Cheap Seats - Divina Review: April 8 – 15, 2017

My family cruised the MSC Divina April 8 – 15 on a Western Caribbeanextravaganza!

Who we are: Virginia (41), Wendell (48), Son 1 (13), Son 2(11 and 11/12), Son 3 (7) – Teachers and Frequent cruisers from South Carolina.Because we are teachers, we do this ON THE CHEAP, so you won’t get any “fancy”tales of the luxury of the Yacht Club …. We tour in the cheap seats!

My husband and I cruise about once a year alone, and we havetaken our kids on 3 cruises.

We also took this trip with another family. They are alsoparents of three boys very close in age. That made things nice!

OVERALL: In case you don’t want to read this entire saga….weLOVED the cruise. There are some not so great things, but I will certainlycruise MSC again. SO…for more detail….read on!

Booking & Background:

We had a great RCL Spring Break Cruise last year, so Istarted looking immediately for one for this year. We found a great dealthrough a big box travel agency that rhymes with SMORBITZ. We booked 2 insiderooms on deck 5 for under $2000 for both with no deposit and $200 in on boardcredit. We have cruised NCL, RCL, Carnival, and Celebrity, but never MSC, so I wasa bit worried since the reviews were questionable.

Like I always do, I paid by nickel and dime throughout theyear. When the cruise was finally paid off, I was ready to start looking atexcursions and drink packages. After CRUNCHING the booze numbers (seriously, that is what matters), we decided togo for the Deluxe All-Inclusive drink package. Frankly, I didn’t want to botherwith tickets, and the difference in price between the regular and deluxe was nota lot. Now, for a person who takes the cheap way out, this was a biginvestment, but it was one that was TOTALLY worth it. I could literally orderANYTHING … great deal.

As I got closer to the cruise, I had to call MSC and mytravel agent a few times to do things like book the drink packages and bookexcursions (only one through the ship), and this turned out to be a MASSIVEPAIN IN THE ASPARTAME! The Friday that was about 8 days out, I sat on the phonefor THREE HOURS. UGH. So, going in, I was so worried that things would be wrongwith the reservation.

Travel & Embarkation:

Since we live in SC, we had a 10+ hour drive to Miami (cheapfolks can’t afford flights). We left at noon on Friday, April 7 and got toMiami about 11:30. Yes, that is more than 10 hours. We hit lots of traffic,stopped to eat, and had lots of potty breaks….three kids! We stayed in the BestWestern On the Bay Marina Hotel in Miami. I’ll be honest, we ONLY stayed therebecause I had a voucher from Hotels.com that made it super cheap. We spentabout 8 hours in the hotel, and that is about all it is worth. The location wasnice, but the hotel was old and nasty. Whatever…it was just sleep!

We had arranged to park with Safe Cruise Parking instead ofparking at the port. Now, I have read lots of reviews that essentially claim thatyou are taking the life of your car into your own hands when you park off-site,but I was willing to risk it. It was about HALF of the cost (cheap-o likesthat). And guess what….it was FINE!!! We pulled in around 10:45, quicklyparked, hopped right onto a van for the port, and were delivered there quickly.(Sneak peak…when we returned the car was fine!). So, I’m sure others havehorror stories, but we had a great experience with them.

After being dropped off at the terminal and checking ourbags, we made our way inside about 11:15. There were a good many people there,but it was not yet crowded. We were given number 17 as our boarding group andwere quickly checked in. Easy as pie! At about 11:35 they started callingnumbers. We were on board by 11:45! This was literally one of the easiestembarkations ever.

Once on board:

There were a few weird things. First, you don’t come inthrough a pretty part of the ship, and there is no big “welcome aboard”celebration. We sort of wandered around for a bit and finally settled at thein-door pool. As all people do, we soon headed over to the buffet. The buffetis huge and has a lot of choices. Some things about the layout are a little weird.For example, almost everything is repeated, but the salad and fruit areas areonly in the front. So, if you want those items, you have to stay up front, butif you want anything else, you can head towards to back to get away from the crowd.Anyway, we happily ate! The kids LOVED the pizza, burgers, fries, etc. The 7year old really liked the kids line that is towards the back of the buffet.

