Live review Divina 11/14-11/21

[Motegi]

1 hour ago, quattrohead said:

And in typical MSC style they noticed that there were lots of people waiting on the deck to see the lighthouse show and it's going to be at 9 not 8 LOL

Yeah that was a little irritating.  The exact same thing happened to us the last time we were here on Meraviglia in Dec ‘19.   “Technical issues” delayed the first show by 1 hour.   But they still did two shows and it was much longer. 

[Motegi]

13 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

The MDR menus are posted after the last meal period, so after breakfast they will post lunch IF they are serving MDR lunch (which they don't while at Ocean Cay, for example), so they will skip to Dinner.

 

Alternately, the whole cruise's menus have been pre-planned so if you want you can see all of them when you board and know which day of the week they will be served.  The Maitre D' on day 1 can help.  (This also informs when to book a specialty restaurant, for example)

 Wow!  Never knew about being able to see the entire week’s menus in advance!

[racephoto]

On 11/14/2021 at 1:12 PM, styles27 said:

Hi CC friends!

So far our first day has been very smooth. Arrived at terminal at 11:20 for our 11:30 embarkation. 
Everyone was very friendly, our vaccination card, Covid test results and passport were checked twice before getting to the counter for our cruise cards. Everything was in order (we did monitored abbot test and printed out results which they all commented  that they like them printed out)
On board in less than 15 min.

Had lunch at the buffet (very good choices and food was delicious) Had salad and paella  DH had soup, roast beef and salad. Skipped dessert for a couple of frozen mudslides 🤣

(priorities)

 

Was told at check in that they’re expecting 490 passengers this week

 

 

That paella was fantastic. So were the patatas bravas. I still heard some woman on the phone complaining bitterly that the food absolutely sucked. Guess there wasn’t enough deep-fried for her. 🙂 

[racephoto]

I was on the boat cruise for the first lighthouse show. Honestly, it was better from the beach the second time. 

[styles27]

10 hours ago, racephoto said:

That paella was fantastic. So were the patatas bravas. I still heard some woman on the phone complaining bitterly that the food absolutely sucked. Guess there wasn’t enough deep-fried for her. 🙂 

At the buffet now and a woman was asking for “only crisp bacon” driving the poor girl crazy. My DH turned to her and said they’re all crisp (they really are) 

some people are just miserable and want to complain.  The staff here are so patient. 

[Morgsmom]

51 minutes ago, styles27 said:

At the buffet now and a woman was asking for “only crisp bacon” driving the poor girl crazy. My DH turned to her and said they’re all crisp (they really are) 

some people are just miserable and want to complain.  The staff here are so patient. 

When the buffet was self serve I used to call these folks the "bacon patrol."  They acted as if they had never seen the stuff before the way they piled it on their plates.  No wonder the international crew (many of whom are Muslim, or vegetarian) look at them with a slight bit of disgust 🙂

 

[dexddd]

On 11/15/2021 at 6:54 AM, styles27 said:

Yes we did early seating…last night it was  @ 6:15 tonight I noticed it’s 6:00.
All couples were seated alone we had a table for 6 but we were the only ones at the table.

I did miss sitting with others at dinner however the staff has more time to have a conversation with pax so that’s nice. 

Same this cruise. It was strange last night seeing how empty the lounges and the main atrium were. 
 

We walked around the ship and listened to music in different places. The Black and White Lounge had a really good band from DR and they had the largest crowd of any venue last night that we went to. (Maybe 50 people). But you really can’t sit with anyone as they had every other table/couch blocked off so it’s hard to mingle. 
Definitely a different cruise with so few people on board. 
Very relaxing. 

 

That must be the band with the female lead?  If so, they like shots.  We ran across them the first night and then every night.  If Chris is on, he did a Beatles tribute one night.  If he is in the atrium, ask him to sing "Hey Jude".

[dexddd]

2 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

When the buffet was self serve I used to call these folks the "bacon patrol."  They acted as if they had never seen the stuff before the way they piled it on their plates.  No wonder the international crew (many of whom are Muslim, or vegetarian) look at them with a slight bit of disgust 🙂

 

Our DS does that with bacon on ships.  We don't normally have it at home so he'll get a bunch on a ship.  DD does the same thing with pineapple.  But yes, there are people that make you scratch your head.

[ChattTenn]

3 hours ago, styles27 said:

At the buffet now and a woman was asking for “only crisp bacon” driving the poor girl crazy. My DH turned to her and said they’re all crisp (they really are) 

some people are just miserable and want to complain.  The staff here are so patient. 

This woman should be on Carnival then she won't have to complain too much because some of the day is BACATION (no bacon) on Carnival and she will have to look VERY HARD for crisp bacon.

We were on Divina 10/17 most of the bacons were crisp and plenty of them too.

[styles27]

38 minutes ago, dexddd said:

That must be the band with the female lead?  If so, they like shots.  We ran across them the first night and then every night.  If Chris is on, he did a Beatles tribute one night.  If he is in the atrium, ask him to sing "Hey Jude".

Yes the female lead was great!
 

