Cruisin' the Mediterranean on the MSC Meraviglia

After a year and a half of major changes and getting used to our new lifestyle, the time had come for my husband and I to take a break and enjoy some quality time together. The only time we had ever traveled together was back in March 2017 during our incredible honeymoon at Walt Disney World. Our obvious choice was taking a "second honeymoon" trip to WDW, but we had to postpone it for several reasons. That opened up a new world of travel possibilities for us: Paris, London, Tokyo... However, it was Eduardo's idea to take a cruise, given that his vacation days were nearing and we had to plan everything quickly. I must confess I didn't really sympathize with the idea at first, but after realizing all the planning that had to be done for any of the other trips in the short time we had left, a zero-worries cruise started to sound like the kind of vacation that we needed.

Taking a cruise cuts out most of the intricate planning that any regular trip requires, as they're usually all-inclusive and they offer a wide array of amenities and activities on board. All you have to plan or reserve are the outings at every port of call. The only thing left to do was to match our vacation days with the departure and travel days of a cruise ship that fit into our budget and expectations. Unluckily for us, only a couple of cruises departed within our vacation time frame. But, luckily, one of them was the MSC Meraviglia, a vessel that started operating in the year 2017 and became the fourth largest cruise ship in the world. With a capacity of 4,500 passengers and around 1,500 crew members, 15 ship decks, 12 restaurants, several bars and clubs, an exclusive chocolate shop, a theater with different daily performances, two Cirque Du Soleil at Sea shows, a spa, a sports complex and gym, a TV studio, temperate pools and jacuzzis, two water slides and a Himalayan bridge, and the longest LED dome at sea, the MSC Meraviglia is definitely a monster cruise ship.

The ship's itinerary is comprised by stops at Mediterranean cities: Barcelona (Spain), Marseille (France), Genoa (Italy), Civitavecchia (Italy), Palermo (Italy), Valletta (Malta), and a full day at sea. Apparently, the MSC Meraviglia will be relocated to Miami in fall of the current year, and it will be sailing to Caribbean islands. Honestly, the pictures and videos of the ship were captivating, so we took a shot and got our tickets for this week-long cruise trip. We were very lucky because we purchased the simplest kind of cabin on board, which is usually in the interior of the ship, but we were assigned to an incredibly better cabin that even featured a balcony. You have no idea of how thankful and excited Ed and I were! We also bought a drink package to avoid having to pay for our individual beverages on board. It was really starting to look like the perfect vacation.

I also searched for possible shore excursions at every port of call, but in the end we only chose to reserve one for Rome, since the trip from Civitavecchia to Rome is over an hour long. We'd take maps and prepare a list of landmarks to visit at each city. Well, let's be honest, I was the one in charge of preparing our walking tours, and I think I was able to come up with pretty nice routes that covered almost all of the important monuments. After all those details were covered, we packed our bags, got our documents and set out towards our departure port on February 14, a very nice way to kick off Valentine's Day. We actually had a little fail getting to the port, since Google Maps cheated on us by marking the supposed spot where the cruise ship was. However, when we got there, the ship was about two kilometers away (the port was huge), and we had to walk all the way to the gate carrying our suitcases. Yes, we suffered a little bit, but in the end we laughed about it.

Our first impression was that the ship was humongous! Throughout the trip we saw other cruise ships docked nearby, and the Meraviglia was the biggest one by far. That first day we went straight to our cabin right after embarking, and we fell in love with it. It was comfortable, tidy and really pretty. Our suitcases were later delivered at our door, so we only had to carry our personal belongings to our room. Afterwards, we headed onto the buffet for a quick lunch before attending the mandatory safety presentation at the ship's theater. Later on, we saw the ship sail away from our room's balcony, while someone in an upper deck fed the seagulls from his window. We were moving away from the port and into the horizon with a beautiful sunset as a backdrop. Our dinner time was scheduled for 9:30 P.M., so it left us with some time to explore several of the decks on board. We walked around and tried to understand how to move through the hallways. The ship felt a bit like a labyrinth, but after the first day we actually figured out how everything was connected on each deck.

