MSC Divina--a photo review

Having seen the Divina docked in Miami several times while we’ve been there getting on or off another cruise, we’ve wanted to give MSC a try for some time. When I came across a good deal on an aft balcony just two weeks before the four-night sailing to Cozumel departing July 5, we decided this would be a great opportunity to give the Divina a try. Since there are already so many reviews on this ship, I thought in this review we would just share some things we noticed as experienced cruisers trying out a new cruise line in case there are some of you out there considering this ship or cruise line. Hope some of this helps!

1. PRE-CRUISE: We decided that it would be less money for us to drive to Miami rather than fly, and we knew we wanted to be there all day on the 4th to take in some of the events going on. To save money, we drove the first 11 hours on Sunday and spent the night at a night Marriott right off of I-95 in Boca Raton.

I got a great deal on this hotel using one of the major websites that allow you to book a room based on star-ratings without seeing the name. Parking was free, and with all taxes and fees the room rate was less than $90. Spending the first night here instead of in downtown Miami saved us about $100. The next morning, we got up and made the 45-minute drive to Miami. We had lunch in Miami Beach before heading to our favorite hotel in Miami, the Intercontinental.

I booked this hotel using a bidding website, but was able to secure a “guaranteed bay view room” with one of the site’s Express Deals—no bidding needed—just over $130 before taxes and fees. We enjoyed several hours at the pool including dinner and drinks, and then retreated to our 20th floor room to watch the fireworks show over Biscayne Bay.

Crowds gathering for the fireworks.

To be continued...

PART 2

1. As an added bonus, we could see numerous fireworks shows in the distance stretching all along the coast. Seeing the huge crowd at Bayside, we were happy to watching the show from our room.

Shortly after the show ended, we saw police boats racing to Bayside, as well as other emergency vehicles arriving by land. A few minutes later on the news we heard that random gunfire had been reported, and people started running for safety. Luckily, no one was hit, and only one person was reported hurt when she twisted her ankle jumping onto a boat. Most likely just “celebratory gunfire,” but it certainly caused panic for a few minutes.

We highly recommend the Intercontinental before or after a cruise. The rooms are beautiful, and the staff is always accommodating. Even if you book through a bidding site, join their loyalty program for free. We've been given numerous upgrades and extra perks when staying there simply because we are loyalty members. Being a loyalty member is also the best way to secure a room overlooking the cruise port if you enjoy watching the ships leave in the afternoon, or if you get up really early, watching your ship arrive on the morning of your cruise. Parking is expensive—I believe it’s $40 or $45/night.

The view of the port from our room.

The Divina back in port waiting for our arrival!

The drive to the port from the hotel is less than 10 minutes—even with traffic lights. Cabs are always parked outside. There are many restaurants inside the hotel, or there are lots of great restaurants within walking distance. There are also several drug stores just blocks away which is handy if you flew to town and didn’t pack all of your toiletries in your suitcase.

EMBARKATION: We arrived at about 10:45 AM, and by the time we unloaded the luggage, parked the car and found our way to the correct entrance, we were handed a Zone 4 card as we entered the line for check-in. (By the way, I’m a big fan of off-site parking in other cities, but we always park at the port in Miami. It does cost $20 a night, but the parking is covered and your car is secure. It’s also easy to move your car to a loading area on the ground floor when you are leaving for home so you don’t have to carry all of your luggage up the stairs to your car in the deck).

Check-in was quick and painless. (On a side note, I inadvertently handed the lady checking us in a copy of our itinerary when I handed her my boarding pass and birth certificate. She started looking at the itinerary with great interest which seemed odd until she remarked, “So you’re going to Cozumel on this cruise. They never tell us where the ship is going.” We had no idea that the staff working behind the counter might not have a clue where the ship is actually going. Also, we both noticed that a few employees behind the counter were wearing suits and name tags, but hardly looked older that 13 or 14—not a complaint—just an observation). Once we had received our cruise cards, we were directed to a waiting room that looked out at the aft of the ship. Within a few minutes of finding two seats, the room become fairly crowded, but empty seats were still available in the back because so many people chose to stand near the entrance.

