Meraviglia 4/2 to 4/9 thoughts

[titangas]

We got back last week from a fantastic cruise on the Meraviglia.

This was our second cruise with MSC and 16th overall. We have previously sailed RCCL, Carnival, Disney, NCL, and Celebrity.

 

The cruise was just my wife and I (mid 50’s) and we stayed in a YC inside room. This was actually our first cruise ever in an inside stateroom and only third without a balcony. We were a little hesitant going in but would stay in a YC inside again in a heartbeat.

The lounge was right around the corner and easily served as our living room if we wanted it to.

 

Embarkation:

It was a snap. We arrived at PC at about 10:30, there were 3 groups in the YC check in area when we arrived, and after checking in did not wait long for a butler to escort us to the YC. Our room was ready and we were lounging by the pool well before noon.

Since we were in our bathing suits we decided just to eat at the Pool deck buffet, they had some uncooked shrimp, scallops and calamari that they grilled up for me right on the spot. We enjoyed having the area mostly to ourselves all afternoon and stayed until we had to go get ready for the safety drill.

 

Food:

Overall was fantastic. My wife had 1 dish that she did not care for all cruise. I had a steak that I ordered medium rare that was cooked entirely through. It turned out to be not a cook issue, but the server thought I said medium well. Had a perfect steak within about 10 minutes after I brought to waiters attention.  We never ate dinner anywhere but the YC restaurant. Outside of Ocean Cay, embarkation day and 1 other day on an excursion, we had lunch in YC restaurant. Wife is not a breakfast eater, so I ate in main buffet once to check out, pool buffet once and the YC restaurant every other day. Eggs Benedict were cooked perfectly every time but I found the hollandaise sauce to lack flavor, that was my biggest food complaint.
Service was fantastic, never waited for a table and the YC was sold out.

 

I will continue this tomorrow and break down different categories thoughts like entertainment, ship etc.
I have tons of pics but I can’t figure out how to add

[Georgia_Peaches]

We also did a YIN cabin on Meraviglia and agree 100% that it is very doable.  In fact, we booked another inside on Seaside for August.  You are so right, the lounge and pool deck are so close that we didn't feel like we were missing out.  Plus the smaller room cooled very nicely.

 

Enjoying your review.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[MsTabbyKats]

I'll be in a YIN on 4/29....16010.  First timer for YC!  Am looking forward to reading this review....and sharing it with my husband.  He had major surgery recenty and I want to avoid long lines and standing.

 

[MsTabbyKats]

Question:

What were the hours for YC dining room?

What were the hours for YC buffet?

 

[titangas]

The YC dining hours were a little limited.

Breakfast was 7am - 9am, but on early port day was 6:30 - 8:30

Lunch 12 - 1:30 and Dinner 6 - 9:00

Buffet - Breakfast started at 7:30 - 10:30? see below, did not find out until like day 5.

Lunch 12:30 to 3:00 or 3:30

Dinner - IDK

 

 

We had one time issue, on the Belize port day, I asked a server what time breakfast was as I knew it was an early arrival and he told me normal time 7am. I should have asked George who fantastic running things there.

It turns out we needed to meet at Topsail lounge at 7:25 am, and being that my wife is not an early riser, we figured we would just go the One pool buffet. We went up at about 7:10 to Buffett and it was not opening 7:30 and they would not even let us grab a muffin or something uncovered.

Dining room was actually 6:30 and we could have eaten there with no hurry if we knew, so we did go and I expressed my displeasure and we were able to have a quick breakfast there of non cooked items.

Edited April 16, 2023 by titangas

[titangas]

Part 2

Cabin 16008

Great quiet location, short walk to Concierge area and Topsail, stairs to YC dining room and elevator to the pool deck.

Bathroom was small, but we survived for a week with no issue. There is a waste basket under the sink attached to the cabinet door. Our room was serviced twice a day and I never saw the cabin steward or Jr Butler by our room.

 

Closet space: Only one closet with 2 drawers, a shelf across the top and hanging space. We each took a drawer for underwear, pjs, socks etc.

