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

[TipsyT]

I will turn this ship around if you boys don't play nice!

[lorenzod]

There is a slight difference from inserting your ENTIRE review and saying I did not like the cruise. The only reason one inserts their review is to discredit the one currently being written.

 

Back to the star of the show... Gambee!:D

 

I loved our cruise on MSC and addressed my review to Gambee, not you, because I wanted to share with Gambee that I had been on other MSC ships that had the exact same handicapped cruiser problems.

I am not intending to discredit Gambee's review but just agree with the problem of handicapped access.

Marsha:)

[ebay33]

You mentioned about the tips and not seeing it mentioned anywhere, but if you check post #7 on the first page of this thread, you'll see MSC recommends not tipping individuals. It is found in the photo at the very bottom left of the daily under the "Service Charge" section. Not saying I agree with that policy, however they do put that recommendation in writing.

[PalmBeachOrBust]

You mentioned about the tips and not seeing it mentioned anywhere, but if you check post #7 on the first page of this thread, you'll see MSC recommends not tipping individuals. It is found in the photo at the very bottom left of the daily under the "Service Charge" section. Not saying I agree with that policy, however they do put that recommendation in writing.

 

I think they meant instead if the daily service charge instead of in addition to

[the nurse]

Hey Gambee,

I have spent HOURS reading your review and loving every minute of it. We are sailing on the Divina, with friends and family, in October. I love your writing style and all of your photos. This the first time I have read any of your reviews and it looks like I'll have a few more to read now! Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.

I don't understand why people want to post negative things about your review. I'm of the opinion, if you don't like it, unsubscribe.

I do have one question for you, in some of photos I see a lot of empty chairs with orange towels on them. Do you notice a lot of "chair hogs" on this cruise? Does MSC discourage this? Oops, that was two questions. :)

Thanks again for writing such a great review,

~Terry

[maureencruiser]

I will turn this ship around if you boys don't play nice!

 

Cool, a back to back! :D

[#55worktoplay]

Agreed. But as I said, if I was going to shop on any ship, it would be on this one. As a matter of fact, I was actually looking at one watch. Everything looked great and the price seemed to be right. The only reason I did not purchase it, was because I could not do research on the price. I never buy anything unless I know I am getting the best deal. Now I am home and realized that it was actually about $10 below anywhere on land. Not a great deal, but a good one yes.

 

Hi Gambee, Great review as usual, hi to Mom.

 

Did you notice if they had any Gucci watches on board? If so, did you notice the prices being better than on land.

 

Thanks

[janeyzee]

 

LOVE this one! It's like an artist's painting. Can't wait to see San Juan in March 2015, leaving on Adventure of the Seas.

[janeyzee]

 

 

 

That's hilarious. It looks like those statues should be real-life size but I guess they are miniatures. The birds found a fun perch!

[cruisetrail]

 

 

This is simply HORRIBLE!

 

I won't post my close-up photos of Divina pools in my Divina Confidential review for privacy purposes (as it's a relatively recent cruise).

We rarely used the aft pool (supposed to be adult only) due to presence of kids.

I thought my photos were awful... But this crowd is beyond everything.

 

No order - that was the issue #2 on our cruise (#1 was poor food).

Edited September 6, 2014 by cruisetrail

[KuffMUp]

Thoroughly enjoying the review as always, Gambee. We also had the mailman as our guide in St. Maarten an he was a blast. I remember that topless women drink for free at the Sunset Bar at Maho beach. Just sayin' :D

 

I saw a few who drank a little too much there. Both hanging on the fence across the street. One with a short skirt forgot she was not wearing panties:eek: The other put her purse down and we watched it blow into the sea!!:D

 

Gambee - great review. We were considering a charter on Divina but I had absolutely no clue about the cruise line or ship. Thank you so much for your great review and great pictures!! I now have to read all of your other reviews!

