Tell me about Meraviglia

[seasidemama]

Never been on MSC before. Just reached diamond with RCI but they are effectively pricing me out of further cruises for the time being with their enhanced pricing experience..  Looking at next summer out of NY on the Meraviglia. Myself and my two preteens.  We sailed on Navigator, Adventure, Harmony, Anthem and Oasis.  How would the experience compare?  Are the kids/teens clubs comparable.  How does dining work - is it a set dining time or can you choose a time like my time dining?  Happy to try a new experience but wondering what to expect. For the three of us, the price difference is about $3,000 in a balcony on the Meraviglia vs the Symphony for next August. I prefer not to fly so looking for NY/NJ local sailings.  

 

Are there enough after dinner shows and other day time activities to keep my kids from getting bored?

 

Anything else you can tell me on what I could expect sailing MSC with two pre-teens in tow?

 

Thanks!

[JamieLogical]

Can't tell you about the kids/teens situation, as I don't have children, but I can answer a couple of your questions.

 

If you book the Bella or Fantastica experience, you will have a set dining time, room, and table. Those items will be printed on your keycard when you check in. When you book, you can set your preference for "early" or "late" dining, but there are no guarantees you will get the time you want. If you get assigned a time that doesn't work for you, you can try to have it changed onboard, but again, no guarantees.

 

There are shows in the main theater every evening. There are two showings (one early and one late) each night. The shows are different each night and you will want to reserve your seats once onboard.

 

On the Meraviglia, there is also a venue called the Carousel Lounge which has two different shows available for an upcharge. They are called Rock Circus and House of Houdini. They are kind of cirque de sole style shows. The charge for each show is $18 of booked onboard, $12 if booked online, and $5 if you have the specialty dining package (though there is no dining involved in the show).

[CruisinPandora]

Just got off the MSC Meraviglia today 8/21/23, I guess this will be a mini review. I agree with everything the above poster stated, even about the children's programs, I have no knowledge about them. Maybe someone else can comment on them.

 

We are recently loyal to Royal also so this  experience on the MSC Meraviglia was different but good in some ways. I'll try to explain. The ship is stunning, just beautiful. The entertainment is good but different. Very talented people in all the shows. Muster drill kind of threw us. A bit disorganized to me but we handled it. Food was great although I suggest they get real 100% beef burgers. This would please a lot of people even my husband. The variety in the buffet was very good and the kids seemed to like the food very much. I think that's important. The pizza was great. Lots of great healthy choices also. Always a line by the pool for ice cream. Poor guy worked his arms off.

 

Our cabin and cabin attendant was amazing! Hey Budiana!!! Cabin was spotless, serviced twice a day and any requests were handled quickly. Such a great guy. Storage in the cabin was a little less than we've seen on other cruise lines (so don't over pack), but we managed. Loved the bathroom and shower (tubed shaped with clear lucite door) though it did have a bit of a smell in the shower. Once you turned on the water it went away. Clothes line in the shower. Two beach towels are provided in your cabin. Don't lose them or you will be charged for them. You can only exchange them up on the pool deck or your cabin attendant can exchange them for you.

 

MSC does things differently and very business like with some European like touches. Things that would seem normal on Royal, NCL, Carnival, etc. not so much with MSC. You just have to go with the flow as we did. The two things that threw us was the muster drill: 1. when allowed usually 1:30 pm go to your cabin 2. watch muster drill video 3. call the number given at the end 4. go to your muster station and have your sea cards scanned. Every cruiser all at one time. I wanted to type that in all caps but didn't want to be rude. It was wild! People everywhere, up and down stairs, in elevators that shouldn't be used. Freaked me out. The second thing was using the machines (atm like) so that you could link your credit card to your sea pass card account. That was annoying. I gave MSC the info when purchased the cruise. Something I hope they workout in the future.

 

85% off the crew were amazing, greeted you, answered your questions, smiled as they went by and then there's the other 15%. I called them guard dogs. The keepers of keeping cruisers in line. I understand. Rules should be followed but no crew employee should speak to any cruiser as if they were a child. Maybe a little more customer service could be used in that area.

 

The pool is large and beautiful. So much to see and do all over the ship. On NCL it's called the Great Outdoors on the back of the ship it's where we spent a lot of time other than our balcony. It's located at the back of the buffet on deck 15 and you can watch the ocean and the wake in a nice shaded spot. Right above on deck 16 is the Adults Only sun bathing area. Very nice. Had to clear that deck one day so a medivac helicopter could pick up an very ill passenger.

