Best Cat Mom

Missed breakfast already. 😞 Will try to get some pix of lunch later for you.

Funny you ask. We usually get a couples massage and had planned for at least two this cruise. Yet here we are on the last day and we've never had time to book even one. Our own fault -- just too "busy" enjoying everything else. We have been to the Divina spa on other cruises. It's smaller and there is not all the extra sauna/steam rooms, at least not coed ones. You get free access as YC but we only use it when we buy spa treatments.

They only offer breakfast and lunch at the One Bar. The bar itself usually closes at 7pm (I guess some days might differ but I don't recall from the daily programs). After lunch is over, there are snacks available until a certain time (again, not sure of exact times but on the daily programs). As for the items offered, they do usually vary a bit. We don't go there often but have seen different entrées at different lunch days, with the salad/cold items being more consistent. You can always ask for something not there. I've asked for mixed berries, for example, and they've gotten them for me (who knows from where, but I got them). Breakfast would likely be more consistent, but I can't say for sure.

Information about Customs and Border Protection in Puerto Rico:

Day 14 Dinner menu:

Day 14 Lunch menu:

Day 14… We had a port stop in San Juan, Puerto Rico, today. The alarm woke us up way too early -- it was complete darkness outside (ggrrrr). We had to be in TSL by 7:40am for the butlers to take us to the meeting point for our tour. Before the tour, we would need to pass through US Customs and Border Protection as this was our first stop in the US. This does make Miami dis-embarkment easier for us, but the early hour was not welcome in the least. Le Muse did not open until 7am and we did not think it fair to rush them through our breakfast so we decided that the TSL breakfast bites would suffice for this one day. BCD had a few croissant sandwiches of ham with cheese and turkey with cucumber, heavy on the croissant and light on the filings. I had some slices of meat and cheese, which were laid out in TSL European style, and a GF chocolate chip muffin I had saved from a previous breakfast. We had foregone the Baileys and coffee this morning in the room (che brutto! how horrible! que horrible!) so had 2 cappuccinos and 2 mimosas each in TSL. At 7:40pm, a butler took us to the Black and White Lounge, where all people -- not just YC -- who had MSC excursions were waiting for the ship to be cleared so we could go through the border patrol screening. The lounge looked like it was filling up, but the butler found an area for us to all sit together and let the staff in there know that we were all YC. Announcements were made a few times that Border Patrol had not yet cleared the ship. At 8:21am (yes, we were closely monitoring the time now that we knew we woke up way too early LOL), they said the ship was cleared and they began calling groups by bus number. Busses 1, 2, 3 and 4 were called first. A few of our group left, with 6 of us still remaining. I was thinking that this would be a great time for Pepe to show up and get everyone moving -- and not 2 minutes later, there he was! He got us all up front near where the first groups had assembled and told the staff that we were YC. Then they called the next few buses, including 6. We all proceeded to follow the staff to one of the stairs and down a few flights. Then there was a complete stop. It seemed that we were now behind the first 4 bus groups, all on the stairs that led to the passageway that ultimately led off the ship. As we waited there for what seemed like quite a long time -- some older passengers had to sit down on the steps during the wait -- I said to BCD that delay made me think that facial recognition was not working. Our experience with facial recognition in Port Canaveral during our last B2B was a breeze compared to this; the line hardly ever stopped moving then. After maybe another 30 minutes, the line slowly began to move. As we showed our cruise cards to exit the ship, Pepe was there to send on our way with best wishes for a good excursion. We've never had that experience before from a YC Director. Maybe he did that because he was trying to temper any frustration with all the waiting? It was a nice touch. We proceeded into the large hall to present passports to Border Patrol, a line where we waited about 20 minutes more. Facial recognition was indeed not working and each family was spending a few minutes with each agent. When facial recognition is used, each person only takes about 10 seconds to be cleared -- big difference! Then we walked to the right, down the escalator and out the doors to the waiting tour guides who held paddles with their bus numbers. Our tour guide escorted us to our van and we were seated in there by 9:15am, a total time of just over 1.5 hours from when we left TSL, though with all that waiting it did seem longer. We only waited another 15 minutes for the rest of the tour group and our tour driver began the tour at 9:30am. The tour bus was smaller than we've had on almost all our other MSC excursions. Once the tour began, we thought that the smaller bus was because of the narrow streets in some parts of San Juan. The last part of the tour was an optional 45-minute block of time to shop or the bus would take you back to the ship. We opted to return to the ship. We arrived back at the ship at 11:55am, pleased that we had a great tour. We had plenty of time to return to the cabin before lunch in Le Muse. We noticed that there were some emergency drills going on as we heard "evacuate ship" on the public address system. Some of the doors -- leafs, as they are labeled -- in the passageways around our cabin were closed and our regular route was blocked. We were able to easily navigate another path, but I could see others not familiar with Divina having a difficult time. When we arrived at Le Muse, no tables were occupied. A small staff was there and we presumed the others were taking part in the drill. Three more couples arrived shortly after us. We figured that most people were still ashore in San Juan. We don't depart until 2am in the morning tomorrow, so many people might have lengthy excursions to take advantage of all the time in port. We then saw a flurry of activity in the back of the restaurant as they set up for a VIP lunch. The Coast Guard members came in, still in their work coveralls, and seemed to be all smiles making us think the drill went well. We were hungry from our tour and very little breakfast so we had a pretty big lunch. We both ordered prosciutto and mozzarella as starters and pork as entrées, accompanied by a pinot noir. For dessert, BCD had carrot cake and I had coffee ice cream topped with a shot of Kahlua. All drills were complete by the time we finished lunch. We stopped at all the bars collecting supplies and headed back to TSL so BCD could get back to work. We can't have him slacking off all the time, like he did this morning. When evening came, we headed back to the cabin to change for dinner. We arrived at Le Muse around 7:45pm and were surprised when Glenn said that the VIPs had already had dinner and left. We had some champagne and studied the menus. A few corks and wires were dropped off at the table to BCD's delight. For starters, we both had the vitello. For his entrée, BCD paired a filet mignon with a Maryland crab cake, with a Syrah. I opted for the broiled amberjack with a sauvignon blanc. We both had grana padano for dessert, with me changing to the dolcetto d'alba. We headed back to TSL for 3 rounds of nightcaps and some live music. We headed to bed exhausted after a long and fun day. Day 15 tomorrow…