After eating, we headed back to the indoor pool. By thattime our friends had arrived, so we just hung out there and had our firstdrinks! JMy 11 year old LOVED that he could get a virgin strawberry daiquiri. I think hehad about a million on this cruise. His skin has a slightly pink hue….could besun…might be strawberry daiquiri.

We also headed to the Black Crab to get our dining changedso that the two families could sit together. We had actually requested thiswhen we booked the cruise, but it was not done. We were told at the Black Crabthat we couldn’t do it at that time (about 1:00), and that we should come backaround 4:00. We came down at 4:00 and were told that it was too late and tocome down at 6:00. I asked the lady what the magic time was for such a request,and she told me about 1:00 (the first time we came). It was frustrating and shewas not concerned. Fortunately, we were able to get it fixed around 6:00, whichwas helpful.

The sign up for kids care opened at 2:30 on day one. This isfor kids 11 and under, only. The sign up was a bit chaotic. You just go in andfill out a form, but the system was pretty disorganized. They give kids a wristband. The bummer was that there is NO CARE on night one. I’ve never been on acruise with no care the first night. Much more on kids care later…..

Our older son is 13, so there was no sign up for him. Themiddle son is 11, but he will be 12 next week. We told people that he wasalready 12 so that he could use the teen care (ages 12+), so he also didn’thave to sign up. I was so glad that we did that because the kids care is veryYOUNG children oriented and he would have been miserable. He and his brotherboth loved the teen program.

The rooms opened about 2:30, so we headed to check out therooms. We had booked 2 rooms side-by-side. The reservation required that webook one adult in each room, but we slept the three kids in one room and thehusband and I slept in the other. On EVERY OTHER CRUISE EVER, we have been ableto go to guest services and get an extra key for each room so that everyone hada key to the room that they are actually staying in. MSC wouldn’t do this. Whenthey print a new key, it kills the other key, and they have no way to print anextra key. The guy told me that this is about security. I don’t know how it ismore secure to NOT have parents with access to both rooms, and I don’t know howother cruise lines have the option to do this….but MSC does not. But, it turnedout to be a small inconvenience.

Our luggage started to arrive about 4:00, right before the drill.The drill started at 4:30, and was a little chaotic. Honestly, it was no morechaotic than other drills….but they all suck. Necessary evil, I guess. Afterthe drill I headed back to unpack and dress for dinner, which was at 6:30. Allbut one bag had arrived, but the missing bag contained the nicer clothes forthe kids. They went to dinner looking a little too casual. After dinner westill didn’t have the bag, and my husband had to go hunting for it. It wasfound in a room with lost bags. The tag had fallen off!

Dinner night one was very good & started that part ofthe cruise off on just the right foot. We were seated at a table for 10, andhad a lovely waiter. The little kids were given a kids menu that had theperfect kids foods (hamburger, pizza, fries). Our dinner was great. I am a pescetarian(fish only…no other meat), and I was trying to eat healthy, and there weregreat options. One odd moment did occur at dinner…my husband tried to order avery nice glass of wine and was told it wasn’t on his plan. He said, “I thoughtany wine by the glass was on the Deluxe plan,” and the guy took his card andstumbled all over himself to apologize. We found that when we ordered a niceglass of wine with this plan, they top it off after just a few sips. Then atthe end of the meal, the bill always shows that you have had 5 or 6 glasses ofwine (totaled out to $0). I never had NEARLY that much wine, but we were alwaysbilled for it. Hmmmm……

After dinner, sadly, we had the 7 year old with us becausekids care was closed (love him but needed grown up time!). We decided to go and see the opening night show. Thoughlater in the week the entertainment was great, the first night WAS NOT! Afterthe show (we left early….always sit on deck 7 so that you can sneak out), weexplored the ship a little, had a drink in the jazz club, and headed in for anearly night.

END OF DAY ONE!

Very much enjoying your review, keep it coming!

Looking forward to reading more!

Great so far and looking forward to more!

