MSC Divina Review - Family Vacation - 6/17 - 6/24

A bit of background…We are a family of 4 from Orlando, FL,with myself, my wife, and 2 sons, ages 7 and 5. We are avid cruisers, and not particularly loyal to any individual line. We have sailed Celebrity, NCL,Royal, Carnival, and now MSC in the past few years. I can’t count how many cruises my wife and I have been on, and this was the 4th cruise for each kid, one each onCarnival, Royal, NCL, and MSC. Being in Orlando, it is such a convenient vacation, and since we live 3 miles from Disney, it is not an exciting family vacation for us to go there! This wasour first MSC cruise, and it was chosen for 2 reasons. First, we couldn’t beat the price. Second, we will be on the Seaside Inaugural on Dec 23, and we wanted to see what MSC was all about before we went on that one with a group of about 20 friends and family. Now onto the good stuff(unfortunately this will not be a picture review, I was a little lazy with the camera)…

The cabin:

We do not spend much time in the cabin, and our kids will not share a bed, so we booked Interior Fantastica cabin 11039 to be able to have 2 bunk beds instead of a sofa bed for them. The cabin was small,especially for 4 of us, but it was functional. It served the purpose of a place to sleep and get a few concussions over the course of the week when sitting up in bed with the bunks open. The bathroom felt larger than normal due to the ingenious design of the shower doors folding inwards when not in use. There was plenty of closet space and shelving for all 4 of our clothes, and the 4 suitcases fit easily under the bed. The location of the cabin was not easily accessible from anything but the theatre. The dining rooms, buffet, and kids club were all on the other end of the ship (aft, this cabin was way forward). The cabin was quiet above and below with only cabins surrounding it, but got quite loud with kids and adults running through the hallways screaming. Gilbert was a great cabin steward. Anything we needed was taken care of immediately, and he was a ninja with getting the room done in small windows between us being back and forth to the cabin.

The ship:

The Divina itself is a work of art. The crystal staircase, the art pieces throughout, it was just beautiful, and very different from the typical mass market ships. It was kept spotless, and there were constantly maintenance guys out polishing brass, re-varnishing doors and moldings, etc. That being said,there were a few items on the ship that were not so great. Our number one complaint and we also brought it up to guest services although nothing was done about it, was the temperature of the “hot tubs”. Our favorite thing to do on a cruise is to relax in the hot tub with a drink. The hot tubs were kept at a maximum of 98 degrees, although they were closer to 94 most of the time. They also do not allow you to have drinks in the hot tubs/pools. For comparison, our solar heated pool at home was 96 degrees this evening when we went swimming. I don’t know if it is for the safety of kids constantly being in them or what, but the hot tubs need to be hotter. If it is for the kids, they should mark at least 3 of the 6 as adults only and make them a reasonable temperature. The pools are kept at 79 degrees or below,which for some people seemed to be ok, but for us Florida people, was absolutely freezing! Back to the positives, there are tons of spaces around the ship great for those Kodak moments. We took a bunch of family pictures with our own camera on some beautiful backgrounds.

The cabin:

We do not spend much time in the cabin, and our kids will not share a bed, so we booked Interior Fantastica cabin 11039 to be able to have 2 bunk beds instead of a sofa bed for them. The cabin was small,especially for 4 of us, but it was functional. It served the purpose of a place to sleep and get a few concussions over the course of the week when sitting up in bed with the bunks open. The bathroom felt larger than normal due to the ingenious design of the shower doors folding inwards when not in use. There was plenty of closet space and shelving for all 4 of our clothes, and the 4 suitcases fit easily under the bed. The location of the cabin was not easily accessible from anything but the theatre. The dining rooms, buffet, and kids club were all on the other end of the ship (aft, this cabin was way forward). The cabin was quiet above and below with only cabins surrounding it, but got quite loud with kids and adults running through the hallways screaming. Gilbert was a great cabin steward. Anything we needed was taken care of immediately, and he was a ninja with getting the room done in small windows between us being back and forth to the cabin.

