Hi! Thank you for the video. My wife and I will be taking MSC Meraviglia in October to Bermuda! First cruise ever too, trying to do some research so, we're not so overwhelmed of what to see.
If anyone could answer this it would be appreciated. So does the ship stay docked at Port for the four days? As is if we wanted to stay at a local hotel for a night in Bermuda?? Is that possible?
Hi my friend! Just saw your video of our cruise and it's terrific!! John and I are back on Meriviglia YC to Bermuda in October. This cruise is 4 days in Bermuda. Can't wait. Love watching your video brought back some really good memories.
We never went to the casino, so I am not entirely sure. There was an avid gambler we hung out with and I seem to recall him talking about the hours when in port, but I cannot recall if it was related to New York, Bermuda, or both. Sorry.
Don’t recall exact number, but I believe it was close to sold out. It was busy, but we were in Yacht Club. So, we were able to escape the crowds when it got hectic. Even so, it wasn’t really ridiculous. Enjoy your cruise! It’ll be a blast either way. Love this ship and crew.
It was the end of April into May. The water was cold, but not too cold to swim. In fact, many people were swimming. We just waded around a bit. It was absolutely fantastic really, cold water and all. Enjoy your cruise!
Oh my gosh. I go on this ship on Sunday and I am praying for still waters. I'll be on deck 11. And i'm afraid water won't come in through the balcony...haha. I don't think I'd be able to handle the rough seas very well. I'm impressed with how calm you were with the stormy seas
Fear not…even during those rough seas, the ride was surprisingly smooth. Also, the crew is top notch. We just got back from Bermuda a couple weeks back. Seas were absolutely beautiful. We love this ship!
I was in the Yacht Club on this very cruise...cabin 15003. I cant say enough about the crew! Summit, Irish, Nilesh our butler and Ramon our cabin steward...they became friends by the end and it was sad to leave! the weather was unreal...not 1 drop of rain the entire time. I do remember the folks from Mississippi, especially the older guy who was always complaining at the roulette table!!!
Yeah, we were in 15015, so we had the same staff. All great people and I would add John and the ladies who worked breakfast to the list. What I forgot to talk about were the people of Bermuda. They had this amazing sense of community, the likes of which I have not witnessed in the states in a very long time.
@@meanderingmandj We took the mini bus to Horsehoe bay...what a great time! The standard of living in Bermuda is very high...something I cant stand in the Caribbean...all the pushing and shoving to get you to buy things, which was non existent. We already booked the 8/25 sailing to Bermuda on the Meraviglia. Cant wait.
Thank you for your quick response. The reason I asked was it because I have a gopro 11 and I'm having difficulty time using the quik app for the editing.
@@dompel13160 I’ve tried quite a few editors, but always come back to Camtasia because it is simple and I use it for work. Unfortunately, it is not free. I’ve heard Window’s editor (I think it is called Clipchamp) is pretty good, but I have not tried it. They started including it automatically with Windows 11, but it can be downloaded and installed on Windows 10 as well. Might be worth a try. I personally have not had success on my phone (old eyes lol). Anyway, good luck! Hope you find something that works well for you.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn at: 1120 South Ave Staten Island, NY 10314 There is also a Hilton Garden Inn in the same complex. That’s where we had dinner (Lorenzo’s, located in the Hilton). Quick, easy drive over the narrows and on into the port.
thank you so much for this video -- as well as your "do-over" video! I am driving to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in a few months and it was great to see the best and the worst Brooklyn has to offer! very informative especially with the map overlay. Thanks!
We are getting ready to drive on Dec 15/16th from Toronto. I watched your other video too (rainy and dark day). This drive looks like in perfect weather. But Dec will be an entirely different ball game...I guess. But very informative. I need to get out of my hotel (Parispenny) and get there by 9.00 am. But if we go that early.....is there any option to sit down and wait until embarkation?
Sorry for the delay…alas, you have probably already gone. But yes, once you check in, there is seating behind the checkin counters while you wait for your boarding group to be called.
I actually visited the ship on April 29 during embarkation day for a few hours, and then I got off before it sailed. I am also friends with the chief engineer and his wife and they were both working on the ship and they told me that someone passed away of a heart condition that Monday.
I go back in 3 months again. I know for a fact the first thing Iam doing when I get on board is go straight to specialty dining reservations bc the lines will be loooooong .
We just got off the Meraviglia and you get what you pay for..we compare it to other lines we have traveled on like Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Norwegian, Carnival , Celebrity and the Queen Mary and Queen Victoria. Obviously the Cunard ships are in a class by themselves so that is not a fair comparison but Carnival and Royal Caribbean would be. The downside to the Meraviglia was much smaller balcony rooms, very average food except for bread and some soups..pizza was very good at buffet but the buffet was a zoo on sea days with no place to sit which we had never experienced before. There was also no free choices for food other than main restaurant or the buffet…they had specialty restaurants which you had to pay for.. you were assigned a table in the main restaurant so there was no free style dining which was OK but we prefer any time dining which other ships have The ship was always crowded and we read that the reason the MSC ships are less expensive is because they put more people per square inch on their ships and I believe that explains the constant bottle necks. The ship was quite lovely all be it is on the glitzy side and it had the usual row of shops and we found one refuge from the crowds in the chocolate shop where we found quiet and good coffee drinks. The top floors of the ship had an arcade and water rides so if you had kids they were accommodated which was a positive..the spa area for adults was also extremely nice and better than some ships we had been on. There was also one particular ethnic group who took over the ship…they jumped lines, got in front of you and pushed themselves onto already crowded elevator and talked very loud..everyone including the crew complained about them…that was also a new experience! In summation, if all the negative things mentioned don’t bother you that much, it is a good deal but we will probably pay a little more and go back to the other lines mentioned ,
You get what you pay for…we thought it was such a good deal for a balcony room but it turned that the balcony room and balcony was much smaller than other cruise lines we have been like Princess, Queen Mary and Victoria, Holland America, carnival etc. The food was a bit less than average and everyone and staff complaining about one ethnic group taking over the ship, jumping lines, shoving themselves into crowded elevators and yelling at one another…Next time we cruise we will pay more and sail on any line other than MSC
Where did y'all drive from? I heard you say Ohio to NYC. I thought you meant Ohio, NY UNTIL I heard you say "Were 2 hrs in." And THEN u said we have 5-6 hrs MORE to go!!! That's a lot of driving. Why didn't y'all fly?
