Review-MSC Divina Cruise 4-26-14

[Mrs. Squirrel]

 

 

 

This was the largest parrotfish I had ever seen. Unfortunately, there is nothing in my photo to show scale. I spent a lot of time just watching and listening to him munching on the coral.

[destaw7182]

Very informative review! I am now considering MSC after reading this. Keep it coming. :)

[Mrs. Squirrel]

After our second snorkeling stint, Rich and I decided we better get our gear rinsed and dry out to eat our lunch buffet, then head back to the ship. We also had to settle our food bill. It was at this point Rich discovered that his plastic, waterproof ID holder was missing from his swim shorts. The velcro was undone, so we assume sometime during the second snorkel it just floated out of his pocket and away. It had his MSC ship card, $60, and the remainder of our Doremi package tickets (four we think). Without any ID, we knew we'd have trouble getting back on the ship, so we skipped rinsing the gear and packed up quickly. We had left the rest of our money and valuables in the lockers by the buffet and entrance, so had to hike to the front of the park, get the rest of our stuff, and hike back to pay our waiter. Before leaving the beach, Rich checked with the lost and found at the Dive shops with no luck. He was really beating himself up at this point.

 

Once back at the entrance, we checked with lost and found there as well as filled out a report. We quickly ate our buffet lunch, but don't remember much of it due to how low Rich was feeling about loosing his ID. I do remember the food quality was pretty good. He was really stressed that they wouldn't let us back through the terminal.

 

Upon exiting the park, the attendant flagged a cab over (they are waiting off to the side of the parking lot in a line) and we took our $10 ride back to the International terminal. It took a lot of explaining and re-explaining, and calling, checking, waiting, and even prayer with a pastor and his family we had met on the ship a few days prior, but we finally got past the two checkpoints at the pier and were on our way back to the ship!

 

This was a welcome site!

 

Once we boarded, they gave us a paper to take immediately to Reception to have new ship cards made. Once one is lost from a cabin, all parties in the cabin have to have their key cards redone for security reasons.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

To think we had a stressful return to the ship. :eek: We immediately went back to our cabin to shower and change. After both of us got ready, we went out on the balcony and noticed that we had not left Cozumel yet although it was almost an hour past all aboard at 5:30pm.

 

This many white uniforms in one area tells you there is a problem. Although you can't clearly see his face, I believe the Captain is the second from the left.

 

Finally, this huge ferry docks.

 

Almost every passenger is from Divina!

 

A final shot of the empty International Pier area as we are finally underway.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Tonight, the MDR theme was 70s-80s, so it was more casual dress. We went to Pirates then to dinner. We were the only ones at the table until desert. At this time, our German tablemates arrived to pick-up the wine in their package. They had already eaten in the buffet, but decided to stay with us awhile and have a glass each with a fruit and cheese plate.

 

We had an interesting conversation that started out by discussing home schooling of all things. We home school our son. Home schooling is illegal in Germany (an archaic, leftover law from the days of Hitler when independent thought was discouraged). We then talked about everything from politics in our respective countries to economics to vacations to labor unions to leisure activities. It was very interesting. The more I travel and meet people from around the world, the more I realize that for all our cultural differences, we really want a lot of very similar things out of life.

 

We loved the multi-cultural aspect of Divina. If you do not enjoy other languages, foods, countries and cultures, you really should not sail Divina and then spend the week complaining about it. You should, instead, stick to a line with predominately American cruisers. Just my $.02 on that matter!

 

For evening entertainment, there was a Rock-n-Roll dance lesson, Dueling pianos, Outdoor Cinema, Mega Bingo, The late night Flower Glory (70's and 80's) Party, as well as live music in seven different lounges around the ship.

 

We went to Dueling Pianos after dinner and saw our Italian friends there. It was fun and a little bawdy, but not over the top so. I requested 'Jack and Diane' from John Cougar Mellencamp (he lives less than an hour away from Indy). I could not believe it when almost everyone in the Golden Jazz bar sang the chorus to this song! Didn't matter what language we all spoke, we were united by one great anthem song! :D

 

It was another wonderful day on Divina, despite our few hiccups which had nothing to do with the ship.