I have no idea on entertainment. We don't partake in any shows or live music except for what they have in TSL. We did hear that the wines will change when they source from Miami. We liked what we had on this cruise, but we also liked what we had out of Florida in the past. If there are any specific grapes you're questioning, I can try to recall what was in stock on our last few cruises.

We are having a fabulous time. Am I including too much play-by-play and not enough commentary to make that obvious? LOL We've enjoyed the food and drink -- way too much. Today the "regular" YC champagne, Nicholas Feuillate, has run out and been replaced by Pommery. (Perhaps I contributed to this run while helping BCD's cause?) The staff has been excellent as well. I'm sure that the lower passenger count makes it easier for them, but we feel that we've seen some of the best YC butlers ever on this cruise. TSL service has been impeccable. And hearing how many of the crew will still be on board when we're back in April portends for another great cruise. 😉 Thanks for asking!

I have only been posting menus, but I have all the daily programs as well. If anyone needs anything from them, please ask. Since tomorrow is our last full day, if there are any questions I can answer that require me to be on the ship, ask away!

The same door (maybe a little room) exists on Seaside on the port side of TSL. There was a knocking coming from behind it one evening and the YC Director Maria Luca leapt into action to open the door and inspect whatever is behind there to make it stop knocking. It was funny to see how that little sound annoyed her. 😉

No releases needed for what we've been calling the "Black Car." This one is made from the wires of Borgo Molina Prosecco, which have a black coating. The Garden Pool Bar, the adult pool and bar at the back of the ship, seems to have the best rate of consumption of this brand. Note that there is no skin on the Black Car, as there was on Hubert's. BCD wanted to showcase the skeleton design, rather than cover up any of it with foil (also from the champagne bottles).

Here is YC Bartender Extraordinaire Hubert with his car: (I prefer to ask permission to post images of "real" people. I'll try to find some more images to post.)

