thecruisers6

So here we go... just pulling away from Southampton.

A bit different this cruise as we are taking 3 young people who didn't have the best start in life.

They are aged 11, 10 & 8.

So we are approaching the big 50 and have our amazing daughter with us who is 16.

Arrived at the port in good time but had a long wait due to travel agents being shown around first. Must have been well over a hundred.

Went straight to the pool & hots tubs for a magnificent chill out.

Little ones thoroughly enjoyed being first in the hot tub.

Sail away party kinda ground to a halt before pulling away which was strange.

Just had an amazing meal at Cagneys where the assistant matre de Sasha was so very child friendly it made all our day.

Food was amazing with the steaks so very tender.

Off to bed as the little ones can't take anymore excitement

I was just about to reply to you, Mark, when the sunset here distracted me

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway ....................... I hope they'll have them on Divina. She's stocked up in Miami; Meraviglia gets stocked up in Genoa so is probably Italian sourced lamb. I must say it's as good as Irish lamb .............. and that's saying something! ;p

Spectacular rays. Looks so peaceful just what's needed to end the weekend [emoji3]

Hi Mark ............. it was even better! :D

 

 

 

The food we had onboard was better than on any other cruise we've done in Yacht Club. It was really hard to resist ordering seconds - though we succumbed on more occasions than we should have! I don't have the ability to eat a lot at one sitting, but, boy, did I do my best! ;p

Oh my!

I was doing a wonderful job focusing on our 'part working' Norwegian Jade cruise in 2 weeks and now every time I close my eyes I'm already on Divina, taking a quick photo of our 'square YC' room before getting at least one of those lamb dishes [emoji3]

Oh my goodness Bea that lamb.... was it as good as it looks?

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Thank you very much velvetwater

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Hi brilliant thanks.

Please if you get chance could you just retake day 2 what's happening today. Just interested in the times of the morning activities. So far between 6am and 11am there appears only 2 options O Sheehans or the coffee shop. Our early riser will be devastated!

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Yes please for the dailies [emoji3]

Following along and hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Would love to know where you experience long queues or slow service etc so we can avoid our little ones getting mischievous [emoji57]

Nadeki - please could you give some more information on the Kayak gentlemen, this is just what I want for my wife and daughter.

Many thanks

Mark

Welcome to the mysterious (and frustrating) world of cruise pricing. Since you are in the UK....you have different "rules" then we have here in North America....partially because of certain "consumer laws" of your wonderful European Union :).

 

 

 

They don't call it "rip off Britain" for nothing. The consumer laws reason rumour was started by the cruise industry. Fact is we pay deposits or miss out. It's business sense not to charge deposits in the US or the companies will miss out - although some companies have just started to and this site was in uproar.

Wonder what the excuse will be post brexit?

Hopefully a lot of lessons will have been learned on Meraviglia, Mark. You've got the right approach, though; budget for the speciality restaurants. Butcher's Cut was fab! We didn't try the others as I don't eat Italian or sushi.

 

 

 

We've booked a couple of big trips - one for 2018 and the other in 2019 so it doesn't look like we'll be trying Bellissima in her inaugural season. I'd be looking at Seaview, first, anyway, as she's totally different.

 

 

 

I'm sure they'll have a pub-type venue onboard. As to the pint - DH taught one of the servers to pull a proper pint of Guinness. Unfortunately the barman was totally uninterested and continued to pull pints the way he pulls lager - eh WRONG!!! Our server friend told us that there were many pints being returned.

Oh that must have been frustrating.

I won't be brave enough to show them as I'm still traumatised from the first time I tried. A young Australian lady was working her first shift at our local, all I said was she had to wait for the head to start to collapse! Well within 10 minutes she had disappeared. Never knew if it was my comment or the fact she spent the next 10 minutes looking amongst the Whiskeys for mulligatawny . Which was of course the soup of the day!

Soooooo what do we all think about Bellissima now?

