MSC Meraviglia March 20-27, 2022

We had high hopes for this family cruise for eight people that was rescheduled due to the pandemic. A pre-pandemic cruise on the MSC Davina was lovely and problem free. We also sail three times per year on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian so we can compare with informed minds. While we could find some positives, the negatives far outweighed them unfortunately. There are things that people should know before cruising on this line. Let’s deal with the negatives first.

1. Our check in time changed over time by emails from the company so we simply picked a time and arrived. Only 1100 on board so we thought check in would be a breeze. If you have unvaccinated kids they need a covid test at the port. The wait for covid testing wasn’t too bad and we were patient. However, once at the check in desk we discovered that all of our cabins except one had been changed to a different floor and location. We wanted aft (near the buffet) but were moved to the front of the ship on another floor. They could not confirm if the new rooms were upgrades either. I didn’t want their mystery grab bag rooms. Whoever heard of such? Mystery cabins! So, I had to battle to get the original rooms restored. Our balcony room had a full bathtub and bigger bathroom and we thankfully got it back. And don’t you generally pay more to pick your own cabin? The new rooms we discovered may have been Aurea class but I would be willing to bet we wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the aurea class experiences. They wouldn’t admit to them being upgrades so who knows. Read more