MSC Meraviglia LED Dome
Since it was Valentine's Day, the lengthy LED dome over the main hallway (called "the promenade") sporadically projected a kiss cam aimed at the passersby. It's really cool because the dome has different light shows and projections throughout each day. Also, every midnight it displays fireworks over a different city. My favorites were "Jurassic Experience" and "World Tour", the first one being about dinosaur extinction, and the second one featuring gorgeous ceilings from famous temples around the world. The LED dome changes its appearance in between showtimes, oftentimes appearing as beautiful stained glass compositions. Given that the weather was still a bit chilly and windy, all the parties in the boat were held at the promenade, taking advantage of the dome and turning the space into a pseudo-disco with amazing light shows. I'm almost certain that these parties are thrown at the pool deck during spring and summer. However, we have to admit that our expectations were a bit crushed when we attended the first party, which seemed more like a dance therapy session than an actual celebration. Seeing all the people lined up repeating the same choreography as the entertainment crew only made us giggle and hang out there just for a while before going to find something else to do. Needless to say, every single one of them (Fluo Party, Flower Glory Party, Gatsby Party, White Party, and Tropical Party) carried out in the exact same fashion. Like the red M&M said in that infamous 2012 Super Bowl commercial: "So it's THAT kind of party!".

By the way, if you want to have unlimited drinks during your whole stay, everyone in your cabin must purchase a drink package. There are many to choose from, with different costs and drink options included in each. You can go for the cheapest ones, which only include some of the non-alcoholic beverages, or for pricier ones that include high-end spirits and even soft serve ice cream. We purchased the "Easy Drink Package", which entitles you unlimited drinks (costing up to 6€ each), thinking that it'd be a good deal and not having to worry about extra costs added to our ship account. Nevertheless, I want to point out that the alcoholic beverage selection for the Easy Package is quite narrow. It only includes draught beer, a few spirits and appetizers, about six wines, and a handful of cocktails. We tried every single one of the cocktails available from this package, and I have to say they were not good. My husband only liked the Moscow Mule, and I simply hated them all. We did find a tasty appetizer called "Breezer" by Bacardi, which came in different fruit flavors and, curiously, we never saw anyone drinking it. We decided to try the zero-alcohol cocktails, which were included in the package and offered a better variety. All I wanted was some delicious and extraordinary drinks, and these non-alcoholic versions of Mojito, Coco Loco, Piña Colada and other cocktails proved to be what I was looking for.

Another aspect I want to discuss is the usefulness (or not) of drink packages. I guess many people (like us) didn't know that you can always get free water, fruit juice, tea and coffee at the buffet while it's open. Since you can basically eat at the buffet every day at breakfast, lunch and dinner, you could perfectly and absolutely do without a drink package. Furthermore, if you visit every city the ship stops in, chances are that you won't even have lunch on board, since you'll likely spend most of the day exploring the city. That means that your "drinking time" on board is fairly reduced each day, unless you choose to stay on the ship 24/7. Plus, most of the bars close at midnight or 1:00 A.M., so even if you do have a drink package, you can't actually order drinks for a few hours at nighttime. After analyzing the cost and menu of the packages, the time spent on board, the available drink service hours and our overall drinking habits, I think that having an all-inclusive drink package was not as useful as we originally thought. We did ask for two or three bottles of water on a daily basis to take on our land trips, but even after adding that to what we drank every day, I believe we didn't cover the whole expense of the drink package. Perhaps next time we'll skip the package and simply have the drinks added to our on-board cruise account, which you can comfortably manage from your room's TV and pay on disembarkation day.

There were many amenities on board that we never used although we did visit and spend some time in them while exploring the ship, such as the gym and sports complex, the arcade and F1 simulators, the spa, the casino, the pools and jacuzzis, the indoor shops, and the specialized restaurants. We actually wanted to get on the water slides and the Himalayan bridge, but we couldn't actually figure out how to get there until the last day of our cruise. They are on the last floor, but the regular entrance to it is reserved for guests with a special badge. I guess we're kind of dumb and didn't realize that there are sideway stairs from one of the upper pool's decks to get to the top deck with the slides. Well, anyway, as I said it was still pretty windy and cold, and the aqua park only operates at certain times when you're most likely out in the port of call. (10:00-12:00 A.M. and 2:00-5:00 P.M.). That means that unless you plan on staying on board at some of the cities, you'll probably only be able to use the water slides and bridge during the full day of navigation.

