rothjer

Please DO NOT book a cruise on the MSC Divina. You will be very disappointed, and I don’t want to have to say “I told you so”! Heed my advice and take your business elsewhere.

 

The Good:)

Let me start with the good, just in case someone reading this is already booked and can’t cancel!

The ship itself is beautiful, boarding went smoothly, and….ah…there was nothing else that was good. Oh wait, the coconut shrimp and the lobster and most soups were good.

 

The Bad, The Bad, The Bad, The Bad and The Bad:(

FOOD

The food on this cruise was atrocious! I would say that 60% was inedible and the rest was middling at best. The food quality was far below any chain restaurant in the USA. I did poll my fellow passengers and 9 of 10 were in agreement with me. We basically lived on the salad bar, pizza and fries from the buffet. Two members of our group were Vegan and the chef did modify Vegetarian selections to be Vegan for them. Some of it looked better than the “normal” menu. We basically came to sit down dinner every night, ordered food that could not be consumed (think gray steak, raw bacon, mushy chicken) and then ate at the crowded “fight to get a seat” buffet.

 

SERVICE

It is difficult to rate the dining service as there was none. Many of the waiters did not have a good grasp of the English language. All of the waiters we encountered from Indonesia (like our dinner waiter) had extremely bad breath. The courses came with no logic that I could determine. Many nights, some of our family would be done, while others were waiting for their main course. Much of the food went uneaten and the waiter never once asked if anything was wrong or if you wanted something else. He just cleared the full plates. Sometimes the table was so full of plates that we had to stack them ourselves to make room for food and another time, I picked up my coffee and the waiter cleared the saucer! Go figure!. My 88 year old Mom uses a walker. Upon arriving at the dining room she was told to leave her walker and go to a table halfway across the dining room! She refused. What did they think the walker was for? Another time, Mom ordered coffee and after it came she asked for water. The waiter poured water into the coffee! The dining staff needs to speak English and needs to be trained in what customer service is all about.

In any case, the food and dining service were extremely poor and not what I would expect on a cruise ship.

I had a balcony cabin and could not open the door. It took 4 calls and 2 days to get this fixed.

 

EXTRA CHARGES

We felt nickel and dimed at every turn. The “free” room service had a $3.50 service charge. The 3D virtual reality ride cost me $17 for 3 people and lasted 5 minutes. Bowling was $7 per person per game. You could not purchase a drink card unless everyone in your cabin bought one. So if I wanted a soda card, my husband would have to buy one (whether he drinks soda or not) as would my son (he would be required to buy a kids drink card). Really??? Unbelievable! If you needed shade on the private island, it was $29 for a clamshell and 2 chairs stained with bird poop.

 

TIPS

This is a sore spot with me. I think having tips added to the bill has brought about the demise of service.

At MSC tips are added automatically and if you tell them to remove the tips, you are told OK, but that they cannot be removed until the last night of the cruise. This was the first cruise ever that I did not even give them my credit card as I had no trust in tips being removed! I still give cash tips based on service.

 

ATTITUDE

At MSC, Customer Service has an attitude, and it is not a good one. Seemed the customer was always wrong or being ridiculous. It appeared as if every request was a burden to the staff, instead of their job. This is a very bad way to run a business.

 

The Ugly, The Ugly, The Very Ugly and The Very Very Ugly:mad:

NO DRINKS AT THE TENDER

On the day of the private island stop it was extremely hot and sunny. I was looking forward to a drink of water before boarding the tender back to the ship. In over 30 cruises I have never encountered a company that does offer a drink upon tender boarding. Well, MSC has water for employees, NOT for guests! How rude & inconsiderate.

 

BIRD POOP AND BROKEN CHAIR

As there was no shade on the private island, I paid $29 to rent 2 chairs and a clamshell sunshade. The chairs were covered in bird poop and one of them did not recline. I asked the person collecting my ticket (showing I had paid for the chairs/clamshell) to please clean the chairs and find one that functioned. I was told that there was nobody who could do this! Again, how rude & inconsiderate!

 

FOOD SHORTAGE ON PRIVATE ISLAND

The private island was open for 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Food was ONLY offered from 12:00 to 2:00. I got on line with my two small children at 1:40 PM. There was a long line in front of us and a long line formed behind us. Much of the food was already gone and was not being replaced. I managed to grab some fries and the last 2 burgers. There was no catsup or ice tea left, and water was only available in one spot and there was another long line. At 2 PM prompt, with a long line of people who had gotten on line before 2 PM, the staff began to put away all of the remaining food! Excuse me, that was just craziness. I can understand closing the line at 2 PM, but at least serve the people on line prior to 2 PM. It is not their fault that the line is so long and the food is slow to arrive, if at all. MSC should be ashamed!

