MSC Meraviglia Feb 19, 2023 Fantastica Balcony Trip Report (with photos)

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We cruised on the MSC Meraviglia during school vacation week in Fantastica class. Our travel party was me 50, my husband 51, our son 16, and my father 76. We started our trip by taking the bus from Portland, Maine, to Boston's Logan airport. For a school vacation week, the airport was not as crowded as I would have expected. We flew on Delta since Frontier Airlines canceled our flights. It was a smooth, no problem flight. We arrived 20 minutes early.

 

For one night, we stayed at Wingate by Windham near Orlando International Airport. They had a shuttle from the airport. The first time we saw the shuttle, it was packed. We spoke to the driver, and he returned about 20 minutes later for us. The shuttle is actually labeled Ramada with a small window sign for Wingate. They pick up at stop B4 in ground transportation.

 

 

The Wingate was neat and clean as expected. The rooms are comfortable and like many other mid market hotel chains. The included breakfast was neither the best nor the worst we have experienced. They had eggs, bacon, sausage, a waffle machine, and various bread items. It was good enough. The Wingate also has a small laundry room for guests. Only one of the two washing machines was working. The dryer left our clothes a bit damp. It cost $4 each to wash and dry.

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We took an Uber XL to terminal 10 at the port. Cost was $78.03 plus tip. We had an assigned boarding time of 10:30 - 11:00 and arrived at about 11 am. Embarkation took about an hour. The process was well organized, and since there were 4,400 people boarding, the time seemed reasonable to me.

A picture of the ceiling in the Meraviglia Gallery.

We went to the buffet and had a very nice lunch. It was crowded, but there was plenty of room at the back of the buffet. Also, the stations repeat. The food stations towards the back of the buffet did not have a line like the ones near the hand washing stations - which I will point out were underutilized during the week.

 

While at lunch we set up three of four devices for WiFi connection. We just couldn't set up the fourth one so we headed to the photo area and they connected it.

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Next I went to guest services alone to try to fix our key cards. When we booked two adjoining balcony cabins (12032 and 12034), it was just three of traveling. We added my father to the reservation. In order for people's card to work on the correct door, we needed to have the key cards adjusted. This was a little hairy, but it was sorted out on about 15 minutes. Or so we thought. Over the next few days we ended up with a small collection of cruise cards. Eventually, everyone's card opened the correct door.

 

I admit I did not take pictures of the cabins. This was our third cruise on the Meraviglia, and the balcony cabins all seem the same. There is too little storage. The desk area needs shelving, or maybe the designers could consult with RV designers. But when more than 2 people are sharing a balcony cabin, storage is tight.

 

The safety drill was quick and easy. We watched a video, dialed a number, and waited to be told to go to our muster station. 

 

Afterwards we had a drink and walked around the ship. It was a nice, warm day in Port Canaveral. When we booked the cruise, we choose the Easy Plus package and WiFi streaming for two devices per cabin. 

 

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Our dinner seating was 7:30 in the Waves restaurant. The first night's food was very good, but there were many guests so service was slow. It was 8:00 when we got appetizers. We did, however, already have bread and drinks. Waves' tables are set very close together. The next closest table was about 4 inches from ours. This was a bit uncomfortable. We solved it on other nights by nudging their table apart from ours before they arrived.

 

We had blackened grouper, Prime rib, and chicken with waffles. The food was very good. I liked the fish. For dessert we had cheesecake, cheese, creme Carolina, and fruit.

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The spa was offering some discounts. We had prebooked massages and has no problem getting them booked.  They also had some discounted offers.

[morpheusofthesea]

Thanks for this report. Your detail is confirming my suspicions (all good). Please keep it coming.

Edited March 2, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

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After dinner we headed straight to the theatre for a show. Our son went to the teen club, but he didn't stay since the kids there were about 13 years old, and he is 16. The show was Cool. It was an interesting compilation of 70s music, dancing, roller skating, and wild costumes. The show was good. Parts of the show were outstanding. We enjoyed it.

 

Next we went to Brass Anchor pub for a drink. The guitar player there was talented. I think we will see more of him this week.

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Feb 20, 2023 Monday

This was our first full day on the ship. I started the day by visiting the gym on deck 17. They have a number of machines including 3 ellipticals. The gym was clean with plenty of towels. After that I went to the buffet and brought back food to our rooms.

 

We spent some time on our balconies. After lunch in the buffet (which was very good) we went ashore to Nassau. The ship had docked at noon. All aboard was 6:30. We shopped in the stores close to the port. My son bought a men's cologne that was nearly half price of what stores near us charge.

 

The port at Nassau is undergoing renovation. The port area that passengers walk have been nicely upgraded with new concrete walkways and shade producing overhead structures. Once we entered the streets of Nassau, walking became more challenging with many broken ground covers. When we travel I am often reminded that countries are in various states of infrastructure. Be careful out there!

