!!! DIVINA !!! Eastern Caribbean ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide

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Yes!!! I am so glad your review has started. :) I am sorry to hear about your grandmother, what a great way to reconnect with your family after a rough few months.

I agree, cruising with first time cruisers is THE BEST!

Keep up the great work, Gambee. Thank you for all your time and effort. :D

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Fllowing along as well love your reviews I remember your Breeze review got me excited for my cruise on it and it was everything you said it was

I am so very glad that the Breeze review got you pumped, that is precisely what I try to accomplish with them.

Thank you for joining in :)

 

Ok, so let's talk buffet food. I will just try to be as honest as possible. I found out it to be ok. A lot of reviewers say it's fantastic. Others say that it is inedible. I thought it was to be just about average. Definitely a much larger selection than I find at home :D, but not up to par with all the other cruise lines that I have sailed on. The main problem that I found was the absence of variety, especially for breakfast. They have about 5 stations with the same eggs and bacon. There was also never eggs Benedict and smoked salmon, you could only get it in the main dinning room.

 

The taste of the food was good on some items, while others not so much. Personally, I did not care for the burgers at all, the meat-tasted kind of funny and they just seemed like they sat on the heater for too long. Needless to state that the only burger that I tried was that one, and one on Great Stirrup Cay.

 

The pizza is absolutely PHENOMENAL!!!! The problem is that one cannot live on pizza for 7 days, especially when you have a lactose intolerance problem like myself.

 

The pasta was good for the most part, but I think I can pull off a better fettuccine Alfredo than the one they have aboard.

 

The meats are good, tasty and tender, just wish there were more of them.

 

Fish is rather limited and a lot of the days, and finding tilapia and swai fish is very common. A few times they had mahi mahi and other options. By the way the swai fish smelled horrible, I got a picture of it. No one touched the tray. I think there was one piece missing. Everyone avoided, personally I would not have put that fish out there.

 

Seafood… Good Luck… Rare sightings, I found calamity once, and like I said popcorn shrimp in the kid’s section.

 

All that said, you just have to come back and realize how much I paid for the cruise. It was good food, you cannot board a ship of this price and expect the food that I have received in say Disney or Celebrity. The main problem here is that the ship is absolutely gorgeous, it is one of the nicest ships that I have sailed on. So when you have such an amazing ship, with this type of food, it has a tendency to throw you off guard. Well, at least that is what I think. Because the food was somewhat comparable to my NCL Sky food, but for the Sky it was decent food. MSC Divina is in an odd bracket. I will try to talk more about this. They are trying to please too many people from different cultures and ethnicities and that in itself is almost an impossible thing to do. Like I said I will approach this later on.

 

Oh, by the way the president of MSC USA was aboard our sailing. I never saw him, not a knew what he looked like on the first place.

 

 

Here is my food. Everything was enjoyable, but the burger, I took 1/2 a bite and that was it.

 

 

We sat and ate our lunch, my uncle and aunt also got more food. Their personal opinion was that everything was phenomenal. I am simply sharing this detail. Mom knew me better, she asked me how everything was, but she already knew how I was about to answer.

 

That terminal reminds me of the Airport in Denver, very neat!

 

 

 

Gambee- Nice review so far..remember that food is VERY subjective...what you like, others don't and visa versa..I toured the Divina in March and ate at the buffet...I thought the burgers were pretty good, albeit a bit dry..and in 29 cruises so far, I have found Eggs Benedict ( my fav) ONLY in the breakfast buffet on the Disney Dream, which IMO, had the best buffet I've ever had...I love lamb curry and thought it was very good also..point is everybody ( like your family) has different tastes regarding food...the Divina is best known for their shows & entertainment , as well as great pricing...I LOVED the Odyssey Lounge, Black & White lounge & indoor pool...3D theater was cool, too...also, Jennifer from Cruise Critic went on the Divina and said the steak in the Eately was THEE best steak she's ever had- anywhere including on land...big statement..her review is on the MSC site.....con ganas de mas de su opinion...

Big Al

That blonde haired lady is NOT amused hahah. :p

Yes!!! I am so glad your review has started. :) I am sorry to hear about your grandmother, what a great way to reconnect with your family after a rough few months.

 

I agree, cruising with first time cruisers is THE BEST!

 

Keep up the great work, Gambee. Thank you for all your time and effort. :D

 

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Thank you for your kind words :)

My uncle certainly gave us lots of laughs!