 

That's all for now, because life is again calling.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Very informative review! I am now considering MSC after reading this. Keep it coming. :)

 

Thank you. You should give them a try for yourselves.

[newmexicoNita]

I guess how we feel about a cruise and a ship is as subjective as food can be. Our daughter, just did the same cruise about a month ago and would, most likely not repeat. She said for the money it was great, when they start pricing the ship like other lines, they probably will not make it. I will add, she is a very successful travel agent. Her overall take: the entrees and pasta was very good and the entertainment top notch, but after that it went pretty much down hill. She did say the ship and the cabins were beautiful. The service was less than par, the food, overall was not good and the overall attitude left a lot to be desired. I guess each of us has to try something for ourselves to determine how we feel.

[Mikesa1721]

I guess how we feel about a cruise and a ship is as subjective as food can be. Our daughter, just did the same cruise about a month ago and would, most likely not repeat. She said for the money it was great, when they start pricing the ship like other lines, they probably will not make it. I will add, she is a very successful travel agent. Her overall take: the entrees and pasta was very good and the entertainment top notch, but after that it went pretty much down hill. She did say the ship and the cabins were beautiful. The service was less than par, the food, overall was not good and the overall attitude left a lot to be desired. I guess each of us has to try something for ourselves to determine how we feel.

 

I agree NewMexico, at least with the first part of your response. We just got off the Divina this morning and we had a sensational experience. The food, service, and entertainment we experienced was exceptional. Not sure why there seems to be this love or hate relationship with MSC, but we enjoyed ourselves so much that we cancelled our RCCL cruise in March to sail a b2b on Divina in April.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

I guess how we feel about a cruise and a ship is as subjective as food can be. Our daughter, just did the same cruise about a month ago and would, most likely not repeat. She said for the money it was great, when they start pricing the ship like other lines, they probably will not make it. I will add, she is a very successful travel agent. Her overall take: the entrees and pasta was very good and the entertainment top notch, but after that it went pretty much down hill. She did say the ship and the cabins were beautiful. The service was less than par, the food, overall was not good and the overall attitude left a lot to be desired. I guess each of us has to try something for ourselves to determine how we feel.

 

I agree. I was terrified when we tried Epic for our first NCL cruise. The Epic had a lot of bad reviews at the time. I almost cancelled! I am so glad we tried for ourselves, though. You never know what cruiseline will 'speak' to you best unless you do!

 

We had excellent service, but if someone has a poor cabin steward and/or MDR wait staff, that seems to really drive their opinions of a ship into the basement. Was that the service issue for your daughter?

[Mrs. Squirrel]

I agree NewMexico, at least with the first part of your response. We just got off the Divina this morning and we had a sensational experience. The food, service, and entertainment we experienced was exceptional. Not sure why there seems to be this love or hate relationship with MSC, but we enjoyed ourselves so much that we cancelled our RCCL cruise in March to sail a b2b on Divina in April.

 

Glad you had a great time. I mentioned NCL Epic in my previous post. This is also a ship that has a real love/hate with cruisers.

[FreestyleNovice]

Great review, nice comparison to NCL('s Epic). Thanks.

[djmess]

I think I can't wait to book a MSC Divina cruise. After reading this review and another review of people that went the week after Mrs. Squirrel, it seems that this ship and cruise line definitely have something to offer that I want to check out.

 

I think Mrs. Squirrel mentioned as did the other review I read, that if you are looking for a North American Dominated cruise, it may be better to go with some of the other mass market lines. If you are open minded and interested in cruising with a European twist/flare, this may be a cruise line to try.

 

Can't wait to read more and to eventually cruise on this ship

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoyed your review and photo's.

