4/1/2017 Divina Eastern, not a review, just few Info maybe helpful

Our background: We are a family of 4 (2 young kids) that love cruising. First time on MSC, we been on Carnival (2), NCL(4), Disney (1), Celebrity(2), RCCL(1). We always cruise with our kids, except the one with RCCL. Every cruise line is a bit different in some aspect, but most of time they are more similar than different. No cruise is bad cruise for us. We think cruise is wonderful way to travel for family and we thanks all the cruise line the provides different cruise product!

Why MSC: Our last couple cruises were mostly with NCL, but after NCL merged with the other line couple years back, they changed their pricing strategy, I can no longer find the real kids sail free deal + promo I used to be able to find on NCL. So when I heard about MSC and started the search, MSC's price is very good. We had a fantisica balcony room for 4 with some promo around 2K.

And here are some information that was not clear to before the cruise, and this site has help me a lot, so I just want to share these, and it maybe useful to you if you are researching Divina:

Pools: Two pools (Main & Indoor) are for families, but they are super deep, 6 feet+ deep, so if you have children are not so good at swimming, pack some arm float or other floating thing, so they can enjoying the pool. Aft pool has a nice view, but is only 4 feet deep and small that is perfect for little ones, but it is adult only (very odd decision by MSC).

$60 unlimited play card per-cabin: You can only get it at Deck 16 Virtual World, if you like to get it, get it at the first day, you can play bowling in sports bar, watch 4D movie & F1 as many times as you want.

Prepaid photo package 100 pictures for $98: If you like to get a couple pictures on board, and this is the least expensive all inclusive picture package comparing to (DCL, Celeberity), MSC picture on board price is expensive. So if you usually buys couple pictures or sail with kids, highly recommend buying the package online before boarding, plus MSC print the picture in biggest size I ever seen on a cruise line..

On first day, I was told by the photo manager when I came back the last day, he will give me a deal for all the pictures (I guess he could tell we would take a lot of pictures :-). So on last day of the sailing, I went to get all the pics and there is a lot and a lot people, so I ask what would be the deal they have, then the person went to ask the manager, she came back said, if you pay $300 more, you can have everything plus a CD ( with all digital pictures) included, but I thought that was not a good deal. So I declined, then she said how about $200, and you get a Android Tablet for free. At the time, there were many people in the photo area and I was lazy to have to go through the pics to pick 100. So I took the bait. For $300 in total, I got about 180 pictures + all digital + a Tablet (cost about 60). Average $1.3 per picture. Not a bad deal. But if to do it again, I probably won't pay the extra $200, will do the work to pick the 100 pics

Main Dinning room: We have to sit with other family in the big round table, and they don't have many small table, so if you don't want to sit with strangers, it is better to check/request the change the first day. Pastry is really good, I like the Italian night menu best. In general anything Italian tasted better than anything American.

Mealtime drinking package: got it as promo, worked out pretty well for us. You just need to check the lunch/dinner time in Daily, lunch usually runs from 12-3, dinner 5:30-9:30 and during the time frame, you can get house red/white/rose/draft beer/soda/bottle water(sparkling & non-sparking)/juice from bars in buffet or main dinning room. We can't really tell the difference on cheap/expensive wine, so house wine is fine with us :D, and during lunch time I would usually get wine/soda then use fruit salad in buffet make my own sangria. Dinner time, the waitress know we had packages so always have water bottle on our tables and bring us house wine too. One thing MSC is different is that they don't limit the number of the drinks for each order, for example, you can get a bottle water, a glass of wine, a draft beer and a soda all in one order. So it is very convenient for us that we could get drinks for each other while the other one watches the kids.

Aft corner open deck: At most of cabin decks, AFT corner is a little open space, offers nice AFT view with no crowd.

Buffet: crowded for lunch/breakfast like everyone is saying, so if you don't like crowd, avoid the peak time or use Main dining room if they are open, on embarkation day, go to Sports Bar on deck 7 is open for lunch, no crowd and food in sports bar is free.

San Juan, Puerto Rico: We found Playa Peña Beach in Old San Juan, easy walk from pier, totally safe and very pretty. If you don't want to go too far for beach, this is a good choice. It is accessed from a stairs at the little park on trolley stop #18A (the park is across from the capital building). There is a simple outdoor shower/wash area near the stairs. However, the beach has no guard/restroom and the wave was pretty strong, so don't swim there if you are not a strong swimmer. Divina docked in San Juan long enough we visited the Fort in the morning, then come back to the ship for lunch, then after lunch, head out to the beach. My kids had a blast at the beach.

Disembark: We do self-assist, the paper said only limited number available, so when you get the paper in the cabin, fill it out, then send it to customer service. We leave the ship around 6:45 and was in our van at 7:00

Divina overall: Nice, clean, beautiful ship, but doesn't have a lot of open spaces. Me and my hubby both feel the ship layout is vary similar to NCL Epic (we sailed twice), because we feel you have go through a lot of 'pocket' spaces to get to places..not sure how to describe it. Overall it is a beautiful ship and the captain is most 'seen-able/friendly' out of all our past cruises. And we have seaside booked!

Thank you for reading and happy cruising!