I am very happy having you here, hope you love the review :D

Gambee- Nice review so far..remember that food is VERY subjective...what you like, others don't and visa versa..I toured the Divina in March and ate at the buffet...I thought the burgers were pretty good, albeit a bit dry..and in 29 cruises so far, I have found Eggs Benedict ( my fav) ONLY in the breakfast buffet on the Disney Dream, which IMO, had the best buffet I've ever had...I love lamb curry and thought it was very good also..point is everybody ( like your family) has different tastes regarding food...the Divina is best known for their shows & entertainment , as well as great pricing...I LOVED the Odyssey Lounge, Black & White lounge & indoor pool...3D theater was cool, too...also, Jennifer from Cruise Critic went on the Divina and said the steak in the Eately was THEE best steak she's ever had- anywhere including on land...big statement..her review is on the MSC site.....con ganas de mas de su opinion...

 

Big Al

Hello Big Al, like I said, I offer nothing more than my opinion, and like you said everything is subjective. I am simply stating my experience. There is much more to come, on shows, entertainment, etc.

I know many will express their opinion, and I know many will not like what I have to say about certain things. But then again it is nothing more that my honest opinion. I hope everyone understands that.

Thank you for joining in.

---edit----

I have found eggs benedict on the buffet on most of my cruises. I think the Sky was the only that did not have them... Oh wait, maybe the Allure as well. But X, Breakaway, Disney and even the Breeze had them.

Following along! Love reading your reviews!!

 

 

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Thank you for joining in :)

That blonde haired lady is NOT amused hahah. :p

I had not noticed her, lol :D

I could already smell the fresh sea breeze... ahhhhhhhh. I am a balcony lover, LoL. They are getting expensive though :-/

The is the wall I was talking about.

While I was doing the tours, I could hear them laughing a few doors down. Our rooms where a few state rooms apart. I decided to go check out what they were laughing about. They were sending pictures to all our family members and showing off the silly tiaras that my mom had bought for the cruise, lol. Trust me, I was not in favor of the tiaras at all, every time they wore them everyone looked. But at least they were not as bad as the blinking lights flowers that they decided to put on one day. Oh my my my… Thank God that they were meant for kids and they were so tight on their heads that they cause them headaches. If not, they would have worn them the entire day, fewwwww :D

Anyway, we turned the TV on to check out the cameras and we noticed that they had what seemed to be a wedding photo-shoot in the aft pool. A very nice place to get pictures of your wedding.

That Pool is AMAZING!!!!

We then chose to head out to tour the ship. The elevator waiting area is absolutely stunning! The elevators themselves could use some work on the software. The wait times can be a little on the long side, especially at times when the ship is busy. There is one hidden elevator that works wonders for busy times. It is mid-ship going towards the aft. This elevator is perfect when you board the ship after a port and the main elevators are packed. You have to walk up one deck to catch it.

The atrium looks absolutely stunning! No question about it, everything sparkles and it is kept impeccable at all times. It is a beautiful place to sit and people watch.

My family took a few pictures with the smurfs. They had him there for everyone to take pictures with, they also had a super woman, and I do not even know why I did not get a picture of her.

And here is the famous staircase. I am not entirely sure, but I think I read somewhere that each of those steps is made of Swarovski crystals and each step costs $30,000. The steps have led lights built into them and they really make them shine. They are gorgeous. This a perfect place to get your family pictures taken.

We kept on walking and we walked into a small area.

This area is rounded by the brand store and there is also a pastry shop where you can purchase several tasty treats. They also have numerous performances at night there. It gets incredibly busy here as they sometimes setup sales with watches, jewelry and whatnot around it.

The area looks absolutely spectacular!

You will most likely walk around this area several times during the cruise, since it is located in the path to the main theater. We never purchased any of the pastries, mainly because of the long waits. There are consistently lots of people here buying sweets and coffee.

Hello Big Al, like I said, I offer nothing more than my opinion, and like you said everything is subjective. I am simply stating my experience. There is much more to come, on shows, entertainment, etc.

 

I know many will express their opinion, and I know many will not like what I have to say about certain things. But then again it is nothing more that my honest opinion. I hope everyone understands that.

 

 

 

Thank you for joining in.

 

 

---edit----

 

 

I have found eggs benedict on the buffet on most of my cruises. I think the Sky was the only that did not have them... Oh wait, maybe the Allure as well. But X, Breakaway, Disney and even the Breeze had them.