[Aussie Jeep]

enjoying your review

[American Bear]

I agree NewMexico, at least with the first part of your response. We just got off the Divina this morning and we had a sensational experience. The food, service, and entertainment we experienced was exceptional. Not sure why there seems to be this love or hate relationship with MSC, but we enjoyed ourselves so much that we cancelled our RCCL cruise in March to sail a b2b on Divina in April.

 

We just got off a B2B on the Divina on May 17, and its the best way to go, one week the eastern Carrib. and one week the western Carrib.!

Sometimes you just can't get everything done/accomplished in one week, all the shows, all the entertainment, all the different dining venues, etc.!

Have a great cruise in April!:)

[sugarnyc]

I have been enjoying your review! Looks like a beautiful ship. A few months ago saw pics of the infinity pool :-)

 

Good prices- and hopefully will sail on the Divina one day.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Thank you all for your kind replies. Sorry about the broken picture links. They are restored now. Apparently, I have plenty of GB storage, but had exceeded my bandwidth for the month and had to buy more.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

We woke to our second sea day on Divina. It promised to be a beautiful day of calm seas and sunny weather!

 

After our ritual coffee and croissants on the balcony, I forced my husband to go to the MDR for breakfast. He doesn't really like to do this, because he thinks it takes too long, but I wanted to try MSC's version of my favorite cruise breakfast, Eggs Benedict!

 

We were seated with a very nice Chinese couple (who by the way was also loving their cruise). I had learned on CC many years ago from the Carnival boards to order Eggs Benedict with the Hollandaise sauce on the side. This ensures you get freshly made eggs. It really does make a difference. I liked MSC's Eggs Benedict, but didn't love it. The Hollandaise sauce didn't have much flavor. NCL gets the point here, especially when they run out of steerage Hollandaise and you get the Cagney's Hollandaise sauce. Yum! Really good. :)

 

Rich asked for and got his bacon extra crispy. I know, I know enough about bacon, already, right?!

 

As a final thought on breakfast. We are both coffee drinkers. It is a daily must for us. On Carnival, the coffee, to our taste, was always undrinkable, and we would bring our own. When we switched to NCL, we didn't have to do that anymore, we can drink NCL coffee. MSC coffee is really good!

 

Everyone cruises for different reasons. We all have different requirements that are a 'make or break' for our vacation choices. Haven't we all read reviews, maybe you've even thought this about something in my review, where the cruiser highlights as an issue something that wouldn't even be a blip on your radar? I know I have.

 

With that having been said, my husband boldly announced, the morning of the second sea day, over our lovely room service coffee, that he would never consider MSC over NCL on a regular basis because they don't have coffee pots in the rooms.

 

What?! :confused: Not price, not value, not ports, not amenities, not food, not entertainment, not staff, not safety, not the spa, but a coffee pot. The way to my husband's vacation dollar is through an in-room coffee pot?! :eek: This is the second time this week I have learned something strange about my DH of 13 years. . .he loves dolphins and in room coffee pots. Thank goodness he doesn't make the vacation plans, but he did make me put this bit o' info on our cruise survey. Shhhh. . .don't tell him, but there will be no coffee pot on our Alaskan cruise next year. :p

 

Obviously, then, Rich gives NCL the point for coffee pots in balcony cabins or higher.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Mrs. Squirrel

[Mrs. Squirrel]

When I envisioned this cruise, I imagined myself sunning like a lizard on one of the top decks while reading a good book. That's all I really wanted out of this vacation, besides spending much-needed quality time with my spouse. :)

 

This never happens when we cruise as a family for two reasons. 1. A child will not lounge unless they are sick or asleep. 2. We get too busy taking and picking up kiddo from activities or watching him in the pool.

 

It is now day six of our cruise and there has so far been no lounging! I am desperate and running out of time. So off we go to get into our suits, grab our books and look for a place to lounge. We start by going up to Galaxy on Deck 16 to get a bird's eye view of deck chair availability. The views are stunning from here! Again, really squeaky clean windows.

