Back from Divina-a quick review.

I'm going to keep this short. I just came off the Divina on Saturday, and I have to say that this by far was my favorite ship, cruise, etc, out of four (other three were 2 on Carnival and 1 on Princess).

Who we are: 2 31 year old single ladies from New Jersey. My fourth cruise, my friend's first.

Embarkation- Arrived in Miami at 9 (6 am flight out of Newark, NJ). Got to ship at 9:45. Had to wait outside in the heat until 10:15, on ship by 11:30. (but we had seats, drinks, and stuff to read).

The cabin-Balcony 13157 (Fantastica experience). Room was nice, but I would not recommend the 13th deck, simply because all you hear 24/7 was the scraping of chairs at the buffet.

The food-For the first two days I would say the food was okay, not great, but okay, but gradually got better by the end of the week, it was really good! (this includes buffet and MDR (Black Crab Upper)). Dont miss the short ribs the last night for something amazing! If you want a good desert, try the different panna cottas they have alternating. So good! Downside was that fruit wasnt ripe at buffet. Kiwi fruit especially.

The ports: We did the Eastern Route which included St Maarten (been there before), Puerto Rico, and Nassau. We took an excursion off the ship for each. St Maarten we did the Panaromic Tour and Orient Beach. Best one by far out of the three.

Puerto Rico we did the Bacardi Tour which we felt was a waste of money. Short bus ride/someone talking about public housing. Bacardi was a quick tram ride to the visitor's center, which was a room with a fountain, a 9 minute video, a replica of the original distillery, some original documents, and barrel sniffing. Not a fan of that at all.

Nassau, we did the 360 tour. Not bad, included some time at Balmoral Island. I can really live my life without going back there (had some money stolen from me by a vendor but no biggie (I'm not crying over $3)).

We also did the ship's behind the scenes tour the last sea day. I recommend that highly, it really puts a different perspective on how things really work on board.

The crew: I heard from the grapevine that many people had different experiences, but every single crew member I interacted with from the vacuum person, to the captain always had a smile on their faces, willing to joke and talk with you. And very helpful. I can say enough about Gusti (our Steward), Gowry and Mandish (our waiters in the MDR), Gary (entertainment staff), and Andres (tours). These are just a few of the many people who bent over backwards for us.

The entertainment: I really enjoyed the shows and the various activities they had on board. One of my biggest complaints about Carnival and Princess was that they had too much going on at once and you couldnt be in more than one place at once and therefore missed out. Not here, everything was one at a time, and if you really wanted, you could make an attempt to do everything, which I certainly tried to do, but due to the size of the ship, it was hard.

The people: Due to MSC being an Italian cruise line, there was a big amount of international people on board. But I felt that that added to my experience. Personally, I love learning about other cultures, and talking to people from different areas. Other Americans I spoke to found that to be a downside, but I dont understand how that can be. Sure, there was a language barrier, but everyone understands numbers, excuse me, and hold the elevator (more on that in a second). MSC tried to include everyone by having 6 official languages, I found myself actually learning some Italian, Spanish, and German. Thats bad?

The Ship: What can I say? Beautiful ship, clean ship, elegant ship. Only bad thing I experienced was the elevator situation. Okay this was a biggie throughout the entire ship. You press the button for an elevator, and you waited and waited. Finally it came, but then literally the doors were open for 4 seconds. If you hesitate. You missed it, and had to call another one. I'm not even talking about the hijackable aft ones for the Yacht Club. This was all of them. I literally waited ten minutes for an elevator, I should have taken the stairs (which I found myself doing more often than not).

Disembarkation:Since we were on the 13th deck, we had the next to last group to be called to leave. We had a 6pm flight back home, but theres nothing to do but sit and wait. Finally we got annoyed at 9:45, they had a comedy reel going in the theater, and found out we could go. We were off by 10 and at Jungle Island by 10:30. I highly recommend that if you have a few hours to kill before your flight home. You can feed all sorts of birds, and they store your luggage for you for free and will call a cab for you.

Overall great time, would I sail MSC again? In a heartbeat! Would anyone like to join me on the Seaside?

Took way too many photos btw, would anyone be interested once I get them to my computer on seeing a 150+ almost complete photo tour of the ship?

