sthelder

Last time they have ship/cabin images on public domain @ http://www.mscnetwork.com, but apparently now it becomes restricted.

I bet many people expect there to be an MDR on the stern of deck 7 and not a night club, so people booking a cabin on the rear hump on deck 8 will get a rude awakening , quite literally.

Yes, it was a concern to us prior to sailing. But luckily, even we stayed in an aft balcony, we were not disturbed at all.

Bardo was the highlight of our stop at Tunis back in April 2013. I have been recommending it to my friends ever since (in fact, only suggested it to a new cruise friend before the tragedy yesterday).

Prayers for the victim families and the country.

Hope the cruise lines will re-consider the safety issue and re-schedule near future sails to other port.

Hope it eventually turns out alright for you.

As for getting off early, you will hear different tales of this. Sometimes MSC simply refuse - in which case creep off with your luggage without asking permission - and sometimes a fee is requested to compensate the line for loss of revenue.

My friend told me it's the same as most cruise lines, informed that in advance and filled a form before disembarking. Especially if you are leaving early to a port that require visa inspection, as the ship will have to arrange for the custom officers to board and check your documents.

The safe we had on Splendida was big enough for iPad 2, but I don't think can fit two pads.

Any reason to catch an early flight?

If there is no rush, an early afternoon flight would be much safer and even if there's extra time, Venice has plenty of nice places to explore.

Thanks for the review.

But I actually like the way MSC categorized its cabins, minimal cabin categories and aft balconies not different priced.

On certain deck of Fantasia class ships, aft balconies are larger and if MSC follows other cruise lines, it would probably charge a premium price for them.Better keep them as rewards for those who study the deckplan zealously :D

No kettles nor coffee maker.

But can ask the cabin attendant to bring a thermo flask of hot water.

Need to walk a short distance (about 10mins) from Porte 4 cruise terminal to the shuttle bus pick-up point. The other end is at J1 entrance near Joliette metro.

The free shuttle bus now only operates on Saturdays and Sundays, from 9:40am to 5:40pm (30min interval).

I always think some TA websites are displaying outdated prices and use "from" to cover their ruse.

OT: At least you get a win, it's a big let down to me when Rooney scored the penalty to force 2-2...two points dropped :(

Thanks for the review, glad you still have a good cruise.

I would be happy to be on a cruise even with most of the problems, overflowing aft pool, port change and lounge hogs etc.

But the luggage waiting issue would be a fun killer, esp for those with tight connecting flights.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=593

Try look up in the relevant port forum of this board or other Marseille travel website.

From my experience, the taxi fare (also a mini van) was about 28 euro from the old port to cruise terminal. MSC ships are bigger, have to dock further away, not the Juliette terminal that's closer to the old port.

Apparently, there is also a free shuttle bus service between the cruise terminal and Juliette metro station. But you will need to walk about 15min from cruise terminal to get to the shuttle bus station.

Probably due to the Thanksgiving crowd, I thought MSC MDR service level is comparable with other mass market lines, and they have some fabulous wine selection and great Baked Alaska and Italian night parades.

Superb idea about the resort and looking forward to the second part of your cruise review

Hmm...some interesting differences to what we had in Med

I have been lurking on CC site for ages and only came on board to research for my first MSC cruise. And I feel this board is by far the friendliest on CC, questions would be answered within hours.

But I guess with CC American centric demography, lately this board has been heavily focusing on just one ship, which is actually undergoing modification (or Americanised) that will make it uniquely different (be it good or bad) from the rest of the MSC fleet.

The board residents have as usual, trying to answer, but really at this stage (even MSC US head admitting changes are still being considered), no one can answer for sure how cruising on Divina will be like next week, not to say months away.

My take is we shall just stay calm, wait and see. Not to take some responses out of context, as I think most were not meant to be mean.

Extracted from 2014 guide. Take with a pinch of salt if you will.

Both Divina and Preziosa are in the top 10 large resort ships category in the 2014 guide (the rest of the top 10 are made up of Cunard and Celebrity ships). QE got a 5+ star rating, and the rest are all 4+ star ships according to 2014 guide.

My personal take is it's more because Douglas Ward prefers Cunard, Celebrity and MSC over the the rest of the fields.

1) Bovril

or

2) Marmite

I vote 2

My take is it took the reviewer 15-day to realise the first ever Divina TA was unusual in the sense that it was "Americanised" and homeported in Miami for an extended period of time.

I read some Carnival Sunshine passengers who sailed on its first cruise after coming out from dry dock complaining the ship wasn't 100% ready. Divina's TA was like the other side of the complaint.

Pictures of the new Eataly restaurant were already posted to this board.

Only a 3-night short cruise has been completed (which sharecruises has a thread on his experience), and Divina is still in her first 7-night cruise, so you may have to wait a little longer for menus and reviews.

Alex ... It is not my review but the first one posted on CC by "Vman" regarding the transatlantic, mine is not complete as of yet though it does not sound as bad as the one in the link.

Looking forward to your review.

This TA might be different from the other TAs in the sense that Divina is to be based in Miami for a prolonged period.

Many of us got upgraded in Med sailings last Spring but it's probably due to Spring is low season in the Med.

Not sure about the moving to cabins in the same category, though I did read from reviews that there were such instances.