GreytRacer

Has anyone done MSC's Salsa, Cooking & Beach Break in Costa Maya?  We booked it last November, but we were re-routed due to a hurricane.  Thinking about booking it for our April cruise.  Any thoughts?

Thanks!

1 hour ago, ready2cruzagain said:

We actually like the spa on the Seaside better than the Meraviglia.  Loved it!

That’s great to hear!  Thanks!  

On 3/23/2023 at 5:39 AM, ready2cruzagain said:

The Divina is an older ship and does not have a great thermal spa area. We love the thermal spa area on the newer ships (Seaside, Seashore, Meraviglia) and love going to it. We have been on the Divina and definitely not worth paying extra for.  Bottom line, not worth the extra money IMO. 

 

There is an adults only pool on the Divina in the Aft on deck 15. The Garden Pool. There is a bar there also. Not much shade is the downside. 

We loved the thermal spa on Meraviglia!  We are on the Seaside next.  Is the Seaside spa like the Meraviglia?  The thermal spa on the Divina was a bust.  😞 

Divina Thermal Spa was nothing!  Two very small rooms (sauna and steam), one set for men and one set for women.  Have to make a reservation to use them.  Don’t waste your money.  

39 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Divina is in trouble. This was our experience but we were on for 14 days. 
Our third time on what I consider my favorite ship was definitely not like prior experiences. 

They are way understaffed and overworked to be selling that many cabins filled to capacity. 

I was hoping our experience was because of it being the New Year’s Eve cruise but it seems to be carrying over. 
Too many saying “one and done” “tried it, hate it” etc. on our cruise. 

 

If the foreign travelers continue to come here to cruise, MSC may have a chance of surviving the US market.
If they’re relying on Americans to keep them here they better change things and fast. 

 

We only had 10% Americans out of 3800 pax on our sailing. Not exactly what I call attracting Americans. Divina has been in the US for 10 yrs so not exactly a new ship to the US market. 
 

Any idea what the percentage of American pax was on your cruise?

Not sure of the percentage of American passengers, but I will say that when we passed a family late on Day 3 of the cruise who were speaking English, we were surprised and commented on it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We were just on the Divina over MLK weekend and had a similar experience as the OP.  While we expected a full ship (we had 4200!), we also expected they would be staffed to serve that many.  They weren't.  No plates or silverware on the buffet, running out of food, lines a mile long, no place to sit (due to tables not being bussed) if you were able to get food.  None of the flavors of gelato needed to make the shakes they advertised.  No Diet Coke!  How do you run out of Diet Coke?!?  We had good service in the dining room and the food was "ok".  We also didn't have an assigned dining room or time, but we stood in line before sail away and were given one.

We sailed on the Meraviglia 11/22 and didn't have any of these issues. Of course, the ship was only half full, so that helped.  We had a terrible dining room experience on the Meraviglia (over an hour to get our food, the wrong items came out, plus they were raw), so we ate all of our meals on buffet and enjoyed them.

Sounds like MSC is only staffed for half-full cruises.  

We status matched our Carnival Platinum to MSC Silver.  After one MSC cruise, they bumped us up to Diamond!  I'll take it!  

Thought I'd check back with the info in case someone needs it in the future:

No formal night

White Night is on the last night

There is a Beach Party on the beach if there's an overnight on Ocean Cay (ours got canceled because we couldn't dock the first day)

60's-70's-80's-90's Deck Party the first night 

Cruising this weekend on Divina for 3 nights. Will there be a formal night? White Party?  I heard there might be a beach party during our overnight at Ocean Cay?  
 

Any guidance so I know what to pack would be appreciated .  🙂 

On 10/9/2022 at 5:41 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

We uploaded pics before boarding and they did not retake our pictures when we checked in.  The attendant said that they only retake if the pic that has been uploaded doesn't show enough of one's facial features.  

