MSC Divina Review - March 10-17

I wanted to thank all of the people that have posted reviews over the past year or so about the Divina. I spent every waking free moment looking at CC, hoping someone new had posted something. We are now off the Divina, having sailed 3/10-3/17. We had a very good time. That is not to say I loved everything that happened, and I understand some of the complaints that others have had. Perhaps over the course of the review, I will bring something new to light or offer a slightly different opinion on other topics that have been discussed previously. But with all that said, We had a good time, and if the price was right we would certainly travel with MSC again.

So who are we: Me- 40 I am attorney, Wife, 41, in HR/IT, Son -12, Son 7.

More Background - MSC Divina, was our third cruise. We previously sailed on the RC Allure, NCL Jewel. We chose MSC solely based on the price. It was spring break and with kids sail free, we got a balcony, stateroom 10011, for the 4 of us for 2k. We live in rural Iowa, and the cost to fly from Des Moines to Miami was about $700 a person. There was no way I was going to pay 2800 bucks for us to get to our vacation, so with a little work and our willingness to drive a little we dropped our price to about 1100 bucks by flying from Omaha to Orlando and then renting a car and driving. We spent the night at the Sleep Inn in Omaha, using hotwire for 40 bucks, and ended up leaving our car there for $5 bucks a night. We rented a intermediate SUV from Alamo each way. I kept checking and canceling and rebooking whenever I saw a better deal. We ended up paying 64 bucks going down with all taxes and 55 bucks coming back. Alamo was cheaper that Sixt by about 10 bucks each way. Everyone else was about 90 bucks each way.

We spent the night at the Marriott in Boca Raton via Marriott points. I would not recommend the Marriott, they had an insufficient number of elevators for the number of rooms. The place smelled musty; but we only needed it for a night, and well, free is free. I wouldn't have wanted to have paid the sticker price of 250 a night though. We ended up driving into Deerfield Beach and ate at the Whales Rib. We had a nice meal, and deerfield beach in general was a fun place to walk around.

The next morning we were up, drove the rest of the way to Miami, dropped the car off at the Miami airport, and took an Uber down to the pier.

Uber to the pier in an XL was about 27 bucks.

Initial thoughts as I walked into the terminal… Blah. No live music, no - hey you are on vacation, we are glad you are here. Just a long cue. As others have mentioned, it moved fairly quickly. We were on the ship within 35 minutes of walking in the front door. Thought it was odd that they didn't take your picture and then print out your card/key. But rather they had every person’s key organized behind them on tables. I couldn't imagine the time it took for someone or someones to put every single room key in order. And then they take your photo and code the card.

Initial thoughts of the ship. Blah Blah. It wasn't awesome, it wasn't jaw dropping. Of the three ships we have been on, this was the least impression. It didn't help that we didn't enter through reception, but rather in what I think was the black and white lounge. What was immediately clear, was that it appeared that every employee on the ship was going to try to sell me a beverage package. They must have had 150 people selling beverage packages, it was akin to what it is like stepping out in Cozumel and everyone wanting you to come into their shop at the port. It made a crap impression. If you had already purchased a beverage package, like we had, you walked over to the casino and showed them your key and they had an envelope with our stateroom # on it. We had purchased 2-18 pack anything vouchers, 1 coffee package, and 1 kids ice cream shake and smoothie package. We found the packages worked well for us, and it was nice to be able to in essence prepay over a period of time our drinks over the past year, and then not worry at all what we were spending on booze. We found the drinks were tasty and a decent size. The coffee was delicious but they had no caramel the entire trip. They had 2 coffee drinks that caramel was a key component. I just thought it was odd that you would have forgotten to order caramel, and then not be able to source it while on the trip. Most of the time they wanted your room key and the voucher , but every once in a while you could just give them the voucher. We did not use all of our vouchers, so we hid some in the cruise’s magazine in our stateroom, I am uncertain if the next person who finds it will be able to use them or not. I also really don't understand why I have to carry this actual paper voucher with us. Why could their computer system not be programmed to simply know our state room has X number of drinks. It recognizes room/ship credit. To that end, each of our boys had a teen card, which meant that we had put $50.00 credit on them. Plus for every 50 bucks you pay MSC adds an additional 10 bucks. It was nice to be able to tell the boys, hey you have 60 bucks spend it how you see fit, you want to play video games, or buy cupcakes thats fine, but budget your money, and when you are out, don't come whining to me. What was odd, was that originally the keys/card they gave us were not teen charge cards, so when went down to reception to switch them out, they had to reprint/replace all of our cards. (the teen cards have a yellow smiley face on them) Again, not sure why their system doesn't allow them to turn on and off just one card. Regardless, it all worked out in the end and it was good to see my kids making decisions about what they wanted to spend and what they had left on their cards.

