The Happiest Travels on Earth

Hi Everyone! I am back with another review of the MSC Meraviglia. In my last post, which you can find here, we reviewed the whole ship and mentioned a bit about the dining. This time, we’re digging in a bit deeper into the Main Dining Room Menus and food. I’ll be back with another post with specialty menus, buffet information and with daily planners. 

During my sailing on the MSC Meraviglia, we had set dining at the L ’Olive Doree Restaurant on deck 6 for the early seating at 6:00 pm. The alternative option for dining for dinner is the Marketplace Buffet on deck 15. 

Different Dining Rooms

There are four main dining rooms onboard the MSC Meraviglia. These include the Waves Restaurant, the Panorama Restaurant, L’ Olivo d’Oro and L’ Olive Doree. The Panorama Restaurant, L’ Olivo d’Oro and L’ Olive Doree are all located on deck 6. The Waves Restaurant is located on deck 5. 

Waves Restaurant

Waves Restaurant, located on deck 5, offers guests set time dining for either first seating at 5:30 pm, second seating at 7:30 pm or third seating at 9:30 pm. This restaurant is included in the price of your cruise and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Panorama Restaurant

Panorama Restaurant, located in the back of deck 6, offers guests in Aurea class anytime dining between 5:30 pm and 9:30 pm. Set dining times at Panorama are at 5:30 pm for first seating, 7:30 pm for second seating and 9:30 pm for third seating. This restaurant also offers dinner.

L’ Olivo d’Oro and L’ Olive Doree Restaurants 

L’ Olivo d’Oro and L’ Olive Doree are both located on deck 6, across from each other and are essentially exact copies of each other. Dining times at these restaurants include early seating at 6:00 pm and late seating at 8:30 pm. Dinner is the only meal available in L’ Olivo d’Oro and L’ Olive Doree.

The Food and Menus

During my voyage, I took photos of the menu each night as well as the items I ordered during my cruise. There is only one night where I do not have the dining menu because we were on a shore excursion in Port Canaveral. Below is a review of the food and menus for each night. 

Night #1: Brooklyn, New York- Welcome Aboard

MSC offers dress code suggestions each day in their daily planner. The first night they suggest casual attire. Given that the first day is the day you board and that you don’t always get your luggage in time, you are able to wear whatever you would like to dinner. 

Night #1 Menu

During our sailing, we were not given a paper menu in the Main Dining Room. There are QR codes left on the table where you can scan the menu. Here is the menu for night #1.

Night #1 Our Meal  

On the first night, I ordered the Chicken Croquettes, the Slow-Roasted Prime Rib of Beef Crusted with Freshly Cracked Peppercorns, the Lasagna Bolognese and the New York Cheesecake with chocolate. The Chicken Croquettes were cold when they got to the table and tasted like chicken nuggets. The Prime Rib was very dry and had no flavor. The best part of the meal was probably the Lasagna but even that was not the best and the Cheesecake was fine, although it’s not served very cold. 

Other members of my party ordered the French Onion Soup, the Penne Alfredo, the Shrimp Cocktail, the Caesar Salad, the Blackened Grouper with Lime and Creole Spices, the Grandma’s Chocolate Cake, the Coconut Pistachio Dacquoise and the Warm Apple Crumble. Members of my party didn’t love the French Onion Soup. They also said the Caesar Salad was very lemony and the Grouper was very fishy. 

Night #2: At Sea- Gala Night

Traditionally, onboard MSC, the first day at sea is when you should have your Gala night. The intention behind Gala night is that it is supposed to be a bit more formal, but in the daily planner, they say to wear whatever you feel is your favorite outfit to impress. It could be a tux, evening gown or even nice jeans and a polo shirt. They only ask for no flip-flops, tanks or t-shirts. 

Night #2 Menu

Again, we were not given paper menus for night #2. Here is the menu for night #2, gala night. 

Night #2 Our Meal  

On gala night, I ordered the Lobster Bisque Soup, the Surf & Turf and the Cheesecake with Chocolate. Of all of our meals onboard, I would say this one was one of the better ones. I love lobster bisque and jump at the opportunity to have it whenever I can. The flavor wasn’t terrible, I think they just went a bit overboard with the sherry. The lobster tail was delicious but a bit small as was the filet that it came with but it was a little cold. 

