MSC Divina Yacht Club 2/11 - 2/22 Live Review

[DaKahuna]

I’ll see if I can find our butler I’ll ask.  
Thanks.

 

[JamieLogical]

34 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Question - what is the typical Voyagers Club gift onboard?  We’ve not seen anything in the way of meet ups, gifts, or anything special related to voyages club and tomorrow is our last day of this 11 day cruise. 
 

 

We always get string backpacks and already received ours earlier in the sailing.

[DaKahuna]

Asked and received.  
 

I assume any Voyagers Club get together has already happened?

 

[DaKahuna]

12 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

We always get string backpacks and already received ours earlier in the sailing.

Are you guys onboard? 

[DaKahuna]

String backpacks received.  Thanks.  I asked at the Concierge desk and surprise, surprise out butler stopped by with tow of them a short while later. 
 

It seems I have a lot of catching up to do so here hoes.

 

Dinner last night was in Le Muse and was another excellent meal.  It was also the first time a slight language barrier was experienced.

 

For our starter we had the shrimp cocktail, which came with a different type of sayce but was very good.

 

 

 

My wife ordered the cod fish 

 

 

 

while I had the lamb shank

 

 

and as has become the norm, we were presented with a plate of rice.

 

 

My apologies as I did not get pictures of dessert but this is where our first language issue happened.

 

when we entered Le Muse for dinner the Maitre’d, Mahmed, was preparing Cheries Jubilee at the entrance.  So when it came time to order dessert, I ordered the Cherries Jubilee and my wife ordered vanilla ice cream.

 

i received my cherries jubilee, and it was delicious, but wife wife was served the vanilla cream dish, which is essentially crème brûlée without the burned sugar topping, that was on the menu.  I asked her if she wanted to send it back but she tasted it and said it okay.  She ended up eating it all and was scraping the bottom and sides of the dish to get every little bit.

 

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. We hit the casino and I win, she lost more than I won.

 

We then went to the lounge and had drinks and talked with @Mark_T and his wife until they called it a night.  We finished our drinks a short while later and headed to our room.

 

We set all our clocks ahead an hour to match Cozumel/Eastern time and went to sleep.

 

Edited February 20 by DaKahuna

[DaKahuna]

Today we are in Cozumel, where we have been many times.  We did not have any special plans, and did not set an alarm clock.  We worke up and got out of bed around 0830.  
 

we showered, got desk and went for a casual breakfast on the One Pool deck.  Breakfast was nothing out of the ordinary so no pictures.  After breakfast we wnt down to the lounge and hung out for a bit to give our assistant butler / room attendant time to service our room.  
 

After grabbing wallets with ID and credit cards we proceeded to deck 4 to leave the ship. 
 

we spend a little tine making our way down the main drag, stopping and looking in a few shops before making our way to our favorite destination - Pancho’s Backyard - for lunch.

 

This is the first time we’ve been at the downtown docks. In the past we have always been at the international pier, a much longer walk. 
(Pancho’s is the blue dot, wher Divina is is the upper arrow, and the international pier is the lower arrow)

 

 

Lunch photos-  pardon the mess, our appetites took over before I could engage the camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

( Full disclosure- I dumped my fish tacos on my plate so my DW could have the tortillas.  She loves them here. 
 

 

[DaKahuna]

Random pictures around Cozumel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20 by DaKahuna

[TrinaLC]

22 hours ago, Mark_T said:

 

 

Ryan up is still around in the evenings, or can be found at the One Pool buffet, but he still remains dedicated to doing whatever it takes to earn a gold tie eventually. 

 

That is indeed Ryan!  I do hope he earns that gold tie.  He was our assistant waiter last month but was everywhere to be helpful. 
 

Edited February 21 by TrinaLC

[TrinaLC]

Can you ask Mehetma whether he will be staying on for the April 21 crossing?  We were on Divina a month ago and he wasn’t sure - he was due to rotate off but thought he might be extended through the crossing. 
 

 

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, TrinaLC said:

Can you ask Mehetma whether he will be staying on for the April 21 crossing?  We were on Divina a month ago and he wasn’t sure - he was due to rotate off but thought he might be extended through the crossing. 
 

 

I am not sure who Mahetma may be unless you are speaking of the Le Muse Maitre’d whi I have been calling Mahmed and that is what I understood him to introduce himself to us as. 
 

