When you book an MSC cruise, you need to pick which experience you wish to book; Bella, Fantastica, Aurea, or Yacht Club.
Bella is the lowest cost experience level where MSC chooses your cabin (you get to choose your category) and MSC also assigns your dining time.
Fantastica allows you to choose your cabin within the Fantastica eligible cabins (Interior, Oceanview or Balcony), you receive free in room breakfast and you get first priority as to your preferred dining time. You're also allowed to make 1 free cruise change up to 30 calendar days before departure for a new cruise to sail within 90 calendar days from the original departure.
Aurea features suites, balcony and ocean view staterooms in the best locations on the ship that you get to choose, 1 free cruise change, priority embarkation and disembarkation, welcome prosecco & chocolate package upon arrival, free 24 hour room service, bathrobe & slippers to use and bathroom amenities. To top it off, Aurea guests get access to a private sundeck, have complementary access to the Thermal area, receive a Balinese massage, and get to dine when they want with My Choice dining in a dedicated restaurant.
Yacht Club is an all-suite enclave within the ship featuring a private lounge, restaurant, solarium, pool and hot tub. It's an all-inclusive experience with butler and concierge services.
On our first cruise with MSC, we booked the Fantastica Deluxe Balcony 11135 on the MSC Meraviglia as I wanted to be able to choose my cabin.
When you open the door, you'll find the bathroom immediately to your left with a full length mirror to the right of the bathroom door. Beyond the bathroom, you'll find the closet, bed, sofa/bunk beds, desk area and then the balcony door.
This room has a capacity of 4 with the sofa turning into bunk beds. We found the sofa already converted to the bunk bed when we arrived. Towels are provided in your room and get refreshed daily if you use them.
The closet has 2 sliding doors. On the left you'll find 2 drawers, 3 shelves, and a safe. The right side has rods and hangers for your hanging items. You are able to convert it to a double hanging rods by pulling down a shelf from the back of the closet.
Personally, I felt there would be enough closet space for 2, but it was definitely tight with 1 adult and 3 children. I cannot possiblly imagine 4 adults being able to fit everything in this closet, or even 2 adults and 2 older children. My girls were 1 and 2 and my son 9 when we went on this cruise.
The desk has 2 European (220v) outlets and 2 American (110v) outlets. There's also 1 USB charger and the phone.
Above the outlets is a super useful double shelf with a clear front. This is a great spot to put any important papers, shore excursion tickets, etc keeping them off the desk top. There's also a slot to the far left to put the remote in so that you never lose it!
The cabinet to the left of the stool has the mini fridge filled with snacks and drinks. There's a mini bar menu on your desk so that you can reorder any items that you'd like more of. Or check it out to see what you'll be charged if you consume anything.
The TV has neat features such as showing you the weather. Announcements displayed can be shown in multiple languages.
On both sides of the main bed, you'll find touch built in lamps and mini reading lights that pop out.
The bunk bed set up was super ideal with young kids. They all loved going in the top bunk to watch TV and relax. They also had a great view out the window from up there!
I was pleased to see that MSC still provides breakfast menus in the cabin that you can place on your door the night before for delivery.
This particular room has a larger balcony than most Deluxe Balcony cabins due to its location. The door slides open which I'm a super big fan of! There's also a child lock near the top.
In order to open the door, you need to flip the door handle from pointing down to pointing up. Doing so unlocks the door and then you can slide it with ease.
With this particular balcony's bump out and diagonal shape due to its location on the ship, if you stand at the railing, you'll see onto your neighbor's balcony and several balconies next to theirs. You can also look down on the extended balconies below you.
The balcony is fully covered so you can use it rain or shine!
The bathroom has a modern clean look to it.
The shower has a clear glass door (as opposed to an annoying shower curtain). There's complementary body wash and shampoo in the shower. There's a soap dish and also a shaving foot bar in the corner. The shower head is removeable and adjustable.
There are 3 cabinet shelves to the left of the sink that hold quite a bit. Underneath there are two elevated cups. We used them to hold our toothbrushes and keep them off the counter.
Next to the cabinet, on the ceiling is an outlet for electric shavers.
Towels are stored above the toilet on a metal rack.
The trash can is under the sink.
It's very functional and pretty standard size as cruise ship bathrooms go. The layout meant you could technically brush your teeth and use the toilet at the same time... 😂
You can see my 1 year old standing on the toilet and washing her toothbrush in one of the pictures below.
A neat feature on the MSC Meraviglia are the "Make Up Room" and "DND" (do not disturb) buttons that display lights above your cabin door. Instead of putting hanging door tags on your door handle, you simply click either button to let your room steward know that you'd like your room cleaned or you wish not to be disturbed.
Speaking of cleaning, your room is serviced twice per day. I swear the room stewards are ninjas because we never saw a single one yet our cabin was wonderfully maintained the entire time!
The location of 11135 was great with super close proximity to the Scenic Elevator, located right around the corner. The regular elevators were just down the hall as well so it made it convenient to get anywhere.
Overall, the Fantastica Deluxe Balcony was well appointed. My only complaint was that it felt a little cramped. In comparison to a regular balcony cabin on Carnival, this was smaller with less storage space.
One travel hack I used to make the space feel bigger was use magnetic hooks to hang some clothing on the wall (like the girls' poufy formal wear), and a flip flop rack organizer to keep all of our shoes out of the way and off the floor. As you can see, you can put more than just flip flops on it.
If you'd like to read my review of the MSC Meragivlia, please click here.
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