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MSC Meraviglia

Progreso

We have been on over 50 cruises and this was the worst cruise and cruise line ever. The cruise was from Hamburg Germany to Genoa Italy with stops in Spain Gibraltar UK France and Italy. The only good thing was the itinerary. It started off with the most disorganized boarding I have ever seen. It took over 2 1/2 hours. And then I found out that my credit card wasn't even registered. When you board the ship there isn't any ship personnel to tell you where your cabin is. I asked my cabin steward for an extension cord for my cpap machine and he said I had to go to the reception and pay 15 euro, I went down there and there was at least 500 people in line, which by the way was a daily occurance. I wanted to get some euros for the casino and the reception said I couldn't put it on my cruise card. So I went there late at night and I asked for 300 euros on my credit card. After some confusion she submitted the card 3 times at 100 euros a time to see if I was good for it. I was afraid the credit card company was going to cancel my card thinking there was something fishy. The people at the reception were rude and very uninformed. Every day when you walk down the main deck on deck 5 6 or seven you are constantly being pushed for massages perfume etc. I thought I was at the old Levitz furniture store. A lot of people on board were extremely pushy at the buffet. They would reach over the top of you and jump the lines. I dont think some of them ever saw banana's before. They would put banana's out and they would take 6 or 7. The food was so bland at the dining room we went to the butcher cut. They asked me for a drink and I requested a martini. They said they didn't have any. They only had a small selection. They had to bring in a special waiter to go get me a martini. There were no formal nights. No lectures on popular topics. The main shows were bad. I requested a survey they never sent me one after I gave them my email. Overall I was very happy to get off the ship. From now on no mare MSC cruises. If its like that in Florida they wont succeed.

Worst cruise ever

Whew!!! That sucked.  We've been on 42 cruises and this is the bottom of the list.  Never again.  We'll start with the positives.  Our cabin steward, Kadam, was excellent, he was always there with a smile and a pleasant greeting.  One attendant at the Marketplace buffet, Laxman Singh Kanyal from India was very pleasant and went out of his way to help us..  We had o make reservations for the shows, while different this is a good idea to assure everyone get s to see the shows.   The Himalayan walk and slides were fun  Thats it.  The ship was too big, the crew was rude, the passengers from Europe were incredibly rude.   People cut in line, the crew did nothing even though it happened right in front of them   Passengers reached across your plate, cut in line and were generally unfriendly.   Maybe this is the norm for some European countries.   The tours were consistently screwed up.  Embarkation and debarkation was a sad attempt.  Many passengers shared similar comments. We were walking down an aisle, quite few crew members were hanging out talking about whatever.  OK no problem but they blocked about 80% of the aisle and made no attempt to move and let us pass like any normal courteous person would do.   The hot water was consistently unavailable at the buftet.  The food was uninspired at best.  There was not one single meal I ate that I'd go back for.   I could go on and on but I have better things to do.   I DO NOT RECOMMEND this cruise line.

Is MSC new at this

It may seem odd that I do a review nine months after it ended. However I found that among all the other reviews that I read there are some aspects concerning this ship, that have not been pointed out before. It is even harder to read a cruise review for this particular itinerary. As a consequence I will mainly focus on aspects not mentioned by other reviewers.

Embarkation was at Steinwerder Cruise terminal in Hamburg, Germany, for a fourteen day cruise that took us to the Norwegian coast, north cape and the remote island of Spitsbergen. I have to say that exactly one year earlier we had already taken a cruise to Iceland starting on this same embarkation port and once again aboard a vessel from MSC, the Preziosa and were not at all thrilled with the overall organization of that ship. Anyway MSC was the only cruise company doing this route on the time frame me and my family (my girlfriend and our nine years old daughter) had.

It is difficult not to draw comparisons with the Preziosa, but fortunately I got to see that aboard the Meraviglia the experience was better, although in early evening the ship was as crowded as a shopping mall on weekends. It seems the crew is better prepared to tackle with the huge number of passengers on board. First of all embarkation and disembarkation were well organized, shore excursion desk is much better, no cues to come aboard on the different ports of call we were in, as it frequently happened on my prior cruise with MSC.

