iceberg1116

No. I ordered extra almost every night to share / exchange with my kids and they also order one or two sometimes. Never a charge.

So it's a European setup. I guess it makes sense. Just seems so strange they killed off utility with that.

For those with kids between 10 to 13, I feel it's a group that somewhat neglected by MSC. They are too old for some of the activities for the younger group and too young to be mixing in with the teens. Our son wanted to join the activities a few times but didn't due to them mixing the 12 to 14 and 15 and older activities together, which we understand because he was undersized relative to the much older kids. The area is also not staffed enough so that room is constantly closed. This is something that we thought Carnival and Royal do a much better job in. I will talk about food next.

We enjoyed having the complimentary access to the thermal spa and utilize it twice during the stay. The saunas are sufficiently hot. The steam bath was great. I do think the hot tub in the spa area isn't hot enough. Given the temperature limit in the hot tub (37 degree max) in our stateroom, I suspect this is a management decision. The tub in the YC area upstairs was much nicer temperature.

Continuing on the activities and excursion. We find that MSC lacking in terms of how it wants your money. They can definitely do a better job. Want to bowl? You have to line up for an hour plus to make a reservation. Want to get a fun pass that give you credits for the arcade? Again, get in that line. No way purchase or reserve online. They have one staffing handling payment and one that's in charge of 4 things (F1, VR Shooting, Flight Simulator, Bowling). This lack of staffing and details continued elsewhere. We were among a group of people left at the port after hundreds of us were merged with crowds from other cruise lines at Nassau before hitting the gate. No additional signs or directions so we all missed the bus. They sold these floats which worked well at Ocean Cay but also sold the family floats which doesn't. Imagine my surprise when I was presented with a float that is 8 times the size of a regular float and requires at least 2 men to lift it. Photo booth is a chaos on last day as the photographers don't have a way to link the photos to your profile when taking pictures so they have to manually link them up last day for everyone. So wait time to pay the wait time to confirm and pick up order. You also can't download via phone or given a memory stick or confirm that the download is OK prior departure. This may be an issue for some folks. I like Carnival in that they put it on a memory stick. Royal have every linked as you take pictures and gives you the ability to download.

We didn't find it an issue especially given that it is just a few floors up. We did see that they have an elevator specifically within the YC footprint of 14 to 18 but it wouldn't make or break your trip.

Activities wise, we thought it was a bit lacking overall but enjoy some of the shows that were offered. Talent was good. Chris Clarke was quite good and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The few kids activities were done quite well. The crew did a great job with what they have. We also enjoyed the Rock Circus and Houdini along with some the of regular nightly shows offered. Comedy show was great. One thing I did noticed with the Yacht Club seating is that they don't really give decent seats like the reserved areas at Royal Caribbean so I would recommend going yourself early to secure better viewing area if eyesight is an issue. Also something about the arts and crafts, we thought it was a weird decision for them to make many of them 18 plus. We initially thought it might be fine joining as long as we are around but my kids were disappointed that they couldn't. There aren't really many participants as a result. This to me is part of this whole theme of details that MSC don't get right throughout the entire cruise experience. There are definitely some activities that some families would love to be able to participate in like the yes or no game for example.