Sometime after 11:30 AM with no warning or announcement, all the people standing and sitting closer to the doorway started moving towards the area where we would eventually board the ship. Although we hadn’t heard any announcement, we assumed an announcement must have been made closer to the doorway, so we joined the others heading for the escalator. Once we were back in the main terminal we realized that no such announcement had been made, and the staff seemed irritated that the “crowd” seemed to be getting restless. Apparently there were a lot of passengers from the prior three-night cruise who were waiting to get back on board for their second leg of a back-to-back cruise, and eventually the staff working by the entrance to the embarkation area began calling for these passengers—no announcement—just them yelling out for returning passengers. This continued with Black card and then Gold card holders, but again there was no announcement, just staffers yelling over the crowd calling for specific groups of passengers. This seemed very chaotic and disorganized, and not something we had ever experienced before. Eventually announcements began over the intercom, but it was very difficult to understand what was being said with all the background noise in the terminal, so we continued to rely on the two staffers yelling over the crowd until they called for zone 4.

Just as we were stepping onto the deck of the ship from the gangway, an employee appeared from within the ship and began yelling at the passengers immediately behind us because they were standing in a line on the final few feet of the gangway that connects the enclosed part of the gangway to the ship. He absolutely didn’t want them to stand there, but insisted they back up to within the covered area of the gangway. There was only one man checking in the passengers at the entrance to the interior of the ship, so we were the last two who could fit onto the deck of the ship before the yelling began, but there was no sign warning passengers not to stand in a line on the final section of gangway, so none of us quite understood why he was yelling at passengers as if they had ignored some warning. These two incidents during embarkation were the first two times during the cruise when it seemed to us that MSC did not have enough employees on this ship.

In this pic you can see the covered area of the gangway--the connecting gangway had already been removed as we were preparing to depart.

I can only add 6 pics per post, so, to be continued....

PART 3

THE SHIP ITSELF: Once onboard, everything we had read about the beauty and cleanliness of Divina was confirmed. After a quick lunch at the buffet, we enjoyed walking around the ship and seeing all of the public areas before they became too crowded.

MSC gets an A+ for attention to detail with regard to the décor of this ship

No one at check-in ever offered us a pocket map of the deck plans like we’ve received on other cruises, so we did get turned around a few times (yes, it’s true what you’ve read about all of the mirrors—at times you feel as if you are in a fun house if you lose your way and can’t find where you are going!) Once we realized that deck 7 (starboard side only) and deck 14 are your two best ways of getting from front to back, we got around just fine.

Side note—being in an aft stateroom, we frequently used the aft elevators. For whatever reason, these were by the far the quickest and easiest to use with little waiting at any point during the cruise. Even at 7:15 AM on the final morning as everyone was leaving their rooms with all of their luggage, we were able to catch an empty elevator immediately on deck 11 and ride it down to deck 7 without stopping at any floors in between. The mid-ship elevators, however, were usually slow to arrive and often full when the doors opened.

To be continued...

PART 4

Our stateroom was an aft balcony on deck 11 right next to the port side exterior staircase. The room was more spacious then some more expensive rooms we’ve had on other ships, and the balcony was far deeper than we had anticipated.

Although large enough for two lounge chairs or a table and chairs, the balcony came with only two small chairs and one footstool—so much for eating breakfast on the balcony.

We love aft balconies because of the amazing views, but if you’ve never had one and are considering trying, know that the breeze is considerably less on aft balconies versus the standard balconies on the sides of the ship (this is the case on all ships). Many times we’d attempt to go out and enjoy the balcony, but quickly had to retreat back to the air conditioning because of the stifling heat. Even in the shade, the lack of air movement can make the balcony unusable in the middle of the day.

We were lucky that our room was next to the stairwell, so we could stand next to the divider between our balcony and the stairwell, lean forward, and catch some of the breeze coming around from the side of the ship.

Having enjoyed three “aft-wrap” balconies on other cruises (a room on the back corner of the ship with a balcony that stretches around from aft to one side of the ship), we felt as if MSC lost some prime “real estate” by installing exterior stairwells on the two sides rather than using that space for rooms with aft-wrap balconies. Don’t get me wrong, we loved having the staircase next to our room—it was our quick route to the buffet and to the Garden Pool. However, other than a few crew members hanging out in the shade during their breaks, we hardly ever saw (or heard) anyone else using that staircase.

To be continued....

PART 5

Considering that this four-day itinerary only featured the one stop in Cozumel, we knew we would be spending most of our vacation by one of the pools. We quickly found that the only problem with this plan was the lack of shade available anywhere out on deck. Unlike other cruises we’ve been on, there was never a problem finding a lounge chair—even at peak times. However, finding a chair in the shade was a much bigger challenge. Around the ship you would see lounge chairs that had been moved from their assigned spot to any sliver of shade against walls, under awnings, or in covered areas that led to doorways.