We went straight to the sports bar. No one else was there, and we had some basic bar food. Nothing special, but all edible. By this time it was around 2pm and our room was available. The room was nice, and it seemed more spacious than the allure. Even if the couch was made out into a bed, you could still walk past them to get to the balcony. It was kinda a bummer that our balcony did not have see thru glass on the balcony, as a result my youngest couldn't see out without standing on the footrest out there, which I am fairly certain is not the safest decision I made this week. We met our room attendant, and she was super nice, our room was always spotless, we had ice constantly, and on at least two days we tracked a ton of sand into the bathroom, and when we came back it was clean. very clean. Zero complaints of any kind about our room or the service we received. However, we were very far forward and it was a pretty decent (long) walk to the elevators.

After a stop at the room, we went upstairs to deck 14, the pool deck, at this point we realized that we were not alone on this trip. There was a group on board, a large group, 'a holistic health seminar at sea'. As a result it seemed about 2k vegans were on board. It was interesting. Some frustrating things, they took up the entire first sitting for dinner. We will spend some time discussing our main dining room experiences. But needless to say with a 12 and 7 year old, who normally eat dinner a 530, waiting until 830, which really ended up meaning you didn't get food until after 9, that didn't work for us. The vegans, also were constantly complaining about the lack of vegan food on the buffets, but all in all, I liked having them on board, it made the ship seem half as full, during sea days they were all attending classes about health and other stuff, while I drank and worked on my tan. Plus, looking at their menus, there was some days I’would have rather been able to eat off their menu rather than the main dining room menu. It did make me think though, I realize MSC is under no obligation to inform me about who is the group they are booking. But wow, it could have been a much different experience had it been a group who I had not wanted to spend time with. (****s or Furrys), I would also note that Vegans didn't seem thrilled that non-vegans were with them. I had a chance to talk with some of them in the hot tub, and they assumed they had the whole ship, as a result, they were worried that their food would be cooked on places where meat and other shell fish was prepared. There also was a day that we were in port (Cozumel) and one of the excursions got back late, the ship delayed departing cozumel by about 2 hours. I think the water taxi going to Playa de Carmen was late. The Vegans missed their dinner, and then there was no food for them to eat on the buffet. I sort of felt bad for them, but then I remembered how much I liked eating steak…. Also, they tended to really monopolize the fruit juice/smoothie bar. Which was a shame, because they were really tasty.

As for the buffet, I was waiting for a disaster of a place based on other reviews. I am uncertain if it was because half the cruise wasn't eating there, but we never had a problem getting food, the food was hot, and my family thought it was very very good. I love Pizza, and their pizza was great. By the end of the week, all of us voted to eat in the buffet over the main dinning room. I would note that in the morning we ate outside on pool deck rather than trying to find a table in the buffet area.

I loved the fact that 12 different languages being spoken on the boat. Raising your kids in Iowa, you don't get the opportunity to see folks from so many different places. The captain on the first night came out and welcomed the crowd in 12 different languages. It was impressive. I loved the fact that my kids got exposed to opera and other languages. I also read how rude people were, how they would cut in line at the buffet. And they didn't let you out before they came into the elevator. Some of that is true. But if they cut in line, it is because you let them. I found that if they didn't yield to you on the elevator as you walked out first, and you drilled them with your shoulder as they walked in. I grew up in New Jersey, and Im a fat guy, you ain’t cutting in front of be in a buffet, without picking your sorry a$$ off the ground. What is that you say, you are 70, you are Chinese, you are a woman, you don't speak english….let me help you up off the ground. With that aside, I found most people on the ship helpful and polite. I would note that we thought the ship would be filled with kids, I mean it is spring break, and kids are free. Well, it is spring break in America, and if Americans only make up 15% of the boat guess what, there is not that many kids on the ship. My 12 year old was disappointed there wasn't more kids his age on the ship to hang out with. However he did enjoy the activities, like dodge ball, and playing Ps4 video games with kids from around the world, he learned the hard way that kids from Brazil are really good at FIFA 17. My 7 year old loved the kids club, he played legos non stop, and loved that he could go to the shows with the kids club, on one night he even got to go up on stage, he also could go eat dinner with them had he wanted too. So mixed reactions on the kids club from my two kids. It was pretty cool though, seeing that even though kids don't speak the same language, they were able to play together at legos, video games, or in the pool.