 

Another great feature that I loved and then I'll let others share their thoughts was right below the cabin room's thermostat there are buttons for "DND = Do not disturb" and "Make up cabin." Loved it! No more hang tags. If you have a balcony cabin do no leave the balcony door open, the sensor will automatically turn of the air conditioning. Hand soap, shower gel and shampoo are provided. Hair dryer in vanity draw. There seems to be a shortage of wash cloths not just on MSC (read about it here on CC) so I brought some extra's with me. But day two they were provided with no problem.

Hope this helps.

Happy cruising!

 

 

[JamieLogical]

@CruisinPandora Glad you had a great time! I definitely agree about muster being chaotic. I knew what to expect having read about it on CC. But it still beats waiting in a crowded dining room or out on deck for an hour like in the pre-COVID days! On my sailings, they did call specific decks at a time to go get your cards scanned, but I think most people just ignored that and went when they felt like it.

 

I found that the machines for linking your credit card were pretty straightforward to use. I had actually linked my credit card to my booking online before sailing, but still used the machines to double-check that my card was linked once onboard.

[nferr]

Cruising Meraviglia in January on a nine nighter. Couldn't beat the pricing with drinks and wifi included for a solo. Looking forward to it. Most reviews I'm reading lately have been positive. The ship seems somewhat equivalent to RCL's Quantum class, obviously with some differences.

[seasidemama]

Thanks everyone. This does sound very promising. I think it's time to try out a different line. Hopefully someone can chime in on the kids/teens clubs or activities. I'm very easy to please but the kiddos need to be happy or my vacation will be more stressful than intended..

[JamieLogical]

57 minutes ago, seasidemama said:

Thanks everyone. This does sound very promising. I think it's time to try out a different line. Hopefully someone can chime in on the kids/teens clubs or activities. I'm very easy to please but the kiddos need to be happy or my vacation will be more stressful than intended..

 

While I don't have any kids, I did visit the SportsPlex area and I was impressed that they have an indoor sports court. I think that would be nice if there were bad weather on your sailing. They also have an arcade, bowling alley, F1 simulator, flight simulator, and 3D movie experience. Those all cost extra.

[CruisinPandora]

Found this on CC - Scroll down to: For Kids - Lots of info.

 

Tweens on MSC Meraviglia

Young Club: This is for the "tweens" -- the 12 to 14-year-olds -- and operates differently from the younger kids' clubs, with programming only in the afternoon when in port and all day when at sea. Facilities include foosball, table tennis, PS4, some pretty cool double seats in which you lounge back to play video games from a TV in the ceiling -- and even some traditional board games like Cluedo. The most innovative piece of technology is a multi-media table which allows kids to post pictures and messages which then get screened on walls round the club -- rather than sit using their cell phones. Programming includes lip sync battles, generation games and sports tournaments in the Sportplex.

 

Teens on MSC Meraviglia

The 15- to 17-year-olds get their own private room which is adjacent to, but not a part of, the kids' club. It's a circular lounge which is effectively one big dance floor, where teens can hang out. It has plenty of chairs, huge TV screens, beanbags and numerous video games including PS4, Nintendo Switch and VR. Their programming is pretty light touch, again afternoons only (except on sea days) and will include generation games, dancing and sports competitions including mini-golf and ping pong. In the evening, when the adults start turning up at the next door Attic Club, the doors are closed.

 

Tip: Bring you and your children's own personal entertainment. TV on MSC is terrible. We brought our computer and streamed a lot of movie's. The tv is very, even less than basic. Have fun finding how to discover your billing account. Channels include all of MSC's info and shopping stuff. HGTV, Cartoon Network, TCM, CNN, Discovery, ESPN, etc. Bring your and your families favorite portable entertainment if possible. The TV is not movable from the wall so you won't be able to connect anything like HDMI to it. Like I said it's very basic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by CruisinPandora
addl' info

[Best Cat Mom]

4 hours ago, CruisinPandora said:

There seems to be a shortage of wash cloths not just on MSC (read about it here on CC) so I brought some extra's with me.

Just like traveling to Italy -- always bring your own wash cloths/face cloths, just in case.

