Poorly trained MSC staff and stark lack of organization – long lines and long delays!

MSC Meraviglia Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 31

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5
Verified Review
MSC Meraviglia

14 Night Western Caribbean & Bahamas (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 23, 2022

Ship: MSC Meraviglia

Cabin number: 13237

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

- Excursion desk staff member by the name of Ali M. was rude and unprofessional. When I inquired his name, he hid his badge and refused to reveal his full name. When I took his picture for identification purpose he physically chased and harassed me. How can MSC hire such staff? - The fact that excursion desk hours begin after 5:00 PM makes no sense. Guests have better priorities than to stand in long lines at Excursion Desk in the evenings. It took me over 1-hour to make reservations for the Carousel Lounge shows. - Lines for lunch at Ocean Cay were over an hours long. When we complained to the staff, their response was that we could back to the ship to eat. How insensitive is that. We have never experienced such lack of concern for guests time, comfort and inconvenience on any of the other cruise lines we have sailed over the years, i.e. Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL, Holland America, etc. - On multiple occasions, we could NOT find any clean coffee cups in the Market Place restaurant. It took us 45 minutes to find coffee mugs.

Embarkation

1 out of 5
Over 90 minute wait and over 100 yard long line!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Coffee cups were hard to find and long buffet lines.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
The gym was functional and nice.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Had to pay extra for subpar shows.

Children's Programs

4 out of 5
Good.

Service and Staff

2 out of 5
Most of the the MSC staff showed a lack of concern for the convenience and comfort of the guests. They acted as if they were entitled to their jobs and didn't really have to put forth the effort to meet their job requirements and please the guests. Our experience with other cruise lines has been much better.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Good layout and design.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
Our cabin attendant "Karisma" was diligent in keeping our cabin clean - we tipped him extra.

Ship tip

Don't sail the MSC Meraviglia until MSC revamps their staff's training and organization and make their staff care about guests' comfort and convenience.

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida Did not visit port

Not of interest.

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5
Excursion cancelled due to rain.

Belize City, Belize

4 out of 5

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

4 out of 5
Enjoyed the Dolphin Encounter.

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

3 out of 5
Food lines were over an hour long. Umbrellas and chairs had to be carried long distances or simply not available.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Good.
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5 Comments

AuntPinkie    1 year ago

Sorry you were disappointed.

CruisedudeNY65    1 year ago

Seems like msc isn't doing an acceptable job at the basics. Thanks for sharing

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Interesting

CruzeFan    1 year ago

This is why you should not cruise around a holiday or when schools are out. There are many negative reviews for most cruise lines currently by those that cruised during Christmas with similar complaints.

javawoody    1 year ago

100 yard line I find hard to believe, that’s a 1/3 of the ship

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