Any questions?

Thank you for sharing! Glad to hear that you enjoyed the Divina. My family of 12 will be sailing on her in two weeks!

Thanks for your review. I would love to see your photos:)

Thanks for the review. I would love to see as many pictures as you are willing to post ;p

I have so many photos, the photo tour I hope all came out, my camera decided to be dumb and took a lot of blurry photos. It might take me some time to sort through them all.

I will say I did get a few of the Divina and either Harmony of the Seas or Carnival Liberty or Glory side by side...

Glad you had a great time. Thanks for your review.

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Thanks for the review.

nice concise review

two questions:-

did you get "annoyed" or did you mean "Tannoyed"?

it puts a whole different perspective on it.

are there YC lifts aft

I thought they were forward?

I'm going to keep this short. I just came off the Divina on Saturday, and I have to say that this by far was my favorite ship, cruise, etc, out of four (other three were 2 on Carnival and 1 on Princess).

 

Who we are: 2 31 year old single ladies from New Jersey. My fourth cruise, my friend's first.

 

Embarkation- Arrived in Miami at 9 (6 am flight out of Newark, NJ). Got to ship at 9:45. Had to wait outside in the heat until 10:15, on ship by 11:30. (but we had seats, drinks, and stuff to read).

 

The cabin-Balcony 13157 (Fantastica experience). Room was nice, but I would not recommend the 13th deck, simply because all you hear 24/7 was the scraping of chairs at the buffet.

 

The food-For the first two days I would say the food was okay, not great, but okay, but gradually got better by the end of the week, it was really good! (this includes buffet and MDR (Black Crab Upper)). Dont miss the short ribs the last night for something amazing! If you want a good desert, try the different panna cottas they have alternating. So good! Downside was that fruit wasnt ripe at buffet. Kiwi fruit especially.

The ports: We did the Eastern Route which included St Maarten (been there before), Puerto Rico, and Nassau. We took an excursion off the ship for each. St Maarten we did the Panaromic Tour and Orient Beach. Best one by far out of the three.

 

Puerto Rico we did the Bacardi Tour which we felt was a waste of money. Short bus ride/someone talking about public housing. Bacardi was a quick tram ride to the visitor's center, which was a room with a fountain, a 9 minute video, a replica of the original distillery, some original documents, and barrel sniffing. Not a fan of that at all.

 

Nassau, we did the 360 tour. Not bad, included some time at Balmoral Island. I can really live my life without going back there (had some money stolen from me by a vendor but no biggie (I'm not crying over $3)).

 

We also did the ship's behind the scenes tour the last sea day. I recommend that highly, it really puts a different perspective on how things really work on board.

 

The crew: I heard from the grapevine that many people had different experiences, but every single crew member I interacted with from the vacuum person, to the captain always had a smile on their faces, willing to joke and talk with you. And very helpful. I can say enough about Gusti (our Steward), Gowry and Mandish (our waiters in the MDR), Gary (entertainment staff), and Andres (tours). These are just a few of the many people who bent over backwards for us.

 

The entertainment: I really enjoyed the shows and the various activities they had on board. One of my biggest complaints about Carnival and Princess was that they had too much going on at once and you couldnt be in more than one place at once and therefore missed out. Not here, everything was one at a time, and if you really wanted, you could make an attempt to do everything, which I certainly tried to do, but due to the size of the ship, it was hard.

 

The people: Due to MSC being an Italian cruise line, there was a big amount of international people on board. But I felt that that added to my experience. Personally, I love learning about other cultures, and talking to people from different areas. Other Americans I spoke to found that to be a downside, but I dont understand how that can be. Sure, there was a language barrier, but everyone understands numbers, excuse me, and hold the elevator (more on that in a second). MSC tried to include everyone by having 6 official languages, I found myself actually learning some Italian, Spanish, and German. Thats bad?

 

The Ship: What can I say? Beautiful ship, clean ship, elegant ship. Only bad thing I experienced was the elevator situation. Okay this was a biggie throughout the entire ship. You press the button for an elevator, and you waited and waited. Finally it came, but then literally the doors were open for 4 seconds. If you hesitate. You missed it, and had to call another one. I'm not even talking about the hijackable aft ones for the Yacht Club. This was all of them. I literally waited ten minutes for an elevator, I should have taken the stairs (which I found myself doing more often than not).

