My Divina review 12/6/2016

[milocoman]

Pics look good on my phone as well. Will keep reading as you post but we finally are flying down today and cruising out tomorrow.

 

 

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[mnolan770]

Thanks for the review. My wife and I have cruised with Celebrity, RCL, and HAL. We haven't cruised in a few years due to several cross country moves and then having our first child 11 months ago. A real shocking life change since we are both close to 50. I started looking at cruise lines that make it easier for parents with young children and MSC popped up in my search. I had no idea they were even in Miami. Pricing looks great. Kids cruise free. I'm looking at the same cabin layout you were in. Happy it has two rooms so we can let him sleep in his pack and play in the living room while we hang out in the bedroom. And it has a tub. Great for his baths.

 

Thanks for all the great info.

 

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[milocoman]

In the Sports Bar now. Thanks for the tip first ones here. Getting on the ship was an absolute breeze with Aurea priority embarkation. We probably spent 45 minutes in lines and just like that we were on the ship!!

 

 

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[edspec]

Second the thank-you for Sports Bar tip. We will be using on 4/15 if still available.

[Crzyfrk62]

Great review!! Made me feel like I was right there with you on that cruise..... wait I was!

I had the best time and sure enough Sunday I ended up with an awful cold/sinus thing- not the flu. From a lack of adult beverages maybe? No more being catered to a possibility? Anyway, it's hard getting back from such a wonderful vacation.

I'll try posting a review and pictures soon but I'm enjoying your review for right now.

The slot pull was a total blast!!

 

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[lisamarieh]

***Day 8 Grand Turk Island***

Sorry it has taken me so many days to get back on here to finish this review. I have been catching up at work after being gone from there for 17 days and I am still battling this crazy, what Brad and I have been calling, the Italian bird flu. I cannot seem to shake it but I have been soldiering on at work and dealing with the whole week before Christmas. When I get home at night, I literally pass out. With preparations for Christmas dinner on the stove, I figured I had some time to write about Grand Turk.

 

We went to bed the night before and figured we would get up and have breakfast in the MDR. Well, naturally, we overslept. So, just as we were pulling into port, Brad ordered room service while I got ready for the day. They told Brad that it would be about 20 minutes for it to be delivered. Well an hour later, the room service still had not arrived. We decided we weren't going to wait any longer so Brad tried to call and cancel. No answer. We told the cabin steward what happened and said he would take care of it. We walked off the ship and out on to the pier and literally 2 minutes later we were on the beach. We didn't book any excursions for this port as they all were either only 1.5 or 2 hours long. The chairs and umbrellas on the beach were free so we figured we would just have a beach day. We did find out later that there is a small town inland a little bit and we were sorry we didn't go check it out. Oh, well. There will always be a next time as you, my fellow cruisers know. We discovered Margaritaville, which is right there on the beach and since we didn't get our room service and we were starving, we decided to have lunch.

 

We had a couple of drinks and burgers. Very good but what I would like to share is we were so hungry that after we ordered our burgers, we noticed that they had nachos. We decided that even though it was $22 for nachos with chicken, we would get an order. About 10 minutes later, a platter about the size of Brad and my head put together of nachos came out. I looked at the waiter and said, who is eating all of this? We dug into this mountain of chips and started to enjoy and within minutes out burgers were on the table. Brad stated to me that maybe the nachos should come with a warning that they will feed a family of 10. I told him that was what the price tag was!! Everything at Margaritaville was overpriced and delicious and I would not hesitate to go back. Next time, we will only order the nachos though!!

 

After lunch, we found a locker to put our things in, due to the fact that the chairs we found were not within sight of the water while we were swimming and the beach was very crowded. Also, be warned: there are people on the beach that will try to get you to come with them if they see you looking for chairs and an umbrella. They will want to take you to the area where those things are not free. Why would I pay when they are free everywhere, I just have to walk to find one? It seemed shady so I didn't feel comfortable with leaving all of our belongings so far away from where we were going to be. $10 for a locker all day plus a $5 key deposit you get back. We hit the water. It was beautiful. You are literally swimming almost next to the cruise ships. We stayed in the water for a while and then Brad suggested we get out and walk around the market area for a little bit. I could stay in the water for hours but Brad is usually good after a half hour or so. We dried off and went and checked out the little shops. Brad found a rosary he liked and I found a cute bracelet and matching necklace. After we were done, we found the pool at Margaritaville and there just so happened to be an empty cabana that no one was claiming so we figured if we weren't supposed to use it we would be told. The pool was ice cold but after walking around the market for about an hour, it felt nice to cool off. We stayed in this area for a few hours.

 

We both just though this was an amazing port. Once you got off the ship and walked through the Dufre store, everything was right there. The shops, Margaritaville, the beach, the pool and restrooms too! It was all so self contained. After the pool, we decided to go to the Dufre store and pick up a few bottles of local rum, one of the other things Brad likes to collect is rums from all the different places we have been. We then went back to the ship. Upon opening our room door, guess what we found? Our room service that we ordered that morning!! Later, our cabin steward told us it arrived about 15 minutes after we left. We dropped off our things and figured since we had a few hours before we had to start getting ready for the evening, we would go to the garden pool and bar for a while. I stayed in for about an hour and a half, Brad for only about a half hour, then out to get some drinks!!

 

We returned back to the room. One thing that I haven't mentioned in this review is how much Brad and I loved sitting out on our balcony. The table and chairs on this unique balcony were located on the bend of the front of the ship, closer to the front so when we would sit out there, we wouldn't see any other balcony or partition and there was no roof over head. We almost felt like we were on our own private yacht!! It was so cool!! At night I would go out there in the MSC provided robe and have to remember when it was windy to make sure I held it closed because the bridge is located above the balcony!!! We sat out there until we pulled out of port.