Day Two – SEA DAY:

I started day two with a workout in the gym at 7:30. As italways is on any cruise, the gym was packed on this first morning. I could notget on any treadmill, so I opted for weights. After about 30 minutes, I managedto scoot onto a treadmill. There is a sign that tells you that there is a 30minute limit, and most people seemed to do that. As I was leaving the gym, Istopped by the front counter to ask about classes. When I put my card down, thelady saw that I didn’t have the little barbell sticker on my card. Apparently,when I went in I was supposed to sign a waiver and get the sticker. I didn’tsee that stand, so I didn’t do that. Opps! Well, the little lady was reallymad! She called over a supervisor and they fussed a bit, I filled out the form,and …. That is it. Anyway, weird thing…all of the classes were full for thewhole week. ALL OF THEM…at 8:30 am on day one! Oh well!

After working out, I headed back to the room to shower andwe headed to breakfast. Trying to be healthy, I had two boiled eggs and fruit.The buffet was packed, but it was manageable. The kids loved the pancakes, waffles,hashbrowns, bacon, etc. We headed towards the back of the boat and there waslots of seating. The back overlooks the water, and it is very beautiful.

We headed to the indoor pool to swim for a bit, and then wetook the 7 year old up to kids care. It was set to be open from 10:00 – 12:00.When we got there the line was around the floor just to sign them in. We waitedfor about 20 minutes. When we got to the front they told us to pick him up at11:45 (not 12). So, we only really had him there about an hour. We took himback for the 2:00 – 4:00 session (also told us to pick up 15 minutes early) andagain after dinner. Each time he had a great time, but the sign in procedureswere a pain and took forever and the workers were grumpy.

At noon there was a free Zumba class on the pool deck! IT wasGREAT! The instructor was new to the ship, and she was fun and full of energy.After Zumba, I felt fully ready to start using the drink package! I headed backto the indoor pool to order my first drink of the day (vodka soda). Thewaitress was a little grumpy when we ordered, but they didn’t want you going upto the bar to place your own order….so …. Hmmmmm…..

The indoor pool was FULL of kids. We chose to sit therebecause there was a lot of seating and it was out of the direct sunlight, butthere were a million kids, so it could get loud. It was also convenient becausewe could grab lunch from the buffet and eat there. For lunch I just had asalad, but the toppings were good. We left the pool about 5:00 to head down toget ready for dinner. This sea day was a formal night, so showering was fairlynecessary!

For formal night, I saw so many people really dressed up. Iwore a nice dress, my husband wore a suit, and the kids wore slacks, dressshirts, and ties. There were MANY people in ball gowns and tuxes. We did notfeel under dressed, but we certainly could have dressed up more. For dinner Ihad salad, baked mahi mahi with vegetables, and a fruit plate for dessert. Thefood was good, sizes were moderate, and the atmosphere was lovely.

After dinner I took the 7 year old to kids care and we hitthe jazz bar and la luna. The music was ok, but the vibe was a little dead. At10:30 we picked up our son and took him for late night pizza. He loved that.The older two boys loved the teen club from this night forward. They came intelling us about the kids that they met from all over the world. Such a coolexperience!

END OF DAY TWO!

Thanks for taking the time to share this. Anxiously awaiting more.

~Brian

Day Three – Jamaica:

To start the story of the Jamaica day, I must revert back tomy cheap status. When booking this cruise, I also looked for CHEAP things todo. I’ve been to Ochos Rios, and I don’t love it, so we decided to conservemoney here.

I woke up day three and headed to the gym at 7:00. Onceagain, things were packed, but I managed to find some space. This time, I didNOT get yelled at by the gym management. SCORE!

After breakfast I showered, ate a quick breakfast, and wetook our son to kids care for an hour. We left the boat about 11:00 as the giantgroup of ten (2 families). We walked across the street to Margaritavillebecause I read on CC that if you eat there, you can use the pool and beach forfree. I figured that this would be a fairly cheap beach day.

As we headed across the street we were approached by about azillion people offering packages for island tours, waterfalls, beaches, etc.Last time in Jamaica I had an excursion planned, but I decided that next time Iwill just pick up something from one of those people. That seemed like a greatdeal. I tried to change our Margaritaville plans and go with one of thosepeople, but the rest of my group did not agree.