 

As for the state not being on your docs, if you have a TA, I would mention it to them.  When we checked in on line my state of birth defaulted to my DH's state instead.  My TA called them and it was corrected.  I didn't think it was going to be a big deal but apparently it is a big deal.  If no TA, I'd give MSC a call.

Thanks for your response!  I booked directly with MSC so I’ll call them and ask about the state. 
 

And I’ll have to get some pics on the computer.  They’re all on my phone!  😂

First MSC cruise and trying to figure out their check in procedures. 🤪

1.  It says we need security pics. An old thread on here said they retake the pic when you arrive so not to bother.  Is this still the case?  If we need to add one pre-cruise, is there a way to do it through the app?  
 

2. My Embarkation docs don’t show my state. On the check in page online, it shows it, but not on the doc.  Will this be an issue?  
 

3.  I see on other threads that we don’t need to click on the “Boarding Pass” link. Thanks for that info!  

10 minutes ago, Bobbiegentry said:

Unlike Carnival, no wanna-be thugs running up and down the hall at all hours of the day and night.

And again, like Carnival, absolutely no 3 AM brawls involving a dozen and more people.

Wow!  I’ve been on A LOT of Carnival cruises and have never seen a brawl!  🤷🏻‍♀️

11 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Can't comment on Costa, but as for Carnival and RCCL, I would say MSC is in the middle. Carnival is just about having fun...great comedians, piano bar, activities like hairy chest, lip sync, etc.

 

Royal is all about shows. Definitely entertainment like you won't see elsewhere. Couple that with escape rooms, ice skating, bumper cars, rock climbing, etc, and it's pretty fun.

 

MSC sits in the middle. Not as crazy as carnival, not as many activities or the same quality of shows as royal. It excels in 3 areas...yacht club,.nothing else like it... multicultural, many many different languages, countries, etc...and price, often the cheapest around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this great insight!  Exactly what I was looking for!  
 

What’s Yacht Club?  

Thanks for the responses! 
 

We aren’t drinkers, so no alcohol induced haze or beer goggles.  🍺 

Don't care about the poolside activities, but enjoy the night time Deck Parties and the Sail Away Party. 
 

It will be a 7 night cruise. 
 

Always love the dance/singer shows; we don’t go see the Comedians. 
 

We enjoy ballroom dancing; we’re not gamblers. 

Thinking about booking MSC out of Port Canaveral. We are frequent cruisers, but this would be our first MSC. How do they compare to other cruise lines, in particular  the “fun” factor?  We love the sail away party and the deck parties, movies under the stars and the production shows.  We did a HAL earlier this year, and while we loved the itinerary, the “fun-factor” was lacking. 
 

Also, we’re Platinum with Carnival.  Will MSC match that in some way?  
 

Thanks!  

OP here!  A couple of clarifications:

We LOVED our cruise, the older smaller ship, the crew and especially the itinerary. This was written specifically for friends who wondered what HAL was like compared to other lines we have all cruised. I decided to share it here in case it was helpful to others.  Not complaining; just comparing our personal experiences.  
 

We didn’t pay $100 for this cruise; we paid approx $350 per person. The black and white photos they were selling cost $450 for three photos, $100 more than our cruise fare. 

We didn’t book this cruise for shopping onboard or for the lobster.  I was simply pointing out some differences we noticed from other lines: the size of the shops and  the fact that lobster is generally on the menu one night, but was not on HAL. 

Shrimp cocktail was available as an appetizer.  I was speaking to the entrees when I said no seafood.  I can’t eat beef and I get tired of chicken and pork, so I enjoy seafood when we cruise.  That’s why I noticed the lack.  
 

The first morning we waited at the omelet station for eggs to order.Just wanted to clarify they weren’t there, so no one else made the same mistake.  
 

This cruise was indeed booked for the itinerary, plus the experience of a new-to-us cruise line. 😊

1 hour ago, johnlcruise said:

For those of you that have recently sail out and returned to the port in Boston. 

