Just Off Divina

From embarkation to end, with the exception of Bermuda, this cruise was the worst of 60 cruises we've taken on Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, NCL and Royal Caribbean. The line was very long outside the terminal just to get into the building - took us an hour to check in and that was at 12:30. Instead of taking your credit card at check in, they direct you to one of the kiosks on the ship to register your credit card for use on board which we stood in line once again to do. That is one of their new procedures we were told. The lifeboat drill was a complete joke - our muster station was the casino where they did not even make sure people were trying on their life jackets and we never even saw a demonstration on how to put them on. If one was given, it was nowhere near where we were standing. Now for the cabin - we took the Fantastico pkg which was supposed to be a superior balcony cabin in category 2A. Nowhere on the website deck plan of deck 9 shows any of these forward cabins having any obstruction or any notations showing obstructions. Our balcony was a "steel" balcony where you could only see out if you were standing. When we complained at guest relations, we were shown their diagram of deck 9 which did show our cabins as having obstructed balconies. They said their Miami office was closed on Saturday and they would try to do something on Monday. Well - the following Thursday, they called us and offered us another cabin - with 2 days left of the cruise, we were not going to spend it moving. They didn't so much as offer us a bottle of wine for their mistake and never even admitted their error. Now for the dining experience. When we found out that they had anytime dining, we called and spoke to a Mario who told us just to come and see him at 6:30 that evening and he would change us to 6:30. When we appeared at 6:30 to see him, after missing our 5:30 regular dining time, he looked at our room keys and told us he didn't realize we were on the fantastico pkg and therefore could not change us to anytime dining. So - we missed our dining room dinner that night and had to go to the buffet. Now as to dining in the Black Crab - tables are extremely close together and waiters are having to serve over your head in a lot of areas. The food was mediocre at best - pencil thin prime rib and not much variety.. Food upstairs in buffet was pretty good though with much variety. The ship itself is beautiful - probably the prettiest on the sea and kept very well. The entertainment also was exceptional. We cruise several times a year and generally are not critical people. We realize things are never perfect and have never given any ship such a negative review. After hearing so many other passengers complaining about various things, we felt this review was warrented.

Thanks for your review!!

Thanks for the review. I thought anytime dining was available to fantastica passengers???

Appreciate the feedback.

Anytime is only available to Aurea experience. EM

From embarkation to end, with the exception of Bermuda, this cruise was the worst of 60 cruises we've taken on Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, NCL and Royal Caribbean. The line was very long outside the terminal just to get into the building - took us an hour to check in and that was at 12:30. Instead of taking your credit card at check in, they direct you to one of the kiosks on the ship to register your credit card for use on board which we stood in line once again to do. That is one of their new procedures we were told. The lifeboat drill was a complete joke - our muster station was the casino where they did not even make sure people were trying on their life jackets and we never even saw a demonstration on how to put them on. If one was given, it was nowhere near where we were standing. Now for the cabin - we took the Fantastico pkg which was supposed to be a superior balcony cabin in category 2A. Nowhere on the website deck plan of deck 9 shows any of these forward cabins having any obstruction or any notations showing obstructions. Our balcony was a "steel" balcony where you could only see out if you were standing. When we complained at guest relations, we were shown their diagram of deck 9 which did show our cabins as having obstructed balconies. They said their Miami office was closed on Saturday and they would try to do something on Monday. Well - the following Thursday, they called us and offered us another cabin - with 2 days left of the cruise, we were not going to spend it moving. They didn't so much as offer us a bottle of wine for their mistake and never even admitted their error. Now for the dining experience. When we found out that they had anytime dining, we called and spoke to a Mario who told us just to come and see him at 6:30 that evening and he would change us to 6:30. When we appeared at 6:30 to see him, after missing our 5:30 regular dining time, he looked at our room keys and told us he didn't realize we were on the fantastico pkg and therefore could not change us to anytime dining. So - we missed our dining room dinner that night and had to go to the buffet. Now as to dining in the Black Crab - tables are extremely close together and waiters are having to serve over your head in a lot of areas. The food was mediocre at best - pencil thin prime rib and not much variety.. Food upstairs in buffet was pretty good though with much variety. The ship itself is beautiful - probably the prettiest on the sea and kept very well. The entertainment also was exceptional. We cruise several times a year and generally are not critical people. We realize things are never perfect and have never given any ship such a negative review. After hearing so many other passengers complaining about various things, we felt this review was warrented.