When we got to Margaritaville we got a big table and orderedlunch. I had the fish tacos from the appetizer menu (aka – cheaper option), mykids each had a kids meal, and my husband actually ordered a kids meals. Wesplit of bucket with six beers with the other couple. Still….it wasn’t reallycheap. Kids meals are $10 and come with a TINY drink with no refills. The totalfor our meal was $91 ($106 w/ tip). That hurt. But…the kids loved the slide andthe beach. I swam in the ocean with my kids and had a great time. It wassupposed to be raining that day, but it didn’t. Win! We headed back on boardabout 2:30. I was SO glad that we did. All aboard was 3:30, and I looked overat 3:15 and saw the line to reboard was all the way down the dock. I am gladthat we weren’t in that!

On board, we headed back to the indoor pool where we againfound lots of seating. However, we also AGAIN found a very grumpy waitress. Iordered a bottle of water, and she could not have been more annoyed with me.Sorry!

At 4:00 my friend and I did Zumba on the pool deck again.Once again, it was a ton of fun. Unfortunately, my friend did it barefoot, andshe burned the crud out of her feet. TIP: When the pool deck is baking in thesun, don’t do barefoot Zumba. You are welcome.

Right before Zumba, I took my son up to kids care. That morningwe had signed him up for the dinner with kids care. They will only take acertain number each day, so if you want it, you have to plan early. He had ablast. They took him to dinner in the buffet for a “pizza party.” That nightwas magic night, and they also took the kids to see the show. I didn’t see thatshow, but my son declared that it was his favorite.

Once again, we had dinner at 6:00. Without the little kids,it was LOVELY! I had spinach salad with fresh mozzarella, a skewer with fishand shrimp over rice, and fruit for dessert. Oh, and I had several glasses ofthe lovely Louis Jadot Pinot Noir! Delish!

After dinner we went to La Luna and listened to “the hippes”perform while drinking several vodka sodas. I don’t know the actual name ofthese performers, but they were an older couple who played in La Luna eachnight. We called them The Hippies or Captain and Tinnelle. They played mostly60s and 70s music, and we thought they were great! I did notice that some folkswere pretty rude and talked loudly over them, though. When I ordered the firstdrink the waitress said, “You have the expensive package. Order good vodka orthey will give you bad vodka.” I appreciated that tip! From that point on Iordered Grey Goose and Soda.

We left La Luna at 10:30 to pick up our son from kids care andwent to bed after a very long day.

END OF DAY THREE!

Enjoying!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Loving your review. We may do MSC later his year and if so it will be "the cheap seats" also. Can I ask what cabin you had.?

Loving your review. We may do MSC later his year and if so it will be "the cheap seats" also. Can I ask what cabin you had.?

We had 5021 and 5025 (interiors next door to one another). They were great because they were far enough down the hall that we didn't hear the atrium area, but they were super convienent to reception, dinining, the theatre, as well as the MANY venues on deck 7. Highly recommend! Our friends were on the 11th floor in interior rooms (they had a more expensive package), but I liked our location better.

We had 5021 and 5025 (interiors next door to one another). They were great because they were far enough down the hall that we didn't hear the atrium area, but they were super convienent to reception, dinining, the theatre, as well as the MANY venues on deck 7. Highly recommend! Our friends were on the 11th floor in interior rooms (they had a more expensive package), but I liked our location better.

Thank you...sounds promissing.:)

Following.......thanks and looking forward to more:)

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for posting your review, looking forward to reading more. We are a family of 5 with 2 cabins booked and am disappointed to hear we can't get extra room keys - that will be very inconvenient!

What kind of activities did they have in the teen club that your boys enjoyed? We have 12 and 15yo boys that I am hoping will enjoy it.

Day Two – SEA DAY:

 

 

 

I started day two with a workout in the gym at 7:30. As italways is on any cruise, the gym was packed on this first morning. I could notget on any treadmill, so I opted for weights. After about 30 minutes, I managedto scoot onto a treadmill. There is a sign that tells you that there is a 30minute limit, and most people seemed to do that. As I was leaving the gym, Istopped by the front counter to ask about classes. When I put my card down, thelady saw that I didn’t have the little barbell sticker on my card. Apparently,when I went in I was supposed to sign a waiver and get the sticker. I didn’tsee that stand, so I didn’t do that. Opps! Well, the little lady was reallymad! She called over a supervisor and they fussed a bit, I filled out the form,and …. That is it. Anyway, weird thing…all of the classes were full for thewhole week. ALL OF THEM…at 8:30 am on day one! Oh well!

