Markanddonna

The trolley system works well for the port of Miami.  Go to the website.

On 2/8/2023 at 9:00 PM, L1211 said:

If my Facebook group for my upcoming cruise is any indication, MCS cruisers on Mera seem to think taking your kids out of school for a cruise is perfectly normal.  It seems to be a common thing that I find odd. Good luck!! 

As a retired teacher, I continue to be shocked at parents who have no problem with their kids missing a week of school. For those trying to avoid kids, this tendency makes strategizing difficult. Spring break is all year. BTW, those are usually the kids who can't afford to miss a day. Please don't waste your time telling me about your prodigy..😁

You just book it as normal. Like others said, it is preferable to stay in the same cabin

The problem with this type of forum is that one is not able to express themselves in real time. I never insinuated NCL is a prestigious cruise line. It runs in the pack of RCL and HAL. I had a great 12 day cruise on NCL from Rome to Haifa in November, 2022 where the food was quite good and my fellow passengers were lovely.  I had a recent RCL TA in May that was also about the best cruise I have ever taken. I've been on nine MSC cruises now and this one ranks as the lowest. Our first on the Divina about 6-7 years ago was lovely in every respect, so it isn't the physical structure of the ship. Actually, our MSC experience started to deteriorate right around the start of the pandemic with significant overcrowding on the Seaview.

2 hours ago, styles27 said:

You sound exactly how I did after 14 days on Divina in January. 
 

The low MSC pricing is attracting people that do not know how to behave. Add in unlimited booze and it’s not a fun experience at all. 

I completely understand and agree with your feelings on this. 
 

It took me and my husband a few weeks to decompress after our cruise…that’s never happened to us before in 40+ cruises. 

My husband flat out refused to book another MSC cruise when I showed him the pricing on this April cruise. He said he would rather pay almost double for half the days than give MSC another chance right now. 
 

For you guys who don’t believe/understand what the OP (and me) are saying I hope you never have a cruise like we did, but if you do you’ll know what we’re talking about. 
 

It is very hard to let things go when it’s multiple incidents every single time you leave your room. 
 

They made the “party” crowd on Carnival look like monks. 
I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it here, I feel very sorry for the crew on Divina who have to deal with people like this 

 

Thanks for your support. Some people on Cruise Critic don't believe others' reports but I recall you had a very overcrowded, unpleasant cruise over the holidays.

I'm not sure I mentioned it, but I witnessed eight separate incidents of the crew being reprimanded in front of the passengers. Just about every crew member I had contact with were polite, welcoming and hard working. They certainly don't deserve this type of treatment. After three times of the Divina, I am sad for what happened this past month.

You might want to look at the most recent reviews of the Divina. We just got off. It used to be a wonderful ship, four to five years ago.

The problem with this type of forum is that one is not able to express themselves in real time. I never insinuated NCL is a prestigious cruise line. It runs in the pack of RCL and HAL. I had a great 12 day cruise on NCL from Rome to Haifa in November, 2022 where the food was quite good and my fellow passengers were lovely.  I had a recent RCL TA in May that was also about the best cruise I have ever taken. I've been on nine MSC cruises now and this one ranks as the lowest. Our first on the Divina about 6-7 years ago was lovely in every respect, so it isn't the physical structure of the ship. Actually, our MSC experience started to deteriorate right around the start of the pandemic with significant overcrowding on the Seaview.

I just read the lastest two Divina reviews and they were very much like my assessment. Here is what a Yacht Club person, who was on our cruise, stated:

Yacht Club is wonderful in every way, but the second you step outside of it to the main bars there is no service most of the time or bars are closed.

The buffet is HORRIBLE. Packed to the brim, people are elbowing and shoving and cutting lines and taking up a 10 person table with just the one person. We have 5 adults and 2 small children and had to shove into a booth made for 4. It is like survival mode in these main areas. No one cares about anything but themselves and there is not enough room to support the passenger count.

There is insufficient deck chairs for the sunbathers, and you are tripping over the people laying on the ground, behind a door or on the stairs. Absolute insanity.

I went to the gym one day in an attempt to run because there is no running/walking track onboard. I attempted for about 20 mins to fight my way onto a treadmill and eventually decided it was not worth it. People were spending half an hour on the treadmill slowly walking. Which you can literally do anywhere on the ship. What you can't do anywhere is run.

If you'd like to see a show or a performance, get ready to fight for a seat.