 

Disembarkation:Since we were on the 13th deck, we had the next to last group to be called to leave. We had a 6pm flight back home, but theres nothing to do but sit and wait. Finally we got annoyed at 9:45, they had a comedy reel going in the theater, and found out we could go. We were off by 10 and at Jungle Island by 10:30. I highly recommend that if you have a few hours to kill before your flight home. You can feed all sorts of birds, and they store your luggage for you for free and will call a cab for you.

 

Overall great time, would I sail MSC again? In a heartbeat! Would anyone like to join me on the Seaside?

 

Took way too many photos btw, would anyone be interested once I get them to my computer on seeing a 150+ almost complete photo tour of the ship?

 

Any questions?

Just got back from the same cruise. Totally agree about the short ribs,I got 2 orders!

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nice concise review

two questions:-

did you get "annoyed" or did you mean "Tannoyed"?

it puts a whole different perspective on it.

 

are there YC lifts aft

I thought they were forward?

Annoyed, felt trapped at the end. I'm not sure anymore about the you elevators. I kept getting discombobulated on location on the ship. Don't ask me why. Quite a few times I thought I was going forward when I found myself aft...

Took way too many photos btw, would anyone be interested once I get them to my computer on seeing a 150+ almost complete photo tour of the ship?

 

Any questions?

I would love to see your pics of the ship!! :D I'm almost your age (I'm 32, I'll be 33 on June 11th) and I'm sailing on the Divina for Christmas and New Years this year, can't wait!! :D We have the same kind of cabin as you, a balcony (we're on Deck 10), Fantastica Experience I'm trying to learn as much about the ship and MSC as I can (it'll be my 1st MSC cruise). How was the Nightlife? Were the bars, lounges, clubs, etc really busy late into the night (or early in the morning depending on how you look at it) or were things pretty dead early? Being busy late into the night would be a positive for me!! :D What kinds of activities/events/parties did they have? I've been on 36 cruises (mostly with Carnival) so I'm really looking forward to a new experience!! :D

I would love to see your pics of the ship!! :D I'm almost your age (I'm 32, I'll be 33 on June 11th) and I'm sailing on the Divina for Christmas and New Years this year, can't wait!! :D We have the same kind of cabin as you, a balcony (we're on Deck 10), Fantastica Experience I'm trying to learn as much about the ship and MSC as I can (it'll be my 1st MSC cruise). How was the Nightlife? Were the bars, lounges, clubs, etc really busy late into the night (or early in the morning depending on how you look at it) or were things pretty dead early? Being busy late into the night would be a positive for me!! :D What kinds of activities/events/parties did they have? I've been on 36 cruises (mostly with Carnival) so I'm really looking forward to a new experience!! :D

The nightlife was really good. The Galaxy nightclub was open to all hours with a different theme each night. I'm not talking about the first night where I wasn't sure what was going on there... message me I'm not sure if I can say it here.

There was also live music in almost every lounge and bar. All kinds, always something for someone.

There were different parties each day. One was the white, flower glory, Italy, two formals. And the galaxy matched themes with those. There was a fluo fluo party up there second formal night. Which is a backlight party. The cruise staff has color up there for you. It just takes two washes to get it off!

Activities included your normal cruise stuff including ballroom dance lessons. I'm a dancer but i made the mistake of going to them. They are taught in the standard style, I know American, big difference.

Would love to see your pics - we are going in August.

Pretty sure the YC elevators are forward too.

Appreciate the feedback.

Great review! We just got off Divina ourselves. We are so in love with this ship!

Great review ! I would love to see your photos as well ! TIA

Thanks for the review. I'm glad you decided to embrace the difference instead of complaining about it. I tried to talk to German passengers but my high school German and their high school English didn't quite make it. However, we both had fun trying. Bob

The nightlife was really good. The Galaxy nightclub was open to all hours with a different theme each night. I'm not talking about the first night where I wasn't sure what was going on there... message me I'm not sure if I can say it here.