We visited the main pool during the stop in Cozumel and found two chairs in the shade under a staircase. When we tried to go to the indoor pool with the retractable roof, we left quickly because 1) it was hotter in that space than outside and 2) it looked as if every child onboard under the age of 5 was in that pool. I’ve never seen more people in a pool than we when passed through Le Sirene.

Le Sirene before the toddlers took over!

So, we ended up spending most of our time at the Garden Pool. Most of the chairs here are out in the sun, but there is one row of chairs that catch some shade under an awning.

As the sun shifted during the afternoon, any movement of our chairs had to be approved by the Pool Attendant in the area. If you moved your chair too far back into the shade, he’s come by and ask you to move it back if he felt it encroached on the traffic flow through the area. With that said, we did finally get lucky each day and snagged two chairs in the shade. Speaking of pool attendants, we saw them every day at every pool. Although they aren’t life guards, they do supervise everything going on in the pool and are not afraid to blow their whistle if they see something unsafe or if someone is inside the pool with an alcoholic drink in hand.

Pool attendant keeping watch.

The Garden Pool was enjoyable—very peaceful the morning when most passengers were off in Cozumel. When the pool was crowded on sea days, the water extends out of the pool across the tiles towards the “infinity” wall at the back of the ship. We enjoyed sitting in this tiled area when the water level was high; you could lie down and half your body was covered by water, but you weren’t fighting the crowds within the pool itself.

Two things that bothered us about this area: the hot tiles on the pool deck, and the smell in the area. Many of the lounge chairs around the Garden Pool are placed on green carpet that looks like grass, but there is also a wide ring of tile flooring between the carpeted area and the entrances to the pool. As hot as usual decking can get, this tile gets even hotter. When you leave the carpeted area on your way to the pool, you get about halfway there when your brain gets the message that the bottom of your feet are experiencing searing pain! I only made this mistake once, but as we sat by the pool each day, we watched many people learn this lesson the hard way. A real hazard for senior citizens who aren’t able to run or hop back to their chair on the carpet.

In this pic you can see the carpet and the dreaded tile flooring!

As far as the smell, there was a faint odor of sewage that would waft across this area from time to time. As the trip continued, the smell became more common until the final afternoon when it was fairly constant. On a side note, in four days of sitting by the pool, not once did anyone ask us if we wanted anything to drink. Likewise, no one passed by to collect used cups or plates of food that had found their way to the pool deck. Now, we’ve been on other cruise lines when the wait staff drives you crazy asking if you want a drink, but this seemed odd that there was no one asking on this ship. Again, not sure if it was a smaller staff, or just the way they do things on MSC. It didn’t bother us, but I know some people around us were having to get up and down multiple times to go to the bar to get drinks, water, soda, etc. for all the members of their family.

To be continued...

Reading with interest.

Not beinng experienced cruisers, have booked MSC for wife's birthday in April.

Keep up with the pictures! Thanks

PART 5

 

Considering that this four-day itinerary only featured the one stop in Cozumel, we knew we would be spending most of our vacation by one of the pools. We quickly found that the only problem with this plan was the lack of shade available anywhere out on deck. Unlike other cruises we’ve been on, there was never a problem finding a lounge chair—even at peak times. However, finding a chair in the shade was a much bigger challenge. Around the ship you would see lounge chairs that had been moved from their assigned spot to any sliver of shade against walls, under awnings, or in covered areas that led to doorways.

 

 

We visited the main pool during the stop in Cozumel and found two chairs in the shade under a staircase. When we tried to go to the indoor pool with the retractable roof, we left quickly because 1) it was hotter in that space than outside and 2) it looked as if every child onboard under the age of 5 was in that pool. I’ve never seen more people in a pool than we when passed through Le Sirene.

 

 

Le Sirene before the toddlers took over!

 

 

 

So, we ended up spending most of our time at the Garden Pool. Most of the chairs here are out in the sun, but there is one row of chairs that catch some shade under an awning.

