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

This page is EXACTLY what I was looking for!!! Great job! Thank you.

Cruising July 23-30 Caribbean. First crusie outside of Disney Cruises! Excited!

Can't wait to read your review. Just booked a week on her. Thanks in advance!

Budgeting

 

 

So, as I have already explained my budget on this cruise was a little bit tight so I had to keep that under control the entire cruise. Plus, when you are paying for four people is hardly an easy task, nonetheless it was done.

 

 

Specialty Restaurants

 

I am known for venturing out of the MDR experience and trying out all that each cruise line has to offer with their specialty dining venues. On this cruise, I had no intention on paying extra for food. We basically only ate at the free dining venues during the entire cruise.

 

MSC Divina has 3 specialty restaurants, Tex Mex, Galaxy and the Steakhouse. The prices of the venues seemed reasonable, but I could not consider them this time around. One thing to consider is that the steakhouse has an a la carte menu. There is also a sports bar with a menu of some snacks that you would find in US based sports bars, which is also A la Carte.

 

 

Mixed Drinks, Wine & Soft drinks

 

MSC offers an incredible amount drink packages, by far the most that I have seen out of any cruise line. They offer the usual unlimited package that needs to be purchased by everyone in the cabin. But in addition to that they offer an extensive amount of options tailoring to everyone. The odds are that you will find a package that fits you the best with this cruise line. Not only, that, but the amount of drink lists aboard MSC Divina is just ridiculous! I have not previously seen so many drink lists on a ship.

 

Our personal favorite package was the "Allegrisimo Escape" this is a voucher package. For $72 pre-cruise, you get 15 drink vouchers to use on the ship. The vouchers are good for pretty much 85% of drinks you usually find on cruises. If you want brand drinks, they will not work. Nonetheless, all in all with this package each drink comes out to $4.80, not a bad deal. However, it gets even better; if you look for the daily happy hours you can get 2 drinks for one voucher!

 

 

Wi-Fi

 

WIFI is something that I can no longer ignore; I need Internet access to ensure that there are no issues with my blog while on a cruise. Internet access on MSC Divina is by far the best I have used on a cruise ship. I will run through the details and explain why. This time around I purchased 1hr for $29.99. That comes to around $0.50 per minute, and goes along the lines of the cruise line prices. They had other packages as well. I will comment on them later as I come across the pictures.

 

 

Gratuities

 

Gratuities aboard MSC Divina will run you $12 per person per day. I usually tip more on drinks and food, as I know how much the crew works at making the cruise a perfect vacation for everyone. One thing to note is that MSC does not charge gratuities on the packages you pre-purchase, they call it a discount! That is outrageous, please explain to me how taking money away from the staff is a discount from the company?!?! This infuriates me. I will comment on this more as the review evolves. I saw a few issues here and there with this issue. I know many will want to put me under fire here, but please note that this is nothing more than my opinion. And yes, I was told about the discount by MSC themselves. Someone argued that the passengers were making that up.

 

 

Trip Insurance

 

When I buy trip insurance for my cruises, I go to Insure My Trip and shop around for travel insurance. On this trip I went for Atlas insurance, you really can’t say no to an insurance plan that covers 100k medical and costs you less than $15. Also includes bag loss and medical evacuation, that is just a simple no brainer. Bear in mind that the price changes with age, my mom's is a little more expensive than mine. By the way, we almost had used the insurance this time :(

 

 

 

 

Hi Gambee, I enjoyed your review as always. I am trying to decide between 10 night Anthem of the Seas, we live in NJ ( my DH loved the Quantum) or the MSC Divina (7 night casino "free cruise inside cabin" (so not really free- port taxes, etc and I need to fly to Miami). I would appreciate your thoughts.

Great review and very useful information. We are booked on our first MSC cruise on the new Seaside ship but I'm going to see if I can possibly squeeze a Divina cruise in for 2017.

Couple questions:

-Is there a jacuzzi on the forward part of deck 8? I'm guessing that would be forward of the gym area?

-Are the Nutella crepes complimentary or is there an extra charge?

-How late do the jacuzzis stay open? Do the indoor jacuzzis and pool stay open later than the outdoor ones?

-With the "More for Less" or "All Inclusive Classic" drink package, does the take away ice cream include the gelato from the Gelataria (Piazza Del Doge)?

Great review and very useful information. We are booked on our first MSC cruise on the new Seaside ship but I'm going to see if I can possibly squeeze a Divina cruise in for 2017.