We folded all shorts, t shirts across the top. We overpacked and did not wear half of our clothes and it all fit fine,

Tip: my wife brought a lot of clothes on hangers. The thinner ones allowed for plenty of space to hang stuff, plus not many in the room to start. I had 2 sports coats, 5 pairs of slacks and collared shirts and I have no idea how many dresses/blouses 

 

There are no outlets near the bed and only 2 on the desk area.

Tip: we have 2 Europe to US plug adapters that we brought which doubled our outlets. One of my adapters has 4 USB ports on the top which was perfect for charging phones, watches and iPads.

The hair dryer is in the drawer of the desk, before you call and ask for one if needed.
 

We did not have a Nespresso in the cabin , but asked for one on day 3 and was brought to us quickly. Not much counter space so if you will not use not being in there is probably better.

 

After telling our butler Heither to remove the beer, and that we preferred Coke Zero and Dr. Pepper it was always stocked back to full whenever we returned to the room. We also received outrage bottle of Belvedere and I did get the Newspaper delivered every morning.

We are not used to a room so dark, and with our age bathroom trips in the middle of the night are a must, we left the bathroom light on with the door cracked a bit. We had no issues with room temperature.

We ordered room service pizza once to the room, on a port day in the late afternoon and we received it in about 15 minutes even though they said they were busy and it could be 45.

 

[MsTabbyKats]

@titangasThanks for this info.   I assume the 2 outlets by the desk were ok for US plugs and I won't need an adapter.

Was there an outlet in the bathroom?  We're a lot older than you....been doing multiple trips to the bathroom at night for decades!  DH usually brings a nite light for that.

Pizza is my indulgence.  Being that the cabin isn't condusive to dining, do they allow pizza in the Topsail?  Delivered to the dining room?  Or will I be banished to the pool deck?

 

[titangas]

There were 2 US style outlets on the left side of the mirror and 2 European (Italian 2 round plug) style on the right side. There was an outlet in the bathroom as well.

We had pizza delivered to the pool deck once and to the room once. It was delivered to us by the cabin steward both times. In the pool deck, he even Unboxed it and plated the slices for us.
I did not see anyone do it to Topsail but am 99% sure it would not be an issue. There are snacks in Topsail all day long.

[kelleherdl]

We have always been told not to request pizza come to the Topsail. We even ask in advance about the YC Director’s policy on pizza delivery to Pool One. We have had YC Directors who did not permit it. If it’s allowed your Butler or Junior Butler will be happy to deliver it. Whether this will be one of the ‘policies’ that become more standardized across the fleet for YC is yet to be seen.

[titangas]

Part 3 - Entertainment

 

The main theatre shows I thought were much better than the ones we saw on the Seashore. None of them were Cirque type shows and were all pretty entertaining. There was a new lead dancer from somewhere in South America was fantastic.

They had one show called “One Day More” that focused on songs from Broadway shows including Les Mis, Phantom, West Side Story, Cats, Oklahoma that was pretty good. The singer that did “On My Own” from Les Mis was incredible.

The last night show was called “Journey” which featured music from around the world was my least favorite but entertaining none the less.

 

There was a Rock and Roll show, 70s and 80’s show and I forget the overall theme of the first night but it was good.

 

There was a special performer on our cruise. Lorraine Crosby who was the female vocalist on Meatloaf’s Bat out of Hell 2 album and Grammy winner did shows on 2 nights in the theatre. We went to first one but did the Carousel Lounge show in the other. She did a PRIVATE show in the Top Sail lounge for YC guests. I spoke to Craig the YC Director and he said it was a pretty big deal and that they had never done something like that before. She was an amazing singer and did a wide range of covers from Meatloaf, Queen, Adele, and many other well know songs.

 

 

[titangas]

We did do one Carousel lounge show, 2 were offered a Houdini one and a Rock one. I prepaid $12 for the Rock one.

It was $18 to book on the ship and definitely not worth $36 for 2, but at $24 it got us into a different area of the ship for a while. Definitively just okay and not a must do by any means.