The Allure nor the Oasis nor any other RCI ship have Eggs Benedict in the buffet...haven't been on the new NCL ships, but the Sky didn't have it..I usually go to the MDR for that a few times during the cruise...Princess & HAL didn't either..you are lucky to find them on those others...que suerte!!

Alan

We kept on walking a landed in the casino. My uncle actually got very lucky and I think he won a good amount of money. He is not a big gambler, but he does enjoy playing here and there. I lost a total of $2 during this cruise :D.

The casino itself is rather small, or at least I thought so. However, then again I never saw it full to capacity, so I think it is a good size for the ship. I never noticed any smoke smell. They must have a very good ventilation system implemented.

At the casino we also picked up our pre-purchased drink vouchers. We had bought a few of them. When you get there you show them your room key, they look you up and then hand you your vouchers. It was fairly quick. The only issue was that the gentlemen ahead of me was having some issues with his package.

By the way my family saw children playing in the casino. It was right after a show had ended and the casino was chaotic. The father was encouraging them and kept handing them more dollars. They never got caught and left as soon as the casino cleared out.

I think the location of the casino is perfect for a cruise line to maximize profits, as people leave the show it encourages them to spend a few dollars there. However, flow wise it is terrible. It gets clogged up and no one can move. It can get very chaotic.

Hi gambee,

I like your approach to cruising.

Love your Disney review.

One thing just in case before you invest much work. I know how much work it is to do a pictorial review!

Your site you advertize in your photos (signatures) and in your sinature is not a blog but a commercial site.

You might think of removing ads from your pics and the link from the signature just to be on the safe side. :)

The Allure nor the Oasis nor any other RCI ship have Eggs Benedict in the buffet...haven't been on the new NCL ships, but the Sky didn't have it..I usually go to the MDR for that a few times during the cruise...Princess & HAL didn't either..you are lucky to find them on those others...que suerte!!

 

Alan

Indeed :D

So like I said, once you exit the casino you end up in the theater. The theater is just like the rest of the ship, simply spectacular! I think it is one of the nicest theaters that I have seen on a ship, amazing!

There is my uncle sitting. He wanted a picture to send to his wife.

By the way cellphone reception on the ship is amazing, by far the best out any ship. I wonder if that means that the ship is built with thinner metals? Whatever it is, it worked in favor for us! Mom sent about 1000 pictures that day :D from almost everywhere inside the ship!

Great review so far! I enjoy your detailed reviews and appreciate you taking the time to post them for those of us who have to live vicariously through you! ;) I also just started following you on FB.

I'm sorry about your Grandma (and other family members who are also ill). Please don't worry about the typos and grammatical errors. We get the gist of what you are saying! :D

After that, we headed up to the pool area to get a drink and go check out the Spa.

Near the aqua park is the ice cream shop, this is the ice cream that you have to pay for. We did not try it.

You can sample the flavors if you like.

Great review so far! I enjoy your detailed reviews and appreciate you taking the time to post them for those of us who have to live vicariously through you! ;) I also just started following you on FB.

I'm sorry about your Grandma (and other family members who are also ill). Please don't worry about the typos and grammatical errors. We get the gist of what you are saying! :D

Thank you, your comment is well appreciated :)

Glad to see you here.

 

So like I said, once you exit the casino you end up in the theater. The theater is just like the rest of the ship, simply spectacular! I think it is one of the nicest theaters that I have seen on a ship, amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

There is my uncle sitting. He wanted a picture to send to his wife.

 

 

By the way cellphone reception on the ship is amazing, by far the best out any ship. I wonder if that means that the ship is built with thinner metals? Whatever it is, it worked in favor for us! Mom sent about 1000 pictures that day :D from almost everywhere inside the ship!

 

 

Great photos..we thought the theater was THEE most beautiful we've ever seen on 30 cruises on all but Costa..as you said, the ship is simply GORGEOUS....and my Peruvian wife told me it was the cleanest ship ( along with the Disney Dream) she's ever seen..I am looking forward to your thoughts on service, which has been controversial on MSC...gracias para las fotos!!

Big Al

Yea!!! Another of your great reviews for me to follow! Looking forward to all your great pictures and commentary.

Lynda

Great photos..we thought the theater was THEE most beautiful we've ever seen on 30 cruises on all but Costa..as you said, the ship is simply GORGEOUS....and my Peruvian wife told me it was the cleanest ship ( along with the Disney Dream) she's ever seen..I am looking forward to your thoughts on service, which has been controversial on MSC...gracias para las fotos!!

 

Big Al

Controversial indeed, time will tell ;)