Mixed reviews from Meraviglia. Yacht Club and speciality dining get the thumbs up. Main dining room really quite poor.

Well I shall be putting some pennies away for the dining package whatever that may be and a little room service.

Really hoping they go with the Pub concept again (that pint of your DH Bea made me punch the air - there's only so much prosecco and cocktails you can take [emoji3]) Glad we booked looking like 44% cheaper than the competition according to my research anyway for a double balcony.

Happy days!

Totally agree with the rent a cabana, I know you pay enough to purchase it and only get it for a few hours but sunburn will ruin everything!

Also the comment about sunscreen manufacturer is vital. We spent Christmas in Florida and used our own from the uk and it worked great. Towards the end we purchased a pharmacy own brand - even though it was double the cost of the uk. We burnt within a couple of hours. Then had to buy more.

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Have you been given a cabin number?

I say this because people we met on board a recent cruise had a Bella B1 and it was on deck 8 with an obstructed view due to the lifeboat launching gear. Also noise from the jazz bar below especially when the door from bar to deck was opened.

Fantastica are higher decks 9-13

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Here's a link to Divina's technical sheet with all the info pertaining to the ship:

http://www.mscpressarea.com/media/corporate-informationitems/attachments/msc-divina-technical-sheet.pdf

Thanks for this Bea I've not seen this before. 82 days to go but we're not counting [emoji3]

Have a square YC

Glad you are home safely Bea. This is the most enjoyable review we have read on here and so much help / peace of mind.

Thank you very much

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Glad you're having a wonderful time Bea.

Great review and so much help to us all out here.

Don't worry if the photos look blurry later on after the Moët it won't be your phone [emoji3]

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If you're on MSC Divina they do an excursion that is a VIP 'save a turtle' and I think a lobster lunch. You get to go with a charity and dig out weak hatchlings. If you're not with MSC do a search online but it sounds ideal for your 16 year old.

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Thanks, Mark (& Jane). I'll be thinking of you when having my first Prosecco - hopefully being served by a butler pre-embarkation. :p Gelato, meh! Alhough the flavours do look very tempting - I'm just not a gelato person.

 

Weather-wise, it's been absolutely miserable, wet, windy, and cold here - a filthy day, as we'd say. To cap it all, our power went for the last three hours and has only just returned. Thank goodness I'd cooked dinner a little earlier than usual. (It's 9pm here). I have mobile broadband and the battery ran down in the dongle plus the signal went to 2G which is slower than dial-up!! June 16th can't come quick enough!

Dear Bea,

Hope you have a wonderful cruise and enjoy every moment.

Take care

Mark & Jane

I know in the US cyber Monday and new year sales lots cancel and rebook or get OBC top ups. We're stuffed over here due to the deposits I guess. For our Divina cruise I have cancelled and rebooked the Miami hotel 4 times saving over $10 each time.

Looks like the super family 2 balconies are sold out on Bellissima for the UK Easter school holidays now. I feel better now [emoji3]

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There seems to be a huge jump in price for 2018 and also 2019. NCL is double what I'm paying for August I booked last year.

Not so much across the Atlantic though.

Demand must be very high over here compared to US.

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Just tried to book a day pass post cruise and the Savoy hotel Miami south beach have said they are not doing them anymore.

Guess the negative hotel stay reviews about day passers have got to them!

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Have a wonderful time Bea, can't wait for your views.

Have a prosecco and a gelato for me [emoji3]

Pouring down with rain and wind howling here just looking out the window dreaming of Divina.....

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Yes having read about meraviglia christening where Bellissima was described as Meraviglia-plus we're more excited.

Looking forward to Divina in September.

The med is very pretty you will love it. Not cruised but visited some of the ports.

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83 days until NCL Jade

118 days until MSC Divina

441 days until RC Navigator

678 days until MSC Bellissima

[emoji3]

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Hope you have a wonderful time [emoji3]

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