LIVE from MSC Divina YC (Yacht Club) - Western Caribbean Miami 7 April to 18 April 2024

alserrod · April 9

1 minute ago, Best Cat Mom said:

So sorry, but I do not have a picture. We're trying to do better at taking pictures, but sometimes we forget.

The soup is a light brown color, from pureed garbanzo beans, with small pieces of octopus mixed in. It's really one of my favorites. Even on a hot day, this hot soup is something I will order.

Hi, is it something like this?

Garbanzos con pulpo en Olla GM

"Garbanzo" should be translated into English as Chickpea

It is a traditional dish in Spain and second time I see someone spotting pictures of MSC food based on legumes. I just didn't expect to see them

If you love them, you will find almost in any restaurant in Spain, specially in non luxurious (a single day menu).

It is most known "Cocido de garbanzos", a very full dish. In this case not with octopus but with chorizo and other products. Try to search on google.

Enjoy and thanks for all your pictures!!!!

Best Cat Mom · April 9

Just now, mnpurple said:

We were on a similar itinerary a year and a half ago and enjoyed Divina.

I think that we were on that sailing with you. We're on this cruise for the ship, not the ports. We don't have any excursions planned and probably won't even bother going out.

Divina's YC is a nice size, not too big and busy, for us. From what I've read about Euribia and World Europa, the YC public areas are a bit small for all the additional cabins. For the right time and itinerary, we'd still give them a try. But if there is a Fantasia-class ship to choose instead, we'd definitely be looking at those first.

Best Cat Mom · April 9

Just now, alserrod said:

is it something like this?

No, but that looks very nice -- something I'd be happy to try.

The MSC soup has the beans pureed smooth and the only ingredient you see is bits of octopus. No chorizo at all, and I don't eat any spicy foods so that is fine for me.

We have always used "chickpea" and "garbanzo beans" interchangeably. We use them at home to make our own hummus.

alserrod · April 9

2 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

No, but that looks very nice -- something I'd be happy to try.

The MSC soup has the beans pureed smooth and the only ingredient you see is bits of octopus. No chorizo at all, and I don't eat any spicy foods so that is fine for me.

We have always used "chickpea" and "garbanzo beans" interchangeably. We use them at home to make our own hummus.

Yeah. It is a legume from all Mediterranean countries.

Hummus is also made after it.

mnpurple · April 9

@Best Cat Mom Ah yes, I think you were on that one. We were just on Euribia in Northern Europe, not Europa. Europa has even 50 more cabins, so not sure how that would be!

Best Cat Mom · April 9

Day 2 - Sea Day

Daily Program and 2 "special" notifications:

More Day 2 to come...

Best Cat Mom · April 9

Day 2 - Sea Day

Today was a sea day. We were sorta awake before the alarm since we gained an hour of sleep because the clocks were turned back an hour over night. We think that the best nights are the ones when you get an extra hour of sleep. That's the main reason we prefer the transatlantic from Europe to North America -- extra hours of sleep every few nights.

We enjoyed the view of the sea with our first morning of butler-delivered coffee and Baileys in the cabin:

Next, off to Le Muse for our first breakfast, starting with mimosas:

The breakfast menu does not change day-to-day, though I'm sure you could make a special request. Usually given enough notice, they are happy to accommodate you.

BCD ordered MSC express with scrambled eggs and 5 slices of crispy bacon. I had an egg white omelet with ham and cheese and extra ham on the side. We both had cappuccinos. (No pictures, my apologies.)

After breakfast, we decided to enjoy some time in TSL. BCD has started working on some cars since various crew members had bestowed a robust amount of champagne corks, wires and foil upon him shortly after we boarded. The lounge was quite relaxing, being able to watch the water and enjoy the sea day. Then the butlers started setting up for the YC cocktail party that we had forgotten was happening at 11am.

The party had a great turnout, and TSL seemed totally full. David, our Cruise Director was the emcee. He introduced the various YC and Le Muse staff, ending with a toast to thank all of us YC guests. There were drinks of champagne, the Signature Cocktail or fruit juices given out in advance. On each table, there were snacks, savory and sweet, potato chips and mixed berries. A piano player and saxophonist supplied music.

