5 Things to Know Before Sailing on the MSC Meraviglia

[jenngirl]

Hi Everyone! 

I am posting this to help people before sailing on the MSC Meraviglia. I hope this is ok that I am posting this here. I like to post my blog posts here because it is all cruise related topics and I figure who else would appreciate them. 

I sailed on the MSC Meraviglia and these are just some of the things I found onboard. It's not to say that everyone will have these experiences, but it's just things I noticed. 

 

I hope this is helpful to anyone sailing on the MSC Meraviglia! 🙂

 

https://thehappiesttravels.com/2024/01/11/5-things-to-know-before-sailing-on-the-msc-meraviglia/

Edited January 11 by jenngirl

[cruizinisthebest]

Scheduled to be on Meraviglia in a couple of months. I'm already bracing myself for the terminal chaos I see reported often. As well as the not-so-good food. I'm glad to be pleasantly surprised. Thanks for the information. 

[gizfish]

We cruised in September 2023, and I did not experience most of those issues.  While I agree that the cabins are poorly planned for storage, our standard balcony cabin was equivalent or even larger in size than other cruise lines.  For instance the sofa in the room could easily seat four people, and the pass through area at the foot of the bed was wider than in other lines cabins.

 

It might be that we arrived at the port later, around noonish, but we had virtually no wait to enter the parking lot and actually got a pretty good spot.  There was no wait to clear security, and while the check in line snaked around a lot, it moved relatively quickly and we boarded within about twenty minutes at most.

 

While late night snacks were limited to burgers and hot dog type of things, I was happy there was some sort of food available at all times except maybe for a few hours overnight.  NCL for example has stopped any buffet food after dinner and only has a relatively small sit down restaurant that is open late. And no line can compete with MSC's always available pizza.  Also, the buffet desserts are deceiving.  They look like the usual cruise buffet desserts, but OMG most were delicious.  The buffet desserts surpassed any mainstream line desserts in their MDR or buffets, and I have been on them all except Celebrity.  Keep an eye out for the chocolate panicotta.  It will look very plain in a silver foil dish.

 

We did not have any issues with portion sizes in the MDR.  While the portions were not as large as one would get at a regular restaurant, where you often take some of that home, they were certainly appropriately sized.  The temperatures for us were not cold.  However, some dishes were over salted.  Also while the buffet coffee was the best I have ever had on any ship,  The one time I succeed in getting the MDR waiter to bring me a cup after dinner, it was lukewarm and tasted like it had been diluted by more than half.  The MDR food in my opinion, surpassed NCL's by far.  I agree that Hola was an excellent choice with reasonable prices and portion sizes, especially since they packed our food to go and we enjoyed it in our cabin.

 

Since MSC is pretty much the only line sailing year round from NY to places other than Bermuda at a more than reasonable price, the Meraviglia is our new go to.  The fact that they are offering pre-covid service (no one else is cleaning cabins twice a day anymore for example) at a price point much lower than the other lines $1200 or more on a trump beautiful ship, makes MSC an even better choice for us.

[Essiesmom]

6 hours ago, gizfish said:

We cruised in September 2023, and I did not experience most of those issues.  While I agree that the cabins are poorly planned for storage, our standard balcony cabin was equivalent or even larger in size than other cruise lines.  For instance the sofa in the room could easily seat four people, and the pass through area at the foot of the bed was wider than in other lines cabins.

 

It might be that we arrived at the port later, around noonish, but we had virtually no wait to enter the parking lot and actually got a pretty good spot.  There was no wait to clear security, and while the check in line snaked around a lot, it moved relatively quickly and we boarded within about twenty minutes at most.

 

While late night snacks were limited to burgers and hot dog type of things, I was happy there was some sort of food available at all times except maybe for a few hours overnight.  NCL for example has stopped any buffet food after dinner and only has a relatively small sit down restaurant that is open late. And no line can compete with MSC's always available pizza.  Also, the buffet desserts are deceiving.  They look like the usual cruise buffet desserts, but OMG most were delicious.  The buffet desserts surpassed any mainstream line desserts in their MDR or buffets, and I have been on them all except Celebrity.  Keep an eye out for the chocolate panicotta.  It will look very plain in a silver foil dish.

