MSC Divina review 10 nights 3/24-4/3

[GPPhilly]

Backround - We have sailed with MSC 3 times prior to this.  2 Seashore and 1 Meraviglia times in the YC.

 

Room - 15016 and 15018 in the Divina YC

 

We were a little disappointed in the room as the room as a bit dated and pretty worn.  The carpets definitely have sign of wear and stains.  Also, they are noticeably smaller than the Seashore.  The balcony was small but did fit a lounger that we requested.   I did not like the tub/shower combo.  The tub was very slippery and my partner slipped and fell in the shower and luckily was not seriously hurt just very bruised.  The assistant butler put a bath mat in the tub each time going forward and it worked well.  No more chocolate ship but a chocolate bar. No afternoon snack in your room as we did before.  We loved the One pool and Deck but there is a lack of shade issue.

 

Embarkation and Debarkation

 

This is the one major issue we had with the YC service.  Getting on in Miami was very smooth and quick, checked in around 11 and were one of the firsts on the ship and in our room by 11:30.  At the ports was a different story, per the YC director due to space.  The butler's did not really do much to get you to the front of the line as they did on the other ships.  When getting back on the ship in Colombia, the butler tried to take us to the front of the line to get into on the ship and the person scanning the cards told the butler that she did not have time for the YC guests to skip the line and all lines were now for all guests and would not take us.  He then just left us and went back to the end of the gangway.  We called him back and asked what we should do and a guest said here get in front of them.  We did bring this to the YC directors attention.  He was surprised and reviewed the security tapes and found the security person in question and told us her name and a said he would talk to the head of security.  Leaving the ship was again a nightmare because of customs closing the gangways a few times.  I was prepared for this because I knew since we went to Colombia we would all get checked.  On other ships the YC on and off just went better. 

 

Food and Restaurants

 

Le Muse was excellent.  The service and the food was very good.  We loved our waiters.  The One Pool breakfast was always cold except the fresh made omelet.  I did mention a few times that the sides were cold and nothing changed.  I did talk to the manager of the restaurant and he said that when they saw me they would get hot food.   That was not the point, I said so everyone would get hot food not just me.  We did our Diamond meal at Butcher cut and the rib eye was excellent.  We did sushi and thought it was just ok nothing special.  I did not mind the location in the back of the ship but I see where this could be an issue for some.  We did eat the buffet for lunch once and we found it to be overall not bad. For those that care ( I do not really care that much), they were not enforcing the dress code.  

 

Top Sail Lounge

 

We did notice a slowness of service here and went to the bar to get our drinks a few times after waiting.  But as the week went it seemed to get better.  We loved high tea as usual.  

 

Butler service

 

Here is where we had the tale of two worlds.  Our room and our friends room were right next to each other but we had different butlers and assistants.  Our butler was pretty much non existent but their butler was excellent one of the bests I have seen.  Our butler was missing for 2 days and I finally went to the concierge and said I have not seen my butler for 2 days and they told me he fell and was on medical. I said well someone should have told us and had a replacement butler.  They blamed the head butler and the next day our butler was back but we barely saw him.  Our friends butler was always checking in with us when we were with our friends or in the hallway.  His name was Hero.  Our assistant butler was excellent and he was a ninja.  He kept the room so clean.   I know people say they never use their butler and I agree we do not either but I would like for him to check in once in a while to make sure all is good.  

 

Ports

 

This is where this trip was one of the best for us.  Jamaica, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Ocean Cay.   I loved there were some new ports for us in here and we would do this itinerary again in a heartbeat.  We did the Bobsled and Dunn's River Falls tour - so fun.  Colombia, we did the panoramic and walking tour of Cartagena, I loved Cartagena and can't wait to go back.  We had a great tour guide.   Panama we did the the Canal ferry boat to the Pacific. It was a bucket list type of tour.  The only downside was that it was an all day excursion.  It is a long day.  Costa Rica is so beautiful.  We did the Aerial Tram and rain forest hike.  We had a bad tour guide on this one and felt the trip did not really live up to the actual excursion.  We still loved the views and rain forest just would go to a different tour next time.  As always, Ocean Cay was excellent and we had a YC Cabana this time and really enjoyed it.  

 

Casino

 

One of us had good luck the other one not so much. The casino was small but we were able to find tables and slots that we liked.  The smoking side was very smoky.  We loved always enjoy the casino staff as they are mostly very friendly.  I know the program has changed but we were able to get the same comps that we have in the past.  The host was average. 

 

Ship - Divina

 

I really did like the ship overall but I think I prefer the newer ships.  The Divina is showing some signs of her age but overall still quite beautiful.  .  We had extremely rough seas going from Jamaica to Colombia.  They closed the pools and made announcements that motion sickness medicine was available at the reception desk and sickness bags could be found around the ship.  

 

Other musings

 

The cruise director was not very active other then introduction of the shows.  