When we sail HAL out of Florida and San Diego.They offered luggage direct that you paid for. If your flight is after 12noon. That got you your boarding pass and not seeing your bags until you get off the plane in your home town. 

Just wondering if they also offer this in Boston as we have a late flight out and it would be nice not to have to worry about our bags while we site seeing. 

Thanks 

We just got off in Boston.  No luggage direct (I think it ended due to Covid because it hasn’t been on the other cruise line I’ve been on).  Just the bus transfer to the airport or the bus tour plus transfer, both offered as shore excursions.  

11 minutes ago, rocksteady27 said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. We’ve sailed HAL, Royal and NCL. I’m in my 40s sailing with my parents and teen son. HAL is a bit sedate for us, especially the teen but we received amazing casino offers that got us booked on this ship.

 

Disappointed to hear about the small casino and food. We plan to have breakfast at the Lido, lunch ashore and dinner in the MDR.

 

I really enjoyed both NCL and Royal and look forward to experiencing Celebrity next.  I have 3 more HAL cruises and 2 Royal Caribbean cruises this year so Celebrity will have to wait until 2023.

 

 

I think our disappointment with the food came from our expectations.  We were just expecting “more”, certainly something “more” than Carnival offers.  🤷🏻‍♀️  
 

We did breakfast on the buffet.  There wasn't a line for eggs cooked to order (which is not where they make the omelets) and, most days, no line for omelets.  Be sure to ask for fruit on your French toast or pancakes.  😋 

The casino is small but it wasn’t crowded so you should be able to get a seat!  😁

20 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I so agree with this.  There are better options on the standard, mass market itineraries.  I am sorry you didn’t like the food and I am really surprised there were no seafood entrees.  I usually eat seafood on HAL 5 out of 7 nights.  Maybe you missed gala night as they do serve lobster, escargot and the other gala menu items.  As a matter of fact another passenger on your same itinerary last week posted a copy of the menu  showing those items. 
 

I am glad you had a lovely time nonetheless and what you describe entertainment wise is about what I would expect.   HAL is definitely a different product than Carnival, Norwegian or Royal which I like too.  

Interesting!  We ate in the dining room on both formal nights and the only lobster we saw (any night) was at an extra cost.  No escargot either.  There were fish entrees on the menu every night, but not seafood (shrimp, scallops etc) 

My husband and I have been on many cruises over 5 different cruise lines, but we just took our first HAL.  Many of our cruise friends asked what we thought about cruising on Holland America - what was the nightlife like, how was the food, were we the youngest onboard, etc.  I wrote this up and thought I would share it here in case it’s helpful to anyone.  NOTE: This is our experience on an older smaller ship (Zaandam) with a port-heavy itinerary (Montreal, Quebec, day at sea, Prince Edward Island, Sydney Nova Scotia, Halifax Nova Scotia, Bar Harbor, ME, ending in Boston).  Newer bigger HAL ships may be different.

I think the biggest difference between HAL and other cruise lines we’ve been on was the overall “energy” of the ship.  There were no Sailaway parties, no deck parties, no big dancing events or Name That Tune sing-alongs.  The Cruise Director was 70 years old if he was a day and possibly a retired actor or public speaker.  He hardly did any announcements over the PA and when he announced the shows, he didn’t come out on stage; he just said “here’s the show!” over the mic.  But he did do two presentations during our one sea day that were each an hour long. He stood onstage and spoke, with visuals behind him, and no script in front of him and he was excellent. But this was not a man who was going to do the Wobble! 
 

We weren’t the youngest people like we thought we might be. There were a few families that had elementary and middle school children and a couple of groups that were multi-generation and those groups had some high school and college age kids. But otherwise, everyone was our age (59) and up.