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Just like traveling to Italy -- always bring your own wash cloths/face cloths, just in case.

 

I was in both an Aurea Balcony and a Fantastica Balcony in April on the Meraviglia and never had them NOT give me washcloths in either room. Never had to ask for them.

[seasidemama]

2 hours ago, CruisinPandora said:

Found this on CC - Scroll down to: For Kids - Lots of info.

 

Tweens on MSC Meraviglia

Young Club: This is for the "tweens" -- the 12 to 14-year-olds -- and operates differently from the younger kids' clubs, with programming only in the afternoon when in port and all day when at sea. Facilities include foosball, table tennis, PS4, some pretty cool double seats in which you lounge back to play video games from a TV in the ceiling -- and even some traditional board games like Cluedo. The most innovative piece of technology is a multi-media table which allows kids to post pictures and messages which then get screened on walls round the club -- rather than sit using their cell phones. Programming includes lip sync battles, generation games and sports tournaments in the Sportplex.

 

Teens on MSC Meraviglia

The 15- to 17-year-olds get their own private room which is adjacent to, but not a part of, the kids' club. It's a circular lounge which is effectively one big dance floor, where teens can hang out. It has plenty of chairs, huge TV screens, beanbags and numerous video games including PS4, Nintendo Switch and VR. Their programming is pretty light touch, again afternoons only (except on sea days) and will include generation games, dancing and sports competitions including mini-golf and ping pong. In the evening, when the adults start turning up at the next door Attic Club, the doors are closed.

 

Tip: Bring you and your children's own personal entertainment. TV on MSC is terrible. We brought our computer and streamed a lot of movie's. The tv is very, even less than basic. Have fun finding how to discover your billing account. Channels include all of MSC's info and shopping stuff. HGTV, Cartoon Network, TCM, CNN, Discovery, ESPN, etc. Bring your and your families favorite portable entertainment if possible. The TV is not movable from the wall so you won't be able to connect anything like HDMI to it. Like I said it's very basic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this! Yes, I did read the info on the website. I was wondering from personal experience what people thought about the programs.  My kids generally only do late night at the kids clubs as we are always busy during the day and through dinner/after dinner show. I really like that there's a tweens club on MSC. Recent experiences on RCI's teen clubs with 12-17 year olds all in the same space did not go well for some from what I've read. I always did think putting 12/13 year olds with 16/17 year olds - when those at times can be a bit on the adult side is not very smart.  

 

 

 

 

[PACrew]

We too have been priced out by Royal. We were looking at Anthem from NJ and it is literally twice MSC. I need 2 cabins (family of 6) and MSC is $4k less than Royal for same date, same cabin type (cheapest a balcony) and itinerary (ocean cay obviously, not coco cay). So MSC it is. Sorry, but Royal isn’t worth $4k more to me. 
 

We had had friends take the Mer from Ny and said it was fine. They would do it again. 

[mscdivina2016]

On 8/21/2023 at 9:07 AM, seasidemama said:

Never been on MSC before. Just reached diamond with RCI but they are effectively pricing me out of further cruises for the time being with their enhanced pricing experience..  Looking at next summer out of NY on the Meraviglia. Myself and my two preteens.  We sailed on Navigator, Adventure, Harmony, Anthem and Oasis.  How would the experience compare?  Are the kids/teens clubs comparable.  How does dining work - is it a set dining time or can you choose a time like my time dining?  Happy to try a new experience but wondering what to expect. For the three of us, the price difference is about $3,000 in a balcony on the Meraviglia vs the Symphony for next August. I prefer not to fly so looking for NY/NJ local sailings.  

 

Are there enough after dinner shows and other day time activities to keep my kids from getting bored?

 

Anything else you can tell me on what I could expect sailing MSC with two pre-teens in tow?

 

Thanks!

Just use a TA!!!!

 

Costs you nothing and you have a better chance of avoiding the myriad of issues and problems people have experienced as the TA will handle them.

[JamieLogical]

46 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Just use a TA!!!!

 

Costs you nothing and you have a better chance of avoiding the myriad of issues and problems people have experienced as the TA will handle them.

 

Not really sure how this relates to any of the questions asked in the original post... The OP asked about dining times, pre-teen experience, after-dinner entertainment, and daytime activities.

