MSC Divina vs. Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas: Which would you pick?

If there was no major difference in price and you had to choose between a back-to-back cruise on the Navigator of the Seas (Dec. 22-Jan. 5) and an 11-night on the MSC Divina (Dec. 23-Jan. 3) both leaving out of Miami, which would you choose and why?

Itinerary:

Navigator of the Seas:

1st half (9 night)

Labadee, Haiti

Aruba

Bonaire

Curacao

2nd half (5 night)

Costa Maya

Cozumel

MSC Divina (11 night):

Nassau, Bahamas

Ochos Rios, Jamaica

Cartagena, Colombia

Cristobal, Panama

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Belize City, Belize

Navigator by far the better itinerary but only my opinion.

Navigator for itinerary divina for the ship

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I would go with MSC Divina because these ports:

Cartagena, Colombia

Cristobal, Panama

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Belize City, Belize

Enjoy.

Thank you all for your replies!

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rccl awesome itinerary

I haven't been on Navigator but we were on Divina during Easter week. If these holiday weeks are similar to the spring, it will be packed to the gills with kids. Any time school is out there are a lot of kids, but when they're free, it seemed like even more. Don't get me wrong, I love kids on ships, we brought our own, but this was crazy.

Divina is a beautiful ship but it seemed so loud and over crowded. Going to the buffet any time of the day was painful. My least favorite cruise in our 34 sailings.

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The Navigator is American speaking. The Divina is multicultural and multi-language. Think the Tower of Babel. Both ships are pretty. The Divina is a step up in the gorgeous department. If you prefer seafood in the dining room, go with the Divina. If you prefer steaks or vegetarian fare, go with the Navigator. If you need grits, it's Navigator. Royal Caribbean has an expensive drink package. MSC offers shareable drink coupons in a coupon book. Real Italian Pizza for free: Divina. Need for the hand sanitizer machines to actually work? Navigator. Gelato in many flavors: Divina. For me, Royal Caribbean is dependable and consistent. I went on the Divina for a 7 day cruise. It has some real selling points. The shows are like different chapters of the same book. I liked them. Very few people spoke my language, but it was fun. I fell in love with the La Luna Piano Bar. A staffer fell in love with my older widowed friend and we had to duck and dodge. That was weird. So it depends on how daring you are wanting to be.

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I appreciate the detailed viewpoints.

A few months ago we did the Divina 7 day, Dec.30-Jan.6.......got off the Divina and carried our luggage next door to do the Navigator 9 day, Jan.6-Jan.15.

As posted above, the Divina was loaded with kids, and the buffet was a chore a lot of times. The ship was great though, good service, enjoyed the dining room, etc. Prices were a good bit better on the Divina than a comparable RCI New Years sailing. Much lower drink prices on Divina. The following week on the Navigator, there were a lot less kids(school?)

Both cruises were enjoyable, we had a great time. I don't think you would be unhappy either way. No My Time Dining on Divina, but it was not any problem for us.

Just to make comparisons fair, we had the starboard corner aft balcony 7388 on Navigator, and the starboard corner aft balcony 10254 on Divina. Loved them both.

No My Time Dining on Divina...............

Yes, there is, if you book an Aurea or Yacht Club cabin.

Yes, there is, if you book an Aurea or Yacht Club cabin.

Good point. It was our first time with MSC and we had the Fantastica level. Black card had some nice perks.

I think it depends on how many of the ports you have already visited. Divina to Cristobal/Colon offers an opportunity to see the Panama Canal, and If I hadn't been there, I would jump on that opportunity. It's a very different itinerary than the usual southern Caribbean. EM

I like the 11 day Divina itinerary, but I also like the Navigator 9 night. In fact, I am booked for the 9 night navigator itinerary next year. I have sailed Divina twice already. I voted for Divina. I have sailed many voyager class ships from Royal in the past. I have to imagine in this scenario Navigator is much more expensive as well. I think MSC offers a product comparable to RCI, in some areas better, at way better rates. If I had the time to sail longer than 9 days I'd go MSC.