There are 5 bars on the entire ship, one of which I never saw open. They had a Piano Bar entertainer, but not every night. She played and sang (not really very well) and it was definitely not a sing-along situation, even though there were stools around the piano like in a traditional piano bar. There were no production shows but they did have dance-only shows, which were fantastic! The shows were 30 to 45 minutes long, nothing but dance, performed by six dancers who were all extremely talented. The choreography, costumes and staging was awesome and we loved the shows! One night they did a BBC nature movie presentation with live musicians playing in front of the screen and one night there was a comedian. He was hysterical and did 45 minutes of great material. We would’ve been happy to see him another time or two!  There was a four piece band that played cover songs, a pianist who played during cocktail hour and a husband and wife violin and pianist duo.
 

Other than that, the only other entertainment was one showing of a movie most nights, except for the nights they had bingo, which was played in the movie theater. So there wasn’t even bingo every day! I don’t know if the number of trivia sessions (one per day) and bingo might change on itineraries that aren’t so port heavy, but that’s what we had. While I’m not one to go to the Hairy Chest contest anymore or do 1000 trivia sessions, the lack of offerings did seem to impact the energy of the ship.  There’s a bar in the front of the ship called the Crow's Nest and they had a DJ there in the evenings starting at 10:30pm. It could’ve been party central up there, but we would have never known (many ports = very tired). The one evening we went up there (for the Orange Party) there were some people dancing  and a lot of people sitting and drinking, so maybe it was like that every night. 

They had Happy Hour most days with 50% off drinks.  They advertised it as off well liquor, but the one time we took advantage of it, we were told it was 50% off any drink $11 and under. I also got a coupon for a free Mariner Signature cocktail that I could use anywhere and at any time on the ship.  When I downloaded the app, it automatically signed me up for the HAL Mariner Society, so even though this was our first HAL cruise, I still got the free drink (which I liked).  
 

If you’re a Carnival stock holder (100 shares minimum) you can get an onboard credit if proof is sent in prior to your cruise (since HAL is owned by the Carnival Corporation).  

The Casino was small, I believe 3 tables and about 30 slots.  It was never busy, so if you like to gamble, there was always a seat. They had Texas Hold ‘Em a few times and sold Lottery-type tickets, but no Blackjack tournaments or slot pulls. 

There were three shops.  The sundry/liquor shop was about the size of my bathroom.  The logo/resort wear shop about the size of my bedroom and didn’t have anything specific to the ship except the ship model and magnet.  The third shop was the largest and was mostly jewelry, including a private curtained room where I guess you looked at really expensive stuff.  The rest of the space was for designer bags and scents, plus a table for the “special of the day”.  

The crew were all amazing. Everyone greeted us when we passed them, from Officers to Engineers to Chefs.  The crew served us on the buffet and they were all helpful and friendly.  Our room steward was great. 

The food was…disappointing.  It wasn’t bad, it was just meh.  We were expecting something outstanding because it was “HAL!”   But most things were just ok and some were flavorless.  We treated ourselves to dinner at one of the specialty restaurants for our anniversary.  While the presentation was beautiful, my scallops were flavorless and Mike said the Omaha steaks he grills at home are better than his beef tenderloin was.  Bummer. There was no lobster, escargot, or stuffed mushrooms in the dining room and no seafood entrees. They did have waffle cones on the buffet, so that made up for it a little bit.  😉

Speaking of the buffet, I’m not sure if the crew serving us is standard with HAL or something new since covid.  If you’re a sushi eater (we’re not), I believe they had it on the buffet every day. 

There were two photographers on the ship and they only did “official” pics three times, with one background to chose from.  Two were on the formal nights and I don’t know when the other one was.  (The night they had it listed in the “When and Where”, they weren’t taking them.)   Unfortunately, the pics weren’t great (bad lighting or weird angles), but we found two to buy.  We got corralled into a fancy private black and white photo session.  Those pics were great!  They presented them in a slide show with music and the whole thing could make you cry for pulling on the heartstrings.  When I finally got the price out of them, I really could have cried.  $150 per 8” x 10”! 😵‍💫. And they recommend a grouping of three pics, which for us, would have cost $100 more than one of our cruise fares!  Needless to say, we didn’t get any and were a little annoyed at the time we wasted on it all. 
 

