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Picky Eater on Upcoming Meraviglia Cruise in February

Cruzinforpeace***

By Cruzinforpeace***,
in MSC Cruises

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Cruzinforpeace*** Great Review Rare

Cruzinforpeace***

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First timer on MSC.  Does anyone know or have any advice regarding having a VERY picky eater who is a teenager?  I’m seeing the kids menus for the MDR on other MSC ships and I’m getting nervous for my son who has some sensory issues that affect his diet.  He eats very few things and it doesn’t include pasta and pizza.  He eats chicken nuggets, fries, hamburgers and grilled cheese.  That’s basically it for dinner (not very Italian). We usually bring a jar of unopened peanut butter onboard on other cruise lines.  I’m hoping they don’t confiscate it from me on MSC.  We would like to avoid the buffet at night.  Does anyone know if they will accommodate this kind of dietary issue and if so how would be the best way to address it?  Special needs department?  Directly with the restaurant staff? 

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Itchy&Scratchy Great Review Rare

Itchy&Scratchy

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3 hours ago, Cruzinforpeace*** said:

We would like to avoid the buffet at night.

I know you said this, but the buffet is really not busy in the evening - just in case you decide to give it a try. What we did on other ships is go to the buffet/other eatery, pick up some things DS wanted, and take them with us to MDR.

Meraviglia may be set up slightly different than Seascape, but I only saw chicken nuggets in the kid section of the buffet. Same goes for hash browns. Fries were available in other sections, probably next to the burgers.

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RandomUser123

RandomUser123

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I was on Meraviglia a couple weeks ago. They do have chicken nuggets which is in the kids section. I do not recall seeing grilled cheese. Burgers and fries are plentiful. I would recommend trying in touch with msc, they should hopefully be same to accommodate your kid and make grilled cheese.

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DCGuy64 Great Review Rare

DCGuy64

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MSC always seems to offer a good variety of foods. HOWEVER, and without wishing to put a damper on your expectations, it's just possible your picky son won't like what they have. I don't know how many times I have read of people's disappointments with cruise lines' food offerings, only to find out later that they were extremely picky. If your son ends up not liking what they serve, then it might be because they tend to favor European flavors. In my view, NO ONE should expect any cruise line food to be just like home. It's just not possible-1,000s of passengers with different food preferences, how can you prepare food individually for that many people? (With that said, my wife and I love MSC exactly because it's not like home, that's the whole point,)

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Homosassa

Homosassa

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OP, that is why I gave you the link for special needs.

 

MSC will do the best they can given the limitations of a cruise ship at sea.

 

In the MDR, you will be attended to by a head waiter (in addition to the regular and assistant waiter).

 

The head waiter will meet with you nightly to plan a menu for the next day and will serve any specially prepared dishes to your table.

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Cruzinforpeace*** Great Review Rare

Cruzinforpeace***

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7 hours ago, Homosassa said:

OP, that is why I gave you the link for special needs.

 

MSC will do the best they can given the limitations of a cruise ship at sea.

 

In the MDR, you will be attended to by a head waiter (in addition to the regular and assistant waiter).

 

The head waiter will meet with you nightly to plan a menu for the next day and will serve any specially prepared dishes to your table.

Thanks.  I’m going to submit the special needs form tomorrow.  We’ve been doing it since he was 2 years old when he started cruising on the other cruise lines. This will be his 18th cruise. Usually the other cruise lines allow us to bring some of his own food on board which I doubt MSC will allow us to do. I just wasn’t sure how MSC works with this type of accommodation. I’m already starting to prepare him for the different “European” style of food. Our goal between now and the cruise is to try pizza again since I’ve read over and over again how good the pizza is on MSC. He’s better than he used to be believe it or not.  We were once on an NCL cruise when he was 4 or 5 years old and we bribed him to try a little piece of baked chicken.  He took one bite, gagged and vomited at the table.  We try to avoid these types of scenes on cruises since then. He’s been in and out of “feeding therapy” since he was 3.  It’s very difficult to go away on cruises with his eating issues but we’ve managed with some accommodations.  Usually the cruise restaurant staff is very helpful and attentive.

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Kdafons

Kdafons

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We just got off the Meraviglia. Were on for 2 sailings.

1. Fries were available every day, lunch through midnight at the main entrance of the buffet. Fries also available when the South Bar at the pool when it was open. I believe fries are on the daily menu in the MDR. Note that once with the fish and chips at lunch in MDR, they added paprika? to the fries. If that is an issue, you may want to specify regarding any flavoring on the fries when you speak with the staff. Otherwise, the fries were pretty standard.

