MSC Divina Yacht Club 2/11 - 2/22 Live Review

[DaKahuna]

3 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

Packing almost complete, flying Virgin Atlantic to Miami in the morning, looking forward to a change in the weather 🙂

 

 I hope you have a safe and uneventful flight.  

 

 I need to step away from CC for a while and start organizing my backpack. 

 

 

[jcpc]

16 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 Thank you.  We are really looking forward to it.  We still have one Celebrity cruise scheduled, Millennium in May in the Retreat so we'll see what happens after that. 

 

 Thank you very much. 

 

I, too, have one Celebrity cruise booked this year.  Also in May....but on Eclipse and NOT in the Retreat as I could not justify $10K for 2 people in a Sky Suite (We get premium beverage package, internet, and access to Retreat Lounge/Michael's Club due to our loyalty status so I booked Concierge Class for $8K less.....could not justify the extra money just to eat in Luminae.  For what I saved by doing Concierge, I can eat in Specialty all week if I want to!!)  I do, however, have 2 more MSC YC cruises booked for this year (for half the cost of Celebrity!!).  Enjoy your sailing.  I'll be following along.

[eagletwo]

7 hours ago, Mark_T said:

If you want a preview, take look at this video, it shows the whole process of boarding in YC at Terminal C...

 

Don't let anyone take your luggage before you get to the white YC tents as they will get special tags applied there to ensure rapid delivery.

We made the mistake of giving our luggage to the regular porters at the Miami port on our first YC cruise on the Meraviglia.  The luggage showed up in the late afternoon. Lesson learned. YC is the only was to cruise on MSC.

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, jcpc said:

I, too, have one Celebrity cruise booked this year.  Also in May....but on Eclipse and NOT in the Retreat as I could not justify $10K for 2 people in a Sky Suite (We get premium beverage package, internet, and access to Retreat Lounge/Michael's Club due to our loyalty status so I booked Concierge Class for $8K less.....could not justify the extra money just to eat in Luminae.  For what I saved by doing Concierge, I can eat in Specialty all week if I want to!!)  I do, however, have 2 more MSC YC cruises booked for this year (for half the cost of Celebrity!!).  Enjoy your sailing.  I'll be following along.

 

 I understand and in your situation I would do the same, maybe even consider going up to Aqua depending on what deal I could get.  Unfortuately we are Elite (12 points from Elite +) but I see no way we will ever get to Zenith.  

 

We love the S-class of ships and would prefer to sail on them but the 13-day "Best of Japan" is on Millennium this year and we are sailing for the itinerary vs the ship. 

 

[DaKahuna]

My electronics are all assembled, packed in their respective pouches, and are in the back pack. 

 

My Travel Router (Hope to be able to use mutliple devices by routing over my travel router).

 

 

My Amazon Fire - if the travel router works, I'll be using this to watch internet based content in the room.

 

 

An assortment of various cables. (There are a couple of others in an outside pocket on the backpack so I don't have to take the bag I store these in (shown on the left) in the airport lounge and hotel. 

 

 

Now putting all our documentation in a folder to go in the backpack.  Using my MacBook Air and have my iPad ready to pack after I download a few more Netflix movies. 

[DaKahuna]

Aloha Friday everyone. 

 

Today is final preparations and packing day.  My  DW and I will start our packing at some point today. We are still trying to decide on which suit cases we are going to take and what all will be going into them.  

 

 

[DaKahuna]

' Our bags are packed and we're ready to go' but it's not time just yet. 

 

Our flight is scheduled to depart Dulles tomorrow afternoon at 1300 and arrive in FLL at 1549 so it's a short flight.  Our daughter will be coming over tomorrow morning to give us a ride to the airport.  Upon arrival in FLL, we'll collect our bags, then then grab a Lyft/Uber to the hotel and figure out what our dinner plans are from there. 

 

 

BTW, the large bag is 47.3 pounds.  

 

 

[Mark_T]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

Our flight is scheduled to depart Dulles tomorrow afternoon at 1300 and arrive in FLL at 1549 so it's a short flight

Hope your flight tomorrow is as smooth as ours was today. 
 

Currently relaxing in our hotel after an obligatory visit to a nearby Publix for a sub 🙂

[DisneyJen]

Wishing you fair winds and following seas @DaKahuna🥂

 

@DJ's DH and I are in the same 🛳️ with our first YC coming up in May.

 

We have sailed on X in Royal and Celebrity suites but we can' justify the prices. We've sailed in suites on RCCL, Disney, Princess, SB and SeaDream as well. Love SB and SeaDream but scheduling doesn't work for us since @DJ's DH is teaching full-time after retiring from industry🙃

 

Your electronics pack looks similar to @DJ's DH so he will be interested in connectivity.

 

Looking forward to your report!

[DaKahuna]

Good morning.  We have completed all our preparations and are just waiting for our Daughter and SIL to come by and pick us up for our ride to Dulles.  It is looking like it will be a nice 'warm' day in the DC area today and the forecast is for sunshine and 77 degrees for our arrival in FLL.  Also the forecast for our embarkation tomorrow in Miami is more of the same, temps in the mid 70's and partly cloudy.  We are looking forward to the warmer weather. 

 

We wish everyone who is traveling this weekend to have a safe and stress free journey.

 

[Beamafar]

33 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

We wish everyone who is traveling this weekend to have a safe and stress free journey.

 

Very best wishes to you, too, D, for a pleasant and safe flight. 

[DaKahuna]

At the United Club at Dulles relaxing with an adult beverage while waiting for time to go to the gate for boarding. 
 

getting to the airport and checking our bags was uneventful although bag check was a little crowded. 
 

While standing in the line for Clear we notice almost no one in TSA Pre so we went that route and it was quicker.  We actually went through TSA ahead of a family that had gone up to the Clear terminals while we were in line. 
 

I discovered last night that some information on our hotel was incorrect.  The Website said the hotel did not have an airport shuttle but the hotel said they did and all we needed to do was to call them once we had our bags and they would provide information. 
 

I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[Best Cat Mom]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

While standing in the line for Clear we notice almost no one in TSA Pre so we went that route and it was quicker.

This was true for us in Miami when we returned from our last cruise. Dozens in the Clear line and only one person in front of us in Pre. Glad you were able to see your best way through.

 

Safe travels today!

[DaKahuna]

Greetings from Fort Lauderdale 

After a quick boarding, we found out that part our cabin crew, that was used for the boarding process did not have enough remaining hours to complete the flight so we had a short delay while new cabin crew arrived.  We ended up landing about 30 minutes late.

 

It took us about 50 minutes to collect our bags, contact the hotel and get shuttle info, wait for the shuttle, arrive at the hotel, and check in. 
 

After spending a little time in the room we went down to the M Lounge for a quick bite before proceeding to the hotel restaurant for dinner. 

our room

 

 

 

 

our view

 

We both chose the blackened mahi-mahi sandwich with fries.

 

[maggieq]

@DaKahuna   Our go to pre cruise hotel has been the Renaissance. However, that room you have is head and shoulders above the renaissance.  Although, we do like the convenience to port and restaurants. 

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, maggieq said:

@DaKahuna   Our go to pre cruise hotel has been the Renaissance. However, that room you have is head and shoulders above the renaissance.  Although, we do like the convenience to port and restaurants. 

That is the same for us.  We’ve only not stayed at the Renaissance one other time and it was no where near as convenient.  We got a better rate here than at the Renaissance and since we are not cruising out of Fort Lauderdale I said why not. 
 

 

[DaKahuna]

My DW over ruled me so our Lyft is scheduled to pick us up at 1100 tomorrow to take us to the ship.

 

[DaKahuna]

Good morning.  
We are up and preparing for breakfast. 
 

A question came to mind last night.  Where is the Yacht Club tent located for terminal C? My Google skills are failing me and I am curious which way to go once we are dropped off by our ride share driver? I understand that it is not practical to be expected to be dropped off right at the tent.
 

Edited February 11 by DaKahuna

[Mark_T]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

A question came to mind last night.  Where is the Yacht Club tent located for terminal C?
 

If you watch the video I linked you’ll see the white tents, use those as reference points.

 

Not sure if you can get directly to the one that seems to be located closer to the bow end of the ship, but they are the easiest guides to look for. 
 

If you look around the 5 min point it looks like your taxi should be able to get you close. 

Edited February 11 by Mark_T

[DaKahuna]

Thanks Mark. I’ll take another look at the video.  I must have missed something the first time I watched it. 

[TrinaLC]

The tent is at the “front” of the line - just as you enter the terminal c loop. 

[Mark_T]

1 hour ago, TrinaLC said:

The tent is at the “front” of the line - just as you enter the terminal c loop. 

Perfect description, we left our hotel in Brickell at about 10:35, and we were in the Top Sail lounge by 11:05.

 

Already met Pepe as he whisked us from the lounge area straight onboard. 
 

Yes, he is everything he has been described to be, this is going to be a great cruise. 
 

Pepe handed us over to Elvin, our Butler from our previous cruise on Divina and he took us through to security in the ship.  
 

No waiting at any stage, perfect onboarding experience. 

Edited February 11 by Mark_T

[DaKahuna]

Ours was a similar experience.  After rewatching the video, realized I was looking for the bow of the ship.

 

Our Lyft driver picked us up 10 minutes early, at 1050.  We arrived at the luggage drop off at 1125.  The only traffic we hit was once we got off inside the tunnel.  Our Lyft driver lucked out and there was an empty space at the back of the bag drop off line, which put us directly across from the blue Yacht Club tent.  We walked over, was behind three people not in YC trying to drop their bags off there.  Once that was straightened out we were escorted up to check in area behind two other couples.  We had our keycards in hand and were waiting on one last couple at 1140.  By 1150 we were in the Top Sail Lounge having a glass of prosecco. 

I have been trying to upload photo’s of the room with no luck.  Looks like I am going to need to burn some OBC on upgrading my WiFi so I can share pictures.  Want to check some areas like the Top Sail Lounge to see if there is a better / stronger signal there first. 
 

 

[DaKahuna]

Have been watching the safety info on the TV in the room.  Taking / wearing of those bulky life jackets is required - how 1999 of them. 
 

[Beamafar]

18 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

I have been trying to upload photo’s of the room with no luck.  Looks like I am going to need to burn some OBC on upgrading my WiFi so I can share pictures.  Want to check some areas like the Top Sail Lounge to see if there is a better / stronger signal there first. 
 

 

I’ve never had to upgrade the browse package to upload photos when posting here.  But there can be times when it’s challenging.  I also recommend that you type up what you want to post, then copy and paste it here.  It’s a pain if you’ve written a post only to find that it hasn’t submitted.