On Divina now 05/23/2016

After reading countless bad reviews and ratings, I was worried this was going to be a marginal-bad cruise. I have only been on 1 bad cruise out of many and that was Carnival. I can say honestly this so far has been a great cruise. The ship is beautiful, the crew attentive, meals last just the right amount of time. Buffer is a bit crowded but that is normal. No strong smoke odors anywhere. Decent cruise food. Our room steward is excellent (room 10060). Only small complaint would be most pillows are lumpy, but that would be a nitpick. So far this cruise has been a great value. I would say the percentage of US passengers is very low but who cares.

After reading countless bad reviews and ratings, I was worried this was going to be a marginal-bad cruise. I have only been on 1 bad cruise out of many and that was Carnival. I can say honestly this so far has been a great cruise. The ship is beautiful, the crew attentive, meals last just the right amount of time. Buffer is a bit crowded but that is normal. No strong smoke odors anywhere. Decent cruise food. Our room steward is excellent (room 10060). Only small complaint would be most pillows are lumpy, but that would be a nitpick. So far this cruise has been a great value. I would say the percentage of US passengers is very low but who cares.

We're not fans of those pillows either,,great to hear you're enjoying your time onboard MSC Divina regardless of the bad reviews!!!!! Enjoy the rest of your journey!!:)

After reading countless bad reviews and ratings, I was worried this was going to be a marginal-bad cruise. I have only been on 1 bad cruise out of many and that was Carnival. I can say honestly this so far has been a great cruise. The ship is beautiful, the crew attentive, meals last just the right amount of time. Buffer is a bit crowded but that is normal. No strong smoke odors anywhere. Decent cruise food. Our room steward is excellent (room 10060). Only small complaint would be most pillows are lumpy, but that would be a nitpick. So far this cruise has been a great value. I would say the percentage of US passengers is very low but who cares.

You are so right about the pillows , worst at sea but besides that we love the Divina. Enjoy the rest of the cruise.

You are so right about the pillows , worst at sea but besides that we love the Divina. Enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Their pillows leave a LOT to be desired but the funny thing is, I had cervical fusion surgery and those awful pillows don't make my neck hurt. Crazy! :p

I loved those pillows because they didn't have any feathers in them, and I could breathe all night. EM

The pillows felt like they were filled with a chopper gun. Really weird feeling. But, as others said, I woke up with no aches or pains, so didn't let it bother me.

I often wonder about the extreme negative reviews of this ship. I just don't understand the wildly negative ones. Clean ship, nice crew, good food, plenty of entertainment, great value.

The pillows felt like they were filled with a chopper gun. Really weird feeling. But, as others said, I woke up with no aches or pains, so didn't let it bother me.

 

I often wonder about the extreme negative reviews of this ship. I just don't understand the wildly negative ones. Clean ship, nice crew, good food, plenty of entertainment, great value.

You are so right,i don't understand it either.

The pillows felt like they were filled with a chopper gun. Really weird feeling. But, as others said, I woke up with no aches or pains, so didn't let it bother me.

 

 

 

I often wonder about the extreme negative reviews of this ship. I just don't understand the wildly negative ones. Clean ship, nice crew, good food, plenty of entertainment, great value.

Great to hear. [emoji924][emoji106]🏻

You are so right,i don't understand it either.

You can't please everyone and the more people realise that it's a European cruise experience then the better. Open eyes! [emoji15]

Like I've said before if you want Disneyland your on the wrong ship.

Anthony & Jenny, Melbourne Australia

Cruised MSC YC 7th June 2015, Mediterranean.

Booked MSC Meraviglia in YC 19/6/17

You can't please everyone and the more people realise that it's a European cruise experience then the better. Open eyes! [emoji15]

Like I've said before if you want Disneyland your on the wrong ship.

 

 

 

 

Anthony & Jenny, Melbourne Australia

Cruised MSC YC 7th June 2015, Mediterranean.

Booked MSC Meraviglia in YC 19/6/17

Completely agree. You're on a cruise! I live with 5 males (husband and 4 sons) so as long as I don't have to cook, clean or make the beds, I'm happy! Everything else that comes with cruising is just a bonus. I never understood the complaining about long dining times....why are so many people is such a hurry? It's a vacation. You're supposed to relax :)

P.S. The Divina really is a beautiful ship!!

Happy to hear you are enjoying your cruise...it will be our turn in a few weeks to try the Divina for the first time.

How is the entertainment on the ship and what entertainment is there?

How is the entertainment on the ship and what entertainment is there?

Evening entertainment is mostly singing and dancing - pretty good. There is some comedy of the slapstick variety, provided by the entertainment staff before the shows. I believe the passenger mix is too diverse (international) to have comedians. There are acrobats and tumblers/break dancers in the shows, too. During the day, they do have trivia, and there is a belly flop contest. Just people watching is great entertainment. EM

Great to hear some of the positive reviews of MSC Davina. We board her this Saturday for a 14 day B2B cruise. So looking forward to trying MSC for the first time.

