Review-MSC Divina Cruise 4-26-14

[papcx]

Jayne

 

 

 

The funny thing is that we too are a Jane and Richard and my Richard wears Hawaiian shirts on holiday all the time (as posters on here will testify)

 

 

 

 

 

Yes he does, and with a tan, he looks good in them!

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Jayne

 

This has to be my favourite review. Ever. For anything.

 

Thank you so much for the time and effort you have taken to do this. It is full of information and a delight to read. I am pleased you all had a great holiday and that you get what makes MSC different and special.

 

The funny thing is that we too are a Jane and Richard and my Richard wears Hawaiian shirts on holiday all the time (as posters on here will testify)

 

Again thank you very much!

 

Thank you for your kind words. That is too funny about our names. Small world. I don't mind the Hawaiian shirts. The one Rich is pictured in is one of his classier ones. I just don't like the ugly, neon colored ones he so favors! :eek:

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Yes he does, and with a tan, he looks good in them!

 

You really must have a tan to pull off Hawaiian shirts. Excellent excuse to book another holiday! :D

[papcx]

You really must have a tan to pull off Hawaiian shirts. Excellent excuse to book another holiday! :D

 

 

Rick has a good plan when it comes to tanning. Factor 2. Personally I'm a factor 50 type of guy. I don't really tan, rather I boil.

 

In other news my brother and SIL, who don't cruise, are also Richard and Jane.

[cateyes2u]

Jayne,

 

Loved your review.

 

Do you have any snapshots of the week's daily's. If some can you post them?

 

Thanks

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Jayne,

 

Loved your review.

 

Do you have any snapshots of the week's daily's. If some can you post them?

 

Thanks

 

Thank you very much. Yes, I took pics of all the dailies from our cruise. I posted them in this separate link.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2038959&highlight=dailies

 

I also posted the Kids' Club dailies in yet another thread. A search will find them. Enjoy!

[cateyes2u]

Thank you very much. Yes, I took pics of all the dailies from our cruise. I posted them in this separate link.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2038959&highlight=dailies

 

I also posted the Kids' Club dailies in yet another thread. A search will find them. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Thanks

[ioneblair]

Your engaging and informative review will help not only us CC members but our family and friends cruising with us (those non CCers)......there will be 4 cabins of us so thanks so much for enhancing our cruise :)

[ceetee]

Mrs Squirrel,

 

I was surprised to see on your first stop you did the culinary tour that I was looking at. The pictures are great and gave me a better idea if I wanted to booked this tour. Did you feel that you got all that was described on their website? Was the food too spicy as jerk can be? Was it priced well in according to what you got?

Any other hints or tips there?

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Mrs Squirrel,

 

I was surprised to see on your first stop you did the culinary tour that I was looking at. The pictures are great and gave me a better idea if I wanted to booked this tour. Did you feel that you got all that was described on their website? Was the food too spicy as jerk can be? Was it priced well in according to what you got?

Any other hints or tips there?

 

It was more than we expected from the description on the web site and what we paid. Truly a wonderful experience and tour! The food samples were not tiny little taste samples like you get at a grocery or wholesale club. They were more like appetizer sizes. You will be stuffed. The only thing spicy was my husband's fish portion, because he mentioned he liked hot peppers, so the vender put in some Scotch Bonnets with his portion. Nobody else's fish was spicy. Even the jerk was toned down for us tourists. They did provide hot sauce with the jerk for those who wanted it spicier.

 

To compare, we are looking at a culinary tour in Nassau for our cruise next year. It is the same number of stops we made in Falmouth, but $69 per adult instead of the $45 we paid.

 

Go hungry is my number one tip. We also had a group who really appreciated learning about other cultures, as the group, itself, represented at least five different cultures on its own. I do think the more interested you are in learning, the more you'll get out of the tour and the more the guides will put into it.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Mrs. Squirrel

[jkgourmet]

Mrs Squirrel, I've followed and enjoyed this thread. And appreciate the time you spent on this. Im sure our September msc cruise will be enhanced by what you have shared.

 

Woukd you mind reposting the link or name if the culinary tour? Or the post number it appears in during this VERY long thread?

[cruiserlori]

Thanks for the great review. It's good to see there are some "normal" people that sail on MSC. I was beginning to get scared that there are so many argumentative posts on these boards! We are looking forward to our first MSC cruise in August.

 

Two questions: do you happen to have the dinner menus? I checked in your signature, but don't see them. Would you mind to provided the link, if I did overlook it?

 

Will the kids program allow children to stay onboard on port days, if an excursion is NOT booked through the cruise line? I see in the dailies you posted (thank you!) that they will allow it if booked through MSC, but what if booked privately, or just going ashore on our own?

 

Thanks again for the informative, and positive attitude, review. :)

[nevergrumpy]

Have enjoyed reading your review very much, and looking forward with great excitement to our trip on Divina in October :)

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Mrs Squirrel, I've followed and enjoyed this thread. And appreciate the time you spent on this. Im sure our September msc cruise will be enhanced by what you have shared.