 

 

 

After working out, I headed back to the room to shower andwe headed to breakfast. Trying to be healthy, I had two boiled eggs and fruit.The buffet was packed, but it was manageable. The kids loved the pancakes, waffles,hashbrowns, bacon, etc. We headed towards the back of the boat and there waslots of seating. The back overlooks the water, and it is very beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

We headed to the indoor pool to swim for a bit, and then wetook the 7 year old up to kids care. It was set to be open from 10:00 – 12:00.When we got there the line was around the floor just to sign them in. We waitedfor about 20 minutes. When we got to the front they told us to pick him up at11:45 (not 12). So, we only really had him there about an hour. We took himback for the 2:00 – 4:00 session (also told us to pick up 15 minutes early) andagain after dinner. Each time he had a great time, but the sign in procedureswere a pain and took forever and the workers were grumpy.

 

 

 

 

 

At noon there was a free Zumba class on the pool deck! IT wasGREAT! The instructor was new to the ship, and she was fun and full of energy.After Zumba, I felt fully ready to start using the drink package! I headed backto the indoor pool to order my first drink of the day (vodka soda). Thewaitress was a little grumpy when we ordered, but they didn’t want you going upto the bar to place your own order….so …. Hmmmmm…..

 

 

 

 

 

The indoor pool was FULL of kids. We chose to sit therebecause there was a lot of seating and it was out of the direct sunlight, butthere were a million kids, so it could get loud. It was also convenient becausewe could grab lunch from the buffet and eat there. For lunch I just had asalad, but the toppings were good. We left the pool about 5:00 to head down toget ready for dinner. This sea day was a formal night, so showering was fairlynecessary!

 

 

 

 

 

For formal night, I saw so many people really dressed up. Iwore a nice dress, my husband wore a suit, and the kids wore slacks, dressshirts, and ties. There were MANY people in ball gowns and tuxes. We did notfeel under dressed, but we certainly could have dressed up more. For dinner Ihad salad, baked mahi mahi with vegetables, and a fruit plate for dessert. Thefood was good, sizes were moderate, and the atmosphere was lovely.

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner I took the 7 year old to kids care and we hitthe jazz bar and la luna. The music was ok, but the vibe was a little dead. At10:30 we picked up our son and took him for late night pizza. He loved that.The older two boys loved the teen club from this night forward. They came intelling us about the kids that they met from all over the world. Such a coolexperience!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

END OF DAY TWO!

Thank you for your review! Where did you go for late night [emoji487] pizza?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Very nice review, thank you!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for posting your review, looking forward to reading more. We are a family of 5 with 2 cabins booked and am disappointed to hear we can't get extra room keys - that will be very inconvenient!

 

What kind of activities did they have in the teen club that your boys enjoyed? We have 12 and 15yo boys that I am hoping will enjoy it.

They had dancing (Teen Disco at night), wii video game stuff, etc. It wasn't super organized, but the boys liked it that way. They just did a lot of hanging out. They also really loved the soccer area and played a lot there with people from all over. One bummer thing...there is ping pong around the top of the indoor pool, but only people 18 and over can rent the paddles (free rental), so we had to get that for them a lot. They are rented from the area by the F1 simulator. Oh, and we paid the $60/room to let them do the bowling, F1 simulator, and 3D movies. They didn't like the F1 or 3D, but they did enjoy the bowling in the Sports Bar.

Thank you for your review! Where did you go for late night [emoji487] pizza?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

The buffet had pizza pretty much all of the time (including some interesting looking breakfast pizza. It was very good according to everyone with me! They seemed to run out of pepperonni a lot, but if you wait they are always making more.

Day 4 – Grand Cayman:

Grand Cayman is one of my favorite port stops, so I waslooking forward to this for a long time.

Because of my cheapo status, I decided to book an excursionthrough a private company instead of through the ship. I booked Grand CaymanStingray City Sandbar, Coral Gardens & Barrier Reef Snorkel through ShoreExcursioneer (Which is actually Captain Marvin’s).

