DIVINA Nov 18th , 2018review...It was a nice trip.

[funinthsun]

Just back from Divina Cruise for Thanksgiving vacation.  If you have any questions not addressed here, please feel free to ask.

I will start this review with  my feeling that there really is no BAD cruise, but some are better than others. I sailed on MSC SEASIDE in May and was for the most part, very impressed, as that was my first time on MSC.  The promotion that tempted me  for this trip was just too good to pass up, so we decided to give Divina  shot.  Regrets, no. Bad cruise, no…Others were better, however.

This is a very nice, large (a little older) ship.  In my opinion, it was very confusing to get around.  It took me several days to begin to get some bearing.  There are MANY elevators and some of what I referred to as secret elevators.  You really need to study the layout and explore this ship to get around effectively.  You WILL probably get lost in the beginning.  Don’t worry, you aren’t alone.  That being said, I did not experience long waits for elevators throughout the week, as I had expected. They were pretty fast. It just took time to get from point a to point b as some of the public decks do not connect with each other. (and I dare you to try to find the jogging track!) 
Initially, I felt the ship very confusing,  due to the above reasons… after a few days, I felt it to be more annoying!  This was due to the fact that the majority of the 3600 passengers were from all over the world and very few were from USA (maybe 20% on this trip, I was told).  That made for communication and some cultural differences, which are tolerable, but the people were just many times rude!  Cutting in line, pushy, bumping into you without an acknowledgment or excuse me…and no concern what so ever, mostly just stopping where ever they happen to be at the time, to have a conversation….even if it is in the middle of the buffet traffic flow, which happened everyday!.
The next most annoying feature on this trip though is the chair HOGS…not savers, because mostly they just NEVER showed up……but towels were out on ALL available chairs by 7:30 AM  on sea days……every time, even when the weather was not good!   The worst part is that I literally saw these chars empty for most of the day. It’s  Just plain rude and pointless.  There are plenty of chairs and spaces on the ship, and people come and go. I do not understand the “entitlement” of some people.  There was NO enforcement of their lax policy of not doing this on this ship. 
These are the things that I could not “get past” on this trip, because they don’t need to be like this….

 That being said, I am on vacation and not going to sweat the small stuff.  If this behavior bothers you, think carefully before booking on Divina.  
Divina is clearly still a European ship, alternating with Med and Caribbean seasons;  while the Seaside which  has been built for US market, and year round Caribbean “gets it” more so, in my opinion.    
This was a longer trip for me; 11 days over Thanksgiving holiday.  The demographic was all ages, and we had a good itinerary to break it up.  I love cruising, but for me, even with the excursions and diversions, I was getting kind of bored towards the end…not so much of being on the ship for too long, but mostly because it seemed to be the same thing (on board) day after day.   The cruise staff was energetic and tried to engage people, but on this ship, the variety of languages is and will remain their biggest downfall.  Crew and staff speaking, trying to engage and get involvement;  and passengers just not listening or understanding…… So,  not much staff could do about it.   I would think with today's technology that it could be a simple fix of an app on your phone with a translator and head phones….it seems to work at UN and would be a great improvement on a multi cultural ship like this one.  
Mostly though, it seemed to be the same thing every day…..Even and especially with the show at night. .   I was really looking forward to the shows because on SEASIDE they were fantastic, every night.   On Divina; not so much. The singers and dancers were  very talented and worked hard but every night it was the same thing……singing with some back up dancers (weird and distracting choreography) and ZERO sets.  For 10 nights we saw stairs on the stage. That is all; just stairs.  Finally, the pirate show…which was great. It was a show, not just song fest, and it is what I would have expected for each night, or at least a couple.  I skipped the Opera and walked out on a couple of others…just got bored.  The “ pre show” however was very entertaining. Go early, it’s the best part of the show.  Cukoo!   The entertainment around the ship through out the evening was plentiful….La Luna Piano Bar (never saw the piano being played one time the whole trip) but an nice duo each night.  The Golden Jazz Club (never was any jazz in there) but high energy Latin music each night, The piazza had piano and dance music nightly.  Lots of venues throughout the ship. Many Theme nights and typical trivia and karaoke.  
I do miss the comedy shows.  I imagine it is impossible with the language diversity. (that could be a great comedy show in itself!)
With spent time (and money) in the casino. Actually won a little in the long run. BlackJack , slots, roulette but sadly NO CRAPS on MSC. I really miss that.
The food and service was good.  Had the drinks on us package.  NICE touch! Food plentiful…but again boring . The buffet, although HUGE; was literally the same thing every day. Lots of food and variety,  but the same  each day. Period…..The dining room was nice and service was very good, food was ok too.  The pizza was GREAT!  (People were annoying….no flow of traffic, stopping in the middle  of lines to talk WITH strollers!) Oblivious.
Ports were good. We did two excursions and only one complaint.  The tour was supposed to be English; There was a 2nd one of the same for multilingual, however, out tour guide instructed us that there were many Germans and she was told to be bi lingual. So there was constant translating and not enough “tour info”  Actually much was spoken in German and I found myself tuning out. That was disappointing and my complaint fell on deaf ears. We received chocolate dipped strawberries for our inconvenience!  I thought maybe partial credit would have been more appropriate and I would NOT have booked this  tour had I known about the language.  
All in all, the ship is pretty and clean. The cabin in nice and spacious, and clean. The staff is nice, efficient and friendly. The price was right and we enjoyed our vacation.  Would I sail Divina again, probably not. There are too many other ships to experience.  It is a nice cruise, nice ship....not too much "wrong" or bad, just nothing special....but I've been on many cruises.  For novice and first timers, you won't even know what I'm talking about.  Don't over think it and have a GREAT trip. Ask away.  I know I have missed alot of detail.....
Oh by the way, there is much confusion about the free drinks package because they did just recently change it.  The crew was confused as well about that as well because it just happened on our trip.. Now the upgrade to Classic is 35 per day, I believe.......instead of 18........