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After Nassau we played cards and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon until our dinner seating at 7:30 in Waves. The food at Waves was been mostly good to very good. For the first two nights, tables were crowded. As I mentioned earlier, our table was extremely close to our neighbors. Beginning on night #2, I pushed the tables further apart to give at least the illusion of privacy. This helped a bit where we did not have to listen to each other's conversations. In general, the restaurant is loud. Meals lasted about 1.5 hours for three courses.

 

Always on the menu, New York Strip steak.

Stir-fried tofu

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The show on the Broadway theater was Top Hits. It was well done. The Dirty Dancing scene was very entertaining. On the whole, I enjoyed the performance.

 

We did not see the shows in the Carousel Lounge. Tickets may be prebought for $12 each or $18 each while on the ship. Over the years we have seen many wonderful and amazing acrobatic shows. I'm sure this one is astounding, but we did not see it.

 

After the show, we went to Sky lounge for live music and a drink. After a late night snack at the buffet, we headed to the cabin. Late night snacks included 3 or 4 types of pizza, four types of premade sandwiches, some dried fruit and nuts, and a few small desserts. Was it everything that the buffet offered during the day? No. Was it enough? Yes.

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I'll post more tomorrow.

[tweety33]

Thank you for the review & pictures. Looking forward to more. We are leaving Maine next month to experience this great ship.

[Fla Mike]

Great review, thanks. 

Looking forward to more!

 

 

[LiquidWu]

Thank you for sharing your impressions. It increases my anticipation for my cruise in 2 weeks. I am looking forward to your posts about the rest of your trip.

[croaziera]

Thank you for your detailed review as it mirrors my experience on the cruise during the same sailing as yours.     I had a wonderful time, despite missing Costa  Maya.  I am also doing a review of the cruise, but my review is all video and placed on my YouTube channel:  Cruise Addict.  So far I agree with your review 100%.  Keep it coming!

[JamieLogical]

Thank you for this! I am sailing with MSC for the first time next month on the Meraviglia, so this is all great information!

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19 hours ago, tweety33 said:

Thank you for the review & pictures. Looking forward to more. We are leaving Maine next month to experience this great ship.

I hope the weather is just as nice for you. There's something wonderful about warming up after a Maine winter!

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19 hours ago, Fla Mike said:

Great review, thanks. 

Looking forward to more!

 

 

You're welcome!

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11 hours ago, LiquidWu said:

Thank you for sharing your impressions. It increases my anticipation for my cruise in 2 weeks. I am looking forward to your posts about the rest of your trip.

I love the anticipation part of the trip nearly as much as the actual trip.  🙂

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8 hours ago, croaziera said:

Thank you for your detailed review as it mirrors my experience on the cruise during the same sailing as yours.     I had a wonderful time, despite missing Costa  Maya.  I am also doing a review of the cruise, but my review is all video and placed on my YouTube channel:  Cruise Addict.  So far I agree with your review 100%.  Keep it coming!

I'll look on YouTube for your video.

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6 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Thank you for this! I am sailing with MSC for the first time next month on the Meraviglia, so this is all great information!

This was our third time. We have really enjoyed this ship. I hope you do, too.

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Tuesday February 21, 2023

 

This was our day at Ocean Cay, the private island. My dad and I disembarked first to find some seating and an umbrella at Lighthouse Beach.

 

This beach is the only one with free umbrellas and diverse seating (not loungers). It's also the closest beach to the ship. Nearby there is a bar, bathrooms and a food truck.

 

My husband and son joined us. We swam. I snorkeled. The best snorkeling with a variety of tropical fish is near the rocks on the lighthouse side of the water. If the only thing I did that day was snorkel, it was enough. The fish are unique and beautiful.

 

 

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Around 12:20, my father, son and I headed to the buffet while my husband stayed at our seats. The buffet had several types of salads, beef ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, chocolate chip cookies, rum cake, pineapple cake and fruit. We enjoyed our meal there.

 

Later, after 1, my husband and son went to the buffet. They were gone nearly two hours. I thought they had decided to go swimming at a different beach, but they were in a very long line at the buffet. Going closer to noon when they open saves a lot of time in line. Or if you're just looking for a burger, try one of the food trucks.

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Once we were done at the beach, we headed back to the ship for showers and a nap. We went to dinner at Wave. This night about one third of the tables in our server's area were empty. They seemed less stressed. I ate the salmon which is always on the menu. It was very tasty and cooked perfectly. For dessert I ordered arroz com leche. It was ok but I didn't need to finish it.

Caesar Salad

 

A pork salad appetizer which was fantastic

 

Tortillas and guacamole (which according to my teen had way too few tortillas)

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Salmon which is always on the menu. The fish was very good and very large! I could not finish my potato.

 

Two more main dishes which I can't recall their names. Maybe the first was beef ribs. And the second was lamb curry.