Divina YC v Meraviglia YC

[hamrag]

We are considering a winter Caribbean cruise on Divina, from Miami, and note availability in YC is very good compared to Seaside and Meraviglia both also sailing from Miami. My guess is this is because the Divina is older, the other 2 ships being only a year or two old with many 'bells & whistles'. The Divina offers 10/11 day itineraries, which attract us. Can anyone who has sailed YC on Divina and Meraviglia advise please how those experiences compared....if you sailed Preziosa also, is Divina similar?

 

We have sailed both Meraviglia and Preziosa YC's.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

Edited May 2, 2019 by hamrag

[sverigecruiser]

15 minutes ago, hamrag said:

We are considering a winter Caribbean cruise on Divina, from Miami, and note availability in YC is very good compared to Seaside and Meraviglia both also sailing from Miami. My guess is this is because the Divina is older, the other 2 ships being only a year or two old with many 'bells & whistles'. The Divina offers 10/11 day itineraries, which attract us. Can anyone who has sailed YC on Divina and Meraviglia advise please how those experiences compared....if you sailed Preziosa also, is Divina similar?

 

We have sailed both Meraviglia and Preziosa YC's.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

The biggest difference is that the restaurant is aft on Divina and not within the Yacht Club. I prefer the Meraviglia layout.

 

If I shall choose 10 days on Divina or 7 days on Meraviglia I choose Divina. I prefer Meraviglia but longer cruise is more important for me.

[Beamafar]

We have been in YC on Preziosa, Divina and Meraviglia, G.  The 2 Fantasia-class YC enclaves are identical.  Meraviglia is different - especially as the restaurant is within the enclave, which made for a much more YC-immersed experience.

 

Overall, our Meraviglia cruise ranks higher than either of the other 2, but that was down to a number of factors, including knowing a lot of the crew onboard at the time as she was only new.  Also, it was obvious that a lot of effort was being put into ensuring that people had as good a time as possible;  it seemed that MSC was intent on the new ship getting favourable reviews.

 

Having said that, we had an amazing time on Preziosa and it's one of our more memorable cruises - again, it had to do with the fact that we were treated like royalty.  One of the concierge members went above and beyond for us all because a cake hadn't been produced early on in the cruise, despite it being in the system that we were to receive one.

 

I say all this to illustrate that it's not always about the physicality of any ship that can make or break a cruise;  nor is any one ship "better" than another.  For us, it's about the experience onboard, regardless of the ship.  This has probably not quite answered the particular question you're asking.

 

Basically - we preferred Meraviglia (and will be back in YC for 23 nights onboard her in October, following on from a 7 night YC in Seaview in Aug/Sept, when I will then be able to compare it to the other 2 class of ships with YC).  However, we're booked in YC on Preziosa for next year, so it's not like we would only choose one type of YC experience over another.

[hamrag]

1 minute ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The biggest difference is that the restaurant is aft on Divina and not within the Yacht Club. I prefer the Meraviglia layout.

 

If I shall choose 10 days on Divina or 7 days on Meraviglia I choose Divina. I prefer Meraviglia but longer cruise is more important for me.

Thanks, Yes the restaurant is also aft on Preziosa. That didn't trouble us, as the walk (most times along open deck 15) was most enjoyable. I do agree that the Meraviglia layout is better, to have the restaurant within YC enclave.

[hamrag]

5 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

....I say all this to illustrate that it's not always about the physicality of any ship that can make or break a cruise;  nor is any one ship "better" than another.  For us, it's about the experience onboard, regardless of the ship....

 

So true, our experience also across 44 cruises....and positive attitude is key, too often we meet 'whingers' on our cruises who already decided there are going to be problems (usually inconsequential)! We find the crew give back in response to 'giving' great attitude towards them.

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, hamrag said:

Thanks, Yes the restaurant is also aft on Preziosa. That didn't trouble us, as the walk (most times along open deck 15) was most enjoyable. I do agree that the Meraviglia layout is better, to have the restaurant within YC enclave.

 

We thought that the walk to Le Muse was too windy so not very enjoyable! We didn't found a good way to walk inside so most of the time we walked outside!

[Beamafar]

8 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

We thought that the walk to Le Muse was too windy so not very enjoyable! We didn't found a good way to walk inside so most of the time we walked outside!

 

We mainly go down to deck 7 to get to the restaurant - especially for dinner.  I always felt that it got us out of the YC area, whereas, on Meraviglia, we didn't leave the YC as much.

[Toofarfromthesea]

We are on Meraviglia YC right now, in the Baltic, and sailed on Divina YC last summer in the Med.

For me the layout of Meraviglia is far better with the restaurant right there rather than the opposite end of the ship with no horizontal path.  Especially for those with a little bit of a mobility challenge

OTOH, the butlers on Divina, IMO, are FAR better than those on Meraviglia.  The training of the butlers on M seems inadequate or incomplete.  Part of it is that Divina seemed like it was staffed better, numerically.  But a much bigger part of it is not knowing how to do some pretty simple things, like serving a pot of tea (not afternoon tea service, just a pot of tea).  Just today, the butler brought the pot, which used loose tea in an infusing basket.  But nothing to put the infuser on when removed from the pot.  And when I asked, they brought just a little plate.  Which, one the one hand would work, but on the other hand every other time we got a little cup designed to hold the infuser basket without making a mess.  Little things.  Lack of attention to detail.  Like leaving us the German daily planner rather than the English one.  And SOME of the butlers on M are excellent.  I think the ship just came out of a minor refurbishment, so I wonder if some of the butlers are new to the position.

Absolutely nothing that would ruin, or even seriously detract from the cruise.  But not close to the Divina level and consistency of standard, IMO.  For me, on balance having the restaurant right there outweighs the lesser butler service.  Ideally, though, I'd like to have the M layout with the D butlers.

I'm glad OP raised the topic, as I had considered posting about this and this thread provided the perfect venue.

Edited May 2, 2019 by Toofarfromthesea

[JohnIreland]

The other difference is that on the Meraviglia you get the wrist band keycards.  Very handy not having to find your card everytime you need to open a door.