If there is a place that needs to be completely reorganized, this is the buffet they call Market Place. Almost everything is wrong because it is too big and messy. It was the same aboard the Preziosa. MSC does not understand that in order to cope with a big number o passengers using this venue at the same time, the answer is not a bigger restaurant but rather a disciplined organization, even if this disciplined attitude is made at the cost of freedom of the passengers to choose a particular table to sit.  At breakfast and lunch time on sea days it is impossible not to bump with other passengers who wonder around with trays of food on their hands while trying to find a place to sit. The answer would be for the management to assign the families or groups to the table, the moment they enter the buffet. With such a big place it was also easy to arrange this venue in a way that starboard partition is closed for cleaning and repositioning of stands for a 30 minute period, while port side is open also for a 30 minute period.

What most chocked me was the small device they put on the tables to call the servers who take the orders for the beverages. In fact, if you want a special drink, you press that device and a server quickly comes to take your order. While the system always worked efficiently with me, I think that danger of norovirus widespread lurks around, as these devices were almost always noticeably dirty because of the huge number of fingers that touch them. My advice would be not to touch them with your bare finger tips and use instead a paper napkin to do it. And the same should be done whenever you press a button on a lift, even if around here dirt was not perceivable. 

Concerning the cabin we had chosen a Fantastica class balcony stateroom in the aft of the ship (9271). Prior to booking, I had studied the deck plan layout and noticed that there was a bank of lifts close by. However, once on board we realized that these particular lifts are for crew only. The consequence was that every time we wanted to go anywhere from our room, we had to endure long and fatiguing walks on a long and uninteresting corridor and again on the way back. Be aware of this fact if you book one of these staterooms. Another warning concerning staterooms on the aft of the ship but only on deck 9, is that you are directly above the Carousel Lounge. This is a sort of disco lounge with an height that spans on two decks and it is at moments very noisy, mainly at night when you want to rest. There is another advice that I cannot refrain from doing: You should avoid, at all cost to book a cabin on deck 14. Our tablemates at dinner had their cabin immediately under the Bamboo Pool and had to complain frequently at reception at two or three o’clock in the morning because of the unbearable noises coming from deck 15 while maintenance to the pool is being done. They said they had the feeling of being close to a big washing machine while on spin cycle. After having complained for three or four nights in a row they managed to be reassigned to a cabin on deck 5 and were thankful for the change. Other cabins on deck 14 are also noisy because they stand immediately below the Atmosphere Pool or the Market Place Buffet. My advice to future travelers would be for you to save some money and go to a lower deck while choosing your cabin. 

As said before the itinerary was for us the main reason for this cruise. We were very keen to visit Norway and above all to set foot on the northern most parts of the country, as our route included the north cape and a stop at the Svalbard archipelago. However, I have to say that these two spots were the only that turned out to be somewhat deceiving. Honningsvag is the port of call to visit the North Cape. It is just a fishing village and totally uninteresting. We had booked a shore excursion that included the transfer to the North Cape - a windy spot by the way- and a King Crab tasting. We were unlucky with the trip to the north cape because of the fog but on our way back the sky had cleared up and enjoyed very much the landscape that was definitively beautiful.

 Longyearbyen was our port of call at the Svalbard archipelago and just to get there it is necessary a full day at sea and another one to return to Norway mainland. It was a complete dud. The most interesting shore excursions were all sold out the moment we boarded the ship in Hamburg. I had even tried to make a booking some weeks before the cruise through MSC webpage, as this is also possible and in fact very convenient if you want to avoid the crowds around the shore excursion desk, but the most interesting excursions were already sold out at that moment too. As a consequence we just booked an uninteresting drive to a place where they breed Huskies. There is a museum in town that is moderately interesting and shops (expensive) for tourists. It is a very short walk from the ship to downtown Longyearbyen, but a dusty one on a road full of heavy trucks and with no sidewalks. By the way, this is a place with lots of coal mines which explains this pattern of dusty traffic around the existing few roads. Coal exploration is in decline as a source of energy, so the economy of the archipelago relies mainly on tourism. You cannot venture on your own outside the village because of the risk of attack from polar bears, whose population has been steadily increasing anyway. While walking around the main pedestrian road of the village I spotted inside a shop some photos of the place taken in late winter or early spring while the island was still covered with snow. Judging from what saw on those photos, it seems that’s the ideal time of the year to enjoy a wonderful scenery and with luck seeing the northern lights in the sky. If you want to visit this place, do never take a cruise in summer just to go there.

