MSC Divina review....Oct 25th-Nov 1st 2014

Hello All,

As promised lets get this review started, I apologize that my live from the Divina sort of fell apart, we didn't get off the ship in Grand Cayman so NO wifi, then ran out of time in Cozumel. So lets get this started.

Day 1

We woke up bright and early on Sat, I was eager to get on the road and get this vacation started. We left our house in Orlando just after 7:30am, the challenge was meeting up with two other vehicles somewhere on the turnpike so we could caravan down, but it worked out perfect.. Here is a pic of Candice and I, you can see Landon passed out in the back ground.

We kept on driving, but eventually we entered Miami around 11:00 am, we actually made very very good time. We dropped off our bags around 11:30am or so and made our way into the parking garage, we decided to park close to the pier and not risk any off site parking, it was very convenient, especially when we got off the ship yesterday.

CHECK IN:

Checking in was super easy and fast, we rolled into the building around 11:45 or so. As you enter there is some private security checking your boarding documents and passports, or other ID. After that is done you head up the escalator to the screening checkpoint. Once that is done you enter the check in area, not the line was not bad at all, but since my parents are Black Card members, they sent us all to the priority check in. Check in took about 15 min, the guy checking us in was new, but no problem I'm on vacation and we were quickly heading up the escalator to board the ship, I would say we were onboard around 12:15 or so. Here is a pic of Landon and I waiting outside the building.

I posted this pic in my LIVE from, but I want to post it again, here is Candice and Landon about to board the beautiful Divina.

More to come!

Looking forward to hearing what you all thought! We LOVED it!! Sorry we missed the two CC functions.....

Ok now on with the first day....I am going to try to post some video, I did take a lot of video using my go pro, I apologize in advance that I am not the best videographer, but it will give you a general idea of what to expect....This first video is a test!

It appears I can't imbed the link, so the link will redirect you to youtube, sorry about that.

Ok so now we are onboard, we got Landon his wrist band, it was time to get our drink tickets. We pre ordered 8 packets, and they needed to be picked up in the Casino. This process was very easy and took just a couple of minutes. With drink coupons in hand, it was time to head off and get that first drink of the cruise, we decided to make our way up to the pool deck. It was a beautiful sunny day and 82 in Miami, first stop the pool bar on deck 14....this his where we met Jodi, she was awesome and took great care of us, and most of all Landon....she grabbed my phone and took a USSIE:)

We hung out here for a bit while our party re grouped, I took this time to snap a few shots and capture the moment. I ran up the stairs and started taking more pics:)

As super cute shot of our son Landon.

Skyking,,,,My girlfriend has a request!!! Could you please ask your wife where she bought her black espadrilles at?? She has been searching everywhere for a white pair just like those,,:D

Skyking,,,,My girlfriend has a request!!! Could you please ask your wife where she bought her black espadrilles at?? She has been searching everywhere for a white pair just like those,,:D

HI there they are Giani Binini and she got them from Dillards:)

Its amazing to me how fast time flies on boarding day, after hanging out by the pool for a bit an announcement was made at 2:25pm that the cabins were ready, no one moved, but I think it was the language barrier. There were 3700 people on the ship and only 1200 Americans, this made for a very unique and awesome experience, it was soooooo cool to hear all the other languages, but I have a lot more on this later. We headed off to check out our cabin, we were in cabin 11103, a balcony on the port side, the cabin was perfect for us, and had a super huge balcony....I took this pic shortly after our bags arrived.

Our view from our balcony

Here is a great pic of our oversize balcony, again this is cabin 11103...Later I will have a full video of this cabin for you.

At 5pm it was time for the muster drill, we made our way back down to our cabin to grab out life jackets, MSC still requires the life jackets at the drill, I was not so happy about that, and here is my poutty face for all of you:)

Our muster location was in the sports bar, I will be honest this was the only time I think we were in here, I think I may have used it to pass through once or twice.

Landon and I for muster:)

HI there they are Giani Binini and she got them from Dillards:)

Thanks so much Skyking,,,,,:D

Funny...I hadn't heard exact numbers, but that was the percentage I had guessed in terms of Americans vs Internationals on board....Great experience....

Sorry everyone, I have been under the weather today and have been sleeping all day.....I want to share our cabin with you really quick before I head to sleep. We were in cabin 11103, it is one of the few cabins with the larger balcony and it faces aft on the front hump. We loved this cabin, the location close to front elevators was awesome, the only downside I could say is it has an adjoining door, and our neighbors were up at 7am every morning with the TV on full blast. I will still select this cabin again in a heart beat. Below is a pic of the door, followed by a youtube video tour of the cabin. ENJOY!!!!

Here is the video!!!

Great review. Looking forward to more.

