MSC Meraviglia - August 6, 2021, 3 Nights to Ocean Cay

[twangster]

This trip report is all about new.  New for me that is.

• New user on the CruiseHabit message board. 
• New to MSC. 
• First revenue cruise of my new cruise restart.

 

For those that haven't heard MSC has some really attractive rates at the moment so with exactly 14 days until the sail date I decided to jump on board.  

MSC has a status match program that I exercised a few years ago.  My status match was expiring so this opportunity will also keep my MSC status alive and well.

It's always good to try new things and I'm looking forward to trying not only a new cruise lines but also a new class of ship, for me at least.  With many cruise lines operating at reduced capacity as they restart operations I see this as a great time to try new cruise experiences.

For this cruise I've booked a Fantastica balcony on deck 9.  I haven't fully discovered what Fantasica means but it was a small per cruise upgrade over the base rate so why not?  I've heard great things about Yacht Club but I'm going to save that for another occasion.  It's just 3 nights and I look forward to more of an apples to apples comparison with the balcony cruises I've done on other cruise lines.  

I've added a wifi streaming package and an excursion climbing the Ocean Cay lighthouse.  Other than that my plan is just to explore Ocean Cay, MSC's private destination and enjoy the salt air of a sea day on our way back to Miami.

Here is the cruise itinerary:

 

With that it's time to let the countdown commence...

[CruiseHabit Bill]

You're sailing before we do, so we're looking forward to your full report - but make sure you leave us some whisky onboard 🙂

[JLMoran]

On 7/23/2021 at 12:47 PM, twangster said:

I haven't fully discovered what Fantasica means but it was a small per cruise upgrade over the base rate so why not?

 

I think Billy himself said that if you're sailing MSC you pretty much have to get the Fantastica upgrade. Otherwise you're really sailing bottom-of-the-ladder steerage rate, with absolutely nothing at all included.

[twangster]

Here at T-11 days I've discovered that a new set of cabins has become available within my category of booking.  All of the new cabins I can now choose from appear to be quad cabins that were not available for me to choose previously.   

I'm happy with my current cabin so I'm not going to move however as I get to know this class and for potential future bookings it's interesting to note how the pool of cabins available to pick from has grown at this point in the cruise countdown.

A few days ago there were two other cabins that were options available to me.  Now there are dozens of cabins on multiple decks should I choose to move at the same rate.  

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by twangster

[CruiseHabit Bill]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

Here at T-11 days I've discovered that a new set of cabins has become available within my category of booking.  All of the new cabins I can now choose from appear to be quad cabins that were not available for me to choose previously.   

I'm happy with my current cabin so I'm not going to move however as I get to know this class and for potential future bookings it's interesting to note how the pool of cabins available to pick from has grown at this point in the cruise countdown.

A few days ago there were two other cabins that were options available to me.  Now there are dozens of cabins on multiple decks should I choose to move at the same rate.  

 

 

Interesting.  For my booking (Aug 20) there were plenty available already, but I have two thoughts/theories.

1. When you checked previously, had you already selected Fantastica?  That opens up far more categories.
2. Return to service adjustments.  It may be that they initially blocked out a ton of rooms to limit capacity, and then found a way (later) to block capacity while still allowing all the available rooms to be selectable.  Perhaps this or something similar, but ultimately, a struggle relating to them not yet returning to service.

Just guesses TBH.

[twangster]

17 minutes ago, CruiseHabit Bill said:

 

Interesting.  For my booking (Aug 20) there were plenty available already, but I have two thoughts/theories.

1. When you checked previously, had you already selected Fantastica?  That opens up far more categories.
2. Return to service adjustments.  It may be that they initially blocked out a ton of rooms to limit capacity, and then found a way (later) to block capacity while still allowing all the available rooms to be selectable.  Perhaps this or something similar, but ultimately, a struggle relating to them not yet returning to service.

Just guesses TBH.

 

Maybe because I am solo.  

Virtually all of the additional cabins that are options now can accommodate 3 or 4 guests.  I've been Fantasica from the start, but the original cabins offered were for two guests only.  

On a positive note I was able to book this cruise as a solo.  In the past MSC required 2 guests, at least when I searched for bookings from Florida before the shutdown.  

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by twangster

[twangster]

I received an unsolicited email today with a new eTicket.

My 13:40 boarding time has been pushed to 15:30.  

Guess I can take my time getting to the terminal.

[karl_nj]

Sounds like a fun little cruise.  I've always been a little wary of MSC, looking forward to seeing what you think of the line.

 

 

[twangster]

T - 4 days.

Discovered I couldn't log into my account this morning.  It seems my account is gone.  I registered for a new account thinking it would bark at given my MSC # and booking # indicating I already had an account but it didn't.  Same email address I used to use but now it's a brand new account.  Weird.

At least all of my information for this cruise was saved including passport details and I still appear to be checked in.  

Edited August 2, 2021 by twangster

[karl_nj]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

T - 4 days.