I picked Divina for the ship, but I do like Navigator's itinerary. In fact, I was looking at a similar one for Celebrity Equinox, but if that doesn't work out I might go with Navigator. My dh loves that class of ship (or at least he thinks he does, he hasn't been on them in years).

Thanks for alerting me to Nav's itinerary.:D

I did the Divina last easter and canceled a balcony on the Navigator but I did it because the Balcony at Navigator was more expensive than a Yacht Club suite and we had the time of our life at the Divina. We enjoyed so much that we booked a b2b on YC for summer next year. But same unit and same price I think that I will choose Royal Caribbean.

When we were crossing the ship to walk to Le Muse Restaurant the ship seems crowded and we thanked to book a YC Suite, on that bubble all was a paradise.

Thanks for alerting me to Nav's itinerary.:D

You're welcome. :)

I think that the Divina is a beautiful ship and we had an enjoyable time, but overall, I ranked our MSC experience a notch below what we've experienced on Royal Caribbean. There was something about our cruise on the Divina that made it feel like a budget experience, although we still enjoyed it very much.

Can you do the 9 night Navigator followed by the 11 night Divina? [emoji6]

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I think that the Divina is a beautiful ship and we had an enjoyable time, but overall, I ranked our MSC experience a notch below what we've experienced on Royal Caribbean. There was something about our cruise on the Divina that made it feel like a budget experience, although we still enjoyed it very much.

 

Can you do the 9 night Navigator followed by the 11 night Divina? [emoji6]

 

 

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Lol...if the stars were to align just right there is the possibility of doing the 11-night Divina this year and the 9-night Navigator at the same period of time next year.

Thanks for all the valuable feedback. I have never been to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao or Costa Maya (Navigator), or Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica or Belize (Divina). Both itineraries offer new experiences. Those that have been on the Divina on this thread do not make it seem like poor customer service is as much of an issue as many reviews has made it out to be. In reference to customer service specifically, reviews range from one extreme to the next, more than they do for the Navigator, which probably has me a little nervous about the Divina along with the extremely poor functionality of the website. I guess I'm looking for something about one ship or itinerary that pushes me over edge, or maybe simply that the poor customer service experiences on the Divina are more isolated incidences than online reviews make them appear.

They both have their pluses and minuses. Most obviously the Divina is a newer ship offering a different type of cruising experience. Royal Caribbean for the most part is the safe choice, and the ABC islands mostly have very positive reviews. The Divina itinerary on the surface appears to be more unique, but except for the opportunity of visiting the Panama Canal the reviews for the ports are about as inconsistent as the reviews regarding customer service on the Divina. I appreciate you all taking the time to provide your own perspectives regarding the ships and/or itineraries.

I'm Diamond on Royal and have also sailed Divina four times, once in a regular balcony and three times in Yacht Club. I never had any problems with customer service on MSC. I'm not sure what complaints there are from others. The only thing I encountered was sometimes a language misunderstanding but that was easy to forgive; I was so impressed that the staff spoke so many languages whilst I speak only one and a quarter. Divina is a stunningly beautiful ship and I loved all the different bars and lounges with lots of music every night.

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I'm Diamond on Royal and have also sailed Divina four times, once in a regular balcony and three times in Yacht Club. I never had any problems with customer service on MSC. I'm not sure what complaints there are from others. The only thing I encountered was sometimes a language misunderstanding but that was easy to forgive; I was so impressed that the staff spoke so many languages whilst I speak only one and a quarter. Divina is a stunningly beautiful ship and I loved all the different bars and lounges with lots of music every night.

 

 

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Since many things are subjective, I mostly reference reviews where it is mentioned that guests were made to feel by crew members as if they were bothering them by asking questions, or dismissive. I know in general people are more likely to take the time and effort to create a review based on a bad experience than they are based on a positive one. It's hard to tell, what's the norm, or if most of the great experiences are Yacht Club cruisers, and the bad are in the main area of the ship, since the experience level is not always mentioned in reviews. It appears that you've had a fairly consistent experience across different areas of the ship.

