MSC Divina Yacht Club 9 October 12-Night Caribbean out of Port Canaveral

[Best Cat Mom]

We are currently on the Divina in a Yacht Club (YC) Deluxe Suite (YC1) on Deck 15 on the Starboard side (which is the even room numbers). We departed from Port Canaveral on Sunday, 9 October, for a 12-night cruise with stops in Ocean Cay, Ocho Rios, Oranjestad, Cartagena, Colon, Puerto Limon and Costa Maya. We return to Miami on Friday, 21 October.

 

If anyone has specific questions about the ship, itinerary or ports, please ask. We'll do the best we can to answer. WiFi has been better than expected but not perfect. No complaints from us so far considering that it is free.

 

In the coming days, I'll try to share a little about our experiences and address some of the more common topics that are frequently discussed on these boards.

 

Overall, we are having a wonderful cruise that is in line with our expectations.

[Av8tor]

Thanks for writing - looking forward to reading more about your cruise and the Divina

[Georgia_Peaches]

Following along!  One day I’m going to take a 12 night cruise. The most I’ve been able to do at one time is 9 nights. Looking forward to reading about your vacation!

[Best Cat Mom]

This is our first cruise since the pandemic began -- actually, it is our first vacation since our MSC Mediterranean cruise in September 2019.

 

We were originally booked on a 10-night round trip out of Port Canaveral beginning 29 September that was cancelled due to Hurricane Ian. Since we had booked it under one Booking ID for the entire 10 nights instead of as two separate cruises (a 3-night and then a 7-night as back-to-back/B2B cruises), our entire cruise was cancelled. I believe that those who purchased the cruise as B2B cruises with two booking IDs were still able to sail the 7-night portion. I have seen some debate about whether one booking ID or two booking IDs are "better" for a B2B in general. One booking ID ensures that you have the same cabin for the entire time. Two booking IDs may get you other advantages, such as 2 chocolate ships/gifts, 2 free specialty restaurant dinners, etc. Now I know that two booking IDs may also prevent the cancellation of your entire sailing.

 

At first, we were disappointed that our cruise was cancelled. Since we had not had a proper holiday in so long, we had really been looking forward to this cruise. We also had paid a relatively low price for the cruise -- just under $2K each in YC for 10 nights. The ports were not that exciting, all places we'd already visited except Ocean Cay. For us, the onboard experience would be enough after such a long time of no traveling.

 

MSC offered us a full refund or a rebooking, with no extra monetary compensation. We chose to cancel and began investigating other MSC Caribbean cruises with itineraries in October. We saw that the sailing scheduled for just after our original cruise still had YC availability. It was ~$1K more expensive per person and was for 2 additional nights. We immediately booked. All the ports except one -- Costa Maya -- were new to us and with 2 more nights on board, the price increase did not bother us too much. I had been incredibly surprised with the "bargain" price for the cancelled cruise anyway. The new cruise price was more in line with the Caribbean cruise we have booked for January 2023. Another advantage was that this new cruise departed Port Canaveral but returned to Miami. We like the Miami terminal because it is so much closer to the Miami airport, as opposed to the further distance that Port Canaveral is from the Orlando airport. So far, we were feeling that we have an upgrade from our original cruise. 🙂

[mnpurple]

I'll be interested in your updates. We will sail very similar itinerary at the end of January, 10 days though, but YC also. I have done a little researching of Cartagena, Puerto Limon and Colon and have some mixed feelings on what to do and what to expect. We last sailed in the Med with a very port heavy itinerary, so I'll enjoy the ship more with more sea days and also visiting Ocean cay will be more relaxing. 

[Elsammo46]

How is the YC lounge at the port Canaveral terminal? In the embarkation there easy as well? I only ask because I’m going on Mera in a few weeks here 

[Best Cat Mom]

We flew into MCO (Orlando airport) on Saturday from CVG (Cincinnati). We live in northern KY in a suburb of Cincinnati and always fly Delta when possible, because that is where I have Diamond status. This time, I was pleased to find non-stop flights available for my Delta miles at a reasonable rate. I had to change our tickets from our last cruise, but since I'm a frequent flyer on Delta there is no penalty for changes to flights booked via miles. We hardly ever find non-stop tickets for a reasonable amount of miles and this was a savings over the amount we used outbound for the cancelled cruise so again I felt that Ian's existence was not going to ruin our holiday.

