Thank Goodness for Yacht Club!
MSC Meraviglia Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 13
11 Night Canada & New England (New York Roundtrip)
Sail date: October 04, 2023
Ship: MSC Meraviglia
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 16004
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
MSC is not as good as it used to be, especially Main Buffet. A lot of room for improvement.Embarkation
Extra help from Yacht Club staff getting through the boarding process is my favorite part of being in Yacht Club. Went so quickly, didn't have time to enjoy provided beverage/snack in the boarding waiting area..
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Main Buffet food experience was like sloppin' the hogs. Food and beverage quality and selection in the Main Buffet has really gone down hill. Thank goodness I was in Yacht Club! Dining and mini buffet in Yacht Club area still have very good food quality, and good selection of items, although way too much oil used in everything! Limited selection for vegan options, just one entree, and it seemed to always be an Indian dish. Not everyone likes that flavor profile, would like better variety of vegan dishes. Do not recall ever seeing pizza as an option in Yacht Club areas, and the pizza at the ship's Main Buffet was limited and very sad quality. Very surprising on a ship that makes it's own mozzarella. Had to get my pizza fix in NYC. Yacht Club had fantastic quality of diner rolls/bread selection. Fresh pressed juice also fantastic. Quality of ice cream at the main pool deck ice cream bar very poor, and extremely limited toppings. The extra fee gelato ice cream on the promenade was fantastic, but cost extra. No menu for frozen cocktail type beverages, so even though I had top beverage package, had no idea what I could order/try. Just listed beer, wine, straight alcohol. Very limited dining times (breakfast ended too early, only 1-1/2hr window for Yacht Club dining). A couple times if did not arrive right when Yacht Club dining opened, they would be full, and were sent to go wait down in lounge until a table opened up. Service in Yacht Club main dining extremely slow, too much time between courses, dinner would take 2 hours. Would like to see faster service in main dining, and expanded window of times dining areas open. The Main Buffet also had many areas frequently roped off, and if woke up early (like 3-4am) there were no food options. Should at least be able to provide some non-temperature-control options like dry cereals and whole fruits! Black coffee in Main Buffet like brown water and not hot. Drink selection in Main Buffet deplorable. Other than tea or coffee, only offered 1 low-quality beverage, and most of those tasted terrible (ex.-kiwi-strawberry cocktail).
Onboard Activities
Ropes course small, but that was enough for a beginner. Staff in this area were extremely helpful and that was so appreciated (probably helped that caught it right when opened and before busy). One track of it was closed for repair. Overall felt like too many people on the ship for the activity spaces provided. Warm solar pool area overloaded with people most of the time, so near impossible to have a chance to enjoy the hot tubs. Walking track and gym also overloaded with people in the morning, with every single piece of cardio equipment in use. Gym area too small, missing machines for upper body exercises like lat pull down, chest press, and triceps push down. Tried a stretch class, that was overloaded with people as well. Silly games provided by staff were fun, but also often grew really long lines.
Entertainment
Quality of show ok, not great. Line to get into shows could get pretty crazy, like a bunch of people all crowding together at entrance, push/shove, like day after Thanksgiving shopping frenzy vibe. There was a lot of that "frenzy" vibe whenever there was a line for something, (off-boarding, shows) including at Main Buffet. Again thankful to be in Yacht Club to have assistance getting to my seat. There were some great little shows on the main promenade (dance competition, etc) but very very hard to get any view of the action. The Deck 7 area above had dining tables all along the rail, limiting any chance for a view of below (bad for dinners as well caught in the onslaught of viewers), The bridge across blocked off as well. and soo many people on main level (Deck 6) that really could not get a good view there either. Extremely frustrating, as these performances looked better that the official shows!
Children's Programs
No kids. Glad there were not a bunch of kids on this ship.
Service and Staff
When first taken to room, just dumped off, no introduction/direction given whatsoever about items in the room, pillow selection, next steps, if butler would be coming, nothing. My mom was traveling with us in a separate room and this was her first cruise so this was infuriating. I had to call concierge to get butler to come to do a proper room/1st day intro. After a couple days service improved. I think they were short staffed and spread too thin. In the Yacht Club dining and room service, several order mistakes made by staff during the cruise.
When called room service, a couple times they didn't take order, just immediately said would get my butler. On past cruises butler took away extra beverage types I did not like from my mini bar/fridge area, but this time they just let them all pile up on my counter. Room steward very sweet, did a good job.
Ship Quality
Shared space activity areas too small for the number of people on board. (may be exacerbated by shortage of staff) Need more than 1 tiny hot tub for Yacht Club area.
Cabin / Stateroom
Bed very comfortable. Limited supply of alternate pillow options and robe in different sizes. Nice size balcony, although most of the time raining or too cold to use it, still enjoyed the view and sunshine. Would like more/included laundry options.
Ship tip
Go for Yacht Club. Experience will suck without it.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Hop-on/hop-off bus tour has too many stops and not enough buses, so you end up with not enough time to actually get off and enjoy a stop. Some stops backed up with a lot of people that have been waiting through several buses stopping with no capacity for them to get back on. Risk missing getting back to the ship on time!
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Disembarkation
Again, so glad to be in Yacht Club for the extra assistance. Regular passengers have much more hastle to deal with. Again a lot of push/shove "after Thankgiving shopping frenzy" vibe going through some of the areas before and after luggage pickup. The taxi wait area was terrible, very disorganized, very frustrating, need to add sectioned off waiting stalls in that area to better guide people in an organized fashion instead of wide open platform. Would like to vacate room just a little later.