Different doesn't mean better.

Over and over again you heard from the cruise director, or other staff members how MSC was different. Implying that different was better. I would say different isn't better or worse, but just different. No comedian, no magician- Rationale given is that because there are so many different languages being spoken they can’t cater to english speakers. Well I hate to tell you folks, if you don't cater to us in some way, we wont go on your boat. Im not sure why they think having concerts singing Queen songs, (in english) makes sense but a magician, who doesn't have to talk doesn’t. I enjoyed the shows, (all but the Queen show) I like opera, I like dancing, the cirque stuff is my cup of tea. The shows were 45 minutes, and for my 12 year old, some of the nights it was a great opportunity to catch a 43 minute nap. I would say, make sure you don't miss the Michael Jackson star walker night. It was our last night, the guy they having play Michael Jackson is incredible. His dancing alone is worth attending.

Cruise Critic Meet and Greet was sparsely attended. My guess is less than 15 people, but the Cruise Director Andre was there, as were some other high ranking crew. They had a cake for us, appetizers, booze, and they had us take a picture and then delivered the picture to my cabin for free the next day. But the message was, don't believe everything you have read online about us. Give us a fair shake. Fair enough, it was just very different than the NCL meet and greet I went to last year, where each person, told us what they did, and a little bit about themselves and their department. I only spent about 15 minutes there, so perhaps they did something else. Later in the week there was a meet and greet , I went to that as well, but again it was different than anything I had seen before, the was no Q&A, but rather someone from the customer relationship team came up and asked you if you were having a good time. It also appeared that when you had a complaint or suggestion, the person listened, but truly didn't give a damn what your concern was. For example, I never understood why during the day, they didn't post the main dining room menu. The Vegans had their special menu posted, but I had no idea why they wouldn't post it. One day I knocked not the door to the dining room and asked if I could see the menu, a women handed me a menu, and then asked me to leave, and that I could leave the menu on ledge, she then shut the door that lead to the dining room. (like literally closed off the entire section) I took it as a total screw you, don't bother me. Another night I knocked on the door and a man asked wha Ii needed, not can I help you, I again asked to see the menu, he sighed, walked by me and posted the menu behind glass and walked away. He posted the menu on the page in Italian. Luckily the glass screen simply opens by pushing the bottom right corner. We opened the glass, and read the page in english, and then put it back behind the glass. Also on the last night on the Cruise director tv channel, Andre made a very interesting statement. He explained that in our state room there was a form we could fill out that would result in the cruise sending us a survey. He cautioned us, and I am certain that was the word he used, to not judge a particular department down because of an isolated event. IE just because you had one bad meal, don't score the main dining room down as a whole. I understood his point, but the message was bizarre. I have never been instructed on how to fill out a survey before. It was rubbed me the wrong way. MSC is different. And by the end of 2019 they will have 3 ships here (US), I do think they will need to make changes to some things on their ships, otherwise most Americans will be one and done, and go back to Carnival, NCL, RC.

Next time, Main Dining Room Woes, and Port Reviews.

Thanks for taking the time to write this. I'm looking forward to more

~Brian

We got stuck with the vegan group 2 years ago and had the same problem they get the early dining and no one else can get it but now we always check on line when is there annual cruise and avoid that week, but we found the for the most part the group was very nice and a lot better then most the Europeans on our other 7 Divina cruises.

Thanks for the review!

I'm booked for my first 'American' cruise on NCL in June, so I'm devouring reviews from Americans to have more context.

Happy cruising!

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But if they cut in line, it is because you let them. I found that if they didn't yield to you on the elevator as you walked out first, and you drilled them with your shoulder as they walked in. I grew up in New Jersey, and Im a fat guy, you ain’t cutting in front of be in a buffet, without picking your sorry a$$ off the ground. What is that you say, you are 70, you are Chinese, you are a woman, you don't speak english….let me help you up off the ground.

I love this! My thoughts exactly. Thanks for the review. I like your points about the kids getting to experience some differences in culture. I'm from Ohio and my kids are very similar with a lack of experience with diversity. I am a little disappointed with the MSC attitude of being different makes things better. They should be more open to listening to your suggestions as well if they're going to make it in America. Also, your thoughts on a comedian or magician are spot on. They should have that on the Divina considering that it is already planned for the 2 other new ships coming to the US. Looking forward the rest of the review!