 

 

The ship:

 

The Divina itself is a work of art. The crystal staircase, the art pieces throughout, it was just beautiful, and very different from the typical mass market ships. It was kept spotless, and there were constantly maintenance guys out polishing brass, re-varnishing doors and moldings, etc. That being said,there were a few items on the ship that were not so great. Our number one complaint and we also brought it up to guest services although nothing was done about it, was the temperature of the “hot tubs”. Our favorite thing to do on a cruise is to relax in the hot tub with a drink. The hot tubs were kept at a maximum of 98 degrees, although they were closer to 94 most of the time. They also do not allow you to have drinks in the hot tubs/pools. For comparison, our solar heated pool at home was 96 degrees this evening when we went swimming. I don’t know if it is for the safety of kids constantly being in them or what, but the hot tubs need to be hotter. If it is for the kids, they should mark at least 3 of the 6 as adults only and make them a reasonable temperature. The pools are kept at 79 degrees or below,which for some people seemed to be ok, but for us Florida people, was absolutely freezing! Back to the positives, there are tons of spaces around the ship great for those Kodak moments. We took a bunch of family pictures with our own camera on some beautiful backgrounds.

How do you know it was 94 degrees and in the June heat and humidity you were in hot tubs that was only 94 degrees.:loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry:

How do you know it was 94 degrees and in the June heat and humidity you were in hot tubs that was only 94 degrees.:loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry::loudcry:

We spend a lot of time in our pool at home in very similar climate in Orlando...I am pretty accustomed to the feel of a pool temperature!

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Following your review! Very interested in your opinion as we are booked for September

Enjoying your review!

The entertainment:

The cruise director, Andre, was an excellent host. He loved to tell jokes to start the shows, and was very entertaining. The shows themselves were different. As Andre explained it, due to the huge international population on the ships, they avoided having anything with a plotline that needed to be followed so as not to leave out the people who did not speak English (and there were A LOT of them). The musical acts and dancing were all entertaining. There was a Queen tribute show one night (think Bohemian Rhapsody, not England), a couple of singing/dancing/acrobat variety type productions, a pirate production, and of course the Michael Jackson tribute. They were all very well done, and we enjoyed them. The one show we did not go see was the Italian Opera singers. During the days, there were a couple of trivia’s each day, some arts and crafts activities (make father’s day cards on father’s day, origami, t-shirt painting for adults), and lots of live music in the evenings, with different genres in each bar area. The musicians were all very good and the crowds lively. They did a very nice Cruise Critic Meet and Greet, with free drinks (great dirty martinis), and appetizers, and many of the senior officers in attendance including the captain and cruise director. They were great to meet and talk to, and really wanted feedback!

The food:

Everybody has their own opinion on what good food is on a cruise. I have read dozens of Divina reviews, with the food ranging from inedible, to everything was the best thing people ever tasted, to the dining room being terrible and the buffet amazing, and vice versa. For our opinion, we thought the food was very good on the ship, save for a couple of dishes that weren’t our taste. The pizza was as good as everyone raves about. We enjoyed breakfast in both the buffet and the dining room, and the dinners in the dining room were very well done. We found the food to be well seasoned and decent quality. The shrimp dishes in the dining room especially had great jumbo shrimp that were cooked well, and they had a couple of different ones on different nights. If you are expecting a gourmet French restaurant style cruise cuisine, you will be disappointed, however, if you take it for the price point you paid for the cruise, and realize it is an Italian ship, you should be happy. The pastas in the buffet especially were excellent, as they were constantly cooking them up right on the buffet line to replace the trays as they emptied. The meat dishes were all pretty good, and the sauces flavorful. The kids did not like the gelato, but we thought it was great. We did wish they had the soft-serve ice cream machines open for a longer period of time, as there were quite a few times the kids wanted it and it was closed.

