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Completely ridiculous! Sorry your son is snowed in and can’t make it! That’s a bummer for sure!

Life is so precious…puts everything in perspective that’s for sure. He was so young and full of life. Had the pleasure of meeting him on a HAL ship and was hoping to see him again on MSC.

Did you try going to guest services on board to see if they can help you?

Oh my God that’s terrible news. I’m so sorry to hear this. May he rest in peace.

Some of my family will be on Seascape this Sunday too! I’m praying it’s a positive experience for them as I booked it for them 🤞 We did a B2B in Miami last month but on Divina. We (B2B pax) all met in the theater and 3 MSC crew members took us down to the terminal as a group to clear immigration. We just had to bring our passports. We had cruised to Colombia so immigration was slow that day. We were supposed to meet at 11:45 in the theater to go down but we didn’t get through immigration til close to 1:30. It was a long morning. If I had to do it again I would get off the ship and do an excursion just to avoid all of the sitting around.

I think you’ll be okay. Our server in the dining room told us that even though the ship was pretty full over Christmas, it was a good group of pax. It seems the group we cruised with got on for the New Year’e Eve festivities. We will avoid that week in the future.

You can add the 12/30/2022 10 day sailing to that list as well. I wonder does anyone high up at MSC read these boards? Do any of the CEO’s care that the crew on Divina is stretched to the limit on these sailings because the ship cannot handle 3800 pax? We have just booked 3 more cruises and not one is with MSC…after cruising with them 3 out of our last 4 times that should tell you something. Not liking the MSC USA product.

Thanks for your review. I agree that the butler assigned to you can really make a difference. We had a wonderful butler on our Mediterranean cruise. First time on MSC and we were given a free upgrade the day before departure. We didn’t want to be escorted to dinner every night. He did take us the first night because on Divina the YC restaurant is not in the actual YC area of the ship it’s quite a walk actually. We didn’t really use his services much. I liked going into TS each morning to get my coffee. (We didn’t have a coffee machine in our room) The first morning he practically tackled me when he saw me going for my coffee telling me he would bring it to us. lol I assured him I enjoyed the early morning walk and wanted to sit in TS before it got too busy. By the third day he gave us our space and was wonderful. I don’t like being fussed over. I don’t even want our room serviced every day in the non YC rooms we’ve stayed in. But…having the sanctuary of the YC when the rest of the ship is at capacity is priceless.

Just another example of a rep not knowing what they’re talking about. That is no surprise. MSC you need better training for your CS employees 🤦🏻‍♀️

1)Will MSC ever consider “anytime dining” for everyone?

You would have to call to cancel. They will offer to refund your card in 1-2 billing cycles. When we cancelled an excursion before our cruise I had them put that amount on our account as an OBC (on board credit) to use for service charges or other stuff. It was done by the rep immediately and I received an email to confirm the cancellation and OBC. I don’t like MSC owing us $$ it takes too long sometimes to get it back.

It’s my understanding that you have to book on the website of your residence otherwise why would they bother with different country websites? Although it’s MSC so that could explain it. lol But the other lines we cruise with don’t have different websites for US, Canada, UK etc.

On the US site it’s an ongoing thing. Just took this screen shot.

Never an issue ordering 2 (a drink for myself and one for my spouse) or vice versa on 3 MSC cruises.

It’s usually 2 devices under the first person’s name on the reservation and then we each (me and spouse) sign in with our phones. Once you sign in on a device you cannot switch devices like on other cruise lines. I have seen some promotions that only come with WiFi for 1 device so it’s possible that is what you have. It should be pretty clear on your paperwork or email confirmation after booking.

You literally have the worst luck of anyone I know when it comes to changes to your trips.

We love Divina. We had 2 great cruises on her before this last one. If you happen to be in the Black Crab dining room table 544 is a great table for 2 (or 1) and Generose is the best server if you can somehow request her section she will take good care of you! I hope you have a positive experience. Are you doing the Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica etc itinerary?

We’re far from novice cruisers as we’ve been cruising regularly since the 80’s. In 40+ cruises we have never cruised with so many awful people as we did last month on Divina. It’s not the crew’s fault as they were trying their best. I felt very sorry for the crew on that ship. I do blame MSC for selling out cruises that they know are understaffed. They are showing me that they don’t care about their crew or their passenger’s experience. We’ve all run into “that person” you describe and it’s pretty easy to avoid them when they’re far and few between. You asked to have your table moved and you’re done with them. We’ve done the same. But this past cruise? Not as easy to avoid when you’re cruising with over 3000 rude, loud and pushy people. If MSC continues to undercut their competition here in the states I’m afraid what we experienced won’t be an isolated cruise. In fact I know it isn’t as others have reported experiencing the same things we did. For the time being we are spending our money on NCL in April and HAL later in the year. Both a few thousands of dollars more than MSC’s pricing. We need to give MSC a break and hope to get back to them maybe next year but it would have to be in the YC to get my husband on one of their ships again. He’s had it. I’m a little more forgiving.

Yes when it’s open.

We had 90% non US passengers on our January cruise. 3800 total pax. The children on board were never the ones misbehaving as the youth club did a great job keeping them occupied Their parents were the ones pushing and shoving their way in and out of the elevators and reaching and bumping into you at the buffet or bar lines without an excuse me. They didn’t know the meaning of waiting their turn. Hate to say it but with parents who behave like that those poor kids don’t stand a chance of being any different.

For us freestyle dining is the one thing we wish MSC would do. We prefer NCL because of it. We chose first seating and when we chose it the stated time was 6:30. When we looked at our cruise card it said 5:30pm. The ship was sold out therefore they had 3 seatings 5:30, 7:30 & 9:30. We tried to change to 730 but there was a waitlist. 5:30 was way too early especially on port days when we didn’t get back on board til after 4:30. We felt very rushed. If you book the Aurea experience you have a bit more flexibility and can dine between certain hours. On our cruise it was 6-9pm. Yes you will be assigned time, table and dining room for the entire cruise you go to that dining room and that table.

Yup I lost 3lbs after 14 days on Divina last month but our step counts were crazy high @an avg of 15-20k a day. We also opted to take the stairs a lot vs squeezing into the crowded elevators. I had dessert every night too! lol Their desserts aren’t as sweet as the ones we’re used to though.

Our server kept reminding us to give the dining a “5” on the survey. She said she didn’t like the way MSC’s survey was worded. It blanketed all dining not the individual venues. She had been on Celebrity for 13 yrs prior to Covid and only left them for MSC because her husband was on board. It was clear she took a demotion by leaving Celebrity and was trying to work her way to the YC. I made sure to name her in the comment section of the survey but I have to agree that I don’t think MSC cares. We made a point of telling her manager and the dining room manager how pleased we were with her great service and they didn’t seem to care either. @Stockjock we got that same gut feeling as well.

@wbinghamWhen I called to cancel an excursion and book another I was told the same thing that the refund would take 30-60 days. I asked if I could have the refund as an OBC and the agent was able to process that immediately. We used it for the daily service charge so it worked out. You could call and request the same.

Are you staying on for New Years? If so be warned it is crazy busy. We did that cruise this year and swore never again will we book during the holiday season. The poor crew was exhausted. The ship was sold out for Christmas and New Years sailings and Divina just cannot handle 3800-4000 passengers. There aren’t enough lounge chairs on deck, the buffet was constantly out of silverware and clean tables. Just not a good experience. If you can, upgrade to the YC at least you’ll be in your own secluded area of the ship.