 

Couple questions:

-Is there a jacuzzi on the forward part of deck 8? I'm guessing that would be forward of the gym area?

-Are the Nutella crepes complimentary or is there an extra charge?

-How late do the jacuzzis stay open? Do the indoor jacuzzis and pool stay open later than the outdoor ones?

-With the "More for Less" or "All Inclusive Classic" drink package, does the take away ice cream include the gelato from the Gelataria (Piazza Del Doge)?

Forward 8, there might be some jacuzzis, but if they are, they are for the crew.

Nutella crepes are for a charge. I think I have the prices, in my page. But not sure

Here is the daily paper from our cruise, it says they all close at 10pm

http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/msc-divina-daily-itinerary/

Sorry, I am not sure about that last question. We did not purchase any ice cream during our cruise.

I have all the menus in my site, that might help you further with your research. Glad you liked the review, hope you have a blast on your cruise :)

Great job, thanks for the information. My wife and I will be on Divina in under two weeks, looking forward to getting away!

Thanks again

Ed

If you purchase the Premium Adult Package, your Gelato is included. See attached all what is included. I have purchased this package for my Cruise in May on the Divina. Looking forward to it!

If you purchase the Premium Adult Package, your Gelato is included. See attached all what is included. I have purchased this package for my Cruise in May on the Divina. Looking forward to it!

 

This package seems great! We were considering buying the drink coupon books- do they serve gelato and sorbet in the dining room?

Great review and information, did you happen to see anything about a couples massage or couples spa treatments? Thanks

Ed

I just started my 9 day Oasis cruise review!

Here is the link

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2337996

If only everyone would write a review like that with lots of pictures.

LOL. Thanks!

Can't wait to finish reading this :)

If only everyone would write a review like that with lots of pictures.

 

LOL. Thanks!

There are a few that do but Gambee is the best.

thanks for the info.....

I just started my Norwegian Escape review!

Here is the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2355987

Last Minute Changes

 

Well, as you all read my cousin bailed out on us, that meant that either he had to pay for that empty spot or we had to find someone to cover his spot. I tried my best to get one of my friends to go, but finding someone at the last minute was kind of hard. None of my friends could make it and I also needed someone who would not throw the group dynamic out of balance. In the end, we decided to just leave the spot open and my cousin would pay for his portion.

 

A few days passed and my mom realized that we had completely ignored one person, my aunt. Well, technically she is not my aunt, but you know how Spanish families go, we are all related to each other one way or another, lol. OMG that sounded racist, anyway… So yeah, that actually interests me, why you ask? Well, we knew she could not pay for the cruise fare, but she could pay for the air ticket from her home country. That meant that someone had to cover her cruise ticket to make it happen. The main reason why this interested me was because she is just PLAIN FUN! She makes fun out of boring situations; I have to admit that there are scarce people that carry this kind of personality trait. I knew she would be an excellent addition to the cruise. In addition to that, mom clicks with her very well, and I could see it in my mother's eyes, she really wanted her to come.

 

After all that had happened to our family this year, and more specifically to my mom, adding my aunt to this cruise would make this trip so much better. That night I sat down and went over my finances. It would not be particularly easy to make it happen. I not only had to pay for her cruise fare, but add to that shore excursions, drinks (she does not drink much), and extra expenses, it all added up. Plus August was a heavy month for me, as I had to pay for the fall college semester. Ummm, you do the math; Gambee would have to go into his savings to make this happen.

 

Long story short, there was no question about it. SHE HAD TO COME! Once I told my mom, you could hear it in her voice. It was just what we all needed; my aunt was the perfect person to fill in the vacant spot of the cruise. Mom proceeded to call her and inform her. She could not be happier! I think the entire cruise changed that day; it would be an entirely different experience. Now you had a loud and obnoxious Spanish family boarding a very luxurious Italian vessel.

 

For those who have followed me since the beginning, you might actually know my aunt. Do you remember that my mom took a second cruise on the Norwegian Sky without me? Well, that cruise she took with my aunt. And from the pictures that I got back, I can only tell you that the cruise is among my moms favorite ones. So yes, all in all, I did this for my mom.

 

 

A few days passed and my mom realized that we had completely ignored one person, my aunt. Well, technically she is not my aunt, but you know how Spanish families go, we are all related to each other one way or another, lol. OMG that sounded racist, anyway…

I am reading this at 5AM and laughing outloud!!!Hope I dont wake the family. I'm from the south and everyone in my small town is related to my husband!!! So true!!!

M

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Fantastic review! It was very detailed and informative:)