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Currently in the terminal waiting to board!! Best sail away is when I'm on the ship!

We leave 10/17. Got our assignment yesterday. Moved up a couple notches from the guarantee balcony we booked. Very happy with the cabin!

OMG, I can't believe you just posted while lying on one of those thermal beds while I still have 101 days till my cruise on Westerdam! We loved our spa passes and used them daily. Have a good cruise!

I have several of his books on the shelf next to my desk. A wonderful author. Sad news! I would have loved to have met him.

Glad you had a good time. Sorry to hear your weather was a tad rainy. Offbeat question. Do you remember what movies were playing in the afternoon in the theater or on the tv? boarding in 2 weeks and love to catch a movie onboard.

Thanks for taking the time to write a review! We also had a great time on the Divina in May and would have rebooked for a cruise this October, but had a large OBC on another cruiseline that had to be used by the end of 2014.

Don't let Old Cruisetrail yanks your chains...he's spent the last year on these boards ( actually over a year now) bad mouthing MSC and Divina in particular.

We were on the CB a few years ago and are booked again for this October. I've had Lee Chiders as a CD in the past and I'll agree with others...he stinks!

Any hope that he'll be going on vacation by the time I get onboard? A bad CD doesn't ruin a cruise for us, but a good one can make a medicore cruise sparkle.

Im going on msc divina on august 9 and its my first time on a cruise ive heard alot of that cruise but i want to know if the food is good and service

 

 

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You might want to take Cruisetrail's opinions with a grain of salt. In his review he said Divina was the worst cruise he has ever had ( at the start he states he has cruised all major cruiselines).

My husband and I have also sailed numerous cruiselines ( 18-19 cruises in all. We've lost count) and we throughly enjoyed our cruise on Divina. We found the food and service on par with all the other lines. Yes, there were food items that we didn't like and food items that we thought were brillant. Every crew member was polite and catered to our needs. We didn't experience any problems at customer service though we had to visit the desk several times ( note, don't place your room key next to a battery...).

I was a bit disappointed in the salad bar at the buffet. But, then I'm a salad fanatic.As others have noted you won't find the servers parading around the pool deck hawking half melted drinks of the day on a soggy tray ( thank goodness). But they are there if you want to order a drink. They don't serve drinks in the theater. If that bothers you pick one up before entering for the show.

Fantastic!! Brings back happy memories of our cruise on her in May.

Given the age of the kids ( 8 and 11), I would venture to say that the parents are way too young for HAL. We're older ( 50 and 60's) and have done both lines. By no means do we fit in with the party crowd anymore...but HAL was way too quiet for us. In bed at 9 pm with a good book quiet.

I vote for MSC!

What kind of prizes do they have on the morning show and how do you win them? Do they show the morning show on the big screen? How about news in the morning?

The prizes they had were pretty much the same as the trivia prizes ( which we also won several!)...baseball caps, bags, knapsacks, etc. with the MSC logo on them. On the morning show they would ask a trivia question related to the Divina and you popped your answer into a box down by CS. They announced the winners along with the 'shoutouts' of the day...people with birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

I didn't see the morning show on the big screen, but then I didn't really look for it. The news channel we watched was CNN or International CNN.

We used room service every morning for breakfast...no charge. We tip $3 per morning.

One thing we enjoyed was watching the " Morning Show' on TV while having our coffee. Entertaining and informative at the same time. We also won several prizes by participating in the quizzes the CD announced on the show every morning.

Oh, my, I never read the MSC rules....LOL, had I read them I still would have tipped as I have done on other cruises.

We get room service every morning on a cruise and always tip the server who brings it.

I'm beginning to think that MSC is for the more sophisticated traveler who is able to plan and execute their own responsibilities and who doesn't expect everything to be just how it is in their home country.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2045540

Yes, it is interesting reading! Even the second time around.

Skier52,

Thanks for "clearing" that up about the view!

We are in the same boat.

MSC prices for the Divina that were lower than lowest budget offers did a good job for those who otherwise wouldn't cruise at all. The Divina happened to be a ship of choice for that category of potential cruisers.

 

Cannot agree more that we sometimes want to treat ourselves with something more special.

 

But there is a big But.

 

It's pretty understandable why people choose a cruise from $199.

On the May 10th cruise I talked to a lot of people ( well, the people who spoke English that is!) and a lot of them were regulars from Celebrity, RCCL, and Princess. Yes, the price had drawn them in, but they were also intrigued by something 'new'. Like us, they were 'trying' things out. Having a look-see.

These weren't people who "otherwise wouldn't cruise at all". These were your Elites, Diamonds, Emeralds ( is that the Princess term?) who pack in multiple cruises a year and normally book with the same company because over the years they have built up perks.

They weren't booked in the YC, they were regular old passengers.

Will they return to MSC in the future? I don't know. My husband and I would jump on MSC again in the fall but we have so many Princess credits built up that have to be used by the end of 2014, so Princess it will be.

You did not get the point. It's a "Yacht Club Plus" ship - for everyone.

Choose a cabin you like, enjoy the "base package" or add "perks" of your choice.

Prices from $500 pp.

MSC YC - from $1,800 pp

We can get 2-3 cruises instead of one in YC.

This how products compare.

If you have more qiestions - please switch to a HAL message board.

Actually Cruisetrail you are wearing rose tinted shades when discussing HAL. We sailed HAL last fall and didn't find the service or the perks any better than a base price balcony on MSC Divina. In some cases Hal was disappointing. The entertainment at night ( and I'm not just discussing the theater shows) was almost non existent on HAL. When there was a show the venue was so packed that we couldn't get a seat.