 

The shows we saw were fairly average.

 

The general buffet at lunch time was a zoo the one time we went there. 

  

There seemed to be some very rude guests more than we are used to seeing.  One example - There was a group of about 6 20 year olds that ventured into the YC beach and put their stuff down and went swimming. and were very loud and a lot of cursing.  Someone told a butler and they came up to them and were asked to leave.  They did not and one of the YC guests near them told them this was for the YC but there was a beach across the way for them.  The 2 guys were extremely rude to her asking if she owed these beaches.  They were again asked to leave and they left yelling "The lady is a b**ch a** Russian and her husband is a p***y for letting them talk to her in that way"   Then they yelled "we only paid $800 for our cruise and got to swim the the area where people paid thousands who's the A-hole now"  I have never witnessed such a display.  

 

 

Overall impression - This trip was one of the bests I have had due to the ports.  The ship was nice and service was mostly good.  We just prefer the newer ships.  There seems to be a service inconsistency in the YC between ships.  The food was excellent and the service in Le Muse was great.  We would sail on this ship again given the right itinerary.   

 

 

 

[KennyFla]

12 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

. 

There seemed to be some very rude guests more than we are used to seeing.  One example - There was a group of about 6 20 year olds that ventured into the YC beach and put their stuff down and went swimming. and were very loud and a lot of cursing.  Someone told a butler and they came up to them and were asked to leave.  They did not and one of the YC guests near them told them this was for the YC but there was a beach across the way for them.  The 2 guys were extremely rude to her asking if she owed these beaches.  They were again asked to leave and they left yelling "The lady is a b**ch a** Russian and her husband is a p***y for letting them talk to her in that way"   Then they yelled "we only paid $800 for our cruise and got to swim the the area where people paid thousands who's the A-hole now"  I have never witnessed such a display.  

Sadly, there generally seems to be  a noticeable lack of manners and increase of rudeness in a lot of the twenty somethings.  Goes along with the degradation of culture.  There is definitely an entitlement attitude now, "I want what you have, and I'm not going to pay for it."

[GPPhilly]

One other thing, and we have experienced this several times on MSC, is the fact that you get to see several crew members from your previous cruises on other ships.  It is always nice to see or be recognized by a crew member you have previously sailed on.  It's like a comfort.  

[GPPhilly]

For those that wanted to know, we sailed from Terminal E in Miami.   The porter told us that new MSC terminal is moving along slowly and should be pretty amazing once complete

Edited April 5, 2023 by GPPhilly

[optimusprime82]

On 4/4/2023 at 2:25 PM, KennyFla said:

Sadly, there generally seems to be  a noticeable lack of manners and increase of rudeness in a lot of the twenty somethings.  Goes along with the degradation of culture.  There is definitely an entitlement attitude now, "I want what you have, and I'm not going to pay for it."

 

What are you talking about? It's not like throughout history young people have been the most even-keeled groups in a society. Most people in their twenties act pretty similarly to the previous generation of twenty something people. For every incident I've seen on vacation of a person in their twenties throwing a fit, I've seen at least one another where a senior citizen acts absolutely horribly to the staff of a ship/hotel/restaurant.

 

Do I think that all seniors are like that? No. Does it represent the "Degradation of culture?" No. It just represents that some people are rude. Rudeness isn't generational - you can have polite teenagers and you can have jerk teenagers, same thing goes for senior citizens and all the ages in-between. 

[carlmm]

Thanks for the review @GPPhilly! I was on the same cruise, albeit in the normal section, thus it was interesting to read your perspective.

[GPPhilly]

8 minutes ago, carlmm said:

Thanks for the review @GPPhilly! I was on the same cruise, albeit in the normal section, thus it was interesting to read your perspective.

I would be curious to get your thoughts, if you don't mind sharing.  

[carlmm]

On 4/6/2023 at 9:41 PM, GPPhilly said:

I would be curious to get your thoughts, if you don't mind sharing.  

 

I don't mind 😉

 

First I will try to follow your order:

 

The room was a standard size balcony room with metal rather than glass ceiling. The room was big enough with a comfortable sofa and in good conditions and my steward maintained it very well. Everything I asked for was provided. The storage space is rather limited, for a longer cruise or with two people the wardrobes are inadequate IMHO. One only gets soap and shampoo from big bottles.

 

Embarkation was a breeze. Once past the security there was a separate line for diamond guests but it probably would not have made any difference. Lines were short. Altogether maybe 30 minutes at most.

Rooms were not ready but there was a conveniently located hand luggage storage.

Debarkation was rather well organized by MSC but the long lines and few officers at immigration made it a long and uncomfortable procedure. Unfortunately this was just very similiar to what I have experienced in Miami every time I came from further away countries with ships of other lines, too.

 

Food and restaurants

The buffet food was varied and included the hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and their like for those looking for fast food, but also "real food". The fish was surprisingly well, much better than on the average buffet, not cooked or standing around to long. Major food choices were repeated several times, some special food was a bit further to the back. I always found a seat. The drinks service was okay most of the time, not always immediately and sometimes one had to discuss about the availability.

My dinner restaurant was the Villa Rossa. I like to share a big table: This time for most of the evenings only two other guests showed up on the table for seven, but these were a good match and we had a great time. The food choice was good; different from the offerings in Europe like less octopus and more steak. Some excellent dishes, most maybe like in an upper middle class Italian hotel. The service was too rushed and inattentive for this European. I am not on a sprint from course to course but prefer a slower but more correct service. I do not want to be made to order my dessert before dinner. Likewise you had to order your wine at the start of dinner, no chance to order eg. a different kind for a different course later. Some wine (from the premium by the glass options) were not available. 

Probably too few and too untrained, but mostly friendly, waiters.

Having that, there were also examples of very good service: When I finally asked for the head waiter regarding the unavailabilty of all the wines, he organized what he said was the last bottle on board of a particular wine and it was kept for me for the next nights. When one of my table mates arrived almost 60 minutes late, the head waiter proactively approached him and offered him to still order a main course and a dessert.

Butcher's cut: Well. The steak had to be returned the first time and it was still the worst I have had in any butcher's cut on any MSC ship. Not really bad but not great either. The seafood platter as appetizer was quite large, oyster and scallop were tasteless, all the other items including lobster, crab legs and various kind of mussles were nice.

[carlmm]

Of course I cannot comment on butlers or any other YC services. From the "regular guests" perspective there was mostly no in your face discrimination and thus no problems.

The only time when the preference for YC guests was really annoying was on Ocean Cay: There is supposed to be a shuttle service to the further away parts of the island. While there was a shuttle for YC guests like every 5 minutes, sometimes more often, often only for one couple with empty seats, we "normals" had to wait more than 35 minutes and when the shuttle finally arrived, it did not even go to the stops on the schedule but just one closer by.

[carlmm]

Ports

Yes, great ports. 

In Jamaica I joined an MSC tour: Dolphin swim and Dunn's River Falls. The dolphin swim was a wonderful experience. I had been to the falls a first time about twenty years ago: It is much more developed and touristy now. Too many people and the quality of the experience depends on the guide, which route he chooses.  The overall tour guide was basically desinterested. Maybe she had a bad night before.

Cartagena is beautiful, taxi were plentiful. I would love to go again.

The visit to the Embera Indians was much better than expected. Here I was afraid it would be to touristy and fake, but it did not feel at all like that but authentic. The people were friendly, interesting and welcoming.

Unfortunately MSC cancelled my debarkation day tour what cause me a lot of headache. It took too much time and money to organize transfers, luggage storage and sightseeing all on my own.

One further negative point was the unavailability of wifi outside of the terminal in Miami, thus no way to use a ride share (for people without an American phone/data plan).

[carlmm]

Other musings

 

You are right there was no enforcement of even a minimum of dress code. Yet it had been necessary. 

Much worse than on any other MSC cruise (all in Europe) I have been on, or any other cruise for that matter.

The behaviour of some guests was disgusting. It tells story that in the daily program they had to put a line to remind people of standard conduct rules like not to remove your shoes in the public rooms and not to lay your bare feet on the furniture.

 

The live music was varied and the production shows mostly good. Yet, most entertainment stopped much earlier than in Europe. Eg. the few deck parties on this cruise were scheduled from 10.30 to 11.30 pm, in Europe they continued until 1 am. Still, a lot of good music all around the ship.

[GPPhilly]

40 minutes ago, carlmm said:

Of course I cannot comment on butlers or any other YC services. From the "regular guests" perspective there was mostly no in your face discrimination and thus no problems.

The only time when the preference for YC guests was really annoying was on Ocean Cay: There is supposed to be a shuttle service to the further away parts of the island. While there was a shuttle for YC guests like every 5 minutes, sometimes more often, often only for one couple with empty seats, we "normals" had to wait more than 35 minutes and when the shuttle finally arrived, it did not even go to the stops on the schedule but just one closer by.

I have sailed exclusively in the YC on MSC but I too have noticed that the YC definitely gets priority with the shuttles.  We pass a few very filled stops in the general area with people waiting.  

 

I appreciate your review and I concur on most of it from my perspective.  We did find the buffet to be very crowded but if you headed to the back of the ship you could always find seating.  

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, GPPhilly said:

I have sailed exclusively in the YC on MSC but I too have noticed that the YC definitely gets priority with the shuttles.  We pass a few very filled stops in the general area with people waiting

 

If there are too many Yacht Club guests waiting, one of the larger shuttles will get commandeered which will lead to an even longer wait for non-Yacht Club guests. I've seen it happen....and some people were not happy.