 

We did not have any issues with portion sizes in the MDR.  While the portions were not as large as one would get at a regular restaurant, where you often take some of that home, they were certainly appropriately sized.  The temperatures for us were not cold.  However, some dishes were over salted.  Also while the buffet coffee was the best I have ever had on any ship,  The one time I succeed in getting the MDR waiter to bring me a cup after dinner, it was lukewarm and tasted like it had been diluted by more than half.  The MDR food in my opinion, surpassed NCL's by far.  I agree that Hola was an excellent choice with reasonable prices and portion sizes, especially since they packed our food to go and we enjoyed it in our cabin.

 

Since MSC is pretty much the only line sailing year round from NY to places other than Bermuda at a more than reasonable price, the Meraviglia is our new go to.  The fact that they are offering pre-covid service (no one else is cleaning cabins twice a day anymore for example) at a price point much lower than the other lines $1200 or more on a trump beautiful ship, makes MSC an even better choice for us.

I am so glad to see you refuting the ‘ultimate authority’ blogger.  I am so tired of reading posts that say ‘this is what I experienced and you will find the same’.  Though I have not sailed Meraviglia, I have sailed Divina, Seaside, Seashore and Armonia.  I found the cabins (except on Armonia) larger than the standard cabin on any other cruise line I have sailed, and I have sailed many.  I agree that storage is a bit sparse, but have never had a problem fitting a suitcase under the bed.  If it doesn’t slide easily, lift up the bed a bit.  Or slide it under open.  Or maybe it’s a sign you are packing too much, especially if you know there will be three sharing the cabin.  EM

[jenngirl]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

I am so glad to see you refuting the ‘ultimate authority’ blogger.  I am so tired of reading posts that say ‘this is what I experienced and you will find the same’.  Though I have not sailed Meraviglia, I have sailed Divina, Seaside, Seashore and Armonia.  I found the cabins (except on Armonia) larger than the standard cabin on any other cruise line I have sailed, and I have sailed many.  I agree that storage is a bit sparse, but have never had a problem fitting a suitcase under the bed.  If it doesn’t slide easily, lift up the bed a bit.  Or slide it under open.  Or maybe it’s a sign you are packing too much, especially if you know there will be three sharing the cabin.  EM

Hi! I actually never said you’d find the same thing if you went in my blog post and I think I’m far from an ultimate authority- I do this to help people learn more information. I actually wrote in there that is my experience. Isn’t that what any blog or forum on here is about? To share your experience about something. Not everyone has a great experience and not everyone has a terrible experience. It’s a service- services are never rendered the same from person to person. I spoke more about things onboard like places and events that happened. It’s something that I wanted people to be aware of if they sailed and it’s something that could pop up, so why not be prepared. I hope it doesn’t and it was a fluke of a cruise on my end but it’s a possibility that it happens. In terms of the suitcase, it was actually only half way full- I’ve sailed on many cruises and a packed suitcase has fit under the bed before so it’s just something I wanted people to be aware of. Again, maybe you have a different suitcase that’s fine- but ours didn’t fit. 

[jenngirl]

18 hours ago, cruizinisthebest said:

Scheduled to be on Meraviglia in a couple of months. I'm already bracing myself for the terminal chaos I see reported often. As well as the not-so-good food. I'm glad to be pleasantly surprised. Thanks for the information. 

Hi! Please know, I’m not saying that you are going to face all of these experiences. It was just what happened to me and people in my group and people I spoke to onboard. It’s things that people should be aware of. I hope you honestly have the best cruise and you are so surprised! I went in wanting it to be the best cruise ever and I hope that happens for you!! 

[jenngirl]

8 hours ago, gizfish said:

We cruised in September 2023, and I did not experience most of those issues.  While I agree that the cabins are poorly planned for storage, our standard balcony cabin was equivalent or even larger in size than other cruise lines.  For instance the sofa in the room could easily seat four people, and the pass through area at the foot of the bed was wider than in other lines cabins.