Thanks for the useful feedback.:)

Nice review

Great, we will be on Divina in 2 weeks for our second time, but first on that itinerary. The San Juan information is helpful.

I've been debating the photo package...

Thanks for your review. We are sailing on the Divina on Saturday. This is our first time on MSC, so

all information about the ship is appreciated.

Excellent, concise and great tips. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Thanks for the review. We'll make use of some of your tips in June when we sail the Divina.

~Brian

Thank you for sharing your experience.

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Very helpful tips. Thank you for sharing!

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Thanks for posting!

Did the beach in Old San Juan have chairs, umbrellas or food available?

What did you do in St. Maarten?

Thanks for posting!

 

Did the beach in Old San Juan have chairs, umbrellas or food available?

 

What did you do in St. Maarten?

No vendor at the Old San Juan beach at all, so pack your own water/snack/towel. There is a CVS or Walgreens? right at the pier if you need some get some stuff.

We been to ST. Martin several times, this time we just took taxi to Moho ($30 each way) to watch the airplanes, the sand is good at Moho, but again crazy wave there. Sunset bar near by has a small pool($5 fee pp), we let the kids playing in the pool for a while before we get back to the ship. In St. Martin, there is a beach in walk in distance too if you don't want to go too far. We found many sea shell at that beach before. My First time there, we did Bernard Tour II, that was good too that you get to see a bit of everything on the island.

Thanks for the information. I want to take my son the Maho beach when we get there but $30 is pretty steep each way. Was that total the cost pp?

No vendor at the Old San Juan beach at all, so pack your own water/snack/towel. There is a CVS or Walgreens? right at the pier if you need some get some stuff.

 

We been to ST. Martin several times, this time we just took taxi to Moho ($30 each way) to watch the airplanes, the sand is good at Moho, but again crazy wave there. Sunset bar near by has a small pool($5 fee pp), we let the kids playing in the pool for a while before we get back to the ship. In St. Martin, there is a beach in walk in distance too if you don't want to go too far. We found many sea shell at that beach before. My First time there, we did Bernard Tour II, that was good too that you get to see a bit of everything on the island.

Thanks for the information. I want to take my son the Maho beach when we get there but $30 is pretty steep each way. Was that total the cost pp?

$30 one way was total for 4, not PP.

Thanks for the information. I want to take my son the Maho beach when we get there but $30 is pretty steep each way. Was that total the cost pp?

As an alternative to taxis you can catch a bus (same type of van as a taxi uses) at Back Street. That is, well, just after Front Street. Should be about $2 per person to get to Maho. They run constantly so getting another is no big deal. Look at the license plate it will say BUS and in the front windshield will be a board that says the destination. To walk to Back Street from the ship takes 15 minutes, or for, I think, $7 you can buy all day tickets for the water taxi that drops you off at the beach, a block from where the busses run. So even if you do all that you are around roundtrip to Maho and back.

I've taken busses and taxis in St. Maarten and find no real difference other than busses may make stops to let people on or off (they do hold 6 to 8 people). Bus drivers work for the govt and will politely refuse tips.

No vendor at the Old San Juan beach at all, so pack your own water/snack/towel. There is a CVS or Walgreens? right at the pier if you need some get some stuff.

 

We been to ST. Martin several times, this time we just took taxi to Moho ($30 each way) to watch the airplanes, the sand is good at Moho, but again crazy wave there. Sunset bar near by has a small pool($5 fee pp), we let the kids playing in the pool for a while before we get back to the ship. In St. Martin, there is a beach in walk in distance too if you don't want to go too far. We found many sea shell at that beach before. My First time there, we did Bernard Tour II, that was good too that you get to see a bit of everything on the island.

Thank you, that is helpful!

As an alternative to taxis you can catch a bus (same type of van as a taxi uses) at Back Street. That is, well, just after Front Street. Should be about $2 per person to get to Maho. They run constantly so getting another is no big deal. Look at the license plate it will say BUS and in the front windshield will be a board that says the destination. To walk to Back Street from the ship takes 15 minutes, or for, I think, $7 you can buy all day tickets for the water taxi that drops you off at the beach, a block from where the busses run. So even if you do all that you are around roundtrip to Maho and back.

 

I've taken busses and taxis in St. Maarten and find no real difference other than busses may make stops to let people on or off (they do hold 6 to 8 people). Bus drivers work for the govt and will politely refuse tips.

This is great info - do you know if the bus drops off near Mullet Bay at all? I think we are going to head there in the morning and then walk over to Maho to see the afternoon flights. Also, how do you get a return bus, are there bus stops near Maho?

Thanks for the information. I want to take my son the Maho beach when we get there but $30 is pretty steep each way. Was that total the cost pp?

Sorry for interfering, I also recommend the butterfly farm since you go with your son. It's small but beautiful, our 5 year old enjoyed it a lot. We rented a car (~ 100 dollars) and went first to the Maho beach where we spent about 3 hours and then we drove to the French part of the island to visit this farm. I really recommend it.

Thank you for sharing! It was great info, and for myself who is going back and forth between booking the Seaside and not, it helps to ease my apprehension about MSC in general.

Very helpful thread. Thanks to all who posted.

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Thanks for your thoughts.