Divina review 4/15 - 4/22

[Bagbklyn]

The ship. I have to tell everyone the ship's appearance is good. It puts all the other boats I have been on to shame. Again this only pertaining to the lines I have been on (Princess, NCL, CCL and RCCL. I couldn't find a rust spot on the exterior of the ship from the day of embarkation to disembarkation. I remember walking the life boat deck and saying ah ha I found a spot. I swear to you a crew of painters going to take paint elsewhere on the shop were walking and one of them stopped and painted the door hinge. The mirrors were cleans and so were the windows and glass. I remember being on-line at the kids club and another passenger was like even the glass door for the kids club is clean. You would expect to see fingerprints every where and that wasn't the case.

Fellow cruisers know that as you walk around a cruise ship you will find an empty bottle here, empty beer can there or pizza crust over there. Some cruise ships look like hangover morning. That wasn't the case on this boat and I think it has a lot to do with the demographics of the passengers. The ship was very clean and no complaints from my end.

Bathrooms- I'm picky with bathrooms. When I go to to Vegas I judge a casino/hotel by how nice their bathrooms are. My wife said the ladies bathrooms were fine. It wasn't the case for the mens lavatory. Speaking to other male passengers we felt the same way. I believe it has to do with the fact that there weren't any urinals in the men bathrooms. This means everyone used to the toilets which means either the boat was really rocking, only Men drink to get drunk or everyone should be a shamed of themselves and go and update your eye glasses or contact prescription. I almost felt like have the bathrooms had to be pressure washed. Again, i'm picky so it can just be me.

 

Layout - The layout of the ships doesn't make any sense in my opinion. There's countless pools and no maps in the elevator. I think passenger flow is critical to ship layout. When you get on a ship you make reference points and you use that for the rest of the week. The problem is that some of these reference points aren't accessible from the right/left side or front/back(Kept the terms simple). Sports club for example is on the right side of the ship and so are the photos. On the deck plans it shows it but you have to remember which side its on. Specialty restaurants impeded the natural flow of passengers. Once you get use to it . Its easier but still not easy to navigate. Going to the gym from one leave makes you feel like you're going to the yacht club because there's signage every for it but that wasn't the case. The theater was very comfortable. Broadway can learn a lot from MSC. I could have fell asleep in those chairs and my kids never became restless since the chairs were so comfy.

 

Elevators- I read so many reviews about these elevators and how rude people were and passengers wouldn't let people get off before entering. Let me tell you the reviews were spot on but here's why. It has to do with the layout of the main elevators and the elevators themselves. The elevators banks are close but far. Something so simple make such a huge difference. MSC puts mirrors about the elevator banks arrows. What tends to happen is that people look at the reflection on top oft he elevator and think the elevator is actually going the opposite direction. Many people get on the elevator and instead of look like a food end up taking the ride.

Secondly there elevators are wacky. A lot of time the elevators will close on your before opening back up. Its as if the sensors don;t work sometime and it has to close on someone to actually make sure a person is there blocking it. We were on the 10th flr and tried to use the "secret" elevator as much as possible. By the end of the cruise I cracked a joke in the elevator while it was packed. I said to my daughter that our secret elevator isn't such a secret anymore. Everyone got a good chuckle out of that.

Third - The way the elevators are situated you have to stand back and centrally located to all the elevators. When you're waiting for the elevator its like hatching your bet and committing to these 2 or those 2. If you bet wrong by the time you get to the elevator if you aren't quick it will close. This is why people are always rushing to get on . They're afraid of missing it. Unless your standing in front of that lucky elevator you're rushing to get onto one. People aren't being rude. They're just trying to catch the NYC Subway(MSC elevator). We took the stairs often. Even with our 3 year old it was easier dealing with the stairs.

 

Slide - Disclaimer* I don't condone telling lies. The slide is a joke for younger kids. My daughter and other kids her size said it was slow. When I went down it was pretty fast for me. I'm 6'0 210lbs. I made a big splash at the end and kids and even the pool attendants loved it. Here's where my disclaimer comes in. For the kids club or this they don't verify the age. Do your 6 or 7 y/o a favor and say that they're 8. The age restriction on that thing should be 5 y/o. Its a travesty that they say you have to be 8 y/o to ride it. If your child has the height let ee ride. Again, just my opinion.