Is this your second sailing on Divina?

From embarkation to end, with the exception of Bermuda, this cruise was the worst of 60 cruises we've taken on Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, NCL and Royal Caribbean. The line was very long outside the terminal just to get into the building - took us an hour to check in and that was at 12:30. Instead of taking your credit card at check in, they direct you to one of the kiosks on the ship to register your credit card for use on board which we stood in line once again to do. That is one of their new procedures we were told. The lifeboat drill was a complete joke - our muster station was the casino where they did not even make sure people were trying on their life jackets and we never even saw a demonstration on how to put them on. If one was given, it was nowhere near where we were standing. Now for the cabin - we took the Fantastico pkg which was supposed to be a superior balcony cabin in category 2A. Nowhere on the website deck plan of deck 9 shows any of these forward cabins having any obstruction or any notations showing obstructions. Our balcony was a "steel" balcony where you could only see out if you were standing. When we complained at guest relations, we were shown their diagram of deck 9 which did show our cabins as having obstructed balconies. They said their Miami office was closed on Saturday and they would try to do something on Monday. Well - the following Thursday, they called us and offered us another cabin - with 2 days left of the cruise, we were not going to spend it moving. They didn't so much as offer us a bottle of wine for their mistake and never even admitted their error. Now for the dining experience. When we found out that they had anytime dining, we called and spoke to a Mario who told us just to come and see him at 6:30 that evening and he would change us to 6:30. When we appeared at 6:30 to see him, after missing our 5:30 regular dining time, he looked at our room keys and told us he didn't realize we were on the fantastico pkg and therefore could not change us to anytime dining. So - we missed our dining room dinner that night and had to go to the buffet. Now as to dining in the Black Crab - tables are extremely close together and waiters are having to serve over your head in a lot of areas. The food was mediocre at best - pencil thin prime rib and not much variety.. Food upstairs in buffet was pretty good though with much variety. The ship itself is beautiful - probably the prettiest on the sea and kept very well. The entertainment also was exceptional. We cruise several times a year and generally are not critical people. We realize things are never perfect and have never given any ship such a negative review. After hearing so many other passengers complaining about various things, we felt this review was warrented.

Sorry you had a bad time. At least you took your life jackets with you to the muster drill. Many lines don't require even that anymore.

Anytime dining is only on Aurea Package. We sail in 3 weeks and can't wait. I have done A LOT of research on MSC, as they do things differently than the other lines and we are big cruisers. Hopefully we don't have these same surprises you experienced.

We did sail on Divina a couple of years ago but it was only a 2night cruise. Enjoyed it then, hopefully we will enjoy it again.

Thanks you for your report.

Keith

Is this your second sailing on Divina?

Yes - we sailed on it in February, 2015 and it was ok. Food was not as bad on that sailing as this and our cabin was fine.

Sorry you had a bad time. At least you took your life jackets with you to the muster drill. Many lines don't require even that anymore.

 

Anytime dining is only on Aurea Package. We sail in 3 weeks and can't wait. I have done A LOT of research on MSC, as they do things differently than the other lines and we are big cruisers. Hopefully we don't have these same surprises you experienced.

 

We did sail on Divina a couple of years ago but it was only a 2night cruise. Enjoyed it then, hopefully we will enjoy it again.

Hopefully, you'll have a better experience. We were with friends and still had a good time. After awhile, we just laughed about all the glitches and Bermuda was beautiful which made the cruise worthwhile. By the way, we never heard one announcement from the Captain like other cruises every day around noon to let you know where you are and what the seas will be like. Never heard from him except at the captain's party.

Yes - we sailed on it in February, 2015 and it was ok. Food was not as bad on that sailing as this and our cabin was fine.

Im a little confused, you stated in your last review from last year you would choose Celebrity for future cruise's.You have a couple of the same complaints from last year. Why cruise this ship again?

Interesting. Our neighbors (very experienced cruisers) across the street just returned from the same cruise and loved every minute of it.

I don't understand how you had a line out the street to check in when they told me they arrived at port a little after 12:30 and had a fast check in and were on the ship faster than any other cruise they have ever been on.

I guess ymmv.

My husband and I were on this cruise as well with 48 other people and never heard one good thing. From the time we got our key cards it was down hill from there.

As all other ships, before you board they want you to take a picture, after many cruises, we no longer need or want these. The gentleman (and I'm being nice to use that term) tried to get us to take a picture, I said "No thanks" he said come on...again "No thanks to which he said "You have to" again, "No thanks, at that time he placed his hand on my shoulder, he removed it very quickly when I told him he didn't want to do that.