I could continue in my comparison of Hal vs. MSC...but I think that has been covered somewhere on these boards and I would probably be boring people. At the end of the day we enjoyed both cruises, looking forward HAL is at the bottom of our list of cruiselines to book again for a multitude of reasons.

On our recent cruise on Divina I never would have known the YC existed if I hadn't read these forums. I noticed a separate tent curbside at the entrance of POM, but it seemed similiar to the 'elite' or diamond entrances for other cruiselines.

That's good news I guess. Thanks for letting me know! I STILL don't know if I'm considered "special" though. MSC hasn't responded so I don't know if they will be helpful in this case ....hope to have same positive turnout like you!

The end results might not have anything to do with how 'special' MSC considers you and everything to do with how well your Internet TA agent navigates and negotiates. Not all Internet services are equal.

My husband wrote a review of our week on Divina ( he posted it under my user name as he couldn't remember his login details). I would have added that the cruise was better than our HAL cruise last Fall...

An Excellent Relaxing Cruise.

Road access to the Port of Miami seems to have deteriorated since our last visit, signage from and after I 95 is very poor.

Embarkation at around 1pm was a breeze, very efficient and friendly, 15 minutes from parking lot to walking on to the beautiful MSC Divina. We were greeted and directed to the buffet though we diverted by way of the Casino bar to pick up our beverage coupon, once again a quick and easy process..

We then ascended to deck 14 and the buffet for lunch. The buffet seemed surprisingly uncrowded, was easy to navigate with it's well marked stations and we had no problem finding a vacant table then or at any lunch time during the week. We pretty much stuck to the salad, fruit and Mediterranaen stations which while not lavish in their selection took care of our needs. We ordered from the limited but quite adequate room sevice menu and ate breakfast on our balcony all week so did not see the buffet in the mornings.

At 2pm the cabins were declared 'open' and on inspection of our deck 8 balcony cabin we found a stylish room with a small balcony and an efficient bathroom with, to our delight, a bath tub. The balcony overlooks the ships boats but without obstructing the view. Our bags turned up fairly quickly with the courtesy of a knock on the door from our room steward, who unobtrusively took care of our cabin with great efficiency and always greeted us when we passed by.

Lifeboat/safety drill differed little from any previous cruise, a liitle crowded, a bit warm and slightly protracted by explanations in 5 languages, though English was the only language used for regular announcements for the remainder of the week.

We were booked in for early seating dinner at 6pm, on a 6 top we had two regular Canadian table mates and two who were occasional visitors. Service was good, our waiters were excellent with a good sense of humor, dinner selection was varied and the food generally good. Dinner lasted 1 1/2 to 2 hrs in part because we usually tried each of the 4 courses. The pasta dishes were interesting and always al dente, entrees were generally good and appetizers and desserts excellent. There was no pressure to rush dinner because the entertainment schedule was well thought out so no need to rush off to an event. We did not feel the need to try the speciality restaurants.

Divina has multiple bars and lounges with several diverse styles of music playing at any time. Bar service was very good and you quickly recognized that the way to get drinks was to flag down one of many helpful servers to take your order, which left the bartenders free to mix drinks. This in concert with the fact that most people had drink coupons or packages made the process quck and painless.

The production shows in the theater were generally excellent, the performers professional and enthusiastic with acrobats, tumblers and contortionis plus a cast of great dancers performing in every show. The shows were the best we have seen on any ship. Because of the diversity of venues and perhaps the mix of passenger nationalities people seemed to be spread all over the ship at any particular time and it never seemed crowded. The ship's multinational entertainment team who hosted the activities were brilliant, entertaining and unique in their approach, the cruise director was great, very low key.

On sea days the pool areas were crowded but it was always possible to find a lounger, though shade was in short supply. There seemed to be less chair hogging than on many ships, once again perhaps because of the international flavor of the passenger list and a younger average age. Older North Americans seemed to be the only exceptions.

Ports were pretty standard, Falmouth Jamaica was interesting, with an obvious presence of police and security personnel around the town the local vendors and taxi drives were polite, unaggressive and friendly. We savoured the peace of a quiet ship in Grand Cayman so cannot roport on the tendering, in Cozumel the ship docked at the 'old dock' close to town so walking in to the town center was a breeze.

We arrived off the private island of Great Stirrup Cay with a cold front bearing down from the north so the captain announced a diversion to Nassau for the day, a pleasant surprise since most cruise lines seem to revert to a sea day when it is too rough for tendering into a port.

We chose self assist disembarkation, very smooth process we were walking off the ship at 7am and driving out of the port 30 minutes later.

All in all an excellent cruise, good service and entertainment and food every bit as good as our recent cruise on Ruby Princess and better than on RCCL last year.

Amomondo is correct, You TA will be dealing with MSC directly. We cruised in May and also booked using an Internet TA ( not the company you mentioned). We contacted them three times with "issues" ( changing cabins and certain reservations) and each time they dealt with it promptly.

Some more previews...

 

We'll be talking about choosing the cabins and balconies that are right for you on the Divina.

Who is the "WE"? I'm perfectly able to choose my own cabin and balcony on any ship I sail and made a great choice for our recent Divina cruise on 5/10. After hearing some of your remarks regarding this ship in your 'review', I'd be very leery of taking any of your suggestions for any travel plans I might have in the future...whether it be the ship I sail on or the balcony I choose.

That and the blockbuster Dinner Buffet Video

Where is the movie? My popcorn is getting stale!