More Day 2 to come...

cruisebeachgirl703 · April 9

23 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Day 2 - Sea Day

Today was a sea day. We were sorta awake before the alarm since we gained an hour of sleep because the clocks were turned back an hour over night. We think that the best nights are the ones when you get an extra hour of sleep. That's the main reason we prefer the transatlantic from Europe to North America -- extra hours of sleep every few nights.

We enjoyed the view of the sea with our first morning of butler-delivered coffee and Baileys in the cabin:

Next, off to Le Muse for our first breakfast, starting with mimosas:

The breakfast menu does not change day-to-day, though I'm sure you could make a special request. Usually given enough notice, they are happy to accommodate you.

BCD ordered MSC express with scrambled eggs and 5 slices of crispy bacon. I had an egg white omelet with ham and cheese and extra ham on the side. We both had cappuccinos. (No pictures, my apologies.)

After breakfast, we decided to enjoy some time in TSL. BCD has started working on some cars since various crew members had bestowed a robust amount of champagne corks, wires and foil upon him shortly after we boarded. The lounge was quite relaxing, being able to watch the water and enjoy the sea day. Then the butlers started setting up for the YC cocktail party that we had forgotten was happening at 11am.

The party had a great turnout, and TSL seemed totally full. David, our Cruise Director was the emcee. He introduced the various YC and Le Muse staff, ending with a toast to thank all of us YC guests. There were drinks of champagne, the Signature Cocktail or fruit juices given out in advance. On each table, there were snacks, savory and sweet, potato chips and mixed berries. A piano player and saxophonist supplied music.

More Day 2 to come...

Great pics. Are you able to name some of them?

cruisebeachgirl703 · April 9

Just now, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

Great pics. Are you able to name some of the personnel. (you did mention cruise director)

Best Cat Mom · April 9

Here are some images cropped from the YC cocktail party group pictures in case you want to know who is who.

Mehmet, Le Muse maitre' d:

image.png.1fe51f0fbe11595c3c80ee6ab6283502.png

Antonio, Le Muse chef:

image.png.c3895f470a5dc07bed628063f461f8c8.png

Tiziana, YC Director:

image.png.d31ecfd0bb8517dcbfe7c1347623e81a.png

Simone, YC Head Concierge:

image.png.29f1a76ce5b67d52b4fb01ac75ffedba.png

Rudy, YC Head Butler:

image.png.7e96f6029ea6088c7af689852952668d.png

Cruise Director David:

image.png.066eaa7bcef5d3058ffff4a885baba96.png

Captain Antonino Sammartano:

image.png.0da5c3177cf89fae7496c603347fafe3.png

I used Microsoft Windows Snipping Tool on these cropped images. Sorry that they all are different sizes.

More about Day 2 coming next...

Edited April 9 by Best Cat Mom

Best Cat Mom · April 9

Just now, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

Are you able to name some of the personnel

LOL I was just working on that now.

I couldn't get a good snip of our current butler Dwi, or our last butler Elvin. 😞

Best Cat Mom · April 9

Day 2 continues...

I had the Signature Martini during the YC Cocktail party. Wow, what a strong drink! And I am most definitely not a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

The MSC Signature Martini is amaretto, vodka and licor 43. When they said amaretto and vodka, I was all in. I thought it was quite tasty and looked up licor 43. Still no real answer, but I will not turn down another one in the future.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licor_43

We waited until around 12:30pm to stumble, er meander, to Le Muse for lunch. It was more full than we've ever seen before. This YC crowd does not seem to be the One Pool Deck for breakfast and lunch and only dinner in Le Muse type. The window tables were occupied as far back as could be seen from the front and all of the middle tables were occupied while we were there. It was quite windy for this sea day, so that might have been a factor. The noise level was equal to or maybe higher than dinner service.

Lunch menu:

We had champagne while checking out the menu. I couldn't decide between 2 starters so I had the octopus and seafood salad for my starter and the porchetta for my main. BCD had the porchetta for his starter and the tuna for his main. We continued to drink champagne with the entire meal, since it went so well.

Octopus and seafood salad:

Porchetta:

Tuna steak:

We absolutely loved this lunch. It might be the best one we've ever had, cruise or otherwise.

