Mikesa1721

Who’s going? Line: MSC cruise

Ship: MSC Dvina

Destination: Caribbean, San Juan P.R. and St Marten

Departs: December 13, 2014

Nights: 7

:)

We're not Little Flower,,but here is a link to some people that are:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2063037

Thanks Mike..that is what I thought. We will probably do the same thing and just send out the things we want pressed. Hopefully they will take some things on that Saturday of departure because the first gala night is that Sunday correct?

 

One thing I will miss from Holland America is the free laundry and pressing service while in the suites.

Laser,,Divina will have a laundry special which is very affordable.

Mike...what about the portable travel steamers? Obviously not going to bring an iron and know I will need to get some wrinkles out after unpacking.

Nope,,not allowed Laser. You could bring some wrinkle release with you, or just turn the shower on super hot and let the steam de-wrinkle your clothes. I'm going to skip sending my suits and dress shirts to the dry cleaner before we leave and have them pressed onboard. The prices are very reasonable.

Hi. A charter that I am interested in will open for booking in a few days, and I would like to be ready with cabin choices. I expect that some cabins will have been pre-booked by insiders.

 

Looking at YC 1, could folks please give me their opinions on what to grab? I will try for 15028 first. After that, some questions:

 

1. In 15030 in the cabin door in the elevator lobby, or is the cabin door closer to 15028?

2. Is smoke an issue when using the balcony from people at the pool on the port side?

3. Scraping of chairs an issue in deck 16 cabins? Or other noise from above?

4. Is noise and issue in cabins near the YC bar on 15?

 

 

Any other tips that you could give me on cabin selection would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

1. We stay in the Yacht Club, but on deck 16. Skier would be your best bet to answer that question for you.

2. We used our balcony(16009) all the time and never smelled any cigarette smoke at all.

3. We never heard any noise,,not even from the cabins next to us,,,

4. If you mean the Top Sail Lounge, I would like to say no,,but not having stayed on deck 15 I can't be 100% sure.

Hi we are booked on divina for our 25th anniversary in Jan 2015

Can anyone tell us what days formal nights are on the eastern caribbean literary

Thanks

Nickam,,we're sailing the Eastern Caribbean on August 23rd. My pvc told me our Gala Nights will be on Sunday Night and Thursday Night, which would be the 2nd and sixth nights.

just booked this and looking forward going to Bermuda again

Alex,,here's the link to our roll call for this sailing:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2058403

Does the MSC Ships have regular 110 US type outlets in the rooms?

Yes they do 33Minnie:

Electricity on board all ships is supplied at a voltage of 110/220 V. Passengers may request electrical outlet adapters from the Information Office.

Please note that no heat-generating devices (like electric kettles, bottle warmer for babies, electric blanket, etc.) are allowed onboard.

You certainly had me going for a minute.

 

Although there is still that unanswered question.......What does happen to the left-behinders???

 

I'm thinking maybe I'll be very generous and share them among the air stewards:p

Yes,,,then at least your mind will be at ease knowing where yours ended up.

On our last sailing we had ordered a bottle of champagne and strawberries for our suite. There were way to many strawberries and I didn't want them to go to waste, so we brought them up to the One Bar and shared them with the crew,,

You're not implying they were removed from your suite :eek::eek:

Haaa!!! Am I scaring you Beam??? No,,not at all,,just saying we usually leave the stack of them in the suite when we debark the ship,,,what happens to them after that:confused::confused::confused:

Not to sound cheap but yikes, the drink package is expensive for a week.

Hmmmmmmm

Something to consider I guess.

 

Been used to out good ol' US cruise lines to allow things like water and other things.

Thanks all!

Like Skier has mentioned,,why not purchase the Allegrissimo Escape??

Carnet of 15 vouchers entitling you on whole range of drinks included in Allegrissimo Classic all inclusive package. If you want to explore our Drink List and enjoy a glass of wine, a cocktail, a glass of draft beer, your favorite liquor, a non-alcoholic drink or even a cone of our home-made ice cream, the ALLEGRISSIMO ESCAPE is a perfect option for you! The vouchers can be used in all bars and restaurants during entire cruise.

$72.00 per person is a great deal.

I'm pretty sure the elevators weren't working. No one told us how to use them correctly, but we couldn't seem to get it. Then once we were in the elevator with a butler who swiped his card and it still stopped at multiple floors...

I could never bring myself to insert my card and bypass everyones floor but mine,,,

That's probably the reason why no pillow chocolates anymore. Just as well, eating chocolate at night can give you nightmares :D

 

(Yeah, I know you still get them in the Yacht Club! I'm going to be very good and save them all for the flight home)

Yes they do Beam,,we never eat them,,never know if they recycle them or not:eek:

Ya know, I don't recall their names - there were two guys who regularly worked the one bar, but Danny doesn't ring a bell. We were in 15032 which is the room right next to the sliding door entrance, our butler was Nurus. A few of the other butlers we encountered were Bruce, Harry, and Jhonny. In the Top Sail, Marie always took care of us and Muhammad was the best One Pool server ever!

I love that sliding glass door,though every time I would insert my card to open it,,there always seemed to be someone standing on the other side of it!! Love the "Special Yacht Club" elevators as well!!

I had to go back to our trip in May to remember our Yacht Club crew, Juliano was the One Bar bartender,,Daniello was the One Pool server,,he seemed to hang around the One Bar most of the time though, and Johnathan was our butler.

Muhammad sounds familiar though,,there were two One Bar bartenders and I thought that the other was Muhammad, but he was supposed to be jumping ship and going to work for Royal,,if they are one in the same person.

Yay, this is fun - can I play?? We had a great time on the cruise, so much fun with the Moos as well!! - and stayed in the yacht club, so I'm happy to help with different questions that you might have since we had a bit different of an experience.

Danielle,,,do you happen to remember the names of the One Bar crew? One of the servers there happened to have a name similar to yours, we called him Danny,,also,,if you don't mind, which stateroom were you in and who was your butler? We are sailing in the Yacht Club on the 23rd and are hoping to see some of the same crew we interacted with back in May.:)

I have reserve the second seating. If the first is a 7:00pm, do you believe that I can change for first seating?

Saphir,,,just spoke with my pvc at MSC to verify dining times and the term "wait listed" which seems to appear on boarding passes.

Currently the early dining time is 5:30 and the late seating is 8:00pm.

When you see "Wait Listed" on your boarding pass, this refers to your seating assignment for your selected dining time and not the actual dining time itself.

If you would like to change your dining time, you can either call your pvc at MSC or request the change at check-in. If they are able to accommodate you, they will honor your request. Hope this helps.

Len,

My best friend and I will also be sailing on the 23rd. Perhaps I have missed a post on this but do you know if there will be a meet and mingle? We love cruising and always find it more fun to share with others. Budward

Budward,,,here is the link to the August 23rd roll call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1999177

I don't believe a meet and greet has been set-up yet,,

I recall reading something about the times about a week beforehand and keeping schtum to Mr Moo about the lateness. It was the first time we'd decided on late sitting and I didn't want to spook him.

 

Upon seeing the put-upon maître'd on the first night to get a table assignment it did detail the meal times on his desk. I asked Mr Moo if he wanted to switch back to early and I'm glad he didn't or we wouldn't have met our fabulous table mates. I'm also glad we didn't ask for a table for two for the same reason. The maître'd actually assumed we were going to request one as the previous six or so couples had begged, pleaded, cajoled, threatened, lied and schemed to try and bag one. He instantly told us none were available. I replied saying "Oh no, we want a group table. We've been together 20 years and can't stand the sight of each other so we need company to get through mealtimes"

 

He paused and looked at us for a few seconds until the penny dropped and he laughed loudly. I was glad to give him a smile because, like I said, he'd been sat there trying to work out a lot of table changes for hundreds of people for what seemed like days. It was late and the stress was clearly getting to him. Poor man.

Haaaa!!! I would have loved to see the look on his face!!!

Giovanni was our Yacht Club Maitre'd and you could tell he was stressed out!! We were on but a 3 day sailing but it seemed that everyone in the Yacht Club requested a 6:30 - 7:30 dinner time. I think we waited 45 minutes the second night after arriving for our scheduled dinner time to be seated. It all ended well with Captain Scala coming in and mingling with all of us.

And ours for the repo were 6.30pm and 9.30pm. 9.30pm late sitting is ridiculous and probably the reason I'm sat up in bed now at gone three am with severe jetlag. Our fabulous waiter did his best to have us finished by around 11.15pm every night but still it's not ideal.

There is no way I could eat that late, well,,unless I was killing it in the casino:D.

Were you made aware of these dining times at check-in Moo??