 

There was also live music in almost every lounge and bar. All kinds, always something for someone.

 

There were different parties each day. One was the white, flower glory, Italy, two formals. And the galaxy matched themes with those. There was a fluo fluo party up there second formal night. Which is a backlight party. The cruise staff has color up there for you. It just takes two washes to get it off!

 

Activities included your normal cruise stuff including ballroom dance lessons. I'm a dancer but i made the mistake of going to them. They are taught in the standard style, I know American, big difference.

Great to hear about the nightlife!! :D I'm sure it'll be the same on a holiday cruise. I've been on a couple of cruises where the ship was pretty much a ghost town around 11pm-midnight, pretty boring in my opinion. Haha, that 1st night sounds interesting, I'd love to hear about it. I'm not sure how to private message you here but you can friend me on that social media site we can't mention here that starts with an F and ends with a K if you want (Avril Birnie - I have a picture of a horse and her foal as my profile pic) and tell me all about it there.

Live music is great as well!! :D As long as theres lots going on all night and lots of people around, I'll be happy.

The theme parties sound like fun!! :D I cruise Carnival a lot and they have a couple (as does NCL which I've been on 4 times) so I have an idea what those will be like. What did people wear for Flower Glory and Italy? I may need to work on those a bit. I have a perfect dress for White because of NCL's White Hot Party. Fluo Fluo sounds interesting/fun as well, what did they do for that?

Did they have any pool/deck games during the day? Those are always fun to watch!! Any deck parties at night? I always enjoy those. I'm not a dancer so probably wouldn't go to the dance lessons (although it might be fun). Since you are a dancer though, I'm sure you did fine at them!! Just curious, how is American Ballroom Dancing different than Ballroom Dancing anywhere else?

Was the food and drinks good? Those are 2 of the most important parts of a cruise IMO.

It'll be so much fun to try a new (well, new to me) cruise line, new experiences, and to make new friends, I'm so excited!! :D

Great to hear about the nightlife!! :D I'm sure it'll be the same on a holiday cruise. I've been on a couple of cruises where the ship was pretty much a ghost town around 11pm-midnight, pretty boring in my opinion. Haha, that 1st night sounds interesting, I'd love to hear about it. I'm not sure how to private message you here but you can friend me on that social media site we can't mention here that starts with an F and ends with a K if you want (Avril Birnie - I have a picture of a horse and her foal as my profile pic) and tell me all about it there.

Live music is great as well!! :D As long as theres lots going on all night and lots of people around, I'll be happy.

The theme parties sound like fun!! :D I cruise Carnival a lot and they have a couple (as does NCL which I've been on 4 times) so I have an idea what those will be like. What did people wear for Flower Glory and Italy? I may need to work on those a bit. I have a perfect dress for White because of NCL's White Hot Party. Fluo Fluo sounds interesting/fun as well, what did they do for that?

Did they have any pool/deck games during the day? Those are always fun to watch!! Any deck parties at night? I always enjoy those. I'm not a dancer so probably wouldn't go to the dance lessons (although it might be fun). Since you are a dancer though, I'm sure you did fine at them!! Just curious, how is American Ballroom Dancing different than Ballroom Dancing anywhere else?

Was the food and drinks good? Those are 2 of the most important parts of a cruise IMO.

It'll be so much fun to try a new (well, new to me) cruise line, new experiences, and to make new friends, I'm so excited!! :D

I have to apologize for lack of photos, hard drive on my laptop crashed on Friday. Didn't lose anything (thank goodness for Carbonite!) but really annoying.

For flower glory, people wore 70's and 60's some 80's style clothes. No one save the crew did anything for Italy night.

Fluo fluo was on the last formal night but everyone went up in whatever they wore to dinner.

Deck parties at night were the white party and karaoke. There was usually a movie showing on deck at night, while activities were in the black and white lounge.

American dancing is just a different style. Women start on the right foot in American while standard everyone starts on the same foot.

Food and drinks gradually improved over the week. Loved the short ribs and the panda cotta at the buffet. I'm not really a drinker, but did enjoy the purple rain (make sure you get that). I was not a fan of the passion mojito, peno puts tobasco in a monitor?