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Divina 5/13 Review


NoleFam20
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Returned from a week long cruise on the Divina this past Saturday. I have cruised on NCL, RCCL, Carnival and Celebrity - this was my first time on MSC. I read a lot of mixed reviews so I didn't know what to expect, but heck, I'm pretty easy going and decided to take my daughter for a quick vacation.

 

Room - had a Fantastica balcony near the aft of the ship on the 10th deck. The only aggravating issue was the group of young men next door who had no respect for any rooms near them and carried on throughout the night or decided to DJ rap music out on their balcony. We never met our steward, but the room was kept immaculate. He/she even tidied up our books, daily programs, phone cords, etc. Oh yea, we also got the Divina hazing with the card slot thingy on the wall. Couldn't figure out why we couldn't turn on the lights or flush the toilet...a kind neighbor pointed it out to us and we later paid it forward to another neighboring room. The balcony glass was kept clean of salt accumulation - on NCL it was caked on and not see through. There was plenty of room - the couch was a king size pull out.

 

Dining - we ate dinners for all but 2 nights in the MDR. The staff did a superb job (Efren and Rolly). My daughter was impressed that they remembered the type of wine she had ordered a previous night after we skipped two nights in a row. The portions were good, not big where you overstuff and regret it later and not too small where you're wanting for more. I didn't eat all my grouper one night and Efren offered to bring something else because he thought I didn't like the food. The buffet food is buffet food. There was a decent variety - the pizza and hamburgers offered a great alternative.

 

Shows - we weren't too impressed by these. The audio seemed to be out of sync where the backup singers or music drowned out the lead singer. The pirate show was a little confusing having a Josh Groban song in the middle and I heard a few folks ask what was the story line? The Michael Jackson show was as good as everyone as mentioned in reviews and was a good way to end all the shows.

 

Drinks - I mostly drank BBC or Miami Vice frozen drinks - you won't get much of an effect off of these. Later I switched to Mai Tais and those were more potent. Get the drink coupons if you don't have a package! These are easy to use and at the end of the cruise folks were handing out their extras. We had the 24 from the Fantastica plus a booklet of 18 which were sufficient...maybe could have used another booklet. We also got the Coffee Cuddler booklet for the coffee bar - I think you can only get these online beforehand. A couple of the waitresses who did an awesome job were Mariana Prison (coffee, Silver lounge and buffet) and Ronnel Dawood (Silver and buffet). They remembered our orders and would always stop to chat or check on us to see if we needed anything else. Ronnel even made the trip to another bar to get me a drink that wasn't offered in the area we were sitting.

 

Activities - we participated in the trivia one day, but didn't really join in on anything else. We did do both wine tasting events that they offered for purchase during the Sunday night and Thursday night dinners. It was $9.50 for 5 wine samples. I don't drink wine, but figured I may be able to get a little drunk at least :) as each sample was about 1/2 a glass.

 

Excursions - booked Bernard's Tours in St Martin and highly recommend if you want to learn about the island. Our tour guide, the Mailman, did an awesome job! In San Juan we hiked up to the fort and in Nassau we took at taxi for $4 (per person) over to Atlantis.

 

Casino - didn't play the slots, but had a blast all week at the black jack tables. A couple of the dealers (Sumiti and Rebeca) made the games fun whether I was losing or winning. If someone is getting ready to go next week, please let me know if you're willing to help me out - Sumiti gave me her email address on the last night and I must have lost it while packing...next week is her last one of her contract.

 

Overall, a great trip! I was trying to find a trip to be able to do with the hubby so he can experience the ship, but I don't think we'll be able to before they bring the Seaside to Miami.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

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I did the wine tasting too the second time. What table were you at? Loved that sparkling wine.

 

We were along the windows next to one of the loud tables which separated us from the real loud table in the back corner. I was mainly there for the cheap drink factor and cheese plate :) My daughter like it though!

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Thanks for the review. There have been so many negative reviews in the past and I am glad to finally see some positive ones being written lately.

 

I am cruising on Divina at the end of November and plan to take a tour with Bernard also. Glad to hear you had a good experience :)

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We were along the windows next to one of the loud tables which separated us from the real loud table in the back corner. I was mainly there for the cheap drink factor and cheese plate :) My daughter like it though!

 

I think we might have been at the same table. I was the one with the glasses with the reddish brown wavy hair, we came in almost when it began.

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Yep, I think you were! It was my daughter and I along with the young couple from Canada.

 

More on the Casino...

The minimum bets at the black jack tables were $5 and I think there was a $25 table (never made it there though). On sea days, they had 'happy hour' for Roulette which was 50 cent bids; black jack, 3 card poker and I think Texas Hold em were all $3 bids from 11am to 2pm. For black jack, they use an 8 deck shoe with manual shuffling - which I kind of liked since it slowed the game down and gave you a chance to chat with the dealer and other players. At the tables, the dealer would ask for your sail card and they'd log in how much your starting bet was and when you cashed out, they entered that amount (if any). I heard if you had enough 'points' - which I'm guessing you got as being a high roller or playing slots, then you got an offer of a 30% discount on a future cruise. I didn't make it there either. Another plus for me was that the casino is smoke free.

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I heard if you had enough 'points' - which I'm guessing you got as being a high roller or playing slots, then you got an offer of a 30% discount on a future cruise. I didn't make it there either.

 

I don't know about the tables, but you get points for playing the slots. 1200 points qualifies you for the 30% discount voucher with OBC. I've received 2 in the last year - one had €50 OBC and the recent one had €75 OBC included. There are also MSC logo items exchanged for points eg a mug, a keyring etc. You can also get €/$5 free play for every 500 points which doesn't affect the claim for the discount voucher.

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Thanks for the review. There have been so many negative reviews in the past and I am glad to finally see some positive ones being written lately.

 

I am cruising on Divina at the end of November and plan to take a tour with Bernard also. Glad to hear you had a good experience :)

Make sure to request the Mailman. He did an excellent job! I hear Jackson is good too.

 

For some reason we missed the van, which we can only assume they left early since I think we were the only ones from the Divina and everyone else must have been ready. They had an extra driver run us to where they were and he gave us a private tour until we did.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Forums mobile app

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What were the table minimums for blackjack and other table games?

 

Sent from my SM-G935R4 using Forums mobile app

 

I saw tables for $5 dollar minimum and between the hours of 11am to 2 or 3pm you could play for $3 per hand also they had specials on roulette for 50 cents a chip during same hours

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