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Our experience exactly. One thing we’ve always enjoyed about cruising especially years ago when we would sit with the same people at dinner every night, was making new friends. Even when we’ve cruised in Europe we’ve never had a problem conversing with other passengers. When I get in an occupied elevator I always say good morning or good evening etc and I’ve never had it met with complete silence. Every single time. My husband would say to me “why do you keep greeting people when they’re ignoring you?” I said I’m hopeful that I’ll get a response sooner or later. 🤪 This last cruise was a very different/strange experience. When we came across people we could have a conversation with it was clear they were ecstatic about it as well. As I said we’ve traveled all over the world and have never ever met so many unfriendly and rude people as we did on this cruise.

A gimmick that a surprising number of people fall for. Maybe they don’t do the math but I do. 😉

Divina is in trouble. This was our experience but we were on for 14 days. Our third time on what I consider my favorite ship was definitely not like prior experiences. They are way understaffed and overworked to be selling that many cabins filled to capacity. I was hoping our experience was because of it being the New Year’s Eve cruise but it seems to be carrying over. Too many saying “one and done” “tried it, hate it” etc. on our cruise. If the foreign travelers continue to come here to cruise, MSC may have a chance of surviving the US market. If they’re relying on Americans to keep them here they better change things and fast. We only had 10% Americans out of 3800 pax on our sailing. Not exactly what I call attracting Americans. Divina has been in the US for 10 yrs so not exactly a new ship to the US market. Any idea what the percentage of American pax was on your cruise?

I loved our NCL cruise last April with our little grandson but their free at sea is FAR from free. On our one week cruise on an old ship (Pearl) it was over $500 to add drinks and WiFi. There’s no way we drink $500 worth of alcohol in a week especially when we have our 9yr old grandson with us. We declined the “free” not so free offer. On our last Divina cruise which was 14 days (just off the ship a week ago so very current pricing) the all in drinks and WiFi was an extra $90 pp so $180 for 14 days vs $500 for 7 days. Now that’s a deal we grabbed. I always chuckle when I get the NCL flyers in the mail advertising I can “choose up to 5 free” at sea on our next cruise. I do wonder how long MSC will be able to keep that low price point though.

$100 in singles? It’s been a while since you’ve cruised hasn’t it? Bring 20’s next time. Nobody is moving faster for 1’s nowadays. Been on 3 cruises in the last 12 months. When the ship is full to capacity a $1-$2 tip isn’t getting you to the front of the line. Especially when that line is occupied with 90% foreigners who “aren’t used to/don’t like to” wait in line. That describes our experience on the New Years cruise on Divina. Whole different scenario on MSC than NCL

We were on that sailing and the one after it. Sorry that was your first MSC cruise. If it were ours we probably wouldn’t cruise with them again either. It was just too crowded. The buffet was awful and not what we experienced on other MSC cruises. The crew couldn’t keep up I felt bad for them. I blame it on being a holiday cruise. I hope I’m right.

Yes. Terrible bar service in all bars on Divina 12/30-01/13. Especially horrible on OC and we were there 3 days on that cruise. Between being out of certain alcohol at each bar we found the bartenders especially unfriendly which wasn’t our experience on past cruises. But our cruise had 3800 pax and I’d say 3700 were just plain ignorant and rude so I can’t say I blame the bartenders for their lack of enthusiasm.

We bought them on the bus itself. (That was in 2019)

This stinks for people leaving on Sunday. I hope they can get it resolved so they don’t have to cancel at the last minute.

@MarkanddonnaI guess by now you know lol We left and returned to E 12/30-01/13 I hope you guys have a good cruise. I just saw on another social media post that it’s a full ship again. Is that true? If so this seems to be the trend on Divina lately.

We sailed with Princess about 15 yrs ago on The Grand Princess. Our experience was like yours and even back then they were understaffed. It was awful and we never cruised with them again.

It really depends on your butler. If you’re a first timer in the YC like we were on our first MSC cruise, and you have a busy or a little bit lazy butler, the less you know about what you can ask for, the less they have to do. That also goes for room attendants outside of the YC. Having said that. We always leave a note with a cash tip on day 1 requesting items we need like tissues, washcloths and ice etc. The items are always there when we return. Nothing like a tip every couple of days to get what you’d like and a hand written note really does help. They can put it in their pocket and be reminded instead of asking them in passing which they may innocently forget about. We saw people like this blogger on our cruise. They are very good at letting the crew know what they’re doing therefore they sometimes get everything they ask for. Sometimes. We had one on an excursion in Colombia who wanted the front row on the bus because that was the seat she originally had. She expected everyone to leave it vacant for her even though she was always the last on the bus after each stop. The tour guide rightfully told her there were no assigned seats and she needed to just take a vacant seat. Everyone applauded him and she wasn’t happy lol A real piece of work. I often wonder if she’s on CC. lol

@Cancun01 I see you quoted me but I’m not seeing your response.

I can assure you that is not “standard” practice. Nothing with MSC is standard. It varies from cruise to cruise and ship to ship. That is the most frustrating thing about them. Just off Divina a week ago today. Our cabin steward provided us with washcloths and boxes of tissues throughout our 14 day cruise. We had an aft facing Fantastica balcony room. 10262 to be exact. Suga (short for a very long Indian name was our attendant). He was fantastic and the most engaging room attendant we’ve had on MSC. How did I receive these things if they are “not allowed”? On our first day before going to dinner I left him a note on our bed requesting tissues, wash cloths and ice in the bucket. Everything was there when we returned from dinner. Does it depend on the room steward? Maybe. A nice tip every few days helps too. 😉

Done 3 MSC cruises. One in YC, 2 in Fantastica aft facing balconies. The one thing we prefer on NCL is the flexibility in dining, ie choice of time and different included dining restaurants. On MSC only Aurea and YC guests can dine anytime in their dining rooms. Not as many if any included dining options besides the buffet for dinner. MSC’s all in drinks and WiFi is less expensive than NCL’s. NCL’s drink quality is better. MSC overall is less expensive on most sailings we’ve priced out. There’s things I like and dislike about both of them.

Agree. That includes their CSR’s on board. We purchased a last minute excursion to Blue Lagoon Island on board and the man who sold it to us at the excursion desk didn’t even know that the excursion included lunch. They also didn’t have printed out literature explaining all of the excursions…just an order form listing them and the price. In fact when I specifically asked him about lunch he said no we had to bring cash to purchase food. That also was incorrect. They accepted cards. I don’t know if it’s a lack of training or just poor training or the owners don’t want their employees to have too much information but it’s all of those stupid small irritating things that you don’t want to deal with on a vacation. That needs to be cleaned up.

Thanks for updating. We all know IT is not MSC’s strong point. Hopefully they can get this fixed so they won’t have to cancel future cruises. 🤞 Just booked my brother’s family for Feb on this ship. They’re first time MSC cruisers and I really had to sell them on trying it. 😏

No robes even on request in Bella experience. That is the lowest room category they offer. You can request a box of tissues.

Exactly! We know that now. Also can’t compare MSC in Europe to MSC in the US. I don’t care how beautiful their new ships are they need to figure out the rest of the important stuff if they want to be successful here.

Same here. Been on 3 in the past year and none were FCC. We didn’t meet anyone that was a repeat MSC customer on our 12/30th cruise. Granted there weren’t many English speaking pax but the ones we could converse with hadn’t been on MSC before. All of them said the low pricing was the reason they tried it. None of them were happy with the cruise. MSC in the US is a lot different from the European experience…at least for us it was.

I did the same thing with this last cruise. I wanted an aft balcony on Divina and the price was $275 less than an obstructed view balcony that I already had booked. What we see at home the reps don’t see and vice versa. It’s ridiculous. Like you it was easier (and necessary) to cancel get the deposit back and rebook myself.

We spoke to a lot of “one and done” folks on our 12/30th Divina cruise. The low pricing was attractive but the cons outweighed the pros. It was our third time on Divina. First in YC in the Mediterranean in 2019 was fantastic. Second 11/2021 with less than 500 pax total…once in a lifetime experience. Went into this last cruise with high hopes but it was nothing like our first 2 “fairytale” experiences. lol

Source?

I had the same problem trying to open Cruise Critic while at sea. I don’t know why because I could get on any other website without an issue, including my local grocery store to place an order for when we got home. I don’t get it. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I really miss the Cruise Critic app. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We enjoyed that duo as well. Only problem was they played in the lounge above the casino and the smoke from the casino came up that opening behind where they played. I felt bad for them. It’s not easy to sing when there’s smoke in the air. That casino was a smoke house our entire cruise. When they told us you guys would have 4k+ on your sailing a said a little prayer for you all because I knew how bad 3800 was on our 12/30th sailing. “Technically” Divina may be able to accommodate up to 4300 pax but they can’t handle it and it’s not a good experience at all. We were only able to get in a hot tub a couple of times in 14 days. Every other time we tried they were packed and I mean packed with arms touching arms, with people. How is that sanitary or enjoyable? Ugh

Left and returned from Terminal E in Miami on Divina 12/30 -01/13 December is a long way off, maybe someone here knows more about when the new MSC terminal will be ready. Found this article. Supposed to be finished by end of this year. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2022/03/msc-breaks-ground-on-new-miami-cruise-terminal/