2. Chicken tenders, not chicken nuggets, were available some days at the South Bar at the Atmosphere pool. I saw fish sticks at that bar and the designated kids section of the buffet almost every day. But i never saw chicken nuggets anywhere, but my spouse says he saw chicken nuggets sometimes in the kids section of the buffet. 

3. Grilled cheese, i never saw anywhere.

4. Ketchup was not readily available at the buffet on our first sailing, but by the second one, they had ketchup out with the fries all the time. It was in a pump. In the MDR, they bring catchup to you in a dish and they spoon it out on your plate, then they take the dish of ketchup back with them. Breakfast and lunch is super busy in the MDR, so if you will need ketchup at those times, you should mention to them upfront. We asked for extra barbecue sauce at lunch once and the waiter basically told us it wouldnt come out from the kitchen fast enough to eat with our meal, and we never received it. 

4. MDR only seated people for lunch between noon and 1pm. Then it closes and buffet is the only option. Also short window for breakfast in MDR. Both meals are super chaotic for staff in MDR. It seemed like on-the-spot "special requests" werent accommodated much. During breakfast: Juice options were limited to what came around on a tray, and they werent clear about what the juice was when they gave it to you. Same with pastries. 

5. Hamburgers are available at the buffet and South Bar of the Atmosphere pool daily with the fries. Hamburger (or cheeseburger) is on the dinner menu in MDR daily. Hamburgers appeared to be from frozen patties. Depending on the day, they appeared more or less browned on the outside. To us, they did not look appetizing, but they actually tasted better than they looked. We expected to bite into grizzle, but we didnt... we ate only 2 burgers though. The hamburgers were pretty basic, no unusual flavoring from our perspective. 

6. If you have any specific drink needs, you should be clear about that upfront with staff. Particularly if you arent buying a drink package. "Free" drinks fluctuated daily in both MDR and buffet and sometimes only water was available. Milk was out in the buffet at breakfast, near cereal.In  larger cartons or serving pitchers that you will  need to pour from. I saw mostly whole milk initially, then the last couple of days, I only saw 2% milk.

Milk is also available in a large silver-y urn near the coffee all day. I dont know what kind. Though I wouldnt be surprised if it is empty sometimes. No single-serve milk cartons at all. No flavored milk at all.

 

Ice machines in buffet were not always working, and the water and juices didnt really come out of the dispensers cold. 

 

Juices in the buffet, when available, varied between: pineapple with little pulp, orange with little pulp, tropical mango, lemonade with pulp, cranberry, iced tea (unsweetened), strawberry kiwi (i could be wrong about this flavor), apple. 

 

The juice dispensers were often empty. It got slightly better during our second sailing, but still.... some ice and juice machines were "out of order" for our entire 13 days. 

 

One water dispenser seemed to dispense bad-tasting water. If you are facing the back of the ship and entering the buffet from the door on the far left of the ship, this water dispenser was the first you will encounter from that entrance. 

 

In the MDR, during dinner, with no drink package, we were rarely told about what besides water was available to drink. But towards the end, we were given 1 or 2 options from the above. 

 

 

I hope that helps!!!!! Have fun!!!

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RandomUser123

RandomUser123

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To go off the poster above me when I was on the Meraviglia sailing last month we had the Easy Plus plan but when I saw the drink options in the buffet for those who did not have a plan it was terrible. I tried the iced tea and it was disgusting. It seemed like there was only pineapple juice available for lunch juice options. I don't recall ever seeing Lemonade available as an option for those in the buffet. MSC does need to improve its beverage offerings for those who do not have a drink plan. Carnival and Royal Caribbean do a fairly decent job of juice options available for breakfast and lunch in the buffet if you do not have a drink plan. 

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Cruzinforpeace*** Great Review Rare

Cruzinforpeace***

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Thank you for all the info.  I think we will need to try to be as flexible as possible and just take it as it comes.  I put in the special needs form and we’ll see what happens there.  I was going to buy us all non alcoholic drink packages (my husband and I don’t really drink alcohol) but we don’t drink many sweet drinks. Juice and coffee in the morning, water and tea at lunch and dinner and possibly a soda (mostly my son) here and there. I think we’ll buy our drinks a’la carte. 
 

Does anyone know the current pricing for soft drinks?

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