MSC Divina W.Caribbean Cruise 05/03/16 with 3 days pre cruise stay Miami review

[cruisinfanatic]

don't stop now

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[maureencruiser]

Great review so far. I'm such a dork, I love seeing pictures of everybody's cruise. :D:D

[stuart2468]

Well guys, i'm back. I cant apologize enough for the lack of a daily update to my review. However i suddenly have a huge amount of respect for those that do these. Its so hard finding both the time and the internet point to be able to upload the pics (the pics take so long to upload on the ship WiFi, which is extremely expensive)

 

So i'm back, and once i've got all the pics off Matt's camera i will continue on and try to answer all questions i can

[stuart2468]

Stuart, the ship looks lovely. Keep posting those pics and comments. I hope you get time to post some info on my favorite room on board, the steam and sauna rooms.

Sorry you will miss Garcias this time around but keep the info under your hat for the next Miami tour.

 

Armando & Maria.

 

Some to come on the Spa..... Although not so many pics i dont think.

 

Yes, its on my list of places to dine in for next time.... And there will be a next time!!

[stuart2468]

This is an awesome review so far! Thanks so much! :) We have a Fantastica balcony booked for DEC this year, but are thinking about upgrading to Aurea....did you feel the price difference was worth it? :)

 

I cannot recommend enough the upgrade to Aurea, providing the price is competitive enough. I will look for this package in future.

 

To give some perspective between the packages:

 

Drinks package. On the more for less you are even able to drink Prosecco

Choice of massage. We had the Bali massage and hot stone (more info to come later)

In room tickets for Tender days. First off!

My time dining

 

We only paid approx £50 more per person than Amy & Neil did on their Fantastica Balcony

[stuart2468]

Great review and pictures, can't wait for more! is there any possibility that you could let me know if iced tea, lemonade, water, etc. are available free in that buffet or elsewhere all day? What free drinks are available with dinner in main dining room. We will be traveling with 3 teens this summer and trying to figure out drink packages as well. Ist time on MSC so any info would be great.

 

Deb

 

No problem. I will try to answer all i can.

 

Breakfast & Lunch: Teas, coffee milk & Flavored water all free.

Lemonade/Sprite would fall under the sodas and is chargeable.

 

Dinner: This is where it becomes murky. Myself & Matt obviously had the More for less package. Amy & Neil had the 18 tickets package. We had wine & sodas for the table As well as bottled water (we actually were given water from a jug on the first night, which we took to be free and wasn't on my drinks 'bill' at the end but once the waiter realized i had Aurea, we had bottled water thereafter) All drinks for the table were charged to my card so in effect free. Now whether this applies to all tables or not i'm not sure. But Amy & Neil drank under our package for the week at the MDR

 

More for less drinks package was superb. Lager, Beer, Spirits (Names such as Gordons, Smirnoff, Absolute, Martini, Bells) Also most cocktails, Prosecco, sodas, Ice cream. And i also believe Coffee (although i don't drink it so never a need to check that) This package on board is $45 per day, + 15% gratuity. (Caribbean Sailing)

 

The 18 ticket booklet gives all of the above based on 1 drink per ticket. I believe this was $84 + 15% Gratuity

 

Quite a few times, out in all the normal bars, the waiter would take just 1 card for all 4 of our drinks. Alcohol included. However this wasn't consistent around the ship so i think the rule is only 2 drinks per card. Some waiters don't adhere to it however.

 

Hope that helps

Edited March 14, 2016 by stuart2468

[stuart2468]

don't stop now

 

lol..... I will be continuing as soon as i have all the photos. The review will be finished.... promise!

[ferniedog]

Great review fellow Brummy. We loved divina and preziosa, on Fantasia this may for a loop around the med.

[stuart2468]

Great review fellow Brummy. We loved divina and preziosa, on Fantasia this may for a loop around the med.

 

A Brummy too? Superb.

 

Yes we loved Preziosa. This was our first ship. Divina is equally as spectacular, however (and as i will explain later) A couple of things let her down a bit. Nothing major, and didn't spoil the holiday either, but things to improve on for sure.

 

Enjoy Fantasia. I'm trying to push us to do Meraviglia Next.

[ferniedog]

6 weeks to go and YC, can't wait to get to the top sail lounge. We did normal cruise on preziosa and you would not know YC was on board. But we missed that top sail lounge and pool deck

[hollon]

I can't see the pictures, anybody else having trouble?

[Essiesmom]

No pictures here tonight, either. EM

[kikki21]

I can't see the photos either! :(

[stuart2468]

OK, i dont know what the problem with the pics are. I can see all the Miami ones, but the problem seems to start with the pics taken on the Ship.

 

Im going to continue with the review from the first ship day and see if they upload correctly, and then i will upload all the ship pics i have at the end of the review so all can see them

 

hope thats ok?

[stuart2468]

Day 4 - continued

 

These were the Daily Programs & Specials given for each day. They are in your cabin the night before, but this being embarkation day, they were in our room waiting for us when we entered our rooms. I will display the daily's at the beginning of each days posts.

 

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I hope the pics are all readable enough. Feel free to ask questions if you need additional help

Edited March 20, 2016 by stuart2468

[stuart2468]

Day 5 - Sun Sea and not a lot else!