 

HANDICAPPED BULLDOZED AT ELEVATOR

Coming back from port stops, there was always a crowd waiting for elevators. Those of us in my party who could, walked upstairs and across the ship to less busy elevators. My Mom was in a wheelchair and had to take the elevator. One day it was taking forever to get the elevator as people were pushing to get in and ignoring folks in wheelchairs or with babies in strollers. My daughter asked a staff member for help and was told, “It is not my fault passengers are rude. There is nothing I can do about it”. What a load of crap! I guarantee that if that staff member stood in front of the next elevator to arrive and announced that it was for handicapped passengers and those with babies, the “rude” passengers would have stepped aside. MSC should be quite embarrassed with the failure of the staff to offer help to handicapped folks. In fact, the last day of the cruise we were waiting and waiting on floor 12 to go down to floor 6 to disembark. All the elevators that stopped were completely full. I walked to floor 6 and got an empty elevator going up. At each stop, I announced that the elevator was picking up wheelchair passengers. Nobody tried to get in. I arrived on floor 12 with the empty elevator to pick up Mom in her wheelchair and the baby in the stroller. Had I not done this, we would have missed our plane.

 

BALLOON MAN LEAVES KIDS CRYING

OK, one last incident. There was a staff member making balloon animals for kids from 4 to 5 PM. At 5 PM there were three toddlers left in line. Rather than quickly making balloons for them, the staff member got up and left, leaving three small crying children and several bewildered parents in their wake. This kind of behavior is totally shameful and should not be tolerated.

 

PLEASE DO NOT SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED DOLLARS ON MSC!

Wow, I was on the sailing in the 19th of April and have cruised many other cruise lines prior to this one- we had a wonderful time!

Was it comparable to our cruises on Celebrity-no, not at all, but we also did not pay anywhere near what we paid for those cruises.

The food ? 9 out of 10 people? Really? I found the food at the buffet to be amazing- the variety of fresh fruit and veg alone was amazing, the pasta selections were always amazing, and the ethnic corner and med deli selections complete with fig jams were top notch . Yes, at dinner we did notice that it was not up to par with RCCL or Celebrity, but the food was stil very edible.

The service staff for us, both in room and dining were excellent.

I am so sorry that you were not offered a beverage on your return to tender, or you did not take note of the lunch buffet times at the private island (it was listed in your daily). Such atrocities, I do not know how you survived the trip.

How horrible, what a waste of money for you, especially because these cruises were for the msot part sold and booked for rock bottom rates, it was a HUGE deal comparably to anything else offered this time of year. What could be worse than blowing money away for beautiful weather, someone picking up after you and washing your sheets and dishes, and not having to cook for a whole week, OH THE HORRORS!

Hi There

Just a few questions to help us plan ...

1) Are there mini bars in the room- we are hoping yes so that we can get the steward to remove the for purchase items so we can store our sons milk and yoghurts in there

2) Is there a dvd player in standard rooms?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I'm so sorry you're uncomfortable when I put on a $300 silk Tommy Bahama camp shirt and pressed bermuda shorts to walk around in sticky wet 85 degree nights on our Caribbean itineraries.

 

I too was similarly uncomfortable poolside on a European line at the pool all day with the hairy backed, plus sized Euro-men squeezed into banana hammocks designed for 12 year old boys. That and the 75 year old ladies who think they need to expose the "twins" for a bit of sunshine at the pool. No matter how much oil gets slathered on those things, they aren't going to re-inflate.

 

But I just sat back, closed my eyes chuckled.

Tommy Bahama's Silk Camp Shirts sell for about $100 bucks at full retail, and in most cases slashed by up to 50% depending on where and when you buy them.

http://www.tommybahama.com/TBG/Men/Shirts/Camp_Shirts.jsp

I guess if I paid a 200% markup on a shirt, id justifiably want to wear it everyday too

Excellent Review!

Thank you!

We have cruised (and prefer) Celebrity over our other cruises (RCL, Norwegian and Costa)- A lot of people compare Costa to MSC- and although it does not come close to our "favorite" line- its still a vacation, yes, perhaps not as refined as Celebrity but still an opportunity to experience a cruise to beautiful places- how bad can is possibly be- glad to hear theres lot of great feedback comming out of Divina recently!~

Thanks RB- I don't want to take advantage or anything like that- Im not looking for a freebie but just someone who will listen and can help solve out situation, the heck to the Balcony room promised- I just hope we can figure something out so that we are all close by and that my baby isnt kept up by Broadways greatest hits every night!

