MSC Divina Spring Break Cruise (3 Generations - 1 Good Time)

 

During our port visit the other half of our group went on an excursion to the rain forest. They said it was a nice experience and would do it again.

 

Next up is ST. MARTIN!!!!!!!!

Did they do the Rain Forest excursion offered by the ship or a private tour company?

Did they do the Rain Forest excursion offered by the ship or a private tour company?

They booked with the ship.

St. Marteen!

Where do I start. Of all the places we have traveled this island is second behind Aruba to us.

I got up this morning typical fashion and headed down to the Black Crab for a sit down breakfast. After eating I went up to deck 15 to take some photos and video of the boat heading towards the pier. After that I met up with the ladies in the buffet where they were having breakfast.

Last time we were there we took the water taxi over to Great Bay to enjoy the beach and watersports. This trip I has one thing on my mind. M-A-H-O! It was time to check this off of the bucket list. When we arrived at port we were the 4th ship in. Getting a taxi to the beach was very chaotic. It was a cross between herding cattle and placing bets at the dog race. We purchased round trip tickets and got a wrist band. We did not have any trouble, but next time I would just buy a one way pass. When we left there was a line waiting to get back to the port for folks with wrist bands while there were numerous non-union taxis waiting around looking for work. We could have saved some time hopping a ride with them. Also, if you go one place and decide you want to go somewhere else, I am not sure how that works since the band is for a return trip to the port. Both drivers we had to and from were nice and chatted it up about the island as we were traveling.

Maho is a very compact beach. By the time we got there all of the loungers were taken so we had to set up camp in the sand. We walked over to the middle just off the runway to have the best run at the planes. After all this was the sole reason for going there. It was already crowded when we got there, but it was plain out thick by the time we left. Most of the larger arrivals were not schedule to come in until after 12 and by that time it was standing room only. It did not bother Teeny and I much, but Mama likes her personal space and that was short to come by. We saw 10 or so planes land and a couple take off before we left. It was all that I expected, and I am glad that I got to experience this.

Now you can't go to the beach and not test out the water. The water was phenomenal! Clean, Clear, Hugh Waves and Strong Undertow! I have never been to west coast beach, but this is what I imagine it being like. Definitely not what we get here on the east coast or the gulf. This beach was all that to me. With that in mind it is not a place to leave kids unattended. This current could take them under and away really quickly. When Teeny was not with me she was sitting at the water's edge never out of our sights. I waded out just past where the waves were breaking and bobbed up and down in the clean salty water most of the time. Before it got too crowded, I played around with Teeny in the breakers. You could easily belly surf 40 to 50 feet or so with each wave.

The only bad part about this beach was the sand and I say that lightly. This sand was very fine and sticky. Every time we came out of the water, we were covered in it head to toe. Teeny ripped her pool cap putting it on and her spare was on the boat. Let's just say two weeks later we are still washing sand out of her hair.

Around 2 PM Mama had had enough and was ready to head back to the port. I wanted to hang around as there were two more BIG planes landing between 2 and 3:30 but this was not just my vacation.

The second group that was traveling with us met us at Maho for a short period and then headed over to Orient Beach. They never made it to Orient. They decided to stop at Great Bay and relax there instead.

The third group booked the sea and see tour through the ship. They said it was a good venture and recommended that we do it if we ever had the chance.

Back at the port we walked around the shops and noted that two additional ships has ported after us. After enjoying a few local beverages, we headed to the buffet to grab a quick meal. After the meal Mama and Teeny went to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. I stayed in the buffet and played around on the internet before the ship left port and I was cut off again. Between sitting in the sun all day and spending almost an hour washing sand out of Teeny's hair, Mama was "DONE" so she send us to dinner alone. Tonight was the White Night party on top deck at 10:30. We went back to the room to meet Mama and rest up for the party. Next thing I remembered I was partaking in the activities of Seaday 2.

Our friends made it out to the party. Everyone enjoyed it and said they had a nice time.

Next up - Seaday 2

Thanks for your review! We will be doing this same itinerary (just reversed) in 13 days. Reading your review makes it even more exciting.

 

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I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I saw a lot of negative things about this line but I am glad to say we enjoyed ourselves. We had a few bumps in the road but they were minor in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I am enjoying every part of it. It makes the anticipation for my upcoming first MSC cruise so hard. Keep up the great job!

Thanks for following along.

When and Where is your trip?

