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Right?! So weird! Why not the Yankees at least they’ve won in this century lol

Was on Divina 12/30-01/13 the first 10 days we had 3800 pax 10% were US citizens. I felt like I was cruising in Europe and not in a good way. We loved our Mediterranean cruise on MSC in 2019. This cruise was an entirely different clientele from that one.

They may not like it but MSC is powerful and doesn’t have to answer to shareholders.

Good luck getting chairs by the pool. Last week on Divina we used our balcony more in 14 days than ever before because of the lack of chairs available on deck. Plenty of chairs with towels on them being saved. We sat on the edge of the pool deck one day and witnessed towels on chairs for an hour and nobody using the chairs. Went to lifeguard asked him to remove the towels and he refused. Aft pool lifeguard would remove towels after 30 min. Drinks=meh. Every bar was out of some kind of alcohol and was using lessor “easy plan” alcohol instead. (Wells spirits) not cool. Personally I hate the “all in” drink experience. I would rather pay for each drink and have a higher quality drink, but I don’t drink because it’s unlimited. 🤷🏻‍♀️ If you go on your cruise with an open mind and remember how little you paid for the cruise you will be okay. Don’t expect Regent quality at these prices. As far as MSC wanting to be the biggest? I think we all know size doesn’t matter…quality is key. 😉 YC seems to be their most consistent product but we’ve seen posts talking about the decline in that area as well. I’m not sure there are any 5* across the board cruise lines at the moment. We’re looking for our next cruise in Europe and I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be on MSC and I was one of their biggest cheerleaders. This last cruise really changed that.

It’s not expired yet….hence the title of this thread

If the certificate has a raised seal you should be good. Take along your passport as well.

Are you doing a closed loop cruise from the US?

I think you have to go with an open mind. Our Divina cruise was over New Years and there were 3800 people on for the first 10 days and only 2000 the last 4 days. We definitely spent more time on our balcony because it was hard to get a chair on deck while at sea. We avoided the busy areas of the ship especially the buffet and opted to pay for room service instead. We had a good time but it wasn’t our favorite cruise. That had little to do with the ship or crew and more to do with the loud, rude and obnoxious passengers we had the displeasure of cruising with. For that reason alone we will only book YC and never cruise during a holiday again.

Exactly. MSC can afford to undercut everyone their shipping business is their bread and butter. I’m starting to wonder why they even bothered with the cruise business. I’m not liking what I’m reading about some of the problems with their container business at all.

There’s a lot of choices now. We will keep traveling and try new companies/ships. The days of us being loyal to one brand are over.

You said it. I definitely attribute the poor behavior to the unlimited drink packages. We saw it happen at all inclusive resorts and stopped going to them because of the way people acted. I would like to go back to the days of cruising where people had to pay for every drink they wanted. The quality of drinks was better and the majority of people didn’t over indulge because it was coming out of their pocket. Besides wine, I didn’t enjoy one mixed drink in the 14 days we were on Divina. Ocean Cay drinks were really gross. Stopped for a Margarita on the way back from the Lagoon and it smelled like Lysol…the drink not the bar. The all inclusive cruises are really turning into the horrible all inclusive resorts we’ve boycotted.

Just back from Divina. Dining times depend on how many pax are on your particular cruise. When we booked we chose first seating and requested a table for 2. On our paperwork it said first seating 6:30pm Boarded 12/30th. Cruise card said our dining time was 5:30pm. There were 3800 pax so 3 dinner seatings. First night went to dinner found we were at a table for 6. Sat down and waited for our table mates to come. 2 ladies appeared. They spoke no English at all in fact they didn’t even respond when we greeted them. Our waiter tried but couldn’t communicate with them either. After a very uncomfortable dinner we stopped and spoke to the manager. He told us that he could move us to a table for 2 but we had to keep the 5:30 time as 7:30 was wait listed. They also had a 3rd seating @ 9:30 but that is much too late for us. So we moved to a table for 2 and hit the jackpot. We had the best server, Generose. She made our cruise so special! We looked forward to dinner each night even though it was a little early and we had to rush to get there especially on port days. If you go to the dining room and find you’re not at a table for 2 speak to the manager and he will accommodate you if he can.