I'm on Divina right now. Unlike OP we love it. Have not seen any evidence of "different is better" but each experience is of course different. Will post full review when we get back.

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Thanks for taking the time to write this excellent report.:)

Eagerly awaiting more! I, too, am trying to learn everything I can about MSC prior to our Divina sailing in December.:cool:

Thank you as well. We are seasoned NCL, RC, Carnival, Princess cruisers and this will be our first MCS cruise. We are a bit nervous. Will you please let us know about fun stuff. You said no comedians, but were there games, trivia, sing alongs??

We will be sailing Jan 3, 2018 and have a sizeable group. thanks!

Thanks for a very helpful review! We are seasoned cruisers (with other lines) but we will sail on the Divina for the 1st time in June! Cannot wait for more info.

:D

Part II

Main Dining Room. This was by far our least favorite part of our cruise -hands down. We sat at table 558, and our server was Lusito. Our service was a D-. I think the problem was primarily that our table was out of his normal area, we were across the main walkway, and away from the rest of his tables. We usually waited 10-15 minutes from the time we were seated before anyone showed up to give us menus. All other tables were given a plate of bread products we were offered to choose a piece of bread from the bowl. Drinks were never refilled, and it took an act of Congress to get someone’s attention. The food was always hot when it came out, and generally tasted pretty decent. Probably a C+/B-. I would also note that people had commented that food portions were small, we found just the opposite. My wife received half a chicken, that was very large and could feed 2 people easily. Steaks were large. You didn't leave hungry. Dinner was at 830, and most nights we walked out a little after 10. Kids meals were brought out quickly, with their main courses being served with our appetizers. I would note, that the kids pizza appeared to be a frozen soggy pizza. Nothing like the quality pizza on the buffet or the speciality restaurant. Full disclosure, we only ate in the main dinning room 3 times. We simply found the late dining did not work with our schedule, I would note that it appeared that in our section, others must have felt the same way. Our table mates, only attended formal night, and we often saw them in the buffet, and it became a running joke between us that neither of our families would be going back to the main dinning room. Other tables seem to be very vacant towards the end of the week. We did see others receiving good service, often times getting their appetizers before we had our order taken. So I do think it was just a combination of our server and our table location. If I could have changed just one thing about our cruise it would been our experiences in the main dining room.

Interesting tidbit(s) - We watched a man get wheeled off the ship just minutes before we left Miami. I felt very badly for the elderly gentlemen and his wife, as we watched them get loaded into an ambulance. However, we left the dock prior to the ambulance departing. We also were given priority entrance into Nassau, due to a medical emergency. It was interesting to watch us pass by other cruise ships as we raced into port. We got into port two hours early. We all were allowed to disembark two hours early as well, however the times of ship excursions remained the same. And as mentioned earlier we were delayed leaving Cozumel about 2 hours as we waited for a ship excursion return that was running behind.

Some responses to questions posed: Trivia was played a number of times per day. Prizes were awarded to winners of MSC logo’d items. Classical artists played music in the main reception area- Violin and Piano. Steel Drums played every night, and we saw another person playing piano and singing Billy Joel type music. They had karaoke and karaoke with a live band playing behind you. Dancing with the stars, IE you got to dance with a dancer from the ship, and dancing with the ships officers were offered. Quest was played the last night. However, there was not a husband and wife Q/A show. Every hour they had different events at the aqua park, like belly flop, minute to win it, etc. Language programs in Italian and Chinese were offered twice, as were cooking demonstrations. There was a behind the scenes tour that was to be offered the last at sea day, however it was cancelled due to poor sign ups.