Finally I would caution future travelers disembarking in Hamburg as MSC does not organize a transfer to the airport. This is a pity as many of the passengers that I saw around the airport on the afternoon of disembarkation day had also been aboard the Meraviglia. And the same happened to me one year earlier upon disembarking the Preziosa, again in Hamburg. We had our flight back home early afternoon on disembarkation day and had to take a taxi. The ride to the airport was time consuming because of the heavy traffic around the port. It took us almost one hour to get to the airport terminal and that was after we had to wait in line for 30 minutes in front of the cruise terminal on a hot sunny morning with no shades at all, just to get a taxi. Still it would have also been even worse should it be raining. Taxis were just slowly coming to the cruise terminal. Take that into account on your post-cruise arrangements.

Other travelers may think differently, but personally I prefer much smaller and better organized ships.

Crowded trip to northen most Europe

The goods:

1. The embarkation process was very fast and smooth. 

2. Prices on the ship (drinks, etc) were very reasonable 

The bad:

1. Disembarkation process was awful. We were sitting (if lucky enough to find a char) for hours waiting for our turn

2. Most of the staff was rude and not friendly. For example:

   i. We had to call several times for someone to come and order drinks at the buffet

   ii. We sometimes had to clean tables ourselves on the buffet

   iii. Almost never smiling

   iv. Not giving priority to customers (at corridors, elevators, etc)

3. Food at the buffet was just a bit above average. Not quality meats, no big variaty. During the last days we were not able even to find fork and knives at the back area for ship. In addition you were closing parts of the buffet one by one during the last days

4. Food at the main dining area was AWFUL. Tastless pasta and soups, awful risotto, bad meats and so on

5. Staff at the dininng area was also not good enough. For example we had every night to ask for butter. Once i asked where to put the stoller and the staff simply ignored me!!

6. It is unacceptable to close the juice machines during lunch and dinner in the buffet 

7. It is unacceptable not to offer tap water in the main dining area

8. There were not enough chairs to sit on the 6th floor (cafe) nor at the bar outside at the 18th

They shouldn't be allowed sailing

I have cruise with different company's during my 7 years experience but this is the worst experiences ever. I was stupid I didn´t read all the reviews about MSC.

If this will be your first cruise I will guarantee this will be your last if you have some self respect.

Ok first the few positive things, cabin (5050) real good and our cabin steward was one of few service minded persons on the ship and actually she saved our cruise so we didn't jump of the ship during the cruise. The food standard it´s quite good and even the desserts.  

The disaster starts already during embarkation, rude personnel during check in and then it starts with this "istanbul bazaar" with all kind  of selling tricks. It took me 5 min argument even before entering the ship that I don't want have any cruise selfie and relay not on display on the ship ( and I don´t mean the security photo).

The rules for the drinking package is so complex that even the personnel don't always now what is including or not. No of the drinks taste or look the same way in different bars ex. gin tonic in one bar is without lime in another with orange and in the third with no sparkling water. Why have drink list on drinks when you don´t can serve as they should or is this the MSC standard, for ex bloody marie without celery during the hole cruise!!!  

Everything cost extra, even the movies in your cabin 7€ for 5-10 years old movies, and they still have porn movies on demand 2018!!! come on!! 30 min bowling for 25€ !!!! and so on. 

The food in buffet dining is quite good but the dinning space is not dimension for all guest, you have to fight for a chair and if this is not enough the MSC crew is occupying lots of guest seats for their dining and drinking coffee. The main dining is another disaster you have 2h to eat 3 dishes and when your service is so slow that your main course is coming after 1h 45 min then you have skip the dessert before you will be kick out. 