There were some non-Brazilian stalwarts that remained throughout the cruise. However every day we ported there was a large turnover of staff. A lot were reaching the natural end of their contracts (it's been 9 months since Divina premiered in Miami) and were going home either during the repo or in Miami. New staff were appearing all the time (some new to MSC and some returning to the ship having chosen not to work it down to Rio and in Brazil)

 

I do think they were quite short handed for the majority of the cruise. And I noticed a handful who worked their little socks off and I made sure they were recognised for it. But in all honestly I think the Brazilian quotient of crew were off the ship by the time we left Salvador.

Thanks Moo,,,that's good to know!! We had a great crew in the Yacht Club 3 months ago and are hoping that there will be a few familiar faces when we return on August 23rd.

On the site:

 

 

 

The Black Crab (Main Dining Room)

Cuisine: Continental

Dress Code: 2 formal nights on 7-day sailings, other nights 'resort casual' after 6 p.m.

Surcharge: No

Reservations Required: No

Hours

Caribbean and Transatlantic Cruises:

Early - 5:30 p.m., Late - 8:30 p.m.

Mediterranean Cruises:

Early - 7:00 p.m., Late - 9:30 p.m.

Northern Europe Sailings:

Early - 6:00 p.m., Late - 8:30 p.m.

Canada/New England Cruises:

Early - 5:30 p.m., Late - 8:30 p.m.

Haaaaa!!! that is great,,,we were on a 3 day sailing in May and our cousins were offered a 7:00pm or 9:00pm dining time. Is it different on short sailings Saphir?

I sit here at ten to three in the morning suffering from raging jetlag and a annoying snoring husband reminiscing about my three week Divina cruise and trying to plan mine and Mr Moos next MSC adventure.

 

As mentioned elsewhere I'd do a Divina review but it'd just be drinking, sweating, eating, eye rolling, laughing, drinking, gossiping and sleeping for 19 days.

 

So with the above in mind (and the fact it was a repo from Rio to Miami and 90% of the passengers were Brazilian) I'll just ask if anyone has any questions.

 

My esteemed roll call friends are welcome to chip in with their experiences, observations and general comments too.

Moo,,,It's been discussed that a good bit of the crew had changed due to Brazilian regulations. Did you notice, once clear of Brazilian waters, if there was another crew change before you reached Miami?

Captain Scala is the most personable Captain we have come across - met him many times around the ship, and many photo ops - spoke to each one of us individually at the Top Sail Lounge, yes also came to Le Muse and best of all, invited us to dine with him in Eately.....the best!!!!!

I hope you took him up on his offer Marco!! Did I see your pic with the cap on MSC's Facebook page??

We are also on the Aug 23 sailing, but we selected early seating. personally, I hate either early or late and love the anytime dining features most cruise lines offer now.

 

If you haven't said hi on our roll call, why don't you stop by, introduce yourself and say HI.

 

Cheers

 

Len

I agree Giant!!! We pay extra in The Yacht Club for that privilege,,and the unlimited drinks and mini-bar isn't a bad perk either!:D

Can anyone tell me the exact times for early and late dining? I have read many different times on different sites.

Also, when I booked I requested late seating. I printed out my documents yesterday and now it reads, late dining wait listed. It then says dining will be determined upon embarkation. Is this typical or have I been now wait listed?

I am cruising on August 23 and I truly can't wait, but I'm getting a little frustrated with the lack of info, but I know I'll get help from cruise critic!

Thanks so much in advance

Yellow,,,We're sailing on the 23rd as well. Here is a link to our roll call if you'd like to join in with the conversation: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1999177

Early seating for dinner is 7:00pm and Late seating is 9:00pm. Our cousins who are sailing with us have been wait listed for Early dining, which means your dining time is upon request and you must confirm your dining time once onboard which you will do when you check-in at the pier. Hope this helps!!! :)

I am starting my packing list (my cruise is sept 6th) and I thought I had bookmarked a page that had all the daily programs on it, but I didn't...

So.. Does anyone have them? What I really want to know is what is going on to dress for each day. Like Saturday is probably no biggie but... What night is gala night, what night is the white party, the Italian one, the 60's one.. It helps me lay out my packing list. I'm kind of strange cuz I usually put it on a spread sheet by the day..

 

Also,

I see three are dancing lessons .. How much so they cost? I've always wanted to do that !!

Dog,,here is a link to eroller's Flickr photos of Divina which has the daily's. I'll be doing a "live" review from Divina in less than 3 weeks and will be posting the daily's each day so you can have the latest info before you sail.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eroller/sets/72157643234679793/page6/