The Beatles tribute is tonight in the atrium we’re looking forward to that. Definitely will ask him to sing Hey Jude it’s my favorite. 

[styles27]

Ocean Cay is so beautiful today. Warm, about 76 deg breezy and sunny. Currently sharing the lagoon beach with maybe a dozen people total

Lunch buffet was decent. Burgers, hotdogs, fries, ribs, chicken and mahi mahi along with many different sides 

Drink service at the beach is great.
 

The waiter on the beach gave me a golden pineapple drink for my birthday! So sweet of him!
Nobody as far as the eye can see. I’m shocked more people aren’t on the island today. North beach water is rough so we’ll stay at the lagoon. 
Cabanas are empty pretty sure you could just use one and nobody will say anything. 

[styles27]

Ocean Cay is now by far our favorite cruise line island. It’s a slice of paradise. I could spend a week right here and love it. 
 

MSC has done a great job with this so far   

[styles27]

Today’s daily (not sure why some are loading sideways) maybe it’s the tequila🤣

[KennyFla]

57 minutes ago, dexddd said:

.  If Chris is on, he did a Beatles tribute one night.  If he is in the atrium, ask him to sing "Hey Jude".

That guy is great.

[quattrohead]

We sank down into those bean bags and that was nearly it for the day lol. Yes it is fantastic here. But pacing ourselves so we can be up past 9pm.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, styles27 said:

Ocean Cay is now by far our favorite cruise line island. It’s a slice of paradise. I could spend a week right here and love it. 
 

MSC has done a great job with this so far   

 

That was my opinion after I returned from Meraviglia.  Ocean Cay is very good now and has the potential when it is fully developed to blow the competition out of the water.  

 

The photo of a near empty Atrium with a guitarist playing that you posted makes me wonder what the entertainers are thinking about such a sparse audience.  Sometimes, the performer "feeds" off the "vibes" of his/her audience.  Must be very difficult for these folks with so few in the audience.  

[styles27]

58 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

That was my opinion after I returned from Meraviglia.  Ocean Cay is very good now and has the potential when it is fully developed to blow the competition out of the water.  

 

The photo of a near empty Atrium with a guitarist playing that you posted makes me wonder what the entertainers are thinking about such a sparse audience.  Sometimes, the performer "feeds" off the "vibes" of his/her audience.  Must be very difficult for these folks with so few in the audience.  

I’m sure it’s very difficult to perform for an empty lounge. 
 

Was just told by a server in the Solarium that they are expecting 2,000 pax next cruise so maybe things are going to pick up after this week with the holidays coming. 

[styles27]

Sea day today. Here’s the daily planner

 

Didn't make it to the MDR at all yesterday so I wasn’t able to get the menus for the day. 
 Butchers cut for dinner last night.
It was good but not as good as the Specialty steak place on HAL.
If you pay the pre boarding price of  $37($59 on board) your choices are limited to one starter and one entree/meat choice and one side like a potato or vegetable and a dessert. 
You can sub out one choice for a better starter or steak at 50% off the listed a la cart menu  price.  (For example lobster bisque $18 on menu 50%off if you want to give up your salad and choose the bisque instead) or add it for full price of $18
We both had a salad, 8oz filet, baked potato and dessert 

Food tasted great but we felt like they “nickel and dime’d” the experience. 
Certaily for us not worth the full on board price so I’m glad we purchased 2 nights before our cruise. 
Beatles tribute by Chris was good but he has a very strange nasal voice. Started out with a good group of listeners but people started leaving after a couple of songs. We stayed the full half hour and enjoyed it. He’s a cute guy with a nice personality. 

[styles27]

QR_A_MD_BREAKFAST_DAY4_EN_1637172867.pdf

[styles27]

 

QR_A_MD_LUNCH_DAY4_EN_1637172852.pdf

Edited November 17, 2021 by styles27

[styles27]

QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY4_EN_1637172783.pdf

[Native Floridian 26]

36 minutes ago, styles27 said:

QR_A_MD_DINNER_DAY4_EN_1637172783.pdf 182.66 kB · 3 downloads

Thank you!  Looks delicious!

[Native Floridian 26]

Styles, do you know which MDR seating is harder to get?  We originally stated a preference of Late, but seeing that it is 8:30, we are thinking of changing to Early.  I do wish MSC would have Anytime Dining for the masses versus being a higher price point.  

 

I hestitate to call to change my preference at the risk of something messing up on my reservation. 

[styles27]

12 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

Styles, do you know which MDR seating is harder to get?  We originally stated a preference of Late, but seeing that it is 8:30, we are thinking of changing to Early.  I do wish MSC would have Anytime Dining for the masses versus being a higher price point.  

 

I hestitate to call to change my preference at the risk of something messing up on my reservation. 

When are you guys sailing? Plenty of empty tables on this cruise

(early seating) so I think you could change when you get on board. 

[Native Floridian 26]

7 minutes ago, styles27 said:

When are you guys sailing? Plenty of empty tables on this cruise

(early seating) so I think you could change when you get on board. 

 12/11 on Seashore.

Edited November 17, 2021 by Native Floridian 26