We truly enjoyed this cruise aside from the suite fiasco. We get suites because we spend the majority of our time there relaxing and decompressing from home. I expected this cruise on MSC to be somewhat different than other cruise lines and was not disappointed. Many of the differences we enjoyed others we found interesting and not disappointing. We will again be sailing on the Meraviglia in May 2025 and definitely not in a Yacht Club Duplex Suite.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
We traveled from Manhattan via the ferry from 34th Street. We ship our luggage ahead so we did not have to look for the luggage drop-off area and blue Yacht Club Canopy. We found a gentleman at the entrance who had a butler show us to the check-in desk and the Yacht Club Terminal Lounge for light refreshments. At our convenience, a butler escorted us through the terminal, boarding the ship and to the Top Sail Lounge in the front of the ship for more light refreshments.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We ate the majority of our meals in the Yacht Club restaurant which where not normal American cuisine. Not a complaint just an observation. I am not a seafood fan other than baked scallops and shrimp cocktail. I did find there was a large section of seafood. I did have a wonderful selection of non-seafood and enjoyed it all immensely. We normally at breakfast at the outdoor buffet on deck 19.
When we were out and about on the ship we did eat at the, what I call on all ships "the Lido", ships buffet. We found the food very good, especially the pizza. As an observation I found the noise level higher that what I found on other "Lidos"
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We did not do any of this
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
The service we found to be wonderful, except for our butler who was no help resolving our cabin issues and other than the very first day when he introduced himself and on the last day when he escorted us off the ship only saw him of Ocean Cay Marine Reserve Island. He did take very good care of us at our cabana.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Love the ship. The cleanliness, the design and easy of finding things and places.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The concept of a two level stateroom and a hot tub sounded terrific. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it was a waste of money. First the second level which has the sleeping area and a full bath and a dressing room which accounts for roughly one-third of the total suite. This space is only useful if you need it to sleep/nap, bath/wash-up and dress/change clothes. Other than that it is of no use. Of the remaining square footage (400ish) there is another closet room, a bath with shower the landing for the stairs and an alcove leading to the balcony. Bottom line is leaves you with approximately 200 sq. ft. We enjoy entertaining people we meet in our suite. This was far less than ideal both square footage and furniture placement wise. We also found the suite to be dark requiring us to leave lights on at all times.
Bow for the bad part. The hot tub was not functioning until the last night of the cruise no matter how many times maintenance tried to repair. The A/C could not be controlled. It was freezing when we arrived. I turned the thermometer first down then to heat all to no avail. After receiving no help from the butler, we contacted the concierge on day two who sent maintenance. The final solution was to turn off the A/C for the remainder of the cruise. Requests for a different stateroom and/or other compensation were denied.
We love visiting New York which we do frequently. Because I was born in Brooklyn, oh those many years ago and I haven't been there in over 40 years, we asked our Uber driver to drive us around Brooklyn to see many of the places I recalled which he gladly did.
Very much enjoyed our time here. We rented a Oceanview Cabana. I would have preferred a Beach Front Cabana which have far better water access (No rock piles to walk across or around) but there were none available when I made the reservation. No water parks but many relaxing water activities and just plain quiet and relaxing.
We had an easy time with disembarking as we had Priority Debarkation as Yacht Club guests. However, it was a heck of a lot of walking. With my breathing problems exacerbated the issue. Far more difficult than the Manhattan Cruise Terminal which we have used many times. Other than that it was very simple and quick.
I was on that ship, and I thought the yacht club were floors 14 through floors 18. You mentioned your room was on the 12th floor, I didn’t think that was yacht club?
Thank you Skooby, we've been on enough cruises to know what you are talking about and certainly thought we had done our due diligence. In this case 600 sq ft vs 290 sq ft and a hot tub for the DW seemed like a no brainer. The front of the cabin on both levels is basically all glass but it must have that one glass coating because we never had to close the curtains and even at high noon had the lights on in the suite. It was that dark. I recently read a review that compared it to a similar stateroom on RCCL. They were extremely disappointed in the MSC version.
Thanks for your review. Next time before a cruise, check out the website cruise deck plans and YouTube for a good tour of the stateroom you plan on booking before you book it. That way you won't waste money.
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