MSC Meraviglia Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Fourth MSC Cruise. Beautiful ship Food got worse Staff was excellent Entertainment hit or miss I'm probably gonna do land vacations for awhile though. There's a bunch of work to do to get the cruise industry back on pace. Not complaining just observation.

We love MSC and plan to continue cruising with them. Next year Seashore!

For me, this cruise was good, but apart from the cool digital screen over deck 6, I was not really wowed by anything. All members of our party had sleep disturbed by neighbors who were extremely loud in the halls and on their balconies at 2 and 4 a. m. What is wrong with people??

Quick get a away price is affordable entertainment is a must

Choose a dining time and chznge it early if it doesn't fit your schedule.

Very satisfied with the cruise, food, entertainment staff and service. Would recommend ship and MSC.

MSC is a disaster and I will not cruise with them again, regardless of the seemingly lower fare. Here are several key problems: --------------------------------------- 1) Deceptive. Tricks you into spending more than you should. You are highly pressured into upgrades because the basic fare covers so little (e.g. you will decide to upgrade food because you'll get sick of the basic options--which are kept extremely limited, presumably just so you'll upgrade). My husband and I did decide to splurge on some extras, like unlimited speciality dining. However, even if you upgrade, you'll still feel pressured to upgrade more. For example, we didn't realize that many specialty dining meals offer such limited items - sometimes offering no variety, choice, or enough food for dinner. Moreover, because it's prepaid and there’s no direct server incentive, the service was so slow (sometimes taking 2-3 hours to get small meals) that we gave up and just opted for the basic buffet or left before getting most of our food. They also told us on the cruise that some days were off limits to use our "unlimited" package because they were offering special "holiday" meals at the specialty restaurants. However, unbeknownst to those not on the unlimited package, the holiday meals were nearly identical to the regular specialty meals, they just cost way more and weren’t covered under specialty dining plans. This type of trickery was pervasive. In addition, one reason we chose the cruise is that it claimed to have more time in ports (e.g., 8am to 5:30pm, instead of shorter timeframes like 10-4pm on other cruises). However, these numbers turned out to be lies. Even if the boat docked 8-5:30, we would inevitably not be let off the boat for hours and then would be required to come back extra early. This meant that longer excursions were canceled. For example, at one stop, we were told to meet in the auditorium prior to docking to facilitate our trip. For over 2 hours after we docked we were kept in the auditorium and lectured on showing "patience" because, for unknown reasons, we were not allowed to disembark. This may have been a border issue (or the cruise wasn’t prepared…) but we were offered no explanation or apology - only told that excursion time would not be affected. However, as soon as we got to the mainland, we were immediately told there was no longer time for our excursion (even though we were also required to return 1.5 hours early to wait in line to get back on the boat). Instead of doing the excursion we signed up for, we were told we could decide on the spot to do one alternative excursion by signing the back of our ticket, but the cruise would not tell us 1) what the new excursion included or 2) how much it cost. We of course lacked internet access at that point and could not research ourselves. Manipulations about excursions were pervasive. -------------------------------- 2) Poor communication. Lack of transparency is incredibly frustrating and even dangerous. First the ship had an hour time-change that was terribly communicated (the initial change was announced pervasively; but the switch back the next day was never mentioned). My party could have easily missed our boat. We only found out that MSC had changed times again because a private tour operator told us. It was terrifying. Even before our cruise, we tried to reach customer service about questions and they didn’t return our call until our cruise was nearly over. Talking to the service desk on the boat was impossible, since there was a line for the only two representatives from open to close - which wasn’t very long anyway. Second, the ship didn't tell us about a disease outbreak it clearly knew about. Crew increasingly disappeared throughout our trip, and service got slower and slower, until every meal took hours. The last few days crew were wearing heavy masks, while nearly every guest was coughing. My husband and I both got the flu (we were both vaccinated). No one said anything to guests or offered us masks. By the end of the cruise, it was truly a nightmare. ------------------------- 3) No management presence. No one is in charge and nothing is coordinated. You therefore cannot complain to anyone. You spend most of the cruise waiting in line trying to get basic information and use the things you've already paid for. Embarkation and debarkation especially were hours-long nightmares. When things go wrong, there is no acknowledgement or apology; if anything, guests are asked to show "patience." There is clearly a complete disconnect between whoever is “managing” the cruise and the guest-facing staff, who also seemed totally exasperated. --------------------------- There were a few positives. I thought the boat was nice. We had a very simple interior room and it was fine and well-serviced. I also thought the dance lessons were fantastic.The employees we actually interacted with were polite and positive, even though they also seemed overwhelmed and frustrated. ------------------------ Overall, pay extra for a better cruise-line. Your wallet, sanity, and health will thank you.

My husband and I loved the shows. They were all great.

Overall a fantastic first experience w/ MSC, would definitely sail with them again in the near future. Cheap and affordable cruises with good comfort and value for money!

I loved this cruise and ship!! I highly recommend anyone who wants to get the best for their money. I booked three more on MSC soon.

