Another Divina Review Dec 10 sailing

[Cruisergal1208]

From our experience I agree 100% with you.

MSC will improve, they already improved from day 1 to day 11 of the cruises. We saw improvements every day.

 

 

I want to thank the Cruise Director for showing up at the afternoon Meet & Greet after some confusion about the time.

 

BTW we are palnning our next cruise on the Divina, summer of 2014 after it returns from South America.

 

Cruise, Sorry we could not make it back to the 2nd M&G at 3PM. Had conflicts. We sure did enjoy meeting those few at the 10:15 meeting. All in all, it was an amazing cruise. Ship sparkled, staff & crew super, food good and the Yacht Club experience was more than we expected. Do want to cruise with MSC again but will be after next summer. Thanks for all you did to arrange the M&G's.

[Hat Pinz Guy]

just booked the May 10th sailing off the strength of this review

Thanks OP

[jdvmd]

Thanks so much for sharing! Can't wait to try out the beautiful Divina. A good friend of mine was on your sailing and he enjoyed himself as well.

[big al]

Returning from the MSC Divina Sailing December 10 sailing.

We have been on numerous cruises over the years but the first time on MSC.

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This cruise exceeded my expectations.

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Opinions are like rear ends, everyone has one.

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Much of my review is my opinion, keeping in mind that this is a European cruise line starting a year around U.S. presents. At the afternoon Meet & Greet the Cruise Director said that there were 25% Europeans on board, I think it was reversed with 25% Americans.

Our first impression upon boarding the ship was WOW this ship is beautiful. We then proceeded to the buffet until our cabin was ready. This particular lunch is advertised as a light lunch, not the normal selection of food but more than enough for most people.

Our cabin (outside balcony rear) was like most other cabins on other ships.

Unlike some other complaints we had no trouble with wash cloths. First day we had only one but cabin steward told us that laundry was a little behind and we would be getting a second. From that time on wet has 2 wash cloths every day. Europeans do not use wash cloths so they had to make adjustments for the U.S. market, which they did. The cabin steward was great one of the nicest and efficient we have seen in a long time. In fact all the of crew were pleasant with always greeting passenger no matter where you were

Let me review the food, which is important for many cruisers. We thought the food to be very good, not only in taste but in quality. On a previous cruise (ship not mentioned) the food was the lowest quality around.

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Breakfast had the normal selection in the restaurants and buffet. What I found that could be improved is to have an eggs to order counter. No sunny side up or whites only. Everything was prepared in the back and brought out to the buffet. If you did not get the eggs right away it got cold. Also considering that it sails from Miami, I was surprised that they did not have smoked Salmon at the buffet. It was available in the restaurant only. They had 2 toasters at the buffet which was not enough. They were commercial toasters that take a long time to toast the bread. There appeared to always be a line waiting for toast.

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At lunch they always had a different carving item each day, Roasted Turkey, Lamb, Prime Rip, roast beef, in addition to a seafood, and chicken dish. At least 3 kinds of pasta were available along with a variety of Pizza. The pasta dishes were excellent.

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Diners were scheduled for 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. On the first day the early dining (6:00 pm) ran late and held up the later diners (8:30 pm). But the staff got their act together and by the end of the cruise everything ran good and on time.

Food was once again very good and staff worked hard learning the American way. For example day 1 or 2 we asked for coffee during our meal. Asst waiter said that you drink coffee at end of meal (European way). Next day we had coffee with our meal and end of meal every day. Water glasses were filled without ice the first 2 days; in Europe ice is not used. The waiters made a fast adjustment and we had ice every day. My only negative was the portion sizes, they were very small. For example one night I had Duck breast, it was 3 small slices of duck. A roasted chicken came with one quarter of a small chicken like a Cornish hen, could always order more. In addition to the normal selection they always had 2 pasta dishes to add to the meal.

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The nightly entertainment was excellent except for the magician comedian on the last night. One night they had a tribute to Michael Jackson who was supper, if I did not know better I would have sworn that he came back to life. I was informed ahead of time that the entertainment was geared toward a multi language audience and consisted of visuals. They did an excellent job with this.

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The cabins and balconies are non-smoking but I did see my next door neighbor smoking on balcony.