**Story Time… As I’ve mentioned I’ve been on many cruises and know you can usually ask for more food at the MDR and they usually gladly bring these things. On gala night, since the portions were small, we asked for another round of the lobster tails for the table. At first, our waiter said no and then said well I’ll need to speak to a supervisor. I understand it’s lobster and it’s fancy but I’ve never heard something like that before. We did end up getting another whole meal each which ended up being hot this time but just something to note that there is often hesitation when asking for additional items or more food.**

Other members of my party ordered the Eggplant Parm, the Spaghetti Aglio e Olio and the New York Strip. The group enjoyed the eggplant parm. Note that the aglio e olio has a lot of red pepper, so whenever we ordered it, we asked for no red pepper. The person who ordered the New York Strip liked the steak much better than the Prime Rib the night before. 

Night #3: Port Canaveral- Casual

Night number three onboard the MSC Meraviglia was deemed as a casual evening. This means you can wear formal shorts for men, jeans and sundresses for women. All kinds of outfits were relatively accepted. 

Night #3 Menu

Unfortunately, I do not have the menu for night #3. Since this was Port Canaveral day, part of our group went to Walt Disney World and did not make it back in time for dinner. While I don’t have a photo of the menu or photos of the food from this night, I did hear about the meal from my family. 

Night #3 Our Meal  

The item that most of my family members ordered that night for dinner was the Texas-Style Pulled Pork with Mac and Cheese. They said that the taste was pretty pleasant but the portion size was very small and they could have gone for a bit more. 

Night #4: Ocean Cay- Tropical Night

On Day #4, we visited MSC’s private island, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve. For dinner that night, the theme was tropical/caribbean. They asked guests to wear their best tropical themed outfit. 

Night #4 Menu

Night #4, we also were asked to use the QR codes for the menu on our tables. Here are some screenshots of the menu from Caribbean Night, #4. 

Night #4 Our Meal  

Caribbean night probably had the least amount of things that I would eat, so I looked to the classic favorites menu for some inspiration. That night, I ordered the French Onion Soup, the Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Grilled Chicken and the Florida Key Lime Pie. I’ve had French Onion Soup on many cruises in the past and there was something about this French Onion Soup that was strange. It was almost too sweet and the crostini that accompanied it was very hard to cut in the bowl. I ordered the Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Grilled Chicken and no red pepper, which was delicious. Again, while simple, this was one of the better meals I had on the ship… I just wish I had a bit more to eat. The Key Lime Pie was very tart and very lime tasting but it was ok. 

Other members of my party ordered the Shrimp Cocktail, the Marinated Rotisserie Chicken with Garlic, Lemon and Fresh Herbs, The Fisherman’s Plate, the Arroz con Leche and the Caribbean Rum Cake. Members of the party said that the Shrimp Cocktail was ok but they poured the cocktail sauce on it so they don’t give you that option if you aren’t a sauce person. They said the Marinated Rotisserie Chicken was pretty good, was flavorful and was a good go-to if you couldn’t find anything else on the menu. The person who ordered the Fisherman’s Plate said that the calamari was inedible since it was very rubbery and that the fish filet was also very fishy. In terms of the other desserts, everyone said that they were just ok. 

Night #5: Nassau- White Night

While our stop in Nassau was pretty much a bust for all guests, with all shore excursions being canceled due to the rain, it was still white night aboard the MSC Meraviglia. Tonight, all are encouraged to wear white while we sail away from Nassau.  

Night #5 Menu

On night #5, we again used our cell phones to access the menu via QR codes. Here are the menus for night #5. 

Night #5 Our Meal  

On night #5, I ordered the Spaghetti Aglio e Olio as an appetizer, the Rosemary-Braised Lamb Shank and the Chocolate Duo Cake. The Spaghetti was a good go-to item and worked perfect as an appetizer. Surprisingly, the Lamb Shank was probably my favorite MDR meal of the cruise. The lamb was very tender and flavorful. The duo cake was ok and worked as a dessert. 

Other members of my party ordered the Crispy Hand-Rolled Vegetable Spring Rolls, the Fruit Plate, the Bucatini alla Carbonara, the Dry Rubbed Wild Fennel Barramundi Fillet and the Coconut Cake. Members of my party said that the spring rolls were ok and had some flavor. The fruit plate was extremely disappointing and I don’t think it can be called a fruit “plate” since it had four little pieces of fruit. Other members of my party said that the Bucatini alla Carbonara was good and that the Filet was again quite fishy tasting. As for the coconut cake, I heard that it was pretty good. 