Agree about having to swipe your own CC, this is crazy.....why not take the extra 2 minutes when the do your room key to do that?

We are D members on another line, and they were suppose to match that. Never got one thing. We went down to ask about it, and they said it would take 2 months for that to take affect. That's not going to happen......they had all my info since the beginning of the year.

The dining room was horrible. Agree with the first post, it is so tight and a bad layout. Food was uneatable on most nights. Chicken was hard as a rock, steak paper thin and nothing had flavor. We never were offered anything to drink, and when we asked for something we would wait a half hour or more. They would serve 3 out of 4 of us our meal and then the last person would get theirs when we were all done. Would order desert and coffee and some nights I thought they were roasting the beans!!!! We would be getting ready to leave when we got it.

We attempted to make a reservation at any of the pay for restaurants, and have never been spoken to so rudely before. Told that they had nothing available anywhere anytime for the rest of the cruise. This was the 2nd day.

The best one was I needed to mail a post card, I already had a stamp on it, no mail box around. Sent to photo, that was closed, customer service said, Oh well, don't know what to tell you. Went back to photo and the charged me $3.00 to mail it! WTH??? Never have I heard of that.

I could go on, but I feel my blood pressure going up. Feel free to ask questions, will do my best to answer.

I get it that the cruise was not up to your expectation. But did you get a good deal?

Yes, but would have been happy to pay more and enjoy ourselves.

My husband and I were on this cruise as well with 48 other people and never heard one good thing. From the time we got our key cards it was down hill from there.

As all other ships, before you board they want you to take a picture, after many cruises, we no longer need or want these. The gentleman (and I'm being nice to use that term) tried to get us to take a picture, I said "No thanks" he said come on...again "No thanks to which he said "You have to" again, "No thanks, at that time he placed his hand on my shoulder, he removed it very quickly when I told him he didn't want to do that.

 

Agree about having to swipe your own CC, this is crazy.....why not take the extra 2 minutes when the do your room key to do that?

 

We are D members on another line, and they were suppose to match that. Never got one thing. We went down to ask about it, and they said it would take 2 months for that to take affect. That's not going to happen......they had all my info since the beginning of the year.

 

The dining room was horrible. Agree with the first post, it is so tight and a bad layout. Food was uneatable on most nights. Chicken was hard as a rock, steak paper thin and nothing had flavor. We never were offered anything to drink, and when we asked for something we would wait a half hour or more. They would serve 3 out of 4 of us our meal and then the last person would get theirs when we were all done. Would order desert and coffee and some nights I thought they were roasting the beans!!!! We would be getting ready to leave when we got it.

We attempted to make a reservation at any of the pay for restaurants, and have never been spoken to so rudely before. Told that they had nothing available anywhere anytime for the rest of the cruise. This was the 2nd day.

The best one was I needed to mail a post card, I already had a stamp on it, no mail box around. Sent to photo, that was closed, customer service said, Oh well, don't know what to tell you. Went back to photo and the charged me $3.00 to mail it! WTH??? Never have I heard of that.

I could go on, but I feel my blood pressure going up. Feel free to ask questions, will do my best to answer.

You need to find new friends. 48 people complained? I would have been drunk all the time with that group.

Yes, but would have been happy to pay more and enjoy ourselves.

Next time book the Yacht Club.

Did you actually do the status match in advance and get the email/letter confirming which level you got matched to? We did that and our level is shown on our tickets.

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Yes we did the status match before hand. Told we were all set. As for booking Yacht Club next time......there will be no next time!

Did not know the 48 other people, group was put together to travel on the bus together.

Did not know the 48 other people, group was put together to travel on the bus together.

You said you were on the cruise with them not a bus, which is it? Had you received confirmation you would have received a Voyager Loyalty Club #. Did you print out the confirmation and bring it on the cruise?

What status did they match you to? Maxwell was on the same cruise and it looks like he also did the status match and all benefits. I hope we get them on boarding next weekend. Our letter said that our benefits start immediately.

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What status did they match you to? Maxwell was on the same cruise and it looks like he also did the status match and all benefits. I hope we get them on boarding next weekend. Our letter said that our benefits start immediately.

 

 

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We are Diamond level on RCCL and they matched us to Black level.

Sorry cruiser 21 I was asking the same question as you about DDnRD.

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Sorry, misread.