Best Cat Mom

It has been a wonderful cruise -- don't you hate when you get to that part of the cruise where you change from saying "this is a great cruise" to "this has been a great cruise?" 😞 They said 106 in YC, which is about 60% to 70% capacity. The loungers in the pool areas that we see when walking to Le Muse seems to be about the same. If I have a chance to ask someone, I will.

Wow, really? As I had mentioned earlier, we booked only about 2 weeks out because Hurricane Ian cancelled our 29 September sailing. Were the extra days at the end? I wonder if there was another cruise after this that lost those days. Bad for them, but what a nice surprise for you! 🙂

We have not encountered anyone trying to upsell spa services or specialty dining on this cruise. We did want a couple of couples massages (should I call that a quadruple?) but since no one has been walking around selling, we went direct to the spa to purchase them. They had a good deal: buy an 80-minute couples massage for the price of a 50-minute massage, which was a savings of about $100 for each couples massage. We don't need the dining, since we have our one Butcher's Cut meal from my Diamond status. We only have a few more days on board and we're still not sure if we'll even use that one meal. On our first MSC cruise on Seaside, we had purchased the Trio package of specialty dining and also had the one free meal. Having cruised NCL's Haven previously, which had the same menu each day, we did not yet know better. Now, we enjoy Le Muse so much, both the service and the food, we almost hate to miss a meal there. The maitre d' there has graciously provided us with both filet mignon and lamb chops from BC in Le Muse -- and we've had those wonderful lamb chops twice so far! -- so I think our free meal will go unused. It's too bad we can't gift it to another couple who might enjoy it. 😞 On our first MSC cruise, we brought our own washcloths, as we always do when we travel to Europe. We were pleased to find we did not need them. They have been in our YC cabins every MSC cruise, even the one in the Mediterranean. There is a dedicated slot in our bathroom counter for the pop-up type of facial tissues. I saw a post in another thread where someone had to specifically ask for tissues. Given the configuration of the YC bathroom, I think there will always be tissues available. We've never had to ask for some. And there are even extra boxes in the under-sink cabinet that you could place on the nightstand or desk if that is more convenient for you.

I was surprised to find out about the cruise concierge service too. I was on the website and wanted to call with a question but remembered that the wait times can be quite long. On the screen was a little "Call me" icon. I clicked it and received a call back from a Cruise Concierge in around 15 minutes. I asked him about this service and he said it is new and has only been in existence for a little over 6 months. The concierge who called me said he had been a concierge with NCL and his former manager was now with MSC and implemented a similar service to what had been at NCL and hired a few former NCL people for the startup at MSC. Let's hope that it gets better and better over time! 🙂

In YC, you can pre-order whatever you want, though most times they want to know the day before. There are also some standard simple items that they always have available (hamburger, filet, salmon, chicken breast, etc.). You can also have them change the current menu to make it simpler , such as removing a sauce. I am gluten-free and they have "adapted" many items for me by eliminating flour ingredients. Some they will say that they are unable to change, and this is usually because some things have been made ahead of time -- like a breaded piece of protein or a sauce that has already been thickened with flour. Just remember that in YC you can ask for just about anything. Enjoy!

We LOVED the Genoa terminal too! Like being in a museum -- with the added bonus of a cruise right after the tour. 🙂 Looking forward to reading more about your cruise. We are so missing Italy after 3+ years of no holidays. At least we have the flavor of Italia right now, since we are on the Divina. We are eagerly searching for the "right" cruise to book to get the real thing soon. Thanks for taking the time to share!

I should have mentioned that we have not touched the Jack Daniels because we're with you -- haven't needed to mix any drinks ourselves. I have had about half the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc when in the room -- that's been easier than running back out to the lounge. We haven't touched the Brut Prosecco either. Probably will leave everything in the room instead of schlepping it all home.

We just returned from a couples massage. I asked about steam rooms. They do have them and said that YC passengers need to reserve to use (but free, of course, for YC -- which made me think others must pay). No thermal pool on Divina, unfortunately. We enjoyed the bigger spa when we were on Seaside in the Caribbean in 2018. This trip we haven't even used the pool yet, so we haven't missed that bigger spa. The YC pool here is -- in our opinion -- much better than Seaside, though. It has some shade covering for both the pool itself and maybe 6 to 8 tables. Seaside was a pretty much open area that we found quite too hot and sunny to be comfortable during our August cruise.