This was our 35th anniversary trip. Even though it was noted in our reservation and I mentioned it when booking our specialty dining, there was no acknowledgement, so 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

Would we cruise on HAL again?  If it was a very specific itinerary (like this one, which we LOVED and would do again in a heartbeat!) or an amazing price (also like this one) - yes.  If it was a standard Caribbean itinerary and the price was the same as Carnival, Princess, RCCL, etc - probably not. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.  😁.  Hope it’s helpful to new HAL cruisers. 

On 5/2/2022 at 8:45 PM, bunzini said:

We just had our flights changed and will not be flying out of Boston after our cruise until 5pm.  I would love to do something besides sit at the airport all day.  But then there is the problem of what to do with our luggage.  We are a party of four.   Any thoughts?

I just realized we have the same issue!  Our flight was originally at 1:30pm but was changed to 4:50pm.  😕

On 3/16/2022 at 4:44 PM, princeton123211 said:

Also, since they are all part of IHG, if you have a corporate rate at the Holiday Inn it will most likely also work at the InterContinental Hotel. You might be able to upgrade to a more premium hotel for less than you think. Worth looking at. 

Thanks for the info and the link!  I did check out the InterContinental, but since we won't arrive until about 2pm and leave the next morning, we opted for the Holiday Inn for this trip.  Maybe next time, if we have more time to enjoy it!

On 3/14/2022 at 12:50 PM, Greyhound Crazy said:

Hello GreytRacer - I do not have an answer to your question (although I am curious to know the answer myself). I do want to tell you, however, that I love your name and profile picture... brindles? 

Yes.  ❤️  Our first two retired racers.  We’ve had two more since, but all have crossed over the rainbow bridge and we’re without a hound currently.  Now that they’ve outlawed racing, it’s hard to find a greyhound.  I see you’re a greyhound lover too!  

2 hours ago, triplemom3 said:

Just a word of caution…we were there a week ago and if you use Parkway Parking be aware you will be parking in a dirt and gravel lot with no cover. Cars are parked super tight. And there is lots of dirt and dust. You have to pay a deposit on your debit/credit, understandable, but you MUST pay the rest in CASH at the lot when you arrive. 
The shuttle was very good and ran smoothly to the pier and back. 
Hope this helps!

Eek!  Thanks for the heads up!  

On 3/14/2022 at 4:47 PM, lx200gps said:

Montrealer here. Your budget of $US150 translates to around $200 Canadian, and finding a decent hotel for that money at that time of year,  in an area that you would find interesting as a visitor, will be very tough. I would suggest starting with a site like Tripadvisor, inputting your exact dates and going to map view to see what the options are.

 

AFAIK, ships dock in Old Montreal, which would be a drop dead fantastic place to overnight before a cruise; unfortunately, prices for decent hotels there are well outside your range. The same holds true for downtown Montreal, which is not very far from the port either.  The aforementioned Queen Elizabeth would be a great bet downtown, but it would be very $$$ for you. Judging from a quick look at the Tripadvisor results, your best bet to stay near budget may be to stay at an airport hotel (or one in the vicinity of the airport), some of which seem to be within your budget and should have shuttle service from the terminal, then taking a taxi or Uber to the ship the morning of the cruise. Let me know if you have any questions.  Happy to help.

Thanks for your detailed feedback!  I just realized I get a corporate rate at Holiday Inn. I wonder if it would make more sense to pay a bit more and stay at either the Holiday Inn in Old Montreal or the one in downtown Montreal.  I think it would balance out the cost of taking an Uber back and forth to a cheaper airport hotel, if we were wanting to do some sightseeing the day before the cruise.    Any thoughts on either of these hotels or this plan? Thanks!