It was a great 4 day get away had lots of fun and didn’t seem like it was really crowded even though we ere at 90 percent capacity

For my 28th birthday, my brother and I went on a cruise aboard the MSC Meraviglia! This was our second time cruising with MSC and it was also our 10th cruise, over all. It’s been a few years since we had been on MSC and we were easily reminded why it was one of our favorite cruise lines. The entertainment, the staff, and the pizza are just a few! 🍕😋🤪 This cruise was unique in the fact that it stayed in their private island, Ocean Cay, overnight. If you have the opportunity to visit their private island, especially overnight, do it! It was an absolutely incredible cruise and I’m so thankful to have celebrated my birthday this way🎉 On a serious note, tragically, around 5am on disembarkation day, a passenger went overboard and due to fatal injuries, she lost her life. There are a few conflicting reports out there but, from what I’ve heard, there is strong reason to believe that there was foul play. The way MSC handled the entire incident and what followed afterwords just backs up how amazing of a cruise line they are and how much they truly do care. I never want to experience what happened again, but if I do, I hope it would be handled as delicately and smoothly as MSC has. We vlogged the entire cruise (including the morning of the incident), check it out at www.YouTube.com/@followingthefergusons

27+ cruises for me. Lots of folks aboard with many more. Many first and second time cruisers as well. It is a very nice and very well maintained ship. It is probably the best value for the dollar out there. Best part for me - Minimal solo supplement, 10% - 15%. No other cruise line is offering anything close to that. Planning a cruise for my immediate family group - 7 total - for spring of 2023.

This is our first yet BEST . Cruise with MSC. It was beautiful super clean and had the best crew. From Cabin Steward GIRI to Dining room servers Mark & John (table N 330) Bar service (best coffee)and servers Mishle, Darwin-Leah MP Greeter- Food server MP -WINNIE Just get them a try. You will not regret it! Great prices - we added a lot but still cheaper than other we cruised with THANK YOU MSC and DESTINY PRYOR FROM CRUISEline

Relaxing, fun, nice ship friendly staff. Met a lot of other cruisers that were fun and interesting to hang with. Ship was light and bright.

Overall great cruise. We'd been to most of the ports several times before. So we tried some new things and had lots of fun. We will be booking MSC again. Great value for the money.

Overall, I learned a lot about navigating the company, and would probably cruise MSC again.

Pretty much hell but we made the best of a really bad situation

Went to the Yacht Club for lunch on Ocean Cay. It was a complete s**tshow, people not getting food for over an hour, understaffed and the staff that were there were not properly trained as they served my 12 year old and 14 year old alcohol. When I complained I was completely dismissed and told “When it’s busy, human error happens sometimes.” They did not even pretend to acknowledge the fact that children were given alcohol, nor care that I was upset about it (I was very polite when I lodged the complaint). I accidentally left some items in a LOCKED safe with a set passcode in my stateroom and within an hour of leaving the ship contacted MSC and as of today my “items have not yet been located.” They did not have an appropriate amount of staff for the number of passengers they booked. This is just another corporation that puts profits above people and passenger safety, terrible customer service and then to top it off they steal my stuff. I will not be returning.