More obvious is how they let passenger come into the dining room more than ½ hour late and in a few cases inappropriately dressed for example shorts and t-shirt on formal night.

 

A little confusing is the next to last night (Thursday) they had the good by show. This should have been the last night with the magician on that night.

Every day from the first day to the end the crew and staff were getting better and better and it showed. The one question always asked is “would you take this ship again”, the answer is a rousing yes, yes, yes.

 

1985 Fairsky SITMAR

1986 Song of America ROYAL CARIBBEAN

1986 Oceanic PREMIER

1987 Oceanic PREMIER

Nordic Prince ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Nordic Empress ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Viking Seranade ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Regal Princess PRINCESS

Royal Majesty MAJESTY CRUISE LINES

1992 Monarch of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

1995 Sovereign of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

1996 Song of America ROYAL CARIBBEAN

1999 Oceanic PREMIER

1999 Splendor of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

(Apple Vacation) OCEANIC CRUISE LINE

Legend of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Majesty of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Grandeur of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Enchantment of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

2000 Voyager of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

2000 Horizon (Alaska) CELEBRITY

2001 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Crown Princess PRINCESS

2001 Dawn Princess (Alaska) PRINCESS

2002 NCL Dreamward

2002 Carnival Legend CARNIVAL

2002 Brilliance of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

2003 Navigator of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Aug 2003 Horizon (Bermuda) CELEBRITY

Oct 2003 Serenade of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Jul 2004 Mariner of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Dec 2004 Empress of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Sept 2005 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBAEN

Oct 2005 Infinity CELEBRITY

Nov 2005 Enchantment of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Feb 2006 Golden Princess PRINCESS

May 2006 Zenith CELEBRITY

May 2006 Freedom of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Dec 2006 Millenium CELEBRITY

Jun 2007 Caribbean Princess PRINCESS

Aug 2007 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Oct 2007 Vision of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Jul 2008 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Oct 2008 Solstice CELERITY

Nov 2008 Enchantment of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Nov 2009 Dream CARNIVAL

Dec 2009 Solstice CELERITY

Jun 2010 Emerald Princess PRINCESS

Nov 2010 Enchantment of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

July 2011 Allure of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

Dec 2011 Silhouette CELEBRITY

May 2012 Oasis of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN

July 2013 Gem NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES

Dec 2013 Divina MSC

 

Cruise-A-hoy: Great review!! Like you, my wife & I are seasoned cruisers ( 29 cruises, Diamond on RCI)..I am also anxious to try something different...ship looks beautiful..I was wondering how you would compare this ship & cruise to Royal ,Princess, or Celebrity, as you clearly like those 3 lines a lot...we LOVED the Oasis/Allure, and Freedom/ Liberty of The Seas..I have read now 4-5x that the shows were spectacular on Divina..food was good...how were the cabins? Pool area? bars & lounges? Thanks again...

 

Big Al

[judyzoo]

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Breakfast had the normal selection in the restaurants and buffet. What I found that could be improved is to have an eggs to order counter. No sunny side up or whites only. Everything was prepared in the back and brought out to the buffet. If you did not get the eggs right away it got cold.

 

Thanks for the review! Did they not have a omelet station for the breakfast buffet?

[little flower222]

Thank you for the review, I am seriously considering an amazing deal on this ship in May. I am a few seconds away from pressing book now :D, lol.

FYI... Let me say That I was surprised when I saw people carrying cases of drinks such as soda, water and juices onto the ship. I was told when I inquired about this that it was diffidently not allowed. When we got to our first port we stocked up with some water for the rest of the cruise and had no problem bringing it on board.

Edited January 11, 2014 by little flower222

[Kelownabccan]

At the afternoon Meet & Greet the Cruise Director said that there were 25% Europeans on board, I think it was reversed with 25% Americans.

 

 

How was it set up and #'s.....was it Andre???....where....time??

 

we had a hard time doing ours....

[Imani68]

Great review. Thanks!

[CruiseGirlKS]

Wonderful review! :)

[Troy McClure]

Thanks for the review. I have seen their billboards popup all throughout Florida and they have some very competitive pricing.