Day 13 Dinner menu:

Day 13 Lunch menu:

Day 13… We woke up before the alarm but today it was a cloudy, rainy sky. No land was yet in sight from our balcony. About an hour later, while we enjoyed Baileys and coffee, Sint Maarten finally came into view. The rain had stopped and the sun was peeking through the clouds. We had found the New World! Christopher Columbus would be proud. 😉 We went to breakfast earlier than usual, since it ended 30 minutes earlier because we docked early. As we walked to Le Muse, we saw all the loungers out. On the way back to the cabin, nearly half of them were re-stacked, which made us think that more people went out than expected. By the way, we learned that early in our MSC cruising days -- to "go out." When the crew talks about going ashore, they refer to it as "going out." They always ask us "did you go out today" and we've learned to ask them the same. We're not sure if that is an MSC-specific phrase or all other cruise line staff use the same words. We also learned that they go out for mainly 2 reasons. The first is to get a magnet for their quarters. Apparently, they want one for every place they've ever been and they use them as a sort of pecking order with their co-workers. More magnets = higher status. The second is for wifi. They only have browse wifi so they'll go to a Starbucks or McDonalds, buy a cheap drink and download a few days' worth of digital content to watch during their off hours. For breakfast, I wanted to again try to the soft-boiled eggs. I ordered the 6-minute eggs this time, with bacon on the side since it was possible that the eggs would again not be as I expected. BCD had the MSC Express and waffles with maple syrup. We each had a mimosa and I had a cappuccino. I was pleased with my eggs but they were not cooked to exactly the same amount of doneness. Then I started thinking about how every egg is different and so of course they were not the same. All my years of cooking hard-boiled eggs had made me less-than-sympathetic to cooks of soft-boiled eggs. I ask now for forgiveness and promise to be kinder in the future. We had tried to book a motorcycle excursion for this port but it had been cancelled. We've done motorcycle tours in the past and like how you can drive around learning an island at your leisure. The rain this morning made us not so unhappy that the tour was unavailable. Who wants to pay to get wet and drive on slippery, unfamiliar streets? We headed back to TSL, stopping at BCD's regular supplier bars to collect the previous night's loot. Once back in TSL, BCD put some last minute touches on the "special" car for Pepe and awaited his arrival in TSL for morning greetings. Pepe came in just a little while later and BCD presented the car to him. He smiled like a little kid and proceeded to carry it around for awhile, circulating with other guests. Next Rudy appeared in TSL and BCD gave him a car. Rudy had expressed a big interest in car racing in addition to being a key supplier of scarce resources (the needle-nosed pliers) so BCD was happy to give him one. The day that BCD showed Rudy a completed car, Rudy walked around TSL admiring it for nearly an hour before he finally gave it back -- his actions telling us he truly wanted one of his own. BCD wanted to be especially careful to only give cars to people who said that they "wanted" one and not just that they "liked" it or thought it was "great." There is so much talk here about how the crew really does not want gifts because they have no room in their living areas. People say to give them tips or don't bother. We wanted to make sure that they wanted the car and did not accept one to be nice. Then back to production mode. A short time later, Elvin found us to give us information for tomorrow when we docked in Puerto Rico. Since this was the first US port on this sailing, every passenger (not just US citizens) will have to disembark to pass through customs with their passports, etc., for a face to face check. For YC, they would take us to the port terminal in groups from approximately 7:30am to 9:30am. Re-boarding would be allowed after all guests cleared immigration, which sounds similar to what we've experienced on B2B cruises out of Florida. We have an excursion in Puerto Rico, though we're not sure yet what time, so we're hoping that we'll be able to go through immigration on the way to the tour and come back at our leisure. We sorta lost track of time and arrived late to Le Muse for lunch, at 1:45pm. On the way, we passed 2 couples from YC who told