We did not sign up for the Panama Canal excursion. We have not yet cruised through the canal and prefer to learn about it that way. 😉 Glad that phissy answered your Jamaica question because we did not go out there either. We've been enjoying the ship so much that we've only gone out once -- that was in Aruba. We're returning to all the ports in January except Aruba. We're thinking that the oppressive heat now will be at least a few degrees lower by then. Let us know how that cruise goes for you. We have heard that a good amount of the YC staff will end their time on Divina in mid-January. Le Muse maitre d' and YC director will still be the same until at least February. Le Muse chef is supposed to change in November. Apparently, his 8-month contract has already been extended for 2 more months and they can't extend him any longer. He did say that he's happy to have 10 months as his max because he really wants a vacation.

Our TA asked for our Voyagers Club account numbers and applied them to get the 5% discount for us. So as long as yours has the info, you should have the savings. 🙂

I am gluten-free (GF) and extremely gluten sensitive, though not celiac. I had filled out the Special Needs form on the MSC website to inform MSC. On our 2019 Fantasia cruise, the maitre d' met with the guests of each stateroom in the Concierge Area of the Top Sail Lounge as part of the boarding process. He asked us what approximate time we'd be dining each evening and he assured me that he was aware of my GF requirement and would be accommodating it in Le Muse. Here on Divina, no meeting like that took place. At first, I was a bit concerned but once we went to Le Muse for lunch, I mentioned my GF status and everyone seemed ready to accommodate me at that meal. I believe that I may be the only GF guest in YC this cruise because at each meal they have to check with the chef as to which dishes I can have. Unlike Fantasia, Divina's Le Muse kitchen has an area for GF meal preparation so there is not a big delay for them to prepare my meals. There were times on Fantasia that they would say our next course would be a few minutes' wait while they went to the main kitchen to retrieve my choices. Sometimes I would alter my choice based on that delay. On Divina, I have never perceived any delay at all. Later we found out that there are only 106 guests in YC, which can hold up to 200 (at 2 people per cabin) and Le Muse could potentially hold everyone all at once so there was no need to ask for our dining time preference. Regarding pre-boarding selections -- we also had selected our newspaper, pillows and in-room free beverage online a week or so before the cruise. While they had a record of the newspaper selection and verified it with us during check in at the terminal, it seems that our butler did not know of our pillow or beverage selections. When Rodwin introduced himself to us that first afternoon, we brought up the pillow. We had chosen the same pillow on Fantasia and loved it so we wanted to make sure that we had it again. He said that there would be no problem supplying it again. And then he brought up the beverage selection. We asked for Jack Daniels. He asked for a second choice "just in case," and then later that evening he told us that both our first and second choices were in the room for us. He did say that having 2 bottles was not customary, but that we had both. I took that to mean more that we shouldn't always expect two but enjoy that he could give them both to us. Hope that all of you are as fortunate to have your two choices as well! Rodwin also explained how room service worked, both with breakfast and other (to us, "other" room service simply means pizza LOL). We told him that we would love coffee each morning with Baileys Irish Cream. He said he would put the Baileys in the fridge the night before and then deliver the coffee each morning. A difference from our previous cruises is that we get a phone call just before the coffee is delivered. We thought perhaps that was to prevent anyone from still being asleep or not removing the Do Not Disturb sign. We like it so that we can be presentable and ready to answer the door. There is usually only a 1 to 2 minute wait after the phone call for the coffee to arrive. Rodwin has brought it personally most mornings, though we've seen a different person a few times. And Rodwin always retrieves the Bailey's from the fridge to put it out with our coffee. I want those companies that make the robotic vacuums (the ones that you allow to roam freely in your house) to invent a "Robo-Rodwin" so I can have coffee and Baileys each morning for the rest of my life!!

