Motegi

I have been on the Victory multiple times in the last 3 years and have also been on the Divina.  
 

My vote is for Divina without a doubt.  
 

Victory feels very much downmarket in comparison to Divina in every way.  
 

I disagree with the earlier respondent regarding the food offerings on each of the ships.  I had multiple meals on the Victory that were inedible including the flat iron steak that came out hard like a stick of firewood despite having ordered medium rare.  We enjoyed all of the MDR and specialty dining meals on the Divina
 

Some may ask if I didn’t like it as much why did I sail on the Victory so many times?  Two of the cruises were “free”, one was $89, and one was $99.  Three of them were group cruises organized by another party.

Likely only those people would be the one who could say exactly what occurred.  

But I wouldn't be surprised if they took away their drink package if they were abusing it by ordering for others so blatantly.

I saw a similar thing attempted by an obviously inebriated individual on the NCL Sky earlier this month.  He tried to order 20 beers at once on his beverage package for his entourage.  The bartender shut him down.  

5 minutes ago, cellfree said:

Worked, thank you, somehow I never think of that until someone suggests it. 

Glad to hear it worked for you!

Happy cruising!

Perhaps you could reach out to the original poster of this thread or one of the other respondents for their post cruise impressions:

Yes, we have used the credit for an excursion on disembarkation day as well.  

I think many people may not realize that this is an option as many don't read the fine print.

Personally, I would just pay per game and I also feel it was much longer than 10 minutes.  I believe we had two rounds and we were quite exhausted by the end.  There was lots of running around during the game and we had a great time.  Actually Pam and I were the #1 and #2 scorers for our team for both rounds.  

We were on the Bliss Alaska Inaugural cruise so all of the onboard attractions were booked up quite early and we still had no issues getting a reservation.  

The staff teamed us up with several other passengers and there was a large family on the opposing team.  

Sorry to hear that.

The site has been working on my desktop, tablet, and mobile phone.  

Perhaps you should try a different browser or try to clear your web browser's cache and restart the program.  
 

3 hours ago, LROBERT said:

I am cruising in Feb and was hoping to see the pigs on this trip as well I didn't realize Exuma is 82 miles from Nassau. I did see that GSC offers it but I wanted the real experience as well plus there was notes that you are not allowed to have your phone, camera, go pro. Sure I can buy a $20 photo but with 4 us that would be pricey. I may have to do it anyway since I was so looking forward to it. And book a separate non cruise to experience Exuma. 

Everyone had their phones and GoPros on our GSC excursion.  Perhaps they had some issues with the pigs chomping on some of them?  Or maybe they just want the extra $$$ for the souvenir photos...

There is a great variance based on the bartender.  

Best bet would be to ask them to be light on the alcohol when ordering.

20 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

Right. That's kind of the only option. It's like taking a picture at the Paris hotel in Vegas and saying you went to Paris France.

LOL.  Been there.  Both places.  And lets not forget the Epcot Center in Orlando as well...

13 minutes ago, Tapi said:

The “real” swimming pigs are in an isolated island in the Exumas that’s not easily accessible except by a rather long boat ride. But other pigs have been brought to more accesible locales to give interested (and usually unaware) tourists a

copycat experience.

I am aware of that.  That is what I mentioned a couple comments above.  

But the original poster was asking where they might be able to do it as a cruise excursion and as far as I know there is not an excursion to the Exumas on NCL.

And other commenters seemed to say that there was no other option so I wanted to mention that NCL does provide that opportunity on GSC.  

On 10/16/2019 at 4:52 AM, deliver42 said:

I'm really late for this party, but I went back to look at the pictures if the food, and, for the life of me, couldn't see anything wrong with them. 

Some people have had a negative dining experience on their MSC Cruises.  

My experience was the opposite.  I was posting photos of the food I had on the Divina and Seaside as a point of comparison.

I found the food overall to be on par with NCL while Pam says that she preferred the food on MSC.  Both of us agree that MSC is miles ahead of Carnival in all aspects of dining.

As another point of comparison here is some entrees we had in Rome over the summer at a restaurant that was recommended to us by a local:

2 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

It's all fenced in. A fake version of the swimming pigs. I guess it's fine if you just really want to feed pigs.

The other option would be to take a trip to Exuma...

The paper straws are only good if you're the type of person that likes to finish their drinks within 2-3 minutes.  Any longer and the  straw becomes soggy and unable to function.

We were given paper straws in all of our frozen drinks onboard our NCL Sky cruise and at GSC earlier this month.  They were less than ideal.

Partway during the cruise we noticed that the onboard Starbucks had plastic straws available.  

Problem solved.

2 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

A petting zoo.

I suppose you could call it that.  But the pigs are swimming.  

The humans could swim if they wanted to but the water is just about waist deep.  

We’ll be stopping there in December onboard the Meraviglia.  
 

We’ve already booked the Cabana for the day and are looking forward to it!

7 minutes ago, GA Dave said:

That's not a pork rind on that stick, is it???   🤣

 
OMG no! 
 

They were handing out sliced apples on a stick to feed the pigs.

Swim with the Pigs is one of the official NCL excursions offered on Great Stirrup Cay.  

Pam and I did it last year and had a great time.

We saw it was still being offered as an excursion when we were there last week.

Cagney's is the best steakhouse at sea in my opinion.

Moderno is going to be a nice experience if you've never been to a Brazilian steakhouse.  

Teppanyaki is always a good time and we enjoy interacting with the other people at the table.    The chefs on NCL have always been very entertaining even though they do not perform any open flame tricks during their show.

La Cucina would be what I would eliminate.  We have better Italian restaurants locally.

I'd suggest getting passports.  It'll give you peace of mind in case something unforeseen occurs.

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

??

The plate above the wings has eggplant, pita, something that looks like artichokes or caponata among other items. Whats not to like?

Burger with grilled mushrooms ? Why is that bad

 

I think these look great...  

Yes food is subjective -- however traveling gives people an opportunity to try other things. 

I wonder how many complainers are decent/great cooks and what they eat in a month.

 

Pizza comments always make us roll our eyes... when we hear folks who have never lived in Italy (several regions) and KNOW what pizza should be... and think they are experts....

yes pizza varies from forno to forno in a single village...

However what people "think" is a pizza..and especially Americans... is often NOT...Toppings are not heavy, sauces aren't heavy...and a couple minutes. That Unos Chicago thing isn't even close to Napoli's style.  

 

 

 

Exactly,  thank you.  
 

And you were correct about the items in my photos.

The one with the pita bread was an appetizer.

On 6/11/2019 at 6:37 AM, ready2cruzagain said:

 

Thank you for the explanation.  I did not realize that MSC's crew to passenger ratio was so much lower than other cruise lines.  When comparing it to other ships, it sure it!  Also, with only seating 600 people I can see where a problem would come in.

The seating areas by the buffet on NCL’s Great Stirrup Cay don’t seem large enough to accommodate everyone at once either but it still    works because not everyone goes to eat at the same time.

Quote: "Included in your cruise ticket..."