MSC have some strange attitude to their guests ex when you are entering the ship in different ports MSC crew is letting their own personnel off the ship first so you have to wait to entering the ship just because their crew will have some more spare time. The transfer buses to the ship and from the ship is filled up with crew before guests, so guests have to wait!!

I could keep on but I will stop here so choose a another company and save some frustartion

Don´t be stupid

We are certainly not cruise experts. We booked the cruise based on land stops and the look of the cabins. The destinations were well picked and we enjoyed every one of them. We did not use the MSC Excursion service and took all land trips into our own hands. The organization while boarding and check out were chaotic, you were not informed very well about what your next step is and the lines at the info desk were horrendously long. The look of the ship is modern, the cabins are small but have everything you need and the cabins get cleaned several times during the day. For anyone over 6'2", the shower will give you neck pains because the ceiling is so low.  Cabin crew was awesome and so nice as well as the staff in the restaurants. But we have noticed that they are definitely over worked and barely get any time off.  Activities and events on the ship were not our cup of tea (young couple) but that certainly is a preference thing. We enjoyed the Cirque du Soleil show but other than that there were no activities getting our attention. We painfully missed a movie theater for example. You have to pay for movies in the room. They offer lots for kids and older people. The buffet restaurants were mostly over crowded but the quality of the food there was buffet worthy. The food at the complimentary restaurants was mostly tasteless and not very good. But the specialty restaurants on board were good (but expensive). Bars were plenty and good. We have used the gym but that also was mostly over crowded and too small for so many people. MSC is not an all inclusive cruise line and you certainly get charged a lot for everything. You can avoid costs on food because there are enough complimentary offers but if you do not have a drink package booked before hand it gets expensive. Spa, movies, internet, bus shuttles to downtown areas....it all costs a lot of money.

Poor staff, too many people

Never MSC for me... They should name the next ship MSC upsell.  On the Meraviglia upselling is going on from when you wake up until you gouing to sleep again. I'll booked the orient spa. 120€ for 60  min massage, i'll booked 2. Even while doing the massage the lady tryed to sell 4 extra massages, cremes etc. The news leaflet you find on the bed  is becoming a comervial magazine trying to sell (again) Lotto tickets, bingo, restaurant packages. champagne by he bottle, pictures, camara's, parfum, beauty treatments.. etc. When you open the tv =  the same. Walking under the dome .. again.   In the sauna everyone is whering fabric, from short to underpants.. dont get it? 

The food standards whent absolutely down in the last years. We had a exclusive drink package. Again a lot of drinks, not included. What is 'exclusive' standing for then?  Staff was smoking in corridor upeside the staterroom. 

Excursions realy overprised. You find the same for the half of the price once ashore.

Interaiment is very Italian. Italian singers try yo sing English songs.   7 seadays, why not showing a movie in the theater in the afternoon, oh true you can do in your room 7€ / film.  For serval years I do cruises, i'm always happy to pay the service charge. This year I asked serval staff members what they get from that. Absolutely NOTHING! So I went to the information desk and ask to take away the service fee. The lady did understand my complaints and said I better choose the smaller ships from MSC. They have the same amount off staff on the Meraviglia as par example the Divina, only 1500 guest more. So i dicide to tipp them directly. Pitty because you can only tip the employee's you see.

The led screen cealing is a expensive gimmick.  If you have a  good lookaround on the ship you see that a lot is done with cheap materials.  MSC is hunting for mass tourism and that you see. 

No sign of a cruise director.

That been said, staff is workkng hard 15 days without one free day. €1050 / month for a bar tender. Most off the staff is exosted.  The destination to Spitsbergen where Meraviglia  but MSC lost his smile.

Msc is losing his smile

Reviews about the Meraviglia are not exactly very good.

We can understand them and agree... if you are not in a Yacht Club cabin.

Athmosphere 

The ship is crowded and loud most of the day. Getting on and off the ship means queing, for minutes at least. Good luck if you try to find an unoccupied table at the buffet restaurant between 12 and 2pm. Good luck if you try to find two available chairs at any of the bars onboard just before diner time. Good luck if you try to find a lounger along one the pools that is not occupied during a sunny sea day.