At the top of the stairs, we were directed to the YC security line. I moved to throw away the potato chips and water in my laptop case from the previous day's flight, but the security guy made a gesture that said "don't bother." I left them in my bag and went through the metal detector. BCD (Best Cat Dad) did as well and we progressed to the next YC check point quite quickly. We met another person who escorted us to the YC lounge area. There we were offered Brut Prosecco (which is much more champagne-like than regular prosecco) and other beverages and snacks whilst we supplied our Embarkation Form, vaccine history and passports to the check in desk. In short order, a butler named Patricia (who we'd encounter later on board) escorted us and a few others onto the ship and into the YC Top Sail Lounge. She enquired if our rooms were ready right then and ours were not, so we sat down in the YC Top Sail Lounge to have a cocktail and await either our rooms being ready or time for lunch in Le Muse, the YC restaurant. Others were already in the Top Sail Lounge awaiting the same. In short order, our room was ready so we went there to inspect it and freshen up for lunch. A few minutes later, we went to Le Muse for lunch (as we knew where it was from a previous cruise on a Fantasia-class cruise in 2019). By the time lunch was over, our bags had arrived to our cabin and we unpacked. Our butler, Rodwin, introduced himself and we also met our Assistant Butler, Fernando. We did need a few extra hangers besides the ones we had packed in our garment bag and the ones already hanging in our closet. Those appeared in our stateroom later in the day. I was not thrilled with the closet hangers that have to fit into the hanger hooks already in the closet on the bar. You can move to hangers to other closet hangers but cannot move the part attached to the bar. (What are those called?? I don't think I've ever seen a proper name for those type of aggravating hangers.)

We had breakfast at the Hyatt Place Orlando Airport hotel at around 8am (link to hotel website: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/florida/hyatt-place-orlando-airport/orlza). It is a typical Hyatt Place and breakfast was as expected. Our Uber driver had no problem finding our hotel and even arrived a few minutes earlier than our 9:15am pickup time. Our drive to the port was uneventful, no traffic at all, and we arrived at 9:53am, a bit earlier than the estimated 10am arrival time. When we arrived at the port, I expected to see prominent YC signs but did not. The Uber driver was told to park in a "regular" spot and I tried to communicate out the window that we were YC. Everyone nodded, but I was a bit unsure. Yet as we exited the Uber, one of the seemingly "regular" porters grabbed our bags and said "this way to the YC." We followed a bit uncertainly, but wound up at the YC area despite our reservations. It was not at the beginning of the drive way, but instead was at the end. The visible white tent was there and a woman had our names on her checklist for YC. The porter that had greeted us as we exited the Uber put YC tags on our luggage and she even said how good he "was" -- please don't ask me his name, but she knew him by name and clearly he was familiar with YC procedures. She gave us MSC stickers to wear and instructed us to go upstairs. The escalator was out of order and she said the elevator was behind it. I said that I did not (yet) have on heels so could walk up the stairs but she said to take the elevator. Figuring that our holiday was beginning, who were we to argue? We took the elevator and began our wonderful MSC YC experience.

The lounge was nice enough. We were only there for about 15 minutes or so. They had drinks -- including Brut Prosecco, which is much closer to champagne than regular prosecco -- and snacks while you completed the registration process. They whisked us onboard pretty quickly. The area was open to other cruisers on one end so you could see them wondering why we had champagne glasses. We do like the "extra" service but sometimes wonder if we should feel more guilty when visible to others. We met our YC Director, Raffaello Benfenati, right there in the terminal. He was very welcoming and spent time with every YC passenger prior to their embarkation (well, every passenger we saw there).

Thanks so much for the TA info a few weeks back! This is our first cruise over one week. Every time we were on a cruise and someone said at the last day's breakfast that they were on a "B2B," we had cruise envy. We were determined to have a cruise of at least a day over a week this next time! LOL

Best Cat Dad is a pilot. Your username makes me think you are also? Happy to help however we can.

We flew into MCO (Orlando airport) on Saturday from CVG (Cincinnati). We live in northern KY in a suburb of Cincinnati and always fly Delta when possible, because that is where I have Diamond status. This time, I was pleased to find non-stop flights available for my Delta miles at a reasonable rate. I had to change our tickets from our last cruise, but since I'm a frequent flyer on Delta there is no penalty for changes to flights booked via miles. We hardly ever find non-stop tickets for a reasonable amount of miles and this was a savings over the amount we used outbound for the cancelled cruise so again I felt that Ian's existence was not going to ruin our holiday. I always try to book us in first class -- Best Cat Dad is a former football player and wears a 54" suit jacket so coach is really not practical for him (and when he flies in the back of the plane, no one seated next to him is happy, never mind how he feels LOL). Since the pandemic has subsided, Delta has re-instated PDBs (pre-departure beverages) for first class and the usual beverages and snacks up front provided an uneventful and thirst-quenching flight. I used my Hyatt miles to stay at an MCO Hyatt Place that had an airport shuttle. We called the hotel for shuttle pickup after we retrieved our baggage and arrived at the hotel around 8pm. We had a quick dinner at the hotel -- why bother going out when the YC awaits? -- and called it a night. We had booked a private sedan for the next day since all the hotel shuttles that traveled to Port Canaveral would arrive just around noon and probably too late for us to have lunch in the YC. Our plan was to check Uber and cancel the sedan if Uber was less expensive. For perspective, the sedan was $192 (that was through Carey, who our American Express Platinum concierge recommended and booked). At dinner, we checked Uber and saw prices lower than $100. We cancelled Carey and reserved an Uber for 9:30am the following morning. Now that Uber takes reservations, it is so much easier to reserve one than take a chance on the price of a last minute car request. We saved about $100 on the trip to the ship -- knowing that the $100 would be better spent on tips. 🙂

