Best Cat Mom

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. 🙂

When you receive your eTicket, it should list both names (if you're in the same cabin) and your status should be right next to your names: One you're onboard, you can use this as "proof" of your status in case you have any difficulties getting the free dinner or other benefits.

We did it online a few years back. I searched just now and found this page: https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/msc-voyagers-club/status-match Your Travel Agent or MSC Cruise Concierge may have other suggestions for the best way to get your status match processed faster.

MSC will award status based on your level with other cruise lines as well as hotels. Use whatever your highest status is to get your best MSC match. I used my Marriott Titanium Lifetime status and was given MSC Diamond. My husband used his Hilton Gold status and received MSC Gold.

Hmmm... does this present an opportunity to change the devices when you are back on the ship? I've seen so many messages that caution once you've chosen a device to use on the MSC wifi, you are "stuck" with it. When you reconnect on the ship, would it be possible to connect a different device?

Our expectations are more than just 'how is the food' -- it is the full dining experience. From how the maitre d' treats us ("you never get a second chance to make a first impression" is a saying familiar to most Americans), to where we're seated, to the ambience of the dining room, and (even) to our own moods that evening -- these are all facets of how we might consider our dining experience on a specific evening. Each cruiser has different expectations of all these facets. Some may want a different experience than others. We stopped cruising NCL, even in Haven, because we did not find the overall experience what we wanted. MSC's Yacht Club works for us. We believe that everyone should be allowed to determine their own requirements and decide how to best meet them without judgement from others.

We have -- but thank you SO much. Again, hope he is back to normal soon.

Thanks for the info. Maybe our YC will be empty enough that we'll avoid it. Or not. I hate to eat on One Deck all the time just to avoid it. But if this ship is at full capacity, maybe we'll do that. And hope your spouse gets well soon!

Perhaps you are correct. I just know that the website had us listed as expired and the cruise concierge helped us get it back. As is typical with MSC, experiences of others may be different.

Sounds like you were in Yacht Club -- correct? We're used to YC where there is typically more personal space than the rest of the ship so just wanted to clarify. (We cruise this weekend for a 12-day and we're hoping to avoid infection.)