Night #6: At Sea- Casual

As we approach the end of our cruise, we are greeted with another casual evening onboard but the theme for the evening was music. Again, guests can wear some more casual outfits such as shorts, jeans and sundresses. 

Night #6 Menu

We used the QR code on our tables to access our menus for the evening. Here are a screenshot of the menus for night #6. 

Night #6 Our Meal  

On night #6, I ordered the Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, the Cabernet-Braised Short Ribs and the Cheesecake with Chocolate. Again, the spaghetti was a great option since I didn’t like the other appetizer options. The Braised-Short Ribs were very disappointing. They were almost like a stew rather than pieces of short rib and everything was just mixed together in the bowl. It was definitely not what I was expecting. The cheesecake was again a classic, solid option. 

On this night, most of my family ordered the same items as I did, so there is nothing new to report here except for the Gateau Opera dessert, which was just ok and nothing amazing. 

Night #7: At Sea- Casual/Italian Night

On the final night of our cruise, they encouraged guests to wear casual outfits. Since it’s the final night and there are logistics involved with getting your luggage outside by 10:00 pm, some guests wear the same outfits to dinner as they will wear off the ship the next day. In addition, the final night is also an Italian themed menu. 

Night #7 Menu

For our final night, we accessed our QR code on the table and scanned it to see the menu on our phones. Here are screenshots of the menus for Italian Night. 

Night #7 Our Meal  

On night #7, I ordered the Fried Calamari, the Sicilian-Style Arancini, the Chicken Breast Parmigiana and the Limoncello Cake. The Fried Calamari was a bit fishy and all of the breadcrumbs were coming off of the pieces. It was on the rubbery side and was not crispy. I am from an Italian family so I understand I am not getting truly authentic calamari but I think this could have been better. Sicilian-Style Arancini traditionally has peas in the rice ball, but this one did not have any and none of the people at my table had them either. I personally was happy there were no peas and thought this was the better of the appetizers that night. Oh the chicken parm… aside from the portion size which was small for chicken parmigiana, it tasted like a chicken tender that they poured some sauce on top of and added cheese. I tried the Limoncello cake for dessert which was very tart and something I didn’t care for. 

On this night, other items ordered included the Penne Alfredo, the Caprese Salad, the Tiramisu and the Chocolate Ice Cream. The person who had the Penne Alfredo did not like it at all. The Caprese salad was ok and was not a bad salad choice. I heard the Tiramisu again was just an ok option. As for the chocolate ice cream… well that’s another story. It was almost two different colors and the person who ate it said it tasted strange. 

Overall Review of the Main Dining Room

I think a major issue that MSC has is that they are understaffed. While this doesn’t matter for the taste or portion size of the food, it does matter for experience. The first few days of the cruise we were told no to coffee after dinner because they needed time to clean up for the next seating and weren’t offered beverages with dinner. If someone did ask they were told to go to the bar themselves to get it. 

MSC is not accommodating in the MDR with requests such as things without sauce or changing up sides. I’ve been on many cruises and the staff is always more than happy to change things if I don’t like something or offer me something else. I’ve had times where the staff would bring me another portion because they thought I’d like it. That wasn’t the case here. I also noted throughout that the food was never really hot when we received it. 

I think that MSC has a long way to go in terms of food and compared to other major cruise lines like NCL or Royal Caribbean. Being a European Cruise Line, I expected more out of the food than I actually received. 

Notes about Dinner

There are a few other things I do want to mention about dinner in the MDR: 

• If you are eating the MDR,  please make sure you bring someone’s phone with you to scan the QR code menus. We were never offered a paper menu so I am just assuming you need to always have a phone to view the menu. 
• If you are a group larger than 9 people, you will most likely be seated at 2 separate tables. In our case, the tables were next to each other but just keep in mind that groups larger than 9 will be separated. 
• All of the desserts we had in the MDR were never cold. Things like cheesecake which should be cold were only just warm. 
• Most of the fish dishes that members of my family had were very fishy. I’ve had fish onboard other cruises before and the fish onboard the MSC Meraviglia was very, very fishy. 

Have you sailed aboard the MSC Meraviglia? If so, did you enjoy the food? 
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