Bad reviews

Oh, Aussiegirl, you and I are SO going to get along! :D:D:D

Great....can't wait to meet you.....in just 35 days.......yippee......

Great....can't wait to meet you.....in just 35 days.......yippee......

I'm getting so excited. :D:D:D

Hi Saphir,

I got off the ship yesterday and they are having sevice problems with the dining room due to the large

staff change since the ship returned two weeks ago.

When you go in October service should be much better as the new staff will be trained and it probably won't have 4,300 passengers as kids will be back in school.

Also, had trouble returning to the ship from the private island. Took about an hour at 2:30. They finally opened a location on the other side of the ship so we could get off.

Enjoy the Divina is a beautiful and very clean ship. The shows were great.

I think you will see better reviews once the kids are in school.

Never tried the hamburgers on the buffet. People in our group loved the Pizza at the buffet, but I never tried it. Went to the Villa Rosa dining room 3 days for lunch.

Ellen

I believe you misread his post, he said burgers were the "big thing" at the buffet, not that they didn't have any.

 

Skipper Tim, I keep hearing about the "constant announcements" from many people on these boards and i have no idea what they are talking about. I can remember when I started cruising in 1991 , announcements were made in your cabin, but, it has been YEARS since I heard one there. When I am in my cabin, sometimes I hear an announcement in the hallway and I have to run and open the door so I can hear it. I usually sail Royal Caribbean and the captain comes on at noon with his spiel about location and weather and immediately after that, the CD comes on talking about the events, bingo, etc. The whole process is about 5 to 10 minutes. Then, no more announcements all day. I sailed the Allure, Grandeur and Jewel in the last year and this was the procedure on them all. I did Carnival this year as well and I honestly don't remember ever hearing any announcements, not even the captain. I'm a little hard of hearing, bit, I'm not completely deaf. :D

On MSC there are not constant announcements. MSC's problem is that any announcement has to be made in five to seven languages so they keep announcements to a maximum of two a day plus anything to do with safety - drill, bad weather etc.. Only the safety announcements are piped into your cabin so, if you are in your cabin, you have to open your door to hear the regular announcements. To me, this is exactly the right balance.

On my first MSC cruise I took a mini toolset to disconnect the cabin loudspeaker because of my 'tortuous' experience on Royal Caribbean ships. The sales announcements on RCI never stopped and it was impossible to even reduce the volume of the cabin speaker. I think I would rather have been water-boarded. The toolkit was not required on and I am now confident of cruising with MSC without it.

Perhaps RCI have improved their game as a result of feedback from people like me who simply couldn't stand the punishment?

On MSC announcements give a rundown of weather, location and the day's activities. They are made by the cruise director with assistance, if required, from his staff in other languages. German seems to be the most problematic.

Hi Saphir,

 

I got off the ship yesterday and they are having sevice problems with the dining room due to the large

staff change since the ship returned two weeks ago.

 

When you go in October service should be much better as the new staff will be trained and it probably won't have 4,300 passengers as kids will be back in school.

 

Also, had trouble returning to the ship from the private island. Took about an hour at 2:30. They finally opened a location on the other side of the ship so we could get off.

 

Enjoy the Divina is a beautiful and very clean ship. The shows were great.

 

I think you will see better reviews once the kids are in school.

 

Never tried the hamburgers on the buffet. People in our group loved the Pizza at the buffet, but I never tried it. Went to the Villa Rosa dining room 3 days for lunch.

 

Ellen

Thank you. I'll be there on 18 October and I hope that there will not be too many children. for the burgers, I eat them, but I love the pizza! a what time was the dinner? How long it took? Thanks for the info. I am sure that this will be a very beautiful cruise.

Just an FYI to the earlier discussion about eggs - the average age of the egg when it GETS to the grocery store to be sold is 22 days. I had researched this last year when my neighbor started raising chickens. Same day eggs are such a treat!

Hi Saphir,

We had the 6pm seating. Dinner was almost 2 hours.

Other than the first night, the show was at 9 pm. Late seating show was 7pm. You need go to the Michael Jackson show early to get seats

I have sailed Royal Caribbean the last couple of years in the fall and there weren't many children.

For breakfast in the dining room, they had great belgian waffles with sliced bananas (menu said stewed).

The Allegrisimo drink vouchers were a great deal 15 drinks for $ 72.00. If you purchase before the cruise, the 15% service charge was included. A drink included tip came to 4.80 with the vouchers. Many drinks were in the $ 7 range. The also have a beer package that included bottled beer.

Gambee was on the roll call and he will be doing a review. If you have seen his other reviews, his pictures are incredible.

Ellen

 

Other than the first night, the show was at 9 pm. Late seating show was 7pm. You need go to the Michael Jackson show early to get seats.

Oh wow! It just occurred to me...the dining room staff saw the Michael Jackson show and THAT'S why they drag out dinner. They're just trying to help! :D

Hi Saphir,

 

We had the 6pm seating. Dinner was almost 2 hours.

 

Other than the first night, the show was at 9 pm. Late seating show was 7pm. You need go to the Michael Jackson show early to get seats

 

I have sailed Royal Caribbean the last couple of years in the fall and there weren't many children.

 

For breakfast in the dining room, they had great belgian waffles with sliced bananas (menu said stewed).

 

The Allegrisimo drink vouchers were a great deal 15 drinks for $ 72.00. If you purchase before the cruise, the 15% service charge was included. A drink included tip came to 4.80 with the vouchers. Many drinks were in the $ 7 range. The also have a beer package that included bottled beer.

