Seas2mountains

I can definitely understand how challenging it would be to get in a hot tub. I really appreciated that you were doing a live review before our cruise as it prepared me for what to expect. I agree that they can't accommodate those high numbers without it seeming like things were crazy and it was why people couldn't help bumping into each other in the common spaces. For the lounge above the casino, I think we were seated where we didn't notice the smoke when sitting but my husband definitely smelled it when we walked by that area. Yes, it did not make sense why Cruise Critic didn't work for me especially when trying to get to the MSC section. Hmmm. I'm glad you also enjoyed your cruise. Thank you again for taking the time to do a live review.

This is a great review. However, this was not the kind of service we experienced from the same butler, Kevin, on the cruise immediately preceding the cruise the OP is on now. My husband briefly met Kevin on the first night of a 3 night cruise where my husband was asked if he wanted a free bottle of wine or booze for the room. He declined as the Top Sail lounge was so close to our room. I didn’t meet Kevin until the last night of the cruise when we arrived at Ocean Cay and he asked again about the free bottle of booze. We declined. If I had known all the fancy cheese palates and desserts as this OP experienced could be delivered to the room, we would have gladly accepted. I’m curious if anyone typically receives daily unrequested treats like this from the YC butler?

Here is the room service menu and pizza menu from the Divina YC as of Monday of this week.

Final thoughts. Our most recent cruise before this one was on the Haven on NCL Getaway in September. MSC has perfected the experience and special treatment for check-in and security for YC. It is so smooth and easy for MSC YC guests compared to the Haven security and check-in experience. The staff in YC really are fantastic and they all made us wish we could have stayed longer and we will definitely look at returning to MSC YC once or twice this year. Sorry NCL. As this was a holiday weekend cruise from Friday-Monday with 4000+ pax, it was absolutely crazy in some areas of the ship. I have never seen so many people crammed into a hot tub in my life. In the evening in the Jazz Club area, some parents who were distracted by their phones or life let their kids do whatever they wanted including jumping on sofas with other guests on them, climbing on top of tables and other furniture and jumping from furniture. We were relieved we could go back to the YC area where the kids were so well behaved. There were some really well dressed kids in YC, too. So adorable! On our last morning, we appreciated being able to hang out in Top Sail until just before 10am as we had an afternoon flight. It was super easy and fast to do the facial recognition in customs and be at our Uber. If we were to do this cruise again, we would probably ask our butler for afternoon or evening cheese trays and some other special requests as we did not take advantage of the options available with room service.

Room service and drink menus.

Sunday dailies when at Ocean Cay.

Ocean House appetizer salads and a few more photos from the YC beach. We did bring water shoes and they are definitely needed on the YC beach.

While our Ocean Cay stop was reduced by a day, we made the most of the scheduled stay on Sunday which was extended from 1pm to 5:30pm. For us, the weather was perfect in the 60’s as that meant it wasn’t too hot or humid. We waved off the butlers who tried to get us to ride in one of the big golf carts to get to Ocean House. We easily got 18,000 steps wandering around the beautiful island and the cruise ship when we returned. Lunch at Ocean House was really nice and makes the island very special for YC guests.

We really liked Alta Duo in La Luna bar. We listened to them two of the three nights. We were spoiled by a duo and pianist who rotated on Seaside YC in Top Sail early 2019. We wished Divina had more than the pianists who rotated inconsistently in Top Sail. While the daily listed their performance times as being from 6:45pm-11:00pm, when we arrived about 7:30pm on Sunday night, we were told by the pianist that he had finished his first set. When we asked when he would be back for the second set, he said it would be at 9:15pm. On Saturday night the pianist never returned after the first set. When we asked the concierge, we were told the pianist had to fill in at another venue. We would have appreciated a sign to indicate that he would not be returning as we waited, and waited, and waited until we finally thought to ask. We cruise frequently on NCL and appreciate how their dailies list the specific performance times for each musician, duo or group so we know when the performers are performing or on a break.

Lunch in Le Muse.

We had a great cruise on Divina in YC. The staff and food at Le Muse were top notch for each meal. The Wi-Fi connection did not like going to Cruise critic so I could not update the attempts to continue the live review.

@GenerationX are you using the ship Wifi to post your updates or your cell phone plan? I attempted to do a live review on the cruise before yours but got blocked going on CC on both devices (iPhone and iPad) after making updates. I could go to any other website or social media site but it would not connect to the MSC pages on CC. This was reported to have been a problem for another CC live review poster before me, too. I was using the ship wifi the whole time and had my cell phone on airplane mode so I would not use the data from my cell phone plan.