 

Todays Programs:

 

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[BermudaBound2014]

This is terrific! Keep them coming please :)

[stuart2468]

Day 5 - Continued

 

So, we were awake early agains this morning. I still hadn't gotten used to US time and my body come 5am was awake. The morning was clear, and so i made use of the balcony and went and sat waiting for sunrise. I wasn't disappointed either

 

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Breakfast in the buffet was impressive. There was a huge variety, and i think its fair to say all stations were open throughout the cruise. My morning meals mainly consisted of plenty of eggs, fruit & yoghurt. There was always 3 varieties of omelettes, scrambled eggs, Fried & hard boiled. Plenty of pastries, and a huge variety of fresh fruit. Breakfast was probably the best meal of the day in the Buffet. And although the cruise was almost full, we never had problems finding a table or having to wait for food to be replenished.

 

After feeding our stomach we returned for a day of sunbathing. It was a welcome chance to recharge the batteries. Come 10am, the first cocktail arrived. The delicious Blue Hawaiian. Hmmmmm

 

Around mid afternoon, we attempted a dip in the pool. The one thing about the pools onboard the MSC ships is they are Salt water pools. Im more a fan of a chlorine pool, but i can live with salt. Amy however has issues with her skin when in salt water so didn't stay with her legs dipped for long, and so instead we took a trip up to one of the Hot tubs. I could sit in a hot tub for hours....... and at times on this cruise i did so.

 

Because I'm quite a nosy type of person, i took a walk up to the solarium deck reserved for us Aurea people. Compared to the main deck area it was quiet and peaceful. You have the Hot tub up there which at this time was empty, and also a bar serving drinks like Beer, lager, Spirits & soft drinks. There's also an area for smokers if this is your thing.

 

Neil had mentioned to me at lunch that he would quite like to visit the Silver lounge at about 5pm. They were organising a get together of LGBT members aboard the ship. I hadn't noticed it in the program but i think Matt had and so we said yeah we're happy to go. Little did we know though that Neil only actually wanted to do a walk past to see who was there and that's literally all he did before heading back to the room. Myself and Matt decided to stay and see who was also sharing the cruise with us. Sadly there were very few of us aboard. The only other person to turn up was a guy call Balazs. A Hungarian guy actually sailing as a tour rep for a group of 30 people. A great guy that we would later spend some time with.

 

At about 5.15pm, we took a walk back to the room to begin the grind towards looking presentable. It was to be our first Gala night and so needed as much time as possible to get ready and make ourselves look presentable. As i mentioned previously we were on the first sitting, which on this cruise is 5.45pm, too early as it would turn out with our port stops. The grind would need to be a quick on.

 

I took photos of the menu on this sitting, however i failed to remember on any other sittings (remember I'm a novice. I will improve for the next sailing)

 

Tonights Menu

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After the show, we went to the casino. Im not a huge Gambler, but i do like to play the roulette table. So we found a table that was free, sat down and bought $20 worth of chips. By the end of play, about 30 minutes, i had $100 worth of chips in my had. I decided to come away from the table at that point, and keep the chips until later in the cruise to see if i would win any more.

[stuart2468]

Day 5 - Continuned

 

Some pictures of the show The Amazing Mask

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After the casino we took a seat in the Golden Jazz Bar. We found ourselves in this bar quite a lot during the week. The singers here don't actually sing a lot of Jazz, however this was never a problem. They were good singers, a duet, and voices complimented each other well. Carey & Daniel were there names. Carey had such a lovely voice that had a hint of country and western about it. Daniel was a very good guitar player too. A popular venue.

 

Later on in the night we walked towards the Black & white lounge where we were told it was Officers & gentleman night. The ladies had the opportunity to dance with some of the officers aboard.

 

As we strolled through the photo gallery, there was a table of cameras on sale. I had looked in duty free prior to flying to Miami to see what the cost of a waterproof camera was. Too expensive even at duty free prices. The ship had a couple that seemed to offer a good specification for a fairly reasonable price. So, because i had $100 of chips in my pocket from my casino win, i decided to buy the camera for $149. Turned out to be a very sound investment for our day in Ocho Rios.

 

Back in the Black & White lounge, we had a few drinks and enjoyed the music. Then the officers were paraded, and for about 4 songs, the ladies of the room were offered the chance for a dance. Amy took full advantage and was up there for the last dance.

 

Black & white Lounge

 

At this point we were pretty exhausted so around 11pm, we headed back to our rooms for a fairly early start. We knew Jamaica the following day was going to be a long one and as mentioned before, we still weren't sleeping like sensible people do.

[stuart2468]

Day 6 - Ocho Rios

 

Due to weather, the decision was taken prior to departure that we would instead call at Ocho Rios, Jamaica as apposed to Falmouth. This worked out well for us as we no longer had to have a long journey on our tour.

 

Daily's -

 

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The review will continue Wednesday evening. Matt is taking the Laptop to London for a few days for work. Sorry. Will be able to ask any questions though.

Edited March 20, 2016 by stuart2468

[nikkiw60]

Loving your review! Re gala night did everyone get dressed up?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[stuart2468]

Loving your review! Re gala night did everyone get dressed up?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Many people got 'dressed up', however not so many in the Tux. Most men wore a Suit, I noticed a lovely American Lady in a beautiful red and gold Chinese inspired dress. And the Japanese were wearing their Kimonos.

 

Sadly a few let the side down. I noticed as we were walking out of the MDR on the second gala night that a couple tried to enter the MDR in shorts t-****s and trainers. They were sent away thankfully and rightly so too. If you don't wish to take part in gala night then go to the buffet!

[nikkiw60]

Hi Stuart next question! As a fellow Brit what is the procedure re passports when disembarking in Jamaica etc? Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Darcy15]

You all look very smart indeed! :)

 

Lovely photos, and many thanks for your review :D