MSC Meraviglia DEC 16, 2023 Port Changes

[Tatka]

On 12/21/2023 at 4:10 PM, Cruzinnana47 said:

Sorry for these folks on this sailing expecting to sail to the Bahamas and ending up heading North.  Unfortunately, when you choose to sail out of a Northern port (e.g., Bayonne, Brooklyn, NYC) in the cold weather months, it should be understood that the weather AND the ocean temps are COLD and a major storm can pop up at any time.  

 

We took a So. Caribbean cruise out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on the fairly new NCL Breakaway in early Jan. 2014 right after the holidays & immediately following a big snowstorm, with the wind chill temps in NYC below zero.  Our Amtrak ride from Boston to NYC was delayed by hours and was a long trip into the city due to icy track conditions.  We stayed in a hotel 2 nights pre-cruise, and we sailed out on a Sun. with freezing rain at sail away.  We were very lucky that, although it was a miserable day, we were able to embark from Manhattan close to schedule and continue on our planned itinerary.  But it could have easily gone another way.  Being from MA, we definitely would have been unhappy going North.  At least we had winter coats, sweaters and boots with us from our trip to NYC.

 

This is when we decided this cruise was a "one and done"...no more sailing from the Northeast in the winter!

We are from MA. We would be upset, but would not cancel if ship had indoor pool. Seems like Meraviglia does. Boston is so beautiful now, we would use our time to enjoy it

 

 

[Cruzinnana47]

1 hour ago, Tatka said:

We are from MA. We would be upset, but would not cancel if ship had indoor pool. Seems like Meraviglia does. Boston is so beautiful now, we would use our time to enjoy it

 

 

Enjoyed your pix.  Especially great time of year in Beantown. I hope some of those pax had a chance to enjoy their visit while in port.

[BDL]

My daughter and I just returned home Saturday from this Meraviglia cruise. 

Was it the trip we expected? No!

Did we have a great time? YES!!! 

All passengers were offered a chance to cancel with full value to be applied to a future cruise.  We chose not to cancel and to make the best of it.  This change in itinerary was due to mother nature.  We were happy we were not sailing south into the storm. The cruise line had safety as their number one priority and we are grateful. 

We were in Boston from 4pm Sunday to 4pm Tuesday.  While Monday was a lousy day, we got off the ship Tuesday and had a wonderful time in town.  Since we came from the Buffalo NY area, we had winter jackets with us.  We also knew the first two and last two days to the Bahamas would have been cold so we packed accordingly.  It also wasn’t going to be tropical in the Bahamas ports at this time of year. We checked on the days we would be there and it was mid 60's and low 70's.

With the ship at about 50% capacity after the cancellations, the ship was delightfully not crowded and service was great.  Those who sailed also got a 20% off voucher for another cruise! We will be applying it to our May cruise.  We met some fantastic people and had unbelievably great service. 

[Tierun]

4 hours ago, BDL said:

My daughter and I just returned home Saturday from this Meraviglia cruise. 

Was it the trip we expected? No!

Did we have a great time? YES!!! 

All passengers were offered a chance to cancel with full value to be applied to a future cruise.  We chose not to cancel and to make the best of it.  This change in itinerary was due to mother nature.  We were happy we were not sailing south into the storm. The cruise line had safety as their number one priority and we are grateful. 

We were in Boston from 4pm Sunday to 4pm Tuesday.  While Monday was a lousy day, we got off the ship Tuesday and had a wonderful time in town.  Since we came from the Buffalo NY area, we had winter jackets with us.  We also knew the first two and last two days to the Bahamas would have been cold so we packed accordingly.  It also wasn’t going to be tropical in the Bahamas ports at this time of year. We checked on the days we would be there and it was mid 60's and low 70's.

With the ship at about 50% capacity after the cancellations, the ship was delightfully not crowded and service was great.  Those who sailed also got a 20% off voucher for another cruise! We will be applying it to our May cruise.  We met some fantastic people and had unbelievably great service. 

Thanks for posting your experience. The media made it out to be the worst cruise ever.

[MISTER 67]

On 12/22/2023 at 10:00 AM, RICHARD@SEA said:

Anyone that sailed on a cruise during that period would gladly give up today's floating malls for that ship.

Remember the Oceanic, FRANCE, Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci..... the best!!!

Amen to that, our first few cruises were on classic ocean liners like the Sitmar Fairwind, the Carla Costa, The Costa Riviera, The Seabreeze and the Regent Star. I always wanted to sail on the beautiful Oceanic but things never worked out.

Edited December 26, 2023 by MISTER 67

[RICHARD@SEA]

We were fortunate to sail in OCEANIC many times - it was so convenient & spectacular  sailing out of NYC anytime of year. - Bermuda & Nassau spring through autumn - then the winter carib sailings with longer itineraries..she was so beautiful & sailed beautifully as she was built as a TA liner - the magradome over the pools made swimming possible all year round - and that is where we had the infamous BON VOYAGE parties!!!

 

SITMAR was another favorite - FAIRSEA & FAIRWIND were older, smaller ships w food & service was topnotch & the cruises were tons of Italian fun!!! - we did both carib & western Mexico cruises - 10 - 14 days - we never wanted to disembark - 

 

MISTER^& - aren't we fortunate!!!

[quattrohead]

On 12/22/2023 at 8:42 AM, buffet24 said:

It's Windy.com!  Go have a look!!! 👍😉👍

 

Also, if anyone is sailing on Meraviglia in the future, please let the Captain know about Windy.com as well!!!  😉😁😂

The Seaside had a computer setup at the back of the bridge connected to a large TV monitor that had tabs open for Windy, Ventusky and some other internal and external information services. The 2nd officer was a young British guy who was very good at explaining what they did and why in various situations.

The engine control room (monitors many other systems too) was very cool too.

[MISTER 67]

3 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

We were fortunate to sail in OCEANIC many times - it was so convenient & spectacular  sailing out of NYC anytime of year. - Bermuda & Nassau spring through autumn - then the winter carib sailings with longer itineraries..she was so beautiful & sailed beautifully as she was built as a TA liner - the magradome over the pools made swimming possible all year round - and that is where we had the infamous BON VOYAGE parties!!!

 

SITMAR was another favorite - FAIRSEA & FAIRWIND were older, smaller ships w food & service was topnotch & the cruises were tons of Italian fun!!! - we did both carib & western Mexico cruises - 10 - 14 days - we never wanted to disembark - 

 

MISTER^& - aren't we fortunate!!!

Yep, our first cruise was on the Fairwind 41years ago, we had such a great time my wife was in tears as we were dis-embarking, Sitmar was the best.

[RICHARD@SEA]

SITMAR = SEX IS TOO MUCH AFTER RAVIOLI

(A waiter told us that - I have to disagree)

[FionaMG]

4 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

SITMAR was another favorite - FAIRSEA & FAIRWIND were older, smaller ships w food & service was topnotch & the cruises were tons of Italian fun!!!

 

1 hour ago, MISTER 67 said:

Yep, our first cruise was on the Fairwind 41years ago, we had such a great time my wife was in tears as we were dis-embarking, Sitmar was the best.

 

DH was a cabin steward on those ships many moons ago. He adored the experience and you can't get him to shut up when he starts talking about it.

 

Curiously, DD has just started following in his footsteps and has just completed her first month working on board an MSC ship as a GS agent.