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Divina Reviews

sidari

By sidari,
in MSC Cruises

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sidari

sidari

Posted
Posted

I thought i would do a little catch up on the Divina reviews to see how things were going, it seems that the same issues exist in some of them while others say things are fine.

 

One thing that caught my eye was this little bit below, was the poster serious? would people seriously stay in their room because of this!

 

"This is the most beautiful ship I have ever been on BUT we spent the cruise confined in our rooms to avoid the sticky railings and elevators."

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thraak

thraak

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Posted (edited)

On April 12th, my wife and I boarded the MSC Divina to the Western Caribbean. The whole experience exceeded our expectations in every regard. We can't wait to board the ship again.

 

First, a little background: My wife and I are in the 45-50 yr. age bracket. I am American and she is Irish. We are very casual cruisers. We read some negative reviews and decided to keep an open mind. The average age of the clientele was about our age. It seemed that about 90% of them were European.

 

Cleanliness of the ship was beyond our belief. The friendliness of Capt. Scala and all of the staff couldn't have been better.

 

The breakfast buffet was delicious and offered a wide assortment of foods. The lunch buffet was even better. The pasta dishes and pizzas were exceptional. The dinner buffet was a little more limited but was still was more than expected. I think that the reason that the dinner buffet was smaller because many people chose to eat at the sit down dinners. The dining room meals were, well we don't know. As casual cruisers, we were always more than satisfied to eat at the buffets.

 

Drinks: We pre-purchased our drink vouchers. At $3.75 a beer, this has to be the best deal at sea. (Peroni, Stella, NewCastle, Guiness, Red Stripe, Corona, Heineken.... & American beers).

 

Entertainment: we missed the first and last night shows. The Sunday-Thursday night shows are NOT to be missed. I honestly think that the shows themselves are worth the price of the cruise!

 

We read that some people complained that the inroom tv had no dvd. That there were no chocolates on the pillows. That their bath towels were not made into animal shapes. This didn't seem to bother us. One middle aged man complained that the water slide should have been steeper as he got stuck in it twice. I believe that this can be attributed to user error as a 350 lb. man should not be attempting such a physical feat. Some people complained that they came down with the flu after returning home. I believe that this could simply be because it is flu season.

 

I can not say enough about the crew members. They work 16 hour days from 6am-10pm everyday. After 252 days, (9 months), they are able to take time off or renew their contract. Yet, day in and day out, they are constantly working, smiling and greeting you.

 

Once again, value-wise, cleanliness, friendliness, the quality of the food, drink prices and with MSC's superb entertainment, I wouldn't want to sail with anyone else!

 

 

 

PS......Well, it has been confirmed, as I am no longer in denial. I have been diagnosed with a case of the After-Cruise Blues Syndrome. The only known cure is to book another cruise on the same vessel for the fall. My prognosis is good and I have been told that as long as it is booked, I will immediately start to feel better!

Edited by thraak
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SeaYa52

SeaYa52

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We were on the same cruise - and I totally agree - working on my lengthy review now. We ate dinner in the black crab every night - and thought most all was great .... Steaks were weak but everything else quite good. We did not try Specialty Restaurants - great Review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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thraak

thraak

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Great to hear that the Black Crab was good. I'm going to have to try it next time. I'm working on some new photos now. Actually, I'm a bit hesitant. All these positive reviews are driving up the prices of my next Divina cruise! .... The secret is now out!!!

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SeaYa52

SeaYa52

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I agree - when we heard the rates we jumped at the chance to try her out.... MSC is trying to earn their place in the US cruise market ( although vast majority of passengers were European - and many doing B2B's. Thought the staff was quite friendly / even the Captain :-) afraid we won't see rates this low ever again - so grab them while you can :-)

 

 

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neptuno

neptuno

Posted
Posted
Very true take advantage of those rates.

 

While it's true, the prices are very attractive right now, MSC USA will have to keep the prices low if they intend on having the most crowded ship to sail the Carib. Packing 4300 people on Divina is like stacking containers, don't waste a square inch. Akin to Spirit Airlines, where seats are too close together and don't recline, but they have the cheapest fares.

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mamasue

mamasue

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We were on the same cruise.....our 3rd MSC cruise (previous 2 were on the Poesia)

 

It was our 16th cruise, including 3 transatlantics.

 

We never encountered a sticky railing :rolleyes:...bearing in mind it only takes one person to sticky a whole railing)

As everyone says, the ship is beautiful, and immaculately clean. MSC has very high standards of cleanliness.

 

The food was great(, unless you live on burgers, fries, and everything covered in sloppy cheese stuff, in which case it probably wasn't good enough.) The dining room staff were great, Italian guys-in-charge, and the Indonesian waiters. The waiters were overworked, but still always managed a smile and a joke.

 

The entertainment was fantastic, especially the theater productions. The only one we missed was the Michael Jackson thing...(just because MJ was never a favorite)

 

We had a rear-facing balcony, which is our favorite kind, and our cabin steward was great.

 

The staff were friendly and efficient throughout the ship.

 

The only negative IMHO was the overcrowding. Far too many people in any place at one time.

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thraak

thraak

Posted
Posted
We were on the same cruise.....our 3rd MSC cruise (previous 2 were on the Poesia)

 

It was our 16th cruise, including 3 transatlantics.

 

We never encountered a sticky railing :rolleyes:...bearing in mind it only takes one person to sticky a whole railing)

As everyone says, the ship is beautiful, and immaculately clean. MSC has very high standards of cleanliness.

 

The food was great(, unless you live on burgers, fries, and everything covered in sloppy cheese stuff, in which case it probably wasn't good enough.) The dining room staff were great, Italian guys-in-charge, and the Indonesian waiters. The waiters were overworked, but still always managed a smile and a joke.

 

The entertainment was fantastic, especially the theater productions. The only one we missed was the Michael Jackson thing...(just because MJ was never a favorite)

 

We had a rear-facing balcony, which is our favorite kind, and our cabin steward was great.

 

The staff were friendly and efficient throughout the ship.

 

The only negative IMHO was the overcrowding. Far too many people in any place at one time.

 

Nice review. However, not a a Michael Jackson fan myself, the show was very good. Some people thought it was the best show. I enjoyed Sun- Wednesday shows a bit more.

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sidari

sidari

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"One middle aged man complained that the water slide should have been steeper as he got stuck in it twice."

 

This happened quite a lot on the repo cruise to Miami the problem was a faulty pump that supplies water to the top of the slide, lack of water means you stop within the tube.

 

Once fixed there was no problem, one giveaway that the slide is not working right is the low level of water in the run out area.

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