 

 

 

 

As the sun shifted during the afternoon, any movement of our chairs had to be approved by the Pool Attendant in the area. If you moved your chair too far back into the shade, he’s come by and ask you to move it back if he felt it encroached on the traffic flow through the area. With that said, we did finally get lucky each day and snagged two chairs in the shade. Speaking of pool attendants, we saw them every day at every pool. Although they aren’t life guards, they do supervise everything going on in the pool and are not afraid to blow their whistle if they see something unsafe or if someone is inside the pool with an alcoholic drink in hand.

 

 

Pool attendant keeping watch.

 

 

 

The Garden Pool was enjoyable—very peaceful the morning when most passengers were off in Cozumel. When the pool was crowded on sea days, the water extends out of the pool across the tiles towards the “infinity” wall at the back of the ship. We enjoyed sitting in this tiled area when the water level was high; you could lie down and half your body was covered by water, but you weren’t fighting the crowds within the pool itself.

 

 

 

 

Two things that bothered us about this area: the hot tiles on the pool deck, and the smell in the area. Many of the lounge chairs around the Garden Pool are placed on green carpet that looks like grass, but there is also a wide ring of tile flooring between the carpeted area and the entrances to the pool. As hot as usual decking can get, this tile gets even hotter. When you leave the carpeted area on your way to the pool, you get about halfway there when your brain gets the message that the bottom of your feet are experiencing searing pain! I only made this mistake once, but as we sat by the pool each day, we watched many people learn this lesson the hard way. A real hazard for senior citizens who aren’t able to run or hop back to their chair on the carpet.

 

 

In this pic you can see the carpet and the dreaded tile flooring!

 

 

 

As far as the smell, there was a faint odor of sewage that would waft across this area from time to time. As the trip continued, the smell became more common until the final afternoon when it was fairly constant. On a side note, in four days of sitting by the pool, not once did anyone ask us if we wanted anything to drink. Likewise, no one passed by to collect used cups or plates of food that had found their way to the pool deck. Now, we’ve been on other cruise lines when the wait staff drives you crazy asking if you want a drink, but this seemed odd that there was no one asking on this ship. Again, not sure if it was a smaller staff, or just the way they do things on MSC. It didn’t bother us, but I know some people around us were having to get up and down multiple times to go to the bar to get drinks, water, soda, etc. for all the members of their family.

 

To be continued...

Wonderful review so far!

To answer your question regarding lack of asking for drinks orders from the crew, this is how all European hotel industry works, and that is how us, Europeans expect service to be provided elsewhere. If we need something we then ask for it to someone who will provide it.

Have a nice day!

Reading with interest.

 

 

 

Not beinng experienced cruisers, have booked MSC for wife's birthday in April.

 

 

 

Keep up with the pictures! Thanks

Thanks--I'll be posting more tomorrow.

Wonderful review so far!

 

 

 

To answer your question regarding lack of asking for drinks orders from the crew, this is how all European hotel industry works, and that is how us, Europeans expect service to be provided elsewhere. If we need something we then ask for it to someone who will provide it.

 

 

 

Have a nice day!

Thanks for the info. Makes perfect sense--just opposite of the American way, I guess. For the most part, we preferred it this way. Worked perfectly at the inside bars when servers would approach you soon after you take a seat, but then leave you alone unless you gave them some sign to approach. At the outside pools, however, there was rarely anyone to even ask for something if you needed it. I would imagine some loyal to Carnival or RC might find this a drawback if they like being waited on outside.

Beautiful photos, thanks!

Thanks for the info. Makes perfect sense--just opposite of the American way, I guess. For the most part, we preferred it this way. Worked perfectly at the inside bars when servers would approach you soon after you take a seat, but then leave you alone unless you gave them some sign to approach. At the outside pools, however, there was rarely anyone to even ask for something if you needed it. I would imagine some loyal to Carnival or RC might find this a drawback if they like being waited on outside.

Yes,,,I think this is where the bad reviews relating to service come from. If you were to sit near the Garden Bar,,there are always servers walking around the seating area ready to take your drink order. It is unfortunate that there isn't another bar on the starboard aft side of MSC Divina.

Good review and great pics. Thanks.

Thanks for the review and photos.

Too bad that the sewer smell is still there, we noticed it on our April cruise.