 

Woukd you mind reposting the link or name if the culinary tour? Or the post number it appears in during this VERY long thread?

 

Thank you. :) The tour is a joint partnership between Falmouth Heritage Walks and Jamaican Culinary Tours. This is the link to book the tour:

 

http://www.jamaicaculinarytours.com/home

 

This is the link for Falmouth Heritage Walks. They do a couple non-food historical tours.

 

http://www.falmouthheritagewalks.com/

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Thanks for the great review. It's good to see there are some "normal" people that sail on MSC. I was beginning to get scared that there are so many argumentative posts on these boards! We are looking forward to our first MSC cruise in August.

 

Two questions: do you happen to have the dinner menus? I checked in your signature, but don't see them. Would you mind to provided the link, if I did overlook it?

 

Will the kids program allow children to stay onboard on port days, if an excursion is NOT booked through the cruise line? I see in the dailies you posted (thank you!) that they will allow it if booked through MSC, but what if booked privately, or just going ashore on our own?

 

Thanks again for the informative, and positive attitude, review. :)

 

Have enjoyed reading your review very much, and looking forward with great excitement to our trip on Divina in October :)

 

Thank you both for your kind comments. :)

 

I did not take pictures of the menus. I do remember that someone from MSC posted menus on this board. Maybe try searching CC for 'Divina menus'? I also did a Google search before our cruise and found some menus posted on Pinterest that I was able to view even though I don't have a Pinterest account. That was also how I found the name of the dishes we'd had in Eataly.

 

As far as the Kids' Clubs, I don't know the answer to your question, as we didn't actually use the Kids' Clubs. Can anyone else chime in?

 

I only picked up the Kids' dailies to see if there was anything interesting for my son to do when we brought him on Divina in the future.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Mrs. Squirrel

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Your engaging and informative review will help not only us CC members but our family and friends cruising with us (those non CCers)......there will be 4 cabins of us so thanks so much for enhancing our cruise :)

 

Thanks again. Please come back and tell us what you thought after your cruise. :D

[JK300]

Jayne, thank you very much for your extensive and informative review and of course for the many many beautiful pictures. It's a pleasure to read, so looking forward to your next review.

John

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Jayne, thank you very much for your extensive and informative review and of course for the many many beautiful pictures. It's a pleasure to read, so looking forward to your next review.

John

 

Thank you. Happy Sailing!

[moomoocow]

Thanks for the great review. It's good to see there are some "normal" people that sail on MSC. I was beginning to get scared that there are so many argumentative posts on these boards! We are looking forward to our first MSC cruise in August.

 

Two questions: do you happen to have the dinner menus? I checked in your signature, but don't see them. Would you mind to provided the link, if I did overlook it?

 

Will the kids program allow children to stay onboard on port days, if an excursion is NOT booked through the cruise line? I see in the dailies you posted (thank you!) that they will allow it if booked through MSC, but what if booked privately, or just going ashore on our own?

 

Thanks again for the informative, and positive attitude, review. :)

 

Here you go!

 

http://www.pinterest.com/msccruisesusa/msc-divina-main-dining-room-menus/

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Steftacular]

Did I read correctly that you wore your theme night outfits to MDR dinner? For some reason I only recall getting dressed up for theme nights post dinner. Also, I read in a CC article that says after 6pm Jeans, tshirts and shorts are not allowed in public areas... that just seems crazy! Did you experience that at all? Thanks for your review and any input :)

[jamon]

Thanks for the great review and info...

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Did I read correctly that you wore your theme night outfits to MDR dinner? For some reason I only recall getting dressed up for theme nights post dinner. Also, I read in a CC article that says after 6pm Jeans, tshirts and shorts are not allowed in public areas... that just seems crazy! Did you experience that at all? Thanks for your review and any input :)

 

We didn't actually wear theme clothing, as we were trying to pack as light as possible for our self-assist debarkation. I did report the theme nights on this review and what they did in the MDR for those themes. Not a lot of folks dressed in the themes, but those who did wore their clothes to dinner. MSC does not really promote the theme nights, pre-cruise, so I don't believe most cruisers know about them until onboard. If you want to wait until after dinner, that works too. There is no fashion police to bust you for shorts or Tees after 6pm, but you will not have much company. We did see some wearing jeans in the MDR for casual nights, but it was a rarity.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Thanks for the report!

 

Thanks for the great review and info...

 

You are both welcome. :)

[g8rfan94]

Not a lot of folks dressed in the themes, but those who did wore their clothes to dinner. MSC does not really promote the theme nights, pre-cruise, so I don't believe most cruisers know about them until onboard.

 

I have seen other posters say this as well over the past few months. It would seem to me that if MSC wanted to have a "theme night", then wouldn't it kind of make sense to let cruisers know about it before hand so they can be prepared for it if they choose to be? At least the CC people who read these threads are privy to it. But the other 3000 people on board will be fairly clueless while everyone else will be in Black and White or any of the Italian flag's colors and wonder how or why they didn't know about it.