us that the restaurant was closing early for a drill. When we got there, another couple was still there having lunch and they did not give us any indication they wanted to close early. When we were nearly done, we noticed that most servers were gone, not milling about working to change the tables for dinner. We later found out that there was supposed to be a coast guard drill after breakfast that had been postponed until after lunch. And then later still we found out that it had been postponed until tomorrow. Apparently, the US Coast Guard did not have to be precise with when they would perform their drill but the crew did have to be at the ready in case it occurred. None of the crew were able to go outside because they needed to be ready for the drill at any time. In addition to the coast guard drill, there were also inspections planned. Since the ship was coming back from Europe, US inspectors were expected at either Puerto Rico or Miami. This inspection is not announced and so the crew must be ready for whenever it might occur. Also, a group of MSC VIPs were expected to board today to "help" prepare for the inspection and do a pre-inspection of their own. We couldn't think of more stress to put on this crew! At least they had the luxury of a nearly half-full ship on their side. For starters at lunch, BCD had the hamachi carpaccio and I had the octopus soup (one of my favorites!). We both had tournedos for entrées, each of which were generous and thick portions. BCD had two pieces of beef, like they had come to know he really likes beef. We thought that the cuts of beef might have been filet mignon, because they were so much thicker and more tender than we have in the tournedos dish in the past. We drank pinot noir during our entire meal. On the way out of Le Muse, BCD stopped at the Garden Bar, the bar for the adult Garden Pool, and picked up a nice supply of champagne remnants. One of the bartenders there saves more supplies for BCD than anyone else. We went back to TSL and gave Hubert a car. He also was a major supplier and had expressed a desire to have a car. I have a picture of him grinning and showing it off. The man is clearly happy to have one. We were happy to give it. After a little while, we went back to our cabin to relax. We decided to get dressed up for dinner since there is only one more gala night this cruise but not until Tuesday. We arrived at Le Muse a little early at around 7:45pm, thinking that the VIPs wouldn't show until later. We discovered that they were already there, in an 8-top in the raised dining area in the back. We usually sit there because that is Glenn and Ryan's station. They were keeping all the other tables in that raised area unoccupied though, so we sat in the section to the left with a view out to the Garden Pool on one side and their table on the other. On the way into Le Muse, BCD presented Ryan with a car. From Ryan's reaction, you'd think it was a real car. After he'd given us so many supplies, we couldn't believe he really did not expect one. We have a picture of him with said car as well that I'll post eventually. We told Glenn that we were surprised that he wasn't serving the VIP table. He said it did not matter. "Aha!" we thought -- no risk of making a CLM so he was fine. (CLM = career limiting move) We also found out that Divina has 5 dining stations in Le Muse but on this sailing they have 6 gold tie servers. The extra one was the easy choice for that table. He was also our substitute the other night, and now we know why. It makes sense that he's not developed a routine with any assistant servers yet since he doesn't have his own tables. I'm sure he'll do fine once he has that opportunity of relationship building with his own guests. For starters, we both ordered steak tartare -- a favorite of ours. I had made a silly comment about who peels the tiny quail eggs that are served on top and what do we get? A little bowl of a half dozen extra quail eggs. I ate every single one and loved them. BCD ordered the lobster ravioli and I had the short ribs. The pumpkin risotto (pumpkin = yuck) did not appeal to us. We did each have a dessert plate of grana padano for dessert. Our wine was a dolcetto d'alba; how do you not have some hard cheese with that to finish your meal? We walked outside back to TSL and picked up some more supplies at the Garden Bar along the way. After three rounds of sidecars and old fashioneds, we went back to the cabin to prepare for our crazy early wake up time in Puerto Rico tomorrow. Day 14 next…