So in summation, Yacht Club is serene perfection, but you are trapped in the small space and so it is a waste. If you wish to actually use the rest of the boat, it is not worth it.

Just off the Divina and got the small dark chocolate bars.

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Not good, and we thought this only happened on Carnival (where the Coast Guard had to go out to a ship and intervene) and RCI.  On the other hand, we never saw anything like this inside the "civilized Yacht Club.  But I will tell you a secret.  One morning, when we were in the YC on the Divina, somebody left the outdoor gate (on the pool deck near the buffet) ajar!  Within minutes, the "riff raff" started pouring through the gap to take a peek.  Several of our trusty crew were quickly on the job, commenting, "we have interlopers!"   As an experienced YC cruiser I simply smiles, kept reading my newspaper, and sipping my fresh squeezed OJ.  What horrors.

 

Speaking on fresh squeezed OJ, we still remember when Celebrity had that for anyone at breakfast for no extra charge.  In fact, in the LIdo they had a cool squeezing machine where you could watch loads of fresh oranges being squeezed.  Now!  Do not even make me laugh.

 

Hank

I have come to the conclusion that I am more of a historian and adventurer (who is also a writer) than a cruise lover. I don't particularly enjoy cruising as we rarely drink and I don't enjoy laying in the sun. Meeting interesting people on my way, reading, and nice meals as I go to a wonderful historical site is my goal. Cruising is usually just a nice way of getting to where I really want to go, usually in Europe, Australia/New Zealand, or Israel. I doubt we will venture south of North America any more because that isn't my area of interest. We have been to most of the  Caribbean islands, Central America and some of South America. I just was escaping the cold midwest and that was accomplished. Our next cruises are back in Europe and then a transpacific. My husband is the same. As a person who lives a minimalistic and generally contented life, the upscale experience is lost on me. Know thyself is most applicable here.

20 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Argh!  I think that anyone who cruises long enough will get one voyage with less desirable ship mates.  We have rarely had problems with shipmates, but in Dec 2021 we cruised on the Enchanted Princess for back to back 7 day cruises (in the Caribbean).  The first 7 days had DW and I laughing about the old saying, "they must have been raised by wolves."  We are talking "wife beater" shirts and backward ball caps in the MDR.  We finally saw a few turned away from the MDR (on a dressy night) but that was rare.  The 2nd week it was like a whole different world with mostly pleasant folks who had a little fashion sense and also knew how to complete a sentence.

 

On MSC, we have only met fascinating folks in the YC.  It is a very international line, so in the YC we interacted with folks from many European countries and made a few good friends.  Outside of the YC we met quite a few folks and most were enjoyable.  But we are seniors and tend to hang with other older passengers.  We did not meet anyone who we would call "rude or overbearing" but that is luck of the draw.

 

Having cruised on 16 cruise lines (the 17th will happen in September) friends have often asked us on which line we have met the best shipmates.  We normally say it is more about the itinerary and lenght of cruise than the cruise line.  The folks you meet on a 70 day HAL cruise and much different than what you meet on a 7 day HAL cruise.  But if we had to choose a specific cruise line where we have consistently met interesting folks it would be Seabourn.  One theory is that on a luxury line, folks do not feel they have anything to prove or need to impress anyone (many of these folks are actually quite impressive) so folks are just nice.

 

Hank

 

Hank

There were fights at the pool deck, a passenger drowned, and several incidents of bullying because of significant overcrowding on the pool deck. I witnessed eight incidents of supervisors reprimanding crew members who were generally kind and overworked.  I usually give four and five star reviews but this was unreal. I never witnessed these sorts of things on any of my other cruises. 

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We are inclined to agree, which is why the only way we cruise on MSC is in the Yacht Club.  With MSC one must decide whether they want to keep down their costs (lots of options outside of the YC) or are willing to pay for a luxury cruise (Yacht Club).   But your post has me scratching my head.  If you believe what you say why would you ever cruise on MSC?  Simply go on any of those "superior" cruise lines that you like.

 

Hank

My past 17 days has convinced me that MSC is not a cruise line that appeals to me. We are very pleased with lines like RCL, Celebrity, NCL, and HAL and have had two cruises with them this past year. MSC started out as a nice experience several years ago but no longer. This was our worst cruise by far, mostly because of my fellow passengers.. The crew was great, but the passengers were rude and overbearing. We had lovely tablemates and met some other nice folks but this was not good.

As a Diamond member of MSC, I consider the rest of the ship experience (non YC) inferior to other cruise lines I have been on. I have no experience in YC. Of course, if you stay in the Yacht club all the time, you might not agree. 

