MSC Meraviglia - SHOCKED and SURPRISED!

Our first MSC cruise on the MSC Meraviglia was full of surprises - some were totally shocking, since we hadn’t seen them done on any other ship. Here, we lay out the things that most surprised us about MSC.

[@tiffanyi5645]

I like that MSC offers discounted cruises without the “discount behavior “ that tends to happen on other lines like Carnival. There was no fights, no weed smells, no belligerence. Icing on the cake is their status match program! 🙌🏽

[@wavesandwandering]

LOVE the status match program! They matched me at Diamond thanks to my status with Disney!

[@tiffanyi5645]

We sailed on Seascape last month and other than the COVID we all came home with (literally all 15 people in our group!) we have no complaints! Lol The ship was gorgeous and the itinerary was excellent!

[@wavesandwandering]

I’m so glad you had a good time - and I’m so sorry about the Covid!! The ships are beautiful.

[@RICHARDSMITH-te5no]

Gelato was a premium but they had very good free soft serve at the pool.

[@wavesandwandering]

Very true!

[@jimskam]

I loved that we left port later especially the light house show

[@wavesandwandering]

Loved the lighthouse show! It’s something pretty unique to MSC

[@deerdeleter]

yea I wanna go on an MSC cruise one day tickets are priced surprisingly low compared to other cruises

[@wavesandwandering]

We are headed out on the Seascape tomorrow. I’m surprised at how reasonable the cruises are even in peak season. Definitely a bargain!

[@davidarnold7676]

Best cruise line ever! You must have been on a 4 dayer

[@wavesandwandering]

We’ve done a few now, including the Meraviglia out of NYC - beautiful ship but some things we didn’t expect!

[@CobisTaba]

I was absolutely allowed to get drinks on Euribia main theater.

[@wavesandwandering]

I wonder why they didn’t allow it on our sailings? It seems a HUGE money maker for a cruise line!

[@CobisTaba]

@@wavesandwandering I realize I was in Yacht Club but as far as I could tell all seats even had small drink holders next to them. Possible we were exempt from the rule but I highly doubt it. Not all employees would insta know I am YC

[@wavesandwandering]

@@CobisTaba Thanks so much for bringing this up! I wanted to make sure I wasn't giving bad info to my clients, so I gave a quick ring to MSC - and apparently, on some ships, you CAN drink in the theater - however, they did confirm that you cannot in the main theater on the Meraviglia. This is such good information to have, and I appreciate the conversation!

[@babev.6936]

Hi! For this msc cruise specifically do you recommend bringing cash ? Is it helpful to have cash in the Bahamas and to tip cruise staff ?

[@wavesandwandering]

We don’t bring a lot of cash. Have cash for the tips for the porter, but everything onboard can be done on your card. If you use the casino, you may want cash for that as well. Tips will be automatically added to your onboard account during your cruise, so if you prefer to leave cash, you have to go down to guest services and have them remove the charge. Cash in the Bahamas really depends where you want to go. Shops and restaurants all take credit cards, but the straw market is cash and some local vendors are cash - American money is fine.

[@babev.6936]

This helps a lot , Thank you !! So excited for msc cruise coming up .

[@elizabethhouck5865]

Currently on the Cruise…. Room flooded with sewage….. Floor 8 . Rm 8203 and probably all rooms on the odd side of the boat have been contaminated with sewage, and just shop vac up…. Not cleaned. And the staff just say, “It’s fine!”

[@wavesandwandering]

OMG Elizabeth! I'm so sorry this is going on for you! And yeah, I'd be really upset if I saw them just mopping it up without cleaning and disinfecting. Oh man :-( If you had any photos or videos you'd want me to share, maybe it could get someone's attention. I'm so, so sorry for you!

[@elizabethhouck5865]

@@wavesandwandering thanks but after a lot of back and forth and photos my husband showed them…. They “graciously” gave us a new room (they do a lot of talking to act as if they are bending over backwards to accommodate but also just keep saying -“it’s fine”…. It has been such a traumatic experience and you are at their mercy of the guest services? If they are willing to listen and help or not!

[@lizstromsnesdolz629]

Sewage? From where? Got any proof?

[@williamf4544]

Oh well

[@brod2227]

Was the ice cream onboard expensive?

[@wavesandwandering]

It was about $5 for a cone - but they were literally making the cones right there and the ice cream was lovely!

[@JustTheilogs]

Just because you don’t eat hot dogs for breakfast doesn’t need your comment of being gross. Different cultures do eat hot dogs for breakfast. If you don’t like the food, there are other ways of politely saying you don’t. Saying gross to food sounds like my kids talking. Be an adult.

[@wavesandwandering]

I know there are cultures - such as Mexican and Filipino - that eat hot dogs for breakfast. However, the reaction to this dish was the fact that we ordered plain old breakfast sausage, and in the absence of sausage, they tired to pass off hot dogs in a truly nasty sauce as "sausage." Also, it's my opinion, so I don't necessarily have to be polite. I want to make sure that people who are here to get advice, information, and planning tips to help them prepare for an upcoming cruise get the information they need, not the information you get from other vloggers who are paid to make certain their opinions are all polite and spit polished to be favorable.

[@johnclark5172]

My experience was awful, they had plumbing issues, changed my dining time as well as a few other groups, and we got food poisoning.

[@wavesandwandering]

Oh no! That's really awful. I'm so sorry you had such a terrible time! The dining times are a bit outrageous - some as late as 9:45 on our sailing. I know it's not unusual in some countries to eat that late, but I'm an old, Fat, American diabetic, and I'd be passed out by then! I'm sorry you got sick, though :-(

[@truthalways8071]

I will thank you in advance if you can give me some accurate information I've been on all the other Cruise Lines Carnival Norwegian Royal Caribbean and one thing they all had was every night of the cruise they would have three or four bars where there would be a piano player in one a guitar player in another a rock singer sometimes a band and also a Latin band band so every night till about midnight or 1:00 in the morning you would find three or four different types of musical entertainment can you be so kind to tell me if MSC does this as well as well? I have heard one person tell me that there is only one musical Entertainer in one of the bars till maybe 10:00 p.m. and then that's it I will appreciate any time you take to give me this response from anybody who can respond thank you in advance

[@wavesandwandering]

We saw multiple types of entertainment at a variety of the lounges on all of our MSC sailings, but there wasn't a consistent schedule. Like, I couldn't tell you to go at 7:30 every night and find music. Some of the lounges were doing trivia or game shows, some had sports on. There was a decent variety of evening activities, including multiple lounge performers.

[@bethewalt7385]

That's why I'll never cruise these Walmart cruise lines with the riffraff, so far the new Ritz Carlton cruises have been good, suites only! Norwegian cruise lines are always good and Regency of course, drinks without snacks served is BARBARIC😂😂trailer trash cruise lines so of course 😂😂

[@wavesandwandering]

We’ve enjoyed MSC but the nickel and diming the budget cruise lines do is ridiculous. But if you’re sailing with a family and want to do it less expensively, the ships are beautiful!

[@ricky.3326]

MSC is good if you do Yacht Club. If not, stay far, far away

[@mojojojo7923]

Junk