A brief review of our experience on board the Divina. Having roughly 7-8 cruises under our belt over the past years we decided it's time to do it once again. We basically picked this cruise because it simply fell into the dates that fit our schedule, nothing more than that. We have been at all of the ports visited on this itinerary on previous cruises but that really affect our decision in choosing this cruise.
Starting off, we arrived at Miami somewhat earlier than most passengers. We were at the port a little after 11am. The initial checkin went smoothly, and we were group 9 to enter the ship. A short 25 minute or so wait and #9 was called. We boarded the ship and went directly to our room just in case it was ready. To our surprise, the room keys were on the door so the room was fully maid up and ready for us to start our vacation. We had a balcony room on the 13 floor starboard side. For a balcony room it was probably the smallest room we have yet to have. Without a couch, it was basically a bed and a small desk. It was large enough for us as I live out of a suitcase as my wife unpacks hers and takes advantage of the closed and drawers. The bathroom was functional and about what was expected. The soap dispensers in the shower were not labeled as to what was shampoo or body soap, if it really matters, not to me.
After saying how smoothly the embarkment went, I'll skip the the disembarkment. What a mess!! We had an earlier flight so we had to do the self walk off which was to begin approx 8am. I think 90% of the passengers took advantage of the early exit as well, which is fine. But the chaos begins with a lack of information or a pre planned sense of order with a mapped out route of where a line is suppose to begin and follow. Staff announced that we would exit on deck 6. After getting to deck 6, staff said no, it's deck 7, go upstairs, so we all go to deck 7. The trouble is, we eventually did exit on deck 6 so everyone who went to deck 7 was put further back in line because people who took elevators to deck 6 after we were on deck 7 were all of a sudden in front of everyone on deck 7. Even on deck 7 there wasn't an official line, rather an unorganized group of people in a cluster as staff simply stood around not trying to organize anything. It's fine if everyone of the ship decides to do the early walk off. But there needs to be a sense of order with a planned route. Why not simply start a line on deck 7, under the lifeboats and take advantage of the 1000' of open deck space??
As far as the cruise itself, it went as expected. We ate at the main dining room Villa Rossa 3 or 4 times only. Getting to the villa Rossa is rather stupid being its on deck 6, but cannot be accessed on deck 6. You need to get to the last elevator/stairwell on deck 7 then drop down to deck 6 to enter. My advice is get rid of Butchers cut steakhouse restaurant and make a hallway going to the villa rose. I didnt see many passengers taking advantage of a $100/person steak dinner. The MDR meals were ok, the portions kinda of small imo, but satisfactory. I ordered the French onion soup on our first meal. WAY too salty, and thick, almost like gravy instead of a soup. On our way out of the villa Rossa that evening I was asked by a head waiter how my meal was, I said it was ok. But she wanted more input other than ok. So I said fine, "the soup is way too salty". Once too much salt is added to any food during the cooking process, it's wrecked and cannot be overcome. It's so easy to simply add salt later if desired. But that's just me, I dont like salty food, never did nor will. I get turned off by any food that's over salted. I dont want to get medical, but excessive salt is horrible for you body. Especially with an elderly crowd that makes up the majority of most cruises. I think cruise lines should take that into consideration in food prep. Overall, I think my preference was the buffet for most meals. They had a great selection of fresh fruits and salad bar, kudos. I was happy to see many passengers choose a healthy option of the fruits and veggies. The various lines of buffet foods should offer something for everyone. The curries, pasta, fish, pizza were present daily along with the "American line" of burgers, hotdogs, fries, etc.
The entertainment on the ship was well accepted from the passengers as they seemed to find something to enjoy from the various venues. Also plenty of opportunities to have you photo taken. A few different "photo" nights were offered, plus the standard regular daily shots with different backgrounds. The ports of call I won't get into because everyone has different ideas of fun and how to spend their time ashore. I will say the stop in Aruba was quite short, by the time you could exit the ship, it was about 4.5 hours. They could have shaved an hour or so off of a different port and added it to Aruba?
Our room steward did a great job and was very friendly throughout. However, we did have an incident occur that should never happen to anyone on any cruise ship. The first day of our cruise, I mentioned I live from my suitcase and my wife utilizes the space given. Since we like to snorkel, we bring our own gear. I took our snorkel masks from my suitcase and put them in the closet shelf by the lifejackets to lighten my suitcase load. I went to get them from the closet for the first time on our last stop at Roatan. They were missing!! I knew I had put them there, but naturally second guessed myself since 10 days has passed since I "thought" I put them there. I tore the room apart for an hour but couldn't find them anywhere. We planned on a snorkel tour with the ship as a "walk on" that morning as instructed by the tour desk the previous night. Well, the time we took searching our room for the masks we missed out on that tour, which we had not paid for yet. Finally, I found our room steward and had to awkwardly ask if he had saw the masks. The little English he could speak, it sounded like he had an idea of where they were. He brought them back to our room about 25 minutes later. He claims he thought they were left behind from the previous passengers in our room. I do believe him or want to believe him, because if someone is going to steal something from a room it's not likely to happen on the beginning of a 12 day cruise. BUT, he had to right to take them without asking us first!! I never reported the incident, I didnt want to get anyone in trouble. Hopefully a lesson was learned. At the end of the cruise my wife still left him a nice tip.