[champagne123]

Thank you for your point of view.  Looking forward to our cruise next month and will now be prepared for the negatives, as well as the positives!  I think I will take a map of the ship...I am usually one to get lost..lol

[NCTribeFan]

Interesting.  Thanks for sharing.  Boarding on Sunday.

 

Am actually very much looking forward to something a bit different and if that means Europeans, I'm all for it.  What is rude in one culture isn't in another.  It's just different.

 

Someone in our Roll Call has been on the ship doing B2B2B, so boarded when you did.  They're loving it.  As I posted in his thread, people on the same sailing can have very different experiences.

 

I don't typically "do" buffet meals, but it seems that if there was lots of various items, it wouldn't really matter if it was the same each day.  There should be enough variety to try different items on different days, yes?

 

I also don't usually hang around the pools, so I'm hoping that there will be seating in other areas.  I like to try to away from the noise and activities on sea days and read and relax.

 

The ship is going to be more ship than I like (prefer something considerably smaller), but she looks beautiful.  I've been known to study deck plans prior to sailing, but I expect that I'll be lost for a few days. 

[Mattnvick]

The next most annoying feature on this trip though is the chair HOGS…not savers, because mostly they just NEVER showed up……buttowels were out on ALL available chairs by 7:30 AM  on sea days……every time, even when the weather was not good!  

 

......."there were many Germans".......

 

I will start by saying this is tongue in cheek and its lighthearted so please no flaming.

 

When we lived in Europe (Im English now living in Canada) you would hear about Brits taking holidays to southern Europe - Spain, Greece, Portugal etc and on the way back from the nightclubs in the wee small hours German towels would already be laid out on the deck chairs round the pools in the resorts. The English who had imbibed heavily would throw the towels in to the pools. The English press was full of it - every summer you would read about it.

 

It seems the tradition of laying out towels early never or rarely to return continues. Feel free to remove the towels yourself. ( I wouldnt advocate throwing them in the pool, just place them on another chair). Lay back and relax and enjoy Divina. 

 

 If and its a very small if, you open an eye to see someone looming over you gesticualting wildly, just smile, shrug and look bemused...... and go back to sleep. 

[flseagal]

I have a question having never sailed MSC but most of the other cruise lines.  I will be using my CC for my sons cabin.  We will probably not check in together. Will that be a problem?  I read somewhere that you swipe the card once on board.  What is the check in process?  We are sailing the Divina over Christmas.  Thanks,

Paula 

[sidari]

Fun ... Thanks for your thoughts on Divina, we will be back on the ship over Xmas for our second cruise on it having sailed on some of the others including Seaside. With regards to the buffet and this is not meant as being derogatory but how much choice do you have at home when deciding on what to eat? I have heard many say that it was the same everyday, well yes it's a buffet and just like our trip on Voyager of the Seas back in September the buffet each day was the same, in fact not as good as MSC, plus there is also the Dining room for lunch. I do know that some people do not go all the way around the available food on both sides of the buffet.