 

I always try to book us in first class -- Best Cat Dad is a former football player and wears a 54" suit jacket so coach is really not practical for him (and when he flies in the back of the plane, no one seated next to him is happy, never mind how he feels LOL). Since the pandemic has subsided, Delta has re-instated PDBs (pre-departure beverages) for first class and the usual beverages and snacks up front provided an uneventful and thirst-quenching flight. I used my Hyatt miles to stay at an MCO Hyatt Place that had an airport shuttle. We called the hotel for shuttle pickup after we retrieved our baggage and arrived at the hotel around 8pm. We had a quick dinner at the hotel -- why bother going out when the YC awaits? -- and called it a night. We had booked a private sedan for the next day since all the hotel shuttles that traveled to Port Canaveral would arrive just around noon and probably too late for us to have lunch in the YC. Our plan was to check Uber and cancel the sedan if Uber was less expensive. For perspective, the sedan was $192 (that was through Carey, who our American Express Platinum concierge recommended and booked). At dinner, we checked Uber and saw prices lower than $100. We cancelled Carey and reserved an Uber for 9:30am the following morning. Now that Uber takes reservations, it is so much easier to reserve one than take a chance on the price of a last minute car request. We saved about $100 on the trip to the ship -- knowing that the $100 would be better spent on tips. 🙂

[Best Cat Mom]

13 hours ago, Av8tor said:

Thanks for writing - looking forward to reading more about your cruise and the Divina

Best Cat Dad is a pilot. Your username makes me think you are also? Happy to help however we can.

[Best Cat Mom]

6 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Following along!  One day I’m going to take a 12 night cruise. The most I’ve been able to do at one time is 9 nights. Looking forward to reading about your vacation!

Thanks so much for the TA info a few weeks back!

 

This is our first cruise over one week. Every time we were on a cruise and someone said at the last day's breakfast that they were on a "B2B," we had cruise envy. We were determined to have a cruise of at least a day over a week this next time! LOL

[Best Cat Mom]

Just now, Elsammo46 said:

How is the YC lounge at the port Canaveral terminal? In the embarkation there easy as well? I only ask because I’m going on Mera in a few weeks here 

The lounge was nice enough. We were only there for about 15 minutes or so. They had drinks -- including Brut Prosecco, which is much closer to champagne than regular prosecco -- and snacks while you completed the registration process. They whisked us onboard pretty quickly. The area was open to other cruisers on one end so you could see them wondering why we had champagne glasses. We do like the "extra" service but sometimes wonder if we should feel more guilty when visible to others.

 

We met our YC Director, Raffaello Benfenati, right there in the terminal. He was very welcoming and spent time with every YC passenger prior to their embarkation (well, every passenger we saw there).

[Best Cat Mom]

We had breakfast at the Hyatt Place Orlando Airport hotel at around 8am (link to hotel website: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/florida/hyatt-place-orlando-airport/orlza). It is a typical Hyatt Place and breakfast was as expected. Our Uber driver had no problem finding our hotel and even arrived a few minutes earlier than our 9:15am pickup time. Our drive to the port was uneventful, no traffic at all, and we arrived at 9:53am, a bit earlier than the estimated 10am arrival time.

When we arrived at the port, I expected to see prominent YC signs but did not. The Uber driver was told to park in a "regular" spot and I tried to communicate out the window that we were YC. Everyone nodded, but I was a bit unsure. Yet as we exited the Uber, one of the seemingly "regular" porters grabbed our bags and said "this way to the YC." We followed a bit uncertainly, but wound up at the YC area despite our reservations. It was not at the beginning of the drive way, but instead was at the end. The visible white tent was there and a woman had our names on her checklist for YC. The porter that had greeted us as we exited the Uber put YC tags on our luggage and she even said how good he "was" -- please don't ask me his name, but she knew him by name and clearly he was familiar with YC procedures.

 

She gave us MSC stickers to wear and instructed us to go upstairs. The escalator was out of order and she said the elevator was behind it. I said that I did not (yet) have on heels so could walk up the stairs but she said to take the elevator. Figuring that our holiday was beginning, who were we to argue? We took the elevator and began our wonderful MSC YC experience.

[Best Cat Mom]

At the top of the stairs, we were directed to the YC security line. I moved to throw away the potato chips and water in my laptop case from the previous day's flight, but the security guy made a gesture that said "don't bother." I left them in my bag and went through the metal detector. BCD (Best Cat Dad) did as well and we progressed to the next YC check point quite quickly.

