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Nice! You must be doing the itinerary we did to Colombia, Panama etc Have fun! I’ll be interested in hearing how it goes for you.

We did see people carrying on soccer/basketballs on Divina a couple of weeks ago. I wondered why but it makes sense now after reading your post.

Happy to hear it’s a better start! Are you doing the B2B on Divina?

Exactly what I keep telling my husband. We’ve worked very hard for what we have and I’ll be damned if we don’t enjoy the fruits of our labor. I’m okay with leaving our children a few thousand less 🤪

Hi We live in RI and have parked at that lot in Brooklyn. It’s very easy and an easy walk to the ship. We’re looking to book Meraviglia in Sept out of NY and may take the train in this time. Not sure what part of MA you live in but that’s another option for you.

I’ve been cruising long enough to know that you cannot dismiss an entire company based on your experience on one of their ships. Having said that. Our first two MSC cruises were excellent, our last one was not. All on the same ship. First in Europe and second and third out of the US. We will try MSC one more time in the US but not out of Miami and never during a holiday or school vacation. If it’s another negative experience we will go back to the higher end lines.

In my experience with searching MSC cruises they prices can fluctuate from day to day and in some cases from morning to night. Keep checking it daily. You have time.

I think as long as you don’t cruise during a major holiday or school vacation you should be okay. Also stay away from 3 or 4 day cruises.

I think his kilt was the problem 😂

It does sound like RSV I’m sorry to hear that. I hope your wife and son have been able to enjoy themselves despite being sick. Agree about the folks not covering their mouths when coughing. We saw plenty of that as well. With everything the world has been through the last couple of years you would think something as simple as coughing into your elbow would just be second nature for all of us now.

I’m surprised they’re even selling it. I thought they had removed all medicine from their stores so people couldn’t hide Covid symptoms. I always bring NyQuil and Stuff like that in case we catch something on the plane ride down. Did you guys have to take a Covid test?

Agree about the CD, nice guy but boring and we never saw him other than when he introduced some of the entertainment in the theater. Yes the aft pool lifeguard was doing that on our sailing as well but we actually appreciated it because I saw some chair hogs who somehow got extra towels and they would save chairs in the sun and some in the shade and then go back and forth depending on how they felt. He put a stop to it lol Lido deck lifeguards/pool attendants didn’t care if chairs sat empty for hours they wouldn’t take the towels. We didn’t attend the Voyagers or Diamond parties…they were at odd times when we were in port on excursions on our sailing. Sorry your cruise was disappointing. We got off feeling the same a couple weeks ago.

I wish they would bring that to the US. I would have loved to hear the gentleman singer on our cruise sing opera knowing he is a trained opera singer in Europe. It could have easily been incorporated in the Italian themed show. Just small tweaks like that to get a feel for how the crowd reacts is what they should be doing. Maybe I should come out of retirement and offer my suggestions to them lol

A lot depends on your itinerary as well. The first leg of our b2b a few weeks ago took hours to disembark (on 01/09) because we had visited Colombia. We were told immigration was being extra thorough. Also facial recognition wasn’t working in Miami so they kept stopping the disembarkation process. The ship didn’t clear til early afternoon (1:00-1:15 ish) We were the first back on at around 1:30-1:45 then they started boarding YC guests etc. It wasted most of our day. Lots of tempers and passengers complaining they were missing their flights etc. Nobody moves faster for that especially immigration officers. We always err on the side of caution and book an afternoon flight.

Hmm no we stayed the full time on our b2b. First day New Years Eve stayed til a little after 6 which was our scheduled departure time Did an overnight on the second part of the B2B and left at the scheduled time the second day. OC felt understaffed when we were there. How was your cruise other than that? Saw there was a medical emergency on another social media site yesterday

On what ship? I know on Divina there isn’t a dedicated Aurea restaurant. You can dine “anytime” in one of the two main dining rooms, that is the draw.

So it’s all inclusive on your reservation. I didn’t know that. I cruised in Europe and was charged the extra fees separately but I did book on the US site so maybe that is why.

Hate to disappoint you but on Divina 11/2021 they did a few of the “passengers were the entertainment” type games in the Black and White Lounge. That and karaoke was the late night entertainment An example. Their version of a “Not so” Newlywed game where an older woman was running a ball up the inside of one of her husband’s pant legs across the middle where she took her time feeling him up…and down the other leg to the hoots and hollering of the masses. (We only had 490 passengers on board so that was a joke) So yea…their attempt to give the American cruisers what they think we like is happening. What they don’t realize is many of us, including me cruised with MSC in Europe first and we are expecting to have that same on board experience on their ships in the states. That’s why I liked our European cruise so much it was different. It wasn’t like NCL or HAL or any of the other lines we cruise with. If we want to be entertained with the silly stuff I’ll go on one of the lines where that stuff was invented. We enjoyed and respected the singers and dancers in the theater on Divina a few weeks ago. The costumes were beautiful, 3 of the 4 singers were fantastic and I’ve recently learned that one of the male singers also sings opera. (on European sailings) But each show always felt like with a little bit of tweaking, they could be as good as the shows on their competition. I don’t blame the performers for that at all. They’re doing what they’re being told. This group of dancers were excellent. It had nothing to do with their lack of talent at all. It was the production that fell short. But MSC is a LOT less expensive than the others on some sailings.

Yes the US MSC cruise experience is an entirely different experience. I was disappointed to see that they do the stupid belly flop thing by the pool too.

I’m thinking the poster means port fees?

I find that hard to believe lol but you’ve made your point 🤪

Been on Divina 3 times. First time YC so we didn’t do specialty dining. 2nd time 11/2021 we weren’t in YC so we tried Butchers Cut. Our experience wasn’t positive. Our filets were over cooked and not the best quality. Server told us that was how Med rare was prepared there and even if he brought us another filet it would be the same. We had purchased the dining experience before our cruise not realizing that it is a limited item experience. For example you cannot choose a soup, a salad, a protein (beef or chicken) a potato and a vegetable. I’ve forgotten the exact process but I know we were charged for soup, vegetables and a potato It was strange. Just spent 14 nights in the MDR this last Divina cruise (12/30-01/13) and we had better prepared and quality filet there than in Butcher’s cut. Our previous experience in Butchers cut kept us away from there this cruise. We enjoyed everything we ate in the MDR. Only 1 night out of 14 I had a tough NY strip which was quickly replaced.

Wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t charge extra to see them. I think that’s nuts. We had a funny magician/comedian on Divina over New Years….at least the dozen of us who understood English in the audience laughed I felt bad for the guy. He had over 3,000 shows on cruise ships and to us it looked like his first time on MSC because he seemed surprised that the audience couldn’t understand him. People were walking out during his show, which to me is so rude but that’s another conversation. I think MSC is trying to “Americanize” their entertainment however if most of their passengers cannot understand the comedian or the magician it’s going right over their heads. Not sure how they’ll fix this but they desperately need to. The lounge musical acts on board are good but on a 14 day cruise their sets are repetitive. People were getting bored.

I have yet to see a package form. If anyone has it please post a picture. Guest services told me the room attendants know who has purchased laundry packages ahead of time which was in line with what our attendant told us. They want these forms filled out so there’s an inventory of what each stateroom sends to be laundered. Our attendant simply forgot that we had the package when it came time to submit. Can’t say I blame him he had 18 rooms to take care of. A quick 2 minute visit to guest services and the charge was reversed. I wouldn’t wait to purchase it on board. It is more expensive. We paid $38 pre cruise and the on board charge for the same laundry was $63. There has been reports of problems with purchasing things on MSC US site this week I’m sure they’re getting right on that 🙄

Looking back it seems that the vegan dish was the Indian inspired dish in the MDR on most nights.