 

Now we realize that we have arrived late to the lounging party, kinda' like buying tickets for a popular music group a week after they go on sale. We are realistic. At this point, it's take what you can get. However, I have never in all my life seen so many orange towels sunbathing! Don't they know they can get burnt? Where are their families?

 

All kidding aside, I think it seems that chair hogging is worse on Divina, because the orange towels are so bright. Once you actually spent a few minutes watching, chairs were becoming available, individually or in pairs, on a fairly regular basis. If you needed more than two at this later hour, though, you definitely would be out of luck.

 

From our Galaxy perch, we also realized that we still hadn't seen the rest of the ship! So before we found chairs, we explored the kids' areas, the Formula 1 and 4D Cinema, the free Solarium with two more hot tubs on the rear of Deck 16 and the for fee Solarium on the top of Deck 18 with one hot tub.

 

Near the teen area, there was a small, walled off section of 6 loungers. The area was clearly marked for teens with the intent to give them their own sun space. The chair hogging didn't bother me as much as seeing six adults parked in this teen section. Really?! :mad: And people complain about kids on cruises. Respect works both ways.

 

We found two loungers in the shade, about the third row back from overlooking the main pool area. We could have moved into the sun a little bit later if we had wished, but we had become one with our chairs and engrossed in our books. A non-alcoholic fru-fru drink later, and I am in heaven. I really should cruise by myself one day so that I can do this all week once. . .just once. Ahhh!

Edited May 21, 2014 by Mrs. Squirrel

[Mrs. Squirrel]

We spent about 4 hours in our lovely lounge chairs before heading back to the cabin to dress and hit the buffet for a very late lunch.

 

We missed both the Captain's Q&A and the afternoon La Traviata condensed opera. Tonight was the second Gala night, and I did not want to miss this one. We had been invited to one of two Captain's Cocktail parties that evening. We later discovered that we were invited because of our anniversary. Others were there because they were return cruisers or were celebrating other events. After a snooze, we got ready early for dinner and headed to the party.

 

Our view walking in. The Captain's Cocktail party was held in the Black and White Lounge at the rear of Deck 7.

 

The International Hostess restates the Cruise Directors comments in a couple of languages.

 

The Captain and Officers welcome celebrating and returning MSC cruisers.

 

The staff was busy not only serving the party, but also getting the bar ready to open for the evening. The bartender considered this a low turnout. I don't know where they'd stuff everyone for a high turnout. It was standing room only, as is!

 

MSC served complimentary champagne, juice, and bar snacks. There was live music and a table set up as a backdrop for photos with the Captain (with MSC cameras, of course) It is a given that some people come to these type of events only to see how many free drinks they can stockpile before time is called. I get that. What got under my skin was that in this case, the stockpilers completely ignored the Captain while he was speaking and kept right on talking and chugging. It was very rude! :mad:

 

You have already seen our picture from the party at the start of the review, so on to dinner.

 

Tonight would be lobster night. My husband doesn't eat seafood, with the exception of a couple types of fish, so I eat it often when we cruise. The lobster was good, but not exceptional. I am use to good, but not exceptional, because I live in Indiana. No seafood is exceptional in Indiana. However, I use to spend summers with my grandparents in Biloxi, MS. So between that, a stint as a summer camp counselor on Cape Cod, MA, and a few business trips to New Orleans, LA, I do know what I am missing. :( I would give both NCL and MSC a tie on the lobster. The last great lobster dinner I had on a cruise ship was on the Celebrity Mercury in 2005.

 

That having been said, the Baked Alaska parade. . .really great and oh so tasty! I would take MSC's Baked Alaska parade over NCL's Chocolate Buffet so MSC gets the point for the best food event.

 

I am not sharing pics of our tablemates, simply because I didn't ask their permission.

 

To conclude our sea day, we listened to some live music for awhile, but headed to bed pretty early. The next day was my husband's first time to Great Stirrup Cay (that is, if we make it.) Stay tuned for more tomorrow. Life is calling.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Mrs. Squirrel

[ioneblair]

I feel like I'm reading an enjoyable book in addition to an interesting and enlightening review....and I am a BOOK person so.....I will stay tuned.....