The bar service:

We pre-purchased 2 of the 18 beverage voucher packages for $89 each, and one of the “Coffee Cuddle” package for the coffee bar. We also had the 12 vouchers each from the Fantastica package and 12 each non-alcoholic for the kids. The vouchers were a good deal if you used them on the right drinks, but also a royal pain to have to carry around everywhere, especially by the pool. They push the drink packages hard on the ship, and have the prices to upgrade everywhere as well. If the corporate office tells you upgrades can’t be done from the Aurea package, etc., just wait until you are on the ship and it can easily be done. The coffee cuddle we felt was an absolute waste. This was another one of our complaints we took to guest services. It does not include the “Chocolate Temptations” section of the coffee bar menu, even though they are cheaper than many of the coffee options. To make matters worse, they were out of caramel syrup and vanilla syrup for pretty much the entire week, so we couldn’t get any of the coffee drinks we actually wanted. We spoke to the beverage package manager, and she signed all of our vouchers that we could get the chocolate drinks as well due to the missing syrups. A great customer service gesture that we thought would satisfy us. We then went to get one of the “Chocolate Temptations”, and it was literally the coffee bar opening a packet of Nestle Hot Chocolate mix into a cup and adding syrup (again, you couldn’t get vanilla or caramel, as they were out of stock, so it was only mint syrup or regular hot chocolate). This was the same hot chocolate that was free in the dining room and buffet every morning, so it seemed useless to use a paid voucher on it. We ended up bringing home a bunch of extra vouchers of all types, and will hope to use them on a future cruise. They aren’t dated at all. The alcoholic drinks on this ship were weak. Every pour was carefully measured to a single shot. Even the Long Island’s were not strong.

The Casino:

The casino and I are generally friends on every cruise. This one was quite enjoyable, as it is a completely non-smoking casino. It was relatively small for a ship this size, and there were times I had to wait to get near the roulette table. I ended up about $100 up on the cruise, so I’ll take it. If only 17 had hit for me a couple times, I would have been up a lot more! The biggest problem in the casino was the lack of bar servers. Most of the time it was easier to take a break from playing and go to the bar yourself, rather than wait for one to come around.

Kids Club:

Our kids loved the kids club on this ship. The counselors were all amazing, especially Renata, who took a keen liking to our 5 year old. They let the kids decide what they wanted to do, and would over-ride the “planned itinerary” if the majority wanted to do something different. We loved that they offer dinner options every night, sea day or port day, to either pick the kids up from the dining room after an hour, or take the kids to the buffet for dinner. Both options were free and available every night. The other thing we loved is that they take the kids to see most of the shows. It exposes the kids to the singing and dancing arts, and they thoroughly enjoyed the shows while letting us watch in peace! They have a lot of family activities, such as discos, parades, cooking classes, and a talent show, and they have their very own mascots Doremi and Dorebro who show up to the events. Being that my 5 year old is petrified of characters, those were a challenge, but most of the kids loved them. The staff was sure to let us know when there would be a character present so we could prep our 5 year old accordingly. The staff was also impressive in the number of languages they spoke. They were able to give directions in 4 or 5 different languages so all of the kids knew what was going on.

Day 1 – Embarkation in Miami

We drove down to Miami on the morning of departure. It is roughly 3.5-4 hours of a drive from Orlando. We left at 7:30 and pulled into the parking garage at Terminal G at about 11:15 AM. We dropped our luggage and $5 with a porter, and headed into line. The first line of the morning was to get into the building. There were 3 agents checking cruise tickets and passports, and it took about 15-20 minutes just to get inside. Once through this checkpoint, we headed upstairs to security. There was no line at the x-ray machines when we got there, as the line was all held up downstairs checking the tickets. We quickly got through security (make sure to take everything out of your pockets and stick it in your carry-on to go through, it is much quicker). Then we proceeded into the check-in area. There was an empty area for Black Card, Yacht Club, and Aurea Experience check-in, and a big line for everyone else. Being that we don’t have much loyalty, we only matched to Gold, so we had to wait in the full line. We got in line at 11:45, and figured we would be on the ship eating by 12:30. We started waiting…and waiting…and waiting. It took an hour and a half to finally get through the check-in line, and they don’t even do your credit cards there. It is just the photo and getting your cruise card. By 1:15, it was finally our turn. We got our pictures and cards, and headed straight onto the ship. At least there was no more waiting here. Once on-board, we registered the kids for their bracelets that had to be worn for the whole cruise (stating name, cabin number, and muster station), went down to the Casino to get our prepaid drink vouchers (more on this later), and went up to the buffet. Tip #1 – always find a table in the buffet prior to getting food. It gets CRAZY in there. It was generally easier to find tables in the back by the children’s corner. After lunch, we went to register for Kids Club. They explain the process and have you fill out a registration form. They do not provide ship phones to contact you. After this we went down to our cabin. Luggage started to arrive, and we started unpacking. All of the suitcases arrived but mine, and I had a feeling why. We went down to the guest services area where they were holding the bags with “questionable” items, and sure enough, mine was there due to the power strip I brought. I had bought, specifically for cruising, a non-surge protecting power strip that is perfectly safe for the cruise ship electrical system. Because it had more than 4 outlets, they would not let me use it. They gave me one from guest services to use on the ship which had 4 outlets, but ironically enough, it was surge protecting, which is more dangerous to have on the ship. I got the one I brought on back at the end of the cruise and am returning it to Amazon. After unpacking, we explored the ship and went to dinner. Then we saw the show and turned in after a long day.

