Live from the Divina May 7, 2016

[maureencruiser]

My view while I ate. Head to the back, I'm telling you.

 

 

The Buffet Bar list.

 

 

 

Dang! I had planned to spend a large portion of my free time slicing meat! I'm gonna make sure the main office gets a strongly worded letter about this outrage.

 

A map of the lunchtime buffet, because it is quite extensive. It's smaller at night, because most people eat in the MDR, I guess.

 

 

[maureencruiser]

The kid's buffet is located right next to the aft bar. It makes sense to me, if I had kids, I'd want to be sedated, too. :p

 

 

 

 

I had promised to try some of the other wines on my package, so, I asked the bartender for whichever red wine my package covered, I know there are two, I said.

I know you want two, he said. :eek:

It's good when the bartender knows you better than you know yourself. :D This is La Terre Merlot, I've seen it described as La Terrible. It was OK, seemed to have a little more kick than my usual rose.

 

 

I ate my pizza and drank my wine, over looking the fruit station. I was so proud of them, making good, healthy choices.

Look at this guy! What is he, made of fruit?

 

[maureencruiser]

I have a Canon Dslr camera with the changeable lenses and my pictures come out weird.

 

 

In the end, I brought some fruit back to my cabin for snacking later.

 

 

And, Patch, I couldn't post last night, but, that was my problem, as well. I bought a big, fancy camera and never could do anything with it. This was back in the 80's. A simple camera that I can slip in my pocket or backpack is exactly what I need. Am I going to get National Geographic quality photos? No, but, I am going to get great photos (to me) that help me remember my cruises and I'm proud to hang up on my wall. This was my view off my balcony last night. I guess my zoom is stilll working OK.

 

[Essiesmom]

It wasn't you, Maureen...I couldn't get online last night either. Got that configuration message, too. Did we rock and roll last night? Not in my cabin...EM

[Yorkvillain]

 

I'm having a real hard time believing that you are an Irish girl from Boston.

[Travel57]

Maureen,

Does your cabin have a full size sofa? could you post an interior picture of the cabin? Thanks.

[ridge123]

Ridge,,,you will be e-mailed your boarding passes and luggage tags approximately 2 weeks before your sail date. You can show up to the port at anytime, however most pax show up around 12:00pm.

 

Thanks a lot! So that means we should get boarding passes and luggage tags soon.

 

Our cruise will sail off from Miami Port at 7:00pm. We will drive to Miami port. So what is the "last minute" that we are allowed to onboard?

 

Our dinning time is 6:00pm onboard. So for the first day, should we go to dinning room around 6? Or we have to eat at buffet because the cruise ship will sail off at 7pm?

[Mikesa1721]

Thanks a lot! So that means we should get boarding passes and luggage tags soon.

 

Our cruise will sail off from Miami Port at 7:00pm. We will drive to Miami port. So what is the "last minute" that we are allowed to onboard?

 

Our dinning time is 6:00pm onboard. So for the first day, should we go to dinning room around 6? Or we have to eat at buffet because the cruise ship will sail off at 7pm?

 

Ridge,,,you are required to attend the muster drill which usually occurs between 5:00pm and 5:30pm,,so you must be onboard before then. If you want to have dinner in the dining room you are certainly welcome to do that. We ate at the buffet the first night so we could be up on deck during sail away.:)

[barbatkins]

Really loving this review! I'm sailing with son, DIL and 2 grand daughters on June 4 th...

 

I just ordered that wine drinker tee shirt! Thought it was awesome.... I also was loyalty matched to Black Card. Did you get priority embarkation?

 

Thanks...Barb

[shukapaw]

Maureen, you're killing me!

 

We were booked on Divina for a week in June 2017 with one of those awesome deck 10, aft-facing balconies. Thanks to your excellent alcohol-fueled review and great pics we called this morning and booked a second week for a back-to-back cruising extravaganza.

 

Bet you can't hide anything onboard that'll still be there in 13 months. ;)

 

Brian

[Kruizin'Kath]

Ridge,

We are also sailing on the 21st. We had all our documents and luggage tags 4/28, the same day I finished our check-in. Maybe you ought to call MSC.

Kathy

[maureencruiser]

Maureen,

Does your cabin have a full size sofa? could you post an interior picture of the cabin? Thanks.

 

Yes, it does, I'll post some pics, before I completely trash the room.

 

I also was loyalty matched to Black Card. Did you get priority embarkation?

 

Yes, this time I did. Just be aware, they call boarding numbers. I wasn't handed a number this time, which I assumed meant I could just go ahead. I got to where the back up, was getting on the ship. They were calling 16 and the 17 and 18's were hovering like a pack of wolves. I thought I could just go up, so I did. I asked a man, flashed my Black Cruise Card and he waved me through. I asked him why they weren't announcing that Black could go on and he said, We did, a half hour ago. :eek: Son, I just got to the pier 10 minutes ago! :rolleyes:

 

Once in the terminal, there was a back up as they were forcing everyone to stop and have their picture taken. MSC, Please realize people are gonna be happier when they can get on the ship faster. I bet you would make more money from people on the ship, buying drinks, etc than you make by pissing them off, taking pictures. People, like myself, who want a picture will stop, please get the back up out of the terminal by letting others go around the photographers.

[maureencruiser]

So, after I posted this afternoon, I decide I needed a nap. :eek:

Three hours later, I emerged, refreshed.

 

 

Up to the buffet, I went, where I found some prime rib and some mac n cheese.