About the cabin. We booked the duplex having experience with crown loft suite in two different oasis class ships with Royal and loved the space we have. The hot tub was a big draw though having that window in front of the ship was a concern as we like having seabreeze while sitting in our lounge chair. This is where the quality of the rooms vs Carnival and more specifically Royal Caribbean started to turn up over the course of the trip. While there is still a lot of space, we feel it's more cramped due to the way how it's designed. The stairs effectively made the rooms smaller having the extra rounded steps at the end. Metal edges for the steps rather than runners was unnecessary and hurt our feet quite a few times during the trip. Sofa would not flatten and you can't sit on it without sliding. You can hear footsteps from your 2nd floor bed at night or in the morning so sound proofing is on the weaker side though not bad enough you can't go to sleep. Bathroom was a big disappointment after it being a big plus at Royal (the double shower was great). Bathroom doors were squeeky so I had to ask our butler to get maintenance to spray some w40. Exhaust in the main bathroom was loud so I put a hand towel on it at night to muff out the noise. Except for myself, noone else in the family use the shower in the bathroom upstairs because of the design. They had this small swinging screen in the shower that was too small to prevent a lot of water from splashing out into the bathroom floor. To make it worse, probably because of the same issue, they purposely decrease the water pressure on the shower head to reduce the splashing. The sink was very slow to drain which is another detail that was left out in their checks. The positive is that the shower downstairs do have a lot of water pressure so it's comfortable. Back in the balcony, hot tub only worked properly one day out of 7 night trip with some adjustments needed in 3 other times we use it. We used it half an hour on the 2nd day as it would not heat up after filling up with water. We couldn't use it again until 4th day when we thought they finally fixed it after our butler repeatedly put in request to get it fixed and my travel agent sent an email into corporate. To our disappointment, it didn't continue to work so we ended up draining the cold water while putting in hot water each time we need to use it. It ended up being a pain. With the problem we have with the hot tub and the windows in front to block the wind, it wasn't a cabin choice we would recommend as it felt more like an oceanview. Water did get into the room from a pipe burst during the trip but it was just slightly wet so it's OK. Internet package that was included was sufficient to check email and watch occasional videos. We were also able to do some work while on ship. However, a lot of things were blocked. I brought a travel router but that was blocked as I could not log in. It would have made some things easier and important to some folks without the YC benefits that wanted share a plan. All major video sites are blocked. Screen mirroring are blocked on the TV UNLESS you brought a Roku or streaming device which then allow you to go into their menu. As a comparison, we had no problem streaming directly using Roku on Royal Caribbean but could not use it other than use it to get into the menu option for screen mirroring. Logging in to internet service using Roky is not supported. Connecting a hdmi cable into the TV was a major chore as the TV doesn't swing out so you'll need a small hand.

Check in at the port was a breeze. I dropped my family and luggage off at the entrance and went to park my car. $45 a day parking was steep but convenience comes at an obvious cost. I parked my car and came back to take the luggages to the Yacht Club tent. Once inside the checkin area, we lined up to go into the waiting area where we were given some drinks and snacks. This is a nice touch. Another 10 minutes later, we were at the counter to be given our bracelets. 5 minutes later, we were already heading to the concierge area where we are told our room is ready. Once in the room, which coincidentally is 12006, our butler Anthony met with us and asked for our preferences for the minibar and told us that the hot tub may not be ready until the next day. This is fine as we like to explore whenever in a new ship so likely won't have a chance to use the tub. I will elaborate on the cabin a bit later as there are many many details that MSC didn't think about. Up to Top Sail we go. Lunch was great as the family enjoy our first meal with a great view of the harbor even while everyone is still checking in. We could not have asked for a better start to the cruise. When we finished with our lunch, we went exploring for the next two hours around the ship getting to know everything that the ship have to offer. 2 hours into the trip, we already know our way around the ship and ready to enjoy our trip. We loved the display around the chocolate shop and took plenty of photos there.

Last night of Meraviglia out of Brooklyn New York. I thought I use this time to review our experience on the ship overall as I have never had a habit of reviewing after I've done with a trip. I will update this on the fly over the next few days. Also feel free to ask question if you have something specific about the cabin you want to ask about. I know another fellow cruiser already starting a live review in another thread. This is the first time we booked a MSC cruise after being on 5 Carnival, 1 Norwegian and 4 Royal Caribbean cruises. We have always enjoyed our experiences on our cruises other than the one time with Norwegian Getaway out of NYC which was a total fail. Carnival Splendor was great out of NYC. Our experiences with the Sky Suite benefits at Royal also set our expectations high going in. Prior to booking, it was a choice between Crown Loft Suite on Harmony of the Seas and Duplex Loft on MSC Meraviglia. Both around the same except that we'll have to pay $500 per person going to Houston and stay overnight pre cruise. We ended up going with Meraviglia to give MSC a try after matching to Diamond and the chance to finish the trip without a flight was a draw. The whole idea of Yacht Club was interesting and I sold the family having a private hot tub for the trip.