Anyone Sailing On The Meraviglia Today?

[Até]

9 hours ago, nadalina said:

I am booked on this ship in September, my first with MSC.  I have a few questions, please, and any other tips or suggestions for an MSC newbie would be greatly appreciated.  

 

1.  Are there ample electrical outlets in the cabins?  110 or 220?

2.  Are small, desk-top fans allowed?

3.  Are there guest laundry facilities?

4.  I typically take plenty of single dollars, fives and tens to tip for room service and my favorite bartender(s).  Of course, I pay the standard gratuities as well and add extra when deserved.

5.  Tipping in the specialty restaurants has often been controversial on other cruise lines. Some believe the extra charge includes the gratuity for the waiter, but I always tip the waiter in cash in addition to the extra charge.  What is the situation on MSC?

1) It depends a little on the cabin type but in general there are two US 110V and two EU 220V at the desk.  Bring a non-circuit breaker extension if you use a CPAP since there are none near the beds.

2) I've seen them in cabins so it doesn't seem to be an issue, just no circuit protection devices.

3) No.  They do offer laundry packages and by the piece.

4) MSC officially discourages tipping of individual crew.  Crew seem to appreciate it.  Tipping is a personal decision. 

5) See 4).

[mscdivina2016]

15 hours ago, fdcruisers said:

2 booking numbers and the same cabin

You can leave your room unpacked but since you have 2 booking numbers you most likely will need to get off as a prior poster stated as you are actually on 2 cruise, not 1 longer one.

Steve

[jezzyd]

On 8/3/2021 at 12:47 PM, FIREFIGHTERCRUISER said:

Sailing on a B2B now, doing the 4 day then 3. Mainly looking forward to getting to Ocean Cay. We were schedule for the Meraviglia last year but got canceled one week out right around spring break when they stopped cruising. Sailed on the Divina and Seaside multiple times,  and many other Cruise Lines. Not very impressed with the Meraviglia yet. Maybe I started off with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth from all the pre-cruise drama and getting on board but the ship does not seem as nice or well put together as some of the other ones. The kids splash park and slide area is completely dysfunctional. It's way on the top aft portion of the ship. Nowhere up there has seats setup and the entire area is covered with debris falling from the stacks of the ship. Bar service has also been lackluster in the main areas of the pool. The bar staff is running their butts off. I think it's the managers don't have enough Staffing or don't have the bars set up properly. The Pool opened at 11 and at 12 the bar at the pool was still bringing out supplies. That is something that should be done well before the pool area opens. I'm sure it will take them a little while to get back in the groove but when the ship is sailing with only half capacity you would think everything would be top notch. We are steerage class also, IE. No Yacht Club.

Just my opinion.

I will be doing b2b 8/20.  Can you please let me know how that process goes when you transition to the 2nd cruise.

[bones774]

2 hours ago, jezzyd said:

I will be doing b2b 8/20.  Can you please let me know how that process goes when you transition to the 2nd cruise.

yes I think alot of people are wondering same thing, please let us know

[rkacruiser]

21 hours ago, no1talks said:

I'm thinking a mandarin collar might be fun. Undecided about the vest/tie/shoe color, though. Since there is no place for a pocket square or boutonnière, to accessorize, I would probably put my
pocket watch in the vest and add a tie ring to the ascot.

 

I appreciate your response and picture of the type of formal wear that you are considering.  It's an attire that I have never seen.  (But, remember, I have been in my bubble since March, 2020.)  I do like the "look".  Appropriate for a senior citizen?  Not sure.  I think I will keep wearing my tailor made tux and formal shirts.  

[fdcruisers]

11 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

You can leave your room unpacked but since you have 2 booking numbers you most likely will need to get off as a prior poster stated as you are actually on 2 cruise, not 1 longer one.

Steve

Thank you. I am glad I can leave my luggage in my room.

[FIREFIGHTERCRUISER]

The process today for the B2B was pretty straightforward. We left all items in our room and were told to meet at a certain restaurant this morning at 8:45 am. Last night we received our PCR test and our packet with back-to-back information. I'm guessing they're still trying to get the Kinks worked out. At least that's the excuse they gave us, even though they have been doing it for years now . We ended up sitting in the restaurant this morning for over 2 hours waiting. Once we finally got moving the process was relatively quick, just a pain in the butt to walk all the way off the boat go through customs then walk all the way back on. 

The wait wouldn't have been bad, but the fact that no one from MSC even came to the restaurant to let us know was frustrating. Everyone doing the back-to-back was getting upset because we were just sitting there receiving no information.

Sadly, that's becoming par for the course with MSC. You can call it a difference of cultures or what not, but this was just flat-out lack of customer service. There were over a hundred people doing back-to-back this Cruise.

Several of us eventually called down to guest relations or went to guest relations to ask what was going on. Even after doing that it took another 45 minutes for someone to ever show up and give us any actual information.

Sure would have been nice to sleep in an extra two hours and not to rush to get to the restaurant to sit there and do nothing.