I agree. We were on a MIA cruise in Jan and no one asked to see our boarding docs and times until we got upstairs. Go when you wish is my advice.

The numbers before the holidays were lower. I think these higher numbers (3,500 and above ) will remain. Gone are the days when the crew outnumbered the passengers.

When is your trip?  That matters.

I have been in the Haven, but never the Yacht Club. I can't understand why anyone would book an MSC cruise when you can get a wonderful experience on a more prestigious cruise line for at least the same cost. Even though you are isolated from the riff raff (that includes me) an MSC passenger still has to endure the inferior MSC experience. I've priced it out and think perhaps others haven't done their research!

You will likely have fewer from that group but maybe just as many Latinos from other areas like Puerto Rico.  

Things are changing. We just disembarked after 17 days in the Caribbean, Mexico, and central and south America. We were supposed to be either vaccinated or tested for Cartagena but no one ever checked out COVID vax cards. My DH got bronchitis on day 9 and sort of lived in the medical center (5 times) so we saw a lot. No one in the med center wore a mask and didn't ask for us to be tested until the final days. We did two antigen tests on our own, negative, and then they did an antigen and then a PCR on my husband explaining that He would be in isolation if positive and I would be tested. If negative, I could proceed around the ship as normal.  All negative tests.

I asked on the 5th day of the cruise about Covid and the doctor said there was one positive case. Lots of hackers who don't make any effort to cover their mouths at all.  Just open the lips and cough. Yuk.

BTW- the crew appeared to have quite a bit of illness as the line for them in the med center was LONG. I think many were new and overworked. 

26 minutes ago, Denversail said:

I didn't realize you could skip the customs b2b meeting and just get off the ship. I'm doing a b2b in April and the second leg I'll be joined by others. It will be nice to be able to get off the ship and meet them in the morning since they are flying in early.

That was the option between Jan 20 and Jan 27 on MSC.

Know that kids are on all year round. If just after Easter, you will have lots of kids. Today, people don't mind taking their kids out of school for a vacation. MSC has lots of young parents with babies and toddlers all year round and they love those huge strollers.  I was a teacher, so I get your preference of fewer kids. Also, remember that LOTS of central and south Americans are on MSC cruises and they have very different school vacations. 

On 2/6/2023 at 3:00 PM, C4HCG said:

Hi all - looking at an MSC cruise, June 2024 in the Caribbean. We cruise Celebrity as we are not into cruises with lots of children, ours have grown up. What age demographic is there likely to be on this cruise?

MSC offers free cruises on many of their cruises so you will find kids all year long. Lots of big strollers. This past cruise in January was the cruise of squealing kids. Not bad kids, but they were loud. stick with Celebrity. I "get it" as a former elem teacher.

I just did a b2b and booked the same cabin so we just disembarked before 8:30 on the last day of the first cruise. Staying after 8:30 would have meant sitting in the theater for a customs interview for at least two hours. We took the free Miami trolley to Bayside and Walgreens and were allowed back on at 11:30. We told the agent we were b2b and were put in a fast line. We got a new card.

Check out to see if the cruise price is lower for a single, longer cruise. It wasn't, so two separate cruises gave us twice the benefits, like free specialty dinners for status members. It's up to you to go the research. 

The cruise line will give you a letter to exp!ain the process. Ours was in Miami.

Just off a b2b on the Divina. More younger passengers below age 35 on the seven day. Skewed older on the 10 day. This would all change when spring break season (late Feb to mid April)  kicks in and also Presidents Day week where you will see many more children. 

4 hours ago, Lupush said:

My Wife and I are Platinum (soon to be Sapphire) on NCL and are considering an MSC Cruise.  Would our NCL status translate to Black on the MSC Voyagers Club?

That was true about four years ago when we matched but is not longer the case. Really not fair to the folks who built up their loyalty status the typical way. We walked onto our first MSC ship as Diamond.  Now you get Gold.

I did this last week on the Divina. You have two options: get off before 8:30 or after. If you choose later, you have to go to the theatre for a two hour time period with immigration. We did the before 8:30 and took the Coral Way trolley that is caught right outside the terminal to Bayside Shopping Mall. We were allowed back on at 11:30. No problem. People who got off later said they had to be in the theatre at least two hours.

The trolleys go other places two. Google Miami trolleys to find out.

Msc has the industry's worst IT. call Msc and see if the csr can help. Lots have had your problem.