 

We met another person who escorted us to the YC lounge area. There we were offered Brut Prosecco (which is much more champagne-like than regular prosecco) and other beverages and snacks whilst we supplied our Embarkation Form, vaccine history and passports to the check in desk. In short order, a butler named Patricia (who we'd encounter later on board) escorted us and a few others onto the ship and into the YC Top Sail Lounge. She enquired if our rooms were ready right then and ours were not, so we sat down in the YC Top Sail Lounge to have a cocktail and await either our rooms being ready or time for lunch in Le Muse, the YC restaurant. Others were already in the Top Sail Lounge awaiting the same. In short order, our room was ready so we went there to inspect it and freshen up for lunch. A few minutes later, we went to Le Muse for lunch (as we knew where it was from a previous cruise on a Fantasia-class cruise in 2019). By the time lunch was over, our bags had arrived to our cabin and we unpacked. Our butler, Rodwin, introduced himself and we also met our Assistant Butler, Fernando. We did need a few extra hangers besides the ones we had packed in our garment bag and the ones already hanging in our closet. Those appeared in our stateroom later in the day. I was not thrilled with the closet hangers that have to fit into the hanger hooks already in the closet on the bar. You can move to hangers to other closet hangers but cannot move the part attached to the bar. (What are those called?? I don't think I've ever seen a proper name for those type of aggravating hangers.)

Edited October 18, 2022 by Best Cat Mom

[Av8tor]

7 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Best Cat Dad is a pilot. Your username makes me think you are also? Happy to help however we can.

After 42 years in two careers, I finally retired from flying last year.  I wish blue skies and tailwinds for BCD and smooth seas for you both...

Edited October 18, 2022 by Av8tor

[Best Cat Mom]

I am gluten-free (GF) and extremely gluten sensitive, though not celiac. I had filled out the Special Needs form on the MSC website to inform MSC. On our 2019 Fantasia cruise, the maitre d' met with the guests of each stateroom in the Concierge Area of the Top Sail Lounge as part of the boarding process. He asked us what approximate time we'd be dining each evening and he assured me that he was aware of my GF requirement and would be accommodating it in Le Muse. Here on Divina, no meeting like that took place. At first, I was a bit concerned but once we went to Le Muse for lunch, I mentioned my GF status and everyone seemed ready to accommodate me at that meal. I believe that I may be the only GF guest in YC this cruise because at each meal they have to check with the chef as to which dishes I can have. Unlike Fantasia, Divina's Le Muse kitchen has an area for GF meal preparation so there is not a big delay for them to prepare my meals. There were times on Fantasia that they would say our next course would be a few minutes' wait while they went to the main kitchen to retrieve my choices. Sometimes I would alter my choice based on that delay. On Divina, I have never perceived any delay at all. Later we found out that there are only 106 guests in YC, which can hold up to 200 (at 2 people per cabin) and Le Muse could potentially hold everyone all at once so there was no need to ask for our dining time preference.

 

Regarding pre-boarding selections -- we also had selected our newspaper, pillows and in-room free beverage online a week or so before the cruise. While they had a record of the newspaper selection and verified it with us during check in at the terminal, it seems that our butler did not know of our pillow or beverage selections. When Rodwin introduced himself to us that first afternoon, we brought up the pillow. We had chosen the same pillow on Fantasia and loved it so we wanted to make sure that we had it again. He said that there would be no problem supplying it again. And then he brought up the beverage selection. We asked for Jack Daniels. He asked for a second choice "just in case," and then later that evening he told us that both our first and second choices were in the room for us. He did say that having 2 bottles was not customary, but that we had both. I took that to mean more that we shouldn't always expect two but enjoy that he could give them both to us. Hope that all of you are as fortunate to have your two choices as well!

 

Rodwin also explained how room service worked, both with breakfast and other (to us, "other" room service simply means pizza LOL). We told him that we would love coffee each morning with Baileys Irish Cream. He said he would put the Baileys in the fridge the night before and then deliver the coffee each morning. A difference from our previous cruises is that we get a phone call just before the coffee is delivered. We thought perhaps that was to prevent anyone from still being asleep or not removing the Do Not Disturb sign. We like it so that we can  be presentable and ready to answer the door. There is usually only a 1 to 2 minute wait after the phone call for the coffee to arrive. Rodwin has brought it personally most mornings, though we've seen a different person a few times. And Rodwin always retrieves the Bailey's from the fridge to put it out with our coffee. I want those companies that make the robotic vacuums (the ones that you allow to roam freely in your house) to invent a "Robo-Rodwin" so I can have coffee and Baileys each morning for the rest of my life!!