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, FIREFIGHTERCRUISER said:

The process today for the B2B was pretty straightforward. We left all items in our room and were told to meet at a certain restaurant this morning at 8:45 am. Last night we received our PCR test and our packet with back-to-back information. I'm guessing they're still trying to get the Kinks worked out. At least that's the excuse they gave us, even though they have been doing it for years now . We ended up sitting in the restaurant this morning for over 2 hours waiting. Once we finally got moving the process was relatively quick, just a pain in the butt to walk all the way off the boat go through customs then walk all the way back on. 

The wait wouldn't have been bad, but the fact that no one from MSC even came to the restaurant to let us know was frustrating. Everyone doing the back-to-back was getting upset because we were just sitting there receiving no information.

Sadly, that's becoming par for the course with MSC. You can call it a difference of cultures or what not, but this was just flat-out lack of customer service. There were over a hundred people doing back-to-back this Cruise.

Several of us eventually called down to guest relations or went to guest relations to ask what was going on. Even after doing that it took another 45 minutes for someone to ever show up and give us any actual information.

Sure would have been nice to sleep in an extra two hours and not to rush to get to the restaurant to sit there and do nothing.

Did you have 1 or 2 booking numbers?

Steve

[FIREFIGHTERCRUISER]

1 hour ago, FIREFIGHTERCRUISER said:

The process today for the B2B was pretty straightforward. We left all items in our room and were told to meet at a certain restaurant this morning at 8:45 am. Last night we received our PCR test and our packet with back-to-back information. I'm guessing they're still trying to get the Kinks worked out. At least that's the excuse they gave us, even though they have been doing it for years now . We ended up sitting in the restaurant this morning for over 2 hours waiting. Once we finally got moving the process was relatively quick, just a pain in the butt to walk all the way off the boat go through customs then walk all the way back on. 

The wait wouldn't have been bad, but the fact that no one from MSC even came to the restaurant to let us know was frustrating. Everyone doing the back-to-back was getting upset because we were just sitting there receiving no information.

Sadly, that's becoming par for the course with MSC. You can call it a difference of cultures or what not, but this was just flat-out lack of customer service. There were over a hundred people doing back-to-back this Cruise.

Several of us eventually called down to guest relations or went to guest relations to ask what was going on. Even after doing that it took another 45 minutes for someone to ever show up and give us any actual information.

Sure would have been nice to sleep in an extra two hours and not to rush to get to the restaurant to sit there and do nothing.

 

13 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Did you have 1 or 2 booking numbers?

Steve

We had 2 seperate numbers.

[Até]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Did you have 1 or 2 booking numbers?

In the US it doesn't matter, either way you book everyone has to go through immigration and the ship has to be "zeroed out" passenger wise.  This is different in the EU so in the US MSC is frequently searching for people who booked B2B or 14 days and think they don't have to get off.

[rkacruiser]

4 minutes ago, Até said:

In the US it doesn't matter, either way you book everyone has to go through immigration and the ship has to be "zeroed out" passenger wise.

 

This has been more proof to me that the Neanderthals genes still affect some of our public servants who make such rules.  

 

 

[bones774]

3 hours ago, FIREFIGHTERCRUISER said:

The process today for the B2B was pretty straightforward. We left all items in our room and were told to meet at a certain restaurant this morning at 8:45 am. Last night we received our PCR test and our packet with back-to-back information. I'm guessing they're still trying to get the Kinks worked out. At least that's the excuse they gave us, even though they have been doing it for years now . We ended up sitting in the restaurant this morning for over 2 hours waiting. Once we finally got moving the process was relatively quick, just a pain in the butt to walk all the way off the boat go through customs then walk all the way back on. 

The wait wouldn't have been bad, but the fact that no one from MSC even came to the restaurant to let us know was frustrating. Everyone doing the back-to-back was getting upset because we were just sitting there receiving no information.

Sadly, that's becoming par for the course with MSC. You can call it a difference of cultures or what not, but this was just flat-out lack of customer service. There were over a hundred people doing back-to-back this Cruise.

Several of us eventually called down to guest relations or went to guest relations to ask what was going on. Even after doing that it took another 45 minutes for someone to ever show up and give us any actual information.

Sure would have been nice to sleep in an extra two hours and not to rush to get to the restaurant to sit there and do nothing.

Did you stay in same cabin and left your stuff throughout room or did you switch cabins and you're stuff was all packed to be moved?

Did you see anyone from YC also hanging about for 2 hours?

thanks

[phissy]

We are sailing in a B2B and made sure we have...

 

- two booking numbers.  This allowed us to have twice the OBC and double points for cruise. Also,  2 Diamond dinners, one for each week. Double Diamond benefits (wine, etc)

 

-same cabin for each week.  This was a struggle since MSC kept bumping us to guarantee . I had to Call and get original cabin back before someone else booked it.

We intend on leaving everything unpacked in cabin and just taking vital documents with us during port disembarkation/embarkation.

We are in Yacht Club, hope that concierge can facilitate process.

 

I guess Meraviglia will have things worked out by October/November cruises.

