Divina Yacht Club review

We chose this cruise for the Yacht Club AND because it is an Italian cruise line. The Yacht Club was very nice, but the food in the dedicated restaurant was bland and uninspired. It was cooked to order but there was little imagination evident in the menu. We never saw a "classics" or "available every day" menu the entire cruise. The wines were flat and showed no depth at all. We expected nice Italian reds, but were disappointed. We only saw 1 inexpensive Italian red and it was mediocre at best. The bulk of the wine's offered were cheap (excuse me, inexpensive) California reds. They only opened @ 2 reds and 2 whites per night. To get them to open something you'd had the night before was like pulling teeth. The white zinfandel was, however, open every night. The second night, the assistant waiter started to top off my cabernet with a pinot noir before I stopped him. We didn't see the ship's sommilier until the third night. He explained that he was busy the first two nights giving recommendations to the vegan group in the main dining rooms which had been closed off for the early seatings to all but the vegans. Which leads me to the next problem with this cruise....'the vegans.'

We booked our cruise more than a year out. We learned, through the Cruise Critic roll call that our ship (capacity @3500) had been chartered out to the "Holistic Holidays at Sea" organization. They had 2200+ people on board. We were eventually notified in December by MSC that this had been done, but were told that, "our experience would not be affected." They went on to say that ALL early seatings in the main dining rooms had been assigned to this group (how is this NOT affecting their customers?) I think the late seating was like 8:00 or 8:30 and there were some older folks who ate in the buffet instead as they couldn't eat that late. Large parts of the buffet seating areas were roped-off and reserved for the vegans as well. LeMuse (the Yacht Club dedicated restaurant) was largely unaffected by this group save for the loss of our sommilier. ALL of the staff in the Yacht Club restaurant seemed new at their jobs, I'd guess that this is where MSC got the bulk of the staff for the new Seaside and our Divina LeMuse staff was indeed new at their jobs. We skipped dinner in LeMuse the last 2 nights and ate elsewhere.

The ship is beautiful, no doubt about that. Yacht Club staff and facilities were very nice, though they could use some shade in the one pool lounger area. The ship was sold out due to this vegan group and several public areas were to be avoided as this group conducted all manner of sales in/near these areas. They sold pots and pans, books, lectures on tape, t-shirts etc, etc. They had tables for PETA, palm readers, tables to book lectures and on and on. Very congested. The Yacht Club was largely unaffected by this group although we saw on several evenings, large groups (10 -12) of vegans being escorted to LeMuse and the Top Sail Lounge in the Yacht Club. You could identify the vegan folks by these goofy lanyards they wore around their neck with the Holistic Holidays logo visible in a clear pouch. There were vegan people staying in the Yacht Club, but we got to recognize the faces and some of the people in these groups were new to us. I'm not sure what was going on as the Yacht Club is supposed to be exclusive to members. There are some crazy stories about this group on threads throughout the MSC section of Cruise Critic....I believe every one of them as I was there.

The cruise itinerary had been changed due to the effects of last Fall's hurricanes. St Maarten and Tortola had been removed. Two stops that were new to us were Guadeloupe and Martinique, both turned out to be "one and done stops." We don't plan to go back. Another thing that we noticed even though we'd done it before were the 2 sea days out of and back into Miami. We cruise a lot out of San Juan because we enjoy the Carib and its weather. In January and February, San Juan is warm, Miami and south Florida....maybe not so much. The 2 days droning along just to get to and from the bulk of the cruise is boring. For whatever reason, this was our overall roughest cruise we've done. We've cruised 25+ times so that's saying something. It rained every day. I know, 'it's the Carib, etc,' but it DID rain EVERY day...not all day, maybe not for long, but it rained during the daylight hours every day. I also understand MSC has no control over any of this, just sayin'.

The Yacht Club cabin was nothing special. The darker colors initially put us off in the "average sized" cabin, but we grew to enjoy this as it's different from other lines. We missed the larger sized balcony we get on another line. The walk in closet is nice. The room had plenty of storage. The service was impeccable and timely. Room service was good.

We really wanted this cruise to work. We like the whole idea of the Yacht Club, and although its not inexpensive, we saw it as our cruise line of the future. I don't think that's going to happen after this cruise. The poor food and wine choices were a deal breaker right there. The other problems were minor in comparison. The whole vegan thing, well, that was MY fault as I should have rescheduled. NEVER AGAIN WITH THIS GROUP. We did rebook another Yacht Club cruise with them for next year as we got a fantastic on board deal, but I believe we'll cancel that, too many negatives. BTW we were status matched at Black level.

I'm sorry to hear a large group disrupted your cruise. I wouldn't like that, either. I find the wine situation very odd - paying the price you do for the YC I'd be demanding they open a bottle of whatever I wanted, if it was included in the drinks package associated with the YC experience.

I was hoping the YC food would be a step up from the ordinary MDR food so again I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it.