First, this is an excellent review! Thank you, @GenerationX! We just got off this same exact cruise with the same butler, Kevin, on Monday of this week. We definitely need to do a better job of communicating that we would love a cheese plate every night or even in the afternoon along with our other preferences. We did not realize that was possible. @mnpurple The staff will treat you well especially in Le Muse and on One Pool. I wish @GenerationX had cruised before me as we would have known to make these special requests.

We have received excellent service for all meals at Le Muse and the food has been delicious. We are enjoying a relaxing day at sea and we are not disappointed about missing a stop at Ocean Cay as we took advantage of the time by getting time to relax and sleep. While it’s a little cold out low 60’s, it’s not stopping people from using the pools, outdoor bars and hot tubs. The indoor pool area is especially crowded.

I’m sorry for all the typos in my last update from late last night. The butler in Top Sail who didn’t see us or missed serving us apologized several times and we know he is human and we are not sure what happened. He provided us with excellent service after this was pointed out. He even brought us each a glass of wine to our room so we could enjoy it before going to bed. @St Pete Cruiser an announcement was made at 8:30am from the captain and cruise director to report that the winds and current were too strong to dock at Ocean Cay. This was not a surprise to us either as we were aware of the front. We are expected to be able to dock at Ocean Cay tomorrow from 9am-6pm. I’ll try to post some dailies and photos. My iPhone which was used for the update last night can’t seem to upload the Cruise Critic webpage. I’m using a different device now.

We had a fabulous experience boarding the ship, enjoying hot tub time, getting some snacks at the One Pool, and lunch in Le Muse was great. We enjoyed sitting in One Pool while it rained for a short period of time. After the muster drill, we needed a nap as with the late flight and getting up early making sure we had as much time on the ship as possible, We woke up from the nap to find the ship was moving and it was close to our dinner.time of 8pm. Dinner in Le. muse was excellent. That tomato soup is amazing. We both had the filet mignon which is on the available daiLy menu. It was cooked perfectly.along with the veggie and potatoe sides. After dinner, we checked out floods 6 and 7 of the ship looking for entertainment. We decided to go back to Top Sail lounge where they have a talented piano player. We sat down at a table and waited and waited. After seeing a butler go to other tables for drink service, we expected to be eventually served. After being ignored for 20 minutes, my husband went to the bar to get us a glass of wine. For the next two hours, the butler who was getting drinks for the 4 other couples in YC ignored us even though we had dirty dishes from snacks. He asked the couple next to us and then walked past us to take an order from someone who was a past guest. The only way we could get San Peligrino or wine refills was to go to the bar. Thus was while we watched everyone around us get served. I finally complained to the concierge. This meant the butler on duty did finally refill our wine glass and bring us more San Pelegríno but that was it.

Here are some photos of the YC check-in and YC One Pool area.

We booked this cruise one week ago when we saw the projected weather for our land based weekend vacation did not look great. We arrived last night on a flight that was on schedule from the western US. We left our hotel at about 10Am. We arrived at the YC white tent about 10:40am. The porter grabbed our bags and the escort/butler quickly got us on board the ship by 11am.

We are thankfully in the YC, too. This is our 2nd MSC and the last time was in YC, too. We love the One Pool area and the Top Sail Lounge is so nice and convenient. We have not been on this ship but I have heard great things from past Divina YC cruisers. thank you @styles27 for getting the count and for generously giving of your time to post such a great review! Enjoy your last day!

@styles27 Thank you for the updates! Are you able to ask the same manager how many pax are expected on the Jan. 13-16 Divina cruise?

Thank you for taking the time to not only provide wonderful updates and great photos but also the time involved with researching the answers to many questions. I’m already looking forward to hopefully reading about your next cruise. Have safe travels home!

Never say never. I did not think we would cruise MSC again based on our previous Yacht Club experience as we love so many amenities provided by NCL. But the weather for the land vacation we picked for next weekend did not look good and was unseasonably cold. So we checked out available cruises and picked MSC Divina for 01/13/23 -01/16/23 in Yacht Club. Very excited to cruise and looking forward to hopefully will be two days at Ocean Cay. I might do a live review.

Thank you for doing a live review and for posting the dailies. It is greatly appreciated. We are getting on the ship on 01/13 when you disembark. Looking forward to your updates this week.

We also cruised Getaway Haven with Alex. We agree with you - he is calm, professional and remembers to follow-up. We definitely appreciated him.