On board

We did, however, book the Cirque Du Soleil at Sea "Viaggio" show, since it's a unique experience that you can exclusively have at the Meraviglia. There are two shows (Viaggio and Sonor) offered on board, which you must reserve and pay for extra. You can choose between having dinner or a cocktail, and the price is different for both. We just wanted to see the Cirque Du Soleil performance, so we went with the cocktail. By the way, you don't actually get to order the drink you want. They just make four different cocktails and you must pick one up from the entrance table before you sit down. In case you're asking, the drinks were terrible. The show was very sweet and colorful, with classic Cirque Du Soleil goofiness and innocence in their storyline and characters. The theater is not very big, but it was specially adapted to house the props and scenery of both shows. "Viaggio" is the story of an eccentric painter that dozes off into his imagination and interacts with his own paintings in a colorful dream.

"Viaggio" was my favorite from all the shows we attended, mainly because it was very well produced, with beautiful costumes, a lively and original soundtrack, amazing backdrop effects, and a fun performance including acrobatics, juggling and a little comedy. The other shows we went to were: "One Day More", which revisited performances from a few famous Broadway musicals, "Come Il Mare", which portrayed some scenes from the lyric opera La Boheme, "Born to Rock", which combined a selection of world-known rock songs, and "Entertainment Variety", which was a special variety show prepared by the ship's entertainment cast. The best was definitely the rock show, followed by the Broadway musicals mix. I do have to say that the lead female performers completely stole the show from the male singers. Their singing and performance went way beyond! The variety show was fun, but extremely silly. Finally, we dreaded the opera show because it was incredibly slow and boring. Perhaps a better opera choice should replace it.

  Port visits
The last thing I want to share with you is our experience with land trips on every port of call. Every day the ship docked at a city, we woke up, got dressed, had a hearty breakfast and picked up a couple of water bottles to take with us. Getting on and off the boat is very simple: all you have to do is scan you cruise card at the entrance. Some ports have a short security check where you have to go through an x-ray machine before boarding once again, but this takes little to no time. Once out of the ship, we made our way through the city with the help of paper maps (printed by me or available for free at a tourist office) and Google Maps. It's not that hard to plan your own route with points of interest and simply walk to the nearest (and not-so-near) places that you want to visit. I'm going to break down each city, pinpointing the main landmarks we saw and adding a few tips or experiences that could be useful if you ever take the Meraviglia or a similar cruise. The first one is that MSC offers a paid shuttle service to take you to the different city centers. We never used it and never felt like it was necessary, especially because some ports even have a free shuttle service. Something similar happens with the city excursions offered by MSC. You can go online and find lots of options that are cheaper, have better reviews and fit within the cruise's time frames.

MARSEILLE

Once we got off the ship, we walked about 1 km to a free shuttle that took you to La Joliette station. From there, we easily walked to the Major Cathedral and saw it from the inside (free entrance). Then we walked around the Le Panier district until we reached the Vieille Charite cultural center (free entrance to the building, but not to the exposition rooms). After that we kept walking through some steep streets until Preau Des Accoules, a children's museum. We passed by the apparently famous Place de Lenche, which was full of people chit chatting over some coffee and pastries. We reached the St. Laurent Church and crossed a bridge over the main street to Fort St. Jean (free entrance). We explored the fortress and crossed a second bridge that connected it to the MuCem, a very curious structure, although we didn't go inside (paid entrance). We went all the way down to the Port Vieux, which is the oldest part of this French marina. We were planning to walk around the whole port and maybe take a small ferry back to the other side, but we didn't have enough time to do it. So, we just walked half of the Vieux Port until we reached Saint Ferreol Church, and we walked all along the main avenue back to La Joliette. However, we didn't leave without first buying a famous soap from Marseille. People say you have to buy one if you wish to return there someday. If you have time, on the other side of the port you can see the Soap Museum, the Saint Victor Abbey, Fort Saint Nicholas and the Palais du Pharo. You can also visit the famous Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica, but you must take a bus to get there because it sits at the top of a mountain.