Thank you for your review.

Keith

I find the wine situation very odd - paying the price you do for the YC I'd be demanding they open a bottle of whatever I wanted, if it was included in the drinks package associated with the YC experience.

 

I was hoping the YC food would be a step up from the ordinary MDR food so again I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it.

As I'm familiar with the wines available on the deluxe package (for European cruises) and which ones I prefer, I was able to ask for - and receive - the ones I wanted when in YC on Meraviglia. However, had I not done so, I would have been served the ones that they chose to open. I even had one server hesitate when I asked for something other than what he wanted to pour.

We've had hit-and-miss experiences with food in YC, too. Most of the time, it is a step-up from the MDR menus. Having said that, the food was so good on Meraviglia that we ordered second helpings of mains AND dessert on a couple of occasions despite the fact that I sometimes struggle to finish a normal 3 course meal. I'm posting this as I know you're interested in the subject, CJ. I hope to have plenty of photos of menus and food from Splendida for you.

As I'm familiar with the wines available on the deluxe package (for European cruises) and which ones I prefer, I was able to ask for - and receive - the ones I wanted when in YC on Meraviglia. However, had I not done so, I would have been served the ones that they chose to open. I even had one served hesitate when I asked for something other than what he wanted to pour.

 

We've had hit-and-miss experiences with food in YC, too. Most of the time, it is a step-up from the MDR menus. Having said that, the food was so good on Meraviglia that we ordered second helpings of mains AND dessert on a couple of occasions despite the fact that I sometimes struggle to finish a normal 3 course meal. I'm posting this as I know you're interested in the subject, CJ. I hope to have plenty of photos of menus and food from Splendida for you.

Thanks Bea - that's odd. I assume they are frightened of wasting a bottle if you are the only person in the YC who happens to want a given wine on a given day? Won't be an issue with me as I'd take the balance the following day if I couldn't manage it all that night!

Yes I suppose with anything there is hit-and-miss and I can't claim that NCL deliver consistently all the time in this regard either. It does seem with YC one is increasing the chances of having a good run of meals though.

We learned, through the Cruise Critic roll call that our ship (capacity @3500) had been chartered out to the "Holistic Holidays at Sea" organization. They had 2200+ people on board. We were eventually notified in December by MSC that this had been done, but were told that, "our experience would not be affected." They went on to say that ALL early seatings in the main dining rooms had been assigned to this group (how is this NOT affecting their customers?)

Your experience was not affected when it comes to the main dining room situation because you didn't ate there. In many other ways I'm sure that your cruise was affected because of that large group and I'm sorry för you.

We were booked on the March 3 cruise on Divina next year and I contacted MSC in Sweden when I found out that that will be the "Holistic Holiday at Sea" cruise next year. First they said that the group shouldn't affect our cruise experience but when I contacted them again they researched the situation and did the right thing, they let me change the date for our cruise. MSC in Sweden didn't know what I was talking about when I first contacted them!

Your experience was not affected when it comes to the main dining room situation because you didn't ate there. In many other ways I'm sure that your cruise was affected because of that large group and I'm sorry för you.

 

We were booked on the March 3 cruise on Divina next year and I contacted MSC in Sweden when I found out that that will be the "Holistic Holiday at Sea" cruise next year. First they said that the group shouldn't affect our cruise experience but when I contacted them again they researched the situation and did the right thing, they let me change the date for our cruise. MSC in Sweden didn't know what I was talking about when I first contacted them!

When I emailed MSC about it, I was preparing for a similar response to yours, SC. However, in the reply they offered to cruise-move us "and waive the admin fee". There's nothing else of interest to us so it looks like we'll be forfeiting the €200 deposit. :(

Thank You for your review. Enjoyed it.

Cheers.

When I emailed MSC about it, I was preparing for a similar response to yours, SC. However, in the reply they offered to cruise-move us "and waive the admin fee". There's nothing else of interest to us so it looks like we'll be forfeiting the €200 deposit. :(

Isn't that what we got, a cruise-move with waived admin fee?

Isn't that what we got, a cruise-move with waived admin fee?

Sorry, SC ... I meant the original response you got that the group shouldn't affect your cruise experience. You had to contact them again, as a result.

Ugh, large groups can ruin cruises. On any line.

We love the YC product, so many incredible YC public spaces with tons of room, plenty of loungers and chairs, lounges etc. The food is a step up from MDR but not by much. However the space and service more than makes up for that. And the price!

The YC rooms on Davina and the balconies especially are smallish. Again, the YC public spaces make up for that to us. Seaside YC balcony is much larger, more like a suite, and the room seems much larger too.

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Sorry, SC ... I meant the original response you got that the group shouldn't affect your cruise experience. You had to contact them again, as a result.

Ok, then I understand.

It was the same with my statusmatch and the 5% discount, I had to contact them more than once because MSC in Sweden really didn't know what to do.