MSC out of Miami

We are thinking of trying MSC Divinia out of Miami because of their past guest matching program. My question is how accessible is their ship and handling issues of disability? My sons are in their 20's and both have developmental disabilities. One uses a travel chair on board. We do not generally need a handicapped accessible cabin. My other son has food allergies. Do they have a special needs department?

We are thinking of trying MSC Divinia out of Miami because of their past guest matching program. My question is how accessible is their ship and handling issues of disability? My sons are in their 20's and both have developmental disabilities. One uses a travel chair on board. We do not generally need a handicapped accessible cabin. My other son has food allergies. Do they have a special needs department?

Much of what you are needing to know, including special dietary requests I,s actually posted on MSC's website by typing in "Special Needs" in the search function. Here's the link to the Special Needs page to get you there faster. https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Manage-Your-Booking/Special-Needs.aspx

The only fully accessible ship among all the cruise ships and cruise lines in the world is NCL's Pride of America which sails under the USA Flag, sail's only is the USA, is permanently based in the USA, and is required to comply with ADA Law. With that said MSC as well as other foreign flagged ships embarking from a USA port must comply with limited accessible regulations as a result of the 2005 USA Supreme Court Ruling on Spector vs. NCL. that became effective January 1, 2012. That ruling pertains to the booking of accessible cabins as well as public area accessible . The flaw in the ruling is that nothing has been done by Congress to date to define the regulations pertaining to the build out of public areas for cruise ships embarking from a USA port. Therefore the level of accessible inefficiencies that may be encountered on MSC correlates to one's level of as well severity of their disability .

Being that the MSC Divinia was launched in 2012 generally speaking accessibility should be better than ships built prior to 2012 but may not be as good as more recently launched ships. Suggest you also post on the NSC forum as not everyone with a disability posts on this forum.

We have sailed the Divina several times in the last few years. I particularly took notice of how handicap accessible it is as I used to use a cane and now will be using a rollator in the future. My thoughts are that the Divina is not accessible friendly at all. There are too many minor (one or two) step areas throughout the ship. We have a close friend who uses a scooter, and I know that she could not get around on the ship and would not recommend it for her.

I love sailing the Divina but could not recommend it to be your best cruise ship choice.