Hello! If you could get a picture or run down of what is available for room service and room service breakfast that would be fantastic and much appreciated.

Thanks! Fingers crossed MSC customer service can help us out and or make this situation a bit better!

Sounds like a total incompetent agent for sure, i guess you have now paid in Full ? if not ring MSC and ask if you can transfer the booking to them but i fear it may be a bit too late. Although as i often say to people "if you do not ask you do not get"

 

Sad to hear you are being ripped off in this way.

I totally feel ripped off- then again, life is full of lessons- and how mad can you be about going on a cruise!? I just worry about my little one, and frankly want to see if anything can be done about this !

Danbee- its a very well known cruise travel agency- as a cruise traveler, I have always booked directly with the agency- however, MSC was not able to provide me with the same price, so I decided (after using this online agency for years as my go to place for prices) - I know a lot of cruisers who I have met in the past on cruises that use them, and It is such a shame that I have had such a bad experience. -

Hello- We have had the worst luck with our upcoming sailing on MSC Divina on April 19th, 2014. We booked with a reputable (or so I thought) cruise agency and the whole booking is a mess!- we were "told" that we could book 3 rooms (for the whole family) side by side to one another, however due to limitations, one room would be upgraded to a balcony and the other two would be side by side across the hall- in lieu of this no OBC would be offered- which was fine with us and a nice offer from what it sounded like. When we received our cruise tickets- two rooms were close to one another, but not next to one another, and the other was on the deck up from the other- all were insides- no balcony as offered. We told the agent we had a small baby (22 months) and he booked our rooms right above the theater and one right next to the elevators- great!- we thought we could at least switch around rooms to accommodate baby -but even that is impossible.

When I called MSC- they were unable to help us with our reservation as this was booked by a travel agency and referred us back to them. Time and time again, the agency says there is nothing that can be done- the price of the cruise has gone down since what we paid, there are from what I see other cabins available, and yet they cannot help us out at all, or are absolutely unwilling. It ended with the travel agency basically saying there isnt anything else they can do, and that we should stop contacting them !- What a horrible experience!!

MSC- is there anything we can do- top priority is to ensure our little one has a peaceful nights sleep, and we know from previous experiences that this will not be possible atop the theater. Please help if you can!

We had our first suite experience on Summit and loved it. Our butler Bart was very kind and eager to assist. I really looked forward to afternoon tea service, served with cappuccinos from Cova Cafe. One evening when I wasn't

Feeling well, Bart brought me cheese and fruit plates to our suite...a very nice thoughtful gesture. Here he is serving tea:

 

 

Hes there as much or as little as you would like, and he was always going above and beyond since day one with him. He has done so many amazing things for us. On our honeymoon, just this past year, he recognized us from two previous trips, and we ready to mobilize on what he knew we enjoyed. He really outdid himself, he knew how much we enjoyed dinning on our HUGE veranda (SS 6146 penthouse deck, right next to the penthouse suite) he set up a candle lit dinner, saxophone player and all, with lots of delish treats from normandie and the mdr. He spoiled us rotten. We had two interactions with the captain (both for dinner and at the navigation deck). On previous cruises he got us in for galley tours, arranged get together in our suite. He knew my wife works in the food industry and always went above and beyond by dropping off little bits of food throughout the day. Breakfast was prompt, by the third cruise (we were onboard for 12 days) he didnt take our breakfast order, it just showed up, he got to know our preferences so well.

 

He's given us a ship cell phone, although we did not stay in the penthouse suite, just to be sure. He consistently would meet us at the gangway if he knew we were returning from a scheduled tour, boom, he was there with another set of refreshing towels, bottled water. It was really amazing. He would arrange for specific seating in the MDR, excursions, etc.

 

Eventually we got to know him, and a little about his family. He really works so hard, on top of always being on call, he runs the most prestigious area of the ship (penthouse deck), but he always made us seem like we were #1.

If your cruise is taking you to St. Thomas I would recommend contacting Dynasty/Dazzlers in Havensight. That is where I got my Eco Drive for about half the price of my local place and it is duty free also. Just Google Dazzlers St. Thomas. They are the first store on your left as you exit the dock area. Ask for Raj or Bimla. I would contact them prior to going to make sure they have what you want in stock.

