Just off the Meraviglia in Yacht Club - A total 180 from my last MSC experience!

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Just off the Oct 2nd sailing of the Meraviglia. Three years ago I took a Yacht Club cruise on the Seaside and it was literally the worst cruise ever. The food was awful, service was a miss. My Butler, who I didn’t see the entire trip, literally told me as he was walking me off the ship, “I’m sorry I didn't have time for you this week. You should come back when we are not so busy so you can get to experience it.” My entire party vowed to never cruise MSC again. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, my friend and I needed to book a last minute cruise and figured why not, let’s see what changed with MSC especially since we liked the idea of going to their private island for two days. We are sure glad we tried them again. Overall, we had a wonderful time.

 

Communication: Let me start with the bad. MSC is absolutely awful with communication. After boarding the ship myself and several others were surprised to see that MSC re-arranged our entire itinerary without informing anyone. This led to many who booked independent tours have to re-arrange or provide notice. At our first port, people were surprised to see that all aboard changed from 10:30pm to 4:30pm. If it wasn’t for them noticing the little sign posted they could have easily missed the ship. Other people had shore ex tours cancelled or re-scheduled without notice. MSC really needs to improve on this. It is so easy with the app these days to send a push notification so hopefully they do better.

 

Mergavalia: This ship was very clean and extremely well maintained. While the inside of the ship is the very internal facing, shopping mall style ship, the upper decks were wide open which was great. So many cruise lines have gone to cluttered, divided pool decks and this was the opposite of this. 

Music: MSC really shines with their live music all around the ship. Excellent quality from the lobby bar to the pool deck until well past midnight. This was a highlight of the trip.

Food: Everything we ate was enjoyable and fresh. Compared to our previous cruise on the Seaside, the buffet had a much larger variety of items, which was great. MSC still has the best pizza at sea. We went to the specialty dining sushi and steakhouse. The service and food in these were wonderful and we really enjoyed sitting “outside” on the promenade balcony. This provided great people watching and a good viewing spot for the ceiling shows.

 

Yacht Club:

 

-Cabin: We had an inside cabin in the Yacht Club so I’m not sure if this is just for YC or across the ship but we appreciated that they were still doing twice a day cabin cleaning. The housekeepers took care of any small request, kept the mini-bar restocked and provided chocolates each night. No towel animals were made for those who care about that. The Mergavailia still provides the mini boozies and hasn’t switched over to selecting a large bottle of liquor. This was my first time in an inside cabin in a long time and I won’t do it again. I enjoy the slightly bigger bathroom but it was a great value for YC.

 

-Topsail lounge & restaurant: In the restaurant and top sail lounge the service was always attentive and high quality. The butlers here were the highlight of our trip. If you’re sailing recently def say hello from James and David to Gracy Fernandes. She was absolutely wonderful and was working the evening shift. All the meals we had in the YC restaurant were great. The staff also had no issues with people requesting special items or dishes prepared a certain way. We did like the layout of the lounge and restaurant on the Seaside class a lot better.

I’ll add more details for now but I have to catch my flight home. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll be happy to answer them! Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by how far MSC has come since our last time onboard. They went from a “heck to the no never again” to being back in our list of very good options. You can’t beat two days at the private island where you don’t need to tender!

 

Thanks!

James

[MonsterJoe]

Were you lucky enough to be seated with Jamal and Karina for dinner?  

Glad you enjoyed - we were on the week before and we had a great time.

Here's my CC review

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=682687

[jules815]

Thanks for the review. Sailing next week on Mera in YC and can't wait.

 

[EMc&DrS]

3 hours ago, MonsterJoe said:

Were you lucky enough to be seated with Jamal and Karina for dinner?  

Glad you enjoyed - we were on the week before and we had a great time.

Here's my CC review

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=682687

Were you able to get the macaroons in your room?

[MonsterJoe]

Yep - didn't ask for them because we realized we could get them anywhere - but I think night 3 we got a tray of macarons at turndown and night 5 we also got a tray of fancy chocolates. 🙂

 

also - I'm embarrassed by the typos and grammar gaffes...I was still hungover from the trip and CC doesn't let you edit your reviews. 🙂

Edited October 9, 2021 by MonsterJoe

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

They went from a “heck to the no never again” to being back in our list of very good options.

 

Other than your "Communications" comments, I agree with all that you posted.  I sailed on Meraviglia during January, 2020 and had not communication issues prior to sailing.  "Best pizza at sea"....yes!  Music, entertainment, YC cuisine and service:  all completely met and, in some areas, exceeded my expectations!  I had an outside suite on Starboard Deck 15 and loved it.  The shower temperature controls and I didn't get along at times.  It took me awhile to figure them out.  One morning, I got the water so hot that so much steam was produced that it set off the smoke alarm resulting in a quick visit by Security.  

[rkacruiser]

4 minutes ago, MonsterJoe said:

also - I'm embarrassed by the typos and grammar gaffes.

 

No need for you to feel that way!  We all make boo-boos in what we write online.  In fact, I congratulate you for recognizing such errors.  

 

 

[Fogfog]

Thanks for this.

