smoked in.  I am a "holiday" cigar smoker but cannot stand cigaret smoke.  Oh well... anyway, I would not recommend the Steignberger.  

We did not do much.  We walked around downtown and the old warehouse district and had a few beers.  If you want good, cheap, yummy, fast eats, the food stalls in front of the city hall have amazing fries and Shawarma and cold beer right on the square.  Inexpensive and really really good.  If the washer is nice, you just drink in the square.  The warehouse district is is really cool.  The old converted and renovated warehouses are really cool.  Lots and lots of fine clothing stores.  Hamburg was very clean and orderly.

 

Gotta take the kids to Soccer...more later.

 

Mark

[plucasana]

great start, looking forward to reading more !

[Bulldogsoc]

Whoops!... forgot about Amsterdam!

 

We flew into Frankfurt overnight and then after a 90 minute layover, we caught a 3/4 EMPTY Lufthansa connector flight to Amsterdam.  Come to think of it, our flight across the pond was in Lufthansa as well.  Oh well, that is what I get for waiting four months to do this.

So we get into Amsterdam and then take the train into the city centre.  We just watched the Youtube video about how to do that and it was easy.  The trains go about every 10-15 minutes.  It was however cumbersome with two pieces of luggage because you have to navigate a few doors when entering and exiting the train... not like a subway train where the doors oven on the side of the cars and you just go in... this commuter train is like a Via or Amtrack train where you enter up steps and then go through a door.... so if you have a lot of luggage and are not the most nimble and strong, then I might suggest not using it.

We got into Amsterdam's central station and decided to take a cab from there to our hotel rather than switching lines to take us to our hotel which was located a few kilometres way at Rembrandt Square.  I think we got scammed with the price fo the cab.  I did not see a meter.  Oh well... live and learn.  

 

We booked the NH Schiller right on the park.  We got a room right way but holy crap it was small!  It was smaller than an inside cabin on ship.  We had a top floor with a nice window that opened with a view of the rooftops but literally with four suitcases there was no room to sit anywhere but the bed.  It was also hot as Hades up there.  They did give us a fan but it was more like staying at our cabin at the lake in July than a 4ish stay hotel.  The staff were nice.  The breakfast was included and very good with made to oder and buffet.  The coffee was help yourself from an espresso machine with cups to-go.  But for the price we paid it was a fail.  We stayed in Amsterdam for three nights before catching an early flight to Hamburg the day before our ship departed.  The desk ordered us driver.  He was early and we headed out to the the airport the next morning which was only 20 minutes.  The cost of our trip to the airport was only a few dollars more than the cab that took us to the hotel only a few KMs from the train station.  It was then that I knew we had been had.  Overall, I would not book this hotel unless it was in the winter and with a bigger room.  The room we got did not look like the pictures but if you are ok with the size and a fan in hot weather, I cannot say it would not work.  GREAT location.

 

For the three days we were in Amsterdam we did a lot of walking.  We did the Albert Cyup market.  It was billed as the largest outdoor market in Europe but it did not look that big to me.  It was ok.  I did not think the street food was as amazing as people on Youtube made it out to be but it was a nice walk and I did end up buying a little cast iron pad to made those little pancakes they make there (Poffertjes).  We did the Heineken tour and that was fun and worthwhile.  We did the boatamsterdam.com afternoon 90 minute cruise.  It was an open boat (was a bathroom) with comfy cushions and blanket and an open bar for something like $20 Euros.... it was go good and fun we just stayed on board and paid again and did it a second time.  We were a little hooped after the three hours.  Very fun.  We ate lots of their wonderful French Fries and most ate street and pub food.  No formal sit down dinners.  We did the WWII Resistance museum.  It was good for a history buff like me but I think Niki was just a good sport.  I would only go if you are a WWII buff, want to learn about it or if you are enriching your kids.  We drank allot of beer and sat on allot of patios.  We did some shopping.  I am amateur cooking buff and all manner of professional food preparation products is my kind of holiday shopping.  I found a few items I had not seen before and that I had been looking for for reasonable prices.  We did the Amsterdam sign and walked many of the parks but we did not do any other museums.  Neither of us are interested in most museums or art galleries.  War museums are an exception but we just never made it.  I tried a special brownie.  They told me to only eat half at first.  I felt nothing after the first or second half.  Niki laughed at me.  i would pause on the street, go silent... look reflective.. say wait..... wait... NOPE.. Nothing.  I will stick to beer.  Really liked Amsterdam and it was a perfect chill spot before the Cruise.  I found it to be a big version of Copenhagen, which I also like and recommend if you have never been.  OK... so thank you for bearing with me through all of that... now on to the cruise departure day.

