Meraviglia August 6, 2021 3 Nts to Ocean Cay - Recap Trip Report

[SummerBeee]

Thanks for this awesome trip report. I’ve never cruised MSC, stuck with RCL for years but this has piqued my interest. Looking at doing a booking, especially with the status match. Also looking at Marci Gras with that excellent trip report. I’m new to living in central FL and excited to check out all the cruise lines

[psufanatic]

Thank you!  Great pictures and review!  Looking forward to our first cruise with MSC!  

[kelikea]

Thank you so much for this review! It was so wonderfully-done and making me really look forward to our October 16 sailing. Did you see the kid's club at all? Were there all that many kids? I'll have my 6 and 3 year old with me and we absolutely want to take part in all things kid-related.

[twangster]

6 hours ago, kelikea said:

Thank you so much for this review! It was so wonderfully-done and making me really look forward to our October 16 sailing. Did you see the kid's club at all? Were there all that many kids? I'll have my 6 and 3 year old with me and we absolutely want to take part in all things kid-related.

 

There were some kids but I wasn't focused on them (mine are all grown up).

 

Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[codeyell0]

On 8/11/2021 at 12:23 PM, twangster said:

This trip was all about new.  New for me that is.

 

• New to MSC.
• First revenue cruise of my new cruise restart.
• New private destination to explore (new for me).
• First posts in the MSC boards here on CC.

 

MSC has some really attractive rates at the moment so with exactly 14 days until the sail date I decided to jump on board. 

 

MSC has a status match program that I exercised a few years ago but I had not sailed MSC yet.  My status match is expiring so this is opportunity to keep my MSC status going.

 

It's always good to try new things and I was looking forward to trying not only a new cruise line but also a new class of ship, for me at least.  With many cruise lines operating at reduced capacity as they restart operations I see this as a great time to try new cruise experiences.

 

For this cruise I booked a Fantastica balcony on deck 9.  During the booking process I hadn't fully discovered what Fantasica means but it was a small per cruise upgrade over the base rate with a better choice of cabins so why not?  I've heard great things about Yacht Club but I'm going to save that for another occasion.  It's just 3 nights and I look forward to more of an apples to apples comparison with the balcony cruises I've done on other cruise lines.  

 

I added a wifi streaming package and an excursion climbing the Ocean Cay lighthouse.  Other than that my plan is just to explore Ocean Cay, MSC's private destination and enjoy the salt air of a sea day on our way back to Miami.

 

Here is the cruise itinerary:

 

 

The late stay at Ocean Cay was also appealing to me.  

 

I tend to be picture intensive so I'll let my photos speak a thousands words.

was Cirque du Soleil showing on the ship?

[twangster]

3 minutes ago, codeyell0 said:

was Cirque du Soleil showing on the ship?

 

Not on my sailing.

 

[MonsterJoe]

15 minutes ago, codeyell0 said:

was Cirque du Soleil showing on the ship?

I've read several times now that there is no Cirque - they went bankrupt or something.

There's a Men's Quartet in their place.

[SummerBeee]

Hi @twangster

I read this trip report last year and loved your recap. I have a friend booking her 1st cruise and she picked MSC. I sent her this recap then saw that you are having a dispute with MSC. Hate to hear that.

 

I would like to experience MSC’s island one day, all due to what you wrote.

 

[twangster]

20 minutes ago, SummerBeee said:

Hi @twangster

I read this trip report last year and loved your recap. I have a friend booking her 1st cruise and she picked MSC. I sent her this recap then saw that you are having a dispute with MSC. Hate to hear that.

 

I would like to experience MSC’s island one day, all due to what you wrote.

 

 

MSC has been difficult to deal with on other issues such as refunds on two other sailings but fortunately my credit card company solved that problem.

 

I have mixed feelings as I love the cruise industry and hate what the pandemic and our CDC did to it here in North America.  I don't like to cast shade on a company trying to get through and recover from it but at the same time I have sailed five different cruise lines since the restart and they all went through this.  Some are just handling it better than MSC is.  

 

Ocean Cay is a gem.  I hope your friend has a great cruise.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by twangster

[Bettyboop66]

Even though I couldn’t see the pictures, thanks so much for the review. After reading all of the compliments about your pictures I was disappointed to have found this review too late to see them. I’m sailing in December for the first time with MSC, looking forward to seeing this ship and the private island. 

[awhcruiser]

The pictures are not showing up.  Instead its a generic message about MSC.  Im wondering why the pictures aren't allowed?

[publicpersona]

47 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

The pictures are not showing up.  Instead its a generic message about MSC.  Im wondering why the pictures aren't allowed?

 

Note this is an old post.

 

The pictures are all links to the original poster's own WordPress website. Apparently, he or she has had issues with MSC and replaced all the pictures with ones with the message stating that they didn't receive Voyager credit for this cruise.

[Paphillyguy]

I had the same issue with MSC getting points, it took 5 months but after sending my onboard invoice they finally gave me my points.  

[awhcruiser]

6 hours ago, publicpersona said:

 

Note this is an old post.

 

The pictures are all links to the original poster's own WordPress website. Apparently, he or she has had issues with MSC and replaced all the pictures with ones with the message stating that they didn't receive Voyager credit for this cruise.

Pretty lame but to each his own.