I often wonder about the extreme negative reviews of this ship. I just don't understand the wildly negative ones. Clean ship, nice crew, good food, plenty of entertainment, great value.

This is the kind of quote where we need a "Like" button on here! :D

Bret

After reading countless bad reviews and ratings, I was worried this was going to be a marginal-bad cruise. I have only been on 1 bad cruise out of many and that was Carnival. I can say honestly this so far has been a great cruise. The ship is beautiful, the crew attentive, meals last just the right amount of time. Buffer is a bit crowded but that is normal. No strong smoke odors anywhere. Decent cruise food. Our room steward is excellent (room 10060). Only small complaint would be most pillows are lumpy, but that would be a nitpick. So far this cruise has been a great value. I would say the percentage of US passengers is very low but who cares.

Hope you have a great time and I hope you will give a review once you return and have re-cooped. Planning on sailing her Nov. 5th. It will be our first time on her and MSC. Looking forward to it. Thanks

This is the kind of quote where we need a "Like" button on here! :D

 

Bret

Cruise Critic insert LIKE BUTTON here!!

Complete agreement:):)!!!

I loved those pillows because they didn't have any feathers in them, and I could breathe all night. EM

I actually liked the pillows! To me, they were more comfortable than the ones I am used to on Celebrity. I guess pillows are like food - subjective? :D

photogcrazy - glad you are enjoying your cruise! And I agree, a great value!

I couldn't agree more. The ship, the crew, and the entertainment were great.

I'm booked on the Seaside, and wouldn't hesitate to go on the Divina again.

We are on Divina in December. Thanks for reminding me to bring a pillow. Can anyone tell me if Canadian Club is available for the Classic All inclusive package or point me to the bar menu? I found it on an older cruising with Gambee menu, just checking to see if it is still the same. Not sure if I want to change my package.

We are awaiting a short cruise on the Divina in July and a week one in December! Please let us know what your cabin/experience is! :)

We are on Divina in December too...Good news for us, The ship will have a drydock by then...There is a good chance we will have NEW pillows ;)

Glad you are having a great time. I agree, the pillows are very strange, but, I slept like Rip Van Winkle in them. I woke up every morning (afternoon) and laughed at the nest of pillows I had created in my sleep. :D:D

We just returned from this sailing, and I will write another thread with a bit more in depth review and some photos, but just wanted to throw in a quick 2 cents here.

Overall, we had a good time. Personally I would place MSC a notch above Carnival and a notch below Royal, I had read extensively about the MSC and the Divina so I went on this cruise fully knowing what to expect. There were no big surprises. But I can see how some things would've bothered me if I hadn't known about them in advance.

The kids absolutely loved the cruise (my 6 year old said that the kids club was the BEST, and that from now on we will ONLY sail on MSC, haha!). This came as a surprise to me since I had read that MSC's kids club and activities are not as good or elaborate as on other family friendly cruise line. But whatever they are doing, worked wonders with our kids.

The cruise was good and a great value. There are things I like better about it than other lines and things I like less. Are there things I would change, of course. But in no way shape or form is there any basis for all the bad reviews. The pillows are baaaaadddd but if you get a couple extra you can make a comfortable nest and sleep like a baby. The ship is big and heavy which makes for a smooth ride even when going through storms, I think their stabilizers must work good too. Our cabin steward was excellent and on par or better than service we have had on any other lines. Dinner service was decent, not the best we have had but not bad either. The food was average but they still have Lobster tail night which many other lines have stopped doing. The ship is beautiful and well maintained. The staff as a whole is excellent. The shows are good and there is one every night, but they are all very similar except for the Michael Jackson show. The piano bar never had a piano player just a guitar picker/ singer but entertaining none the less. Showers would be small for a bigger person. The buffet is always crowded which I think is due to lack of other free eating venues on the ship. They have a sports bar that serves american style bar food but at a heavy price, they should make it free like O'Sheehans on Norwegian. The port time in San Juan was awesome but in St Marteen it could have been better. The beverage packages/ vouchers are a deal if you buy in advanced but I think the staff get screwed on tips. Also by good deal I mean cheaper than paying per drink. The soda package....MSC figured out how to charge 30.00 for 15 12oz sodas, good for them expensive for us. The internet package value may depend on where your cabin is. Our cabin, my wife's Ipad air 2 would not even find the signal nor would my sons Ipad air, my Asus transformer book picked it up but only 1 bar and my wife could get on with her android phone, with such a weak signal it was slow. However there are routers throughout the hallways and if your room is next to one you may have better results, also the dining room and Buffet have good signal strength. Like I stated before, over all it was a fun cruise, a great time with good service on a beautiful ship with a fair price tag. What is not to like???