PART 4

 

 

 

Our stateroom was an aft balcony on deck 11 right next to the port side exterior staircase. The room was more spacious then some more expensive rooms we’ve had on other ships, and the balcony was far deeper than we had anticipated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although large enough for two lounge chairs or a table and chairs, the balcony came with only two small chairs and one footstool—so much for eating breakfast on the balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love aft balconies because of the amazing views, but if you’ve never had one and are considering trying, know that the breeze is considerably less on aft balconies versus the standard balconies on the sides of the ship (this is the case on all ships). Many times we’d attempt to go out and enjoy the balcony, but quickly had to retreat back to the air conditioning because of the stifling heat. Even in the shade, the lack of air movement can make the balcony unusable in the middle of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were lucky that our room was next to the stairwell, so we could stand next to the divider between our balcony and the stairwell, lean forward, and catch some of the breeze coming around from the side of the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having enjoyed three “aft-wrap” balconies on other cruises (a room on the back corner of the ship with a balcony that stretches around from aft to one side of the ship), we felt as if MSC lost some prime “real estate” by installing exterior stairwells on the two sides rather than using that space for rooms with aft-wrap balconies. Don’t get me wrong, we loved having the staircase next to our room—it was our quick route to the buffet and to the Garden Pool. However, other than a few crew members hanging out in the shade during their breaks, we hardly ever saw (or heard) anyone else using that staircase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued....

Great reading

Such a lovely, well-balanced, report. Looking forward to the food element review and pics.

PART 6

THE FOOD: We had read enough reviews complaining about the food that we did not board the ship with unreasonable expectations for an abundance of great dining experiences. Overall, the food was fine. We are not big fans of cruise ship buffets, but we did take advantage of the buffet more on this cruise than is typical for us. This was mainly because of the close proximity of our cabin three floors below and the fact that we spent much of our time at the Garden Pool which is one floor above the buffet. We found lots of choices at both breakfast and lunch, and you could always find a place to sit towards the back of the ship at even the busiest times. The best and most popular choices are near the mid ship entrance to the buffet, but we always entered from the aft entrance, so we would find ourselves “swimming upstream” to get to the main serving lines. I just don’t like how aggressive people become once they get a plate in their hands! Then you add the kids darting in and out, or the extended families that choose to stop right in the middle of the traffic flow to discuss their plans for the day—sometimes my patience was running thin before I had even picked up a plate.

Note that many of the most popular items are offered in different serving lines, so sometimes you have to stand in multiple lines to get all the items you want. For example, once you survive the long line to get your hands on the bacon tongs, your other food is usually pretty cold by the time you find a seat. With that said, the breakfast food was still good, and we enjoyed a burger or two during lunch as well as some nice sub sandwiches.

We did eat in the Black Crab on two of the four nights. Despite negative reviews we had read, we didn’t think the service was any slower than on any other cruise. We were never rushed, but we never had to wait too long between courses.

Being a four-night cruise, there was no formal night menu. We did have “Surf and Turf” on the third night, which ended up being a small steak with two large prawns. The steak was fine, but no different than what we might cook at home. The prawns looked beautiful, but were inedible. The bread, however, was always plentiful and delicious! We had slight communication issues with our server the first night, but nothing major--mostly he just spoke too softly to be heard over the noise in the room. In general, our servers were attentive and “no-nonsense”—no unnecessary conversation. Not sure why so many people complain about poor and slow service in the MDR.

To be continued...

PART 7

On the second night we ate at Ristorante Italia, one of Divina’s specialty restaurants which only has five or six tables. We have enjoyed many specialty restaurants on several other cruises, so we were looking forward to this meal in particular. I had pre-paid for the dinner in advance on the MSC website, but was not given the opportunity to make a reservation until onboard. This was tricky. I called the restaurant after we arrived in our stateroom the first afternoon and made the reservation for the second night. The lady spoke broken English, and after I hung up I realized that she never confirmed my name or stateroom number. So, the next day I decided I would swing by the restaurant and talk to someone in person to confirm our reservation. Even after multiple attempts of going into the restaurant, I never saw another person there. After we returned from the pool around 3:30, I decided to call the restaurant. Surprise—when you read the very fine print in the “Daily Program” that is left in your room each night, you see that calls to the specialty restaurants can only be made between 12:00 and 3 PM and then again between 6 PM and 9 PM. So, if you wake up in the morning and decide you want to make a reservation for a specialty restaurant before heading out the door for the day, no luck. Or, you get back to your room in the late afternoon and want to see if any last minute reservations are available-no luck. I thought, “Surely, this can’t be right,” so I called anyway. No answer. Finally, at around 5 PM, I stopped by the restaurant again and there was actually somebody sitting behind the counter. This man, too, spoke very broken English, and when I asked to confirm my reservation, he told me not to worry—“it will be fine…8 o’clock—dinner for two.” I replied, “You haven’t even asked my name or looked me up in the computer.” Again, “It will be fine….8 o’clock.” As I stood there somewhat bewildered, he finally said, “Let me write down your stateroom number so you don’t have to worry.” He scribbled the number on a ripped piece of paper—again, no name—and sent me on my way. So, what do you think happened when we arrived at the hostess stand at 8 PM that evening? No reservation; no record of us in any way. Again, we were told not to worry, and the hostess took us through the Steakhouse to the small room around the corner, Ristorante Italia, where there happened to be one open table for two.

