Notch8

We didn’t snorkel at Sunset Beach, so can’t compare. We didn’t find the water to be rough at Bimini Beach. Water was mostly clear, especially in areas near the rocks (fewer people) - and that’s where all the fish are anyway. TIP: bring a roll from the buffet with you to feed the fish. You’ll quickly be surrounded by hundreds of “Sergeant Major” fish!

Hope my answers in bold are helpful.

See answers above in bold.

Tram stops just short of the bridge. Walking across the bridge, bear to the left for Bimini Beach. To the right is the entrance to the Yacht Club area. (See map on post #3 above.). You can’t accidentally (or “accidentally”) wander into that area; as @Jeal noted there’s a staff member present to prevent such. There is one food truck and there are two bars at Bimini Beach. Hope this helps.

Yacht Club has Ocean House beach as its exclusive beach. It is separated by rocks from the entirety of Bimini Beach. Bimini Beach faces north; Ocean House Beach faces east. The two are separated by rocks. You can’t easily access one from the other. At least, that’s the way it was this past Thursday. We swam the entire length of Bimini Beach.

11:30 - 2:00 at the Seakers buffet. Food trucks had longer hours. I have a separate thread with the daily planners; the information in them might be helpful (although you might have to dig.) Jim

That’s not what I noticed; we were not Yacht Club and were able to use Bimini Beach in its entirety. Yacht Club has their own beach. Maybe something has changed?

What @JamieLogical said is what I saw. And they boarded first.

When we were at Ocean Cay on Thursday, the sign for Beach House was far enough away from the main walkway to not deter people from going to Bimini Beach. I didn’t notice anyone at the bridge. (Doesn’t mean someone wasn’t there; only that it didn’t grab my attention if there was.)

I wondered that too. I boarded MSC Meraviglia last week and learned that it meant your check-in process was basically complete… “fast-tracking” us through the check-in process at the port. Guessing they’ve simply assigned a name to online check-in process.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN THE BACK OF THE DESK DRAWER!! I guess we need to stop ragging on MSC for not providing facial tissues!! But they lose points for not putting them in an obvious place!! 🤣

Well, everyone has different tastes. I personally liked “The Journey” and “Encore” - the former was more classical type music (vs. dance pop - not “classical” like Beethoven. For example, it opens with the song “Danny Boy”) and the latter was show tunes. I did enjoy the two magic shows too. Comedian was also good. I guess the only one I could have skipped was Dejah (singer.) She is talented, but it’s not my favorite kind of music. We aren’t attending her second show tonight for that reason. All of the acts were well done; their entertainers have a lot of talent. Hopefully this gives you enough information to make a decision about what shows to attend. Jim

Last day on the ship! And another beautiful day at sea. The Atlantic Ocean is again very smooth, and the temperature is cooler than yesterday. Last night we enjoyed the show “Wonderville the future of magic” which was similar to the earlier Magic show with different tricks. Same four magicians. Tonight is the same singer we had three nights ago. She was talented, but the music she sang isn’t really my type. One disappointment on this trip vs. July is that in July there were cream puffs available in the buffet for dessert; I haven’t seen them all week. I’ve made up for it by eating more of the (excellent) ice cream. Very enjoyable trip! As MSC keeps tweaking their product, I see them being a very formidable competitor to the “big 3” (CCL, RCCL, NCL.) They have a few nice luxuries that the others don’t, and they seem to be recognizing where they need to improve. Jim

I didn’t see anything about a passenger talent show. There is a “Crew Staff Variety Show” tomorrow (Saturday).

Day 7 (Saturday)

For the difference in price? It better be!

On MSC Meraviglia now. On this ship anyway, the answer is yes. Jim

Today is a sea day, so MSC scheduled some events such as the “returning cruisers” party. They introduced the officers, but other than that there wasn’t any interaction. Surprisingly, it was held in the theater - you know, the one where you can’t bring in drinks for shows - yet they were handing out flutes of sparkling wine or fruit punch to the guests. Brunch this morning (vs. separate breakfast and lunch.). We were fortunate to have our evening waiter as our server; he got me the fresh pressed orange juice. Table next to us (different server) was told they had to go to the bar on deck 15 to get. 🙄 The Atlantic is smooth as glass today as we head north so we’re spending the day exploring the ship and relaxing. Maybe later we’ll take a slide down the water slides. Jim

So at the beginning of the buffet line, there are various salads (bean salad, pasta salad, Greek salad, etc.). Then there are breads. Then desserts. Then hot sides (corn, red beans and rice, etc.). Then a couple of entrees (jerk chicken, bbq ribs) and finally the pre-made cheeseburgers and hot dogs. (Cheeseburgers have some sauce of some sort along with onions, lettuce, and tomato. If you want something different on your burger, be prepared to wait.) Food trucks are free except for lobster rolls; you have to pay for those. Jim

Day 6 (Friday)

When we got back on the Meraviglia yesterday in Nassau, the couple ahead of us had THREE bottles of liquor (I presume rum?) that they put through the x-ray. The security guy looked them over and picked one up and said “be careful sending this through; they’re fragile!” They didn’t seem to care.

They’re still there in a few places. Comparing an old map with the current one, it looks like one or two moved though.

I just learned of another (good) change since July… bar service is now available in the dining room at dinner! In July, you could get wine but no cocktails. Nicely done, MSC!

I answered the question @dmc94 asked assuming the reference was regarding Ocean Cay lunch, not the ship lunch. Apologies if I misunderstood.

Yes. That’s why we brought our own. May be included for Yacht Club though. Not sure. Jim