MSC Divina vs. Norwegian Epic (Kids)

[rferrer00]

I'm thinking about switching from Norwegian Epic to the MSC Divina for an upcoming cruise to the Mediterranean. My kids are 7 and 10, and they are English-speaking (and American). Are the kids on an MSC ship less likely to speak English than on a Norwegian ship? Do the staff in the Kids program speak English?

[Happyreb]

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[outbackpaul]

Wow, I've been on two cruises and this is both of them. I don't have kids but I do know that the Divina seemed to do a lot with kids. That was one of the few positive things about the Divina. I just got off the Divina on Nov. 4th and found very few english speaking people.

[dexddd]

A couple things come to mind. Is MSC cheaper? MSC only has the one kind of lame waterslide and Epic has a whole waterpark. MSC has the inside pool. Are you sailing YC or Haven?

 

Unless much difference in price with kids that age I'd probably stick with NCL.

[thegraminator]

The kids club staff all spoke several languages , and the children there didn't seem bothered at all by the different languages spoken. My grandchildren are 8, 7 and 4 and we sailed the Divina this past July . They loved the kids club and all the activities planned . They are English-speaking Americans , but by weeks end had many non English speaking friends . Kids adapt easily .

[Pluto_fan]

We are also English-speaking Americans and have taken our three kids on three MSC cruises in Europe and two NCL cruises in Europe. Yes, the MSC kids' club staff speak English. Yes, a smaller proportion of the kids will be English-speaking on an MSC cruise than on an NCL cruise. This did not lessen our daughter's enjoyment of the club on MSC. There were some other English-speaking kids, and the activities planned could be enjoyed by everyone regardless of language. I would not let this be a deciding factor in which cruise you choose...you'll have a great time either way!

[Cafedumonde]

Our kids loved the epic. There is a lot on there for kids to do. I would only do msc verses the Epic if the price could not be beat..

[spidybabe]

Recently off the Divina, no children with us, but it appeared that there was a very intensive child program. There is even an ongoing MSC kids show (on cable- I think). The children also performed a show in the main theatre for all. Every sailing is different, but there were a lot of Americans on our cruise(turned into 13 days due to hurricane Irma). Announcements are done in about 6 different languages, but we are from NY and are used to different languages being spoken around us. Divina was a great ship that we enjoyed much more than we thought we would ( after 21 NCL sailings) Best pizza we ever had

Safe sailing

[outbackpaul]

Our kids loved the epic. There is a lot on there for kids to do. I would only do msc verses the Epic if the price could not be beat..

 

I just got off the Divina on Saturday. It was cheap... but I'll never do it again.

[sunny2runner]

We are going on our second Epic cruise for Thanksgiving cruise and than doing MSC Seaside for Christmas.

 

We have kids 11 and 14 yrs old. They LOVED NCL Epic. The slides are fabulous but there is not much else on Epic. They didn't like NCL kids clubs and evening entertainment is lacking on Epic. We kind of hung out in O Shengians in the evening but not much else to do on NCL Epic if you are not going to the shows (which are very hard to get a sit) or Casino. NCL Epic is really perfect for older kids and families with young adult (18-20s) and 20-30s something party crowd.

 

But hey we are going on again so it must be fun but activities are not as great as other ships especially for younger kiddos.

 

We are hoping for great things on the Seaside. They are suppose to a fantastic waterpark and slides as well as arcade area with bowling and 3D Cinema as well as on deck movie screen and the show line up lots marvelous.

[BermudaBound2014]

I’ve sailed on both these ships. For kids, hands down the epic will offer much more. However; MSc should come in significantly cheaper. Med cruises are so port intensive that the ship itself makes less difference.

 

If by saving money and selecting MSC it offers you the option to do more extensive excursions and awesome things in port I️ think MSC is a good choice for med sailings.

 

Careful with port times though, I️ was pricing a cruise out of Venice last year and MSc offered far inferior port times. In the med, long port times are something to consider.

 

It’s a good quandary to be in, your children are very fortunate.

 

 

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[dexddd]

We are going on our second Epic cruise for Thanksgiving cruise and than doing MSC Seaside for Christmas.

 

We have kids 11 and 14 yrs old. They LOVED NCL Epic. The slides are fabulous but there is not much else on Epic. They didn't like NCL kids clubs and evening entertainment is lacking on Epic. We kind of hung out in O Shengians in the evening but not much else to do on NCL Epic if you are not going to the shows (which are very hard to get a sit) or Casino. NCL Epic is really perfect for older kids and families with young adult (18-20s) and 20-30s something party crowd.

 

But hey we are going on again so it must be fun but activities are not as great as other ships especially for younger kiddos.

 

We are hoping for great things on the Seaside. They are suppose to a fantastic waterpark and slides as well as arcade area with bowling and 3D Cinema as well as on deck movie screen and the show line up lots marvelous.

 

It is O'Sheehans. O'Sheehans is a pub - part bar, part restaurant. Sometimes shows going on below.

 

While not a fan of Epic per se, it has some of the most variety of things for people of all ages among all the ships out there.

[YellowDog]

To be honest you probably won't go wrong either way. I wasn't on the Epic, but was on the Getaway and I do really like NCL. But I'll say this: The kids club on NCL was really cool to look at...very bright and lots of gadgets, but it was a madhouse and it was overwhelming for my son at the time...to be fair, he was much younger than your children. However, the Divina kids club didn't look like much, but the young women they had there were fantastic and my kids had a blast. They were almost 6 on our Divina trip. They loved eating with the kids club and their "friends" and they got to go to the evening shows with the group, which they did most nights. My kids live in Florida and speak English and we never had an issue on that front. For me, for our upcoming trip in March of 2018, it did come down to price. I was considering the Epic or the Getaway again (which I know I will love) BUT would I love it $1000 more? We're going on the Seaside.

[GOLDENBONNY]

A couple things come to mind. Is MSC cheaper? MSC only has the one kind of lame waterslide and Epic has a whole waterpark. MSC has the inside pool. Are you sailing YC or Haven?

 

Unless much difference in price with kids that age I'd probably stick with NCL.

Lets not forget not all kids need water park or even slide. specially in Europe cruise.