The MSC Divina tenders for this port, so you have to pick uptender tickets. I was a bit concerned about being able to get an early enoughtender ticket to get ashore and to Captain Marvin’s by 10:00. I sent my husbandto get in line right at 7:45 when they started issuing tender tickets. Thedirections are NOT to come until you are fully ready to go. That is a littlesilly because they start issuing tickets at 7:45, and no one can leave until8:30. Hmmmm…

Anyway, there was barely a line, and he got 5 tickets right away.We were in group K, which they called almost immediately when tenders started. Wewalked down to 4 (another advantage of being on deck 5), and no one even took thetickets. We just hopped right on. The tendering is weird because you areshuttled over in the lifeboats. They are actually quite big, but they pack themfull and they are HOT. I can’t imagine being in them in the summer.

We got to Grand Cayman quickly and headed towards CaptainMarvin’s. It is a nice little walk that took about 10 minutes, but it was 10minutes WELL WORTH IT! When we arrived we were told that it was a particularlywindy and rough day at sea, and if we wanted, we could cancel the excursion. Ithought that was very generous since we were out of the cancellation window. Wedeclined to cancel but quickly ran next door to by some Dramamine! Promptly at10 we were shuttled by a very nice van over to our boat. On the way there, thedriver gave us a nice tour and told us a lot about the history and people ofGrand Cayman. Even my surly 13 year old son seemed interested! SCORE!

The boatwas a nice boat and there were probably about 30 people on our excursion.

The first stop was the Stingray City Sandbar. It is severalmiles out to sea, so it takes a while to get there, but the ride was beautiful.Once there, it was PACKED with boats. Our driver had to maneuver for a fewminutes to find a place to park the boat. Once we got onto the sandbar, it was extremelyrocky and wavy, which meant that there were fewer stingrays. Our guides showedus how to feed them, hold them, and kiss them for 7 years of good luck! It wasa ton of fun. I was worried that my 7 year old would be afraid, but he lovedit.

Our second stop was the Coral Gardens for snorkeling. Again,the water was rough, so snorkeling wasn’t as fun as usual, but it wasbeautiful. One BIG plug for Captain Marvin’s….. we had a mentally handicappedadult and her parents on our excursion. When we got to the snorkeling sight,she was nervous about the face mask and mouth piece. The wonderfully sweetguide spent about 15 minutes working with her to get her comfortable. He was sokind. She finally got in and seemed to have a great time. I can’t imagine thatshe would have had such a great experience without him. It was lovely.

Our final stop was supposed to be the Barrier Reef tosnorkel, but because of the rough seas, we could not get there. Instead ourguides took us to another snorkel spot that was also nice. After the secondsnorkeling, we headed back to our bus and were quickly returned to CaptainMarvin’s shop. I really can’t say enough good things about this company andthis excursion. Everything ran like clockwork and they were great to deal with.It cost $194 total, which was a lot less than the same thing through MSC.

After our excursion, we decided to head back to the ship fora late lunch rather than eating in Grand Cayman (CHEAP ME). We got to the shipabout 2:15, grabbed a table at the indoor pool, and grabbed lunch. Again, Ithink our timing was perfect because it got INSANELY busy about 3:00.

At 5:00 we headed down to get ready for dinner at 6:00.Tonight was the white night, and everyone did seem to be decked out in white.It looked pretty cool to see everyone dressed in the same color. For dinner Ihad the vegetable spring rolls (ok), salmon with vegetables (a staple that isalways good), and the fruit plate.

After dinner we dropped our youngest son off at kids care.The show Witches was playing and they took the kids. We did not go, but he hada great time. We went to the jazz bar and la luna piano bar.

Karaoke started at10:00, so we decided to check that out. It is odd because they do it on thepool deck. While I think this is good because more people can see it, it isalso less intimate. On other ships, this is a fun time for everyone to singalong, drink, dance, etc. On the MSC Divina, it just felt like you werewatching people sing. I think moving it to an indoor venue would be better. Wepicked our son up at 10:45 and took him back out to watch the karaoke. He wasnot interested at all! We wanted to go to the white party, but our seven year old was exhausted and not interested. Bummer! I loved this party on our last NCL cruise, but it started a little earlier.