We have B2Bs in early 2022 in YC on Meraviglia.

Had an outstanding time on her in 2020 - they had just begun the temp taking to board and beyond that it was a go

How do they handle the docs etc for YC. When we last sailed all of that was handled by a YC specialist at the YC tent and then we cued up in a vip line and were ushered to the YC lounge in the port for all of the processing (newspaper, wristbands etc)

Hoping our YC will be as wonderful as before.

Also- did the lounge have all of the lovely goodies on the apps/cold bar during the day?

And- is there still the YC only seating in the theater etc?

Did Cirque come back?

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by Fogfog

[miataman19]

Just got off that same sailing and was in a YC Interior also. They are small but a great value. Totally agree with all you've said. I had a Cabana booked on Ocean Cay the first day because the original itinerary was to be there until 11 pm. I saw the the change after diner when we went back to our room and got the next day's Daily Planner. Went to the Concierge and they switched it to Thursday for me. We always went to the Top Sail lounge for a nite cap and the young lady you speak about was wonderful. After the 2nd night she would ask if we would like our usual, had the same drinks and snacks every night. Dinning room staff was excellent. I requested steak and eggs every morning, and got them. They had no issue's granting any reasonable request. We upgraded to the Premium Plus drink package and the Sommelier was always suggesting wines that were not on any of the (regular) lists. On the last day our group wanted to try the amazing pizza they offered from room service. So, each couple ordered a pie (they wouldn't deliver to the DR) and we brought them to the DR for lunch so we could get their awesome salads also, (we ok'd it first with the Maitre d'). We've sailed in The Haven on NCL and this was our first YC experience. We had a much more outgoing and friendly staff that bent over backwards to please you in The Yacht Club on Meraviglia. I will be sailing again on her in the YC on January 9, 2022. Can't wait. Any question anyone has I'd be happy to try and answer.    

[alyssamma]

18 hours ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

Just off the Oct 2nd sailing of the Meraviglia. Three years ago I took a Yacht Club cruise on the Seaside and it was literally the worst cruise ever. The food was awful, service was a miss. My Butler, who I didn’t see the entire trip, literally told me as he was walking me off the ship, “I’m sorry I didn't have time for you this week. You should come back when we are not so busy so you can get to experience it.” My entire party vowed to never cruise MSC again. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, my friend and I needed to book a last minute cruise and figured why not, let’s see what changed with MSC especially since we liked the idea of going to their private island for two days. We are sure glad we tried them again. Overall, we had a wonderful time.

 

Communication: Let me start with the bad. MSC is absolutely awful with communication. After boarding the ship myself and several others were surprised to see that MSC re-arranged our entire itinerary without informing anyone. This led to many who booked independent tours have to re-arrange or provide notice. At our first port, people were surprised to see that all aboard changed from 10:30pm to 4:30pm. If it wasn’t for them noticing the little sign posted they could have easily missed the ship. Other people had shore ex tours cancelled or re-scheduled without notice. MSC really needs to improve on this. It is so easy with the app these days to send a push notification so hopefully they do better.

 

Mergavalia: This ship was very clean and extremely well maintained. While the inside of the ship is the very internal facing, shopping mall style ship, the upper decks were wide open which was great. So many cruise lines have gone to cluttered, divided pool decks and this was the opposite of this. 

Music: MSC really shines with their live music all around the ship. Excellent quality from the lobby bar to the pool deck until well past midnight. This was a highlight of the trip.

Food: Everything we ate was enjoyable and fresh. Compared to our previous cruise on the Seaside, the buffet had a much larger variety of items, which was great. MSC still has the best pizza at sea. We went to the specialty dining sushi and steakhouse. The service and food in these were wonderful and we really enjoyed sitting “outside” on the promenade balcony. This provided great people watching and a good viewing spot for the ceiling shows.

 

Yacht Club:

 

-Cabin: We had an inside cabin in the Yacht Club so I’m not sure if this is just for YC or across the ship but we appreciated that they were still doing twice a day cabin cleaning. The housekeepers took care of any small request, kept the mini-bar restocked and provided chocolates each night. No towel animals were made for those who care about that. The Mergavailia still provides the mini boozies and hasn’t switched over to selecting a large bottle of liquor. This was my first time in an inside cabin in a long time and I won’t do it again. I enjoy the slightly bigger bathroom but it was a great value for YC.

 

-Topsail lounge & restaurant: In the restaurant and top sail lounge the service was always attentive and high quality. The butlers here were the highlight of our trip. If you’re sailing recently def say hello from James and David to Gracy Fernandes. She was absolutely wonderful and was working the evening shift. All the meals we had in the YC restaurant were great. The staff also had no issues with people requesting special items or dishes prepared a certain way. We did like the layout of the lounge and restaurant on the Seaside class a lot better.

I’ll add more details for now but I have to catch my flight home. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll be happy to answer them! Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by how far MSC has come since our last time onboard. They went from a “heck to the no never again” to being back in our list of very good options. You can’t beat two days at the private island where you don’t need to tender!

 

Thanks!