Day 2 – At Sea

Today the kids discovered kids club, we discovered the cold hot tubs, and really just took it easy. We did some more exploring, played in the casino, and ate 4 or 5 times. Mission accomplished today…We relaxed a ton and unwound all of the stresses of life. Dinner and a show, and then time in the casino alone after the kids went to bed.

Day 3 – Ocho Rios

One of the things we are really trying to instill in our kids is that experiences are much more valuable than stuff. We told them that the souvenirs we wanted them to bring back from vacation were memories, rather than the garbage they usually pick out in the ports that is broken before it gets home. We want to take the kids to Dunns River eventually, but the little one is still a drop to small to really enjoy it, so we walked around the port area, ate some “Patties”, some fresh roasted peanuts that a vendor was selling, and drank coconut water from a coconut. We were going to use the beach by the Margaritaville in port for a while, but the weather was starting to look threatening and the kids were tired, so we headed back to the ship. Again, dinner and a show, and then the casino after the kids were asleep.

Day 4 – Grand Cayman

Today we took the city bus to Public Beach (right by Calico Jacks). It is perfectly safe, and half the price of a cab. $20 round trip for all 4 of us, and the beach is beautiful and free. There are vendors renting chairs and umbrellas, and for $15 we got 2 chairs and an umbrella for the day. We had a great day building sand castles, playing in the water, and hanging out in the sun. There are playgrounds, restrooms, showers, and changing areas at Public Beach that are free of charge for public use. After the beach, we went back to the port area and shopped a bit, before catching a tender back to the ship.

Day 5 – Cozumel

Always our favorite port, we did what we normally do and eat. There is an amazing food tour that we have taken previously in Cozumel, and now we tend to just do our own tour. We get a taxi, and I will either have already found places via Yelp and Tripadvisor, or we ask the driver for suggestions. The goal is to go to places off the beaten path that tourists don’t go to for good local food (authentic style tacos, empanadas, etc.) This time was 50/50. The taxi driver took us to a great place for empanadas, and we went back to our favorite taco place. I would highly recommend taking the tour if you have never done it, and then venturing on your own in the future if/when you feel comfortable with it.

Day 6 – At Sea

Another relaxing day. Not too much to note.

Day 7 – Nassau

We had made some quick friends on the ship by this point, and decided to spend the day with them in Nassau. Typically in Nassau we don’t even get off the ship, but we decided to take a city tour in a cab with them. We had a great time sightseeing, and it was fun to do something we had never done before there. There is an interesting history to the Bahamas that we never knew!

Day 8 – Debarkation

As much of a hot mess as embarkation was, debarkation was just the opposite. From the time we walked off the ship at our group’s assigned time to be loaded in the car and out of the port was 1 hour.

Overall impressions:

This was probably our favorite family cruise we have done. The kids had a great time, we had a great time, and we would not hesitate to sail on the Divina or any MSC ship again. Of course there are always a few hiccups that we would like to see fixed (hot tubs!!!), but when looking at the value we got and the amazing time we had, it was overall a wonderful experience. We can’t wait for the Seaside on December 23rd!

