Not impressed

Item: MSC Meraviglia
Rating: 2.2
Author: claracluck

MSC Meraviglia Cruise Review

claracluck

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 42

Overall rating:

2.2 out of 5

13 Night Caribbean (New York To Miami)

Sail date: October 28, 2019

Ship: MSC Meraviglia

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10055

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Lacking atmosphere and customer service skills. Need to work on marketplace food standards majorly. No adult only pools. No shoes or drinks allowed in/near the pool areas. No drinks allowed in the theatre. Experienced quite a few issues on this Cruise, so won't be cruising MSC again anytime soon.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Got to the port early and there were no queues so embarkation was quick and easy.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Food in marketplace seriously lacking option. Only 4 different dessert options, including a jelly in a foil cup cake case. Snail found in salad. Food not always hot. Not always labelled properly. Didn't use main dining.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Only used the pool areas. No drinks allowed near the pool areas. People kept getting told off if they took their drinks too near the pool. No adult only pool. No seating around sloarium pool.

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

Staff unhelpful and uninterested apart from a few. Room attendant was too overbearing and made us feel like we shouldn't be spending time in our cabin and kept phoning us when we had do not disturb on. Never experienced that before.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Ship very clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Lovely cabin. Had a cabin upgrade to a balcony so couldn't complain with that. Carpet hadn't been hoovered on arrival. Could've done with more storage as only 1 drawer on the dressing table and 1 wardrobe with only 2 small drawers and 2 small shelves in it. Room attendant kept bothering us when we had do not disturb on and made us feel like we shouldn't spend time in our room because he wanted to go in to clean.

Ship tip

I don't think I will be sailing with MSC again. This was probably my 1st and only MSC cruise. I wasn't impressed. The ship was nice and clean but it lacked atmosphere and there was a major lack of customer service, staff were like robots. No apologies for anything when raised issues with staff and just a severe lack of interest. Only a small handful of friendly staff, mainly bar or marketplace staff. Charged us wrong for an excursion which we then cancelled and they also added excursions to my sister's account which she hadnt even booked with no explanation or apology. The food was so basic, there was not much choice and often not hot. My sister had a snail in her salad. Things weren't labelled properly some of the time either. They cancelled our visit to ocean cay with no real explanation and thought $50 per person was a reasonable reimbursement. I don't think so! Will be sticking to RCL and celebrity in future.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

1 out of 5

Willemstad, Curacao

1 out of 5

Went to Curacao last year and it looks like a lot of investment has gone into the area since then.

Thumbs Up 0

St. George's, Grenada

1 out of 5

Not there long enough. Had to be back on board by 1.30. Looked pretty from the ship!

Thumbs Up 0

Fort-De-France, Martinique

1 out of 5

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

1 out of 5

Didn't get to go. Very disappointing.

Thumbs Up 4

Miami, Florida

1 out of 5

New York, New York

1 out of 5

Bridgetown, Barbados

1 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

1 out of 5

Disembarkation

2 out of 5

Took ages to get off ship. Massive queues for people getting off themselves first thing. People getting very annoyed and worried about getting their flights etc.

7 Comments

claracluck 5 years ago

I have only cruised with royal Caribbean or celebrity prior to this cruise and really noticed the difference between them and MSC. Not trying to put anyone off, just giving my honest opinion. I guess everyone has different standards. Paid a lot of hard earned money for this holiday and have been left disappointed by it. My sister and her partner had an even worse experience than we did!

Thumbs Up 0

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Thomas4 5 years ago

I was on the same cruise. Look at the ratings of the ports. Every port 1 star says it all... by the way regarding not going to Ocean Cay: every cabin got 100$ as onboard credit plus a 20% discount for next cruise plus we went to another destination (Ocho Rios)instead of having just a day at sea like most other lines do it when they have to cancel a port for whatever reason. I think that compensation is pretty OK. Agree with the buffet. There could be more selections and variety. But at the end it’s a buffet and there was everyday something good to find. Never had any issue with the food. I definitely liked the fact that they kept people with food and drinks away from the pool. Debarkation: We went off the ship at 7:30 and by 8:30 we took the shuttle to the airport. To me that was pretty smooth. So my experience was a bit different...

Thumbs Up 0

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Msbonnie4 5 years ago

I thought thru also gave you 20% off a future cruise as well for canceling ocean Cay. We’re booked on meraviglia in March and looking forward to it. Loved MSC Seaside!!

Thumbs Up 1

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maria1980 5 years ago

I am booked april 2020 and have no doubt that this cruise will be enjoyable. Everybody has something to say about cruises.

Thumbs Up 1

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pccrossman 5 years ago

I'm booked on this ship in January. Hopefully all issues will be worked out. I was on seaside in February and it was wonderful

Thumbs Up 1

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cruisereckoning 5 years ago

Try another line and see how that goes for you.

Thumbs Up 0

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trvljet 5 years ago

Thank you for the review. I have read enough reviews on here to know they will not be be my choice for future cruises.

Thumbs Up 0

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Other reviews of this sailing

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