Agree about making requests to rectify something that isn’t right. If you don’t ask how will they know there is a problem? Our problem wasn’t with the crew or the ship as much as the horribly behaved pax. I asked security one day if we could unload the lot of rude passengers in Jamaica but unfortunately he said he’d like to but he’d probably be fired lol (not kidding)

Did your itinerary change?

Just off Divina two days ago. We were on for 14 days over New Years. It was our third time on this ship and it definitely was our least favorite cruise. Our cruise had way too many passengers (3800 the first 10 days) and the crew couldn’t keep up with it. I felt bad for the crew. We also experienced on many occasions different bars not having basic alcohol ingredients for drinks. I am not buying “there’s a supply issue amongst all cruise lines” we sailed NCL 04/22 and not once did that happen. We sailed Divina 11/21 and didn’t have these issues. Don’t tell me you don’t have Kahlua when you’re selling it in your duty free store on board. 🙄 We actually had a very positive main dining room experience. Every meal was really good and we had a table for 2. That was the highlight of our cruise. The buffet was not good on our cruise. The food was never hot. Ever. I felt it was a health issue to eat food that wasn’t being kept at the proper temperature. Also encountered the lack of flatware and napkins, after a few days we boycotted the buffet and used room service. We have decided that we won’t cruise with MSC again outside of the YC.

It was strange. lol It had blueberries on it too. I think with a cookie/shortbread crust it may have been ok but I agree with you, not with pizza dough! Thank you! We were fortunate our flight was on time and we’re back to reality and searching for our next cruise already. 😉 Hoping to find something that includes Greece.

Did you ever see the white chocolate dessert pizza? I asked the pizza chef to just cut me a tiny piece to try. I wasn’t a fan lol

I think you’ll like it. I’ve been to Italy…MSC’s pizza is almost as good as the pizza we ate in Rome, Naples, Sicily etc. Their pasta is great too! Just off 14 days on Divina and all but one meal in the MDR was really good. The one not so good thing is something that can happen at home, it was a tough NY strip steak that they quickly swapped for me. Buffet food was never hot so that wasn’t good. It was barely warm, so we avoided eating there after a few days.

Absolutely agree. Kids were never the problem on our cruise either. In fact the children were so well behaved. Not sure how when their parents had no manners whatsoever. I have a prediction that the “unlimited booze” will come to an end because of fools like that who can’t handle themselves. We never saw these issues until the unlimited alcohol became a thing. I’d much rather pay for my drinks as I go if it means we never have to cruise with people who drink because it’s unlimited again.

Have a wonderful time and I can’t wait to hear your comparison when you get back!

Read on another social media platform that Divina missed OC today. Where are you guys now?

I saw this a LOT on Divina the last 2 weeks. I felt so sorry for our steward. It’s hard not to see it when the door is open and you walk by. Not only were we cruising with loud, rude and pushy passengers…there were some downright slobs amongst them. I wonder how many are the ones waiting in line to have the service charge removed. Witnessed that both times I had to go to the guest services desk. I came off of Divina yesterday with a terrible taste in my mouth for our fellow cruisers. Worst bunch of entitled idiots we’ve cruised with in 40 yrs. Edit to add Our cabin steward had 18 rooms to clean on our sailing. I see no reason to have them come twice a day or even every day.

Be happy you weren’t on the cruise before this. We were on from 12/30-01/13 and believe me the 4 day was so much better than the prior 10 days. We did get the “Carnival” feel though the entire 14 days. We gave up on the buffet by day 4 for breakfast and lunch and ordered room service or ate in MDR when open.

They do. Just ask your room steward for them the first day and they will appear every day after that. (Box of tissues and ice too.) Just did this on our Divina cruise. OP I think everyone has answered your question. We’re just off a two week cruise on Divina that cost half of what it would have cost on Royal and NCL. It was our 3rd MSC cruise. First two were fantastic, this one wasn’t. We’re hoping it was because it was a holiday cruise and too many people. (3800)

I’ve cruised all the major lines and Carnival is the only one (before this cruise on MSC) that has made us not ever cruise with them again. Was on Norwegian in April 2022 during school vacation and it was fine. Passengers were courteous to each other. With almost 40 cruises under our belt we’re pretty good at judging where a cruise line is heading and we don’t like what we saw last week on Divina.