MSC Divina-Overview of trip

[rolloman]

I just got back yesterday from the Divina and wanted to share my thoughts. I will start with the positives. The ship is as everyone says beautiful inside and out. Every crew member I came in contact with had smiles on their faces and were very helpful. I would say they are probably the best crew I have noticed in the past couple years on any line. The Captain was often visible, approachable and a lot of fun. To me the food was outstanding, including the buffet. I am not a pizza eater but their pizza had me going back for more. A fear I had prior to cruising this ship was all the negativity about long dinner times. This proved to be false. Our dinner was served completely and we were done with desert typically in an hour.

 

Now for my opinion for items I will place in the so so category... my large balcony cabin on deck 12 was nice in square footage and the bathroom had plenty of storage. However the pullout couch in my room had some ugly stains on it, not very appealing, especially since this is where my daughter had to sleep. The pillows are absolutely horrible. The cabin itself is lacking in storage space, especially with most of the closet being taken up with life preservers, towels and about 50 big hangers we did not need. The 4D theater was a serious downgrade to the one found on Carnival Breeze. Chairs were hard and no special effects. The F1 car was extremely hard to drive, I did not see anyone excel driving it. The kids club was over crowded, while not the ships fault this sailing, several kids events were basically a formality versus the usual attention to detail. I am also concerned about their check in and out procedures.

 

Items I will categorize as in need of improvement- The ship is extremely crowded, people everywhere. The worst crowding experience I have had on any ship in my over 60 sailings. I do not care where you went, people and lots of them were there. The entertaiment I had heard was top notch, well I do not think so. The evening show each night is basically the same show with different costumes. The same singer every night and to add insult to injury, they had the same Italian singer peforming the Michael Jackson tribute tunes....just not good. I might add no live music band like most ships were on the main stage either. I am confident to say there was a lot of lip sync going on.

 

Overall impression was good, I would score the ship a 7.5 out of 10. I will sail MSC again but will wait for one of their new 7 vessels that are in the planning stage to be built.

Edited March 29, 2015 by rolloman

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts. The MJ impersonator left the ship on March 7 so maybe the new guy was not that good. As far as the pillows go you are right they are the worst. As far as the hangers we always take the thin ones and remove those oversized ones and it will give you a lot more space.

Edited March 30, 2015 by riclop

[NCMtnBoys]

I just got back yesterday from the Divina and wanted to share my thoughts. I will start with the positives. The ship is as everyone says beautiful inside and out. Every crew member I came in contact with had smiles on their faces and were very helpful. I would say they are probably the best crew I have noticed in the past couple years on any line. The Captain was often visible, approachable and a lot of fun. To me the food was outstanding, including the buffet. I am not a pizza eater but their pizza had me going back for more. A fear I had prior to cruising this ship was all the negativity about long dinner times. This proved to be false. Our dinner was served completely and we were done with desert typically in an hour.

 

Now for my opinion for items I will place in the so so category... my large balcony cabin on deck 12 was nice in square footage and the bathroom had plenty of storage. However the pullout couch in my room had some ugly stains on it, not very appealing, especially since this is where my daughter had to sleep. The pillows are absolutely horrible. The cabin itself is lacking in storage space, especially with most of the closet being taken up with life preservers, towels and about 50 big hangers we did not need. The 4D theater was a serious downgrade to the one found on Carnival Breeze. Chairs were hard and no special effects. The F1 car was extremely hard to drive, I did not see anyone excel driving it. The kids club was over crowded, while not the ships fault this sailing, several kids events were basically a formality versus the usual attention to detail. I am also concerned about their check in and out procedures.

 

Items I will categorize as in need of improvement- The ship is extremely crowded, people everywhere. The worst crowding experience I have had on any ship in my over 60 sailings. I do not care where you went, people and lots of them were there. The entertaiment I had heard was top notch, well I do not think so. The evening show each night is basically the same show with different costumes. The same singer every night and to add insult to injury, they had the same Italian singer peforming the Michael Jackson tribute tunes....just not good. I might add no live music band like most ships were on the main stage either. I am confident to say there was a lot of lip sync going on.

 

Overall impression was good, I would score the ship a 7.5 out of 10. I will sail MSC again but will wait for one of their new 7 vessels that are in the planning stage to be built.

 

We were on the same sailing and experienced many of the positives and negatives you described, with a couple of exceptions.

 

PILLOWS - yes, they are THE WORST. I told Mark I think they're actually supposed to be like that. I don't think they're lumpy from being old and worn, I think that's just an Italian pillow and how they are. I didn't like them at all.

 

BUFFET - the best selection and variation of any cruise ship buffet we've ever experienced. The serving areas went on and on and on. It put Carnival's and Royal Caribbean's buffet offerings to shame. Food quality was good too.

 

DINING ROOM - I hated going to the dining room to eat dinner. We dined there each night except the formal nights (we don't do formal nights). We requested and were assigned a table for two, yet 90 minutes seemed to be the norm for our complete service. I do not request a table for two to be put on the same schedule of service as the table of 6 next to us, half of which don't arrive on time. Twice we told our server that we wanted to go to the 7pm show (we had early, 6pm dining), so he hurried our service up so we could make the show. Then on the last night of the cruise we didn't say anything about needing to be out early (I wanted to see if he still hurried us up or not), and we were back to the slow schedule, finishing up around 7:30pm. Another problem was that a couple times when I ordered pasta, I was told it wasn't yet ready and we'd have to wait. I think all dishes should be ready to plate at the beginning of service. Some people may not order an appetizer or salad. I should have done it at the beginning of this cruise and didn't, but on our next cruise I am going to assert myself and tell them that as a table for two we should have a quick service and if they can't, let me know and we'll eat elsewhere. I have no problem even, if they'd just bring all our food at once, even dessert, so we can get in and out. There were tables near us served by another waiter, who arrived after we did, and left before we did.

 

SHOWS - we loved Wonderland, Pirates and Witches of Paris. The Michael Jackson show we thought was good too. Costumes, music, and energy were fantastic in all of them. Yea, the acrobats and contortionists do very similar moves in each show but, for us, the different themes make it interesting.

 

CROWDS - EVERYWHERE. I had heard or read before that this ship has the worst passenger to space ratio of any other its size. It's definitely evident.

 

PUBLIC AREAS - couldn't find a comfortable seat anywhere but the theater. Lounge and centrum seating was too hard, chaise lounges didn't raise high enough. Minor, but notable. We had remembered this from our last Divina sailing, too.

 

Overall, we loved the crew, captain and the ship itself. Like you, we're looking forward to booking one of their new ships when they come out. We tried to see if we could purchase a future cruise certificate to use to book the Seaside when it comes out, but the certificate is only good for 18 months so that wouldn't work. We'll definitely sail MSC again though.