Spoiled on the Divina, a Review May 6-13 2017

Ok, here goes. I'm going to try to be as detailed as possible so this will be long, but hopefully not boring!

Day 1

My family of 4 set sail with another family of 3 ....we arrived at the Port of Miami around 11a.m. via Uber from our Miami hotels. Great, inexpensive way to get there!

A porter took our bags right away and we walked over to the tent that said Yacht Club & Aurea guests. We were Aurea so we were told to bypass the line going inside the port and take the 2nd door down....they checked our tickets and we basically walked right up to a ticket window to get checked in.

Ask questions if you have any.....not all of the staff here know exactly what they are supposed to do, like tell you where to wait or provide a map.

We waited a little while since the ship was not ready to receive guests, they did have juices and water for everyone.

After about 30 minutes we were allowed to board the ship. After reading about how busy the buffet would be now, we decided to find our way to the Sports Bar. We walked by the famous crystal staircases and commented on how gorgeous the ship was. Cleanest ship I have ever been on!!

We were alone in the Sports Bar, odd at first, but once we sat down and a waitress came over we realized how great it was to be away from the crowds and relax.

The menu is on the smaller side, but the food was very good. Great fish and chips, wings, salads, burgers, etc. Cocktails and mocktails for the kids, a great perk of the Aurea package. I think the kids drank more than the adults! I highly recommend the Mojito Zero!

The Sports Bar is a long room, very clean and comfortable with a 2 lane bowling alley and televisions on the walls. We ate here a few times to avoid the craziness of the buffet, more on that later!

After lunch we set out to find our cabins. 10007 & 11010. We were on opposite corners on the front of the ship...awesome cabins if you can get them as there are only a a few available....we were lucky! 350+ sq. ft 2 room cabins with a long narrow deck.

The first room had 2 chairs, coffee table and a pullout couch, TV, fridge, 2 closets, plenty of drawers, sliders to the deck and entrance to the bathroom with tub.

The second room was heaven....a walk-in closet w/safe, TV, desk, king bed, end tables, full length mirror, dressing table w/mirror and hair dryer. The best part was all of the windows, it was gorgeous! And yes, a real door to close between the rooms!

Lots of room to move around...we really loved this cabin and are spoiled now as the price was so low compared to other cruise lines.

Before we knew it we had to go to the muster drill, yes you need to bring your life jackets! It was nice to be able to sit in the Luna Lounge and just wait for it to be over, not a big deal at all.

Stay tuned.

thank you for writing this review. Eager to read more!

Tuning in! I'm at the front corner of the ship on the Meraviglia! Never been so far forward on a ship before so this will be a great preview!

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I have been waiting for this review! You were in the cabin I will be in later this year (#11010)!

After lunch we set out to find our cabins. 10007 & 11010. We were on opposite corners on the front of the ship...awesome cabins if you can get them as there are only a a few available....we were lucky! 350+ sq. ft 2 room cabins with a long narrow deck.

I hope we left 11010 in good shape for you! We had it the week before you did and absolutely loved the setup.

Looking forward to your review, thanks!

Hanging on your every word ! Thank you for sharing !

razzzbere will you be posting any pictures? In particular, ones of that wonderful cabin?

razzzbere will you be posting any pictures? In particular, ones of that wonderful cabin?

Here is my post with all the pictures of the fantastic room. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2497474&highlight=11010

I hope we left 11010 in good shape for you! We had it the week before you did and absolutely loved the setup.

Funny that you said that! Our cabin was perfectly fine, but our friends in 10007 had a broken pull out couch, they were told that the prior family had 3 kids! :p

Here is my post with all the pictures of the fantastic room. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2497474&highlight=11010

I'm not sure yet....those pics pretty much summed it up, the only difference was our beds were pushed together, great cabin!

Here is my post with all the pictures of the fantastic room. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2497474&highlight=11010

Thanks Moobaby214. Those are great.

Thanks for starting the review.

Day 1 cont.

After the muster drill we went back to our room for sail away with our friends.....we had champagne and chocolate covered strawberries compliments of our travel agent (me!) It wasn't quite dark yet, but it's always nice to sail out of Miami.

At this point I thought for sure we would have met our room steward, but no such luck.....not that we needed anything, we're just used to meeting them

I hate to say that that night was kind of a blur, it had been a very long day......we spent some time unpacking and getting sorted out....found the pools, kids club, restaurants, shops etc. Lots of walking, especially since our cabin was at the front of the ship....but...for the size, it was totally worth it!

Dinner that night was in the Black Crab. We could show up anytime as we had open seating....we just went to the desk, showed our key cards and were shown to our table. We had the same table for the 7 of us every nite and the same waiters....they were really nice and recognized us every night. They even remembered to bring assorted sodas for us and bottled water. Plenty to choose from on the menu, great bread, excellent pastas. Soups were a little odd looking, like watery clam chowder. I had lamb that night, my husband had duck....I thought the food was good and the portions were fine, not small like some say. I actually gained weight on this trip!