Great review! I'll be sailing with 3 kids in June, so looking forward to your experience with your daughter (and I agree, she is adorable!).

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Thanks.

Really enjoying your review. Thank you for taking the time to share!

Thanks for the great review and videos. The Rainforest Excursion booked with the ship is the one I am debating. Do you know if they got a chance to get out and really get a feel of the rainforest such as hiking and being able to go out and get in or see the water falls and the look out? Any info on this excursion is appreciated it!

Thanks,

Kimberly

Thanks for the great review and videos. The Rainforest Excursion booked with the ship is the one I am debating. Do you know if they got a chance to get out and really get a feel of the rainforest such as hiking and being able to go out and get in or see the water falls and the look out? Any info on this excursion is appreciated it!

 

Thanks,

Kimberly

From the pics it seems they were able to walk around in the forest. I should have the video posted later tonight. You can see for yourself.

Really enjoying your review. Thank you for taking the time to share!

You are welcome. Glad you are following along.

Thanks for posting your review and videos - I am enjoying them. I appreciate the tip about the taxis in St Maarten.

Thanks Your Awesome!

From the pics it seems they were able to walk around in the forest. I should have the video posted later tonight. You can see for yourself.

Part 2 of this awesome vacation is live. You can view it at the link below:

Love , love , love your review . Lots of informative stuff and I love the positive feedback . We sail for the first time with MSC in 95 days . Thanks for taking the time to share !

Thanks Your Awesome!

Check our somewhere around minute 9 for the rain forest.

Love , love , love your review . Lots of informative stuff and I love the positive feedback . We sail for the first time with MSC in 95 days . Thanks for taking the time to share !

Thank you for reading along. I am sure you will enjoy the trip.

Sea Day 2

As mentioned in the last post the evening after St. Marteen was cut short due to us passing out in the cabin waiting on the White Night Party to start. I was bummed that I missed it, but on the other hand we were well rested for our last hoorah before prepping to head back home. One thing I look for when booking a cruise is the number of sea days after the last port. I prefer to book trips where there are 2 or more sea days on the back side. This way you get one full day to enjoy the boat before having to worry about packing and getting to bed early to be rested for the drive home etc. Side note I absolutely refuse (unless there is no other option) to book one where you port on the last day and then the next morning you are off the boat.

This was the day I would get to see the full sunrise. I got up extra early and headed to deck 15 to get the perfect view. I shook the girls to get them to come along but they were not having it. After sunrise I went back to the room and got them up to start our day. To this point Mama had not explored much of the boat. They got dressed and we headed down to the Black Crab for bfast. They really enjoyed the meal and the atmosphere. Much more relaxed than the buffet. After eating we leisurely walked along the interior public decks checking out the different lounges and shops. We eventually made our way up to the Sports Bar for a couple games of family bowling.

While walking around we ran into one of our groups relaxing in a lounge. We made plans to meet up in Piazza Del Doge for some more board game action. MSC was putting on an extra afternoon show in the theater this day. The ladies took in the show while the men played daddy duty. Jokes on the ladies. Don't send big kids to watch over little kids in an ice cream and pastry parlor :-). We ordered shakes, chocolate candies, pastries, pretty much one of everything lol. They had a lemon tart at the first formal night dinner that was to die for. I was hoping the tarts they had on display at this spot were the same but they were not. These were more of a pudding filled tart versus the sour lemon one at dinner.

After our snack break we headed up to the room to get ready for the 2nd formal night at dinner. The highlight of the menu was the "Baked Alaska" aka ice cream cake lol. They had a cake parade and all. We all ordered it for desert. It was good but still just ice cream cake to me.

Sidebar 4 (I think) - I ate many things on this ship that were heavy on the dairy side and am pleased to say I had no issues at all with them. I seem to be developing a sensitivity to dairy the older I get, so I tend to test the waters slightly before diving in. It was full bore by the end of this trip.

After dinner the kiddos wanted to head back up for bowling. Mama and I took them for a few rounds then we dropped off the one that didn't belong to us and put Teeny to bed. This was our "Turn-Up" Night!!! First on the list was Quest. On other lines we have been on Quest is listed as adult only and that was for a reason. It was listed that way on MSC as well. When we got there, there were a good many kids sitting with their parents waiting on the show to start. I was thinking I hope they (the parents) know what they are doing? Well turns out there was nothing a kid could not see or do at this show. Some of the kids even participated. Next time we sail MSC I will take Teeny with us.