[mscdivina2016]

Just now, JamieLogical said:

 

Not really sure how this relates to any of the questions asked in the original post... The OP asked about dining times, pre-teen experience, after-dinner entertainment, and daytime activities.

Op stated....

 

Anything else you can tell me on what I could expect sailing MSC with two pre-teens in tow.?.....

 

Problems with MSC  IT or customer service going forward as there are 4 people instead of 2.

Are they getting one room ? Two? Linking together?  Myriad of potential issues so using a TA is a good step.

[RandomUser123]

If you can wait till November I can answer you about Meraviglia for the kids club as I have 2 kids and we will be on the ship in November going to Bermuda. 

[ajoneen]

On 8/21/2023 at 2:08 PM, JamieLogical said:

I had actually linked my credit card to my booking online before sailing, 

I don't see this option online- will it become available closer to cruise time? (Im about 75 days out)

[JamieLogical]

23 minutes ago, ajoneen said:

I don't see this option online- will it become available closer to cruise time? (Im about 75 days out)

 

It was part of the web check-in process when I last did it. Not sure exactly when it became available.

[JamieLogical]

27 minutes ago, ajoneen said:

I don't see this option online- will it become available closer to cruise time? (Im about 75 days out)

 

I am not seeing the option for my upcoming September cruise (33 days out), so maybe they just don't give you the option to do it online anymore? I don't think that's the end of the world, as the kiosks onboard are really easy and quick to use to get the link set up.

[gizfish]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I am not seeing the option for my upcoming September cruise (33 days out), so maybe they just don't give you the option to do it online anymore? I don't think that's the end of the world, as the kiosks onboard are really easy and quick to use to get the link set up.

You may be able to find a way to put your card info in by using the app.  Can't remember for sure but think it was part of the profile.  Don't know how many days out it was there because DH put the info in  20 days before sailing.  He was also able to extend charging privileges to my account.

[JamieLogical]

7 hours ago, gizfish said:

You may be able to find a way to put your card info in by using the app.  Can't remember for sure but think it was part of the profile.  Don't know how many days out it was there because DH put the info in  20 days before sailing.  He was also able to extend charging privileges to my account.

 

Right, when I did it through the website before, I was able to specify that I wanted to use the same credit card for my husband and myself. But I am just not seeing the option to enter onboard payment details at all now. Maybe the sailing is still too far out (32 days now).

[seasidemama]

Thanks everyone for chiming in. I'm going to book this and see how we like it. A week at sea is a week at sea and we do love to cruise.   As far as wifi is concerned, I understand with their current promo, basic wifi is included and I can upgrade from there. I read conflicting experiences on being able to switch devices though.  What I usually do is get 1 wifi package for 3 devices. We switch to our phones when roaming the ship so we could communicate and then switch to tablet/laptop in the room as needed. Is this possible with the MSC upgraded package or are we locked into whatever device we first use?  I know that I would need to log in my kids into my account to use the 3 device plan. Not an issue. 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, seasidemama said:

Thanks everyone for chiming in. I'm going to book this and see how we like it. A week at sea is a week at sea and we do love to cruise.   As far as wifi is concerned, I understand with their current promo, basic wifi is included and I can upgrade from there. I read conflicting experiences on being able to switch devices though.  What I usually do is get 1 wifi package for 3 devices. We switch to our phones when roaming the ship so we could communicate and then switch to tablet/laptop in the room as needed. Is this possible with the MSC upgraded package or are we locked into whatever device we first use?  I know that I would need to log in my kids into my account to use the 3 device plan. Not an issue. 

 

You cannot switch devices on MSC. You are locked into whichever devices you log into first. If you have an android phone, you may be able to hotspot wifi from it (iPhones only allow you to hotspot cell service). I have a Pixel and I am able to hot spot it and then log onto my kindle and surface through my phone.

[seasidemama]

6 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

You cannot switch devices on MSC. You are locked into whichever devices you log into first. If you have an android phone, you may be able to hotspot wifi from it (iPhones only allow you to hotspot cell service). I have a Pixel and I am able to hot spot it and then log onto my kindle and surface through my phone.

 

Thanks, I'll try this. 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, seasidemama said:

 

Thanks, I'll try this. 

 

You can try it at home with your home wifi.... disable cell service on your phone, have your phone connect to your home wifi, create a hotspot with your phone, and then see if you can connect to the network created by your phone with your tablets, etc.