Once we were seated, however, there was a big huddle of several employees in the corner—all whispering and looking over at our table. Finally, the head waiter took charge and everything seemed to be resolved. We were handed menus with all sorts of al a carte pricing, so I explained to the hostess that we had pre-paid. Another huddle. Luckily, the head waiter knew how this worked, and he came over to show us what our options were within the menu we received. We were each able to choose one appetizer, one pasta, one entrée, and one dessert. We also were given a glass of Prosecco to start things off. Additionally, we opted to order bottled water for a fee instead of tap water.

The food was delicious and beautifully presented.

Although we chose different appetizers and pasta dishes, we both opted for the filet as our entrée, and it was quite delicious.

Dessert was delicious, too!

At the end of the meal, a third huddle took place, but still they seemed perplexed about how to settle our bill. We didn’t say a word, but just watched with amusement as they met and then met again over a span of what must have been 20 minutes. Finally, my wife said, “Here he comes with the bill.” I replied, “This should be interesting.” I opened the folio to find a bill for $0.00. They didn’t even charge us for the bottled water, and there was no place to sign to add an additional tip. We left the restaurant just after 11 PM completely satisfied, but wondering if most of the employees were working there for the first time.

Side note—I happened to have the confirmation e-mail from MSC on my phone that I was able to pull up and show that I had pre-paid for the meal. This was especially helpful to have when we first arrived and no one seemed to know who we were or how we could have already paid for our meal. Since you can’t make your reservation in advance when you pre-pay, I would strongly recommend you bring proof of your purchase to the restaurant.

To be continued...

What an enjoyable read to wake up to. Thank you! Looking forward to your next installment :).

Loving your review!!!! :):):)

Thank you for taking the time and effort to do such a good job with this. It is appreciated.

Thanks for the info. Makes perfect sense--just opposite of the American way, I guess. For the most part, we preferred it this way. Worked perfectly at the inside bars when servers would approach you soon after you take a seat, but then leave you alone unless you gave them some sign to approach. At the outside pools, however, there was rarely anyone to even ask for something if you needed it. I would imagine some loyal to Carnival or RC might find this a drawback if they like being waited on outside.

WE just back from Carnival cruise. Bar service in pool starts in 8 am :eek::confused: and then after 30 min or so good luck find them. Same in inside bars , you lucky if you have you drink in 20 min or so.

PART 8

On the final night of the cruise we decided to skip the MDR and have some pizza at La Cantina di Baccio. We had stopped there for drinks the night before and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere, so we thought we’d go again and have some pizza.

A plate of goodies that were complimentary with our drinks on our first visit--really tasty!

On this night the place was packed with people, and almost every table was taken when we arrived around 7:45 PM. We found a table near the window, and then we waited. And waited. For the first 15 minutes or so, there was only one poor waiter working the entire restaurant and bar. He looked like The Flash trying to maneuver from table to table, but he simply couldn’t keep up with the demand. He had served us the night before, and we knew he was very attentive, so we waited patiently. When he finally got to us, he apologized profusely for making us wait. We opted for the last pizza on the menu, Create Your Own, on which you choose up to five ingredients. It was delicious and well worth the wait. In the end, he refused to charge us for the pizza because of our long wait even though we had never said a word about it. I wish I could think of his name because he was one of the nicest members of the crew we met during our cruise. I forgot to take any pictures of the pizza--I think because we were distracted by the beautiful sunset outside the window:

Going...

Going...

Going...

GONE!

To be continued....

Stuartcruisers would like to know if these pools have steps or only ladders.

Stuartcruisers would like to know if these pools have steps or only ladders.

Steps that lead to the tiled areas around the pools (that are sometimes covered by water when lots of people are in the pool), but only ladders into the pools themselves. You can see this in the picture below: