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

[DaKahuna]

35 minutes ago, TrinaLC said:

 

We read elsewhere that Divina was having propulsion problems which delayed Aruba?  Any truth, we are due to sail soon!

We have not heard anything other than the delay was due to operational issues, which coul mean anything.  
 

We departed Aruba on time and there has been no mention of delays into Cartagena.  I’ll ask a crew member and see if I can find out anything.  If I hear any confirmation of a propulsion problem I’ll let you know.

 

 

[DaKahuna]

We got off the ship for about 45 minutes just stretching our legs and to look around.  Not a lot of changes since we were here last.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

We were back on board before lunch so just relaxed in our room to cool off before heading to Le Muse for lunch.

 

For our starters we had the Caesar Salad 

 

 

I added the beef carpaccio with buffalo mozzarella, and olive oil abd balsamic vinegar

 

 

We both chose the veal schnitzel, a recommendation from our waiter

 

 

and for dessert we both went with the berry sunday, after seeing another guest receive it.

 

It was a very good lunch, and that is not the Oboron talking.

 

 

 

[Dock B]

@DaKahuna if you have a moment to offer an opinion, DW and I would really appreciate your insight.

 

We are considering a Divina cruise in YC (this will be our 3rd MSC YC cruise) and would like a cabin as far aft on deck 15 as possible. I realize there are a couple of HC cabins there so we wouldn’t get one of those. My question is: are these YC cabins too close to the public elevators or the pool area where we’d be disturbed by noise?

 

Thank you for your thoughts and for your review.

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Dock B said:

@DaKahuna if you have a moment to offer an opinion, DW and I would really appreciate your insight.

 

We are considering a Divina cruise in YC (this will be our 3rd MSC YC cruise) and would like a cabin as far aft on deck 15 as possible. I realize there are a couple of HC cabins there so we wouldn’t get one of those. My question is: are these YC cabins too close to the public elevators or the pool area where we’d be disturbed by noise?

 

Thank you for your thoughts and for your review.

 

 

I can only speak to MSC Divina as this is our first MSC cruise but there should be no concer with noise from any public area.  
 

The closest public area, other than the SPA,  is the Le Sirene, the solarium, which is on Deck 14, one deck below where the lowest deck of YC cabins are located. 
 

The elevator that services the public and Yacht Club is located outside the dedicated YC area and has four elevators.  The two inner elevators can be used for Priority Service using your key card.  We have no issues, other than a few people baffled when an elevator bypasses their floor to take us to the floor we selected using our keycard.

 

You will need to walk through public areas to get to the YC restaurant which is at the aft portion of the ship but other than people abruptly dtopping and blocking traffic, there really has not been an issue.  You just have to realize there are 3000 or so non- yacht club guest sharing the ship with you.

p.s. Our cabin is four cabins away from as far aft on deck 15 as you can go. If you book a cabin on Deck 16 you are even further away from and public area.

Edited February 15 by DaKahuna

[Dock B]

@DaKahuna thank you for the written ship-tour explanation, as our review of the deck plans were not as clear as your description! We’ve been on Seaside and Seashore, but their layout is different enough from Divina that we wanted further input—we really appreciate your help!

 

Now just waiting on the travel agent to return DWs call…

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!!

[TrinaLC]

2 hours ago, Dock B said:

@DaKahuna if you have a moment to offer an opinion, DW and I would really appreciate your insight.

 

We are considering a Divina cruise in YC (this will be our 3rd MSC YC cruise) and would like a cabin as far aft on deck 15 as possible. I realize there are a couple of HC cabins there so we wouldn’t get one of those. My question is: are these YC cabins too close to the public elevators or the pool area where we’d be disturbed by noise?

 

Thank you for your thoughts and for your review.

We stayed in a cabin in that area (almost directly opposite the YC entrance) and it was perfectly quiet. I had been a bit concerned ahead of time but no worries. (Divina.)

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, TrinaLC said:

We stayed in a cabin in that area (almost directly opposite the YC entrance) and it was perfectly quiet. I had been a bit concerned ahead of time but no worries. (Divina.)

We are a couple of doors down from the entrance and the only noise has been from the crew area directly across from our stateroom.  Apparently directly across from our door is the door the crew uses to take things to their service area as well as steps going up and down that they use.  Minor improvisation at the most,

 

[DaKahuna]

We had an excellent dinner in Le Muse tonight.  As promised Vimal had a nice Italian wine ready for us. 
 

 

I liked it better than the Obrin or the Chanti I had the other night.

 

For her starter my DW had the salad

 

 

And I foubled up again with the shrimp, which when served I thought were escargo (those from Celebrity will recognise why) 

 

 

and for my second starter I had the gumbo. People from Louisiana would cry if the saw or tasted this.  All the components except the file powder which was totally missing, were there but it was not spiced as it should have been.   I added some pepper which helped but came very close for asking for tabasco sauce. 