 

That night, I believe, was the night that the pirate show was happening in the theater. It was also a gala night, the last one. I remember this because I remember what I was going to wear that night. The dress I brought with me was the dress I wore when Brad and I got married 6 years ago. We both had been married before and decided we just wanted to elope to Las Vegas. I bought a nice dress that could be worn for other special occasions. it is a cream color because white...well that ship had sailed!! I also wore it 4 years ago when I walked my daughter down the aisle at her wedding. I took it out of the closet and immediately knew, just from looking at it, it wasn't fitting. As I have said, I love to cook and as a result, since Brad and I have gotten married, we have both put on close to 100 pounds each!! We have gained a person!! I am going on Tuesday afternoon after work to our local Planet Fitness and signing up for a membership. Next year on Seaside, I will be back to my pre- marriage weight!! Luckily, I packed almost my entire wardrobe, we had an entire suitcase just for shoes, so I had plenty to chose from as a back up outfit.

 

We went to the show and dinner. Again, I cannot remember the details of dinner except lots of wine and food!! After dinner, we took lots of pictures. By this time, I was tired of the casino taking my money and not giving me anything in return. We went up to the room and relaxed on the balcony for a while until we were ready to go to bed. The next day was an at sea day.

 

I might as well discuss day 9 here also since it was an at sea day. We had our massages again shortly after we woke up. On this day is the day I started with the dreaded Italian bird flu. The massage for today was a shell massage with hot oil. Nice and relaxing. After the massages we went to the steam room, which by now Brad renamed as the sweat lodge. I loved it because I was so congested and it seemed to help a little. I met a lady in there that had never been in a steam room. She also told me that she never had a massage and never did want to have one because she didn't want anyone seeing or touching her body without clothing on. I explained to her that the ladies doing the massages were very professional and discreet. You are covered with a huge towel and only the part of your body that is being massaged is exposed. Even when you roll over on your back, they hold the towel in the air in front of you so they aren't seeing you fully nude. She still wasn't convinced, I guess massages aren't for everyone though.

 

The rest of the day was spent eating and relaxing by the pool with a drink in hand. The Michael Jackson tribute show was tonight so as Andre, the cruise director warned, we were going to get there early. We sat in the front row last year and I intended to be in the same seats this year. Brad and I got ready and were walking in to the theater at 6:10 pm for the 7 pm show. We got the same seats as last year and sat down to wait. We watched a few people who were traveling together argue over the seats that one of the couples was sitting in .Apparently those were the seats the other couple wanted to be seated in and the other couple got there first and sat in them. There were almost all of the seats in the front row still available but these 2 woman were arguing over these 2 particular seats. So the mad couple came and parked themselves right next to me!! All I heard about for the next half hour was how she knew I wanted to sit there, blah, blah, blah.. I wish I was joking!! Anyway, the show started and it was great but I think it was better last year. They shortened it this year and took out the ending when "Michael" came out in the costume Michael Jackson wore when all over the performers got together in the 80's and did the USA for Africa performances. Last year he and the rest of the cast performed to "We are The World." They removed that from this performance and put it in the show on the next night but without Michael. The tribute show only lasted about 40 minutes so afterwards we walked around, making sure we had taken all of the pictures with all of the backdrops. There was a couple of new ones or at least new to us that we had missed on other days. Then off to dinner. It was beginning to feel like we were waddling back to the room after dinner every night, see above comment about joining the gym!! Bedtime for us, next day was Nassau. We had no intention of getting off the ship but after we received our daily program with the tourist warning on the front, that killed any idea of changing our minds.

[lisamarieh]

A couple of pics from Grand Turk.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161225/3f56bb640f80a87ef56f7bdfa208cb16.jpg

 

 

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[lisamarieh]

 

 

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[lisamarieh]

A couple photos from the Michael Jackson tribute show

 

 

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[ykennedy35]

I just booked that same stateroom for the November 2017 sailing. I can't wait. We had a similar room on Celebrity Cruise lines so we are excited. What is great is that this one seems to have two tvs so the kids won't be the only ones to get a break in front of the TV.

 

Great Review. Thank you.

[lisamarieh]

You will love that suite!!! We loved sitting in the front part of the balcony when we were in ports or leaving out of ports. It is so private that it feels like you are on your own private yacht. There are 2 TV's but the channel line up is pretty limited. We rarely had time to turn them on except when we would lay down to go to bed or in the mornings before we would pull into ports to see where we were. Have a great cruise!!!

[rojoand8]

When you bought the 3-session spa treatment with the spa dr I laughed so hard. My husband and I call it "vacation brain". We buy things on vacation that we want but would NEVER buy at home--like a 6 carat tennis bracelet in St. Thomas one trip and an expensive "dancing diamond" necklace in Nassau on our last cruise last October. It sounds like I'm the only one that has the affliction-- but no, he got a couple of large diamond rings too (up until then he didn't even wear rings). I guess something on vacation tells us that what we put on the credit card on vacation doesn't count. LOL. Looking forward to getting this little brain disease in October when we sail on the Divina. Thanks for your great review.

 

 

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[love2cruiseforfree]

love your review. we are seriously thinking of doing a MSC cruise for a while now....and now I know we are going.

 

question:

in your post...you state:

 

 

We had no intention of getting off the ship but after we received our daily program with the tourist warning on the front, that killed any idea of changing our minds.

 

 

what was going on in port? did they give any details. was that Nassau ?