 

I had tried to figure out where the cruise ship in Hamburg was actually going to depart from.  There are two or three locations.  Our taxi driver told us we were going to be on the other side of the river.  We left around 930 or so and it only took about 15 minutes to get there. We pull into the terminal and there was a pop up tent right a curb with with a yacht club inn on it right there to take our bags.  We pack a small stapler to put the tags on.  I cannot recall exactly what happened next but I think a staff held up a ping pong paddle with YC on it and we were told to follow her.  It just seems so silly and embarrassing.  The terminal in Hamburg is a huge open air affair with a sea of humanity.  So we follow this YC staff member to this little ripped off area right smack dab in the middle of the terminal. Basically they rope off a group of normal benches you see in a departure lounge with a square that was about 30 by 30 with a table with some snacks and sparkling wine.  It was help yourself and they were out and did not notice for the first ten minutes or so.  Then it was just confusion frankly silly.  We were there for about 30 minutes before we got to go.  We filled out some paperwork on little clip boards or something.  I felt like I was in a petting zoo.  When I was a kid I grew up in a little airforce town in rural Nova Scotia.  The ***** mall had a little fenced off carpeted area in the mall for senior citizens to sit on couches and make themselves some complementary tea and coffee.  It was a nice gesture but the only person that ever sat there was the old guy who lived in a shack down by the dumb and got the Santa job at Xmas because of his beard.  It was nicer than his place and had free coffee.  This was like that... a fish bowl.  We laughed and I proceeded to check under the table cloth to find some more bubbly, which i did can cracked it to the delight of my fellow ship mates.  It wasn't until I drained the first bottle serving my fellow passengers that the staff/butlers clued in that maybe there were some things to attend to.  It was all good.  We are laid back but I did notice that regular passengers were arriving, standing in line and boarding before us.  Finally, a new gentleman grabbed another pin pin paddle and we followed him through the metal detectors and then up to the second floor to get the boarding ramps.  It was crowed and slow but we did not have anywhere we had to be and went with the flow but it was... well...  underwhelming. 

 

We were lead up to the YC to and our Cabin.  So, if I was to compare embarkation in YC vs. Haven... Haven killed it. No competition.  I just mentioned the fishbowl/zoo thing to my wife... she knew exactly what I was talking about.  

 

OK... I need to review some pics to jog my memory.

 

Mark

 

 

 

[Bulldogsoc]

OK... so we get the YC and they introduce us to our nice Butler.  I cannot remember her name.  She takes us to our suite.  I

 

Our room was on deck 15 on the Starboard side.  The Meraviglia YC as bar and concierge on deck 16.  You can take an elevator or spiral staircase up or down from there.  There is no deck 17.  Deck 18 is the Restaurant and then 19 is the deck, grill, hot tub, pool and smoking area just aft of the hot tub.  

 

Our room was very very nice.  It is very spacious.  It has those DND and Make up My Room light switches (no old school card on the door).  Ours had a bathroom on the left as you walk in.  There are closets on either side just off the bathroom entrance.  Bathroom is smallish.  Shower has a fixed glass partition only so if you splash around a lot or use the overhead rain shower or have two of your in there at once, you are going to get water on the floor.  I just put a mat and towel down and then left them on the floor of the shower for the young lady to change.. I swear she was in our cabin primping and check ing on things ten times per day.  Seriously!  The bathroom is nice but small.  Haven bathrooms will win that category as well as the closet space category, but there was plenty of storage for the two of us.  