Day 12 Dinner menu (from Le Muse, not what was online):

Day 12 Dinner menu (from online, not what we had in Le Muse):

Day 12 Lunch menu (from Le Muse, not what was online):

Day 12 Lunch menu (from online, not what we had in Le Muse):

Day 12… We woke up to the sun before the alarm and the same lively ship movement, but no whitecaps. We had Baileys and coffee in the room then headed to Le Muse for breakfast. It was the last sea day and now that we're closer to the Caribbean, it is getting quite warm outside. There were nearly 20 people in the restaurant for breakfast so maybe the One Pool Deck was a little too hot? Or maybe the Pool buffet was starting to get boring after 5 days? Or both? BCD had an MSC Express with French toast and maple syrup. I had a bacon and cheese omelet. We both had mimosas and I had a cappuccino. We stopped in the casino the way back to the room to add some money to our room cards so we'd have cash for tips at the (sniff) end of the cruise. $300 is the max you can charge to the cabin on the slot machines in a single request, so we each added $300 for today. We'll go back another day to add more. While we were at the casino, BCD went to the bar to get us some drinks to keep our thirsts at bay whilst we loaded our cards. He noticed that they had Drambuie on the bar. He had asked for a Rusty Nail in TSL a few days ago and they said that they did not have any Drambuie on the entire boat so could not make one. When we got back to TSL, BCD let the bartender know about the Drambuie at the casino bar. From what we heard about negotiation between the two bartenders, TSL strong-armed the Drambuie away from the casino bar because -- well, YC. After we were back in TSL, Pepe came around to greet each table as he does every morning -- and afternoon, and evening, and whenever he is in TSL -- and asked how BCD was coming along on "his" car. BCD explained that he was making some improvements and Pepe said that was good because he wanted "a special one," one that was unique and not like anyone else's. I had a few glasses of champagne to help the cause and then we wandered back to Le Muse for lunch. We both had beef carpaccio for starters (one of our favorites) and beef tagliata for our entrées. Santa Christina chianti was a great accompaniment for both courses. After lunch, BCD had a especially great tasting Rusty Nail, knowing that those in the casino were going without. I planted myself in TSL and he went back out to the various ship bars to beg for supplies. At 3pm, the TSL butlers began to set up for tea. I hadn't seen a card in the room last night or any notice on today's schedule about afternoon tea so I asked if I had missed something. They said that there hadn’t been any announcement and the butlers had not even known in advance. I guess they decided to do something at the last minute today. Later we found out that they ran tea until 6pm to give people a chance to discover it since it wasn't widely known. We're not tea people so we retired to our cabin to allow others to enjoy tea time. A little while later, BCD went to TSL to get us new drinks (can I have a Rusty Nail please? not if you're in the casino LOL) and some truffle chips. One of the butlers offered to "help him" carry everything back to the cabin and then made sure to check progress on the cars before leaving. Eventually, it was time to dress for dinner. We arrived at Le Muse at ~8:15pm. We perused the menus with champagne in hand. We both chose the herbed salmon as starters. BCD ordered the duck ragout for his entrée, I ordered scallops and we shared a risotto. The salmon was one of the best preparations we've ever had for this dish. Glenn had anticipated that we would like it and had added two of the salmon pieces to each of our plates. We were glad that he did as the salmon had a generous amount of dill coating the edges of the twirled slices and was very tasty. We love dill and are fairly heavy-handed with it in our own cooking. We were also surprisingly pleased with the shrimp risotto. We're normally not big fans of it because it has tomatoes with skins and we prefer cooked tomatoes to be blanched to remove the skins. The flavor here was so excellent that we just ate around the tomatoes. We hardly ever finish the risotto, even the truffle and champagne risottos, because there is just too much food in 3 entrées. But we always try! I drank champagne with my entire meal, while BCD changed to Santa Christina Chianti with his pasta. I had some serious food envy when I saw the duck ragout over the homemade pappardelle -- not envy enough to destroy my stomach though, so I never tried it. For dessert, BCD had coconut cake and I finished my champagne. We headed back to TSL for music and nightcaps. We had 2 rounds of sidecars and old fashioneds in that wonderful new glassware, finishing the last round in the room. No time change tonight and Le Muse closes 30 minutes earlier tomorrow so we needed to get to bed at a reasonable time. Day 13 tomorrow…

aha! could not see that from phone 😞

Yes. There are QR codes displayed in various places on Divina for different menus, including bars and restaurants. There may be more outside of YC, but we've only used the ones within YC for Le Muse and TSL.

From what country do you depart? There are vastly different procedures depending on the country's laws.

Nope. There are neither cabanas nor pergolas on Divina's One Pool Deck, 😞 But Divina does now have cushioned loungers and chairs there, similar to what I've had on Seaside. The current YC Director on Divina (Guiseppe Terminiello, aka Pepe) just added the cushions on our transatlantic sailing that boarded 28 November 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.