Meraviglia Duplex Suite

[CelebrationFamily]

Sailing next month in a Duplex Suite and I'm always on the lookout for recent experiences and photos. Anyone care to share? Thanks in advance for your posts! 

[Nuggy23]

If you do a search on YouTube there are a couple of videos showing the duplex suites on the meraviglia. We are sailing on Bellissima in June in a duplex suite, and found the YouTube videos a great help. They look great!!

[CelebrationFamily]

Thanks, Nuggy! Yes...I found those, too.  This trip is mostly about the itinerary, so I've been focused on planning days in port. But as the sail date nears, I find myself thinking about the ship, too. As much as I enjoy the feeling of "coming home" when I sail on familiar cruise lines (I'm looking at you DCL,) I'm getting excited to try something new. Any and all info/pictures/reviews are much appreciated! 

[Nuggy23]

This is our first ever cruise, so we are complete newbies, and we have nothing to compare with. I'm looking forward to visiting a different port every day, and seeing the same view as the captain as the ship enters port(with the option of doing so from the comfort of the hot tub😊😊😊)

Are you intending to plan your own port days or are you going to take organised tours? We have looked at a few organised tours, but for a family of 4 its quite expensive. We are hoping to just do our own exploring and then go back to the ship early to enjoy everything on board.🍝🍷🍨🥂🍹

[CelebrationFamily]

Hey Nuggy...Wow...great itinerary and room to choose for your first ever cruise!!! We have the same plan...to enjoy the hot tub with morning nespresso and evening prosecco as we pull in and out of ports! We're doing a mix of MSC excursions and private excursions. I'll be sure to write a review and include a few pictures to help you with your planning! 

[Nuggy23]

Sounds like a plan😎☕🍷

When do you sail? I'll be interested to read your review.

[Tapi]

Hi: 

 

We are a family of 4 from the USA and we sailed in an Aurea Duplex Suite on the Meraviglia last November. In a nutshell, it was an absolutely fantastic decision. And the best part about it is that we paid about half what we paid for a standard balcony stateroom in the Caribbean on another cruise line the previous year. Here’s my review of that cruise. I hope that it provides some useful information. Feel free to ask questions!

 

MSC Meraviglia by Tapi

[Tapi]

Some photos of our stateroom

[Tapi]

And some photos around the ports of call. More detailed information in my cruise review

[CelebrationFamily]

THANK YOU TAPI! Exactly what I was hoping for...great pics and info! Much appreciated. 

[Nuggy23]

Thanks TAPI. Great review. It's good to hear a positive review of your cruise. We are going with a completely open mind, and after reading your excellent review, we can't wait until June 28.

[rattla]

On 2/15/2019 at 11:02 AM, Tapi said:

Hi: 

 

We are a family of 4 from the USA and we sailed in an Aurea Duplex Suite on the Meraviglia last November. In a nutshell, it was an absolutely fantastic decision. And the best part about it is that we paid about half what we paid for a standard balcony stateroom in the Caribbean on another cruise line the previous year. Here’s my review of that cruise. I hope that it provides some useful information. Feel free to ask questions!

 

MSC Meraviglia by Tapi

Hi, I have been looking at the duplex suite for ourselves with two 17 year olds.  Normally we would have separate vpcabins, but as we could effectlvy have this cabin for the same price as two balconies it would be silly to not consider.

The main question I had is how did you find it in respect to the noise between up and downstairs?  As the cabi. Is basically open plan I wasn’t sure how we would find that.  Not a deal breaker but they are reluctant to sleep in the same room now and moan we snore etc, lol.

[Tapi]

2 hours ago, rattla said:

Hi, I have been looking at the duplex suite for ourselves with two 17 year olds.  Normally we would have separate vpcabins, but as we could effectlvy have this cabin for the same price as two balconies it would be silly to not consider.

The main question I had is how did you find it in respect to the noise between up and downstairs?  As the cabi. Is basically open plan I wasn’t sure how we would find that.  Not a deal breaker but they are reluctant to sleep in the same room now and moan we snore etc, lol.

You can talk to each other but you need to raise your voice to hear each other. People can be watching TV upstairs or downstairs and not bother each other (unless they are watching at higher volume). I know that a few times I didn't realize that the kids were watching TV downstairs until I went down the stairs. 

 

It won't be soundproof for sure, but I think that there was enough insulation to keep the areas separate. You will also appreciate having two bathrooms with two closets, effectively keeping your stuff separate from your kids and vice versa. Do know that the accommodations downstairs consist of one convertible sofa which your teens will need to share. Don't know if they care, or if that's a deal breaker for them, but just wanted to make you aware of that as well.

[rattla]

1 hour ago, Tapi said:

You can talk to each other but you need to raise your voice to hear each other. People can be watching TV upstairs or downstairs and not bother each other (unless they are watching at higher volume). I know that a few times I didn't realize that the kids were watching TV downstairs until I went down the stairs. 

 

It won't be soundproof for sure, but I think that there was enough insulation to keep the areas separate. You will also appreciate having two bathrooms with two closets, effectively keeping your stuff separate from your kids and vice versa. Do know that the accommodations downstairs consist of one convertible sofa which your teens will need to share. Don't know if they care, or if that's a deal breaker for them, but just wanted to make you aware of that as well.

 

Thanks very much.  Yes aware it’s a sofa bed, possibly they would prefer singles, but they’ve kept their bed as a double before on a previous cruise without worrying too much, and as they are girl twins they don’t seem to mind. 🙂 

Still considering the best option, as other choice is I could have an Executive and family suite on something like Divina in Yacht class.  That has a separate lounge area that can close off and obviously gets all the benefits of YC, but no balcony and no hot tub, plus only one bathroom.

 

Works out about the same price, so quite a dilemma.  Also a 3rd option is a grand suite on sea view, again for the same sort of price.  That gets a separate bedroom for the kids with proper beds,, 2 bathroom, and a balcony.  But no YC and no hot tub lol.

 

really having a tough call as to what is best 😂 

[OnVacationTime]

I have booked this suite for my first cruise ever with the family. We are booked on deck 9 and one has become available on deck 12. 

Would being higher up make any positive difference in terms of noise, ship swaying, general location on the ship?

I am expecting to have a great either way!

[Tapi]

11 hours ago, OnVacationTime said:

I have booked this suite for my first cruise ever with the family. We are booked on deck 9 and one has become available on deck 12. 

Would being higher up make any positive difference in terms of noise, ship swaying, general location on the ship?

I am expecting to have a great either way!

The main difference is the view. Being farther down means that you’ll see more of the forward part of the ship and less of the ocean. Ours was on deck 12 and I’m glad that we were not farther down because of the view. As far as motion goes, I don’t think it will make a huge difference. We hit rough seas a day or two and the stateroom creaked quite a bit when we’d hit a big wave, but the motion wasn’t enough to make anyone sick. Meraviglia handles rough seas well. We just returned from another cruise on a considerably smaller ship (70K) and I was border line queasy on that one, even though our stateroom was closer to the middle. 

[CelebrationFamily]

We embark on March 21 in Barcelona...starting to get excited! We're on Deck 12...good to read your input on location. And Nuggy, I promise to post when we return! 😉

[Nuggy23]

Thanks celebrationfamily. I look forward to hearing how you get on. 

Enjoy🍾🍻