 

Gambee was on the roll call and he will be doing a review. If you have seen his other reviews, his pictures are incredible.

 

Ellen

Thank you. I have already purchase Allegrissimo Premium.

In reading the current crop of bad reviews...there is one thing that disturbs me.

That's the tendering process to Great Stirrup Cay.

In reading the current crop of bad reviews...there is one thing that disturbs me.

 

That's the tendering process to Great Stirrup Cay.

It must be horrible because some nut started yelling and pushing on my husband when the concierge escorted us to the front of the line (we were staying in the YC). The guy hadn't seen the concierge and thought we were all cutting in line. It got very tense for a few minutes!

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forums mobile app

In reading the current crop of bad reviews...there is one thing that disturbs me.

 

That's the tendering process to Great Stirrup Cay.

The island is owned by NCL, and they are in control of the tendering process! Its a beautiful island, enjoy!

When we decided to leave the ship to visit GSC, there was a line, but the tenders hold a lot of people, so the line moves quickly, and you're on the island in about 20 mins.!

As far as comments about other passengers, you'll always run into a few rude inconsiderate people no matter where you go, forget about them, and enjoy your time!

RS ... That issue could quite easily be remedied by having a seperate Tender door for YC guests, sadly organisation is not one of MSC or Italian traits.

In reading the current crop of bad reviews...there is one thing that disturbs me.

 

That's the tendering process to Great Stirrup Cay.

Tabby, the one thing in a recent review that made me laugh was the experienced cruiser who had never heard of tender tickets. :eek:

Just don't be determined to be the first off the ship, have a leisurely breakfast while everyone else races to get off the ship. By then, you may not even need tender tickets, sometimes by then, it is just come when you are ready. Same thing applies to coming back, don't be part of the herd.

The only thing about GSC that scares me is the lack of shade. My friends call me the whitest woman in America. (I can't repeat what my enemies call me. :eek: ) I have been to LSC (CocoCay) many times on RCCL and love resting under the trees in the shade. :)

 

The only thing about GSC that scares me is the lack of shade. My friends call me the whitest woman in America. (I can't repeat what my enemies call me. :eek: ) I have been to LSC (CocoCay) many times on RCCL and love resting under the trees in the shade. :)

If lack of shade concerns you then you can't have a leisurely breakfast and try to avoid the herd unless you've reserved a cabana (I highly recommend them - made all the difference for us). There are patches of trees but if you're not one of the first on the island you won't have much luck.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forums mobile app

We actually did go to GSC with NCL a few years ago.

I think we were one of the first ones on the tender, and went to where we thought we would be one of the first ones off. Unfortunately, we were wrong. We were the last ones off...and by the time we got to the beach all the good spots were taken.

This time (I think we will be there from 8-5) we will probably get off for lunch...a quick swim...and then back on the ship.

Just hope that getting back to the ship won't involve a long line of people fainting.....

If lack of shade concerns you then you can't have a leisurely breakfast and try to avoid the herd unless you've reserved a cabana (I highly recommend them - made all the difference for us). There are patches of trees but if you're not one of the first on the island you won't have much luck.

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forums mobile app

Oh, Boo! :( I read they were planting trees there, I'm cruising by myself, can't afford a cabana. It might be a short beach day for me, sad because I enjoyed CCC sooooo much in December when I was there. :(

We actually did go to GSC with NCL a few years ago.

 

I think we were one of the first ones on the tender, and went to where we thought we would be one of the first ones off. Unfortunately, we were wrong. We were the last ones off...and by the time we got to the beach all the good spots were taken.

 

This time (I think we will be there from 8-5) we will probably get off for lunch...a quick swim...and then back on the ship.

 

Just hope that getting back to the ship won't involve a long line of people fainting.....

NCL improved GSC a lot, tons of great spots. We where there in March on Breakaway and there was no problems with getting a good place. I still like HMC and Princess Cay better, but GSC is improved since 2012 a lot.

Looking forward to visit this island on Divina soon.

Hi,

We didn't have a problem getting to Grand Stirrup Cay as we had reserved Clam Shells and/or snorkeling, so we did not have to get a ticket #. You take your excursion ticket (incudes clam shells) to deck 5 - Guest Services and you are given priority on the tenders. They also left a towel in your room to take to the island. It was very easy.

Once on the island, we went to the right and were able to get 4 clam shells in the first row of clam shells.

It was on the return that MSC had problems as the only had one location open to return to the ship. After waiting a half hour, they opened a second location on the other side of the ship.

It was very hot last Friday. The clam shell worked well.

Ellen

Also in the UK, you end up having to pay final balance almost a month earlierbthan when you book direct. They need to be ensure they allow time for payments to clear....blah, blah. In this day of faster electronic payments processing in 2 hours or less, that is utter nonsense.

I booked through a big online travel site, which then annoyingly assigned me a local TA who has only managed to confuse things. The moment she was asking me MSCs policies so she could do up an insurance quote, I realized that she was no better informed. I had email from the online site stating final payment in early September, so went on vacation to the beach (no internet). My poor hubby was then put in an emergency situation to deal with the final payment because she apparently needed it 2 weeks earlier than the email stated.

I should have just dealt with MSC. The only reason I didn't was that at the time of booking I got a better rate online than the MSC agent could match. I was able to call her back after booking and she gave me the discount from having sailed with them before, so I got the best price possible at the time.

Italian organization has nothing to do with it. Just growing pains of a cruise line trying to break into the crowded Caribbean market. It seem to me that they have done pretty well so far, and will only get better.

They just need to fix two problem and there will be one more very good ship in the Caribbean.