END OF DAY FOUR!

This is a great review, I was getting nervous that I needed to be a YC member to enjoy this ship, lol.

Really enjoying your review.

Great.

Day Five – COZUMEL

Wednesday (day five) started out with a visit to the gym. Itwas MUCH less crowded. Obviously some people were too hung over from the WhiteParty! We decided to do breakfast at the Black Crab in order to avoid the crazylines at the buffet. My older sons were not interested in this option, but thelittle guy was, and so was my husband.

When we got to the Black Crab, it was also packed. We wereimmediately seated and given coffee, but we could never get that refilled. Thewaiters all seemed to have very set jobs. One waiter did coffee and water. Onewaiter did juices. One waiter took the orders. I got a veggie egg white omelet,my husband got a veggie omelet, and my son got fruitloops and hashbrowns. Thefood took a while to come, but it was very good when we got it. However, itseemed to be yet another person’s job to bring my son ketchup, and that wasdelivered right before we left. Overall, I enjoyed the food a lot, but thesituation was fairly hectic.

Cozumel was the one and only day that I booked an excursionthrough the boat. We decided to do the Deluxe beach break to Playa Mia. We didthis last year on our RC cruise, and the kids loved it. However, last year Ihad WAY too much to drink from the “open bar,” so I was determined NOT torepeat that. At first I was going to book this excursion directly through PlayaMia, but I discovered that it was cheaper to book through the boat.

Our directions told us to meet in the theater at 10:30. Whenwe got there, we stood in line for bracelets, were given a bus number, and weretold to sit down and wait to be called. Eventually we were and were escortedoff of the ship and onto the bus. We were on the bus by 11:30. That seemed likea LONG hour to me with a lot of wasted time.

However, Playa Mia was great. Whenwe arrived, the kids immediately took off because they knew what to do fromlast year. The place was pretty packed, but we found a chair by the kids pool.I stayed in that area for most of the day and avoided the bar (only two smalldrinks). My husband fully enjoyed the Rum Punch, however. The lunch was good,and it was just a great and easy day. My kids LOVE the water blow up obstaclecourse, and I think I would go back again and again just for that. They forceall kids to wear a life jacket to swim out there. My seven year old did notlike that because he is a really good swimmer, but it made me feel good aboutletting him do it alone! Our time to meet at the bus was 4:00, and they startedcalling for our ship about 3:45. We jumped back on the bus and headed home. Itwas a fun and early excursion.

We got back on board by 5:00 and headed straight for dinner.

Now…here is where the night takes a turn…..

So, as I mentioned earlier, I tried to stay healthy on thiscruise. Because of that I ordered minestrone, a fish stew (different name…butthat is what it was and it was the designated healthy option), and the fruitfor dessert. I was the only one to order that. Mistake…More later….

After dinner the kids ran to the teen center and we took thelittle one to kids care. The show that night was supposed to be a tribute toQueen, so we were all in! However, the whole think was weird. The femalevocalist was OUTSTANDING. The males had great pitch, but it was difficult tounderstand what words they were saying due to a heavy accent. Now, I don’t mindthat, but when it is a familiar song, it is a little strange. Halfway throughthe show, there was an opera song (NOT that part of Bohemian Rapsody….an actualopera song). It didn’t make sense at all. The show was just ODD. As I said, thevoices were good…but the show was weird.

After the show things were pretty dead. We went to a fewbars, and we finally headed up to the buffet because people were hungry. I gotan apple….and as I sat there, I realized that I was going to be sick. I quicklydismissed myself and ran to my room. I spent the next five hours vomiting in thebathroom (TMI). Seriously folks, avoid the fish stew! Food poisoning SUCKS! Itwas a BAD night.

Needless to say, my husband rounded up the kids, and the nightended in a less-than-stellar fashion.

END OF DAY FIVE!

This is a great review, I was getting nervous that I needed to be a YC member to enjoy this ship, lol.

I had the same concern before sailing! I can honestly say that I did not feel like I missed out on anything. It was a great cruise and a beautiful ship!

Very interested in this ship, thanks much for the review!:)