GENOA

This was probably our favorite city to walk in. As soon as we got off the ship, we started to see monuments and buildings anywhere we turned. We walked to a nearby bus stop and waited for a bus that left us at Via Cadorna. I should mention that you must purchase your bus ticket prior to getting on the vehicle, and you must do so at a cafe or kiosk. We walked to the Piazza della Vittoria Square and the Arco dei Cadutti arch. We took a closer look at the suburban bus terminal without going inside, and we started to walk on the street XX Settembre (September 20). There were different buildings to see on that street, until we got to Piaza Ferrari Square, where there are no F1 cars, just so you know. We continued towards the Porta Soprana and got a little lost walking back and forth trying to find Christopher Colombus's house. We found it almost right beside the Porta Soprana, but didn't go in because the entrance is not free and it has specific schedules. After, we kept passing through many different churches like Chiesa del Gesu, Diocesan Museum, San Matteo, and some palazzos like the Domenicaccio and Branca Doria, until we reached the Maria Delle Vigne Church (free entrance). From that spot we walked towards the Palazzi dei Rolli, a set of palaces recognized as world heritage by the UNESCO. They're all on Via Garibaldi. We only went inside the Palazzo Tursi. Later on, we went all the way back towards the ship passing by the San Siro Church, the three Lomellini Palazzi, the Annunziata del Vastato Church, the palazzi on Balbi Street, the University of Genoa, the Chiesa de San Vittore, the Palazzo Stefano Balbi, and finally the Villa del Principe. Seriously, this city is one of the most cultural places I've ever been to, and the worst part is that we didn't even visit everything! The distance from the Villa del Principe to the port entrance is really short.

CIVITAVECCHIA - ROME

When we got off the ship there were free shuttles to take us to a tour bus pick-up area. We had pre-booked a trip on a tour bus because Rome is over an hour away from the port of Civitavecchia. That means you'll lose about 2-3 hours only counting the coming and going to and from Rome. In turn, that means your time to explore Rome and the Vatican City is very limited, so doing it on your own could be risky if you don't want to be left behind by the cruise ship (which they do, by the way - the other day I saw a video of a couple who arrived very late and were left behind - the HORROR). It's very simple: it's impossible to explore all of Rome in less than one day, so either you are very picky and meticulous on what you want to see, or you go on a guided tour that guarantees that you'll be at the port on time. We purchased a bus tour with Civitatis, which almost had a five-star review online and it seemed to cover most of the important stuff at Rome. I even consulted with my mom, who has already been in Rome and is a huge fan of the city, and she gave us our seal of approval for the tour. First, the bus drove all the way from Civitavecchia to the Vatican City, while they explained the route we'd be taking, our time frames for visiting what we wanted, and the gathering point for everyone on the tour. The bus left us on the outer bridges that lead to the Vatican City, and we walked towards the entrances of the Piazza Sant Pietro, passing by the Castel de Sant Angelo. We chose to go to the DaVinci Experience Museum (paid entrance), which has replicas of his most famous paintings and interactive machines, and you get an audio guide that explains the history of each item. We didn't even have time to hear all the explanations, so we just picked the ones we cared about the most. It was fun, but being under a strict time frame did not help and we just couldn't enjoy the experience thoroughly. We quickly walked out and passed through security to enter Sant Pietro Square before going back to the bus, at least to take a look at the plaza and the buildings. It was Sunday and Pope Francis came out his balcony at midday to give the Angelo, a short speech the Pope gives every Sunday. We only heard the last bit and were unable to see him because the square was super crowded, but we didn't really mind.

Once we were back at the bus, it took us on a panoramic tour of Rome, while our tour guide explained everything we saw. The bus dropped our group off eventually, and we followed our tour guide through some of Rome's streets. She walked too quickly, so most of us fell behind at least once. We went by the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, the Circo Massimo, old remains of Roman aqueducts, the Tiber Island, and other monuments. The bus dropped us off and we walked with our guide all the way to the monument of Vittor Emanuele II, the Foro Traiano, the Quirinal Hill and landed on the Fontana de Trevi. We each threw a coin into the fountain, as the tradition says: throwing one coin with your right hand over your left shoulder, with your back turned against the fountain, guarantees that you'll return to Rome. After our shenanigan, we walked to the Montecitorio and the Pantheon (free entrance). We went inside the Pantheon and sat down for a bit before continuing to the Palazzo Madama and Piazza Navona. We actually had the best ice cream we've ever had in our entire lives (and we've had tons of ice cream) at a restaurant called Tre Scalini right next to the Fontana di Quattro Fiumi water fountain on the plaza. Since it was almost time to meet up to leave, we finished walking towards the gathering point. We needed to go to the bathroom, so we asked the tour guide and she pointed us to a nearby Napoleon Museum. The entrance was free, so we discreetly went inside and were very surprised to find a beautiful collection of original antique items related to the Bonaparte family. We were very lucky to go inside completely unplanned and see such a wonderful exhibit, using up the spare minutes we had and being able to go to the restroom as well. We thanked the caretaker and went back to the bus, and back to Civitavecchia.