The Meraviglia gallery on deck 6 is usualy very busy and loud. On the sides are MSC staff members trying to sell you drink packages, restaurant deals, massages, jewellery, perfumes... and so on. It almost resembles the atmosphere of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul... MSC should really try to deminish this kind of selling techniques, it is very annoying and for many passengers a reason not to travel with MSC again.

Food

The food at the buffet restaurant is very decent. It is not 'gourmet', but it is well prepared and tasty. There is not much variety, but there are certainly enough choices to please everyone. The waiter service is very efficient, thanks to the buzzer on every table. Just push the button and a waiter will be at your table within a minute. We cannot comment on the food in the main restaurants as we have only dined in the Yacht Club restaurant or used room service.

Drinks

The drinks in the many bars are also well prepared and you will receive complementary crisps, olives or salted nuts with it. The choices of cocktails, beers, spirits is immense. The waiters are usualy very friendly and seems to enjoy their jobs.

Excursions

We took two excursions with MSC and they were very good. No complaints.

Spa and Wellness

The Thermal Area will not dissappoint you. There are two big saunas, two big steam rooms and much more. I particulary liked the walk through shower with four different shower heads, both cold and warm. There are also multiple relaxation rooms. The Thermal Area is a perfect spot for a cloudy sea day. But off course it will be busy at those times, but not really crowded. The Thermal Area is complementary for Aurea and Yacht Club guests. 

Pools

A major advantage of a big ship is the inside pool area, named the Bamboo Pool on Meraviglia. Perfect when the weather is bad, but again, then everyone wants to be there and it is impossible to find a lounger. Passengers leave their towel on them for the whole day, giving others no chance to relax on one. Sad...

The outside pools are very attractive when the weather is good and are then... crowded and loud! 

Entertainment

We attended the two shows by Cirque de Soleil: Sonor was very good, Viaggio was also good.  e saw some perfomances in the Broadway Theater. A ventriloquist which was very mediocre and a magician/'shadow artist' which was dissappointing. We also attended an abridged version of Puccini's opera 'La Boheme' which was actualy very good. So it was a mix of good and bad entertainment.

YACHT CLUB

Atmosphere

If you stay in the Yacht Club, the atmosphere is completely different.

The YC areas are quiet and have a relaxing (maybe boring for some) atmosphere. There are less than 200 passengers in the Yacht Club.

You will always find a lounger around the pool on deck 19, there is always a table available at the YC restaurant and more than enough available seats in the YC Lounge and bar.

YC benefits

A YC passenger gets many small but interesting benefits: hold your cruise card to a sensor near the elavators and you will have 'Priority Service'. This means that if you enter the elevator on deck 18 and want to go to deck 5, the elevator will bring you directly to deck 5, without stopping at the other levels. If you want to get off the ship and are in a hurry, just ask any of the butlers to escort you and you will bypass all the queing passengers. And when you come back, if you are lucky, you can see a butler outside the ship to escort you directly to the security area onboard, again bypassing all the other passengers. On disembarkation day, you do not have to wait or to queue, you can walk off the ship at any time you like (as soon as 20 minutes after the arrival in port).

YC food

There are four options for breakfast: room service, the restaurant, the lounge or the grill on the sun deck. We mostly used room service. The choices on the list seems to be limited, but you can always request items that are not listed. I like Egg benedicts, wrote that on the paper and it was delivered. Excellent service!

The food in the restaurant is very good, again well prepared and tasty, but not realy luxury. A lot of pork and lamb and other 'affordable' ingredients. Lobster was only offered once during our two week cruise. That's being 'cheap' from MSC. The dishes are very small. You are not full after an appetizer, main course and dessert. But there is always an evening snack at the buffet, including a slice of pizza of you are still hungry. And you can always order two appetizers or two main courses instead of one. The grill on the sun deck only opens if the weather permits it. It's a good location for having lunch. You may choose your meat (e.g. lamb, pork, beef, fish...) and it will be grilled and minutes later served at your table.