 

M & V ...    Though MSC do need to start to do something about the chair hog issue.

 

FLseagal ... Paula, when you register your card it will usually ask who else can be covered by your card, if there is a problem go to Guest services who can do it for you. Have you signed up for the Meet and Mingle and the gift exchange ?

[funinthsun]

2 hours ago, flseagal said:

I have a question having never sailed MSC but most of the other cruise lines.  I will be using my CC for my sons cabin.  We will probably not check in together. Will that be a problem?  I read somewhere that you swipe the card once on board.  What is the check in process?  We are sailing the Divina over Christmas.  Thanks,

Paula 

Not a problem for CC on your son's cabin...On MSC...you activate your cc account after boarding , with 24 hours... at little machines...that look like atm machines in lobby area.  It is very easy to do and you can use your card for each room.

[funinthsun]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

Fun ... Thanks for your thoughts on Divina, we will be back on the ship over Xmas for our second cruise on it having sailed on some of the others including Seaside. With regards to the buffet and this is not meant as being derogatory but how much choice do you have at home when deciding on what to eat? I have heard many say that it was the same everyday, well yes it's a buffet and just like our trip on Voyager of the Seas back in September the buffet each day was the same, in fact not as good as MSC, plus there is also the Dining room for lunch. I do know that some people do not go all the way around the available food on both sides of the buffet.

 

M & V ...    Though MSC do need to start to do something about the chair hog issue.

 

FLseagal ... Paula, when you register your card it will usually ask who else can be covered by your card, if there is a problem go to Guest services who can do it for you. Have you signed up for the Meet and Mingle and the gift exchange ?

Please do not misunderstand me regarding buffet and food selections.  The food was good and very plentiful! NEVER a lack of food and choices.  I was just referring to the buffet as it was the same every day ....VS... many other ships and cruise lines that I have been on have different buffet and selections through out the week.... (for example, our trips on Princess.)....I looked forward to seeing what "surprises" would show up on lunch buffet.....some days it was sushi (lots of it)...some days... shrimp, mussels, etc...)  Just sharing my observations, not complaining at all......and it  was a nice trip!

[sidari]

1 minute ago, funinthsun said:

Please do not misunderstand me regarding buffet and food selections.  The food was good and very plentiful! NEVER a lack of food and choices.  I was just referring to the buffet as it was the same every day ....VS... many other ships and cruise lines that I have been on have different buffet and selections through out the week.... (for example, our trips on Princess.)....I looked forward to seeing what "surprises" would show up on lunch buffet.....some days it was sushi (lots of it)...some days... shrimp, mussels, etc...)  Just sharing my observations, not complaining at all......and it  was a nice trip!

I get what you are saying, and like you we do look for other items being added, sometimes there are better offerings at the far end of the buffet towards the aft of the ship.

[funinthsun]

21 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

Interesting.  Thanks for sharing.  Boarding on Sunday.

 

Am actually very much looking forward to something a bit different and if that means Europeans, I'm all for it.  What is rude in one culture isn't in another.  It's just different.

 

Someone in our Roll Call has been on the ship doing B2B2B, so boarded when you did.  They're loving it.  As I posted in his thread, people on the same sailing can have very different experiences.

 

I don't typically "do" buffet meals, but it seems that if there was lots of various items, it wouldn't really matter if it was the same each day.  There should be enough variety to try different items on different days, yes?

 

I also don't usually hang around the pools, so I'm hoping that there will be seating in other areas.  I like to try to away from the noise and activities on sea days and read and relax.

 

The ship is going to be more ship than I like (prefer something considerably smaller), but she looks beautiful.  I've been known to study deck plans prior to sailing, but I expect that I'll be lost for a few days. 

I am sure you will enjoy the trip.  My philosophy is that the cruise is what you make it. Period.  Don't sweat the small stuff and remember that you are on a ship with thousands of others of all different needs wants and desires!   My kindness does not take a  vacation  I like to greet people and crew with a warm hello,  I like to make eye contact. I actually talk in elevators !  In my opinion.  some people seem to think they are the only ones that are on the ship/vacation.  (i. e. shair hogs)   I love the diversity on MSC which is one of the reasons we booked again after SEASIDE.  I was just sharing my observations.  Hope it didn't come off as complaining.  Some things were just annoying.....that's all.. Overlook them and Have a great trip.