Thanks for writing this. Anxiously awaiting more!

~Brian

Enjoying sharing your experience, thanks. Bob

Since you are your own Travel Agent, I am wondering if there was any special recognition or perks.

Not sure if you are traveling on TA rates or as a regular cruiser.

I am traveling on Divina in September as a regular passenger, and was just wondering if they should know whether or not I am a TA, too. Or if it will make a difference

Since you are your own Travel Agent, I am wondering if there was any special recognition or perks.

Not sure if you are traveling on TA rates or as a regular cruiser.

I am traveling on Divina in September as a regular passenger, and was just wondering if they should know whether or not I am a TA, too. Or if it will make a difference

I made sure that my BDM knew that it was my 1st trip with MSC and I asked if I could get a tour of the Yacht Club. She sent us a bottle of champagne in our cabin and I did get that tour, altho I had to make it happen by being persistent at the front desk.

End of Day 1

After dinner we did some more ship exploring, checked out the casino....so nice that it is non smoking!

We didn't go to the show that night, it was Italian singing, figured the kids wouldn't care for it, besides the fact that it had been a very long day and we were all pooped!

Back to our cabin we went....I forgot to mention that we did have some gifts in the room. A basket of fruit, a bottle of champagne and a MED by MSC room diffuser which I am using at home right now and it smells wonderful!

To me room service for breakfast is a huge perk so I took advantage and placed my order on the card for coffee and pastries to be delivered in the morning.

I do have to say that the internet really sucks at the front of the ship, hopefully MSC will do something about that because when you purchase a package, you expect it to work....it was fine mid-ship, but not so much in our cabin.

I have to say that the bed was very comfortable...we like a firm mattress and slept like babies.....the kids not so much. The pullout couch is on the small side and every night they were fighting over the covers, pillows etc. It was so nice to have a door to shut ...lol.:p Goodnite!

At this point I thought for sure we would have met our room steward, but no such luck.....not that we needed anything, we're just used to meeting them

We found the steward to be rather lack luster. He was polite, but never said anything beyond "Hello".

I do have to say that the internet really sucks at the front of the ship, hopefully MSC will do something about that because when you purchase a package, you expect it to work....it was fine mid-ship, but not so much in our cabin.

I totally agree! I could sit on the couch and it worked just fine. Go to the chairs or the bedroom and I completely lost the signal. However on the balcony on the side, the signal was good enough that my husband was able to Facebook Live for a fifteen minutes.

I just thought of something that I am curious about, the two chairs in the living room... Were they still in front of the tv? Or were they back to blocking access to the balcony? I moved them in front of the tv for easier movement in the living room.

I just thought of something that I am curious about, the two chairs in the living room... Were they still in front of the tv? Or were they back to blocking access to the balcony? I moved them in front of the tv for easier movement in the living room.

They were in front of the tv...but then they blocked the fridge....grrrr....

Day 2 Sea Day

How nice to wake up and not have to do anything today! This is why I love room service! It came promptly at the time I ordered it for and we took our time enjoying the view and eating. The coffee was very good and I love pastries...the kids and my husband went to the buffet and brought back some other stuff too. Our plan for most of today was to enjoy the pool! We ended up getting a table near the indoor pool....it was less crowded and we enjoyed the bar service there. We felt like we were outside as the roof was half open. The hot tubs weren't too crowded and the temp was perfect...the pool was refreshing as well. There was music and games going on it the outdoor pool area, but then a huge black cloud came out and it started to rain....everyone ran inside, we were glad we already had a table! It didn't last long tho.

Lunch at the buffet......ugh......holy crap was it busy!!! We walked the entire buffet and could not find a table....period! They really need to do something about this....maybe have two separate buffet areas at either end of the ship?

We did end up getting food and stood at a bar type table...7 of us crammed into a space for 4....its too bad, because I thought the food was very good. Great pizza, typical burgers, hot dogs...but then interesting international foods and salads, meats, cheeses, kids area, desserts......excellent pastas!!! They even had a section of food for the Weight Watchers group...everything was marked with points...I thought that was great for them. Anyone who says the food on this cruise line in inedible is crazy IMHO.

They were in front of the tv...but then they blocked the fridge....grrrr....

That was true about blocking the fridge. I finally moved the one chair over in front of that angled wall to the right.

The second sea day was also formal night, so for the rest of the day we pretty much swam in the indoor pool, drank and just relaxed before we had to get ready for dinner.

On the way to dinner we stopped and had our formal pics taken on the crystal stairs and with a backdrop...quick and painless.

Dinner that night was very good, I had lamb chops and my husband had duck...service was good as well.

We went to the show with the kids that night. The captain showed off his language skills and welcomed everyone in almost every language you could think of. This captain is quite a character....I believe he is moving onto the Seaside soon.

This show had dancing, singing and acrobatics....I didn't love it, but we didn't hate it either.

After the show the kids went back to our room and we went to the casino for a bit...a woman won $3000 on a slot machine!