 

 

For our main course we both went with the veal cordon blue which our waiter said had been a little tough the last time and said to let him know and he would get us something else.  Both my wife and I found it perfectly tender and juicy.  
 

 

We were both so full that we skipped dessert as well as our usual post dinner coffe, with Bailey’s for me. 
 

We came up to the lounge and I had a soicy margarita and the DW, who had been up since 0430 decided to go the room instead of joining me in the casino.

 

I spent about an hour donating to the roulette gods before getting back to only 50% down on my daily budget and deciding to come up to the Top Sail lounge to finish out the night.

 

Mark & his wife just joined me, they had been at the show, so I’ll stop now and socialize with them. 

[not ice cream]

If that’s gumbo I’m Mickey Mouse!!! You shoulda got the hot sauce if ya ask me. 😉

[not ice cream]

If you’re near San Pedro Claver Church tomorrow there’s a little coffee shop just around the corner called Cafeto that has reasonably priced Colombian coffee and very good hot sauces and chocolate. We loaded up when we were there. 

[George C]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

We had an excellent dinner in Le Muse tonight.  As promised Vimal had a nice Italian wine ready for us. 
 

 

I liked it better than the Obrin or the Chanti I had the other night.

 

For her starter my DW had the salad

 

 

And I foubled up again with the shrimp, which when served I thought were escargo (those from Celebrity will recognise why) 

 

 

and for my second starter I had the gumbo. People from Louisiana would cry if the saw or tasted this.  All the components except the file powder which was totally missing, were there but it was not spiced as it should have been.   I added some pepper which helped but came very close for asking for tabasco sauce. 

 

 

For our main course we both went with the veal cordon blue which our waiter said had been a little tough the last time and said to let him know and he would get us something else.  Both my wife and I found it perfectly tender and juicy.  
 

 

We were both so full that we skipped dessert as well as our usual post dinner coffe, with Bailey’s for me. 
 

We came up to the lounge and I had a soicy margarita and the DW, who had been up since 0430 decided to go the room instead of joining me in the casino.

 

I spent about an hour donating to the roulette gods before getting back to only 50% down on my daily budget and deciding to come up to the Top Sail lounge to finish out the night.

 

Mark & his wife just joined me, they had been at the show, so I’ll stop now and socialize with them. 

Love Chianti Classico ever since visiting Florence, always look for the rooster. Gumbo did look pitiful. 

[DaKahuna]

Good morning from Cartagena .  
 

My DW retired early last night and I went a made a huge, for me, donation to our casino overlords who were being especially stingy to me.  After that sacrifice I retired to the Top Sail Lounge and relaxed to the tunes of a saxophone player who was playing soft romantic movie tunes.  I had a Long Island Ice Tea and was joined by @Mark_T and his lovely wife again.  I am not sure what time they called it quits but I had a Sidecar as my nitecap and retired to the room shortly after finishing that. 
 

Herbert in the Top Sail Lounge is an excellent mixologist.

LIIT

 

 

Sidecar

 

 

This morning we did set an alarm as we wanted to eat in Le Muse for breakfast. 
 

My DW had a ham and cheese omelette and I had the “eggs Benedict with the English muffin toasted crispy, no sauce and a side order of sausage” 

 

DW’s omlette

 

 

I received exactly what I ordered. 
My Eggs Benedict

 

 

Edited February 16 by DaKahuna

[Jim_Iain]

Yikes.... I just found your Live Post.     I was reading your comments on @JamieLogical post.   Since I don't follow MSC regularly didn't realize you had your own.

 

I'm speed reading and hope to get caught up.    

[DaKahuna]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Yikes.... I just found your Live Post.     I was reading your comments on @JamieLogical post.   Since I don't follow MSC regularly didn't realize you had your own.

 

I'm speed reading and hope to get caught up.    

Very glad to have you join us.  
 

I did not want to side track Jamie’s excellent review with things related to our YC experience so started my own focusing on our first MSC/Yacht Club cruise. 
 

I am pretty sure you can relate when I say the lounge is like having an E-class Retreat Lounge but with a Michael’s Club ambiance and three times the number of wait staff.  Throw in some live entertainment each evening and that pretty much sums up the Top Sail Lounge. 

It has been too windy for us up on the One Pool Deck but there have been heartier souls than us that have been soaking up all the rays they can get.  It reminds me of the Sun Deck on Edge. 
 

[DaKahuna]

We’re now in Cartagena and they are letting people go ashore.  We have a 1230 reservation at Galaxy Cafe for the second Dining Experience so we will forgo going ashore until after lunch. 
 