Day 2 continues next...

Mark_T · April 10

15 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Tiziana, YC Director:

So Pepe has moved on elsewhere?

Best Cat Mom · April 10

14 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

So Pepe has moved on elsewhere?

Yes, Pepe is now on Preziosa in the Brazil market. We were also surprised by his move, since when we disembarked in Miami in December, he'd said he would see us in April.

I don't think he'll be there long, however. Rudy showed us that Pepe had left his car in the office and then said his luggage was still on board Divina and it would be dropped off in Civitavecchia after the transatlantic back to Europe in a week or two.

Best Cat Mom · April 10

Day 2 continues...

We hung out in TSL for the afternoon. Around 4:30pm, we were getting a bit peckish so we took a look at the snacks. We helped ourselves to some sandwiches of parma ham with cream cheese and caprese.

We'd heard that some MSC ships were doing away with the self-serve snacks. Instead, butlers would bring snacks when drinks were ordered. We seemed to have missed that on our last cruises; we have seen the self-serve continue. Ashish was at the bar -- he and Hubert are the only two we've seen behind TSL's bar. We think both are great bartenders, though they each have different takes on different drinks. I encourage everyone to try their favorite drinks from each to see if one is more "your style" than the other before bothering to venture out to non-YC bars. Since drinks, like food, are so subjective, I will leave it at that.

I wanted a heartier red to have with my snacks so I asked Ashish if he had a red zinfandel. I was thinking that would good -- more full-bodied but no tannins. He took a look and offered me a Peter Lehman Shiraz. It's an Australian red wine that we like and we even have a few at home in our cellar, along with other reds from southeastern Australia. We recalled having a Peter Lehman on Seaside a few times too, though I'm not remembering if that one was a Shiraz or a Cabernet Sauvignon, or maybe a Cab-Shiraz blend.

After awhile, we went back to the cabin to get ready for tonight's Gala dinner. We generally prefer to eat late and we take our time. We got into this habit during our many land holidays in Italy. We arrived to the restaurant around 8pm and examined the menus with some champagne, placed in a bucket beside our table for easy access.

BCD started with scallops:

I chose the arugula salad from the Deliciously Healthy offerings (but not because it was healthy, but because I love arugula):

To accompany our mains, we moved to a southeastern Australian shiraz. Here's Ryan presenting the bottle:

BCD had the filet:

I had the duck but substituted the truffle-infused potatoes from the filet dish for the potato puree:

We also shared the risotto:

We ended the meal having butter pecan ice cream with amaretto on top:

We made our way back to TSL around 10:30pm. We had 4 rounds of sidecars and old fashioneds and enjoyed the live music. Returning to the cabin, we found some treats left for us. We couldn't recall what they were from the last cruise, maybe lemon?

Day 3 in Jamaica is next...

DaKahuna · April 10

On 4/8/2024 at 11:08 AM, Best Cat Mom said:

Our butler this time is Dwi. We knew her from TSL on our last cruise when we had Elvin as our butler. They are both great. We've seen how they both seek our their guests in TSL to check in and see if anything is needed so it seems more than just our opinion.

Glad to see you back on Divina. We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise on here with a minor exception.

You have one of the better ones we saw here with her guest all of the time. Ever present is the phrase that comes to mind.

As you know, Elvin is also fantastic. He helped us more than our own butler, who shall not be named, did.

DaKahuna · April 10

I glad to see you deviating from the "standard" wine offerings in Le Muse. Wish I had done it sooner in our cruise.

Mark_T · April 10

5 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

We couldn't recall what they were from the last cruise, maybe lemon?

Certainly lemon when we got them on Divina in Feb.

Best Cat Mom · April 10

Day 3 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Our scheduled arrival time to Jamaica was at 10am, a bit later than most ports, so when we woke up to our Baileys and coffee morning room service, we did not have anything to see from our balcony yet.

Our breakfast in Le Muse began with mimosas and due cappuccini:

BCD ordered eggs benedict, with no bread and 5 pieces of crispy bacon (sorry, no picture), and I ordered two 6-minute eggs with mixed berries:

After breakfast, we went up to the One Pool Deck to watch us dock at Ocho Rios. I wasn't sure if we'd be at the undamaged part of the damaged pier as others have reported from recent cruises. We are docked a little to the right of that, at Reynold's Pier. We had to wait for sailaway to get a good picture of the name to accompany these pictures of the area:

Here's the port that was damaged:

Day 3 continues...