I asked you on the Lego thread how old your DS was. You don't have to answer, I can see for myself now, and he is a cutie! :D

Thanks for the photos. We are in 11101 on the Bermuda voyage. We also love MSC and were on the Divina in Sept. Have also sailed the Poesia and Opera in the Carib. The Poesia is my personal favorite.

Great review. Looking forward to more.

 

I asked you on the Lego thread how old your DS was. You don't have to answer, I can see for myself now, and he is a cutie! :D

Thanks for the nice comments:) I will try to get some more posted tonight, back to work today:( And Landon is almost 4.....2 more weeks!

So I have decided that starting tonight I am going to do something a little different with the review. I am sure you all dont want the play by play of my every min on the Divina, so I will break down the review....Tonight I will review the food, of course I took a ton of pics, so I will make sure to include those, then tomorrow night I will do the Shows etc etc...Thought this would be more interesting for everyone:) SOO STAY TUNED!!!

Tim

OKKKKK as I stated in my earlier post I am going to review the food in these next few posts. Lets start with:

Breakfast in the BUFFET- What I was most impressed with was the freshness of the food, especially in a buffet type setting, I mean lets get real it's hard to cook for 3700 passengers. I found the fried eggs to be be very very good, the popped in your mouth. They were not cooked to order, but there was a tray of them out, but they went quick so they were being replaced with fresh eggs quickly. Also all the muffins and pastry's are cooked fresh right in the buffett area, it was actually very impressive, the bran muffins were great....OHHHHHH let me add that the has browns were like nothing I have ever tasted, they were amazing, it seemed like they were cooked in unions or something...YUMMMMM. I have NOTHING bad to say about the breakfast selection.

Lunch in the BUFFET- It was the normal cruise type food that you come to expect, but there was something fresher about it. They Jamaican jerk chicken was outstanding, and available a few days. The PIZZA in the buffet was incredible, I was expecting this since it is an Italian cruise line:) In the back of the buffet was the ethnic selection, not a lot of choices, but what they had was great. NOW the one thing I will say, is finding soy sauce is very hard, they had it, but it was hard to find, I simply asked and someone would run to the back and get it for me, no problem MON:)

Dinner in the BUFFET- Only one night did we eat dinner in the buffet, I had the prime rib, and it was just as good as the prime rib I had in the dinning room, and then of course the PIZZA:) Overall I was very surprised how good the food was in the Buffet area, and nothing I have read was true.....WAY TO GO MSC

COFFEE- One word for the coffee and that is GREAT. Its strong, just like we love. Whats cool is you get a FULL size MSC cup, not a little white cup like on other cruise lines. I would imagine they take a HUGE loss on those cups.

One more thing I want to add, I was speaking to Tommy who is a head waiter and he said all the sauces and things you get are all made by scratch and made every day, the crew really works hard, and I give KUDOS for that. COMING UP IS DINNER IN THE DINING ROOM!!!

Now lets talk about Dinner in the dining room. LOTS OF PICS!

They changed our dinner time from 8:30pm to 8:45pm they said it was because the LARGE amount of Europeans onboard, no problem mon I say:)

First night- I might have got my pictures mixed up, but I am pretty sure the first night was prime rib. Again I am not sure what people are talking about, I came into this cruise with a very low expectation for the food, I am glad it was proved way wrong. The food was wonderful, and never sent anything back, or did not eat something

Here is a cheese platter that was brought out after we sat down, the blue cheese was amazing, and I normally am not a blue cheese fan.

Next up was the shrimp cocktail. Now I felt the presentation wasn't as great as say Royal Caribbean, but the food was definitely better in my opinion.

My wife asked for a Salmon Cesar salad and they were happy to get her set up, here it is:) A full piece of salmon. She loved it!

Is anyone interested in my review?:( I need positive reinforcement:)

I am! I was on this same cruise and look forward to see how fellow cruisers felt. We generally liked it.

My GF and I are going to write a mini-review of our impressions, hopefully posting it sometime tonight or tomorrow night. :o

I am curious, what did you think about the ship in terms of the following categories:

Decor

Interior Layout including buffet

Upper-decks layout (pool areas and open deck space, including public spaces to view the ocean)

Over-all design and passenger flow

Love the reviews. I was on the Divina in Sept. and ret. for the Bermuda cruise. Great photos.

I want more! Loving your review. I even borrowed one of your photos for my web site. Bob

Enjoying your report and great photo's.

Great start with your review. I was on this sailing as well and agree with you about the hash browns at breakfast. They were the best! I had one everyday with a waffle, fried egg and some fruit. Even after I transitioned to oatmeal the last couple of days I always snuck in the hash brown!

I'm here! I'm paying attention. I love your boarding video. I guess "Give me 5" is international! :)

Following! Wonderful review....thanks so much for doing it. We're seriously considering booking Divina after our move to FL next year, so all reviews are greatly appreciated. And Landon is adorable!