[mnpurple]

This sounds wonderful and I'll have to remember getting some Baileys for my morning coffee! When we were on Seaview, they had me call in the morning for my coffee. Loved the cappuccino, but I'd rather it was just kind of an automatic like you.  We each got to chose one bottle of liquor for our trip. It was nice, but we never mixed our own drinks and since we were flying back from Europe, we packed them. I did offer them to our Butler, but he said he didn't drink.

 

If you happen to use the spa area, does the Divina have a thermal pool and steam rooms? My family thoroughly enjoyed access to the spa when on the Seaview. We also liked the aromatherapy showers.

[styles27]

We’re doing a

similar itinerary on Divina Dec 30th for 14 days. 

It was attractive to us because we’ve never been to Jamaica, Columbia, Panama or Costa Rico. Our cruise also goes to Nassau and does 2 stops at Ocean Cay one is overnight. 
 

We purchased the Panama Canal excursion. Are you doing that one?

 

Curious about Jamaica. Is there a nice beach close to the ship that we can grab a taxi or walk to?

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by styles27

[no1talks]

23 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

"Yet as we exited the Uber, one of the seemingly 'regular' porters grabbed our bags and said 'This way to the YC.' "

Wow! MSC is stepping up their celebrity endorsement game!

[no1talks]

17 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

(What are those called?? I don't think I've ever seen a proper name for those type of aggravating hangers.)

They are generally referred to as "hotel hangers" or plain, ol' anti-theft hangers.
😉

[phissy]

3 hours ago, styles27 said:

We’re doing a

similar itinerary on Divina Dec 30th for 14 days. 

It was attractive to us because we’ve never been to Jamaica, Columbia, Panama or Costa Rico. Our cruise also goes to Nassau and does 2 stops at Ocean Cay one is overnight. 
 

We purchased the Panama Canal excursion. Are you doing that one?

 

Curious about Jamaica. Is there a nice beach close to the ship that we can grab a taxi or walk to?

 

We are currently on same cruise with BCM. Also, in YC.  
Our first cruise on Divina.
 

ok, Deb , so hope this helps.

we had many of these ports on this cruise.

Jamaica is dependent on which dock you get. Last year , we had industrial dock. No where to walk. This year, we had nice dock obviously for cruise passengers. Easy walk to all sorts of areas. Shops, hotel beaches, restaurants etc. live music all afternoon. Much nicer. Crew noticed the nice port , this time.

Columbia stop, definitely need to use excursions to get to town. Traffic is like Bangkok. Traffic jams with scooters going everywhere. We saw a couple trying to rent a car and then saw accident and changed their minds. 
We did bus to old town, walking tour around an hour then back on bus for drive around Little Miami ( modern Part of city) , then back to ship. 
Panama ( Colon) is very dangerous to go out and walk. Some tried to go out to do some shopping etc.Turned right around and came back onboard. Very sketchy and cops outside  at ship. One passenger told me she was from Panama and would not go out there.

Many did the excursion I think you signed up  and reported they really liked it but it was very long day.
We stayed on ship as we have done complete transit ( both sides) on another cruise. It takes all day to get from one end to the other.

It was interesting to see the ships still in bay, waiting their turn to transit,

Costa Rica was Puerto Limon. Ours was the first cruise ship in port yesterday since the Covid shutdown.  they had ceremony with our ships captain and officers. Nice welcome from locals. Water cannons when we entered port. We opted to pass on our excursion, last minute. Heavy rain and thunderstorms all night. It would have been fun to do rainforest zip line wildlife adventure. Buses returned late due to accident on highway. 

ocean cay for two days is great. Always beautiful.

We have sea day today and Costa Maya tomorrow, most are going to private beaches for the day.

Hope this helps…..it should be fun.

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by phissy

[Best Cat Mom]

4 hours ago, styles27 said:

We purchased the Panama Canal excursion. Are you doing that one?

 

Curious about Jamaica. Is there a nice beach close to the ship that we can grab a taxi or walk to?

We did not sign up for the Panama Canal excursion. We have not yet cruised through the canal and prefer to learn about it that way. 😉

 

Glad that phissy answered your Jamaica question because we did not go out there either. We've been enjoying the ship so much that we've only gone out once -- that was in Aruba. We're returning to all the ports in January except Aruba. We're thinking that the oppressive heat now will be at least a few degrees lower by then. Let us know how that cruise goes for you.