Essiesmom · April 10

It’s called the James Bond pier because it was used as a background for scenes in Dr. No.

EM

Best Cat Mom · April 10

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

the James Bond pier

Which -- Reynold's or the damaged one?

Essiesmom · April 11

Reynolds pier. The damaged one is Turtle Bay Pier. EM

Best Cat Mom · April 11

Day 3 continues...

We went up to the One Pool Deck to watch the final approach to the James Bond pier (thanks @Essiesmom!). BCD taught the bartenders there how to make a Dirty Girl Scout, a minty drink we like that is a grown-up liquid version of America's popular Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. We've also heard the drink called a Girl Scout Cookie.

Combine 1 shot each of Baileys, Kahlua, coconut rum and crème de menthe. Shake with ice and serve in a high ball glass.

One Pool bar only had mint syrup so they substituted that for the crème de menthe. Also, they don't have glass up there so they put it in their biggest plastic cup:

The drinks were pretty good, but would have been better with real crème de menthe. Nice and refreshing since I like mint. And I like alcohol.

We went back to TSL and it was quite crowded with people waiting to be escorted down to their excursions. Rudy told us that ~80 people out of the ~140 people in YC for this sailing were going out today. We were surprised that there are ~140 guests in YC because it has never really seemed crowded here. We also heard that there are just under 4K on the entire ship for this voyage. Again, when we've been walking around -- mostly to and from Le Muse -- it has not seemed too crowded overall.

We did notice that there are lots more YC people having lunch in Le Muse than we've experienced before. Seems like there are not as many pool people in YC.

By around 11am, all the excursionists (is that a word?) had departed TSL and all was peaceful. We went to Le Muse just a few minutes after noon and it was nearly empty compared to the day before.

We had champagne and examined the menus:

BCD started with the wellness salad:

I had the duck legs, since I wanted to finish the full duck after having the breast the night before:

For his main, BCD ordered fish and chips with Heineken:

I was tempted to ask for another serving of the duck (it was very good), but stuck with the shrimp caesar salad I had originally ordered and continued with champagne:

For dessert, we went back up to the One Pool bar and had another round of Dirty Girl Scouts.

We went back to TSL to relax in the air conditioning and found a few very loud guests at the bar complaining to each other about MSC. We tried to tune them out at a table not near the bar, but some words stuck out -- casino and Carnival most notably. It's too bad that they're not having a great time, but it also is too bad that they're not talking to someone in YC management that can help them (or at least try to help them) have a better time.

By around 4pm, the bar area was empty and people returning from excursions had started trickling back in to TSL. We had 2 rounds of Woodford Reserves and shiraz and then went back to the cabin to dress for dinner. We watched the ship pull away from the pier and then walked to Le Muse.

We sipped champagne as we decided what to order:

I intended to have the cioppino so I ordered some gluten free (GF) bread for the first time on this cruise. Since I've been GF, I usually only order bread when I know that I have a dish with a lot of sauce to make the bread more palatable. GF bread is just "okay," especially to a former bread lover like me.

We both started with a favorite of ours, the vitello tonnato, and had more champagne to accompany it:

We switched to a pinot noir to accompany our mains:

I enjoyed the cioppino:

BCD ordered salmon off the Classic Favorites section of the menu, which Glenn graciously skinned for him tableside:

And we shared the oyster risotto (from the Deliciously Healthy section of the menu, but we would have ordered it even it was labelled unhealthy LOL):

We proceeded to TSL for some nightcaps. Tonight, we wanted to try the Espresso Martini, which we had seen someone order in TSL in the afternoon. Here's an action shot of Hubert preparing them:

We started with 1 round of those and decided that we really liked them. They were not too sweet, but had a nice punch of caffeine. We thought those would be helpful during those afternoons in TSL when we were sleepy from our busy days on the ship (busy? yeah, right). Then we had 2 rounds of our usual sidecars and old fashioneds and called it a night.

Here's a sidecar moving into the on deck circle: