First, although Cruise Critic insists on calling this a 5-night leaf-peeper run, it was in fact a 13-night repo from New York to Miami via the Eastern Caribbean.

My wife and I booked this cruise as a target of opportunity: a nice way to celebrate her birthday, a nice opportunity to see our kids in New York before the cruise, and a nice opportunity to visit cousins in Florida afterward. We chose the Meraviglia partly because of a good experience with MSC a little more than a year ago and partly because we were curious to see whether a ship this big was really too big.

This was our 35th cruise since our first in 1976. Coincidentally, we marked a full year at sea during this run. We realize that to many people who spend every possible moment at sea, a year is no big deal. And since it took us well over 40 years to reach that milestone it’s obvious that we average less than a cruise a year. We differ from many on board this cruise in that we’ve always taken more vacations on land than at sea. Read more