 

4-D - My daughter loved the 4-d show. Its best to get the package for $60 as it applies to the entire cabin for all activites excluding arcades. Unfortunately, all the chairs weren't working when we were onboard. Try to go to here on island days. At sea it tends to be busy.

 

F-1-The f-1 experience is a lot harder then it looks and it made me nauseous. Being 6'0 it was difficult for me to get into and it was manual shift. Many people just stayed in one gear the entire time.

 

Bowling - I think out of allels in spanish but the the activities included in the package this was the most fun. Only 1 lane was open when were on-board. IT best to go here right after breakfast as the bowling alley itself is open 24 hours. The sport bar open up at 11. We went there around 10:15 and had the sport bar and the bowling lane all to our self. Im not sure why the sports bar isn't closer to the top of the ship.

 

Arcade. There's 2 areas for arcades. One is on level 16 by the simulator and the other is by the casino

 

Casino- I have to tell everyone I love the casino for one fact only. It's non-smoking. I will tell you why. On every other cruise ship you can smoke in the casino. This was always bad for me because I would tell the wife i'm going out for a late night snack and then I would come back smelling like cigarettes and she would say how much did you lose? Now, she had no clue :D

 

 

 

Cabin - We looked out and hand 10128. Which was a handicapped accessible room. This felt like a palace. Especially with 2 kids. The family loved it . Like others have said the beds and the pillows are so comfy. The curtains are something that is overlooked on other cruise ships. The curtains were truly black out. We really couldn't tell what time of day it was or if the sun was out or not. Its also great that the balcony doors are sliding as we slept with them open every night. The TV channels in Spanish but the cartoons were in English so that was a plus for the little ones. You can also see your account balance for everyone in the cabin on the screen. One nice think MSC had was liquid soap for the hands. This was a nice feature since we normally bring out own liquid soap from home. In my opinion the liquid soap in the public smelled and felt nice than then ones in the cabins. I did ask on day one for the cabin attendant to clear out the mini bar. He cleared it out and put in on the counter. I had to move it because that defeated the purpose of clearing it out so the kids wouldn't eat it. Now it was right in their face. Also, like others have said the cabin could be prepped a little better. Some parts of the cabin was out of sigh out of mind. You can see that dirt has been accumulating there for a while and hasn't been touch. The room attendant did a great job but I think if he had a team or assistant, MSC would be able to take up, that extra notch.

 

Next up communication or lack there of...

[Bagbklyn]

Okay . . . Loved the kids club review. It was worth the wait ! Thank you for sharing the copy of the program . It seems to be very Easter specific , but one question please. . . Can you tell me anything about the Unicef parts ? Is this some part of the worldwide charitable organization ?

 

TIA

 

Yes it is part of UNICEF and all the kids get a certificate. What they don;t tell you in advance is that you need to send the kids to the UNICEF art& Craft because if ties into the UNICEF parade. so if you over looked those other parts and tried to bring your child to the parade they can attend but would be out of place. Looking at it now. The family activity time should be called "pick up your kids when we're done time" Also, I didn't see any smurfs. Maybe someone else did but I didn't.

[Bagbklyn]

I dont know whats wrong with ham on Pizza and they do have every day choice in menu.:confused:

 

I have no issues with ham on Pizza. Serving it on a kids menu is the problem. My daughters are 6 and 3. I don't think they've been to a party that served pizza with ham on it.

On the formal night the every day menu wasn't available. Squared that away with another poster who was on the same cruise. He said 5 out of the 7 nights every menu was there. The 2 nights I went to the dining room were the formal nights

[jdrouin]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review! Can't wait to sail in June!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Bagbklyn]

Communication - It may have been me but I don't they communicated well at all. What I mean by this is that you really didn't know what activities they had for the day. The daily planner was there but after that the cruise director wasn't always on the overhead system stating the daily activities. On other cruise lines it use to annoy me but I kind of missed it.