Discovered I couldn't log into my account this morning.  It seems my account is gone.  I registered for a new account thinking it would bark at given my MSC # and booking # indicating I already had an account but it didn't.  Same email address I used to use but now it's a brand new account.  Weird.

At least all of my information for this cruise was saved including passport details and I still appear to be checked in.  

 

Wild.  Sounds like MSC's IT department is about on par with Royal's.  Though I've never lost my entire account there, I just find my cruises randomly disappear...  and re-appear.  I assume it has something to do with the Bermuda triangle.

 

[twangster]

Looks like my cabin category was changed to Guarantee.  I was able to call and get my old cabin back, thankfully.  

[twangster]

Following along the Aug. 2nd group on social media they appear to be at 60% capacity.  Everyone was given a CV-19 test at the terminal, vaccinated and unvaccinated.  

Getting excited!

[karl_nj]

1 minute ago, twangster said:

Following along the Aug. 2nd group on social media they appear to be at 60% capacity.  Everyone was given a CV-19 test at the terminal, vaccinated and unvaccinated.  

Getting excited!

 

Yeah, that seems to be the way things are going for August.  I now need to arrange my own test 3 days (or fewer) before embarkation for my late August cruise on Edge, even though we are all vaccinated.  I guess it makes some sense, with what is currently known about the delta variant.  It's still a little annoying to have to get one more thing done before the cruise.

[twangster]

Email and text message received just now.

Original check in time was 1:40pm but I noticed this change a few days ago so no big deal.  I'll just drive really slow and do a few laps around Dodge island getting some pictures 🙂 

 

[twangster]

T-1 day.

PCR test: Negative!  Woohoo!

In full disclosure i didn't need to a do a test prior to this cruise.  MSC didn't ask me to get tested in advance.  I'll be tested again at the terminal TOMORROW!  Yay!

I chose to get a test done within the 3 day window for two reasons:

1. I love to cruise and want to do my part to protect the cruise industry.  If I was an asymptomatic carrier and brought the virus to the terminal that wouldn't be good.  

2. I have more cruises in the coming weeks that do have a requirement for the cruise lines involved to have a negative test with results in hand before arriving to check in.  This was an opportunity to confirm how quickly results came back for future reference.  This was a practice run for me.

So now I'm fully vaccinated, tested negative and ready to cruise safely!

[CruiseHabit Bill]

4 hours ago, twangster said:

In full disclosure i didn't need to a do a test prior to this cruise.  MSC didn't ask me to get tested in advance.  I'll be tested again at the terminal TOMORROW!  Yay!

 

Getting that extra test is a great idea for the reasons you mentioned, and I'll offer two more:

1. No unnecessary travel to the embarkation port (a short drive for some, a series of flights for others)
2. We've seen requirements change last minute, and this is a great way to protect yourself juuust in case MSC (or any other line not currently requiring this) changes things up at the last minute.

Can't wait to hear more!

[Mike at Sea]

On 7/23/2021 at 12:47 PM, twangster said:

This trip report is all about new.  New for me that is.

• New user on the CruiseHabit message board. 
• New to MSC. 
• First revenue cruise of my new cruise restart.

 

For those that haven't heard MSC has some really attractive rates at the moment so with exactly 14 days until the sail date I decided to jump on board.  

MSC has a status match program that I exercised a few years ago.  My status match was expiring so this opportunity will also keep my MSC status alive and well.

It's always good to try new things and I'm looking forward to trying not only a new cruise lines but also a new class of ship, for me at least.  With many cruise lines operating at reduced capacity as they restart operations I see this as a great time to try new cruise experiences.

For this cruise I've booked a Fantastica balcony on deck 9.  I haven't fully discovered what Fantasica means but it was a small per cruise upgrade over the base rate so why not?  I've heard great things about Yacht Club but I'm going to save that for another occasion.  It's just 3 nights and I look forward to more of an apples to apples comparison with the balcony cruises I've done on other cruise lines.  

I've added a wifi streaming package and an excursion climbing the Ocean Cay lighthouse.  Other than that my plan is just to explore Ocean Cay, MSC's private destination and enjoy the salt air of a sea day on our way back to Miami.

Here is the cruise itinerary:

 

With that it's time to let the countdown commence...

Also brand new to the CruiseHabit board and we're also first-time MSC cruisers taking our first cruise since the pandemic on Meraviglia on August 13.  The price was certainly right, but we keep losing our stateroom assignment.  Excited to get back to cruising though, and looking forward to hearing about your experience.

--Mike

[CruiseHabit Bill]

2 hours ago, Mike at Sea said:

we keep losing our stateroom assignment

 

Twangster ran into this as well.  So far my room has remained the same.  I did see someone on FB saying they the crew sealed off some rooms for embarkation tomorrow (so they can turn things around more quickly).  I can't independently verify that, but it did make me wonder about the room assignments.

[Mike at Sea]

10 hours ago, CruiseHabit Bill said:

 

Twangster ran into this as well.  So far my room has remained the same.  I did see someone on FB saying they the crew sealed off some rooms for embarkation tomorrow (so they can turn things around more quickly).  I can't independently verify that, but it did make me wonder about the room assignments.