Thanks for the detailed review.

Trying our first MSC cruise in December on the Divine so soaking up all the details. Thanks so much for taking the time to write a report!!

Thanks for sharing your great review ! A few questions , please . You mentioned that the kids can eat with the group leaders or be "collected up" about an hour after dining with the family , did you actually do this , and what was your experience ? We are traveling with a 5, 7 and 8 yr old and I am a little leary of this .

Thanks again for all your advice .

Thanks for sharing your great review ! A few questions , please . You mentioned that the kids can eat with the group leaders or be "collected up" about an hour after dining with the family , did you actually do this , and what was your experience ? We are traveling with a 5, 7 and 8 yr old and I am a little leary of this .

 

Thanks again for all your advice .

We used both options through the week. For the 5 year old, if they eat with kids club they are restricted to the children's corner of the buffet. The 7 and 8 year olds can have a green band that allows them to sign themselves out of kids club and go to the whole buffet. We gave our 7 yo a green band with the understanding with him that his sign out privilege was only for the buffet. For the pickup option, they will come to your table or wait right outside the dining room at 7 PM. Plenty of time for the kids to eat, and then they get ice cream when they meet the rest of kids club at the buffet. The kids liked both options and most nights we gave them the choice of what to do.

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Thanks for your detailed report.

You mentioned going to the casino after the kids were asleep. How did you monitor the kids in the cabin while you were gone? We will be traveling with little ones and would like to be able to have some casino time, but the kids club usually closes around 10 (unless you pay a fee for "babysitting". Thanks,

Kids club closes at 11 on the Divina, with a paid late night option till 2:00AM ($10/kid). For us, my wife typically goes to sleep early and stays in the room with them while I go out to the casino. We didn't leave them alone in the cabin.

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Awesome review, thank you! We're doing this same itinerary next month. I am missing authentic tacos as we're now on the east coast and not in San Diego anymore. Where do you recommend?

Awesome review, thank you! We're doing this same itinerary next month. I am missing authentic tacos as we're now on the east coast and not in San Diego anymore. Where do you recommend?

Our favorite place for tacos is called El Cameron del Sazon. It is on Ave Benito Juarez between Ave 55 and Ave 60. Most of the taxi drivers seem to know exactly where it is. Apparently the fried shrimp tacos are incredible but I don't eat shrimp. All of the others that I have eaten were amazing. My favorite is the fried chicken.

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Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I am considering this ship ad line in the future but sometimes it's difficult to make that leap from one you are comfortable with and like so much (i.e RCCL).

Appreciate comprehensive review. We sailed Divina in April and are sailing again on it in September (and have booked Seaside in 2018). I wrote a review upon return but not nearly as detailed. Many seem concerned about switching cruise lines - you don't need to "switch" - it is just fun to try something different. We are Platinum with Carnival and have cruised several other lines - loved the Divina - a wonderful experience - differences but so enjoyable. We of course will continue to cruise Carnival but have now added MSC to our choices of cruise lines.

Completely agree on the switching/loyalty. When we travel our only loyalty is to ourselves. We look at who has what we want, when we want, for the price we want, and go from there. If multiple cruise lines fit the need at that time, then some preference comes into play, but it is rarely the case that we have a similar deal at the same time for what we want. None of the cruise line loyalty perks are THAT good that it is worth sacrificing what we want to do just to stay with one cruise line!

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Our favorite place for tacos is called El Cameron del Sazon. It is on Ave Benito Juarez between Ave 55 and Ave 60. Most of the taxi drivers seem to know exactly where it is. Apparently the fried shrimp tacos are incredible but I don't eat shrimp. All of the others that I have eaten were amazing. My favorite is the fried chicken.

 

 

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Awesome thank you!! I will be sure to check it out, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!:hearteyes:

Thank you for the review. It brings back wonderful memories of our cruise on the divina in april. We stayed in room 11036, very close to yours. You mentioned Gilbert. He was our room attendant too. I think that guy is a mind reader. Not only did he make sure that whatever we needed was given, he also did things even before we could ask him.