 

It might be that we arrived at the port later, around noonish, but we had virtually no wait to enter the parking lot and actually got a pretty good spot.  There was no wait to clear security, and while the check in line snaked around a lot, it moved relatively quickly and we boarded within about twenty minutes at most.

 

While late night snacks were limited to burgers and hot dog type of things, I was happy there was some sort of food available at all times except maybe for a few hours overnight.  NCL for example has stopped any buffet food after dinner and only has a relatively small sit down restaurant that is open late. And no line can compete with MSC's always available pizza.  Also, the buffet desserts are deceiving.  They look like the usual cruise buffet desserts, but OMG most were delicious.  The buffet desserts surpassed any mainstream line desserts in their MDR or buffets, and I have been on them all except Celebrity.  Keep an eye out for the chocolate panicotta.  It will look very plain in a silver foil dish.

 

We did not have any issues with portion sizes in the MDR.  While the portions were not as large as one would get at a regular restaurant, where you often take some of that home, they were certainly appropriately sized.  The temperatures for us were not cold.  However, some dishes were over salted.  Also while the buffet coffee was the best I have ever had on any ship,  The one time I succeed in getting the MDR waiter to bring me a cup after dinner, it was lukewarm and tasted like it had been diluted by more than half.  The MDR food in my opinion, surpassed NCL's by far.  I agree that Hola was an excellent choice with reasonable prices and portion sizes, especially since they packed our food to go and we enjoyed it in our cabin.

 

Since MSC is pretty much the only line sailing year round from NY to places other than Bermuda at a more than reasonable price, the Meraviglia is our new go to.  The fact that they are offering pre-covid service (no one else is cleaning cabins twice a day anymore for example) at a price point much lower than the other lines $1200 or more on a trump beautiful ship, makes MSC an even better choice for us.

Hi! We all have different experiences and I am so happy you had a great experience onboard. I see you mentioned that you had room service twice a day. That’s actually something I didn’t have. There wasn’t room service twice a day, our waited told us he didn’t have time to bring coffee with dessert the first few nights, meanwhile we were the first people in the restaurant. I am by no means saying I’m an ultimate authority on this it’s just I had a different experience this time around! Im glad to see you had some great experiences onboard. 

[gizfish]

15 hours ago, jenngirl said:

Hi! We all have different experiences and I am so happy you had a great experience onboard. I see you mentioned that you had room service twice a day. That’s actually something I didn’t have. There wasn’t room service twice a day, our waited told us he didn’t have time to bring coffee with dessert the first few nights, meanwhile we were the first people in the restaurant. I am by no means saying I’m an ultimate authority on this it’s just I had a different experience this time around! Im glad to see you had some great experiences onboard. 

To clarify, the room was serviced twice daily.  This is the norm on all MSC cruises, and the female stewardess uniform was literally a French maid style complete with black pantyhose and lacy apron.  Sorry, still can't get past that one lol.  But back to the point, if your room was not being serviced twice a day (cleaning early and then turn down and tidy at night) you should have complained.  I also would have complained if the waiter told me he didn't have time to complete a reasonable request like after dinner coffee. 

 

BTW I did find the MDR staff to be disorganized and not up to standards I am used to on other lines.  I don't know if it was a bunch of new contracts getting acclimated, but I think it may have been poor management and training from senior dining room staff.  I didn't mention it in my previous post because it wasn't a bid deal to us getting a spoon instead of a fork with dessert or little things like that.

[mets07]

We have noticed on several cruise lines that they are frequently not offering coffee/tea after dinner unless you deliberately bring it up.

 

We had once/day room service on Meraviglia. We chose morning. The attendant did enter our room every evening to leave the "compass/daily/whatever it's called" for the next day. 

 

We enjoyed the cruise very much. The ship was beautiful and the live music excellent. On the negative side, we found the buffet linearly designed and disorganized. 

 

Happy cruising, all.