[BlueJai]

Hey Jayne! I am so glad you had a good time - nice for you guys to getaway for your anniversary! For a first review you are doing an amazing job, clearly you have a talent for cruising and reviewing!!!

Look forward to the rest.

 

Jai

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Hey back! Thanks for the nice comments. I feel like we never really got to see you on our Sun cruise, so hope we sail together again. What are you doing next winter? I am bummed that NCL doesn't have any longer itineraries in February of 2016!

[Mrs. Squirrel]

I feel like I'm reading an enjoyable book in addition to an interesting and enlightening review....and I am a BOOK person so.....I will stay tuned.....

 

Thank you very much!

[Mrs. Squirrel]

We woke very early on Friday to fantastic weather! This was really good news, because, I know that ship's miss Great Stirrup Cay often due to the tender process and the waves, even if the weather is nice.

 

I had been to GSC two times prior with NCL. I love it. It is more rustic and bare than I understand other cruisline's private islands to be. I like that, but know others like more of a resort feel. I was excited that Rich was going to experience it and curious to see what he thought.

 

After a quick breakfast in the buffet, we geared up and headed down to the tender area.

 

I had pre-booked paddleboarding on the MSC website. Our tickets and excursion instructions were in our room on embarkation day. The paddleboarding is for 1 hour and you go when you wish throughout the day. There was no set time.

 

There was, however, an instructional letter with our excursion tickets about the tender process for those with booked excursions. The normal tender process is to pick up a ticket in the Eataly Steakhouse on Deck 7 between 8:45am and noon. The first tender aboard on GSC was scheduled for 9:30am.

 

Our directions stated, "Guests who have purchased one of our shore excursions do not collect a tender ticket. Please present your excursion ticket directly at the tender embarkation area on Deck 5 to proceed ashore"

 

I highlight the above for both information and warning. This is not what happened in actual practice! My read of the above statement is that excursion tickets function like priority boarding, hence the reason you don't get a tender ticket.

 

We tried to make our way to the tender excursion area, only to be met with wall to wall people crowding the stairs on Deck 6, 5 and 4 waiting to board the tenders despite what tender letters MSC had called or what tender letters the cruisers actually possessed. You couldn't find an employee to give your excursion tickets to as directed in writing. There was nobody working the lines to weed out those who had later tickets than what they were currently boarding. It was madness!

 

After about 1/2 hour wait in the cattle shoot, where people were literally packed shoulder to shoulder, we finally found an employee on Deck 5 and showed him our excursion tickets. He told us we'd have to continue waiting in the line with the people who had tender tickets that hadn't even been called[/b]. I pointed out to him what our information said. He didn't care and spoke loudly enough to make it seem to those around us that we were trying to get something we weren't entitled to. That was embarrassing, because we aren't like that. :o

 

People were complaining loudly about the crowding and pushing. We were packed in so tightly then, you couldn't back out even if you wanted to. He said to everyone, multiple times that it was NCL's fault that the tender process was such a mess. He said NCL didn't know what they were doing! :eek::mad:

 

This is crap, plain and simple. I was just at GSC on the NCL Pearl not six months earlier and then again a year and 1/2 prior. Tendering is never pretty, but I have never experienced anything like this. The problem was not the running of the tender boats. The problem was the lack of MSC guidance and supervision in the tender area! Simply stationing an employee at each entrance on Decks 6, 5, and 4 actually checking the tender tickets and turning away those who were not slated to go yet would have stopped this mess before it started. Once the word got out that they weren't actually checking the tickets, it got worse and worse. Tendering went fine in Grand Cayman, so don't know what happened here. NCL gets the point for tendering, and by all rights, I should even deduct points for MSC for making it so uncomfortable!

 

I don't know if it would have made any difference, but we had been up since 6:30am. Had we known MSC wasn't going to follow their own excursion tender written policy, we would have gone ahead to Eataly and gotten a tender ticket.