 

Other entertainment around the ship.

Topsail had its usual piano player.

There was a sax player in the Sky Lounge who was pretty good.

A woman singer with an electric guitar who played mostly in the atrium, a band playing in one of the open lounges, and a singer with an acoustic guitar in the Pub.

We did walk past the main pool one evening and there was Some Latin music being played up there by a duo.

All were decent but times have changed and they all use an iPad with a backing track that they sing and play over instead of a truly “live” show.

 

We did to Trivia in the pub one night and won, only to find out that it was progressive over many nights and we were not going to tie ourselves up going to that area night after night.

They also did trivia in the Topsail in YC at least once that we played, not sure if it is was more than once. Winners received a bottle of Prosecco.

 

We do not gamble so no input on the casino other than it smelled pretty bad of smoke when we had to walk through it to the Carousel lounge. Didn’t notice a smoke smell anywhere else.

[titangas]

Even if that is the case, you could easily have pizza delivered to your room and then bring it with you into the Topsail area. I did see people bring down food from the buffet who did not want to eat outside.

Edited April 16, 2023 by titangas

[MsTabbyKats]

@titangasSpeaking of the theatre....I know the butler "escorts" you to the reserved seats.

Do you know if YC guests can just go in, any time, without reservations?  To both shows? (When we were with "the masses", in 2019, they wouldn't less us in for the second show.)

 

My husband has this "first row" thing...and doesn't mind sitting there for a half hour pre-show. 

 

Your info has been really helpful...I'll be reading whatever you post.

 

PS-Lorraine Crosby is listed on our app!  Very excited...

[JamieLogical]

32 minutes ago, titangas said:

We did do one Carousel lounge show, 2 were offered a Houdini one and a Rock one. I prepaid $12 for the Rock one.

It was $18 to book on the ship and definitely not worth $36 for 2, but at $24 it got us into a different area of the ship for a while. Definitively just okay and not a must do by any means.

 

 

Goes to show how different everyone's taste is. We saw the Rock Circus show last night and LOVED it. Well worth the price of admission as far as we were concerned. In fact, I am on the next sailing and plan to book it again! We spoke with another couple on our way out of the show last night and they said it was the best show they have ever seen on a cruise.

 

[titangas]

We definitely liked and enjoyed the Rock show.

The song selection was right to our taste too.

We felt the main female lead singer was a step beneath some of the other performers in the show and the weak spot.

 

Like I said though I don’t regret paying $24, just think $34 for a show that long when there are other entertainment options at no cost is a little steep.

Especially if the free drink does not matter when you have the drink plan.

 

Also with any live performance sometimes there is an off night, we are all human. That may have been the case with the female lead.

[titangas]

3 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

 

50 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

 

 

57 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

@titangasSpeaking of the theatre....I know the butler "escorts" you to the reserved seats.

Do you know if YC guests can just go in, any time, without reservations?  To both shows? (When we were with "the masses", in 2019, they wouldn't less us in for the second show.)

 

My husband has this "first row" thing...and doesn't mind sitting there for a half hour pre-show. 

 

Your info has been really helpful...I'll be reading whatever you post.

 

PS-Lorraine Crosby is listed on our app!  Very excited...

You do not need to have the Butler escort you but they definitely will.

The YC wristband gets you past the scanners for reservations and then you really could just choose any seat you want.

The YC section is in the back left side with a walkway in front, so we sat in the front row of that section every time and had plenty of leg room.

 

Craig the YC director told me the working on signing Lorraine to a contract to work the ships, looks like that may have happened.

Edited April 16, 2023 by titangas

[MsTabbyKats]

@titangasAnd one more question.  How does one communicate with other passengers?  Is it on the app? 

[phred119s]

On 4/16/2023 at 2:16 PM, MsTabbyKats said:

@titangasAnd one more question.  How does one communicate with other passengers?  Is it on the app? 

We were on the same sailing. Messaging is available on the app. iMessage was also allowing us to text back and forth. We did not have an internet package.