Conclusion

I realy enjoyed my stay on the MSC Meraviglia and was fortunate to be in the Yacht Club. I will sail with MSC again (next cruise is on the Seaview), but only in a Yacht Club cabin and if the price is reasonable. With the Yacht Club, MSC tries to immitate the luxury cruise lines. However they are not comparable. On a luxury cruise line, the food in the restaurant is more upscale, with more exquisite ingredients, slightly larger portions and with more choices on the menu. The butlers on MSC are good and friendly but are more room stewards than true butlers. If the itinerary and the price of a Yacht Club cabin is comparable to an itinerary and the price of a cabin on a luxury cruise line, I will certainly choose the latter one. This explains my 4 star rating instead of a 5 star rating.

Happy cruising!

Only in Yacht Club

MSC MERAVICLIA  /  5 – 19 JULY 2018  / CABIN 8020 (Inside)

“L’Olive D’Oree” Dining room

We had an early – on time request – via our travel agent for a table of two. Instead of this, MSC gave us a table (Nr 797) which actually was a table for 4 persons, divided in 2 parts, right next to each other. So, as a real fact, we were all the 4 persons in the same table!

The food choices were so few and the menu options were extremely “strange”, with a poor quality and quantity. Generally  we have serious doubts about the Chef’s “choises” and dining decisions. 

Nowhere hand sanitizer ! A sterilize liquid machine might be everywhere, especially at the dining areas !

“Market place” Dining Room

Few staff can not serve so many people, or keep the dining tables and the floor clean, on time. We rarely could see supervisors and foremen checking around the extremely noisy dining area. 

Quite poor quality and quantity of meat and fish. The same not delicious foods were repeated every lunch and dinner. Limited food variety and none difference in the menu every day ! Most of the simple food choices were unacceptable tasteless (f.e. pizza, kinds of cheese etc.). Generally we have serious doubts about the Chef’s “choises” and his dining decisions.

Nowhere hand sanitizer ! A sterilize liquid machine might be everywhere, especially at the dining areas !

Room amenities

None – at least 1 bottle in the embarkation day – complimentary bottle of water.

A small table with one small armchair could be placed into the cabin.

An offer of a goodnight small chocolate on the bed, must be cost a lot to the MSC Co., on the contrary of the others cruise companies.

Bath amenities

Total lack of bath toiletries (hair conditioner, body/hand lotion, cotton pads, ear cotton buds, etc.). No hand towels, no wardrobs, no slippers, no shoe shiner, not a cheap cotton bag. Bad quality of the shampoo, bath gel and toilet paper.

Photo Shop

Annoying photographers were hunting for a shoot, any time, anywhere. They sent us in the cabin, the embarkation photo – which they forced us to take -that we didn’t want to bye, warning us that otherwise, they were going to charge our bill !

English beer pub

The cuisine was any time “closed”, so the beers were coming without any chips or nuts, as everyone knows that nuts or chips need cook / baking !

Shuttle Bus in Tromso

Shuttle bus service from port (Fredik Langes Gate 4) to Tromso city center, total 6 Km (actually 4 Km), 19,90 Euros per person round trip.

None announcement / information on behalf of the bridge regarding the navigation, or the passage of the Arctic Circle.

Less (service-quality-quantity)  for More (money)

We enjoy very nice days of navigation,entertaining and sociability.The embarkment and desembarkement a little slow because this ship have 5700 passengers.When we come tours the embarkment is very slow because control passengers.The ship is new one and very confortable and all areas very beautiful.From our cabin was very fast to go Broadway theater.           The cirque soleil show was very nice.

The lunch and dinnertime very good and service very good.We enjoy Tv studio karaoke bar and we profit free package drinks.After dinner we walk and shopping.The shopping area very good with a lot good offers special perfumes,clothes.

The cruise tours are very expansive and

The some bus drivers very fast drive that was impossible make fotos.

The temperature on the ship not very good sometimes cold and sometimes very hot.On the cabin sometimes was cold.The cabin with balcon was very confortable and this time Tv channels with large offer several languages.

Very good

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