I had the fantastica drink package that included 12 free vouchers for everyone in the room. I read that some went to the casino to get the pre-paid package and some received it in their cabin. I asked the cabin attendant about it and he said he didn't have it. I said fine, I will ask the crew and the cruise critic meet and greet. They looked at me like I had 10 heads when I asked about the vouchers. They said go to the receptionist desk. I went to the reception desk and they told me to go to the casino bar that is upstairs. I went there and the bar was closed. I went later that night and they had the vouchers. I didn't get my vouchers until the evening of the 2nd day of the cruise.

I did a status match prior to the cruise but still got the regular color room key card. I had to show the voyagers desk my email and they made a call and updated it and then I went back to the reception area and they printed out a new gold card. Do yourself a favor and either print out everything or have it accessible via email.

I told my daughter that where was going to be cooking on-board for kids in the kids club. It turns out that they played with flour and trough it up in the air and it got in the girls hair. Yup, really fun times :(

 

Conclusion - You can take everything I said with a grain of salt. It's just my opinion and I have highlighted some points that I like and more that I didn't. I think a cruise is a cruise is a cruise. In life and work I always say its all about expectation. If I told you the elevators are like NYC mass transit then you set your expectation to such. Setting your expectation helped me immensely and I have to thank cruise critic for that.

One would think with the review that i'm never going to sail MSC again. It's the exact opposite. This is the first cruise that I actually booked another while I was onboard. I think MSC wants to makes a big splash in the US and they're trying. The pros of the cruise outweighed the bad. A lot of the cruise experience had to do with the other cruisers onboard. Even though many didn't speak the same language it wasn't a problem. Go in with an open mind and enjoy it.

 

PS: Many people on the last day were kicking themselves for not getting the photo package. You don't need 100 pictures but the price of 10 pictures surpasses the price of the package. MSC is losing money on this package but a lot of passengers thought it was a gimmick and there was a restriction. Any size picture, of anyone staying in your cabin including your family and embarkation photos (100).

 

Oh I almost forgot- Do not, Do not if at all possible take National, Alamo or Enterprise back from the cruise. Many will ask why? We got off the ship by 9:30. We didn't get on the shuttle until 10:50. Here's the problem and it may change or may not. MSC is docked at the second to last dock. This means that the Alamo/Enterprise/National shuttle sometimes or for us most of the time went to the other docks first before coming down to MSC.. To get on the shuttle you had to show your reservation and then the driver would allow you to come on board. This was the worse part of the cruise for my family and I. We felt like we were begging to get onboard. People were thanking the driver because they were waiting for so long. Alamo doesn't have enough buses to support the busy weekends going back and forth to the airport. I was about to take an UBER and come back for the family but that was going to be $25 and said it would take 30 min. I was also in the process of making an reservation for dollar or avis just so I can get to the airport after almost 90 min. The other companies came more often so if it's a few dollars different take the other companies. This might change if boats are re positioned but I doubt it. I should have put this in the MIAMI port section but I think this pertains to guest that are on MSC.

 

I hope this review helps anyone that may have had questions. Again a cruise is a cruise. Enjoy and have an open mind. If you have any questions I will try my best to answer.

 

Ben signing off!!

[jdrouin]

Thank you for the information on the vouchers and about printing everything out prior to the cruise.

Just a quick question...and I apologize if it's been discussed before but you wrote:

 

 

I did a status match prior to the cruise but still got the regular color room key card.

 

 

What is a "status match" ?

[Bagbklyn]

Thank you for the information on the vouchers and about printing everything out prior to the cruise.

Just a quick question...and I apologize if it's been discussed before but you wrote:

 

 

I did a status match prior to the cruise but still got the regular color room key card.

 

 

What is a "status match" ?

 

If you have a certain status on a different cruise line or hotel brand MSC matches your status. It's a pretty nice perk. The daughters love the chocolate covered strawberries.