We’re on the east side of Ohio. Yeah, it’s a bit of a hike. But I honestly loathe flying anymore. Did a lot of it for work over the years. It’s actually a fairly pleasant drive. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are really beautiful. Well, western New Jersey anyway. And, we can take as much luggage as we like!
You get what you pay for…inexpensive but food was average, balcony room smallest we’ve even been on…one ethic group almost took over the ship and were just rude and crude jumping lines, pushing themselves into elevators and yelling at one another I would not ever sail on MSC again…better to pay a little more and use another line
Again on the same cruise ship? Nice, Last time I was on your cruise in april, was it better for the boarding terminal or it still was Chaos? And how was the ocean?
Yep, but we did Yacht Club this time. Smooth sailing the whole time with just a touch of rain here and there. Boarding for Yacht Club was very easy, but the rest of the terminal looked packed.
We were on this sailing. We had an aurea whirlpool suite. Had a great time. Can't wait to see if you like yacht club more then aurea. Cigar lounge was my favorite spot
Do you remember how much you paid for parking for the entire cruise ? Trying to figure out if Im better off paying to park elsewhere and just taking an uber. Thanks in advance !
random weird question; i'm going on my first cruise this fall, same ship, same dock but up the east coast into canada. I was curious if you were charged any taxes while aboard the ship related to your cocktails. I heard on other cruise lines that this was happening, but when i called MSC the cust serv rep said they weren't sure, but probably not. thank you either way, and thank you for the video!!
I seem to recall them saying something about charging taxes on drinks when docked, but I am not sure. We did have a drink package, so it’s difficult to know.
My father lives in Stroudsburg. Its a college town. Just something to help you when u get back. Just keep an eye on the signs in I80. If the speed limit is 55 just because its winding does not mean you need to slow down. If you are able to drive at 55 the winding roads will not be too sharp to slow down. The signage will tell you if it drops down to 40 or 35mph then slow down. Anyways i drive there a lot and maybe will give you an easier drive home once you are on I80 again.
Yeah, the 40 mph was just in construction on the east side of Stroudsburg and it didn’t last very long. I was actually just stressing a bit about having to drive into NY lol, and it came out as me complaining about having to drive 40 on the interstate. That drive actually wasn’t too bad, and Pennsylvania is beautiful through there. And, really, so was New Jersey, which surprised me. I had been in and out of the east side of the state many times over the years, and it’s not nearly so pretty.
Love your kitty! I have 2 and my daughter who will be on the cruise with me has 5 (she likes to call herself the crazy cat lady). We will be on our cruise September 10th. Can't wait! My son's passport came in the mail yesterday and my daughter and I already had ours.
Yep, we love our cat and dog. Honestly, one of the biggest worries for us when we go on vacation is who will look after them for us. Our son watched them during this cruise. Anyway, have fun on your cruise and thanks for commenting!
We were on this past week's sailing as well and yes that was an absolute madhouse getting in and out of the port. They haven't fixed the problems yet. Took over an hour to get in from the point of entry to the near port area. The city has got to do something about that quickly because it's a major deterrent to us cruising from there again.
Yeah, many people will definitely think twice about that drive into the terminal. We will do it again, but that’s just because we really did enjoy cruising out of that port on that ship. For us, it was worth the hassle. Still, they could definitely do better.
We did this cruise also on these dates, gonna be honest here, the biggest problem was we had 1200 Chinese on board and they were very very loud and trying to get coffee they had the entire area blocked to get hot water to take to their rooms, also a few actually took complete watermelons to their room
Oh well they paid for it. It’s their cruise too. Why do people worry about what other people doing. Never could wrap my head around it. I been cruising since 1983.
What race have to do with it (Chinese People). One thing about them they Not over weight. Also, Chinese people doesn’t drink cold water are and thing cold.
@@carolyngardner4999 The problem was they had no regard for anyone, they got in groups` and instead of talking like normal people they constantly yelled ,then trying to get coffee they had the entire area blocked soo they could fill their containers with hot water to take back to their cabins. They were rude if you were sitting in a chair a group would come over yelling ( they call it talking ) just to get people to move so they could sit.. I saved the best for last, they were taking the fruit carvings off the buffet and taking them back to their rooms.
Yes. The general adults-only area, open to all adults, is the Horizon Pool and Amphitheater on deck 16 aft leading up to the Horizon Bar on deck 18 (btw, there is no deck 17). The Yacht Club Sundeck and Bar are separate and located on deck 19 at the front of the ship. Only Yacht Club guests are permitted in that one, so we didn’t get a look at it this time around.
Btw, part 4 of this series at 05:13 has some video of the Horizon Pool and looking up the Horizon Amphitheater at the Horizon Bar and the water park above that.
I'm so happy I found this video. I've been searching and waiting for someone to post something about the Brooklyn terminal, espcially the traffic and parking. We're sailing in October and plan to drive in that morning from CT. It should be a two hour drive, but it's NY. Add another hour, maybe two!