 

PE

I've also had a lot of luck with Royal Carribean in Havensight. They are a great store, lots of watch selecations, more than half the store is watches. They don't like to haggle so they always give you a firm lowest price, which I appreciate. Some people may say that haggling may get you a better deal, I disagree. I purchased a beautiful Tissot Chrono for a lot less than it would have been at home. Everyone is right, do your research, sometimes that can be hard because you just see something and you like it, but try and resist the impulse.

We were on Deck 6 for two weeks and never noticed any out of the ordinary odors.

In my own humble opinion :D a suit does not make a man' date=' but what's underneath. ;)

 

 

 

I totally agree with you.

My DH wears a T 99% of the time under his shirts.

 

 

All men should wear an undershirt, it's the appropriate thing to do.

That's how you can tell a well-dressed man from a not so smart dresser.[/quote']

 

 

Im so glad you just set the standards for how men should wear undershirts under their dresshirts! What, may I ask is your credentials or source of information to say that it is "the appropriate thing to do".

 

My bespoke dress shirts are made to fit my body, not with another stuffy layer under it.

 

I find it funny for you to say that you can tell a well dressed man from a not so smart dresser! This is HILARIOUS ! A well dressed man has clothes that fit him well and made out of fabrics that are suitable for his needs. Nipples and hair? Get a thicker or patterned cotton. Undershirts are to be worn if you sweat excessivley, and even then, why would I make myself hotter by adding another layer if I am already going to sweat buckets, you will be hotter and will simply sweat through all three layer! Undershirts cause double seams and an overall baggy look, when a shirt should be form fitting and crisp.

 

Just because your husband needs to hide his gastly hairy nipples does not mean that the rest of us be subjected to your overgeneralizations and bogus suggestions for what is correct. :eek: A well dressed man would go for a thicker materail, or visit the salon prior to going and get a good old waxing ! LOL!

I chose not to reply to the poll as I find the question to be rather personal, and frankly none of anyone's business, largely because we would never purchase a package more than just a soda package, as we do not consume any sizable amount of alcohol, virgin cocktails or juices and it is not something I really care to consider doing or not.

I can say that, as with many things, people are not as always as honest as they say they are. Both in terms of cheating the system, and in saying that would never cheat the system. People inherantly like to make themselves out to be righteous , and yet still have that urge to get value for their money. I am not making assumptions about people, but from what I gather from society as a whole. What people say (or how they vote) is really different than what they do in a specific situation.

Kinda "glass half empty" but the real "poll" results will really be determined based on X's success or failure of this endeavor. Once they are no longer making a sizeable profit in alcohol sales I am sure they will change direction. the obvious reasons of the huge cost of these packages as they are a measure profit approach to reaching weekly sales targets for PAX on any particular sailing.

Please don't flame me-- I'm an oversize cruiser myself--sooooooooo--my question/thought is-- the reason so many men say they are sooooooo uncomfortable in their suits is because they are larger size men and perhaps their suits don't accomodate their girth?? There are many stores that sell larger size clothes including suits that can be bought on sale or even 2 for 1. Also, men--did you know you can rent a tux from the cruiseline and it will be fitted for you onboard the ship. No need to carry the extra clothes. Last time I checked it was $85 for a 7 night cruise.

 

I honestly think the movement towards casual clothes for both men and women is because our larger bellies and rolls feel more comfortable in less restrictive clothing. :eek:

Hello,

There are some really great ways to get get really well fitted shirts for not a lot of money. I do have some bespoken shirts which cost over 200+ custom made, bla bla bla, at the end of the day, its a piece of cotton, and you can achieve the same fit for a lot less.

I go to store like "Syms" and purchase shirts which fit properly around the neck, generally speaking a 22 inch neck equat to a 4x or 5x or even 6x which is am most certainly not. Most time the body of the shirt fits more like a moo-moo than a shirt. However, bring in this garment to a good, reliable tailor for 20-30 bucks you can have the shirt completely tailored to your liking. Try it out, if you have a good tailor you should not be dissapointed!

+1, taxi's always seem to be abundant and convienent at the Port, I would go as far as to pay MORE for a cab than arrange private tranportation, or be cattle-wagoned with X's transfer service.

Sure...but it does not help prevent the heat when one is tearing up the dance floor.

 

The only solution is to take off the jacket to allow the heat to escape!

 

Ergo 90% of the reception the jacket is on the back of the chair.

I wonder what kind of weddings you go to ! Here it is a big faux pas to take off your jacket during dinner, and even afterwords, its considered impolite.

As for wearing a suit, I wear one 5 days a week for the past 5 years, so I really don't see it as being *that* big of a deal.