Meraviglia and other ships in Costa Maya
The main theater cast on MSC Meraviglia was quite busy performing a show in the main theater nearly every night. Out of an 11 day cruise I think they had just one night off, with 6 different shows throughout the cruise and 2-3 performances each night. Most other lines have various guest performances several times within a week’s cruise so the cast has more nights off and less shows to learn and practice. Meraviglia also had a smaller secondary theater with a minimal surcharge and one or the other of two different shows having a couple nightly performances most nights as well. There was a different cast for this theater than for the main one.
dome show
The domed ceiling of the ship’s promenade area was a video screen which usually displayed one of a variety of still designs. There were also brief dome shows scheduled throughout the day where one of a number of different videos showed anything from random colors to a submarine voyage to a real-time view of the same lighthouse show as a real lighthouse had going near the dock just outside the ship while it was at MSC’s private island called Ocean Cay. Sometimes in the evening they had a camera out in the promenade that would display whoever walked nearest to it in a series of picture frames along the dome.
singers in a stage show
We went to the main theater most nights. During the first 7 days of our cruise reservations were required, which could be booked at no charge either through their phone app or through an interactive screen in front of the theater. The middle of the 3 nightly performances was the most popular and nearly always booked full. The last 4 days when the ship was far less crowded people could go to either of the two nightly performances without any advance reservation. The shows there were of the typical cruise ship production type with singing and dancing. Some shows were better than others. Most were entertaining, but there was one we thought was rather boring.
roller skaters in the COOL show
They had one show called COOL that had the addition of a talented pair of roller skaters as well as the singers and dancers. Throughout the various shows some of the cast members stand out more than others. Of course the spotlight was on the star dancers and singers during their routines in each show, but when they weren’t highlighted during their special routines some of the background cast stood out more.
Happy Guy is on the far left
In particular one of the male dancers who we thought of as Happy Guy because he always looked like he was having so much fun and was quite enthusiastic in every performance. He always looked directly at the audience whenever facing the right way, wearing a huge smile on his face. Then there was one of the female dancers who was probably totally unaware of whether there was any audience in the theater seats or if the place was completely empty. Her eyes always focused up toward the ceiling and her dancing looked as stiff and awkward as her tight-lipped facial expression. Unlike one of the three female singers who could have as easily been a dancer as a singer since her dancing was better than that of several of the dancers. In one of the shows happy guy and awkward girl were paired up together in one of the dances. Somehow they made it work even though their styles couldn’t have been more opposite.
aerialists and others in the Carousel Theater
Besides the main theater with free shows, Mervagilia’s other theater with a nominal fee is called the Carousel Theater. You get a drink included in the price of the show and since the price is not much more than the price of a drink the shows are pretty cheap. It’s just a pre-made drink that you pick up from a tray on the way in. It’s take it or leave it on the drinks. There’s no option to order anything different than the two choices offered with alcohol and one without. The Carousel Theater has a round stage. The stage has a spinning platform that covers most of the surface area, other than a ring around the outer edge. Seats go nearly all the way around, with the best seats being those that face the front of the stage because they get a straight on view of the backgrounds and the performers tend to face that way more often. Some of the seats are at nearly the backside of the stage and others extend far out to the sides. There’s a lot of aerialists in these performances, which tend to drift over the side seating on their way to the main stage. You have to walk through the casino to get to that theater and the casino is not smoke free. The line to get in while waiting for the doors to open is also in the casino and if you don’t get there early you won’t get a good seat. Unfortunately they don’t open the doors until nearly time for the show so anyone desiring a decent seat is stuck waiting in line in the sometimes smokey casino.
Houdini show in the Carousel Theater
The first time we went there we saw the Houdini show. We were too far back in the line to get good seats that time and were on the backside of the stage where we were behind some of the scenery and facing away from the panel above the stage that got all the video effects. We could still see most of the stage performers and all the many aerialists, though more often than not we saw the backs of the people onstage. Even though it was a Houdini show there weren’t any real magic tricks. Just a few simulations – like fake knife throwing with the Houdini character standing against a wooden background from which knives would pop out as if they’d been thrown into it when other people pretended to throw them. He also did a fake strait jacket escape while hanging upside down from an aerialist apparatus surrounded by a sheer curtain with sound and light effects that made it look like a tank of water.
strong guys at the rock show in the Carousel Theater
When we went to the Rock Circus show we knew to get there earlier, so we got better seats near the front of the stage. We could see the whole stage and the video wall from there. Regardless of whether or not we’d had better seats, the Rock Circus was by far the better of the two shows at that theater, but the price is so minimal it’s no stretch of the budget to go to both. Tickets for the theater can be purchased online before the cruise, but reservations for the particular performance you attend have to be made onboard. The Rock Circus show had lots of talented performers with a variety of aerialists as well as dancers, acrobats, and a singer for a fast-paced lively show with colorful lighting effects. It’s the same people as in the Houdini show, the rock one is just a better show.
dome show
When the ship stops at Ocean Cay there’s a special performance after dark – a light show on the island’s lighthouse. Our first stop there was just for a day and everyone was back onboard for the lighthouse show as the ship left soon after. The second time the ship overnighted there and they had two performances of the lighthouse show with a beach party lasting from the start of the first show to the end of the second about 2 hours later so people could watch either from the ship or from shore.
lighthouse show at Ocean Cay