This is our first cruise since the pandemic began -- actually, it is our first vacation since our MSC Mediterranean cruise in September 2019. We were originally booked on a 10-night round trip out of Port Canaveral beginning 29 September that was cancelled due to Hurricane Ian. Since we had booked it under one Booking ID for the entire 10 nights instead of as two separate cruises (a 3-night and then a 7-night as back-to-back/B2B cruises), our entire cruise was cancelled. I believe that those who purchased the cruise as B2B cruises with two booking IDs were still able to sail the 7-night portion. I have seen some debate about whether one booking ID or two booking IDs are "better" for a B2B in general. One booking ID ensures that you have the same cabin for the entire time. Two booking IDs may get you other advantages, such as 2 chocolate ships/gifts, 2 free specialty restaurant dinners, etc. Now I know that two booking IDs may also prevent the cancellation of your entire sailing. At first, we were disappointed that our cruise was cancelled. Since we had not had a proper holiday in so long, we had really been looking forward to this cruise. We also had paid a relatively low price for the cruise -- just under $2K each in YC for 10 nights. The ports were not that exciting, all places we'd already visited except Ocean Cay. For us, the onboard experience would be enough after such a long time of no traveling. MSC offered us a full refund or a rebooking, with no extra monetary compensation. We chose to cancel and began investigating other MSC Caribbean cruises with itineraries in October. We saw that the sailing scheduled for just after our original cruise still had YC availability. It was ~$1K more expensive per person and was for 2 additional nights. We immediately booked. All the ports except one -- Costa Maya -- were new to us and with 2 more nights on board, the price increase did not bother us too much. I had been incredibly surprised with the "bargain" price for the cancelled cruise anyway. The new cruise price was more in line with the Caribbean cruise we have booked for January 2023. Another advantage was that this new cruise departed Port Canaveral but returned to Miami. We like the Miami terminal because it is so much closer to the Miami airport, as opposed to the further distance that Port Canaveral is from the Orlando airport. So far, we were feeling that we have an upgrade from our original cruise. 🙂

We are currently on the Divina in a Yacht Club (YC) Deluxe Suite (YC1) on Deck 15 on the Starboard side (which is the even room numbers). We departed from Port Canaveral on Sunday, 9 October, for a 12-night cruise with stops in Ocean Cay, Ocho Rios, Oranjestad, Cartagena, Colon, Puerto Limon and Costa Maya. We return to Miami on Friday, 21 October. If anyone has specific questions about the ship, itinerary or ports, please ask. We'll do the best we can to answer. WiFi has been better than expected but not perfect. No complaints from us so far considering that it is free. In the coming days, I'll try to share a little about our experiences and address some of the more common topics that are frequently discussed on these boards. Overall, we are having a wonderful cruise that is in line with our expectations.

We're currently on Divina out of Port Canaveral. We return to Miami on Friday, 21 October. It is the next cruise after than when Divina will begin sailing out of Miami.

We did not have any tags on our luggage when we boarded Divina on 9 October. Porters put on YC tags at the pier with a big welcoming smile. 🙂

Phissy -- who is your butler? Rodwin is ours and is pretty great about bringing coffee each day. We usually set up the time the night before. Were you able to get Bailey's for your husband's coffee each morning? We haven't specified what exact type of coffee for each day and have had some "American" brewed and some espresso. J and A

Hi Pat, I forgot that there were questions about TV on Divina to check for people. Haven't run into you yet in YC this cruise. Hope you are enjoying the cruise as much as we are. In the Top Sail this afternoon, hope to see you at some point! 🙂 John and Andrea

Onboard charges are made to the stateroom, not the passenger. Each stateroom only registers one credit card. If you find that a venue -- like maybe a shop? I don't know because we've never bought anything from a shop onboard -- that accepts credit cards instead of cruise cards, then that would be different. But then there would be no points credited to a Voyager Club account at all.

YC restaurant is indeed open for lunch on boarding day -- that's why we always try to board around 10:30am. 🙂