PALERMO

As soon as we got off the ship, there were plenty of men on horse carriages offering rides around Sicily's main city. I was very tempted to take one, mainly because I've been wanting to go on a horse carriage since we got married and because my mom said she took one when she was at Palermo, but Ed didn't really felt like going for a ride. So, we stuck to the plan and began walking. We went to the Evangelic Valdese Church and the Modern Art Gallery, but we didn't go inside. Then, we reached the Piazza Castelnuovo and the Diocesan Museum, and made our way around the Teatro Massimo. We passed by the Chiesa San Agostino all the way up to the Cathedral of Palermo (free entrance). The inside of the church and its plaza were beautiful. We continued going up to the Palazzo Arcivescovale, the Piazza della Vittoria, Villa Bonanno and the Palazzo dei Normai or Palazzo Reale, and then we started our way down passing by the Palazzo Sclafani, the Bullaro market and the Carmine Maggiore Church. We also walked by and entered the Chiesa del Gesu (free entrance unless you want to walk all the way in). Afterwards, we went to a spot where three churches meet: Chiesa de San Cataldo, Chiesa de Santa Catarina and the Palazzo Pretorio. We turned around towards Piazza Pretoria and its beautiful water fountain, and turned once more into the famous Quattro Canti street corners. Later, we went down to the Piazza Marine and its garden, the Palazzo Mirto, the Palazzo Chiaromonte o Steri, the Teatro Libero and the Museo delle Marionette. We also stopped to get some tasty ice cream before reaching the Santa Maria della Pieta Church, the Palazzo Abatellis and the Chiesa Santa Teresa. Finally, we finished walking all the way to the Orto Botanico and the Zoology Museum, but we didn't enter. We did take a stroll around Via Giulia Gardens before walking around all the coast and the La Cala marina while going back to the ship. As a side note, we noticed that Palermo is kind of dirty and unkept, so that could be a point of improvement for the near future.

LA VALLETTA

You can see from the ship that this city is like a medieval fortress. It's actually quite small and we even had time to go all the way around it. After hopping off board, we walked towards the Upper Barracca Gardens. There's an elevator that takes you straight up to the gardens, but you have to pay an entrance. We chose to go up the stairway (for free), but had to pause to take an occasional breath because it's like a steep 10-floor hike. The Upper Barracca Gardens are especially iconic because every day (at 12:00 midday and 4:00 P.M.) you can see the Saluting Battery firing a canon over the bay. It's free to see from the terrace, or you can pay to see it at the cannon's level. We continued walking to Auberge de Castille, St. Catherine's Church and Auberge de Italy. After, we went to Hastings Gardens and St. Andrew's Bastion while walking around the edge of the city. We arrived at the Teatro Manoel, St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, passed by the Archbishop's Palace, Auberge de Aragon and Auberge de England. By that point, we had reached the other end of the city, which finalizes in Fort St. Elmo (paid entrance). You can walk around the Siege Bell Memorial and the Lower Barracca Gardens for free. We entered the Conference Center, which had a medieval exposition but there was no one in the counter, so we left. We didn't go into Malta Experience (paid entrance), which shows you an audiovisual presentation about Malta. From there, we headed to Casa Rocca Piccola (paid entrance), a beautiful home to the noble de Piro family, but we couldn't take the tour inside because it's scheduled about four times a day and we were right in the middle of the last two. Finally, we crossed Republic Street from one side of the city to the other, walking by Grand Master's Palace, The Great Siege, St. John's Co-Cathedral, the National Library, the Archaeology Museum, St. Francis Church, St. Barbara Church, many street shops, and landing at the Triton Fountain. We then went down some stairs right onto the port.

After this wonderful and well-deserved trip filled with glorious adventures, copious amounts of food, glamorous floating accommodations, fun entertainment and a week of much needed pampering, we arrived home feeling fresh and well-taken care of. But, just as every vacation comes to an end, we had to go back once again to our usual routines. I'm sure we'll be taking another cruise in the future, but right now Disney's our target for our next vacation!

If you've made it this far, congratulations! Thank you for reading about our experience on board the MSC Meraviglia cruise ship and our escapade at different Mediterranean cities. 

Stay tuned for new posts!