Port Experiences

Jamaica - Ocho Rios. We had booked a private excursion at Bamboo Beach Resort. We totally screwed up. We arrived at OR at 9 am. We got off the boat at 9 am, however our pick up for BBR was at 11am. I didn't realize that until we looked at our voucher/receipt as I walked off the ship. As a result, no one was there in the tent at the pier next to the sign that existed that says Bamboo beach Resort. So we were left with a choice, wander around outside the gates for two hours or leave for BBR by ourselves. I didn't really care about the extra 30 bucks to take a taxi to BBR, I thought I would rather have the two hours in OR. That was a huge mistake. When we arrived in a private taxi, the folks at the gate didn't want to let us in. We were not supposed to appear by private taxi. The taxi driver was a huge help, explaining he didn't want a kick back, he was just dropping us off. We explained that we tried to call the number on our paperwork but no one answered. We were finally allowed to drive drown the road to get to the resort, where we were met by a manager frustrated with us, that he had a person that was going to go get us and we were not going to be at the port when the transport arrived. After about 10 minutes of looking at a beach that I was uncertain we were going to be allowed to actually enter, we finally were shown the place we were allowed to sit. It was explained that we had free drinks of rum punch and beer and lemonade and water for kids. We were also given a 5 course tapas meal. The food was pretty decent, and the drinks were strong. After about 30 minutes a different waitress appeared and explained that she was supposed to be our waiter but she was waiting for us at the pier and we never appeared. It was an interesting experience. The chairs were comfortable, it was nice beach, and the water was refreshing. After we were on the beach for three hours, our waitress appeared and explained that we our package was for only 3 hours and we needed to leave. Not would you like to pay for more time, just it was time for us to go. On the way back we were given a tour about Jamaica and taken to a store that we could shop at. We were then dropped off at the pier. I would not recommend Bamboo Beach Resort. I freely admit we should have paid more attention to our voucher, and we shouldn't have traveled to the resort by ourselves, and in return we suffered the consequences of a pretty lousy day.

Coming up next, Awesome day at the Turtle Farm in Caymans, and an even better day in Cozumel, and then a truly mediocre day in Nassau.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Thanks for taking the time to convey your experience.

A good night's rest can make or break a trip. I've heard nothing but bad things about the pillows on the Divina. Thinking about bringing our own, but they will take up sooo much luggage space! How were your pillows?

Thanks for taking the time to convey your experience.

A good night's rest can make or break a trip. I've heard nothing but bad things about the pillows on the Divina. Thinking about bringing our own, but they will take up sooo much luggage space! How were your pillows?

Get those space bags that you can squeeze the air out of. Not all require a vacuum and we've managed to get 2 king pillows into one XL bag and squeeze them to about 3-4" tall.

I always bring my own pillow [emoji4]

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Our pillows were fine when we cruised on Divina. We had 1 soft and 1 firm each, perfect for us and very comfy. I've heard others complain about the pillows, so you're not alone but, I think they changed the pillows when they did the last dry dock.

Pillows were fine in January

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Hi Nikki.....yes, I agree, pillows were very comfy to us. I was expecting to have an issue with the pillows since so many people complain about them. I agree, they were probably all replaced at some point.......we thought the pillows and mattress' were great.....slept like babies!!! :)

Pillows were fine in January

 

 

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Since the definition of a "good" pillow is inherently subjective, I just want to beat this horse a little more (because I really don't want to have to pack a pillow). Were the pillows anything like what is

Since the definition of a "good" pillow is inherently subjective, I just want to beat this horse a little more (because I really don't want to have to pack a pillow). Were the pillows anything like what is

? (starting at the 3:25 mark).

:eek: I hope the pillows really aren't like that!

:eek: I hope the pillows really aren't like that!

No,the pillows used to be like that :')(when I was on the Divina 2 years ago),but in December 2016 all cabins had really nice,comfortable pillows. Do not worry and do not drag your own pillows from home!;)

Since the definition of a "good" pillow is inherently subjective, I just want to beat this horse a little more (because I really don't want to have to pack a pillow). Were the pillows anything like what is

? (starting at the 3:25 mark).

No. We are just back from a 3/4-3/11 cruise on Divina. We saw this video beforehand and thought about bringing pillows. We decided not to. The mattress and pillows were very comfortable.

Truly, our pillows in January were nothing like those pillows in the video!!! I do believe the Divina went in to dry dock after that video was made. Our pillows were great. My husband is a picky pillow person and he didn't have an issue at all.:)

Since the definition of a "good" pillow is inherently subjective, I just want to beat this horse a little more (because I really don't want to have to pack a pillow). Were the pillows anything like what is

? (starting at the 3:25 mark).

Ok, boarding tomorrow without my own pillow; purely on the advice of total strangers. For some reason, totally have faith in the last three posts (plugs nose and dives in)!

Ok, boarding tomorrow without my own pillow; purely on the advice of total strangers. For some reason, totally have faith in the last three posts (plugs nose and dives in)!

I also choose to believe. We shall see.