[gambee]

I totally agree with you in regard to how the Divina is not for handicapped people of which I am a member at this time(I broke a vertebrae in my back). I have been on 3 different MSC ships and the theaters are al the same. Steps everywhere. They will have to fix this in dry dock. I even suggested that the last row of seats should have more breaks in the row so if you need to get in or out of the row it is easier for the handicapped person to get out. Also when were checking in the first day the handicapped line is the furthest line rather than the first line and no one was manning it and all the handicapped people were just stuck waiting until my husband showed up and he got action. Also even though we had requested help posing my wheelchair aboard no one from the ship helped. We had to rely on the passengers behind us to gang push me up the ramps. Also in the public handicapped bathrooms they did not have an alarm button for the handicapped person to push in case of emergency. These complaints were brought to the ship's attention in my cruise critic review. Other than these problems and the 5 hour delay to board because of a gas leak in the port our cruise was marvelous. I will attach my review. Have enjoyed reading yours especially the illustrative photos are a blast.

Marsha:)

 

 

Hello Marsha, I actually remember reading your review. I was looking around and read it. Very comprehensive and informative. I forgot that you were in the cruise with the horrible embarkation. Our captain actually made a comment about that cruise on the Q&A. He felt really bad about how everything was handled, but his hands were tied at the time. It was all about the port to decide everything.

[gambee]

Gambee: I meant no disrespect, just pointing out that you missed a lot of very unique things happening within each show. Of course shows as food is very subjective. I also agree with you about the coconut shrimp. I recall ordering one order at lunch and thinking it was so good that I asked for another helping and told them to forget my entree. It was that good and it came with a great dip with fresh fruit salsa which was a great pairing.

 

When they do it right, it is really wonderful. I enjoy most of their italian entrees. I also LOVED their baked Alaska. The best of any cruise line. Also, they have many different flavors, so ask your waiter if you would like another flavor. We had rum raisin and coconut and on the other cruise we had butter pecan and a pistacio. Fabulous!! They are one of the few that really light them on fire......

 

Ho disrespects taken, no worries. Like I said shows are very subjective. That baked Alaska situation actually irritated me. If the server had told us about we would have waited. But we were never informed, he told us there was a problem with that.

[gambee]

Hey Gambee first of all I love ALL of your reviews. We will be on the Divina in less than a month and love having a few insights on what to expect. I noticed you were using your cell phones to communicate with each other. I don't know if you are aware, but hotel keys and sea pass key cards don't mix well with cell phones. The more often you put the two of them together in your pocket, the greater the chance the room keys will get compromised. In the future you may want to invest in a nice lanyard.:)

 

It's kind of funny you mentioned that. I am not a fan of lanyards. Honestly, between the camera in neck and all the other equipment, that is the last thing I need (everything gets tangled). The thing is that the card was kept in the same pockets that I keep it on all my other cruises. Yes, I always carry my phone. For multiple purposes; notes, internet and music, and I had never had an issue.

 

What is really funny, is that my mom actually had a lanyard on this cruise. She bought a brand new one and was enjoying having it. The odd thing is that her card was the one that broke more often. It was clearly not our fault, it was something related with the card quality I think.

 

The really odd thing was that my uncle's card never broke and he mishandled that card a lot. He placed it near his phone, my mom's ipad, his chargers etc. I could never figure that one out.

[gambee]

You mentioned about the tips and not seeing it mentioned anywhere, but if you check post #7 on the first page of this thread, you'll see MSC recommends not tipping individuals. It is found in the photo at the very bottom left of the daily under the "Service Charge" section. Not saying I agree with that policy, however they do put that recommendation in writing.

 

Thank you for the note on that, I had not seen that before.

[gambee]

Hey Gambee,

I have spent HOURS reading your review and loving every minute of it. We are sailing on the Divina, with friends and family, in October. I love your writing style and all of your photos. This the first time I have read any of your reviews and it looks like I'll have a few more to read now! Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.

I don't understand why people want to post negative things about your review. I'm of the opinion, if you don't like it, unsubscribe.

