Our Week on board the Divina

[nikkiw60]

Crème caramel, flan, or caramel pudding is a custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is pudding with a hard caramel top.

 

 

Yes but to make it you pour caramel into the bottom of the container then pour the Custard mix on top then when set you upturn the container and the caramel is then on top.

At least that is how we make it in the UK

 

 

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[tjwa]

Also ..... didn't mean to start a Creme Brûlée War. It just wasn't prepared the way I'm used to with a hard candy top

 

 

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Sounds like a creme caramel to me.

[nikkiw60]

Sorry Irenedee I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

 

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[Reds4life]

Well, all these caramel and pudding variations sound awesome to me. Call it whatever but I'm looking forward to all of them :) Now, another question, do they have steak or prime rib on the buffet? How about the MDR? Also, anything barbequed or grilled? What about shrimp? I haven't seen many menus with these items on them

[KCTC]

We are Canadians in our late 50's. We have enjoyed many cruises with what I call the US Branded Cruise Lines. We have had our most consistently enjoyable cruises on board the Celebrity Solstice Class ships. Thanks to this forum, I embarked on this our first MSC Cruise quite well informed. I was looking forward to experiencing "something different" and not necessarily trying to duplicate the Celebrity experience. I was curious to see what a European line would do differently and was it an improvement versus the US Branded Cruise Lines

 

Embarkation was typical of most cruise ship experiences. However instead of registering your credit card for your on board account at check in you must do so once you are on board at kiosk. This was in my opinion an unnecessary step and could easily be done at check in. We disembarked efficiently with only a 15 minute wait in the designated area.

 

We had a balcony fantastico class room - 12192 - which is the smallest size in that category. This means that the room lacked a sofa and was quite small in size. We knew this before boarding so it was not a surprise but it did mean that we had to be efficient with our space. MSC supplies a 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner, body wash and hand soap but all are in a pump format. Shower caps are provided but nothing else.

 

The room also had a faint sewer smell which we attributed to the drain in the bathroom floor. Our remedy was to use a damp facecloth to cover the drain and this seemed to work sufficiently. We could hear our neighbours on occasion through the walls. I would imagine this could be a challenge if neighbours were overly noisy. Ours were not, thank goodness.

 

The room was cleaned sufficiently twice a day. Towels were thick and of good quality but the pillows and bedding were not. The pillows were flat and our white bed linen, although clean had yellow stains. The balcony with two chairs and a footstool was small but adequate.

 

The Divina is indeed lovely, with many unique architectural features, the most notable being the famous crystal staircase. Lots of glass and mirrors which are always sparkling and clean. Vintage black and white photos of old Hollywood stars are posted all over the ship and were fun to look at. The layout of the ship however is not so favourable. All of the bars, main dining rooms, casino and entertainment areas are concentrated on decks 6 and 7 and this creates a bottleneck of people in the evenings.

 

There is no outdoor space for dining or sail away other than the pool deck or the garden pool which is also the smoking area. There were lots of smokers on board but they fortunately obeyed the rules and kept their smoking to the garden pool area. The coffee shop closes in the afternoon on port days until 4pm. I thought this was very strange and made it more difficult to use our Coffee Cuddle Package.

 

The so called walking circuit on deck 15, is so crowded with deck chairs that it is difficult to walk. Jogging would be nearly impossible. The gym is an average size. Like most ships, the treadmills are frequently in use. All free weights are in kilos and there were few lighter weights- I guess European women don't use free weights. Pilates and spinning classes were offered for a fee but they did not meet the minimum sign up to have the class. There is a daily stretch and aerobics class held on the pool deck.

 

There are 3 public pools as well as quite a few hot tubs. We enjoyed them one day when the ship was in port and most guests were ashore otherwise, good luck fighting the crowd

 

Bring your own books since the library, if you can call it that, is a few measly books tucked away in a meeting room of the disco. There was also no games room for those who enjoy puzzles or board games or cards.