Cruise review for MSC Meraviglia 19-day transatlantic cruise from Barcelona Spain to Port Canaveral (9/24/2022 to 10/13/2022) Inside stateroom #8073. Note: we only ate in the Market place buffet because the service in the dining rooms are so slow and the food choices in the dining room are very limited. Note that we spoke to many passengers on this very long cruise that agree with our opinions listed below. Like us, many of them will never sail on this ship again. This cruise review is divided into two major sections (PROS/CONS). PROS: ------------------------------------------------------------------- The MSC Meraviglia is a beautiful, clean ship. Our stateroom attendant (Nino) was the best that I have seen in my 10 years of cruising. Nino was always smiling, happy and kept our room in perfect order. Thank you Nino! Our stateroom had a very comfortable bed, good A/C control and great water pressure in the shower. The following ports of call were great: Malaga (Spain), Madiera/Funchal (Portugal), Saint Maarten (St. Martin) and Ocean Cay (private island). The two comedians (Ken Boyd and Tom Drake) were funny. The buffet served very good fresh fruit, vegetables and a nice selection of cheeses every day. We enjoyed the swing and disco party on the promenade (deck 6) because the DJ played the music and the promenade floor is danceable (see music and dance floor CONS below). CONS: ----------------------------------------------------------------- The cruise director (Monica) should be let go. Her only gift was to speak in five different languages at the beginning of every theater show. The stateroom TV is very slow to start and complicated to use. Note that in room movies cost 9 Euros each. Ouch! Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines offer free in room movies. The stateroom key has your room number printed on it. This is a security issue if someone finds your key. Note enough closet space in the stateroom. Bottom bed sheets are old and stained in the stateroom. The pizza in the buffet is terrible (cold, soft, gummy and bland). This should be embarrassing for MSC. Why can't an Italian cruise line make good pizza? In my opinion, the best pizza at sea is made on Carnival cruise lines. MSC should send a spy to Carnival to investigate how to make a good pizza. The meat, fish and deserts available in the buffet are poor. Again, I must say that Carnival cruise lines makes better fish, desserts and hamburgers. There is no iced tea, lemonade or strawberry/kiwi juice in the buffet at anytime! The only drinks available in the buffet during lunch and dinner is water, hot tea and coffee. This is stupid! Even the MSC Divina had a better choice of drinks in the buffet. Again, see Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise lines for better drink selections in the buffet. Ice cream on the pool deck costs 3 to 4 Euros. This is not the specialty ice cream that is served on the promenade inside deck 6. This is just plain old ice cream. And there is no ice cream served in the buffet area (at least not until I complained and then they served ice cream on 3 nights out of 19). Note that the MSC Divina served ice cream in the buffet. So does Royal Caribbean. And Carnival has unlimited self serve soft ice cream. Note: the food quality and selection in the buffet is much better at lunch time than it is at dinner time. The cloth chair cushions in the buffet area look nasty (lots of stains). Many times, I took an extra cloth napkin and put in down before I sit on them. There is only one decent place to dance on the entire ship (deck 6 Meraviglia lounge). Note that the MSC Divina has at least 3 and up to 5 different places to dance on the ship. However, the dance floor in the Meraviglia lounge is made of hard sticky tile. I broke one pair of dance shoes on the Meraviglia lounge dance floor (luckily I brought a second pair). The promenade also has a hard tile floor but it is much smoother and easier to dance on. One couple danced the entire cruise in a hallway adjacent to the Meraviglia lounge that had the same kind of smooth tile floor used in the promenade. There are no wood dance floors on the MSC Meraviglia. The music played in the atrium/lobby is not dance music and the floor is carpet. The music played on deck #18 Sky Lounge is not dance music. The music played on deck 7 in the TV studio lounge is "sometimes" danceable Latin music but the dance floor is very small and sticky tile. That leaves only the Meraviglia lounge which has two differt bands. The Ocean 5 band is new and still learning how to play together. When asked, they didn't even know how to play a waltz. They did however attempt to learn one, but it's not very good. I will give them credit for trying. They played the same songs every night (boring). They were never given a night off. The acoustics in the Meraviglia lounge are terrible especially when the music is loud. We had to sit as far back as the chocolate factory (adjacent to the Meraviglia lounge) so as not to get a headache. Note to MSC: the chocolate factory is a waste of space. No one goes there. Why not start over and put in a real wood dance floor with real dance music from a DJ? The ship had two dance instructors that taught a wide variety of dances (but only line dancing not couples dancing). They taught waltz, tango, cha cha, etc..., but the bands didn't play waltz (until I asked them to learn) and they never figured out how to play a tango so I asked the cruise director (Monica) to have the DJ play some waltz/tango dance music while the band was on break. Well that never happened. The second band (Duo Versa) was a bit better than the first. They even played a country two step now and then. The third band (Duo Express) played Latin music (mostly in the TV studio and bar area) where no one ever shows up except the band that was on break. Note to MSC: the background music played on the ship information channel on the TV inside our stateroom was better for dancing than any of the bands on the ship. Suggestion: fire the bands and pipe in the music from the TV. Want to play a quick game of ping pong? Not so fast! Ping pong is time limited on MSC. First you wander over to the ping pong table to see if they are occupied (deck 16 FWD). Then you ask someone where to get the ping pong equipment. Then you hoof it outside, across deck 16 to the back of the ship to the sports equipment desk to find a crew member (but only between 10AM and 6PM). Then you sign your life away for two paddles and one ping pong ball and are told that you only have 20 minutes to play! So you run back across deck 16 to thr front of the ship to play before your time runs out. What a hassle! You won't find these issues on Carnival, Royal Caribbean or Norwegian Cruise lines as they leave their ping pong equipment on the table available anytime. If you use the elevator and push the button for your floor but find the elevator is going in the wrong direction or right past your floor, see if it says "priority" on the screen inside that elevator. If it does, that means one of the special Yacht club guests just overode your floor selection and your going for a ride. Also, don't expect to enjoy all of Ocean Cay because 1/4 of the island is off limits unless you are one of the "special" Yacht club elite. Snobs! When we were there. I saw 5 yacht club guests on the beach and 3 life guards. What a waste! Also, be careful of the elevators as they are three on each side of the hallway. Many times, when you press the button, the elevator across the room will open and you have to run across the room (sometimes around a large couch) to get there before it closes. I was hit twice by the door closing on me. This is a safety issue. The theater has only one entrance/exit to deck 6 promenade. This is a safety issue. It also prevents people sitting on the far left or right from being able to come in late or leave early without disturbing other guests. Watch out for overcharging on shore excursions. I was double billed and lucky I caught it and went to guest services to have it corrected. There is no water to drink available on the outside pool decks. If in your bathing suit, that means you have to put on some clothes and walk all the way into the buffet area just to get some water (or pay big bucks for a drink package).