As D+, if the itineraries between the ships were similar, we would pick RCI over MSC because we would miss the diamond & concierge lounges. We sailed the MSC Splendida last December out of Barcelona and just loved that cruise. But we missed our beloved diamond & concierge lounges and their wonderful coffee machines. But we will sail MSC (or other lines) if the itinerary is good.

I sailed Bella on the MSC in an obstructed balcony stateroom that was an upgrade (larger) from our chosen room that was taken by a German couple who got the numbers backwards. We took their room. It was nice. The staff would very hard to earn their outstanding ratings. The ship is beautiful. We didn't go hungry and the pizza is worth going for.

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I'll add a bit more of our experience, in case it's helpful. I think YC is a completely different experience, more insulating. We were fantastica inside room.

The price is what drew us at first and the chance to try another line we hadn't sailed. Originally we were very excited about MSC but I'm not sure we'll be back...if so, it won't be during a a school break.

First the positives. Our room was nice as was the ship. The main shows were probably the best we've seen on any ship. We made almost all of them. Food was fine, especially the main dining room. We're not foodies anyway and it takes a lot for me to think it's bad. The pizza is fresh and fabulous.

The rest of the buffet was frustrating at best. I hated going to the buffet. Regardless of time it was packed and I felt like a ball in a pinball game. It's a very long layout so it take a while to get what you want.

I'm not sure if your questions about customer service mean service from staff or desk help if something goes wrong. I'll tell you my experience with service staff. Our dining room waiters were fantastic and make a real effort to make a connection and make us happy. Every other contact we had with service staff was lackluster to disappointing. I was hard to get a drink just about anywhere on the ship. Maybe it's because so many people have drink coupons and the bartenders don't feel compensated, but it does seem like you're bothering them to ask for a drink. I heard it's not MSCs style to have roaming pool deck wait staff but that means you have to leave your area (and in our case drag your kid up there too) to get something to drink. Other staff didn't suck up to my dd and address her as princess as has happened on other lines.[emoji1] I would never choose a line based on kissing ass, but they did seem disinterested. Same for our cabin steward. We saw him once on the first night when I saw him in the hall and asked if he was assigned to our cabin. Our room was fine and we'll taken care of, but it was just a bit different.

I won't go into specifics about the kid's club unless that interests you. I'll just say I was really disappointed.

I forgot how much I dislike assigned dining times. 5:30 is way too early and 8:30 was late. We did have nice tablemates so that was fun but we prefer flexible dining.

Some of these opinions are just a difference in lines and service but one thing that was unacceptable was getting off and on at ports. We did ship excursions in each port so we expected we meet a designated time and be off the ship in about 15 minutes. It was usually closer to 45 minutes to an hour. That was precious port time. The lines getting back on the ship were HUGE, like nothing we've ever experienced. The worst was Cayman. Since we had a tour we were one of the first off. One of our friends were going off on their own but there letter was never called and by the time of all call it was too late, so they never got off. We know Cayman tender lines are notoriously long so we went back about 75 minutes before "last" tender. The line snaked back and forth many times and we stood in the blazing sun for over an hour. Luckily my dd had on a thick long sleeved cover up and hat but we all put on more sunscreen and I wore a towel like a shawl. My dh was wearing a white tshirt and he burned through his shirt.

Not sure if the problems we had were based on the size of the spring break crowd or not but this couldn't have been a surprise to MSC. Before we left I was excited to book Seaside for next year, but being that they didn't handle the size of Divina well, we decided larger was not better.

Take this with a grain salt as it's my experience and opinion. Others seemed to love Divina. That just wasn't our experience.

Note: I typed this on my phone and didn't proof it, so if there are autocorrect or spelling problems, just guess what I likely meant.[emoji6]

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