Some pictures of Cartagena I took from our balcony as we sailed in. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

We’ve just finished lunch and I am enjoying a refreshing margarita in the lounge. 
 

we encountered what has been our first hickup of the cruise.  I had prior to our sailing that Galaxy was open for lunch on port days and so I asked our butler to make reservations for 1230 today.  The reservation showed up on our MSC for me app so I thought not more of it until we showed to an empty restaurant/lounge with only a barman who let us know it was indeed closed on days the ship was in port.
 

My DW decided that she wanted pizza so we went to the buffet on Deck 14.  It was not crowded and the pizza was delicious.

 

We both tried a couple of other things but the pizza made it a good experience for us. 
 

My DW’s pizza (#1) and a tuna salad wrap and some pasta 

 

 

my spicy salami and tuna salad wrap

 

 

I also tried some ‘mexican rice’, a beef, sausage, and black bean dish, and a piece of sliced pork.  
 

 

my DW had some steamed rice, some salad type of dish with boiled egg and what looked like bamboo but I did not get a picture of it.  She was not impressed. We both opted for a second slice of pizza to finish the meal. 

 

Here’s mine.  She ate into here befor I could get a picture.

 

[DaKahuna]

We walked back to the lounge and I had the Concierge get our Galaxy reservation for 6:30 pm tonight.  So all is well in our household again! 
 

After I finish my margarita on the rocks I think it will be nap time 🙂 

 

 

[markwfpb]

16 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

We had an excellent dinner in Le Muse tonight.  As promised Vimal had a nice Italian wine ready for us. 
 

 

Was the wine offered to you as a (complimentary) pour or did you buy the bottle?

I ask because we're about to go on Divina for the fourth time (all YC).

One year, the sommelier basically hounded me with the wine list ("30% off just for you") and we bought a few bottles that trip - wines I knew were good and definitely nicer than the standard wine list. 

But it would be nice to just have decent wines selected and poured throughout the meal and not have an extra few hundred dollars on my account!

 

 

[JamieLogical]

Now you know why I end up at the buffet at least once a day on MSC!

[DaKahuna]

8 hours ago, markwfpb said:

 

Was the wine offered to you as a (complimentary) pour or did you buy the bottle?

I ask because we're about to go on Divina for the fourth time (all YC).

One year, the sommelier basically hounded me with the wine list ("30% off just for you") and we bought a few bottles that trip - wines I knew were good and definitely nicer than the standard wine list. 

But it would be nice to just have decent wines selected and poured throughout the meal and not have an extra few hundred dollars on my account!

 

 

We have not encountered a sommelier at all.  All wines we have had have been by the glass and ordered from our wait staff. 

My advice would be to look over the wine list for the wines by the glass in other venues, including the Top Sail Lounge and ask for them by name in Le Muse.  
 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

Dinner tonight was in Galaxy.

 

We had the Dining Experience.  It was good but not great.  We did not add anything off menu and left satisfied.

 

My DW had hot sake with her meal and I had wanted champagne but the only by the glass they had was prosecco.

 

 

 

 

 

I did not get a picture of dessert.

 

[DaKahuna]

As I nention in a response to @Jim_Iain, the Top Sail Lounge reminds me of a combination of Michael’s Club enlarged to the scale of a Retreat Lounge on the E-class.

 

 

 

(the blur is one of the cleaning staff vacuuming) 

 

with live music
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17 by DaKahuna

[jean87510]

On 2/13/2024 at 9:55 AM, DaKahuna said:

As I sit here waiting to go out and about today I thought I would update my onboard WiFi experiences.  As previously mentioned I was not able to get my travel router to work.  MSC is apparently blocking these types of devices.  While I can connect it to the ship’s WiFi, it does not connect to the www.mscwifi.com in order to log in and get internet connectivity.  So I am using my iPhone and iPad.

 

If I use my VPN, we are able to stream YouTube, which both of us like to browse in the morning and evenings.  
 

If I do not use my VPN I have better success at uploading pictures here on Cruise Critic. 
 

The Internet is provided by StarLink in case anyone is interested.  Here is the results of a speed test I ran this morning in our cabin. 

 

Without VPN

 

with VPN turned on

 

 

Probably too late for you but routers do work on MSC and quite well once you get connected.  It's trial and error.

[jean87510]

On 2/14/2024 at 5:55 AM, momofmab said:

Have you or your wife had the filet in the YC restaurant yet?  Interested to see what you thought of it.  Before sailing in YC on Seascape, I read post after post about how amazing the filet was in YC - no need to waste your money in Butcher's Cut.  We found that to be far from the case on our sailing.  The YC filet looked like it had been dragged behind the ship (my husband tried it twice), while our meal in Butcher's Cut was superb.

 

My husband also had the chicken breast (which looked exactly like your photo).  One of the things I mentioned on my survey was that YC needs to upgrade their veggie sides on the always available classics, from the mushy mess that they currently serve.  And some kind of sauce offering for that sad slab of chicken breast would be nice.

I absolutely agree with you.  We ate there 2x on Divina and loved it.  Much better than YC fillet.