Eva Sabolek-Smith
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A Cruise in the News!
When Your Cruise is in the News!
Living in the Midwest, the price of air travel to ports adds significantly to a cruise vacation. Therefore, cruises departing from New York, New Jersey, or Baltimore can be a great value. MSC is cruise line who has been a big presence in Europe for many years. They are striving to be more of a player in the North American market, and have a ship sailing weekly from the Brooklyn, New York port. My 15 year-old son and I booked a trip at the beginning of Winter Break onboard the MSC Meravigia. The 7-night sailing was to have 3 Sea Days, a day at Port Canaveral Florida, a day in Nassau, Bahamas, and one day at their private island, Ocean Cay.
We had opted to drive halfway to the port the evening before, so we would be at the port early the next morning. We stayed in a hotel along the route. We were surprised to learn at 10:00 PM that evening that the Meraviglia would not be going to the Bahamas as planned, but to Canada instead! There was unsafe weather along the route to the Bahamas, so we were rerouted. From New York, if you can’t go South, there is only one other option…North! The new ports of call were Boston, MA; Portland, ME; and St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada. We were shocked, as it was December 16th. MSC offered only 2 options---go on the cruise with the new itinerary or take a credit for a future cruise. We elected to go ahead and take the cruise.
This deviation made national news. Stories ran on CNN and the Today Show, among other outlets. Passengers were interviewed and clips of social media posts were made. MSC made the decision they thought would give the best vacation experience while being safe. Weather is always that unpredictable component to any vacation.
Port navigation and parking were easy. The line to board was long, but moved quickly. The check in process went fast, but there was minimal interaction with the check-in agent.We went to the buffet to eat, which was very busy. Due to the change, only about 60% of the intended passengers sailed. No doubt at closer to full capacity the crowd at the buffet would have been dreadful.
We were able to go to our room around 3:00 PM. We had an aft facing balcony room. We were able to see the Statue of Liberty from our balcony. Our room was a standard balcony, with the sofa converted to a bed. The cabin was clean, and we met our cabin steward, Sybil.
Our initial experience in the Main Dining room was lacking. Other then that first night, the service was good. Our server and their helper got to know our preferences and had plenty of water for us each night. The food was good, on par with the other large cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean or Carnival. I did feel the food was much less salty, which to me was a great benefit. The only lunch choice was the buffet. Although there were plenty of options of food choice, having a non buffet choice would be a big win for lunchtime. For breakfast, you could elect the buffet or a seated service.
The entertainment was enjoyable, but not at the production level or quality of the cruise lines MSC hopes to compete against. We were able to get reservations each night for whichever show was scheduled. There were two magic shows, and the rest were mostly singing events, with one Christmas spectacular. The weather in Boston was very bad. The full day we were there, it was pouring rain and winds were high. We ended up staying onboard the entire time in Boston. We had nice bus tours in both Portland, ME and St. John’s, New Brunswick. The people in St. John’s came out to greet us with a choir, Santa and Mrs. Claus, free hot cocoa, and other seasonal delights. In Portland, the welcome sign read “Welcome to the Northern Bahamas”. Both bus tours were pleasant and informational and it was a great way to see a small area of our destinations in such cold weather.
Given the last-minute change, I felt free laundry service or some onboard credit should have been offered. Guest services was also not overly friendly or helpful for the minor issues I asked them about. The ships wifi was also down for almost a full day on our last sea day. There is also a tremendous amount of waste onboard. Paper daily schedules and paper photos. MSC needs to convert to digital print on demand photos and quit printing the daily newsletter for everyone, when it is available on the televisions in each room. Our steward and wait staff were great, but overall the service and amenities just weren’t there. MSC has a long way to go to become real competition to Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and even Carnival.One of the items that didn’t make sense was that MSC said due to laws, we were unable to stay in Port overnight and that was why they didn’t change up our Southern itinerary. This never made sense, as we stayed in port at Boston for two nights. I appreciate that safety is first, and always should be. However, communication could have been much improved all along the trip.