 

We have heard that a good amount of the YC staff will end their time on Divina in mid-January. Le Muse maitre d' and YC director will still be the same until at least February. Le Muse chef is supposed to change in November. Apparently, his 8-month contract has already been extended for 2 more months and they can't extend him any longer. He did say that he's happy to have 10 months as his max because he really wants a vacation.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Best Cat Mom

[Best Cat Mom]

4 hours ago, mnpurple said:

If you happen to use the spa area, does the Divina have a thermal pool and steam rooms? My family thoroughly enjoyed access to the spa when on the Seaview. We also liked the aromatherapy showers.

We just returned from a couples massage. I asked about steam rooms. They do have them and said that YC passengers need to reserve to use (but free, of course, for YC -- which made me think others must pay). No thermal pool on Divina, unfortunately. We enjoyed the bigger spa when we were on Seaside in the Caribbean in 2018. This trip we haven't even used the pool yet, so we haven't missed that bigger spa. The YC pool here is -- in our opinion -- much better than Seaside, though. It has some shade covering for both the pool itself and maybe 6 to 8 tables. Seaside was a pretty much open area that we found quite too hot and sunny to be comfortable during our August cruise.

[Best Cat Mom]

5 hours ago, mnpurple said:

We each got to chose one bottle of liquor for our trip. It was nice, but we never mixed our own drinks and since we were flying back from Europe, we packed them.

I should have mentioned that we have not touched the Jack Daniels because we're with you -- haven't needed to mix any drinks ourselves. I have had about half the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc when in the room -- that's been easier than running back out to the lounge.

 

We haven't touched the Brut Prosecco either. Probably will leave everything in the room instead of schlepping it all home. 

[styles27]

1 hour ago, phissy said:

We are currently on same cruise with BCM. Also, in YC.  
Our first cruise on Divina.
 

ok, Deb , so hope this helps.

we had many of these ports on this cruise.

Jamaica is dependent on which dock you get. Last year , we had industrial dock. No where to walk. This year, we had nice dock obviously for cruise passengers. Easy walk to all sorts of areas. Shops, hotel beaches, restaurants etc. live music all afternoon. Much nicer. Crew noticed the nice port , this time.

Columbia stop, definitely need to use excursions to get to town. Traffic is like Bangkok. Traffic jams with scooters going everywhere. We saw a couple trying to rent a car and then saw accident and changed their minds. 
We did bus to old town, walking tour around an hour then back on bus for drive around Little Miami ( modern Part of city) , then back to ship. 
Panama ( Colon) is very dangerous to go out and walk. Some tried to go out to do some shopping etc.Turned right around and came back onboard. Very sketchy and cops outside  at ship. One passenger told me she was from Panama and would not go out there.

Many did the excursion I think you signed up  and reported they really liked it but it was very long day.
We stayed on ship as we have done complete transit ( both sides) on another cruise. It takes all day to get from one end to the other.

It was interesting to see the ships still in bay, waiting their turn to transit,

Costa Rica was Puerto Limon. Ours was the first cruise ship in port yesterday since the Covid shutdown.  they had ceremony with our ships captain and officers. Nice welcome from locals. Water cannons when we entered port. We opted to pass on our excursion, last minute. Heavy rain and thunderstorms all night. It would have been fun to do rainforest zip line wildlife adventure. Buses returned late due to accident on highway. 

ocean cay for two days is great. Always beautiful.

We have sea day today and Costa Maya tomorrow, most are going to private beaches for the day.

Hope this helps…..it should be fun.

 

Wow thanks so much Pat.
I wish I had asked you about this before we booked the Panama Canal excursion.
Panama Canal is on my bucket list but John isn’t as keen about it so this was his compromise to a PC cruise. 
I don’t really want to go after hearing your report about the port not being safe. I wonder if we can cancel it and use the credit towards other excursions. 
 

Will take your advice about Columbia and book that tour. 
 

Hopefully we’ll be docked where you were in Jamaica that sounds great. 
 

Sorry the weather didn’t cooperate in Costa Rica. 
 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

~Deb

[phissy]

Deb,

just want to follow up on Panama Canal excursion.

The 8 hour Panama Canal in excursions is the one most on ship did.

It was bus ride to ferry boat. Police escorted bus out of town.

Many reported they liked it but very long day.

If you do not want to do it….

I think you should be able to cancel and get credit.

We had to cancel excursions for Frank. He wrenched his back and unable to do much walking. They gave us refund for 48 hour notice of cancellation.

Pat

[dmhines]

We are on this cruise.  We boarded thinking it was an 11 night cruise.  Found out the second night on board it was 12 night with a stop on Costa Maya.  Yikes!! not sure it changed after we booked it or what. 
 

We did the Panama Canal Ferry excursion. Thought it was great.  First time through the canal and locks.  I would recommend it.