 

[DaKahuna]

After returning to the ship, I had a shower followed by my DW.  While she was showering, I just went for a walk about on the ship and ended up finding @JamieLogical and her husband in Cafe al Italia and interrupted their game and had a very nice discussion on EV and whether it was really the future or not.  Drinks flowed and we came to the consensus that nuclear power was the answer needed to power the EV charging stations, else fossil fuel was here to stay. 
 

Anyway we had to end our drinking and conversation so they would not be late to dinner.

 

[DaKahuna]

My DW and I once again had dinner in Le Muse and we both started with the Chinese dumplings.  Now remember my wife is Japanese so we would call these gyoza at home.  I had high hopes gor dim sum but they were not.  There was a bonus spring roll though.

 

 

For her main course my DW choose the scallops

 

 

 

After a long and thoughtful deliberation I decided upon the lamb chops.  My DW will cook me all the scallops I want anytime but will not make lamb in any fashion so cruises and eating out are my only chances of getting lamb.

 

 

of course our wonderful waiter included a plat if rice to go with my lamb (the scallops came with rice) 

 

 

For dessert my wife chose the coconut cake

 

 

While I tried the Grandma’s Chocolate Cake for the first time. I have read wonderful reviews so — it lived up to it’s well deserved reputation.

 

 

My DW had her Americano and I had my Americano with Bailey’s to accompany our desserts.

 

We finished and headed to the casino.  My DW lost again, and I started out loosing but changed strategy and ended up breaking even for the night.  So we called it quits.

 

She went to the room and I went to the lounge. Sat and conversed with @Mark_T and his wife, a lovely Canadian couple, and the infamous’Pepe’ for a bit.  Listened to a wonderful trio playing soft melodies until Mark and his wife called it a night.  
 

I then stuck up a conversation with a lovely lady who actually knee my handle here on CC and said I was the first Cc person she had met in real life.  I was honored and hope she eventually reads this and says hello.

 

Anywsy, after three Hemingway Daiquiris, a Cucumber and Basil martini, and. Sidecar, and all my companions deserting me, I bid goodnight to Hubert and headed to my cabin.  Having come to the unfortunate conclusion that tomorrow (actually today now) is our last full day of this wonderful cruise. 
 

 

p.s.  cucumber & basil martini

 

 

[TrinaLC]

9 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

I am not sure who Mahetma may be unless you are speaking of the Le Muse Maitre’d whi I have been calling Mahmed and that is what I understood him to introduce himself to us as. 
 

 

You are right, I misremembered his name!

[DaKahuna]

Good morning.  This our last full at sea day and we are on our way back to Miami.  All my attempts to bribe Pepe into taking over command of the ship and turning us around have failed so back to the winter weather we go.

 

Here is where we were before breakfast.

 

 

We had planned on having breakfast on the One Pool deck but stepping out on our balcony changed our minds.  Too cold and windy for us.

 

So off we rushed to Le Muse at 0826 and the app was saying that they closed at 0830.  Turns out the app was wrong and they are open to 0900. 
 

I had the MSC Express breakfast and my wife had her standard ham & cheese omelette.

 

Here’s my plate- it was very good.

 

 

The English muffin was even hot enough to melt the butter. 
 

We’re now just kicking back in the lounge and relaxing before we head back to our cabin to organize for tonight’s packing.  We also have some left over OBC so a trip to the casino and or the stores onboard is in order.

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

15 hours ago, TrinaLC said:

Can you ask Mehetma whether he will be staying on for the April 21 crossing?  We were on Divina a month ago and he wasn’t sure - he was due to rotate off but thought he might be extended through the crossing. 
 

 

I spoke with him at lunch a few minutes ago and he said his contract was scheduled to end April 18 but he extended until May and will be making the transatlantic.

 

[DaKahuna]

After relaxing for a bit we took all our casino tickets down and cashed them out. So we have now used all our OBC, plus a few of our own dollars.

 

We had a pre-lunch drink in the lounge, Sprite 0 for my DW and a Hemingway Daiquiri for me

 

 

Lunch was interesting.  We both had caesar salad to start 

 

 

and I requested the penne pasta with bolognese instead of tomato sauce.  
 

 

while my wife ordered the udon noodles.

 

 

I do not need to explain why we both laughed when her dish, pictured above, was delivered.  The noodles were more like pancit noodles than thick udon noodles.

 

We both went with the carrot cake for dessert.

 

 

We ran into @JamieLogical and her husband as we headed back to our room. We quickly said our goodbyes and wish them a safe journey home tomorrow.

 

We are now back in our room relaxing before we attend the “High Tea” this afternoon at 4 pm.