 

The main room of the YC suite was large.  Larger than the basic Haven penthouse or spa cabins.  There is a king bed with night stands and plugs.  There is couch for 2.5 (three slim people) and a coffee table.  The whole other wall at the foot of the bed has a vanity, lots of drawers and a fridge.  The mini bar was included and it was restocked a couple of times a day.  Seriously... you tell them what you want and they filled it. Noticed I liked Absolute Vodka and Johnie Walker.. that's what I got.  Toward the end of the cruise i did a test by emptying the mini bar into the cabinet below the bathroom sink.  I did that three times one day and they were all replenished within two hours.   Really attentive.  There was also a Nespresso machine.  The balcony was a good size and we used it a good amount of time.  We had a nice few of the starboard flying bridge with the officers giving commends on the days we were docking or disembarking from a dock.  We docked on the starboard side in just about every port which was fun. 

 

The bed was a king and was comfortable.  It was quite rough on a few nights but that bothers neither of us.  It was really nice room.  They will stock your fridge with whatever you want.  They have lots of snacks like Pringles and Toblerone bars and jars of nuts that are all included.  This was funny... so most people who like a few pops on their first day of a cruise or AI resort generally wake up in the night feeling a little... parched shall we say.... OH Look!  a night light in the mini fridge... nice touch... OH... Perrrrrfect..a couple of bottles of OJ... pop that cap and take a big swig at 3:30am.... only it was not OH but some type of peace nectar or something... not gross, but not my preference and more importantly... what my eyes had told me mind to expect when it hit my very dehydrated body.  LOL  Niki laughed when I told her in the morning.  The next day I asked the lovely butler if she could make a note to never put any juice other than OJ in my fridge.  She said they did not have bottled OJ but she simply brought glasses of fresh squeezed OJ  (three or four of them in my fridge at all times).  They just needed a quick stir and good to go.  Perrrrrfect!  So Absolute and Fresh OJ was our go to cocktail in am and when getting ready before dinner and later on... a substitute for the rather lack lustre mixology on the ship but more on that later.   

 

So as someone that really does not care what my bathroom looks like if there is no window... I would give MSC YC the prize for the better basic suite cabin vs the Haven.  I would also give them the nod on the attentive butler side of things.  She was new and eager and she was really really nice.  She just said a (nervous) sorry all the time.  I told her she did not need to sorry and I think it clicked and she just smiled instead.  She was really great.

 

So we unpacked our carry on and then went up to the YC bar to get a drink and a bite to eat in the YC.  I have never been on any of the big Haven venues (Escape or Epic maybe???) but the physical space in the bar and lounge and restaurant in the YC wins hands down over the Haven on the Breakaway class.  BUT I would still prefer the the Haven Bar and Restaurant because A.  The Food was ALWAYS awesome and B. They know how to make a mixed rink.  Seriously, we are not picky eaters but the food on that MSC YC dinning room was pretty pedestrian.  It was neither bad nor stand out.  I don't think I had anything that I thought was so good that I would recommend or order a second time.  So on the dining side, because each meal other than breakfast is a multi course affair... you are investing a fair amount of time and when you are going to get average to average/good meals... it makes to think twice.

 

On the mixed drinks... I have to go look up some of the menus to spell out the bad and the ugly... cannot say there was anything really really good other than those amazing fresh squeezed OJ machines at the bars where you could watch the oranges being squeezed in through the plexiglass fronts.  But more on that later... I need to look up the names of those truly horrid cocktails.

 

Back in a bit...

 

Mark

[Frode]

Hi from Stockholm, Sweden 😘 It's interesting reading your review; about the MSC cruise product as well as see how you find the different cities. Really looking forward to your continuation.

Regrettably MSC Meraviglia is too BIG 😵 for sailing through the fantastic Stockholm archipelago (which consists of 24 000 islands...) and the journey from the open sea in to the city centre takes around 5 hours.

I am quite sure that the ship went to Nynashamn (aprox 65 kilometers = 40 miles SOUTH of Stockholm), or to Norrtalje (approx 70 kilometers = 43 miles NORTH of Stockholm), and that you had to go by a guided tour - or onboard a commuter train - to the city centre.

I have been sailing onboard MSC Cruises a number of times; however  -  it's not my favourite cruise line company (and all their BIG, new ships I doen't like at all) 🙄 We've even cruised onboard NCL, RCI, Celebrity and HAL.... 😀 The smaller ships the better!

Edited January 21, 2019 by Frode

[Captain-John]

HI Mark - hope all OK - looking forward to the rest of your review. 🙂

[alexkrn46]

yes I am looking forward to more