 

Food at the main buffet was quite good especially if you enjoy pizza and pasta. Both are freshly made with several types to enjoy. Salad items were limited which was a bit of a disappointment but there certainly was a good selection of other foods to enjoy. In addition to the usual teas and coffee, the beverage area also provided two flavoured waters and lemonade.

 

Finding seating in the buffet at peak times, especially on sea days, was challenging. Those same peak times were a bit of a free for all - everyman for himself. Courtesy forgotten. In fairness, we've experienced this on other larger ships too.

 

We were assigned dinner seating at the Villa Rosa and at a table for 6. We enjoy meeting new people at dinner and given the multi cultures on board, we were looking forward to learning about the lives of people from another country Instead we were assigned two other Canadian couples to dine with. We enjoyed their company for sure, but a little bit of diversity would have been interesting. MSC made a big assumption that same cultures want to sit together.

 

Dinner at the Villa Rosa was average to good most nights. I did not have a problem with portion sizes but on the two Gala nights for some reason they remove the "Classic - or always offered" choices and instead promote expensive wines. This means there were only four entrees to choose from on gala night. I passed on dessert most nights - not because I don't like desert, far from it. The selections were biased to ice cream and were not particularly enticing. I missed my usual cruise ship creme brûlée but I did however partake generously with the cookies offered in the afternoon snacks.

 

Service was quick, almost rushed at times. Our dining time was 6pm. One evening our dinner mates arrived at 6:20. They were told they were late and could not order an appetizer which to their credit they ignored and ordered the appetizer anyway. The serving staff were polite but they did not seem to be experienced. Tables are crowed together and it's difficult to move across the room. Certainly not a fine dining experience.

 

We decided to book Eately on a whim on the last night. Food was fabulous, probably the best steak dinner I have ever had. Portion was huge - too much for me and when I ate only half the Maitre d' wanted to make sure I was happy with my meal. The service was professional and friendly. The decor however is a bit odd with its plastic chairs and paper napkins. There certainly is no ambiance to this dining experience but you will enjoy your meal.

 

The entertainment is first class. The talent of the singers, dancers and the production team is outstanding. The singers are classically trained and as long as the tenors and soprano stayed within their genre they provided an excellent show. It didn't translate so well to singing the hits of Queen - lol -except for Bohemian Rappsoday which fit nicely into their singing style. That particular moment was show stopping. I was greatly looking forward to the much hyped Michael Jackson show but I thought it was just ok.

 

Since there are 25 different languages on board according to the captain, entertainment is limited to singing, dancing and acrobats. In other words there are no comedians. Although we enjoyed the opera style of entertainment it did become a bit repetitive as the week progressed

 

I enjoyed a 55 min massage at the Spa as well as a 10 min deck ($10) massage both were well executed with no attempt to sell product. I had a shampoo and style and again I was very pleased with the results but the hair salon was more aggressive in the product upselling. The Spa and hair salon advertised excellent discounts in port days

 

The staff were not as friendly as our experience on other ships. I was passed many times by staff who did not say hello or good morning- a very usual occurrence on other ships. I don't have a complaint about the staff but they didn't stand out either.

 

The ship guests are from many nations and I had hoped to find some advantages in that but unfortunately that didn't happen. Most cultures kept to themselves probably because of language barriers but that same barrier also limited the on board entertainment

 

In summary, MSC delivered a good but not particularly memorable cruise experience. I could be enticed back with the right offer but I would likely not proactively plan to sail with MSC. I will likely still favour Celebrity Cruises.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. I hope you found it useful.

 

 

 

 

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Thank you for your review. We are booked for next January but after reading reviews I am worried we will be disappointed. I didn't realize there is no outdoor eating space. As well was their a sail away party? If so where was it if there's that little outdoor space. Glad we have a balcony.

 

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[CTBob]

On my Divina cruise there was a large contingent of Germans. I thought it would be fun to try and talk to them using my high-school German. After about two minutes I realized they spoke no English and my German didn't cut it so I thanked them and gave up. I did meet a nice couple from Canada. Actually I always seem to meet nice people from Canada and the UK with a few Australians in the mix. I need to learn more languages! Bob