James

Was on the same sailing and agree 100% with everything stated here.

 

The only thing I'll add is that I was also on the 8/20 sailing and the food improved tremendously between that sailing and this one.

[Fogfog]

4 hours ago, alyssamma said:

Was on the same sailing and agree 100% with everything stated here.

 

The only thing I'll add is that I was also on the 8/20 sailing and the food improved tremendously between that sailing and this one.

Hey there

We were in YC (Merav) in Feb 2020 before the shut down and thought the food on Merav was great.

How has it changed? Have menus changed- can you share what? I know there are things on the EU sailings we unfortunately don't get on US sailings--wish we did. 

We like the distinctly Italian/European flair of MSC (having lived in Italy previously)

You mentioned sailing 8/20... we were to sail in Sept of 2020 but they weren't sailing in the US yet. Are you certain about that date or was that an Italian sailing on Grandiosa?

Would appreciate your thoughts on service etc -- post apocalypse - we are hoping it is just as wonderful as before. 

[alyssamma]

2 hours ago, Fogfog said:

Hey there

We were in YC (Merav) in Feb 2020 before the shut down and thought the food on Merav was great.

How has it changed? Have menus changed- can you share what? I know there are things on the EU sailings we unfortunately don't get on US sailings--wish we did. 

We like the distinctly Italian/European flair of MSC (having lived in Italy previously)

You mentioned sailing 8/20... we were to sail in Sept of 2020 but they weren't sailing in the US yet. Are you certain about that date or was that an Italian sailing on Grandiosa?

Would appreciate your thoughts on service etc -- post apocalypse - we are hoping it is just as wonderful as before. 

LOL, yes I'm certain as I was there 🙂 I think the misunderstanding is that this is *2021* and not 2020.

 

Seriously, tho, it was a 3-day Caribbean sailing back in August (8/20). Service was great back then...I guess there was a slight improvement in the last 6 weeks, but like going from 9.9 to 10.

 

The food is the real thing. It wasn't very good on 8/20. Honestly, I was worried about my 10/2 sailing because I was with a lot of friends and had been telling them how good the YC food was.

 

But the food on 10/2 was amazing...there were a few meals that might have been 8/10, but 95% of meals went to 11 (Spinal Tap reference).

 

So it wasn't menus or anything, just quality.

 

I spoke with the head chef and he told me that it's supply chain issues (the same thing that keeps the Irish pub from not selling *any* Irish beer). He said over the past few weeks they've gotten better ingredients and have been slowly adding them.

 

Otherwise it was just like pre-apocalypse 🙂 What the OP said is spot on.

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by alyssamma

[Fogfog]

@miataman19   please see post 8. any thoughts/info

 

 

@alyssamma  ah ha-- yes it is 2021 -- I thought your shorthand for the date was month/yr not month day... Cannot believe it is already mid Oct 2021...

 

So glad to hear the food was as good as we remember.

 

 

[colorado14]

On 10/8/2021 at 10:58 PM, Dean_Clarke said:

Folks book with caution. I was set to sail in December 2021 and was told that they are allowing unvaccinated folks. I went ahead and book and paid for my excursions. Now recently they've changed their policy and are only allowing vaccinated passengers and only allowing certain type of vaccines recognized by CDC and totally ignoring approved vaccines from WHO. Other Cruise lines recognize WHO approved vaccines but, no..not MSC. This cruise was from my FCC that took a year and 4 month to be issued by these people for a cruise that I bought in December 2019 for sail date March 2020! The payment method was an old credit card that has expired and I no longer do business with the issuing bank. I went ahead and book and paid the difference for the new cruise. MSC refuses to refund my cruise fair to my new debit card...effectively my old bank will return the refunded amount back to MSC so, MSC gets to keep my cruise fare and I get nothing. Also the difference I paid for the new cruise fair, they said they will not refund. Book with another cruise line folks. Experience has been extremely horrible dealing with them.

So well said.

 

[Fogfog]

42 minutes ago, colorado14 said:

So well said.

 

Re the "Dean Clark post

 

First note-- this Dean poster just joined Cruisecritic and only to vent....No other posting history

 

The poster mentions payment method and vax

 

Sailings out of the US  can potentially req vax (CDC) approved which may or may not be different from EU sailings--- 

Given that the WHO is in bed with China-- one would not want the CCP vax which is already known to be greatly inferior

 

Re his payment issue--MSC would be offering an FCC not cash back now right?  

And MSC can certainly arrange for an alternative refund method IF the pax is eligible for something other than FCC. The poster makes assumptions without having worked the process

 

I am first to admit shoreside MSC communications and follow through is beyond bad... however that poster ... I discount the post.

 

Each cruise line seems to be handling this differently - some lines allow unvaxed pax and will separate the populations/have different req.

MSC was far and above ahead of the curve in testing and procedures -- we would have sailed again in 2020 had it been possible.

We were on a B2B (2020) as cvd came on the scene

MSC was already taking temps and handling questionaires etc to board in Fl.

Ship was immaculate and looking back-- our biggest risk was all of the Italians because Italy was a hot spot 

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Fogfog