 

 

While I was eating, I heard chanting, coming closer and closer! That can only mean one thing, the Kid's Club was coming! :eek:

 

The little kids came first, followed by the bigger kids. The counselors take them to dinner so the parents can have a nice dinner out. (While I'm subjected to their kid's shenanigans ;)). I was careful to take a pic without showing any faces, so, the internet police wouldn't have me arrested.

 

[maureencruiser]

Apparently, they are having a pajama party, as even the counselors are wearing their PJs. Here is a counselor getting food from the buffet.

 

 

Apparently, the way it works is the counselors get the food, nuggets, fries, etc and throw it on the floor. Then, the kids have to fight each other for it, Lord of the Flies style. :eek:

 

At one point, they put up the barriers and I was trapped inside with the kids! :D Heck, I'll knock a bitch out for a nugget! :p Just kidding, don't write letters.

 

So, I decided to head back to my cabin to see how the sunset was gonna be and I found this friendly fellow.

 

 

I had brought some "supplies" with me, in case I got trapped out on my balcony.

 

[maureencruiser]

It was too cloudy for any kind of sunset, and there was a storm brewing out there, as well.

 

 

The moonrise was just beginning, though.

 

 

 

I've already shown you the moon, though, so, can you see the bright star off to the left of the moon? I'm gonna zoom in on that.

[maureencruiser]

Oops, CC is acting a fool, made me post earlier than I wanted to. Here is the pic where you can see a star, to the left and slightly down from the moon.

 

 

And, here is that star.

 

 

Holy Schmoly! I think I discovered another earth! Call CNN, call Neil Degrasse Tyson, call somebody! :D

 

So, that's it for now, I'm skipping the show tonight, it's just singers, I might see if I can get in a little night swimming. I have a friend who works on this ship, too. I spoke to him briefly yesterday, might see if I can find him tonight. ;)

[jewliana]

I am SO loving your review...your photos and your amazing sense of humor!! I will be so sorry for your cruise to end! You have brought me so much laughter over the past few days! I appreciate your effort So much and wanted to thank you!

[LMaxwell]

I ran into this man, I don't know who he is, but, I think he's quite mad.

 

 

Jaime (Jamie)!!!! One of the Entertainment staff that supported my daughter's quest for back packs for her school as prizes we won in Trivia and other games (see my review from March 19, 2016)

 

Jamie is a super nice dude and has a lot of energy.

 

Only two rules at his trivia.

 

1. No more than 6 people per team

2. If you think you are right and he is wrong, wait until the end and he will tell you why you are wrong.

 

:D:D

[Mikesa1721]

We had pizza and wine tonight Maureen!!! The owner is from Naples, Italy and was trained like the pizza chefs onboard MSC Divina,,,,,you definitely need to try this wine when you get back home though!!! It was insane!!!!

 

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[ridge123]

Ridge' date='

We are also sailing on the 21st. We had all our documents and luggage tags 4/28, the same day I finished our check-in. Maybe you ought to call MSC.

Kathy[/quote']

 

Really?! I finished our check in on 4/27. I only received an email " Web Check-in Confirmation" from MSC with an attachment about our information. Nothing else.

[ridge123]

Ridge,,,you are required to attend the muster drill which usually occurs between 5:00pm and 5:30pm,,so you must be onboard before then. If you want to have dinner in the dining room you are certainly welcome to do that. We ate at the buffet the first night so we could be up on deck during sail away.:)

 

Now I am thinking which dinning time is better, the first seating or the second seating? Our timezone is Central time. The first seating (6:00pm) seems a little too early. But the second seating (8:30pm) seems a little too late. Can you share your thoughts about how to decide which seating is better? What factors should I consider?

[maureencruiser]

I am SO loving your review...your photos and your amazing sense of humor!! I will be so sorry for your cruise to end! You have brought me so much laughter over the past few days! I appreciate your effort So much and wanted to thank you!

 

You're welcome! Thanks, everybody for the kind comments. I don't have time (or bandwidth) to respond to each one, but, I appreciate them all.

 

We had pizza and wine tonight Maureen!!!

 

Monkey see, Monkey do! :D

[ridge123]

Thank you, Maureen! Your posts make me smile. I love reading them. I will sail on the same ship two weeks later. I am looking forward to reading more from you!

[maureencruiser]

This is what the screen looks like that is monitoring your time.

 

 

You don't have to wait till your time is up. Whenever I hit "reply" on CC, it takes a minute or two to load, so, I'll hop over, reset my wifi for another 30 minutes, check FB, then come back to CC. When I logged on tonight, it asked me if I wanted to add another 500mb for $11. OK! :)

 

 

The Galaxy restaurant. I might use my free dinner coupon there, I planned to go tonight, since I wasn't going to the show, but, other things (pizza, wine) got in the way.

 

 

Like Beetlejuice, if you say pizza, wine, they appear. This was 8:55, last call for my package. I was so stuffed, I could hardly move.

 

The buffet dinner map.

 

 

Not a lot going on tonight, I didn't find my friend, so, I watched Minions up by the pool for a while. The Flower Glory party is tonight in the B&W Lounge, but, after standing there last night, I'm just not up for it tonight. I might go get some warm cookies, though, right LMaxwell?

 

So, for the poster who asked, here is a room tour, the rest of you can skip ahead. If you see anything naughty in the pictures, hey, what can I say, I gotta be me!

[Essiesmom]

The show tonight, Voices, was not only very good singing, but also some dancers. Be sure you brush up on your YMCA motions. They ended the show last night with it, and did it pre-show tonight. EM