 

[DisneyJen]

Wonderful review @DaKahuna!

 

So appreciative of the food pics and YC experiences.

 

Wondering if you have been able to order something like a toasted bagel with cream cheese and lox via room service  or in the YC dining room.

 

 

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, DisneyJen said:

Wonderful review @DaKahuna!

 

So appreciative of the food pics and YC experiences.

 

Wondering if you have been able to order something like a toasted bagel with cream cheese and lox via room service  or in the YC dining room.

 

 

We have not tried but here is the YC Room Service Breakfast offerings.  It looks like what you are asking but if you made a request with your butler who knows with regard to room service.

 

 

And here are the Le Muse Breakfast menu’s, they do not change for breakfast.

 

 

 

I have seen bagels in the Top Sail lounge but no toaster.  
 

I think your best bet would be to check the One Pool Buffet at breakfast as they have a selection of breakfast items.  
 

Sorry I could not help more, I am not a bagel and lox guy.  I like crunchy peanut butter on my toasted bages but do that about once a month at home.

 

[DaKahuna]

This afternoon was High Tea in the Top Sail Lounge.  I accidentally posted my pictures in @JamieLogicalreview but here they are again.  This is our first High Tea since one of our very early Celebrity cruises when High Tea was held for Elite guest and above in Tuscan on an S-class ship. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very interesting experience and we learned something about High Tea and the biscuits, clotted cream, and jam from @Mark_T and his wife who joined us for the tea.

 

[DaKahuna]

Tonight’s was our 3rd Gala night and was also lobster night. 
 

Our selections were pretty standard as one might expect by now.  The only change was I decided to have champagne instead of red wine with my meal.  Seems it turned out to be a popular drink tonight but that’s a story best left untold to protect the innocent.

 

 

For her starter DW decided to go with the octopus carpaccio- I don’t think she realized what carpaccio was but neither here nor there. 
 

 

i ended up eating the octopus and she ate everything else. 
 

I chose the salad 

 

 

and then saw folks receiving the burgundy escargot and asked our assistant waiter to go ‘steal’ me an order.

 

 

they were very good and larger and a whole lot less buttery than Celebrity’s escargot.

 

For her mail DW went with the tenderloin, which as very tender and juicy.  
 

 

She gave me about 1/4 of it to go with my broiled lobster.

 

 

I thought the lobster tasted good as it was well cooked but also thought it was just a little dry.  Found out after dinner our waiter / assistant waiter neglected to bring me the drawn butter that goes with the dish.  Nevertheless 

my cardiologist possibly thanks them for tat omission.

 

My DW decided to skip dessert but sunce it’s the last night, I went for the trifecta -  Americano, Bailey’s and Tiramisu.  I’ll pay for this later but oh so delicious.

 

 

After dinner we headed back to the room to pack.  We ran into @JamieLogical and her husband, exchanged pleasantries and wished each other pleasant travels.  Seems we both had the same plans - head back to the cabin and pack.

 

Two of our three bags packed we headed to the lounge for a nightcap, which turned into two Kettle One’s and tonic for me, a Tanqueray & Cranberry for me while we chatted with Mark and his wife until the legt to make one more round of the lower decks before calling it a night.

 

I ordered a final LIIT and then we retired to the room.

 

Alarm is set for 0600 so I am now cakling it a night.  
 

Thank you to those who chose to follow along.  

[rzyjzq]

Thanks for sharing your journey with all of us.  Its been fun to follow along.  Safe travels home.

Susan

[DaKahuna]

@Best Cat Mom

 

How did you like it? We did it once, but they don't have any GF options for me. 😞

 

We did not have any of the food, just the tea.

 

I see Dwi was one of the butlers serving you. She had said that she'll be our butler in April -- if she still has the same rooms on thestarboard side of deck 15. Who did you have for your room butler this cruise?

 

I am not sure which rooms she has as we are on deck 15 and I believe she’s on deck 16. 
 

Our butler was Putra and our assistant butler was Peter.  Found out the Putra was the one leaving us the towel animals.

 

 

[DaKahuna]

Express walk off has just started. 
 

I just finished breakfast and am headed back to the room.  We do not plan to leave until around 0900. 

[DaKahuna]

For folks wanting a taxi, there should not be a problem today.

 

[DaKahuna]

They are still doing express walk off.  Just mad another announcement telling people with luggage tag numbers not to go to the gangway.

 

Of course YC guest are being escorted down when they are ready.  
 

People with shore excursions have also left the YC area.