After Quest they were hosting karaoke in the same lounge so we stayed around and got a few good laughs out of that. Next we went to the coffee bar that overlooks the atrium and had a couple special blends. After that we headed up to deck 14 to grab a quick snack before bed. As we were walking along the pool we looked up at the Galaxy Lounge and noted some pretty intense action going on. Hopped in the elevator to check it out. Apparently the Neon Party was still going strong. We hung around in there listening and dancing for a spell then headed down to the buffet.

At this point there are just finger foods at the buffet but man oh man I fell in love with those milk-bread ham and cheese sandwiches. We must have had 6 or 7 between the two if us. I again tried the tart they had out but it was not the same either.

After eating we wondered around on the top deck then decided we had "Adulted" enough. It was well-well-well into the next day and we knew the little one was going to want to go full bore on the last day.

Next up the last Sea Day.

Rain Forest Update - I spoke to my friends regarding the Rain Forest Excursion. They said the excursion was nice but the time was limited. If you want to enjoy the forest skip the video session and head right to the woods.

Rain Forest Update - I spoke to my friends regarding the Rain Forest Excursion. They said the excursion was nice but the time was limited. If you want to enjoy the forest skip the video session and head right to the woods.

Thanks! I appreciate the advice [emoji3]

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Thank you so much for taking the time to write up a great and informative trip report. We are looking at sailing on this ship and was so thankful for seeing your posting, it would be the same itinerary as yours but reversed. So much great information about the ship and the ports!

Part 2 of this awesome vacation is live. You can view it at the link below:

 

I really enjoyed your videos! Thank you for sharing them!

Sea Day 3

Well the trip is officially coming to an end. After telling her how majestic the sunrise was yesterday Mama agreed to come up top and watch it with me today.. Teeny still wasn't having it and elected to sleep in. To our dismay there was a cloud cover that washed out the sunrise so Mama got up for nothing. Well not really but it was early and there was no sunrise. Mama headed to the room to order room service for her and Teeny while I headed to the Black Crab again for bfast. At this point the sit down restaurant was way more appealing than the buffet. No wait, different variety, and much less crowded. After eating we headed up top to spend a little time in a jacuzzi before we got off the boat. We headed up to deck 16 all the way to the back behind the basket ball court. This late in the morning we were able to find this jacuzzi unoccupied. We stayed there for over an hour and only 3 other people came up to join us. Basically I am saying we had the place all to ourselves.

Next we freshened up and headed to the bowling alley for one last go. The Kiddos played while the dads sat around and chit chatted. The Belly Flop Contest was happening on top deck in a little while. After little to no debate I decided it was time to come out of retirement and give it a go one more time. There was stiff competition and I was only able to pull out second place.

After the competition, we sat around enjoying the sun and breeze while we ate lunch and enjoyed a few drinks. Afterwards we headed to the room to pack up and get ready for dinner. This was our last meal on the boat and we always eat in the MDR so that we can thank our servers and express our gratitude to them. We also like to do the same for our room steward before things get too hectic at night.

This night our servers graced us with a magic show that had the adults and kids equally amazed. After dinner we were sitting around and noted that collectively we still had 20 plus drink vouchers left over. We decided we would have a bar hopping excursion after the Micheal Jackson show. If you follow many MSC reviews you already know that the MJ show is borderline magical. I am not a MJ fan but I will admit that the show was very entertaining.

After the show Mama started feeling a little ill. She went to the room to rest while we took the kiddos bar hopping. We hit 3 bars ordering as many non alcoholic drinks as the kids could handle. While there we noted many other people doing the same things that we were doing.

After the outing we checked in on Mama. She had already turned in for the night. We decided to do the same seeing as we had a long drive back to Atlanta waiting on us.

The next morning we exited the room at 7 am sharp and headed to the Black Crab one last time. Next we headed up to deck 15 to wait on our designated time to exit the boat.

Overall we had a really good time and do plan to sail with MSC again.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write up a great and informative trip report. We are looking at sailing on this ship and was so thankful for seeing your posting, it would be the same itinerary as yours but reversed. So much great information about the ship and the ports!

You are welcome.

I really enjoyed your videos! Thank you for sharing them!

Thanks

Just finished watching your videos , and I loved them. Seems you all made some precious memories with your beautiful family . Teeny won my heart with her big smile and bigger personality .

Thanks for taking the time to share with all of us !