Worst Bar Service EVER

MSC Meraviglia Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 37

Overall rating:

2.8 out of 5
Verified Review
MSC Meraviglia

3 Night Bahamas (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 02, 2023

Ship: MSC Meraviglia

Cabin number: 8016

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

It's a real shame the bar service was so bad, because the ship was beautiful - modern and clean. Most everything else about the ship was very good, hence the two stars instead of one. . I simply could not get a drink without a HUGE effort. I would wait 45 min - 1 hour in a bar line, only to be told when I finally got to the front of the line that they were out of basics like tonic, ice, orange juice, particular beer brands, etc...... Every single bar was MASSIVELY understaffed and ill-supplied. The workers who were there were very good and trying very hard, but there simply were not nearly enough of them to meet the demand. It was so bad I simply considered it a deal breaker. If I had purchased a drink package, I would have felt like it was blatant robbery - charging for something they could not/would not provide. I would have fought for a refund. It's pure false advertising to offer "unlimited drinks" (or a large number of daily drinks) when it is impossible to actually obtain that promised amount of drinks. This was my first cruise with MSC, and it will be my last. I took this cruise as a "scouting trip" for our group of 15-20 regular cruisers, looking for other cruise lines to patronize. Obviously, I am advising my group to steer clear of MSC (as well as all reading this review). This photo was the bar in the casino. ONE guy behind the bar, and all those pissed-off people waiting forever trying to get a drink. Notice that nobody in this pic has a drink. Net result? The two largest money-makers for cruise lines, bar service and casino, received very, very little money from me because of the poor service. While I was wasting hours standing in line trying to get a drink, I could have been in the casino gambling. I also did not purchase a drink package (thankfully!), so I was unable to spend NEARLY as much as I wanted to on drinks. They are losing dollars trying to save nickels. BIG MISTAKE, MSC! You lost out on future cruises with my group of 15-20 due to this horrible service.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
This is solely based on my experiences trying to get a drink - all bars were SEVERELY under-staffed and poorly stocked

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
It's a beautiful ship, modern and clean

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
For a solo traveler or even a couple, it was plenty sufficient. Would be pretty cramped with more than 2 people.

Ship tip

Avoid it unless you like waitint in 1+ hour lines trying to get a drink that may or may not be available when you finally get waited on.

Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

4 out of 5

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

3 out of 5
Beautiful to look at, but limited offerings. Pretty much only some beaches and a few bars (with horribly slow service). It you are a lay on the beach all day kind of person, it is perfect.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Smoothest I have ever experienced.
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8 Comments

Bugsy1944    1 year ago

MSC sailed with them only once in the Med …Never again on one of these BIG ships…it was terrible Now HAL,Royal C or Celebrity 3000max passengers!!!

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Oops sorry 😞 thanks

Dappel    1 year ago

Thank you for this great review, helps keep the price down for those of us that don't drink. Lol

BonnnieFerrell    1 year ago

Royal caribbean same deal only 3 bartenders for hundreds of people although they never ran out of anything the whole cruise . These cruise lines need to add bartenders

AuntPinkie    1 year ago

Appreciate your detailed review. Sorry you were so disappointed.

javawoody    1 year ago

Appreciate your comments

4tanya    1 year ago

I don’t think your photo posted .

CruzeFan    1 year ago

Do not take a three or four day cruise on MSC. The seven day and longer itineraries are great, but the shorter cruises are booze cruises & horrible for service. They tend to have 50% more passengers than the longer itineraries and most everyone has the drink package due to the low fares that include free drinks.

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