I called twice and both times they assigned us a stateroom, only to have it removed within hours.  Too much effort to keep calling, so I'm going to wait and see.  Normally, room location is a big deal for me, but I just want to get back to cruising at this point 😀

Edited August 6, 2021 by Mike at Sea

[karl_nj]

1 minute ago, Mike at Sea said:

I called twice and both times they assigned us a stateroom, only to have it removed within hours.  Too much effort to keep calling, so I'm going to wait and see.  Normally, room location is a big deal for me, but  just want to get back to cruising at this point 😀

 

I guess MSC is just used to carrying cargo that doesn't care where it is stored for the trip!

I wonder when Maersk is going to start a cruse line... perhaps they can just convert some shipping containers into cabins...

[CruiseHabit Bill]

11 hours ago, karl_nj said:

I guess MSC is just used to carrying cargo that doesn't care where it is stored for the trip!

Mark me cargo, because as long as I'm on the ship that's the important part 😉

So far my stateroom assignment remains, though my boarding time got moved 3.5 hours earlier, which I'll happily accept.

I know you were joking, but I actually ran some numbers a few weeks ago on MSC which might be of interest.  They're WAY more used to carrying passengers than most cruise lines - just not in N America.

Per 2018 Cruise Market Watch, NCLH (all three brands combined) carried 2.47mm pax, and had 12.6% of market revenue. MSC carried 3mm pax, and had 9.8% of market revenue. The share of market revenue isn't surprising - not b/c of their low prices in the US (that's a sliver), but because NCLH's numbers include Regent and Oceania (much higher per diems), and MSC operates many ships in lower-priced markets.

[twangster]

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!

I drove to Miami this morning arriving with an extra hour before my appointment time.

I think someone forgot to tell the Port of Miami that cruises are back, at least the parking department.  Meraviglia is using terminal C but the terminal C parking garage is barricaded off.  I had heard of this from the last group of cruisers so like them I went to NCL next door and terminal B.  After a few laps around the merry-go-round following the sign for B parking I declared myself a VIP.  

To the right is the VIP Bag Drop and since it was the only ramp that goes up... why not try it?  Sure enough this is route to park at terminal B.  Left brings you back around in a circle.

I was an hour early so I parked and took the elevator to the top of the parking garage hoping to get a picture of Meraviglia.  Parking at B actually worked out well for this purpose.

Okay, that took 5 minutes.  No what?  I figured I might as well head over and see how thing were looking.

Turns out they weren't checking boarding pass times at 3pm so I joined the line and made it through the door.  Next up security.  Pretty standard ship security.  After security I joined a queue for the health check.  At several points they wanted to make sure I had completed the health questions and signed the form. I had done that at home this morning but plenty of others had not.

After roughly 15 minutes I reached a desk where they took my health form and gave me 4 stickers with my name and a QR code.  From here I joined another queue for the actual test.  Five minutes later it was my turn to test.  They took the stickers from me, did a quick nasal dip and gave me a sticker that corresponded with my testing station.

 

Upstairs to a waiting area to section "10" to match my sticker where I began to write this post.  I was the first into section 10 but not long after others joined me. 

Almost 45 minutes passed and an employee came by and announced "everybody up!" and we are going to the next step.  In hindsight this meant we all passed as no one was called out.  

We went back downstairs to join the queue for check in.  The real check in.  Here they requested my boarding pass, passport and proof of vaccination.  Moments later with my card in hand I went back upstairs to board the ship.

All of this from the moment I walked in the front door of the terminal to the moment I was walking up the gangway to the ship was roughly 1 hour.

Edited August 7, 2021 by twangster

[twangster]

I neglected to mention at check in they gave me a white wrist band to denote my vaccinated status.  Upon walking on the ship there was a table setup where they provided an MSC smart device that serves as door key, allows drink purchases but also does contact tracing since it is a tracker that knows where you have been.

Next I walked into a lounge and was immediately greeted by a drink package salesmen.  For 3 night cruise MSC doesn't offer drink packages for pre-purchase and I wasn't sure I was going to bite but in the heat of the excitement of being back on a ship I caved and bought the easy package for $32 per day plus 15% service fee.  This next picture was my first glimpse of the ship and where I signed up for the drink package.

Cabins were ready so I didn't grab a beverage just yet but I did grab a picture of the next area that the lounge led me into:

Edited August 7, 2021 by twangster

[CruiseHabit Bill]

Awesome update @twangster!

Seems like embarkation was pretty quick and smooth.  I think an hour would be reasonable under normal circumstances, so add in a COVID test and that seems great, actually.

Curious which beverage package you opted for (not sure based on the price).

[twangster]

5 hours ago, CruiseHabit Bill said:

Curious which beverage package you opted for (not sure based on the price).

 

I did the "Easy" package.  This is the entry level basic plan that covers well drinks, Heineken draft, house wine and some non-alcoholic beverages.  More to come...