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MSC Meraviglia Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 5
Helpful Votes: 90
7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 06, 2021
Ship: MSC Meraviglia
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 14079
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 3 years ago
Review summary
We were happy to be cruising again, especially with our friends!! We would cruise MSC again, this was our first. Even though we felt entertainment was lacking, we had a blast making our own fun 🙌🏼😁 I know none us lost any weight, so food couldn’t have been “that” bad 😆Embarkation
They put us in the priority line because my father in law uses a walker. It was very slow, and the other line was moving much quicker
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 stars because the food is somewhat lacking
Drink Package
Hands down the best drink package we’ve had. We did the premium package, they will give you doubles, you can order as many drinks at a time as you want, Carnival is a 15 drink limit a day, and you have to wait 5 minutes between drink orders.
Drink package is good on the private island, where Carnival’s is only good on the ship.
Food- We were not “Yacht Club”, our eating options were, buffet, outside buffet( hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, French fries), and L’Olivod’Oro. Pizza, amazing, better than Carnival. Breakfast, was same everyday, but no complaints, there is an omelette station all the way in the back, and the donuts were very yummy! Very generous on bacon, Carnival is only serving it every other day, and skimp. I only ate the outside buffet for lunch, I could grab a slice of pizza and eat at my loungers.
We ate in the dining room almost every night, or servers Ronald and Jeffery were the BEST! Most food I ate was good, my husband did not like the food at all, said he feels Carnival food is much better.
Onboard Activities
This rating is for the Horizon pool. We had great drink service, plenty of chairs, no kids back there. We tried the upper area above main pool, and had to go get our own drinks, no service up there. At the Horizon pool area we had Shawn as our pool safety officer, he is such a nice guy, do make sure to talk with him, and his buddy is Jahel with amazing bar service, and he is also a very nice guy, and the 2 of them are quite the comedy duo, we had lots of fun back there.
Entertainment
We did not go to the theater for any shows, but the atrium area music was terrible, I felt it was the same music every night. Duo Latin Angels, one playing piano, and the other singing, was very boring, they also played in the Sky Lounge. We did enjoy listening to a guitarist Kene at the atmosphere pool in the evening.
We were a group of 8, and we just felt it very lacking in fun, Carnival has way more options, Punchliner Comedy Club, Piano Bar, upbeat music everywhere.
Service and Staff
We could not have asked for better service, every staffer we had interaction with were polite and friendly, (well except the girl in the boutique). We loved our room steward Sherwin, he was the sweetest, accommodating little guy, always smiling. He kept our cabin in tip top shape.
Our dining room servers were also amazing, Ronald our head waiter always had our orders right, and food served hot, he also loves sharing magic tricks. And Jeffery his assistant, was quiet, but always right there if you needed anything, and if he sees your table prefers a certain bread in your basket, he will bring a basket full each night, and always keeping your water glass full.
Ship Quality
This ship is sparkly clean, and easy to maneuver.
Cabin / Stateroom
I’m giving our cabin 2 stars because of its location under the lido deck. We were a group of 4 couples, we wanted cabins together, and this was the only deck available for our sailing. We were woken every night around 2am by tables and chairs being drug and dropped by cleaning crew, then woken again around 6 from loungers being put out. Plus during other times you would hear heavy footed people walking around, or kids running. Another thing that we didn’t like were the poles from the overhang, it was hard to get nice pictures without having them in them. I’ll post a picture of the poles.
Bed was a little hard, and the pillows are smaller and go flat, on Carnival the pillows are amazing, and I would have loved to sneak one home lol
The size wasn’t too bad, but the cabin is lacking storage.
Cabin was very clean, it did have a slight musty smell occasionally, like some left wet stuff on the carpet.
Ship tip
Don’t book deck 14 under pool area. Do buy the drink package 😁 Also bring insulated cups, bartenders will fill them up for you.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas
We booked a cabana for the day at South Beach area. We had cabana 25, and we had a bar behind us, and there was a food truck, but you had to pay for it’s options, lobster rolls, and some other seafood type options. It was a short walk to the restroom and buffet area, and there was a free food truck close, that had burgers, hotdogs, French fries, and pasta salad. They cook everything fresh right there. This is where I got my food, burger and fries were nice and hot, others in our group went to the buffet, and wish they hadn’t, didn’t like the food, said everything was dried out, and bland.
The water was nice and clear to a point, then there was a lot of sea grass 😬 We purchased hammock type floats from Amazon, quick to inflate the ends, and were able to float out above the grass. Besides being overcast most of the day we had a great time. Also it seemed they only have the alcohol there for the easy drink package, they didn’t have Tito’s, or Bud Light, at the bar closest to us. If you decide to walk around the island make sure to wear shoes of some sort, there are areas that have concrete under sand, and it can be pointy. Also if you decide to go over and walk on Sunset Beach it’s very very rocky, and broken she’ll like, lots of sharp stuff, it’s also got an area that has mounds and mounds of shells, conch, and rocky type stuff.
We docked at the Punta Longusta Pier, which is downtown area. Just did a little shopping, we’ve been to Cozumel many times
Disembarkation
Quick and easy. It would be nice if they had a larger elevator at the pier area we disembarked from, or at least 2. If you have 2 pieces of luggage you have to use elevator, plus those who need it for physical reasons
Traveler Photos