  

Edited August 7, 2021 by phissy

[Até]

27 minutes ago, phissy said:

We are in Yacht Club, hope that concierge can facilitate process.

When I've done B2B in YC they usually let you stay in the Top Sail lounge rather than go to the lounge or restaurant where the other passengers wait.  The only down side is that when they do get word to take you down to the gathering point there might not be much room or seats so you may have to just stand.  Luckily on Meraviglia they did the meeting point in the Carousel lounge and there's usually plenty of seating.  Seaside was in the News Cafe and it was packed.

[Até]

I just noticed Meraviglia went into Orange status, I assume from the August 5th report.  It looks like all but one of the other larger cruise ships sailing from the US are now Yellow and under investigation.

[FIREFIGHTERCRUISER]

3 hours ago, bones774 said:

Did you stay in same cabin and left your stuff throughout room or did you switch cabins and you're stuff was all packed to be moved?

Did you see anyone from YC also hanging about for 2 hours?

thanks

Yes. We were in the same cabin and left all our stuff. YC was in the same room with the steerage members. 

We got back on the ship and new cruisers were about 2 minutes behind us once we finally got back on.

Edited August 7, 2021 by FIREFIGHTERCRUISER

[mscdivina2016]

14 hours ago, Até said:

In the US it doesn't matter, either way you book everyone has to go through immigration and the ship has to be "zeroed out" passenger wise.  This is different in the EU so in the US MSC is frequently searching for people who booked B2B or 14 days and think they don't have to get off.

Thanks for clearing that up. I just realized that all my b2bs have all been non USA cruises.

Steve

[lifeasme123]

On 8/5/2021 at 1:56 PM, bones774 said:

yes I think alot of people are wondering same thing, please let us know

Our friends are on Mera since Aug 2.  They have different booking numbers for the B2B.  The night before disembarkation from the first leg, they switched cabins and left there stuff there.  They did not have to pack to disembark.

[shipgeeks]

Regarding the long wait for the B2B process:  When we did this on Seaside in 2020, I now believe this was due to some of the passengers not checking in at the entrance of the waiting area.  We showed up at the requested time, and entered through the main entrance, where we noticed a staffed podium.  We asked if we were supposed to check in, they said yes, and took our names.  While we waited...and waited... a number of passengers walked in through the back door and just sat down.

In retrospect, I fault MSC for not making it clear (prior, and at the time) that everyone MUST check in, but I also fault the passengers who were very casual about the whole process, not thinking that they might be holding everyone up.

[TennChargerFan]

On 8/2/2021 at 10:35 AM, Geobugs said:

 

1. What night is formal night?

2. What side of the ship faces Ocean Cay?

3. Menus would be great.

4. Demographics of the passengers.

5. How many languages during announcements?

This will be my first MSC  CRUISE so only know from what ive been reading but looks like at Cays you want starboard side for islsnd view .as far as formal night id love to know that too and menus would be cool .

[ToplessPony]

On 8/6/2021 at 4:11 PM, FIREFIGHTERCRUISER said:

The process today for the B2B was pretty straightforward. We left all items in our room and were told to meet at a certain restaurant this morning at 8:45 am. Last night we received our PCR test and our packet with back-to-back information. I'm guessing they're still trying to get the Kinks worked out...

 

Thanks for the B2B info!  We are doing the 4/3 nighters starting Labor Day and we're curious about it.

 

Have you noticed if there is any availability to purchase a drink package on the 3-night portion?

 

Thanks again!  🙂

[FIREFIGHTERCRUISER]

1 hour ago, ToplessPony said:

 

Thanks for the B2B info!  We are doing the 4/3 nighters starting Labor Day and we're curious about it.

 

Have you noticed if there is any availability to purchase a drink package on the 3-night portion?

 

Thanks again!  🙂

Yes, you can purchase it once you get on board. Or if you're doing the back back once the three-day starts. We also called and tried everything online to purchase it for our 3 day but were not able to prior to the cruise. 

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by FIREFIGHTERCRUISER

[ToplessPony]

3 hours ago, FIREFIGHTERCRUISER said:

Yes, you can purchase it once you get on board. Or if you're doing the back back once the three-day starts. We also called and tried everything online to purchase it for our 3 day but were not able to prior to the cruise. 

 

 

Great news!  Thanks for the info!  Not to be too greedy with the questions but... Was it just Easy offered for sale or could you purchase Premium?  

 

Thanks again! 🙂

[FIREFIGHTERCRUISER]

They offered all the packages. Usual first day stuff, where the crew is making the rounds pushing the food and drink packages. They push the packaged pretty hard, not sure why they wouldnt let people just buy them prior to the cruise like the 4+ night ones.

[ToplessPony]

9 hours ago, FIREFIGHTERCRUISER said:

They offered all the packages. Usual first day stuff, where the crew is making the rounds pushing the food and drink packages. They push the packaged pretty hard, not sure why they wouldnt let people just buy them prior to the cruise like the 4+ night ones.

 

Thanks again! 🙂 🙂 🙂