I do have one question for you, in some of photos I see a lot of empty chairs with orange towels on them. Do you notice a lot of "chair hogs" on this cruise? Does MSC discourage this? Oops, that was two questions. :)

Thanks again for writing such a great review,

~Terry

 

Hello Terry, thank you for following along and your thoughtful post.

 

Yes, tons of chair hogs, pretty much the entire cruise. While MSC does have rules about this just like every other cruise line. The problem is that MSC does not enforce any of their rules! I am not sure why, but you can pretty much do as you will and never be told otherwise. To me it seems like a total disconnection from the crew, they just don't seem interested enough to interfere.

 

We never truly had a problem with it, we always found a chair here and there and dealt with it. For me it was more of a problem of the adult only pool, and how it is not enforced. They really need to get on top of this.

 

Have a great cruise!

[gambee]

Hi Gambee, Great review as usual, hi to Mom.

 

Did you notice if they had any Gucci watches on board? If so, did you notice the prices being better than on land.

 

Thanks

 

To be honest I did not notice any, but that does not mean they do not have them. I love Gucci watches, but I was not looking for them. I would imagine that they do have a few on board. As far as prices, I tried looking at them. But all the tags were hidden. I could only see the price one Nautica one, and it was comparable to on land prices. I still think that I could get it cheaper online somewhere.

 

Sorry, I wish I could be more helpful.

[gambee]

LOVE this one! It's like an artist's painting. Can't wait to see San Juan in March 2015, leaving on Adventure of the Seas.

 

Right? It came out so nice.

 

Have a great cruise!

[gambee]

That's hilarious. It looks like those statues should be real-life size but I guess they are miniatures. The birds found a fun perch!

 

I was waiting for someone to notice that :D

[gambee]

 

This is simply HORRIBLE!

 

I won't post my close-up photos of Divina pools in my Divina Confidential review for privacy purposes (as it's a relatively recent cruise).

We rarely used the aft pool (supposed to be adult only) due to presence of kids.

I thought my photos were awful... But this crowd is beyond everything.

 

No order - that was the issue #2 on our cruise (#1 was poor food).

 

 

Funny you mentioned the no order thing. Like I said, I think this is due to a total disconnection from the staff. It is almost like they just don't care about anything.

[gambee]

I saw a few who drank a little too much there. Both hanging on the fence across the street. One with a short skirt forgot she was not wearing panties:eek: The other put her purse down and we watched it blow into the sea!!:D

 

Gambee - great review. We were considering a charter on Divina but I had absolutely no clue about the cruise line or ship. Thank you so much for your great review and great pictures!! I now have to read all of your other reviews!

 

You're very welcome, glad you're enjoying it. Thank you for following along :)

[legion3]

Any idea when your blog rating will hit your blog for Divina?

[gambee]

Any idea when your blog rating will hit your blog for Divina?

 

The rating will be posted here right after I finish the review. I will start transferring the review soon after, but keep in mind that takes time.

[gambee]

Video Tour Review

 

 

I am starting this section with the video tour review. I will say from the start that this is not my favorite set of videos. There are several reasons for this. For starters, I was using a new lens, and I am not sure that I enjoyed it as much as the fish eye. Please give input on the lens situation. I also did the second half of the videos during a very busy time and it was rather hard to walk around. Also, I think the lens seemed to struggle under the low light.

 

Nonetheless, I am posting the video for everyone's enjoyment.

 

 

Video # 1

 

 

 

 

 

Video # 2

 

 

 

 

 

Video # 3

 

 

 

 

 

Video # 4

 

 

 

 

 

Please give me input on the lens, I am personally more inclined on going back to the fisheye one for future videos.

 

 

[gambee]

Continuing with the tour with the Fisheye lens.

 

 

 

You think it's easy to win, but it is really not. I got sucked into that evil machine, and she $2 away from me, lol.

 

 

This area came out really great with the fisheye lens.