A Work in progress

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 7

Review summary

This is an in-depth review of a 7 nt Carribean cruise I just took (Oct 2nd) with my wife for our 33rd Anniversary on the MSC Mereviglia. We decided to sail with MSC for the 5th time back in January 2021. Unfortunately, the CDC's COVID restrictions caused the booking to be canceled in April, so we rebooked for Nov 2nd and received a complimentary Balcony upgrade by using our cancellation credits. I'd first like to say that my wife and I are avid cruisers. We're loyalty club members with 5 cruise lines, and we've sailed across the globe on over 60 cruises to date. There are times we cruise to experience a new ship, and times we sail to experience new ports. This cruise was definitely selected for the ship and not the ports. My goal is to highlight various discrepancies and to unbiasedly share the good and bad aspects of our cruise. I must start with the bad because there is far more than the good. INTERNET SERVICE---- Buy the full week package online before departure or you will pay dearly for not doing so!!! To have full streaming service for both phones and my laptop, we forked out $330!! Ouch!! This was the 1st time I've seen a cruise ship offer full streaming internet service, but my gosh....that's expensive by anyone's standard!! The pre-boarding online price was a supposed $77/pp, but that was most likely for 1 phone. Anyhow, I decided to take the hit because the ship's itinerary had us on their private cay for 2 full days. The internet package included wifi hotspots on their cay so I figured that our usage would justify their absorbent cost. WRONG!! The wifi hotspots on Ocean Cay were sketchy at best. We sunbathed on several beaches around the large Cay, but no matter where we settled, the wifi signal was weak. I must admit that the signal onboard was always solid. That was great because there were several huge MLB and NFL games that the ship's bars and lounges didn't broadcast?? I had to watch them on my laptop (SMH). Why does every cruise line struggle with this issue? They refuse to carry any other sports programming in their bars and lounges besides ESPN and ESPN2? Hundreds of sports-crazed men gathering around a bar or lounge for a big sporting event usually causes a ton of drinking...$$$ ching ching??? I don't get it. They're loosing out because most patrons don't buy into the crazy drink packages that cost upward of $400 pp. Sit a bunch of men at a bar for 3 hrs and you'll undoubtedly make a HUGE profit!! FOOD PACKAGES ---- This was by far the most troubling issue we experienced. The passenger capacity on the Mereviglia is 4500. We sailed with a passenger load of 1400. It honestly felt as though MSC was attempting to use clever schemes to make 1400 passengers spend what 4500 passengers normally would. Unfortunately, schemes like the food package weren't very clever. Basically, for an additional $230, a party of two could eat for 3 nights at 3 different specialty restaurants. A $75 additional cost per night for what we assumed would be FULL/BETTER meals sounded pretty reasonable. It ended up being a complete ripoff, and an insult to not only us but several passengers we spoke with. There's a steak restaurant (Butchers Cut), a seafood restaurant, and a sushi restaurant included in the package. Here's the catch. Specialty restaurants have been around for a good 15 yrs now and every cruise line uses them to not only provide more onboard eating options but more importantly, more onboard revenue options. It's a good formula and most cruise lines do it well. Historically, we'd spend an extra $50-$70 for a meal, but the meal would include big portions, anything on the menu, and great food quality. MSC COMPLETELY blew it on all three fronts. The portions were tiny. So tiny in fact that we had to go to the buffet afterward, and we're not big people or big eaters. Additionally, if you had the package, you were restricted to a very limited menu. If you choose to upgrade from a filet mignon to a T-bone for example, be prepared to pay an additional $60 pp!!! I complained about this issue on the 3rd day to the ship's asst guest relations manager Sheila Diamond. 3 days in, no shore excursion, spa, casino, or drinking charges yet, and our tab was already over $800!! Her customer service response was quite extraordinary!! It may have been the best we've ever seen on a cruise ship! She provided Champagne, chocolate strawberries, a huge seafood platter, wine, bathrobes, and over $200 in onboard credit!! In our eyes, Mrs. DiamonO redeemed the entire company with her amazing customer service. She single-handedly salvaged our 33rd Anniversary Cruise and we could not be more grateful OVERALL---- There were other minor issues that are worth mentioning before concluding. The sand on their Ocean Cay beaches has a very pungent odor of sulfur dioxide (rotten eggs). The Buffet pavilion on the Cay is the only major eatery beside the food trucks that serve burgers and dogs. If the ship docks in at 9am and departs at 11pm, you would think that they'd have the Buffet Pavillion open for lunch and dinner. It closed at approx. 2pm and forced you to wait in long lines at a few scattered food trucks, or go back on board to eat. Minor, but I'm sure that will change as capacity increases. The ship is beautiful, and the sanitary protocols they've put in place are very thorough. Temp checks every day, hand washing before entering the buffet, etc. As of October 2021, masks are still required in public places when you weren't eating or drinking, but the staff never over-enforced the mask-wearing requirements. MSC usually outdoes all other cruise lines with their pizza (being an Italian cruise-line), but the Mereviglia didn't hit their usual mark on this stapled item. Lastly, our ports were Ocho Rios, and Nassau. Ocho Rios has always been a dangerous port and Nassau has always been a safe one. That hasn't changed. I would say this. With the desperation the pandemic has caused everywhere, don't go onshore in Jamaica unless you're booking an excursion provided by the cruise line itself. Nassau is totally safe. Can't go wrong with a pleasent 15 minute walk to Junkanoo Beach CONCLUSION------ We recognize the enormous financial challenges that all cruise lines are facing. They'll need to cut corners, adapt, and find new ways to operate if they're going to remain solvent. The problem is that they'll need to find ways to do this without appearing to operate in an underhanded or deceptive way. If someone's recovering from a devastating injury, you can't expect them to be in full form as soon as they come back. They have to work through some obvious kinks, but We'll continue to sail with MSC and we're confident that as they come back into full service, they'll find their sea legs.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Disembarkation

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